So I purchased this on demand ozone water spray bottle, manufactured by @o3waterworks with an MSRP just under $200.

I was a bit skeptical since this just happened to popup on my insta/fb timeline with not the most professional or flashy marketing campaign.

However, after reading a lot of reviews and seeing a similar product at my dentist’s office, I thought I would give it a try.

It seems ozone infused water (aqueous ozone) has been used as an industrial disinfectant for sometime now and for cleaning the food and water supply.

While gaseous ozone (O3) is a pollutant and hazardous to our lungs, aqueous ozone is relatively safe to humans and degrades to oxygen (O2) in water. The half life of ozone is about 15 minutes. That means every 15 minutes about half the remaining ozone will become oxygen.

Ozone is an oxidizer which can destroy bacteria/viruses/fungi. It also can deodorize by destroying odor causing molecules, organisms.

So, a part of any strenuous activity is usually associated with sweat. Sweat is accompanied by strong odors. We try to limit these odors through cleaning, using a barrier device/fabric, cover up odors with stronger odors and ventilation.

While I wipe down my bogu with a wet cloth after practice I don’t generally wash or rinse it (especially since I don’t have that many sets of bogu to exchange with while I wait for the other to dry). Which — I admit — is just gross. In the past, I’ve used hockey spray (some use Febreze), a sport dryer, plain old leaving the bogu overnight outside, so who knows how much dead bacteria and other organisms have accumulated over the years.

So having a spray that can both deodorize and disinfect seems like a winner to me. Will this replace occasionally deep cleaning of the bogu? Probably not, but it should be better than nothing.

So how does it work? An electric current separates O2 gas into two separate ions. One of the ions will combine with a gas molecule to form ozone (O3). Eventually the ozone (O3) will lose an ion and return to it’s more stable gas state (O2).

The spray bottle is weighted on the bottom, probably housing much of the electronics. The neck is ergonomic. It utilizes a push button electric trigger rather than a mechanical one which is pretty cool as there is no hand fatigue. There is a charging port on cover on the top right of the bottle and the top of unit has indicators for help in determining proper operation and error codes.

The 10 oz capacity reservoir has a semi-firm plug. It is easy to fill via faucet, just don’t use distilled water (per the warnings). I found it difficult to judge the max fill line while the bottle is tilted for filling, but no worries, just tilt the other way and it will spill out. They also warn you not to operator the spray without any water.

The included charger has a green indicator to help you determine if the unit has been fully charged. They recommend you top off every day to keep it fully charge.

The spray comes out not as a mist or a stream. So it’s easy to saturate an area quickly. Also the spray does not pulse, it appears to be continuous. They recommend optimal distance of 6-8 inches.

When you first begin to use it, it will not spray which was at first concerning. However, if you hold the spray button down, it will eventually prime the pump and you are good to go.

So I’ve had this bottle for only two days now and I think it does make a difference. In the immediate time after use, it does have the smell of fresh rain/ozone. I store my bogu in our converted garage/gym and on some days it’s pretty rank. However, after the spray, it seems to have been muted. I have taken a whiff of the kotes and there is still a smell. But I don’t know if this is due to residual build up or if it is the natural smell of the smoked leather. Anyhow, it seems to have made a difference on the chin pad of the men, the tare and the himo.

Time will tell if the aqueous ozone causes any fading of the indigo dye, but I have been told officially that it does not or to test in an inconspicuous place first.

I’m going to continue to use it and will update this entry if there is anything else.

The nice thing about this spray is that it is not limited to deodorizing/sanitizing bogu or sportsgear. I can use it in the kitchen to spray down veggies and fruits, sanitize the sink, disinfect the doggie bowl, spray down surfaces, pretty much use anywhere you would like to clean without resorting to detergents or bleach.

Note: I did not receive a free unit or get paid by o3waterworks for this review, but if they want to send me another spray bottle, I will gladly take it *wink wink*.

So I finally got tired of fixing my last non-kendo bogu bag (see http://www.iheartkendo.com/fixing-a-zipper/), and after a few months of searching I purchased this bad boy from Thule.

The Thule Subterra 25 inch/63 cm Spinner combines a soft front and reinforced sides and a textured skid plate in a stable vertical platform. It has an extendable handle on the rear of the bag and has two locking positions. While most handles have a release button on the top, the Subterra has two buttons on the side to prevent accidental release. You can press either button to release the handles. Two reinforced ballistic nylon handles on the top and on one side of the bag opposite the zippered opening. All zippers have reinforced eyelets. The front wheels are smaller so that they do not encroach on the internal cargo space. There is a mesh pocket for a business card to be used as ID. Comes in black, blue and burgundy.

The svelte Subterra has outer dimensions of 12.5 x 17.3 x 25.0 inches (31.75 x 43.9 x 63.5 cm) and is quite compact compared to my last bag, Planet Eclipse GX Split ‘Compact’ gear bag which was quite bulky (35 x 40 x 65 cm). I don’t know anything about capacity but the Subterra is 63L and the Split was 91L. The Subterra can also expand two inches via zipper extension. The main compartment can fit my XL E-bogu do and men (10.5 x 16.5 x 19 inches, self measured). I put the hakama and gi in the bottom zippered compartment and the tenugui and other stuff (contacts, tools, first aid kit, tasuki, probably shinpanki too) in the top compartment which can be accessed from the inside of the bag and also from the top of the bag.

It’s pretty light since it’s not a hardside and should be easy to wipe down both inside and out.

The bag is pretty stable upright and I have not had it tip over yet.

When full, there is a little bit of resistance on one side of the zipper which you have to be a little patient to close the bag. I might put a little candle wax or chapstix on it so that it will be easier to pull.

Right now, I haven’t really figured out if I am going to put wet gi/hakama back in the bag or carry a separate drawstring bag.

At 399.95 (430 USD with tax) it’s a bit pricey but I’ve been told the kendo traveller bags from tozando are about $300 (after shipping) but are a bit heavier.

It does the job while looking great. There isn’t any really extra wasted space. But I wished it came with a few more pockets and maybe a velcro panel or two for my patches.

Some other bags I had considered:
Virtue High Roller v4 – too small (15 x 16 x 31 in; 38 x 40.6 x 78.7 cm)
Ruthless Pro Duffle Backpack – too small (12 x 12 x 25 in; 30.5 x 30.5 x 63.5 cm), not rolling
Dakine 365 Roller 75L bag – too small (11.5 x 14 x 28 in; 29 x 35 x 71 cm)
Northface Rolling Thunder 30” Roller – (13 x 16 x 30 in; 33 x 40 x 76 cm) not a spinner

So I took a chance on an indiegogo campaign and purchased these compression sleeves from spryngme.com.

Spryng claims to decrease the recovery time for calf muscles after exercise.

SPRYNG™ contains an innovative, patent-pending WaveTech® graduated compression pattern that prevents leg swelling and improves blood circulation. It does this by mimicking the skeletal muscle pump that occurs following strenuous exercise, aiding in the return of blood to the heart so swelling and muscle injury is reduced.

So what you get is a pair of one-size-fits-all pair of active compression sleeves, carrying bag and charger.

The dimensions of the bag with sleeves and the charger is about 14 x 7 x 4 inches, so this can fit in a backpack and easily into carryon luggage.

Each sleeve is labeled either right or left and is placed on the top of the foot and attached by velcro on the back of the leg. At first I had some difficulty putting on the sleeves because I have thick calves and didn’t realize that I was wearing the sleeves too high (I did contact customer support and they did notify me that they would be shipping out extensions for those of us who are well endowed).

Operating time after charging (about two to three hours), is about 15 minutes with up to 10 cycles of use between charges. The sleeves are turned on by holding down the center diamond button until the LED indicators come on. They are turned off by holding down the same button. The arrow up button is used for adjusting pressure and the double diamond button is for adjusting the compression pattern.

What makes this product unique is that it is active compression mimicking the natural compression in your leg without being tethered. The sleeves can be worn with or without clothes and you can even walk around while using them. However, they are not meant to be used while being active (only for recovery ) and not to be immersed in water.

I have used them for over a month now, two cycles after coming home from practices (and after a shower) and I can say my legs feel much better the next day and I have not had any muscle spasms (Charley-horses) waking me up in the night since then. They are easy to clean since the material is nylon and the inner liner which is attached by velcro to the sleeve is washable.

Some caveats. They aren’t cheap. The current price for a pair is about $250 in the US (includes shipping). It took me awhile to receive my sleeves mainly because they were having trouble with the FDA importing them into the US. I still have a couple warning letters from the FDA that I may or may not need to respond too (still waiting for spryng to respond but in a blog post prior to delivery, they had said I would not need to).

[Update: after back and forth with FDA, FedEx and spryng, FedEx finally agreed to take back the units so they could comply with the FDA. I received two BRAND NEW units, one of which was also quickly replaced for a malfunctioning sleeve with another brand new set. All of this without their knowledge I was reviewing their product. Kudos to you guys!]

Also, when first charging the units, the charging ports are really shallow. So don’t try to force the charging receptacles on the charging, they just barely hang there.

Pros:
Compact active compression sleeve that just works
Wireless
More or less one size fits all
Portable
Untethered

Cons:
Expensive
Took a long time to receive (warning letters from the FDA)
Charging port is shallow
May not fit as well for those with really thick calves (but extensions planned)

[Update: I received two sets of extensions free also. These also attach by Velcro.]

Price:
$249.99 USD (free shipping in US)

Warranty:
1 year against manufacturing defects