Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

This is an impeccably researched and referenced account of the Theranos saga. As a long-time observer and sometime competitor of Theranos I watched this tale unfold whilst working at a couple of established IVD companies. Everyone I knew who had ever developed an assay or instrument knew this was smoke and mirrors, impossibly too good to be true. What I never suspected was just how personally dishonest EH had been, and for how long the complex deception was maintained. Whilst I've met a few egregious individuals working for big companies, there are enough checks and balances (QA/RA, Med/Sci Affairs, CLSs and other professionals etc) in place to stop harmful devices getting out the door.The subject matter - developing devices and assays - is a complex dry topic, difficult to write engagingly about. But JC does a workmanlike job and I read this in one go after its midnight Kindle release. My only nit to pick is the poor editing: there are so many uses of '....named....' as in 'an engineer named John Smith' or 'a restaurant named Joe's Bar' that it got irritating. Find/replace 'named' with a comma would have worked fine in most cases. The text was also repetitive - eg '...an award named after Channing...' gets at least 2 mentions. But not enough to lose a star.Kudos to the good people at Theranos who had the courage to get the story out and for JCs persistence into a headwind of legalistic intimidation. I've heard Theranos is now a case-study for MBA students: this book should be required reading for anyone thinking about 'disrupting' the medical devices industry. There are lives at stake.

It takes a mighty strong person and an incredible investigative journalist to take down a multibillion company lead by a CEO and her partner who are doing nothing but telling lies, mistreating their employees, taking millions of dollars under false pretenses from Fortune 500 businesses and wealthy investors, betraying their esteemed board members, and worst and most harmful of all, putting the lives of their end customers in serious jeopardy because the technology that they claim to have engineered does not exist nor has it been FDA approved or tested. This is John Carreyrou’s BAD BLOOD: SECRETS AND LIES IN A SILICON VALLEY STARTUP. Carreyrou went to monumental lengths over the course of several years, with the help of named and unnamed sources who worked or were connected to Theranos, the company, which claimed to have created a blood-testing device that with ‘one drop of blood’ could obtain hundreds of test results thus saving lives. Not only were their little machines ineffective but they were doing no such thing. Meaning, they could not provide accurate test results because they were not even obtaining them. Rather, they were using commercial analyzers in their place. At the helm was Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes, a Stanford drop-out who had a brilliant idea, but it was never brought to fruition. She simply leads people to believe it was with her charm. A lot of people.It is staggering how many people she swayed. We’re not just talking about a co-worker or two but former heads of state, who later joined her board, people who amassed fortunes in the billions who were willing to loan Theranos money, major corporations including Walgreens and Safeway who wanted to get in on the ground floor, and many more. It is equally astonishing how so many smart, successful people were not taken aback by her freakish obsession with imitating Steve Jobs. Perhaps, they chalked this up to her eccentricity.It took courage for people to come forward. They were threatened with lawsuits that could bankrupt them ten times over, by one of the leading and most intimidating litigators in the country. Carreyrou, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist, who has been with The Wall Street Journal for almost 10 years, had the support of his editor, newspaper, and its attorneys. He never thought for a minute to back down. The result – a series of articles in the paper that exposed Theranos and Holmes for the fraud they committed.It is dumbfounding to read BAD BLOOD and to think that Holmes and her number two in command, Sunny Balwani, also her romantic partner, which was kept secret, got away with so much for so long, and even when finally confronted and their hands were forced, they still would not admit fault. Is Holmes a criminal? Is she delusional?What I do know is that you will not be able to put this book down.

I started this book and could not put it down. It's a horrifying true story of a driven entrepreneur whose only overriding goal was to become insanely rich. And she would do anything, any unimagineable thing, to get there.Elizabeth Holmes leveraged her family's high profile connections to draw in early investors and supporters, who were not very inquisitive on details, nor very skeptical in nature. Drawing on the good name and reputation of these early supporters, she was able to build an impressive roster of other supporters with stellar reputations in tech and venture capital circles. From there, it was just a matter of stage managing the house of cards she was building.Holmes crafted a Potemkin village that had fooled investors, customers, and visiting dignitaries. Her product demonstrations were outright theater, staged managed illusions worthy of David Copperfield. Theranos employees in on the ruse were assured it was just temporary, until the actual product could be perfected and the results repeatable. That day would never come. Those on the outside who also worked in this field had well founded and grave doubts about how Theranos could be touting a product that seemingly defied both logic and physics. Their suspicions, proven to be correct, was that it was too good to be true.Without a trace of guilt or regret, she induced powerful tech workers to leave lucrative careers at other major tech firms, giving up millions in stock options, to come work for Theranos, surely knowing the whole thing would collapse one day. When skeptical board members asked to see data affirming the effectiveness of their product, Holmes would defer, saying those papers were in perpetual legal review. Some employees, when they were no longer useful to her, or deemed disloyal, were immediately and unceremoniously marched out.This is a real life thriller, the story of someone who is a true diabolical movie villain. Holmes is portrayed vividly as a paranoid sociopath who could also be disarming, charmingly manipulative, utterly ruthless and devoid of conscience. This is a tale of corporate greed and lack of regulatory oversight gone all awry.

Bad Blood is an excellent example of how to write a true story and make it sound as exciting as a thrilling page-turning novel. Few true accounts have the bite that author Carreyrou has with this narrative. If you’ve read enough true accounts of companies, organizations, or people who go bad, you know how easy it is for the author to get tied up with so many “facts” and minutia, that the finished product can significantly lose its edge. I’m reminded of a book titled “The Smartest Guys in the Room” about the Enron scandal. Although that book was a best-seller, there were times when I felt as I was reading an expanded version of the company’s 10k report. It simply wasn’t very interesting a lot of the time. Fortunately, this isn’t the case with Bad Blood.This is the story of the failed start-up company known as Theranos and its CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Elizabeth Holmes was young, brilliant, attractive, and incredibly ambitious. She dropped out of college at the young age of nineteen, not because she couldn’t handle it nor didn’t like it, but because she was too impatient. She was ready to take over the world and didn’t want to waste time waiting to get a college degree. The company she founded, Theranos, had a very attractive idea that would revolutionize healthcare. The premise? When patients needed extensive blood work, they would no longer need to subject themselves to long needles that would drain a substantial amount of blood to fill up multiple test tubes to perform tests. Holmes set out to create a device that would simply prick a patient’s finger, take a miniscule amount of blood, hook it up to a relatively small box, and within a short amount of time, this little box could perform the extensive tests and give the patient their results in a fraction of the amount of time.Well, to sum it up, the idea may have been revolutionary, but it simply couldn’t work. Holmes was so persuasive, though, that she convinced many of the wealthy that it could, and managed to raise millions and millions of dollars to try to make her dream a reality. When you end up spending the millions and millions of dollars on your idea that never comes to fruition, what do you do? Author Carreyrou argues that Holmes hemmed, hawed, lied, deceived and stole to masquerade this unpleasant fact. I got the impression that she wasn’t really that bad of a person (initially anyway), yet got so sucked in by her ambition and greed, that she simply couldn’t accept failure as being an option. This kind of behavior, sadly, isn’t that uncommon. We read stories all the time of successful entrepreneurs who plow ahead after continuous failures. Those who make the headlines are the rare few that actually succeeded against insurmountable obstacles. What we don’t read about are the failures; which probably outweigh the successes by a ratio about 100 to 1. Who wants to read about failures? Unless, of course, you have a story as compelling as this one.The author is a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, and is actually a part of the story. He pens a piece for his paper that exposes much of the fraud, yet we don’t read about his first-hand recollections until probably 2/3 of the way through the story. Each chapter that he writes is captivating in that he focuses on so many of the key players. Not only do we read about Holmes and her lover/business partner Sunny Balwani, but we read about disgruntled employees, employees who are terminated, employees who are threatened by high pressure lawyers, doctors, patients, lab technicians, investors, and acquaintances. All of them are crucial when reading about this train wreck.For me, the highlights are what goes on within the walls of the company. Holmes and Balwani run the startup as authoritarian dictators, and you get the impression that working for this company would be a nightmare. I couldn’t understand why so many of the employees stayed as long as they did. Example: Not only were the different departments not allowed to speak to one and other, but when outside people were brought in for meetings, they weren’t even allowed to use the restroom without being “escorted” to do their business. They didn’t trust outsiders roaming the hallways. Another example: We read about an engineer who worked for the company who designs a lighting system for his bicycle on his free time. When Holmes finds out about this, she’s exasperated. Why? Because her employees should not have any “free time”. She expects them to spend every waking minute of their lives at the office trying to make her impossible dream a reality. This book, I think, could also serve as a case study for companies in teaching management how NOT to treat their employees.When employees quit, they’re threatened by Holmes and Balwani not to say ANYTHING about the company. They then spy on ex-employees, and if the individual makes a passing comment, say, to a friend over dinner, the ex-employee next finds a team of threatening lawyers at their front doorstep with a 25 page lawsuit. In fact, the author himself was threatened many times by these intimidating malcontents. Fortunately, he’s been in the business long enough to know about these scare tactics, and isn’t in the least bit afraid to write about what he knows.So another story about a high-profile company that failed, and all of the dirty deeds done to cover it up. What makes this story a bit scary is that the author alleges that such unethical activities happen all of the time when startups are trying to blunder their way to the top. What makes this company unique, however, is that it’s dealing with the health of people. So it’s ok if you design a piece of software “full of bugs” and somehow deceive the public, but it’s a definite no-no when your errors can cause a faltered result on a patient’s blood test. I say “scary” because it really does cause one to be wary of any kind of “new” technology being implemented. Who are we to trust?As I write this review Homes and Balwani have yet to go to trial. Of course, Holmes maintains her innocence. I don’t see how anyone could believe her based on what this story uncovers. It will be interesting to see the eventual outcome. A really sad story. Sure, it’s great to be young, ambitious, and chase big dreams, but when those dreams don’t come true, one needs to admit failure and not try to consistently cover it up. So many people still can’t seem to find the courage to admit that they just might be wrong about some things.

Bad Blood, by Carreyrou, is an exemplary tale of a business going bad. It is in line with two other classics, The Deal of the Century by Coll and Barbarians at the Gate by Burrough and Helyar. The former depicts the beginnings of the collapse of AT&T and the second the complex takeover of Nabisco. Both of these tales result in a massive restructuring of businesses, for better or worse. In this case, it describes probably the worst behavior seen in a startup ever and the destruction of whatever business was conceived.This is a tale of people who seem to have been brought into a techno-cult, many smart young people who got proselytized by an even younger individual who managed to present herself as super competent but who was fundamentally was intellectually and morally flawed. This book does not depict a tragedy, except perhaps for the young employees who wasted years of their lives and frankly may be forever scarred. It is a book about the ability for a perverse individual and a co-conspirator to convince a significant number of allegedly competent people to dismiss their fundamental judgments regarding reality. There was an induced suspension of belief on the part of many otherwise highly competent people and the acceptance of this almost cult like persona.I approached this book having done about 35 start-up and turn-arounds, as the principal or investor. Many did well, many were stalled mid-stream, and none went bankrupt. In the process I often saw that my initial premise was altered and thus the business model changed. However in almost all there was a need for a plan and a reporting on the plan to a Board who had a modicum of confidence. In some cases I had Directors call first thing Monday to see what the cash flow of the prior week was and compare it to plan. Reality was always at the fore. Plan and actuals, and interaction with hands on boards.I have seen deals where one had to pull the plug when reality and expectations were dissonant. In one case an entrepreneur in an investment could not reproduce the core result and worse yet even if they could they had no way to manufacture it. That is not a way to run a business.I also approach this book as one who has spent time in and around the health care field. Unlike the more common areas of start-ups, health care, including biotech, must live in a highly regulated environment. Human lives are in the balance. Thus one sees the high costs of clinical trials and the failure of many reasonable therapeutic efforts. The FDA and similar entities control with an iron hand the ways and wherefores of these entities. This control system never came to play here until way too late.Now this can be a tale of many entities: (i) the principals themselves, (ii) the employees, (iii) the investors, (iv) the Directors, (v) the customers, or (vi) the consumers or patients. The author focuses upon the first two giving some limited understanding of the other participants. In particular this is a book presenting the work and hardships of many of the employees over time. It would be interesting at some time to examine the many other dimensions, but this presentation is a well presented self-contained effort.Now, fundamentally, any investor, and especially a Director, must have an understanding of their Fiduciary Duty to the other shareholders and must execute themselves in any efforts of the company to adhere to that duty. That means effecting a process of due diligence. Due diligence is demanded in any investment and it fundamentally entails: (i) that the product or service can be real and deliverable, (ii) that management has the competence to do so, (iii) that the price point is highly competitive and that the margins are appropriate, and finally (iv) that the people one is dealing with are ethical, honest and competent. It appears that in the case of Theranos, as the author recounts, that many never did any Due Diligence. What is truly amazing is that the venture investors involved would never allow themselves to invest in any other deal without doing their due diligence. Furthermore, the “big name” Directors represented in the book most likely had no idea what due diligence entails. In my experience of the 100 companies I would look at, 2-3 would ultimately pass the test, 80-90 would be dismissed out of hand and the remaining would never pass Due Diligence. It appears that if one accepts the author’s tale, and why not, then there never was any due diligence. “Trust me” is not the basis for major investments, by investors, Directors or joint venture partners.The author describes in full detail the creation and buildup of the company and how it managed to go through hundreds of millions of dollars and at the same time achieve nothing. The battles between the top managers and the staff, the high rates of turnover and the outright prevarication of the principals are presented. What is most astonishing is the tale of how the principals dealt with an attempted sale to the DOD. One military officer managed, presented as a highly qualified and competent one, dared to ask a key question of the principal and that principal in turn manages to go to a four star general, now a prominent person in Washington. The General then believing this principal proceeds to call-out his own person. Marines should not, must not, do that; it demonstrates, in my opinion, lack of judgement, and lays the ground for questioning any subsequent judgement of such a person. But the author shows that this example was not in any way unique, if anything it was a pervasive behavior on the principal’s part.Overall this book is a tale of one individual after another interacting with the principals and how they were manipulated and then thrown aside.What this book does not do is more important. This is not a criticism since answering these issues may fall into the criminal and civil litigation forthcoming. But specifically:1. Why did none of the accredited investors perform due diligence? Or were there some who tried and then walked away? The book alludes to many of the investors but they seemed to like sheep, just following the herd. This were all competent people. It would be important to understand why they did investments, often of significant amounts, and not due the due diligence and furthermore not demand Board rights.2. Why did the Directors allow themselves to sit by and have management do what they did? Directors have a fiduciary duty and it appears that none of them were either aware of what their duty was and/or did they have the competence to even ask the questions. The Directors were all prominent people in the fields, but unfortunately none appeared to be experienced in this area. The book does not in any way address the Directors in any detail. That would be an important analysis.3. One of the most significant “red flags” in any business is the loss of a CFO. When the first CFO left abruptly, the Board should have individually met and questioned him as to why he left. One can understand that the CFO was bound not to speak to others but he can and must speak to the Board. The question is; why not? Perhaps the Board was not qualified to even ask the questions.4. The fact the young principal owned a tremendous controlling interest and as such could block anything she desired from happening should have raised red flags as well. One must ask; why not? This seems to be a case of true distortion of reality. The question is; why?5. The biggest unanswered question seems to be; where did all the money go? They seemed to have Safeway and Walgreens pay their own way, the attorneys clearly cost a small fortune, but if the company had a running number of employees of say 100, and the fully loaded costs per employee were say $200,000, then the annual burn rate for the company less CAPEX was $20 million, Even at large CAPEX and attorney fees, one must ask where the money went?The author tells the tale via the many employees and their interactions with the two principals. But the other dimensions, namely the investors, Directors, business partners, must be folded into the mix. Again it is perhaps too early to get this tale told properly, but if one is to gain anything from this fiasco, then one must understand those dimensions as well. If only someone had been able to do due diligence. Its lack was the classic red flag!

Great idea, but I decided to use a smaller carry on bag that had only on shaft and handle! Next time it will be back to the larger one and use this item!

I've stopped taking this along. Great concept, but in the places I am when travelling, it turns out there really are tables about. Not worth goofing with this thing. After studying this whole genre of coffee cup holders I bought this one, but just don't use it anymore. Not sure you need this.

This works and fits the handle of a carry on, but could be a little soft.

I never knew I needed this until now! It makes juggling your water bottle or coffee when traveling so much easier!

So convenient for those who travel!

I didn’t think this would be as convenient as it was. It fit right over my roller carry on and hand bag and was really convenient for holding my ID, water and coffee after security. When done, it folded flat and slipped into my purse.

Great for coffee mugs, books, passport holders

The space does not fit larger bottles or cups so usefulness is limited.

Bought this fryer a bit before Christmas and waited before posting my review to make sure I used it enough times to give an accurate review.I researched a lot before making a decision and at the end what made me go with Breville smart fryer, was how well it holds the temp (if you buy a fryer that doesn't your food becomes soggy and drenched in oil), and how fast it heats and reheats to temp (about 9min or less)before cooking and in between batches (because who want to wait 15min just for the oil to heat and then if you have a second batch wait again...that's just not practical). This fryer is wonderful! The preSettings are a little intimidating when you first read the instructions however my advice to you is, turn it on and explore and I assure you right then and there the instructions will all make sense. The fries twice fried alone makes it worth to buy this fryer, crispy on the outside soooo moist on the inside...don't expect to be able to stop at just a few, keep that gym membership going ;)Now so nobody goes thru what I did because the booklet and Breville customer service couldn't answer my question, when you choose fries fried twice there is a temp heating overshoot. 1st fry it will heat at 280 and then You can put basket down and it will cook at 265, 2nd fry it will heat oil to 381 then you can put basket down and it will cook at 355. Wish someone would have told me because when I saw it kept on heating the oil past the setting I thought it was defective and the amazing part is Breville it self doesn't even know to what temp the fryer overshoots, so there you go Breville here you have it for your next customers! The reason why it overshoots together with the twice fried setting is the reason why the fries are the best you will ever have! Together with some other preSettings there is also a custom setting where you can choose time and temp you want but keep in mind you can also change time and temp on the presetting which is wonderful because it make everything so versatile. Booklet says to only use vegetable oils but there is nothing unhealthier about deep frying than deep frying with Any vegetable oil, do your research and find out why it's too long for me to explain here. All I can say is do your arteries a big favor and buy some organic Refined coconut oil (smoke point is 425) and deep frying never been healthier! If you have a Bjs by you they sell big jugs for $8.49 but make sure you get refined as extra virgin smoking point is much lower and so not suitable for deep frying. Also extra LIGHT olive oil is much better than any other junk out there. The fryer is not wide to the contrary very compact size which it makes it not too bulky to keep on your counter and it's also stainless steel so it's pretty easy on the eyes, everything is stainless steel and sturdy, the basket is super sturdy but not wide so you will need to fry extra batches for big crowds BUT oil heats so fast it's not a big deal. Booklet Says you need to fill to max line to fry fries but I've filled it to a bit under the max line and I personally prefer it, #1 because when u put basket down and oil bubbles it doesn't come up so close to the edge as it would if it was filled to max (I did it once and it scared me); #2, 2 big jugs at Bjs are a bit under that line so it's easier; FYI filling to Min won't be enough to cover your fries.I've fried fresh Calamari, fresh and frozen chicken tenders and there wee all to die for. Lots of reviews complain about the magnet plug and in my experience it's not an issue at all. Yes sure it's different than all your other appliances but it's not as sensitive as ppl describe it to be and it actually gives me peace of mind incase of Fire I can just hit it with something to unplug it, so don't let the magnet plug discourage you.Ok now the Cons: draining/cleaning oil what a pain in my behind!! DO NOT and let me repeat DO NOT buy the stainless steel strainer with the filter on top, absolute waist of money and oil takes forever to filter thru and forever mean like 30 plus minutes straining oil. After almost returning the frier because I couldn't deal with the waist of time of staring the oil my mother in law had a genius idea and she had me strain it using pieces of an old cotton tshirt. Oil comes thru as clean as u first put it in and it will be all strained in less than 10min. Washing the frier is a breeze, quality couldn't be any better, u can put it in the dishwasher or wash it by hand really no biggie. Before you can strain oil you have to wait a few hrs so be ready to have your frier on your counter for a few hrs. I think I've covered it all and if you are still undecided don't be, you are getting a great quality frier for real cheap. Hope I was of help!

I am a classically-trained chef, and I found both the pros and cons of this unit impressive. Yes, you read that right. The pros are wonderful and the cons are mind-boggling, an impressive fail. Keep reading:First, the pros:1. Unlike a lot of other fryers, this one actually maintains temperature and is accurate when compared to a candy thermometer; the issue that some fryers appear to have with the temperature probe being too close to the heating elements causing a 30°- 40° F. differential between the stated temperature and the actual temperature is not present in this fryer, and the oil doesn't have to be stirred to bring it up to temp. And even better, the 1800 Watt heating element maintains the temperature well; I saw only a very quick drop of 60° F. and then back to 375° F. within 54 seconds when I dropped in 2.5 pounds of wings that were at refrigerator temperature.2. The controls are easy to use and the display easy to read.3. Cleanup was a breeze.4. Pouring the oil through a strainer was easy because the lip around the oil bucket keeps the oil from running down the side.The cons:1. I have never seen a feature on any kitchen appliance that I despise more than the magnetic connection for the power cord. It takes so little to break the connection that a slight bump will dislodge it and the cord must by lying on the counter top or it will fall off under its own weight. To the designers: Kitchen appliances are tools, and in ANY tool, FORM MUST FOLLOW FUNCTION! Yes, the mag-connect is a cool feature, ON BLUETOOTH HEADSETS, not on a kitchen appliance, especially one containing hot grease and in a cooking area, where the end of the plug may fall into spilled liquid and cause someone to be electrocuted. This is what happens when the creative process is allowed to run amok without the filters of physics and reason. FIX IT. If this unit is UL-approved, someone at UL needs to lose their job; a grease burn sustained while trying to move a hot fryer because one was too stupid to unplug it first (the reason for the break-away cord) is far less likely than electrocution to kill someone.2. There are a few sharp edges. They're not quite "raw" edges, but they have not been smoothed enough. I cut myself on the grease bucket during the first cleanup. Why such a nice unit was left in such unfinished condition is beyond me, as an additional ten seconds with a wire brush or 220 grit sanding mop would have easily fixed it.3. The temperatures and cooking times in the recipe book and the default cooking times built in to the product are ridiculous. Wings at 355° for seven minutes? My first batch was under-cooked coming out of the refrigerator, so a second batch went in warmed to room temperature. Both batches produced chewy, under-cooked chicken and slimy skin. 375° for 9 minutes was better, but still not quite done enough, as only about half the wings had started to float at that point. So experiment and find out what works for you. To their credit, they did allow for the user to adjust time and temperature, quite easily I might add, from the defaults. To the Breville executives: tell your legal team to stay out of the recipe book. A grease burn at 355° is going to be just as painful as one at the correct temperature, and the longer foods cook in a deep fryer, the less they bubble, splash, and risk starting a fire, so lowering the temperatures and cooking time just makes your product look like an under-performer without protecting you from anything and confounds your customers.4. The manual says not to use lard. This is utterly ridiculous. Cooking lard has a higher smoke point than most vegetable oils and is a heck of a lot healthier than polyunsaturated oils that break down into trans fats when heated. I've used lard in immersion fryers for 30+ years without incident. All that is required to do so is to make sure that the lard is in contact with the heating element, which is easily accomplished by storing your filtered lard in a metal or Pyrex container and preheating it just enough to soften it enough to pour (which is not even enough to make it turn clear). If you're putting new lard in the fryer (which usually comes in a plastic bucket that can only be safely heated by soaking in hot water, which is a pain in the neck), use a spatula to press the lard down around the heating element before turning it on. Lard cooks better and faster with less smell and without toxic trans fats forming while you cook. Big hint: stainless steel and Pyrex can be heated on the stove top, and plain glass and ceramic canisters can be heated in the microwave sufficiently without risk of breakage. Applying plastic film, wax paper, or parchment to the top to help keep air away from the surface of the filtered lard will extend its life considerably. Failure to filter through cloth, paper towels, or a coffee filter while still warm but not dangerously hot will reduce the smoke point and hasten the ruination of your lard, as proteins putrefy much faster than lard turns rancid.Bottom line: If you already know quite a bit about deep frying or have an excellent recipe book and have an electrical outlet close enough to your exhaust fan that you can let the 3-foot long cord lie on the counter top while it's in use, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better fryer, idiotic power cord design notwithstanding.UPDATE: Apparently the LCD was cracked during manufacturing or shipping; it was noticeable during cleanup after the first use but appeared at a glance to be a crack in the plastic display cover, not the LCD. After two uses, the LCD became nonfunctional. I called Breville and arranged for warranty exchange, and they sent the wrong one. I had opted for express exchange by securing shipment with a credit card, and calling them back to get the wrong one replaced required a second hold on my credit card. The smug attitude of both the people I talked to, as if I should just suck it up and being hassled with returning both a defective item and a wrong item was commonplace, and I should appreciate having someone waste my life like that, is both intolerable and inexcusable.Hence, I may well have purchased my last Breville product of any kind, because I have ZERO tolerance for that kind of attitude. Yes, I realize that people make mistakes, but that doesn't mean that I have to like having my time wasted dealing with someone else's mistakes, and there's something about having to give someone my credit card info to cover THEIR mistake, not once, but TWICE, that just burns me up.

Writing a review because I know I was looking for help when debating on spending $400 on a blender lol! Here’s my opinion:It definitely gets the job done, especially if you’re used to $50 blenders like I was. It’s very powerful, not loud AT ALL in comparison to the smaller blenders. In fact, I think it’s pretty quiet for the power it has! I’ve seen reviews it’s loud, and honestly that’s silly because it’s a blender, why would you expect otherwise? The only negatives I have about it, is you can’t leave the blender alone without holding it down if the speed dial is higher than about 3, because it’s so powerful I guess it shakes and moves all over the counter. So you have to hold it down while you’re blending. Also, i assumed because it’s powerful I could throw any and every frozen item in it and expect it to blend it perfectly smooth within 30 seconds. False lol! It’s powerful but still a gadget, you have to be careful or you’ll hurt the blades. It takes a bit of getting used to. DEFINITELY read the instruction handbook, because otherwise you won’t blend right and you’ll hate it. The first couple times I used it I thought it was junk, until I realized there are certain speeds you’re supposed to use for certain things. Game changer. Major pro is it is so so so convenient to clean- you just pour a drop of dish soap in it and warm water and blend away. Cleaner than any scrubbing!Takeaway- if you’re on a tight budget, I wouldn’t necessarily splurge. But if you have the extra cash, it’s definitely better than any blender you’re used to! I do love it and glad I gave it a shot, but I only have the Ninja and Magic Bullet to compare to. Hope this helps!

Product arrived dirty with superficial scratches on the base. The 64oz container had water spots as if it had been used and returned. The box showed signs of re-packaging. If I'm spending $500+ on a blender, it should be clean.

I use the Vitamin 7500 every day, from the first day I received it The red color is fantastic. The size fits easily on my counter under the cabinets. It is very powerful. I buy much more kale and spinach, fruit fresh and frozen, knowing I can make really wonderful smoothies with it. I even made Gazpacho!. The only thing that is annoying is that the plastic container is no longer clear. It is cloudy and I cannot see the measurements along the sides. . So while the red is great, the container has become unsightly. I keep thinking it going to break soon . I am not sure why this has happened. I always clean it right away after using it. I have had the Vitamix for less than 6 months, and so the idea of having to replace the container (which is pretty expensive) when it breaks is why I am giving it 3.5 stars.

I purchased this blender to replace my existing blender by another popular manufacturer that had started to malfunction after only a year.After some research I heard about VitaMix, and that some people had had theirs for years. In the age of planned obsolescence l, I really try to find items that are high quality and will last (or can be repaired). VitaMix had a good reputation for many years so I took a chance and ordered this blender in used condition from Amazon Warehouse Deals at a significant discount.First, the blender arrived - despite description - in basically brand new condition (Thanks Amazon!) apart from some scuffing and wear on the box. The blender is heavy and appears well-made. It weighs more than my old blender and feels more solid. As advertised, the low profile of the 7500 means it fits under the counter.In terms of actual blending, I highly recommend this machine. While my old blender had more blades positioned on a removable tube, the VitaMix has a single blade but far outperforms in terms of blend quality.For example, I frequently make smoothies using fibrous items like celery and fresh ginger. With my old blender, you’d be chewing on bits and pieces of the celery no matter how much you puréed it. With the VitaMix, I get a completely smooth product - no hint of graininess or fiber bits in the juice. Ice, vegetables, fruit, etc all blend with absolute ease.Making nut butter is also very simple but takes more time; simply throw in the almonds or peanuts and blend, the end result is smooth and delicious.So far I am loving this machine. A+ for blend quality and warranty and it was definitely well worth the price. I wish I had saved up for this one in the beginning rather than buying a cheaper alternative that failed anyhow. If you blend items frequently, VitaMix is the way to go and this model - while not the top of their line - still doesn’t compromise.

Without a doubt, Vitamix blenders are well built appliances that perform terrifically. We have had a model 5200 for 5 years and it is an indispensable part of our plant based lifestyle. It is still going strong. We also have recently purchased a additional model 7500 blender. It also appears to be well built and powerful. In fact it is built to be a bit more powerful than the 5200 (2.2 HP vs 2 Hp motor). However, the 7500 comes with the newer design low profile blender container that has a larger blade and is shorter and wider than the original design. This container design limits the user to making only large batches and is useless for the smaller medium sized batches that one often wishes to make (we are a two member household). Note that the 5200's original design container is designed to handle both medium and large sized batches, and, as such is a very versatile container. It has the same total capacity (64 oz) as the low profile container. For the 7500, as supplied, to have the capability for smaller batches requires that you purchase an additional blender container at an additional cost of ~ $120-$150. In short, as supplied, the 7500 is not a versatile blender and, as supplied, is ~ $130 more than the excellent 5200 blender. That is before you add an additional container. However, if your need is for large batches only, then I am sure that you would be happy with the 7500 as supplied.

Box was open and missing packaging, factory seal was taped over, warranty card missing and item appears to have been cleaned.Returned...

This is one of the best Bluegrass gospel albums ever. Done by one of the best bands in traditional Bluegrass. Great selection of songs.

My Dad was thrilled to learn that I found this music for him. I always depend on Amazon to find any music we need.

Great! Inspiring.

Excellent!! A must have for any bluegrass/gospel listener.

While many (myself included) regard J.D. Crowe and the New South's 1975 self-titled album one of the finest progressive bluegrass albums ever made, this collection of bluegrass gospel is an equally impressive album in its own right. While released by Rebel Records in 1978, it was actually recorded for a smaller label some years earlier. The band's lineup at the time featured Larry Rice on mandolin, Bobby Slone on bass and future solo bluegrass star Doyle Lawson on guitar and lead vocals--although Rice handles lead vocal chores on "Goin' Up" and Crowe himself does a rare lead vocal on "Look for Me." All told, there is not a weak track in the bunch. My only complaint is that the album is barely over thirty minutes. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I Bought this cd for my mother and she loved it. If you like bluegrass/gospel, you'll love this cd.

The fabric it’s soft

Definitely recommend! 10/10! So cute and everyone who comes over says how cute the boys beds are

Soft, cute, and easy to clean!

I received this today. It’s soft and not as heavy as I thought. But it’s perfect for Florida weather. But the top blanket is a little smaller than I thought but it’s still great.

Loved the gift but only thing I wished the actual blanket that goes on top would have been the same size as the sheets.

I loved this bedding! It is so soft and beautiful! A great value for the money!!

It was perfect for my baby's mini crib. The mattress sheet a bit light but added a second one under it. Very happy with it.

I loved the look of this set. It’s beautiful. The fabric is not that soft, though. It’s definitely a gr t product though for the cost. The diaper bag holds a lot of diapers. We over stack it, and have not had any problems.

This is the third one I've bought for several small engines. Buckbock carbs seem to work. If it doesn't, check the idle speed screw. I thought I had a dud and that was all that was wrong. My UTV runs like new, now. Don't run cheap ethanol fuel and run the carb dry when you store for the winter and you'll likely not need to buy carbs every once in a while.

I have a very old (about 25 years) Graco pressure washer with a GX340 11hp engine. It had been sitting in storage and not used for probably 10 years. The float bowl and gas tank were full of rust so I went to Amazon to see if I could find replacement parts. There are lots of carburetors that supposedly fit this engine but they all have different model numbers and vary slightly to the original carb. I spent some extra time comparing my old carb to the pictures of the new ones and found this one to be the closet match. It arrived on time and you can't beat the price. It took about 15 minutes to install it along with a new air filter and gas tank. Everything fit perfectly together and with 2 pulls of the rope it started right up and ran like it did when it was new. Amazing!P.S. I had taken it to a repair shop before looking on Amazon and the repair tech said to junk it. Glad I didn't listen to him

Installed easily

Fit on my Honda engine, install was really fast and easy, now my air compressor will actually idle like it’s supposed to

What a deal, if you need to stretch your dollar, this is the best value for the money. Unbelievable, it shipped and showed up when it said it would. No issues with anything. I was like should I just buy a seal kit..nope for the money just buy this, it even came with the plug. Heck of a deal. Such a deal I ended up buying 2 more because I was told, "them things were awesome, can you get 2 more" I said sure and boom they showed up like the first time. I know that if any of our other trash pumps go out I will be ordering more. Did I say value for money, cuz if I didnt well they are and I would have done an unboxing video but you get everything pictured and they fit and work excellent.

My GX340 pressure washer had been sitting for at least 20 years with gas in the tank. The tank had rusted inside real bad. I dumped a box of sheet rock screws into the tank along with a container of scrubbing bubbles and let it sit for two hours and a half, shaking all around every fifteen minutes. It turned out clean as new!The carburetor fit mine perfectly and was a snap to install. The engine started on the first pull and ran perfectly, I didn’t have to adjust the idle, high speed, or low speed screws. I will recommend this carburetor to anyone who asks.

In the description it says it comes with spark plug and fuel filter. It does not. The spark plug and filter isn't shown in picture, but it says it comes with it in description.It doesn't supply enough fuel for my gx340 to stay running.

Nice fit however the fuel line was a bit short

Concept is great but the wood sections are very sharp on the edges. It worked for about a month then the small wooden divider pieces broke off randomly. Looks like the slats are pieced together rather than being cut from one piece of wood. Too late to return it, of course, by a few days. :(

I ordered a set of black and white of these frames. Received both set and one has a couple of frames with marks on them. I reached out and the issued was corrected promptly. The frames were very nice so I was bummed to find the two with marks on them but was very grateful that they were willing to make it right. I would buy again. I know things happen but am happy that they are willing to make it right.

I hung these on a large wall at varying distances from each other. I put family pictures in them. The wall looks nice now. I would have liked the black frame widths to have been narrower but overall they look nice, they are sturdy and my wall is now filled with pictures!

Overall, it’s a great product. Best part of the installation are the templates. They make the work way easier as you just hang up the template and place the nails straight on there before ripping the power away. What I’m not 100% sure about are the nails; they’re the plastic kind with a “hook” built in. They were sort of easily coming out of the drywall and it wasn’t the easiest to put the frame on each of the white hooks.Other than that, our gallery is perfect 😊

I have a big wall in my dining room that I’ve been wanting to do a gallery wall on for a while now but the task always seemed daunting and expensive. I came across this frame set and was already happy about the price for 23 frames but then I saw it came with templates which totally sold me. The template was awesome to have!!! It took the guess work out of frame placement and made it super easy peasy to get the frames up. I’m so pleased with this purchase and so happy how the frames look on my no longer barren wall!

If I could give this 10 stars, I would. I got the carbonized black which is an awesome rustic brown color. It goes well with my coffee table and some other wood items in my house. What I love the most is the included templates and hanging hardware. This project didn't take long at all thanks to those two things. I will add that when I opened my box, I was missing a frame. I reached out to customer service, they responded in record time, and I was sent 3 replacement frames and received them in a few days. I was so glad of that because I really wanted to finish this project over the weekend, and I was able to do that. So my arrangement looks slightly different than the included templates arrangement since it has the additional frames. Awesome product for a great price.

Love the frames and all that was included - the hanging patterns, three sizes of frames, and even mats on frames bigger than 4 x 6!! More than that, I appreciate the company - especially their excellent customer service!! I had an issue with one of the smallest frames, so I sent an email - even explaining that I realized I was being anal! I received an immediate response - followed by an above and beyond solution to my issue! I highly recommend this product and the company!

This turned out to be such a fun thing to do and it was easy with these frames. They came packaged very nicely with no dents or scratches.My only compliant was not having more outlines besides the three. We did pick one but ended up with more horizontal 5x7 frames that didn’t fit with the 3 styles given. I feel like because of this ours looks a bit weird but still very happy with it.

These frames are so cute. They are wood and come with mats. Also comes with pattern to show different hanging options. Would buy again.

A couple years ago, I bought a house with a sorely neglected pond. I had a contractor scoop it out, grade the bottom, install a thick liner and an aerator with two bubblers/diffusers. The contractor gave me a starter supply of Pond-Vive and said to toss 2 packs in every other week to keep the water from getting murky. The packets dissolve in the water and release the product.Pond-Vive consists of healthy bacteria that eat fish-poop and other stuff that makes your pond murky. It is safe for any fish, frogs, ducks, or other creatures that call your pond their home.I definitely notice a difference when I use Pond-Vive compared to when I don't. And clearer water makes the pond a nicer part of our property.Pond-Vive doesn't work miracles. It doesn't break down every imaginable kind of murk. And it doesn't make the water crystal-clear. Plus, if your pond is pretty murky to start with, you have to add a LOT of these packets. (How many? That depends on how big your pond is. The side of the container has some helpful guidelines.) Once the murk clears up some, then just a couple packets every other week for maintenance.You can also buy Pond-Vive in bulk (not packets) if you want to measure out a specific quantity. But the packets are pretty convenient. Maybe it's slightly cheaper in bulk, but otherwise I really can't think of a reason why someone would prefer the bulk.The only thing is if you have a really HUGE pond, I don't think a bucket full of Pond-Vive will make much difference. But if your property is 1-3 acres, your pond is probably small enough that a few packets of Pond-Vive will make a difference.Last thing: I purchased this from an Amazon Marketplace seller "USA Koi." It took forever to arrive. They didn't even ship it until 10 days after I placed the order. If they would have sent me an email saying "hey, we're really sorry, but we're out of stock and won't get any in for about 10 days" I would have understood and been happy to cut them some slack. But I didn't hear anything from them, so I kept waiting and wondering where my product was. Very frustrating. That said, their price was good, and when the item finally arrived, it arrived well-packaged in perfect condition.If you google "pond-vive," you can find a couple other places that sell it, or try your yellow pages for a local merchant.

We put 25 lbs of this in our 10 acre lake it workedWonders

Seems to work pretty well. I meant to order the version with packets as they are a little easier to use but thiis works well also.

Arrived quickly, but product received was 25 lbs of loose bacteria, not the 50 packets of 8 oz each as represented.

was not in 8 ounce soluble packers as advertised, very disappointed & harder to aplly. still a great product

3600w 24vdc to 240vac singleGot this to upgrade a well pump - Appears to be a new design or model.It's not really off-grid it seems.When they come up with the same model with 120 vac output - I will be all over it.Unlike the others-You can select 220, 230, "240" outputsThe display is different and there are subtle clues about how the system is working.Typically-The well pump load is 2000wMy solar array is 1200wBattery is 24v 400ahWhat is different about this hybrid controller is the combining/supplementing the sources for the Output.Output Priority-> USB, SUB, SBUOther hybrids -> UTI, SOL, SBUThe difference is, this model will supplement the source priority to the output based on the 2nd priorityWhile the others - will switch to one or the other based on priority.SBU in this model will only cycle the battery when No Solar and No Utility.In Others SBU will cycle the battery continuously - if Solar can't keep up or is not present.Charge Priority -> CSO, SNU, OSOOthers hybrids -> CSO, CUB, SNU, OSONot much difference for charging.In either SBU or SUB mode (two of the three will power the output at the same time)(In either SBU or SUB mode)Example.Load : 2000wSolar sending 600wLine sends 1400wLoad using 500wSolar sending 600wLine sends 0.5wBatter charging 4a (100w)In other words-- for this system - Bypass mode is not a total/true bypass of the inverter if Solar power is available-if Solar power is there, the inverter will power everything and gets supplemented by the line only if needed.

It is a 5500 watt rating and I run about 2500 watts max typically. That is what is recommended on these things so they will last. If you run them near or at their absolute max rating on a continuous basis then reliability will be reduced I am sure.For me I am running a 120V 1KW heat pump to heat my 50 gallon water heater several times per day and to run a 1KW mini split A/C (non inverter) for a off grid room that I built.The computers, monitors and lighting in this room also run through this charger/inverter. Sometimes all of that equipment is operating at once from the inverter which would be 2KW to 2.5KWThe batteries have charged at a rate somewhere towards 3KW (50 amps) during high sun when the batteries were drained enough.For the first several months I had this I was using a stack of used sealed LEAD ACID batteries but I then switched to a 10KWh pack of Lithium Ion batteries about 3 months ago or so.The charger/inverter will use either battery type with just a change in the settings.

Excelente Inversor híbrido, Me funciono a la primera con mis baterías LiFePo4. El apoyo del suplidor es excelente. tuve unas dudas y la respuesta fue rápido.Buen producto Calidad, Precio Altamente recomendable

This product is not UL certified. If you’re putting this somewhere where it won’t matter then we’ll go ahead and buy. Instructions were not well put together and you’re left to figure it out. It was literally one page. Not enough information for a beginner to go off of. Returned Product.

Firmware is bad. Needs update. Will not take charge from AC. Turns on and off well outside of its set points. will select and enter certain points and upon exit and reentry to the code, the set points will be different again and again. NEED A FIRMWARE UPDATE. I heard the next model has these pain points already figured out, but this model does not.Instruction booklet has many errors too.

Good quality 👌

YEt to fix but it manual is very explicit to understand

Muy bueno