Product Review: Outlaw 68 Inch Console

 

This is a TV stand/storage console that I purchased from Slumberland (which you can find at https://www.slumberland.com/products/outlaw-68-inch-console). It comes fully assembled and is packed well to keep it protected. It has a fantastic distressed look and three color options: saddle (shown in the picture), navy, and black. I bought it to store DVDs and Blu-Rays, which it is ideally suited for. There is a single shelf in each door and the middle, so you essentially get upper and lower shelves perfectly spaced apart for holding DVDs, Blu-Rays, or books. So, for you movie and TV series collectors, you can easily store over 150 discs on the console (if you have a mix of single discs and larger box sets). If you do not have many box sets, you can store closer to 200 discs. 

If you want to use it as a TV stand, it can easily hold a 65-inch TV, and slots are cut in the back to thread cords through to make cord management easy. It is reasonably priced at $350. It is made from solid (real) wood and is heavy (130 lbs). If you live alone, especially if you have to get it up and down stairs, you can pay extra for full-service delivery to have the delivery crew put it where you want it and take the packaging away. So, if you are looking for a well-made, reasonably priced console, this is well worth the price. 

Product Review: Prepac Locking Media Storage Cabinet

 

This is a pre-fab media storage cabinet. One person can put it together in about an hour and a half. You really just need a Phillips screwdriver, a hammer, a drill, and a small drill bit. It is mostly put together using screws and cams, and then a particle board back that you hammer nails into. The doors are put together so that you can put three rows of DVDs, blu rays, or CDs in each door, and then three rows along the back of the cabinet. It would be nice if they would have made it about 2 feet taller so that another row of DVDs would fit both in the middle compartment and each door. They provide three shelves for each door and the center compartment, but there is dead space because whether you use the third shelf or just put DVDs on the bottom of the cabinet itself, you can only get three rows of DVDs/blu-rays in each door and the center. If it were a bit taller you would be able to use the third shelf, and then put a fourth row on the bottom and end up getting another 40-50 in it, which would be nice for those of us who have a large movie collection, and have not ditched the physical discs just to stream everything.

The only other piddly point for me is the locking mechanisms. Each door has its own lock, one side uses a key and turns a thin plastic piece into a grove in the top, and on the other door you have to attach a latch that you physically move up and down when the door is shut (you have to reach inside when the other door is open to engage it, then shut and lock the other door) to lock that side. It should be made so the key lock is in the middle and will lock both sides simultaneously. And you have to lock the doors to keep them from swinging open. The doors are hinged, and they will not stay closed if you leave either side unlocked. I have also discovered that the doors can warp over time (especially if you slide them across the floor (even with the doors shut) while they are full) so that the doors will not stay locked even when you turn the key. That is a bit of a double-edged sword because the doors stay shut now even when it is unlocked, but the locking ability is basically useless.

Those issues are what knock it down a few stars for me. If not for that, it is easily a five-star product, especially given it is something you have to put together yourself and is relatively inexpensive. Once it is put together it feels very sturdy. It does not feel like a good gust of wind will take it apart, which is sometimes the case with the put it together yourself furniture.

Product Review: Evelots 2 Pack CD Storage Bags

 

If you grew up in the era before streaming music, and/or just prefer the physical media (and chances are most of the people making up those two groups are the same) you most likely have a collection of CDs taking up space somewhere. Given that if you subscribe to Amazon or Apple's music service, or just search for a song on YouTube, you can find almost any song from any album in seconds. However, if you are like me, and spent a good chunk of money on CDs back before every song was online, you hate the thought of throwing away perfectly good discs. 

These are great for keeping your CDs protected and provide a way to store them in a much more efficient manner than sticking them on a shelf or in a bunch of boxes (which could end up weighing a ton). Each box comes with 2 bags, each of which can store about 45 single CDs. You would be able to get a few more in, except that inside each bag there are two plastic dividers that separate the inside into three sections. They are along the seams where the handles are connected to give them added support so it is not a good idea to cut them. That is really the one drawback (if you can even call it one). I definitely recommend these.