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The Best SUV/Van Of 2016 Goes To: 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Limited

Posted in Commentary with tags , on December 22, 2016 by itnerd

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The minivan is not dead, and the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Limited makes a very compelling case to support that assertion. When my wife and I looked at it earlier this year, we found that it did a lot of things right. It has one of the best interiors that we’ve seen, it is powerful and drives very well, and it is roomy as adults can actually sit in the third row comfortably. If you don’t need to carry humans, you get an insane amount of cargo space thanks to “Stow n’ Go” seating which helps to give you almost 4000L of space. Plus you get a hefty amount of technology including Siri Eyes Free and the ability to stop your kids from asking you “are we there yet?” All of this in a package that actually looks kind of stylish. If you need a minivan and you have $65K CDN to spend, this is the one to get, and it is a worthy winner of an IT Nerd Award.

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Car Of 2016 Goes To: 2017 Mazda3 Sport GT

Posted in Commentary with tags , on December 21, 2016 by itnerd

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Mazda in the form of the 2017 Mazda3 Sport GT has really put the compact car class on notice with two significant changes to this fun to drive hatchback. The first is G-Vectoring Control which not only makes a good driving car great to drive, but is also a great safety feature as I discovered shortly after picking it up from Mazda Canada. The second is the interior. Quite simply, Mazda has upped their game when it comes to the interior of this vehicle as it is very refined, upscale, and making the Mazda3 Sport GT a class above. On top of both of those points, my wife and I had it for a week as our daily driver as well as to go on an overnight trip to Algonquin Park, and we were sad to give it back as it was a great car to have. All of that made it a no-brainer to give the 2017 Mazda3 Sport GT The IT Nerd Award for best car of 2016. 

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Accessory Of 2016 Goes To: Varidesk ProPlus 36″

Posted in Commentary with tags , on December 20, 2016 by itnerd

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I review a ton of products during any given calendar year. That makes this category really tough to pick a winner in. After re-reading all the reviews that I wrote in 2016, I was able to narrow down the list and eventually I landed on the Varidesk ProPlus 36″ as the winner of the best accessory. The reason being is that when I was reviewing it, I used my wife’s desk as she’s got a flat desk that makes using the Varidesk ideal. At first she was really skeptical about the use case of the Varidesk and only wanted it on her desk for as long as it took me to write the review. Then she wanted it gone. But after a few days I noted that she really got into using the Varidesk. She would use it while standing if she had just been out for a run or if she had just done a Crossfit workout. Or she would alternate between sitting and standing depending on her mood. When I pointed this out to her, she admitted that she wrong and it was never leaving her desk. Clearly Varidesk has a winner on its hands, and an award from The IT Nerd for being the best accessory for 2016 to boot.

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Smartphone Of 2016 Goes To: ZTE Axon 7

Posted in Commentary with tags , on December 19, 2016 by itnerd

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There were two smartphones that stood out for me this year. The Asus ZenFone 3 and the ZTE Axon 7. Both of them deserve a place on your shopping list as they are great phones that have the capability of using two SIM cards and being reasonably speedy and feature rich. But the reason why the ZTE Axon 7 wins the day was because of the fact that it had amazing audio quality and the camera was quite good (though the auto-focus was a bit flaky). This is a great follow up to the ZTE Axon which took home last year’s IT Nerd Award for the best smartphone of 2015, and it will be interesting to see if ZTE can pull of a “three-peat” in 2017.

 

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best SUV Of 2015 Goes To: Hyundai Tucson Limited

Posted in Products with tags , on December 4, 2015 by itnerd

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SUV’s, crossovers, whatever you want to call them, they are insanely popular. And there were a lot of new challengers in this market this year. I reviewed challengers from Mazda, Jeep, Hyundai this year. But in my opinion Hyundai has a winner in the form of the 2016 Hyundai Tucson. I reviewed the Limited trim level and found it to be a vehicle that brings a healthy amount of luxury, performance, fuel economy, and capability to the table for a competitive price. It stood out to such a degree over its competition that my wife and I bought one. Though as I noted in the follow up on my review that my “welcome lights” which is Hyundai speak for door handle lights that light up when you approach the Tucson didn’t work. Hyundai apparently forgot to add that feature to vehicles made before September 2015 and they are working on a fix for that, one which I hope comes sooner rather than later. But that doesn’t detract from how good this vehicle is as it shows that the fact that the Hyundai Genesis won an IT Nerd Award last year wasn’t a fluke. And that Hyundai has gone from the car company that made the Pony to a car company that is coming out with products that are game changers. Quite simply, the 2016 Hyundai Tucson is a very deserving winner of the best SUV of 2015.

 

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Car Of 2015 Goes To: Buick Regal Turbo

Posted in Products with tags , on December 3, 2015 by itnerd

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The 2015 Buick Regal Turbo was a car that really blew my mind and shattered any pre-conceptions that I had about Buick. When my wife and I got it for a one week test drive, my wife referred it it as an “old-man’s car.” But by the end of the week we found that it was driving a quick, agile and very refined sports sedan that easily competes against luxury competition form Germany and Japan. Not to mention that it was a far from being an “old-man’s car” as you could possibly get. If this car is what we can expect from Buick in the future, then their future is bright. If you’re in the market for a luxury sports sedan, you need to head to your local Buick dealer and test drive the Regal Turbo as it is a very worthy winner of the best car of 2015.

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Accessory OF 2015 Goes To: RHA MA450 Headsets For The iPhone/iPod/iPad

Posted in Products with tags , on December 2, 2015 by itnerd

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This is a category that I had a difficult time picking a winner from. I went back and forth between everything that I reviewed this year before I settled on the RHA MA450 Headsets For The iPhone/iPod/iPad. Simply put, they bring amazing sound and quality construction to the table without costing you a pile of money to get it. Now, most of you will never have heard of RHA, but if they put out products like these, they’ll be on the map soon enough. Which in turn will make a certain rap icon who makes headsets look over his shoulder. The RHA MA450 headsets are a very deserving winner of The IT Nerd Best Accessory Award for 2015, and should be your choice if you want to listen to your music on the go.

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Smartphone Of 2015 Goes To: ZTE Axon

Posted in Products with tags , on December 1, 2015 by itnerd

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This category was a slam dunk as far as I am concerned as ZTE has managed to go from budget phone manufacturer to making flagship phones that you’d want to buy, and won’t cost you a lot. How have they done that? Well, they delivered the Axon smartphone which has the following going for it:

  • Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
  • 2.3GHz quad-core processor
  • 5.5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 resolution with Corning Gorilla Glass 3
  • 2GB RAM
  • 32GB internal storage – Non Expandable
  • 13MP + 2MP rear camera with 4K HD video capability with dual-LED flash
  • 8MP Fixed-Focus front-facing camera with 720p HD video recording
  • Hi-Fi audio
  • LTE, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
  • Non-removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery

Let me boil all of that down to just the facts. ZTE has a fast phone that has the best audio that I’ve ever heard in a phone, a camera that works in all conditions, and a battery that not only lasts the whole day and then some, but charges quickly as well. It’s a phone that will have Samsung and Apple looking over their shoulder, and you smiling all the way to the bank because it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. The ZTE Axon is a deserving winner of the best smartphone of 2015.

 

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best SUV Goes To: Jeep Cherokee Limited

Posted in Products with tags , on December 14, 2014 by itnerd

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This is the last award that I’ll be handing out and like the other car categories, this decision was a toss up. On one hand there’s the Mazda CX-5 GT which brought insanely great handling, a extensive suite of technology, and good fuel economy to the table. On the other hand there’s The Jeep Cherokee Limited which lives up to the Jeep heritage and brought its own array of technology to the table along with good fuel economy. In the end, I gave the nod to the Jeep Cherokee Limited. Granted, most SUVs never touch dirt in any significant way. But the Jeep Cherokee Limited will handle off road conditions with ease thanks to one of the more advanced four wheel drive systems on the market. That’s something that you’ll appreciate in other conditions such as a winter storm. Not only that, it has a ton of technology in it including ParkSense which gives the Jeep Cherokee Limited the ability to parallel and perpendicular park itself. That makes it ideal for your urban adventures in addition to your off road adventures. To top it off, it has a 9 speed transmission mated to the V6 engine to keep your fuel costs down. Something that I appreciated when I was testing it for my review last summer. To be fair the CX-5 almost pulled this one out because it quite frankly is a very good SUV that deserves a very good look if you are in the market for one. But what tipped the scales in favor of the Jeep was ParkSense and its off road capabilities. Those points made it my choice for the best SUV of 2014.

This was fun to do as it really made me think about what truly are the best products that I review. Congratulations to the winners and I look forward to doing this again next year.

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Car Over $40K Goes To: Hyundai Genesis 5.0 Ultimate

Posted in Products with tags , on December 13, 2014 by itnerd

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I have to admit that I had a tough time choosing between the Volvo V60 R-Design and the Hyundai Genesis 5.0 Ultimate as they were both cars that impressed me. The reason why the Hyundai Genesis got the award is that you get yourself a luxury car that has excellent performance, fit and finish that is at worst equal to the cars it competes with, and a broad suite of technologies on board including a really cool way to open the trunk for a price that is thousands less than their German or Japanese competition. Now I almost gave this award to the Volvo V60 because it is an excellent alternative to an SUV that is really, really quick and handles well. Not to mention that it has a great feature set from a safety perspective. But Hyundai has managed to flip the script by coming up with a car that shows the world that luxury doesn’t have to be expensive seeing as it is exactly $62K CDN fully loaded. Quite simply, the Hyundai Genesis is a car that should make everyone else in this market rethink what a luxury car should be. As a result, it’s my pick for the best car over $40K.

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