RainyDayMagazine's content can now be licensed for your print magazine or web site. Please contact us directly here. If you want to see something reviewed, then drop us a note with a link and we'll be happy to take a look.

NOTE: Click here to read more about our approach to product reviews.

A lot of people have garages to store their car. Some even have enough space that they can work on their vehicles while protected from the New England weather. However, many city dwellers are not so fortunate. Most have to park on the street, and a few lucky ones can park in a private driveway. Those with such parking conditions have to choose their automotive tools with a bit more selectivity. The tools have to be portable, rugged, and if possible multi-purpose. It is with these criteria in mind that we put together the 2013 RainyDayGarage Holiday Gift Guide.

Many of the items we have on this year's list are from Clore Automotive. Their gear has restarted our cars, filled our tires, and brought our dead batteries back to life. In all the years that we have used these products, they have never failed us. So this Holiday Season, we wanted to give Clore a special shout-out and highlight some of the items which we've found to be particularly... [more]- RainyDayGiftGuide: Garage

We know that winter is coming, but the folks at the RainyDayGarage like to disregard that inevitability for as long as possible; if the convertible top of the Boxster can go down without causing the rear plastic window to crack (from the cold), it will be retracted. However, mid-November is about as deep into Fall as we dare to push our luck.

The temperature was 50º+ on Veteran's Day. We decided to take advantage of the good weather and do the Winter Prep on the Boxster. Like past years, the Prep involves... [more]- Boxster Winter Prep

We have been using the BlackVue dashcam for the last few months, and it has become a part of our driving habit. Getting into a vehicle which does not have a dashcam now feels odd, like getting into a car which does not have seat belts (some readers may be old enough to remember those days). Anyway, while having a forward-looking camera is great, our first comment to BlackVue was we wished there was a way to record both forward and rearward videos. BlackVue's replied that they have been working on that feature and hope to have it ready before the end of the year.

True to their word, the BlackVue Wi-Fi 2 CH is now available! Like the DR500GW dashcam, the front camera of the DR550GW 2CH BlackVue is capable of 1920x1080p Full HD. The rear camera is able to record in 1280x720 resolution. The front camera looks almost exactly like the DR500GW unit with the... [more]- BlackVue 2-Ch DashCam FirstLook

After a month of use we thought it was time to share some of our impressions on the BlackVue dashcam hardware and software. The short version is, if you are in the market for a dashcam, you should seriously consider getting one from BlackVue. We were surprised how much it added to the driving experience. Having a record of each drive will clearly be helpful in a dispute, but we think knowing there will be a record also made us drive with more care. We have no reservations recommending the BlackVue DR500GW.

When the RainyDayGarage folks installed the BlackVue DR500GW-HD dashcam in the project car a month ago, they opted to forego putting in the Power Magic Pro for regulating juice to the BlackVue. Instead, they powered the camera off the same cigarette plug which ran the Cheetah mirror. It took everyone a few trips to remember to switch on/off the camera when getting in/out of the car. While the extra step is now second nature, we may still... [more]- BlackVue Camera FirstUse

We have quite a few flashlights (LumaRay FL-6, FL-12, Surefire, U2 Ultra, TigerLight) and they get used more than one would think. While we like them, use them, and there are a lot of different flashlights on the market, we don't review them too often. However, when we come across a vendor or a unit worth talking about, we are all over it. A few months back, a reader told us that we should check out the LED Lenser M7RX. We took a look and the M7RX was something we thought our readers might find interesting.

LED LENSER was founded by two brothers (Rainer and Harald Opolka) in Germany in 1994. When LED technology started becoming mainstream, the Leatherman Tool Group acquired the company in 2011. Yup, the same company that created the Skeletool, one of our favorite multi-tool. We think it was a... [more]- LED LENSER M7RX FirstLook

Earlier in the week we posted a FirstLook at a cool little video camera called the BlackVue DR500GW-HD. The BlackVue is a new class of video camera designed specifically for recording footage from the inside of a vehicle. It is perfect for a variety of purposes: insurance claims, security/remote monitoring, car-at-the-racetrack day. The camera is able to communicate with WiFi-enabled devices such as the iPhone and iPad for viewing. Data on the removable MicroSD card can be download to any computer for review and archival storage.

Today, we will show you how we mounted the BlackVue in our project car. As RainyDayGarage readers know, we have installed quite a few things in the Boxster over the years (Carputer, Escort radar detector, touchscreen, Cheetah Mirror, etc). As a result, the area around the rearview mirror is a bit crowded. Also, there are now wires running up both sides of the windshield and no room to run a third set. In order to power the BlackVue, we had to... [more]- BlackVue Camera Installation

It is a fact that cameras are everywhere these days. Some see it as a good thing, others consider it problematic and an invasion of privacy. However, there is no denying that having the ability to look back in time and reconstruct a sequence can oftentimes be helpful. One of those times is when we are in a vehicle on the road. This is the thinking behind an innovative product from a company with a line called the BlackVue.

At first glance, readers may mistake the BlackVue for a typical webcam (Creative, Logitech) or an actioncam (GoPro, Sony, Contour). The BlackVue has the specs of a high-end webcam and works in ways very similar to that of an actioncam. However, the BlackVue has features which uniquely set it apart from everything else currently on the market. The BlackVue camera is... [more]- BlackVue Camera FirstLook

The Spring Prep ritual for the Boxster was completed this weekend. We swapped out the Firestone WinterForce snow tires for the Hankook Ventus summer ones, checked the battery, and did a bunch of maintenance procedures (tire pressure, 4-wheel alignment, control arm lubrication, etc.) to get the car ready for top-down weather.

The Firestone WinterForce performed quite well this Winter under all kinds of condtions: really cold; slushy wet;, heavy snow. We had full confidence driving the Boxster whether we were in the city or on the highway. However, they were definitely not designed for the 60º weather we had been experiencing last week. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and swapped them out for the Hankook Ventus. BTW, the Kurgo TireTotes we got back in 2007 are still... [more] - Boxster Spring Prep