Gadgetry

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

the Razer DeathStalker V2 Pro

You should have gone for the Scimitar PlagueLeviathan Crucifier V666 Magus.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by JoeP

You should have gone for the Scimitar PlagueLeviathan Crucifier V666 Magus.

I know, right! I was considering the Scimitar PlagueLeviathan Crucifier V666 Magus, along with the Tyrannosaurus Dragon Megalodon Rex V3 Pro TKL, but both were a bit too expensive.

[Ari]

My monitors been dimming, the controls don't work and it occasionally loses sync with HDMI, so yesterday I decided to buy a new monitor, just a basic Viewsonic 24" 2k.

This isn't a review of the monitor which has been setup all of 30 minutes, but of B&H Photo, who I purchased it from, some 27 hours ago, while selecting their two day free shipping from NJ. I've bought from them for decades and while Amazon feels like it's on the decline, it's good to see B&H is as attentive as ever. Do make sure that you're sure when ordering, as I took a shower and it was on its way to Fedex before I got out.

[specious_reasons]

I thought it would be nice to get a decent pair of over-the-ear headphones that I could connect to all the devices I wanted to. I eventually chose the Sennheiser Momentum 4.

Well, it sounds nice, and it connected to all of my devices like I wanted it to, but I can't recommend it. Not all of the features work. It's supposed to be able to detect when I'm wearing them, and pause when I take it off, but it doesn't. It also has a tendency to power off after 15 minutes of uninterrupted usage. It has an "auto off" feature that's being triggered, probably because it can't figure out if it's actually being used. All that and the touch controls are the wonkiest shit I've experienced. I can only get the controls to do what I want maybe 1/4 of the time.

I sent a message to customer support, but I suspect that I'll just be returning these.

[specious_reasons]

I decided that even if I get the broken features working (a big if from what I read online), the terrible touch controls would still be there, and if I turn off all the touch controls, I have to do it through the app on the phone. I decided I didn't need the annoyance, so I just returned them.

I will be getting another brand soon. I think I know what I want, but it's not a "big name" brand like Sony. I will bore you all with details once I get them and decide if I like them or not.

Oh, and I bought another knife. I don't need it at all, but I had been thinking I'd like to try a button lock, and I stumbled on a video (half my YouTube suggestions are knife/EDC related) that featured I knife I thought I'd like.

[JoeP]

Touch controls, except for clearly labelled ones right in front of your face, are a pain.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

I sent a message to customer support, but I suspect that I'll just be returning these.

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

Oh, and I bought another knife.

...

Originally Posted by Customer Support

(Better do as this guy says)

[specious_reasons]

This time I got the Shure Aonic 50 (sorry AONIC 50) headphones.

They're more...basic than a lot of the other brands, and they're less sleek and stylish. However, they have physical buttons for all the controls, and I can distinguish them by touch. They're a bit heavier, but not drastically so. I honestly can't tell the difference with the sound quality, especially listening to podcasts. ANC seems fine. About the only problem I have so far is that the headphones can only maintain 2 connections (that's generally true for most Bluetooth headphones), so I have to make sure I disconnect from one device before I try to connect to another. The Sennheiser app allowed you to disconnect from one device and connect to another - that was convenient.

We'll give it a few days and see how they work overall. So far, I'm not disappointed.

[Ari]

Like everything my camera has gotten old and creaky, so I got a new Canon EOS R100 mirrorless with 18-45mm kit lens and a nifty fifty 50mm 1.8. It's the base model of the new RF mount and while not compatible with my previous lenses without a 'expensive-canon-air' adapter the array of new lenses pushed me over into buying into their new system.

I'm hoping to play with it this weekend but so far I quite like it, it's even tinier than the Rebel series. The viewfinder being a screen takes some getting used too, the downside being the color rendition just isn't what the final image looks like, with the upside that it brightens in the dark giving minor night vision compared to the blackness of the previous mirrored viewfinder.

The one oddity is that switching to manual focus is done through a menu, and at the moment auto focus doesn't want to focus as close as the lenses can go, so I've been swapping in and out of manual for close in macro like shots.

[Basset Hound]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

I still have 2 mice, but this doesn't seem to bother me.

You have two mice. Maybe you need a cat.

[specious_reasons]

I have 3 cats, they're not very helpful when I'm working from home!

I took a sick day, but after a long nap and not doing much else, I'm feeling pretty OK. I'm trying to not exert myself too much, so I decided it might be fun to have a knife update.

Knife update!

First up are my "full sized" knives in active rotation.

Bestech Knives Slasher Crossbar Lock.

IMG_9139.jpg

I wanted to try a premium button or crossbar lock knife, and this looked nice. I'm not sold on the operation of a crossbar lock, when it's unlocked, the blade swings freely, and if you don't get the timing right when opening and release the crossbar a bit early, it will "stick" partly open. The advantage is a strong lock that to close, your fingers are out of the way of the knife shutting.

American Bladeworks Model 1 V6 Flipper.

IMG_9142.jpg

This knife is almost exactly what I wanted it to be. Made in the USA, high quality steel, my favorite blade shape and a liner lock. This is a simple, well made knife that I enjoy carrying. perhaps the only thing I don't like is the carrying clip, it's not a "deep pocket" clip, so it sticks out of the pocket by maybe 1-2 cm.

Brian Brown Knives Finch Front Flipper.

IMG_9145.jpg

This is my favorite, but not because it's better in any sense, but because I think this is my favorite looking knife. Once again, USA made, high quality steel and a liner lock. The front flipper is a bit harder to deploy - I wind up with it partially open about a quarter of the time, so it's sometimes slow to open. I like wearing this knife when I want to feel like a fancy knife wielding idiot. The biggest problem I have with this is the clip, which flares out at the bottom and can catch on things.

RoseCraft Blades Ogee RCM007 flipper.

IMG_9148.jpg

My cheapest full-size knife, this was less than $40. D2 steel, made in China, but fun looking and pleasant to hold. This is the heaviest knife I have, and I carry it the least. I have a tendency to use this when I'm going to be doing something that might be hard on a knife. I actually like this a lot

Next, some smaller knives, ones I usually wear with shorts because they're not as heavy:

Kizior Mini Sheepdog flipper.

IMG_9151.jpg

I like the look of this one, but this blade is almost too big and heavy for the total size of the knife. If I want a wide, flat blade, this is great.

Spyderco Chicago.


IMG_9154.jpg

Very light and nice, perfect for shorts. I'm not a fan of the blade shape, but it works fine.

[specious_reasons]

I have ordered (but not received) a Boox Go 6. This is an E-Ink tablet running Android 12. There's a few Boox specific apps and features, but this is primarily just an Android device that doesn't have an LED screen. My intent is to use it to run the Kindle app, but it should run anything that's in the Google Play store, so I expect I can use it for some of the other things I often use my iPad for, but it should be lighter and easier on the eyes.

I will report back when I get it and use it.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

I will report back when I get it and browse on it.

[specious_reasons]

I got the Boox Go 6 on Saturday, and spent some time playing with it. I was able to load the Google Play store and install some apps that I think will be the primary uses for it. I downloaded the Kindle, MS Todo, and a few of the library apps. I haven't downloaded Chrome or any music app but that is a plausible future update. You can tweak the display settings for each app, which I played with a bit, but the default works fine for most apps I downloaded.

As far as size, it is maybe 25% more screen than my phone, but with a wider aspect ratio. It's about an inch shorter than your average paperback, but it can still get a decent amount of text on one page with ebooks. PDFs with text intended for a letter sized page come up with readable but tiny text.

The battery life is generally better than the iPad I have, I have been actively using it all weekend. I spent a lot of time setting it up, read a full novel, and tested some apps on it and I'm at roughly 20% battery. I anticipate that if I put it in airplane mode and read a book, I'll get several more days out of it.

I was able to read a full novel on it without too much eyestrain, probably roughly equivalent to reading a paper book, but it also makes me think I was blaming the iPad for eyestrain while reading when I'm just generally getting older and my eyes are having more problem adjusting.

It is slow, though in two ways. It's not a very powerful tablet with just 2G of memory, so it's generally slower than a tablet with more memory, also the e-ink refresh is much slower than an OLED screen. Some things just look bad as they transition. This is adjustable to some extent.

I've had a few apps crash or have problems, the Kindle app sometimes crashes on loading. The other weirdness is the lack of speakers. I paired a headphone via Bluetooth, but I haven't yet evaluated it for sound.

Right now, my general impression is: this is about what I expected for what I paid for. It's light and portable. I should have paid the extra money for the Boox Palma for its 8G of memory, but I like this tablet's shape better. It's slow, but mostly fine for reading in the Kindle and Proprietary Boox app.

[specious_reasons]

Current update on the Boox tablet, as posted from the thing.
It is way too slow for anything other than reading ebooks, which is fine becaue that's my primary use for it. You can use it.for other things in a pinch, but it's.not pleasant.

I turned.off Wifi and Bluetooth when I'm only using it for.reading and read another novel and a few.other things and used about 30% of the battery, better than the ipad, but a dedicated Kindle.would.use.less.

It's not a satisfactory replacement for the ipad, but useful enough to be my default ebook reader.

[specious_reasons]

Clearly, I have a tendency to hit the "." key when I'm typing on the tablet.

[specious_reasons]

The Boox Go6 is fine for reading, and almost nothing else. I’m considering upgrading to the Boox Palma 2 which is on preorder, it has more memory and processing power, but it’s more than twice as expensive and shaped more like a phone, so I’m not certain it’s worth it.

Also, I still wanted to try a button lock knife, so I bought 2. These are from the “budget” brand CJRB, which means they’re designed by US knife makers but manufactured overseas.

IMG_2348.jpeg

IMG_2349.jpeg

The top is the mini pyrite, the bottom is the ekko.

So far I like them both. They’re both lighter and thinner than most of my other knives. I used the mini pyrite as a watch pocket knife, and it did fine, but the mini cleaver still holds my heart. I really like the look of the ekko, but the front flipper is awkward for me. You can just press the button and let it swing open, but that also requires some finesse. The large hole allows you to open it with your thumb, which is my preferred method.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

I just backed this:

The Bulkhead by Oceanus Brass



This is a solid brass lock box (of sorts), which is rather ridiculous. It is however, something I can imagine using, unlike their last project, which was a massive, heavy brass pen.

Got this earlier this week. It is rather ridiculous. It's heavy, even more so than I expected. I'm also mildly disappointed. The hinges allow for a lot of play between the lid and the body, like about 5mm back and forth when it's not latched, and when it's fully closed and latched, it still has about 2mm of movement. You might not think that's a lot, but it's surprisingly noticeable.

I still haven't figured out what to do with it yet.

I am also trying out a new wallet because it was on sale:

Refyne CC1 Slim Wallet



It comes with that small titanium multitool and toothpick/needle, and I took out the multitool because the typical number of cards I carry daily max this thing out. I like the toothpick — the primary draw for this minimalist wallet, so it stays for the moment.

I'm not in love with this, overall it winds up being a bit thicker than the tyvek wallet I was using, and it's a tad bit harder to remove cards when it's stuffed. The cards are also exposed, so they seem more likely to be damaged or cause damage to my pocket. I'm giving this a few weeks and then will reconsider this in comparison to the tyvek wallet.

Oh, and I decided to upgrade my MacBook to an M4. Trading in the M1 MacBook makes this almost a reasonable price.