Unlike traditional hot tubs which essentially chemical bomb the water, you should enter an ahhNatural tub clean. If it becomes overwhelmed with oil and bacteria, you may need to resort to chlorine to get it back to clean state. I have resorted to using chlorine on a few occasions, but only to get my water back to “normal”. When I do this, I remove the ahhNatural bag from the tub until most of the chlorine has dissipated.

ahhNatural specifies using hydrogen peroxide to shock the tub and keep it clean. I usually do this after refilling the tub. Over the course of using the tub, I use “MPS” – monopersulfate. There are a few forms of this compound on the market, which most pool supply stores will carry at least one. Essentially this uses oxygen, like peroxide, to keep the tub clean. You should experiment with various MPS brands. SpaDepot offers an MPS I have used consistently. However, I have found that when the water gets really dirty, you may eventually go through a large quantity of MPS. What I have noticed is that in large quantities, MPS will break down into some cloudy material. This may give you the impression that your water is dirty. It will eventually get filtered out, but you may need to resort to chlorine to get the tub back to normal. Too much MPS can wreak havoc with your pH too.

The biggest tip is that pH is critical. It is true that your ahhNatural water will stabilize to its preferred pH, which will likely differ greatly from the standard spa pH level. I have also lived in two areas where the water is quite different and can impact how easy it is to maintain your pH.

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The Sleeptracker uses an internal accelerometer (the same thing in the iPhone) to monitor your sleeping patterns. It can monitor and detect your sleep cycle – deep REM vs light sleep – and enable you to track it over time. You can log your eating, exercise and other behaviors that might impact sleep to manage your patterns.

What’s more is that when you set an alarm to wake up it will do so during your lightest sleep phase – so you feel less groggy and more refreshed. Well, that is the promise anyway.

The alarm can vibrate or be audible, which is a good “alarm clock” option. But I never felt refreshed…ever. I used the Sleeptracker for several months and saw consistency in my sleep patterns but no real “aha” moments…so to that extent it just confirmed that my stressful lifestyle causes my chronic exhaustion.

The alarm certainly wakes you up at the top of your sleep cycle, but I never felt refreshed. What I did conclude was that I simply don’t get enough sleep to feel refreshed…getting sleep is key for me. it really didn’t matter: exercise, caffeine, food, etc – I just needed sleep to offset stress.

Sleeptracker is a great troubleshooting tool for those needing more rest. But don’t expect miracles.

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Then I found Softub.

It looks a bit strange at first, but man – it was exactly what I was looking for. It’s totally not your typical hot tub. It plugs right into a standard wall outlet. It’s lightweight – I can carry it! It’s easy to assemble/disassemble – the motor (that protruding part in the photo) and the tub. Connect the three tubes, fill the tub and you’re off!

Not to mention, it’s called a Softub because it is soft – it’s made with marine grade vinyl and foam, so it’s lightweight, yet durable.

What is really innovative is how it’s heated. Unlike typical hot tubs that have separate heating elements, Softub uses the heat from the pump motor to heat the water. The result is a very cost efficient tub. I estimate it costs me $15/mo in electricity to operate (the site claims $10, but I suppose that depends on the cost of electricity where you live and the average outside temperature).

The design is a bit abnormal for traditionalists. It’s perfectly round and there are no “seats”. But it is soft! An the filter protrudes out from the side, inside the tub. But if you can get over those minor differences, you’ll love this.

For a little less than the price of a heavy, bulky, regular tub, you can have an easy to install, lightweight, portable hot tub. I’ve had mine for nearly three years now and it’s simply amazing!

Of course, there are some drawbacks. The lid on my model doesn’t go over the edge of the tub completely – as a result, rain water tends to leak into the tub, resulting in the water becoming dirty quick (or filling the tub up). One drawback to the unique heating method is that the tub doesn’t get hotter than 104 degrees F. This is probably acceptable for most soakers, but I would prefer a few more degrees. The air/bubble mechanism isn’t very robust, so don’t expect a “rolling boil”. Finally, the Softub product isn’t widely distributed, so you may not have a local service shop to call on – I had a minor problem under warranty and had to ship my motor.

All in all though, the Softub is well worth the investment.

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The Razor Saver claims to be a sort of “sharpener” by buffing out the small imperfections on blades after usage. However, I did not see any indication of additional sharpness. Any why should I, the thing looks like a plastic case with a mirror mounted to the bottom!

There are many similar items on the market, which I would think operate in the same poor way. However, the Razor Saver simply does not work. Save your face or legs and buy a new pack of blades instead.

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