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Review: PuraSIM travel eSIM

Posted in Products with tags on August 22, 2026 by itnerd

Let’s face it, travelling internationally with your cell phone is expensive by Canadian standard. So many Canadians look for a eSIM to supplement their travel activities. Specifically a data eSIM as they want to get to their social media and email while they travel. Which is why I am testing out the PuraSIM over the next few days. In short, it promises “1 minute” activation and data in 218 locations. So, let’s see if that is true.

First I went to PuraSIM.com/en to get my eSIM. I picked North America and 1GB of data as I was only testing the eSIM. But the 1GB would last me 30 days. Thus if I were staying longer, I would have picked a higher data bucket. I then got the cost and paid nothing for the eSIM as PuraSIM provided me the eSIM for free. Then I got a couple of emails:

  1. An email with the invoice. That was ignored.
  2. An email with the QR code to install the eSIM. That was of more interest to me.

I used the second email to scan it with my phone’s camera. It started the wizard on iPhone that installed the eSIM. The website promised “1 minute” activation. It was closer to four. But I won’t hold this against them as I am guessing that this is an iPhone thing.

Curiously, I connected to Rogers Wireless with the PuraSIM:

For me this is an interesting development as I didn’t expect that.

From there, I tested the PuraSIM eSIM. First I tested the signal strength which was easy as both eSIM’s were live in the same phone. The PuraSIM won out as it got 3 bars to the 2 bars that Freedom Mobile got. I also did some tests to make sure that data worked with the PuraSIM which it did. So I decided to do something harder. I streamed BBC World Service from my car. Meaning that constant streaming combined with entering and leaving underground parking would test this eSIM to see if it was better than what Freedom Mobile offers. I literally found no difference between the two which isn’t a bad thing. And my streaming experience wasn’t any different. So I would expect that if you are used to a given carrier – Good or bad – it will be a smilar experience here.

Downsides? Not really. But I did use a SIM (a physical one to be clear) in 2023 which had a local number which was France. That came in handy when I had to make local calls. I would love to see a SIM or eSIM company do that for travellers as that makes life a bit easier. But that’s an industry problem and not a PuraSIM problem.

What I would do is to go to PuraSIM.com/en to see if your destination is covered and what the cost would be for data would be for the region that you are going to. Chances are it’s going to be cheaper than your cell phone carrier which make this eSIM a total win.

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Review: Apple AirPods Pro 3

Posted in Products with tags on August 5, 2026 by itnerd

Given that my original AirPods Pro were starting to die, I wanted to get a review in of the Apple AirPods Pro 3 before they significantly update them with iOS 27. In short, the Apple AirPods Pro 3 is the most fully formed that the AirPods Pro 3 are at the moment. Which either implies that more features are coming via updates, or a new AirPods are coming.

Anyway, here is a look at the AirPods Pro 3.

If you look at the AirPods Pro 3 on the left, you will see that Apple has changed the shape versus the original AirPods on the right. I find that they fit and stay in the ears better. Even during long sweaty indoor bike rides. One thing that I did note is that I used Comply foam tips to keep the original AirPods Pros in my ears. I don’t have to do that with the AirPods Pro 3 as I use the small hybrid (new for this version) tips that come with the AirPods Pro 3. I should also note that you get four sizes of tips this time around starting with an XS size.

The case is bigger based on the AirPods Pro 3 which gives you eight hours of battery life and the case offers an additional 16 hours, for a total of 24 hours. This is a bit of a drop from the AirPods Pro 2 which offered  24 hours of battery life from the case and six hours from the buds. In other words, it’s a drop from the case perspective. But honestly, I don’t notice the difference because the earbuds last so long. In fact, I run them charging the case to 80% most of the time. Another plus with the case is the the fact that these buds have FIND MY built in that allows for precision finding like an AirTag. Finally, Apple took away the visible light and put it under the white plastic so that you can tell the charge status at any time. Ditto with the external button.

One of the hero features of AirPods Pro 3 is the heart rate sensor. And I am here to say that they work. I tested them with a chest strap and found them to be either on par with that or within one beat per minute. The other thing that they do is to switch between the Apple Watch and the AirPods Pro 3 depending on which is more accurate. It also means you don’t need an Apple Watch to record a workout if you had an iPhone. Could this mean that Apple taking the attitude that you don’t need an Apple Watch to do a workout? Hmmm….

Sound quality is top notch. The AirPods Pro 3 are have more bass. But not overwhelming as they are don’t sound like a Beats product. Which is also an Apple product. In the end, they have the typical Apple sound signature with more bass. I have no issue with them. But Apple is adding an EQ feature in iOS 27 to change that should you want to. In terms of noise cancellation, I don’t know if it is 2x better (relative to the AirPods Pro 2) according to Apple. But it is mostly better. If you have a constant drone that you want to block out, airplane engines for example, then they block that out easily. However I don’t get the same effect with subways trains on Line 1, Line 2 or Line 5 in Toronto. In other words, I would say that your mileage may vary.

Live Translation works surprisingly well. Though not perfect. I tested it with Spanish and Mandarin. The translations are quick enough to keep a conversation flowing, and they feel natural rather than robotic. Even with the slight delay while it waits for context, the results are clear and easy to follow. The feature also works in reverse. When you respond to someone who is speaking another language, your words will appear in the other person’s language on your iPhone screen. It wasn’t perfect as jargon or any sort of colloquial speech can trip it up.

So this sounds close to perfect. What trips it up? Well, it is iPhone only. While you can make it work with an Android phone, I am here to say that you should not bother as it will not work well. While Apple could make this more like a Beats product and make it work with both Android and iOS, it likely will not happen. Apple is also addressing the other issue which is an EQ feature for those who want it. Other than that, I can’t really pick out anything that is wrong with the AirPods Pro 3.

The Apple AirPods Pro 3 are $329 CDN. But if you check Amazon, you can find it cheaper at times. Assuming that you’re part of Team iOS in terms of your phone, these are the best earphones available right now. And they will get a bit better in iOS 27.

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Review: ESR AirPods Pro 3 Case

Posted in Products with tags on August 5, 2026 by itnerd

There was zero chance that I was going to use my new AirPods Pro 3 without a case as I will simply end up with scratches on the case. So to solve that problem I got the ESR AirPods Pro 3 case. This is what the case looks like:

This is a rubber case that has a lanyard to keep things secure. Given that this is a rubber case that has a hole that allows you to see the charge status, I would expect that protection will be better than good. That should keep these AirPods Pro 3 safe in any condition. But it has one trick up its sleeve.

There are four metal pieces that are magnetized. This keeps the cover closed so that neither of the AirPods Pro 3 pop out. This is the number one complaint that I have with how AirPods Pros are stored. That’s good. But there’s other party tricks that this case have:

  • MagSafe magnets allow you to use an Apple Watch or iPhone charger to charge the AirPods Pro 3.
  • Speaker Cutouts allow you to hear the FIND MY app sound alerts clearly.

There’s not a lot of bulk that’s not required, and there is a fair amount of texture which will keep the AirPods Pro 3 in your hand. All of this makes this a total win for me. Expect to pay $24 CDN on Amazon. I highly recommend it.

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Review: Sharp Dynabook Portege Z40L-N

Posted in Products with tags on March 18, 2026 by itnerd

This is the second of two Sharp Dynabook laptops that I am reviewing this week. You can read about the firstSharp Dynabook that I reviewed here. And that was a light and reasonably quick laptop. Today I have something that is lighter than that one and faster in a lot of ways. It’s the Portege Z40L-N and it clocks in at a mere 2.11 pounds which is insanely light. In fact, if I needed a notebook to carry on the daily, this would likely be my choice.

But just because it’s light doesn’t mean that you give up anything. I’m going to start with performance based on the following specs:

  • Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 258V
  • Windows 11 Pro
  • 14.0″ diagonal widescreen
  • 32 GB RAM
  • 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD
  • Fingerprint reader
  • 2 x USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports
  • Intel ARC Graphics
  • WiFi 7, Bluetooth, Ethernet
  • 56 W battery

First let’s start with the CPU and GPU performance. I did my testing using Geekbench 6 and I did one test on battery and one test on AC power as PC laptops can have radically different results in each scenario. Here’s the results:

On battery:

  • Single Core: 2144
  • Multi Core: 9292
  • GPU (OpenCL): 26777

And here’s the results while on AC Power: 

  • Single Core: 2544
  • Multi Core: 9784
  • GPU (OpenCL): 24840

To put that in perspective, my M1 Pro MacBook Pro hit these numbers (both on battery and on AC power) for the CPU:

  • Single Core: 1762
  • Multi Core: 12431

So despite being a small and thin laptop, it put out pretty impressive numbers. And I had to run the GPU test three times to validate the numbers as it was odd that it had a higher score on battery versus on AC power. But the results came out the same every time so I have to assume that this is a legitimate score.

Now onto the disk test. Here’s the results on both AC and battery power:

  • Read: 3420.61 MB/s
  • Write: 2319.43 MB/s

So it’s not the fastest SSD around as my MacBook Pro posted up a score of over 5000 MB/s in both read and write tests. But it’s far from slow.

You also aren’t giving up anything in terms of ports:

The screen itself is very bright and vibrant. Though it does have issues with really bright reflections such as a camera flash. I won’t hold that against Sharp. The keyboard has a nice typing feel to it as well. I wasn’t a fan of the trackpad as using a MacBook Pro as my daily driver, I found getting used to a mechanical trackpad to be a problem as it is a mechanical diving board trackpad. But that’s a me problem. I am pretty sure it will not be a you problem.

On the left side, you get a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port for power and data, an HDMI port, a USB-A port, a headphone jack, and a microSD slot.

On the right side you get a USB-A port, a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port and an Ethernet jack along with an Kensington lock slot.

In short, This notebook is fully featured and missing nothing. Except maybe for battery life. It’s rated for “up to” 8 hours. I barely got past 5 hours. Your mileage may vary on that front. But given the overall package that’s on offer here, I will give Sharp a free pass on that one. You can pick one up for about $2600. And in my opinion, if you want a light laptop that doesn’t force you to give up on speed or connectivity, it would be money well spent.

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Review: Sharp Dynabook Tecra A40-M Laptop

Posted in Products with tags on March 16, 2026 by itnerd

Last week I got the chance to review not one, but two laptops from Sharp’s laptop division Dynabook. The first of these two laptops is the Tecra A40-M laptop. The specific variant that I have comes with these specs:

  • Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 255U
  • Windows 11 Pro
  • 14″ diagonal widescreen that is also a touchscreen
  • 16 GB DDR5 5600
  • 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD
  • Fingerprint Reader
  • Thunderbolt 4
  • 60Wh battery to give you up to 8 hours of battery life
  • Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2
  • Intel ARC Graphics
  • Weighs 3.18 pounds

These seem like decent specs on paper. And they are as I will highlight in a moment. But what got my attention is the build quality. This laptop felt really solid because of the fact that it is built to MIL STD 810-H. Every part of the laptop that I touched felt like it could take a beating if required. I point that out because a lot of PC laptops that I pick up do not come even close to feeling that way. In fact some laptops from some big name companies feel flimsy at times. Thus I am often concerned about how long they would last during a trip or the like. I would have none of those concerns if I was carrying this laptop.

Speaking of the laptop, you haven’t seen it yet. Here’s a few pictures:

The one thing that stands out to me is this 14″ screen. It’s sharp and clear. The other thing that stands out is the keyboard. I liked the typing feel and touch typists will really love it. I was not as enamoured with the track pad. But that’s like a “me” problem as I am used to Mac trackpads which are not diving board designs like this one. Thus the clicks on those feel consistent unlike this one. Die hard Windows users however will not care because they are used to this sort of feel.

On the left side of the laptop is the Kensington lock slot, a power connector (why isn’t it USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 to make life easier for users who want to go USB-C all the things including chargers), a HDMI port, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack.

On the right is an Ethernet jack, USB-A port and an micro SD card slot.

What I was really interested in is how fast is this laptop. To find out I ran Geekbench 6 on it. Now synthetic benchmarks aren’t a definitive measure of how fast a computer is because how fast a computer is or isn’t is dependent on your use case. Having said that, it will give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect. I did two runs of the GPU and CPU tests. Once on power and once on battery as PC laptops perform worse when on battery to save battery. Here’s what I got. First here’s the results while on battery:

  • Single Core: 1750
  • Multi Core: 6928
  • GPU (OpenCL): 16747

And here’s the results while on AC Power:

  • Single Core: 2277
  • Multi Core: 8656
  • GPU (OpenCL): 18893

To put that in perspective, my M1 Pro MacBook Pro hit these numbers (both on battery and on AC power) for the CPU:

  • Single Core: 1762
  • Multi Core: 12431

That makes the Dynabook’s numbers more than respectable. In terms of disk speed, I ran Crystal Disk Mark both on battery and on AC power. Here’s the results that I got in both scenarios:

  • Read: 5280.89 MB/s
  • Write: 3072.29 MB/s

Whatever SSD that was chosen to be used in this Dnynabook, it’s a pretty quick one.

Finally there’s battery life. It’s rated for 8 hours. In testing the best that I did was 6.5 hours. Not bad for a PC laptop. Also give its size, it’s not surprising as you can only shove in so much batter for something thin and light.

Here’s the bottom line. The Dynabook A40-M is a well built reasonably fast laptop that is light and easy to tote around. It will survive your daily activities and come back for more while providing ample amounts of CPU and GPU power. The A40-M starts at around $1800, and in my opinion is well worth the money.

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Review: Targus Voyager EXP Backpack

Posted in Products with tags on December 30, 2025 by itnerd

Chances are that this backpack from Targus is going to my wife after this review. I’ll explain why in a minute. But the backpack in question is the Voyager EXP backpack which is intended for someone who needs to carry their tech as well as a change of clothes. Here’s a look at the backpack:

It’s basic black so it will not attract any unwanted attention. If you look at handle at the bottom, it has some reflective elements on it.

On the side, there’s an expandable pocket for a water bottle.

On the back, there’s a pair of shoulder straps that are well padded and a strap to slide the backpack through. The back is ventilated and padded.

On one of the shoulder straps there’s a hidden pocket for your ID.

Back to the front. There’s a pocket with a strap for your keys.

There’s a bigger pocket with an RFID protection pocket which protects your passport or credit cards from any nefarious activity. There’s also a hidden pocket for an AirTag which is a welcome addition.

There’s another pocket on the top for your sunglasses. I would make sure that the sunglasses are in a case though.

This compartment allows you to fit a change of clothes along with some toiletries in the mesh section.

You can put up to a 17″ laptop into the upper pocket which is suspended off the ground to protect the laptop. Other bits and bobbles can got in the lower pocket. As you can see, it is designed to fold flat so that you can keep your laptop in the pocket at airport security. I should note that a TSA compliant lock can be used to keep this section locked.

Now let’s get to the part about why this backpack is going to my wife. When she goes into the office, she tends to take her work laptop along with gym clothes for an after work workout. The second that she saw this backpack she wanted it as it fits her use case better than the backpack that she was using. So it’s her’s if she wants it. The Targus Voyager EXP is $120 CAD directly from Targus. If you need a backpack for your tech and is also good for a day or two of travel, or to carry a change of clothes for whatever reason, this is a backpack that you should seriously look at.

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Review: Rosebud

Posted in Products with tags on November 19, 2025 by itnerd

I am not a journaling type of person. Likely because I have not seen the need for doing that. But I may change my mind on that after reviewing Rosebud which is billed as an AI based “interactive journal and self-care companion”. I’ve been using it for the last couple of weeks to journal my daily experiences and thoughts.

For the most part I have been using the Morning Intention and Evening Reflection to get my thoughts, feelings and experiences into the app. You can also see from the screen shot above a prompt for “What small focus can bring you joy today?” Regardless of the section that you enter your thoughts in, you’re prompted  with questions like “What’s your top priority today?” and “What was the highlight of your day?” That helped me get my thoughts into the app easier. The app will prompt you to go deeper to provide it more detail. And when you’re done, the AI will presents its thoughts and insights. This is where I found Rosebud to be really helpful. The AI looked at my first week and found the following insights from their AI:

And on top of that, it give me a look at my wins for the week.

Some of this stuff, specifically that I might benefit from exploring what specifically about my work feels misaligned with my working style, is new to me. It gave me something to think about as maybe my working style isn’t working in my favour.

Now let’s go down the rabbit hole on their AI and your data. Because if you’re typing your thoughts, feelings and experiences into an app, you have to know what is going to happen with all of that. The company’s Privacy Policy does note that it has agreements OpenAI, Anthropic, and Groq to not store your data, and to not pass along personally identifiable information. That’s good. On top of that, have BAAs and Zero Data Retention (ZDR) agreements in place which forces those companies to handle data in compliance with HIPAA standards. Which is also good. The rest of the doesn’t have anything that jumps out at me as being bad or concerning, other than the fact that the company has not conducted third party security risk assessments which I found in section 5 under “Security Audits”. If I could give Rosebud a piece of advice from someone who does IT security among other things for a living, you might want to get third parties looking at your setup and report on what they find and how you remedy any concerns that they find as that will give your users that extra piece of mind. Finally, you can lock down Rosebud using Face ID if you have an iPhone. Meaning that if someone somehow gets physical access to your unlocked iPhone, your private thoughts will stay safe.

Rosebud is free to download. But if you really want the full experience that I had, you can sign up for $12.99 USD a month or $107.99 USD a year. I have to admit that this was an app that was worth it for me to use. And I will continue to use it to see what sort of additional insights about myself that I can gain from from it. If you’re looking for the same thing, I say give it a try.

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Review: 2025 Ford Expedition King Ranch – Part 3

Posted in Products with tags on October 16, 2025 by itnerd

The tech In the Ford Expedition is something that Ford Canada was eager to have me try. And I now get why. Even though most cars are rolling computers, Ford has created a pretty compelling package of tech for drivers to leverage.

I’m going to start with the boring stuff before I get to the really cool stuff that you want to read about.

Safety: The Expedition comes with the usual safety systems such as Reverse Brake Assist, Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, Pedestrian Protection and Dynamic Brake Support, and an array of sensors and cameras to keep you safe. That’s along with this handy feature:

Besides blind spot monitoring, when you hit the turn signal, the cameras on the mirrors get displayed on the 24″ screen. Top marks for Ford thinking of coming up with this feature.

Ford BlueCruise: Ford BlueCruise enables hands-free highway driving that helps make driving easier and more enjoyable. Let BlueCruise accelerate, brake, and handle curves, all with the touch of a button. It can even help you change lanes hands-free. I tried this about a year ago on the Mustang Mach-E but that was a very limited test. Having tried it off and on for a week on the Expedition in a variety of traffic scenarios, I can say that this is a handy feature to have. I will say that you really need to get your seating position right and be wearing the right sunglasses to make BlueCruise work properly. I say that because the system is meant to be a driver aid which means that you are required to keep your eyes on the road at all times. If you don’t, or the system can figure out if you are paying attention to the road, it gets very unhappy.

Having said that I tried it out on open roads as well as rush hour traffic. The latter is where I found myself having to jump in and take control on three occasions due to people trying to cut in front of me on the 401 or the QEW which are two of Greater Toronto’s busier highways. Could BlueCruise have handed that scenario on its own? I have no clue and I wasn’t about to find out as that might have gotten expensive.

The flip side is that on open highways the system worked flawlessly. While I wasn’t able to use on the entire drive from Toronto to Owen Sound to do hiking, I was able to use it on the first quarter of the drive out, and the last quarter of the drive back which made life a bit easier given that it was a 2 hour drive each way. The reason why I wasn’t able to use it for the full two hour drive is that this system only works on physically divided highways. Thus if you’re expecting this system to work on the school run on city streets, that’s not going to happen. If you want to go into the weeds on BlueCruise, this review that I did a year ago will help you. But keep in mind that between the time that I wrote that review to the present day, it’s gotten better and in my mind is worth having. It’s available as a one time purchase that is tied to the car, or as a yearly or monthly subscription.

Bang & Olufsen Sound System: I will just give you the specs. This vehicle came with Bang & Olufsen sound system with 22 Speakers including a Subwoofer. And my wife who is a classically trained pianist summed it up this way:

“Every musical note is crisp and clear. There is no distortion. And there is perfect clarity when it comes to vocals. Ford nailed this stereo.”

Clearly this sound system impressed my wife. It will impress you too as I can confirm that this is an amazing sound system.

Ford Digital Experience: Now this is where things really get interesting. While this vehicle does come with wireless Apple CarPlay (which is one of the better implementations of CarPlay that I have seen lately) and Android Auto, Ford also included the Ford Digital Experience which is based on Android Automotive. But with a lot of work put in by Ford to make it unique. For starters, it has 5G connectivity that allows you to not only get WiFi inside the vehicle, but you can roam in Canada and the US without an issue. Speaking of WiFi, you know that I had to do a speed test. The best speeds that I got was 56.3 Mbps down and 78.9 Mbps up. Before anyone says “my home Internet is faster than that”, consider that I did this in suburban Toronto and I might have gotten faster speeds someplace else. Also, these speeds are fast enough to allow three people to stream a 4K HDR show on Netflix and have speed for others left over to surf the Internet. I base that on this article that I researched a couple of years ago. In short, kids on their iPads on a long road trip will be just fine watching K-Pop Demon Hunters or something like that leaving mommy and daddy in peace.

Next up is the fact that it has the Google Play Store embedded in the system. While the apps are tailored for Android Automotive, which means that the apps that you want like Netflix might not be present. There’s plenty of apps for you to choose from. And you can use your existing Google account to download apps. This gets followed up by Google assistant that allows you to not only navigate using Google Maps, but it allows you to change the cabin temperature, or turn on the heated or cooled seats. All by using your voice. I guess that this segues into the fact that everything is driven from the screen and there are not many physical buttons other than some steering wheel controls that incorporate a touch pad as well as a physical press.

Normally, the fact that this vehicle lacks a lot of physical buttons would usually earn Ford some critical commentary from me as that forces people to do everything in via the screen which is tough to do at highway speed for example. But with the Ford Digital Experience, I really can’t criticize them too much. The standard stuff that you would need to do while driving can be done by voice. On top of that, Ford simply didn’t bolt this on and do the minimum work required to call it an infotainment system. They clearly worked hard to create a cohesive system that made the driving experience better and not worse. While I am not 100% sold on giving up on Apple CarPlay for this, Ford has made a compelling argument to at least consider doing so seriously. Your Ford dealer can guide you through what your subscription options are.

Fun Fact: A lot of Canadians worked to create this. So kudos to them as they have come up with something that left me impressed.

So I’ve come to the end of this review of the 2025 Ford Expedition King Ranch. While I am not the target audience for this vehicle, those who are will find a vehicle that is very capable, as well as offering a lot in terms of carrying people or storage. The interior in the vehicle that I drove this past week is top shelf. And the tech is amazing. While I did complain about the lack of buttons being a problem for me as I could not adjust HVAC controls while driving, that was it for the complaints. Ford has really knocked it out of the park with the Expedition.

Now this version of the Expedition is worth $109,955. Not cheap by any means. But Ford has versions that start at $84,815. And they have trims for every use case possible in between. Besides, the target audience for this vehicle will have no problem spending this kind of cash to get a vehicle like this. So I suspect that Ford will have no problem moving the Expedition off dealer lots.

Before I go, I should point out that a lot of the stuff that you’ve seen in this review is either in or coming to vehicles that are at price points that most of us would buy. So you can expect to see things like the Ford Digital Experience, and Blue Cruise popping up in Escapes and Explorers soon…. If they haven’t already. And that’s a very good thing for Ford buyers at all price points.

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Review: 2025 Ford Expedition King Ranch – Part 2

Posted in Products with tags on October 15, 2025 by itnerd

Interior wise, the Ford Expedition King Ranch is something else. Let me walk you through it and you will see why that is very quickly.

Let’s start with what the driver has to work with. And I will get this out of the way very quickly. Yes the steering wheel is oval. It was done to enhance the visibility of the driver when it comes the the upper screen of the two screens that this vehicle comes with. But this shape works as your hands are basically in a 10 and 2 position. Turning the wheel is a non issue as well. In fact, if you try this wheel out, you’ll find that you won’t be thinking about it after 15 minutes into your test drive. The driver display which is the upper screen is 24″. Meanwhile the lower display is 13.2″. Back to the steering wheel for a bit.It’s wrapped in Mesa Del Rio leather with Kingsville Stitching. Not to mention that it is heated.

The transmission is controlled by this knob on the left that has a manual mode. Said manual mode is controlled by the plus and minus buttons to the left of that knob. There’s a volume knob in the middle. And then various buttons to the right. For the record, that’s real wood and aluminum. And this is one of the few places that you will see shiny hard plastic. The fact that there is a minimal amount of shiny hard plastic earns Ford some bonus points as I truly feel that shiny hard plastic is massively overused in cars these days and is also impossible to keep clean.

There’s a cluster to the lower left that has the buttons for the different 4 wheel drive modes as opening and closing the rear hatch and the parking brake.

Now let’s move to the centre console. There’s two cupholders on the right that will hold Venti sized Starbucks coffee cups with ease. To the left, you have the control for trailer functions, a wireless charger on the right side, as well as a USB-A and USB-C port. You will notice an up and down arrow in the middle. Press the up arrow and you get this:

It slides the entire centre console and that does a bunch of things:

  1. It moves the cupholders further back for second row passengers.
  2. It creates extra storage space for front seat occupants.
  3. It offers a semi secure space to put a bag or purse into that you can close by moving the centre console forward. And it’s only accessible when the car is on. My wife used this to put her purse into when we went on a hike in Owen Sound on the weekend.

The armrest has a rather deep storage area with a tray to hold change for parking or a pen or two.

The second row passengers have a pair of cupholders. Above those cupholders is a slot that you can put an iPad into.

The doors have pretty deep pockets in them. A water bottle will easily fit into them.

This specific trim level comes with captain’s chairs in the second row that are heated and have Del Rio Leather. They move forward and back and easily flip down. More on the flip down part in a bit. I didn’t take a picture of the front seats, but they have the same leather and are heated and cooled and are power adjustable.

There’s a pair of USB-C ports on the back of each front seat.

Between the captain’s chairs are HVAC controls for the second row passengers along with a 110V AC outlet. For the record, this vehicle has three zones for climate control.

Above you is an insanely massive sunroof.

The third row actually fits adults. I acted as the designated driver for pub night and was able to bring five people back to the respective homes with no complaints. You have to duck your head to get back there. But once you’re back there, you’re good. The seats also split 40-20-24 to allow you maximum flexibility when it comes to cargo.

The liftgate is actually in a clamshell configuration. Again, giving you the maximum amount of flexibility when it comes to cargo. Plus you can sit on the lower part as well.

Storage space behind the third row is decent but not huge. However there’s some buttons on the left side of the cargo area that can help you with that.

These buttons can help you to flip down both the third and second row. Plus there’s a lighting button on the top in case you need some extra light. And there’s a storage area there as well as some tie downs to keep you cargo from rolling around.

Flipping down the seats opens up all sorts of room for your cargo. Given that this SUV is huge, that’s a lot of cargo space that you have access to.

On the right side of the cargo area you get two USB-C ports, a 12V outlet along with a 110V outlet.

This interior is impressive. I can’t find any area where I could criticize Ford for anything. It’s truly impressive and it’s a highlight of this vehicle. But let’s see if Ford is so lucky when it comes to the tech. That’s the next part of this review and I will have a fair amount to say about the tech that the Expedition rolls up with.

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Review: 2025 Ford Expedition King Ranch – Part 1

Posted in Products with tags on October 14, 2025 by itnerd

Over the years I’ve reviewed a lot of vehicles. But I have to admit that this is the most difficult vehicle that I have ever reviewed. Before I get to why it was difficult to review, let’s take a look at the vehicle.

Meet the Ford Expedition. This vehicle is simply huge. And I am not the target audience for it. Why is that? This is for someone who wants a a huge vehicle that carries a lot of people, or stuff, or both. And tows a lot. That’s not me. Sure I could get my wife and I along with both our road bikes in it. But we can do that in an Explorer or even an Escape as well. Thus to properly review this, I need to climb inside the head someone who would use this vehicle for what it is intended to be used for.

This is the King Ranch edition. Which I always thought was a F150 trim level. But clearly not. You see the King Ranch influence everywhere. Including:

The wheels

The interior:

And the door sill plates. There’s more places where you see this influence, but we’d be here all day if I were to point them all out. And for what it’s worth, King Ranch is a real ranch in Texas.

A big vehicle needs a big engine. Right? Well sort of. This Expedition comes with Ford’s 3.5L V6 EcoBoost Engine. It’s mated to a 10 speed automatic transmission. This combo is good for 400 horsepower and 480 pound feet of torque. So while a lot of these body on frame SUVs come with a V8, this one has a V6. And I don’t think that this is a downgrade. Because you can tow 9000 pounds with this setup. And at no point did I feel that I lacked power to merge onto a highway or pass anything. What’s even more impressive is the fact that power is easily modulated with your right foot. The only gripe that I had was that it took me a bit to get used to braking which is able to bring this rather huge SUV to a stop very quickly should the need arise. But I suppose this is a non issue if you daily drive it.

When it comes to fuel economy, it’s not as bad as you might think. The Expedition is rated for 15.4 L/100 KM city, 10.7 L/100 KM highway, and 13.1 L/100 KM combined. I hit 13.1 L/100 KM during my week with the Expedition which was better than I was expecting.

Now this vehicle as I said is huge. And this took me some getting used to as I am coming from an SUV that is much smaller. I will not call it agile, but it had a surprisingly decent turning radius. You can also get it to change lanes in a hurry if needed on the highway without it complaining. Having said that, condo owners like me should take this vehicle off your shopping list as the height of this vehicle is close to the maximum limit of my garage. And parking it in my parking spot was to be frank, comical. I say that because what is normally a 1 minute exercise is 5 minutes with this vehicle as I was taking care to make sure I didn’t hit anything. Thus I spent a lot of time shuffling this vehicle back and forth to get it into my spot without hitting the pillar to my right, or the car to my left. Good thing that it has an array of sensors and cameras to warn you if you are getting too close to an object. That helped immensely. In terms of noise, vibration, and harshness, the Expedition is generally quiet except for tire noise. And while it does bounce if you hit a bump that a bit too big, it wasn’t anywhere near as bouncy as I was expecting it to be.

One other note:

Because this vehicle has about 9″ of ground clearance, this trim level comes with retractable running boards. And if you’re anything shorter than 5′ 5″ tall, you will need them to get in and out of the vehicle.

Tomorrow I’m going to walk you through the interior of the Expedition. But here’s a spoiler alert, it’s on another level.

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