Gadgetry

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Apple CarPlay, Android Auto distract drivers more than pot, alcohol, says study - CNET

[specious_reasons]

After my last search search for pocket knives, I followed some EDC/pocket knife YouTubers, which I still watch. Due to that, I stumbled on this from Rive Knives.

I was actually thinking about getting a larger knife - like a 3" blade - for when I don't mind carrying a bigger knife. Instead, I bought this. It hits just the right combination of useful and weird looking that made me really want to buy it.

[Ari]

This thread reminded me that I saw this a bit ago, and found it interesting as I own the Anker Boulder light they use as a control sample. It’s been a good flashlight, I find its bright 900 lumen high to be a bit too bright and rather intense when used up close, so there would be retinal burn if any of these others produced the numbers they claim. The one caveat is that aside from high medium and low it has strobe fast and strobe SOS which MUST be cycled through to get back to high, and that would make me go a bit insane if I had to switch modes often.

How Amazon is Allowing Flashlights to Get Out of...

[ceptimus]

Some flashlights have a function, often undocumented, where a 'long press' of the button switches them off, bypassing the nonsensical and annoying flashing and SOS modes.

[specious_reasons]

The Fenix flashlight I've been using for years now has three modes. A full click of the tail switch turns it on and a half click changes modes. I vastly prefer this mode of operation.
I think this is it: LD02 FENIX FLASHLIGHT

[Ari]

On the Anker if you turn the light off and don’t turn it back on within 5 seconds it will keep the mode it was on. Turning it off and then on in less than 5 seconds switches the modes as does tapping the button without fully clicking the switch.

Supposably there’s some surgery that can be done to bypass the strobes making the options high, high, high, medium, low but it hasn’t bothered me enough to go trying to break it. Mostly just to be annoyed at the added tacticool features. The SOS blinks so slowly and at the brightest battery draining setting, I can’t imagine anyone ever being rescued because of it.

[lisarea]

I have a Sofirn flashlight with open source Anduril firmware, so the UI takes a little memorizing (which I have not fully done), but does not require you to cycle through.

My plan is to get one more flashlight with Anduril, and that'll be it for me as far as flashlights go.

[ceptimus]

Remember when flashlights only had an on/off switch?

[ceptimus]

Flashlight Fire Starter - YouTube

[SharonDee]

Because Amazon had a sale, I bought this Rocketbook scannable, reusable notebook.

I've wanted one of these ever since I saw it (probably on Facebook) in a video but it was so pricy and I'm not a big pen-to-paper writer. But when I saw Amazon offered it for 40% off, I bit.

I've been using it this week for a project I'm working on. Ever since I became a regular OneNote fan, that's been my go-to for thinking through thorny issues. So I was surprised to learn I think better when writing than when typing. Once I had my thoughts down on paper, I scanned them in and prettied them up for OneNote.

Time will tell but so far I'm a fan.

[specious_reasons]

This is the new knife I just bought. I didn't have an excuse, I just thought it was interesting. I'm trying it out to see if I really want to swap it out with the mini cleaver.

Here is is in side-by-side comparison to the mini cleaver. It's only slightly larger and heavier, but it's all straight lines and the cleaver is more curved.

IMG_1902.jpeg

IMG_1904.jpeg

[slimshady2357]

Nothing beats the mini cleaver, NOTHING!

[Ari]

Closed I like the look of the new knife, and I have a hunch it might feel better in the hand for longer use, but open, the mini cleaver wins.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Ari

Closed I like the look of the new knife, and I have a hunch it might feel better in the hand for longer use, but open, the mini cleaver wins.

For what is essentially an expensive novelty, the Kansept Korvid Mini Cleaver is a surprisingly good quality and well designed knife. The Rive Mini Rogue is not particularly more comfortable nor easier to hold - the flipper tab gets in the way of getting a close grip on the blade.

No regrets buying it - it's a nice knife too, but I think the mini cleaver is both the best and most amusing knife.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

dvQ7PN6.jpg

[specious_reasons]

In a fit of minor, useless purchases, I bought:
- a set of 6 wire puzzles for fidgeting
- a QSP Penguin Pocket Knife
- a lot of books.

The wire puzzles was a sub $10 impulse buy, something to spend a few moments fiddling with when my hands need something to do. They're mostly easy puzzles, with one or two being a bit harder. 5/6 only took a few minutes to solve.

But the main point of this discussion is the QSP Penguin. I wanted to try a full sized knife and this is well-reviewed and relatively inexpensive. The sheepsfoot blade is slightly over 3" (78mm), so generally not a big full sized knife, but bigger than anything else I have, and in my relatively small hands, this is big enough. It's a one hand open/close that's reversible, except for the liner lock.

So I played around with this for a bit, and I'm carrying it now. This one isn't a flipper - which I'm OK with, but once I almost nicked my thumb on the blade because my thumb slipped off the stud a bit. I found that getting it past the detent and flicking it open works best.

It's a nice enough knife, but I don't find this any better than the smaller knives I've been using, and I don't often have a need for anything this big. I'll revert back to the mini cleaver once the weekend ends.

[JoeP]

Hmm, we appear not to have a penguin-with-a-knife smilie, despite the obvious importance.

Finland with a knife, however ...

is tangentially appropriate.

And

[specious_reasons]

I a very recent tragic turn, the Leatherman Style PS I've been carrying for a while now must have dropped out of my pocket. I switched to the Gerber Dime for a multitool in the meantime, until I stumble upon where I dropped it, or I order another.

[specious_reasons]

I wasn't particularly happy with my latest Fitbit watch's band. They (of course) reworked how the band connects to the body since the last one I bought, so I can't reuse the band I like. I looked at the Fitbit page for new ones, but they're expensive (~ $40USD) and not anything I liked. I took a gamble and bought a pack of 3 bands from an unknown brand on Amazon for $8.

They're fine. I think they have a bit more "wiggle" connecting to the body than the original band, but it's been fine for everyday use. Now I have 3 new colors and I like how they clasp better.

I think Fitbit is going away soon. The reviews of the latest Fitbits and the Pixel watch imply that the latest entries in both lines have essentially the same hardware capabilities, only they disabled features on the Fitbit line. I think Google will be steering people to the Pixel watch. That will suck for me because I'm an iPhone user, and they don't have support for iPhones at this time.

[specious_reasons]

I had a knife on my wishlist and someone got it for me for Xmas:

Below is the:
- Penguin QSP
- My new Kizer Mini Sheepdog
- Kanscept Korvid mini cleaver

IMG_1962.jpeg

The Mini Sheepdog was another potential experiment with larger knives. Even though it's 2.6 inches, it's a larger knife than I typically carry.

It meets my basic requirements. It's easy to open and close with one hand, and it doesn't look too "stabby." It's a liner lock blade that seems nice and solid. That's all a good start.

It doesn't fit in my watch pocket, and I don't think this is work-appropriate, so this would hang inside my pocket on the weekends or when I'm doing work around the house. This is what I expected when I ordered the Penguin QSP.

I like it so far. It opens and closes reliably and safely. It is a flipper-only knife, which I have generally avoided. Some flipper knives have these flipper tabs that stick out a lot, and I never liked how it looked. The flipper tab here is not too pronounced. There are a few things I haven't liked as much. This knife has a few more hard edges than the Penguin, so it might be less comfortable to hold and carry over time. The clip seems a bit tight and stiff, so it's a bit harder to remove from my pocket than the Penguin.

These are minor issues so far. We'll see which I'm putting into my pocket over time.

[specious_reasons]

Flashlight update:

My Fenix E12 flashlight died - turning it on started to become inconsistent over the weekend, and it only worked once on Monday. I can't complain too much, this sub-$40 flashlight lasted me just about 8 years. I may take it apart to see if I can repair it.

The primary use for the light is to provide me with some light while walking the dogs (for finding dog poop and making me more visible). The E12 always started in low mode, and I rarely needed more, so I would generally only replace the AA battery 2-3 times per year. That's pretty good considering I used it daily - morning and night during the winter months.

It seems I'm at odds with the bulk of the EDC flashlight aficionados - most people seem to want to have brighter lights with the option of having a low mode. I looked through the CandlePower Forums (still going as well!), and all of the recommendations are all models which have higher power modes and shorter battery lives.

After looking around, I found the Fenix EDC flashlights still fit my notions of how a flashlight should work. I was considering buying the Fenix E12 V2.0. It's an incremental improvement over the original, and I really liked the E12.

However, I decided to experiment with the Fenix E09R rechargeable. It's rechargeable, so I should produce less waste over the years of service. It has 4 modes, moonlight, low, medium, and high. I think the "moonlight" option might be too low, so I might wind up using the slightly bright "low" mode and will need to recharge it more often than I'd like.

I expect to buy the E12 V2.0 as well. They're both $40 or less. Buying both is still less expensive than anything else I considered. I think this is economically justifiable, especially if they last years like the last one did. I can choose which one to use daily, and which to have as backup.

[specious_reasons]

I got both flashlights, I had an opportunity to use them, and I'm mildly disappointed on one point - the amount of light I get on the lower settings.

The original Fenix E12 was 8/50/130 lumens, the new is 5/30/160 lumens, and the E90R is 3/25/100/300 Lumens. It's a noticeable difference on those lower settings. They're both usable but the lowest light settings aren't great for visibility.

Otherwise, they're basically fine - the size is good and the weight is even better.

because the E12 V2 has a hard switch I'll probably use the E09R until it needs charging and then switch to the E12 as needed.

[Ari]

I don’t know if it’s my eyes/brain or the type of LEDs but I’ve had some old flashlights that produced just enough light that my brain thought I should be able to make out detail while also not being able to make out any details, so I can see there being a lower limit before it’s not really a flashlight anymore.

[JoeP]

This message has been deleted by lisarea.