Product Reviews

Videomaker Magazine Reviews SL-20LX

Brighter Bulbs: Sima Light Model SL-20LX– The first of these accessories is an ultra-bright LED camera assist light by Sima. Weighing less than a quarter-pound and measuring approximately 2" wide by 2" deep, the SL-20LX is lightweight and portable, and it easily fits in the palm of one's hand. Even at that size, though, it packs a punch with its projection.

The SL-20LX's packaging boldly proclaimed that it was "50X brighter than standard bulbs," which we put to the test in a moderately-sized room at night. We attached a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8 camera to the bracket, along with the light, and we shot both still pictures and video - with and without flash assist. At a distance of about 20 feet, the light held up and the shots came back nicely. However, in some cases, such as extreme closeup, the powerful light shining on the subject of our shots came in too bright. And with no adjustable settings for the LED's brightness, it proved detrimental for some uses.

The light supports the inclusion of up to two additional lights through an interlocking design. Slide an extra light into each side of the Sima LED, and it will be possible to have a long horizontal row of extra lights.

The light uses LED technology, which doesn't give off much heat. Even after extended use, touching its exterior is comfortable, and it doesn't burn in the slightest.

XL-8 Review by Video Room Reviews

Have you ever wanted to bring back the glory days of drive in theaters? Sima Products has made it possible for you to do this and much more with the Sima XL-8 Inflatable Home Theater Kit. Essentially, a high value indoor/outdoor home movie theater in a box, this easy to set up and use screen has many applications, including use as an outdoor theater, indoor home theater, video gaming, special event use, and much more. Take tailgating to a whole new level as you can inflate and deflate the Sima Home Theater in a matter of minutes, which makes for easy travel use. Compatible with all projectors (not included), the Sima Inflatable Theater line includes a six foot, 8 foot, and 12 foot projection screen. The complete 8 foot projection screen kit (you can buy the screen and accessories minus the speakers) includes the screen, durable black frame, inflation/deflation pump, volume control box, audio cables, 1 pair of 100W amplified speakers with 8″ woofers and a repair kit. It features 16×9 widescreen format and is capable of front and rear projection. You can hook up your projection from a DVD or Blu-ray player, gaming systems, laptop, cable box, or digital camera/camcorder. Again, you can see the tremendous possibilities for enhanced entertained offered by the flexibility and capability of such a large, portable home theater screen. The toughest thing about using the Sima Home Theater Kit is trying to figure out what to do with it. Do you create your outdoor theater experience? Set up the theater room you have always wanted for a low investment by adding a projector? Host your own gaming tournaments? Fortunately, because it literally takes 5-10 minutes to inflate, and less to deflate, you can try it out or use it in a variety of ways without a lot of extra time involved. Set up time does take a while initially until you get used to the process. The screen and frame come in sturdy nylon bags for storage and transport.

Newstips Bulletin Calls SL-20LX an Excellent Holiday Gift

Special Report Bonus Review 5: Sima SL20LX LED Video Light Our regulars know how fond we are of LED-based camera & camcorder lights & the surprisingly inexpensive ($30-47 online) Sima SL20LX Ultra Bright LED Video light is killer cool. The face (a smidge more than 2.25” square; it’s about an inch thick) places a 6x6 array of 4500K white LEDs behind a diffuser. The mechanics are intriguing; it has an integrated shoe mount but also comes with a bracket that offers a pass-through tripod screw mount (repositionable along a slot) on one end & a shoe mount on the other) but that isn’t all; the other 3 sides of the light have slots that can accept shoe mounts. Note that even small point & shoot cameras & pocket camcorders that don’t have shoe mounts do tend to accept tripod screws, so this light can even work with them. These mechanics also make it super-easy to mount arrayed clusters of these lights or to place a shoe-mounted mike where its shadow won’t get into the shot. Power comes from a LiIon battery; the included charger wants about 3.5 hours to recharge from scratch (its Led shifts from red to green when it’s finished) & a fresh charge seems to be good for 45 minutes (maybe up to an hour) of shooting. Sima suggests it for lighting subjects 15-25’ away; we find it can be useful at twice that distance (depending on the quality of the camera, no doubt); in any case, its rated light output is 600 lumens. Is this a holiday gift wrap candidate? Absolutely; constant light gives much more predictable & satisfactory results than a still-camera flash or a camcorder’s dependency on ambient light & most suitable LED video lights cost 10 or more times as much. Bottom line: the Sima SL20LX Ultra Bright LED Video light is an accessory that just about every camera or camcorder owner will find to be a useful, flexible & affordable boon to making good shots come out even better.

Reviewboard.com XL Theater

Sima's XL Theater receives Editors Choice Award
Read entire review from Reviewboard Magazine

Now you and your friend's iPods can get Hitched

How many times have you wanted—perhaps even needed—to transfer information between two devices, say a digital camera and a flash memory drive, but haven't had a computer anywhere? ...
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Transfer Files Through USB Without A Computer!

How many times have you needed to transfer some sort of media from one unit to another, and there just so happened to not be a computer in sight? This scenario takes place in many ways and forms, and none of them are pleasant. Well, now there’s a solution to your troubles...
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Blow this screen up and take it on the road

When is a 96-inch screen not a 96-inch screen? When it's inflatable...
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XL-12 Inflatable Projection Screen review

It's a beautiful day here in Indiana so I'm "taking it outside" to layout, set up and snap some pictures for those who may be curious about this screen...
Read entire review from BackyardTheater.com

Charging Your USB MP3 Players Without a Computer

There are many of these types USB wall chargers out there, but I particularly like the compact size and fold up design of this one. It is made by Sima...
Read entire review from Anything But iPod

Mini-Tripod Model ST-10K

"Undoubtedly most of us have had 'Kodak' moments where a tripod would have been handy. But who lugs around their tripod with them everywhere they go? SIMA has solved this age old problem by making a Mini Tripod..."
Read entire review from Digital Media Thoughts