Gadget sizes, the eye can fail
So I rarely discuss dimensions and weights when I write up electronics, figuring that it’s fairly obvious, or at least easy enough to find on the manufacturer’s Web site. But the latter is not always true, and some products just don’t look their true size, even when pictured with a little context. For instance, when I first saw a photo of Y-Tronic’s dual antenna AIS accessory, my eye failed to see how petite it actually is, even though the plugs are familiar. (And I still don’t understand how it mounts on a rail, though I’ve got the question in). Nor did I get how chunky the Lowrance iWay 600c is from its first photo. I’ve come to like the thing quite a bit, but shoppers should know that it weighs about 2.6 pounds with the accessories below (bigger here), and the AC brick is a whopping 1.6 pounds more. The weights are not given at Lowrance.com (that I can find), but the manual does wisely recommend resting the unit on a dashboard so that the suction mount doesn’t take the whole strain. By the way, I’m quite enjoying my new photo set up, above, but an explanation of the lab coat will have to wait a while!
The lab coat gives you that all-important credibility mojo. Without the lab coat, you're just some guy writing about electronics. With it, suddenly you're conducting "clinical studies". :-)