morning all,
one of my pet loves is great, reliable technology.
One of my pet hates is buying it.
These days - I find it's getting harder and harder to sort the wheat from the chaff unless you can get personal recommendations from longer term users - and trustworthy ones - who can communicate and evaluate properly.
Even then - you can come a gutzer.
I find you can buy something - fantastic. Then, after 6 months or so - with a great history - you think - ok, I am going to get 3 more of them - and, then - you find when they arrive - some things are different - it's very annoying.
I also find that - pretty much - nothing is perfect - and pretty much nothing sounds perfect in reviews.
I have often got the 'perfect' thingy - and, thought - oh, boy - you can't better this thing.
Only to find - a year or 5 down the track that someone comes out with some other feature that you just didn't even think of.
Also - often (almost always) there are pros and cons of each item - and, even how you use each item.
My old torch would be a great example of that -
a. in the reviews - it doesn't cut as much mustard as some other models - in some ways. But, once you get it in your hands and use it - you find that it is far and away better in the hand than anything else you have picked up.
b. you have a choice of using it with a small tube extender for rechargeable batteries - which, makes it less cost to run - or, you can use CR123 batteries which cost more to run -
well - I can tell you now --------- I use it in cut down version with the CR123's - why?
because when it is in your hand - it is a perfect fit - almost impossible to drop, balance is either perfect or very very comfortable - you can carry it for hours - etc. etc.
Now - if I were using it every night as a policeman or security and I had to pay for the batteries myself - I might not do it that way - indeed, I might not even have that model -------- it's always horses for courses.
Equipment is a very personal and interesting thing - and, I find you have to live with something for a while to know it - even 5 minutes can change matters.
I like knives - I use them in the kitchen and I hate using something that doesn't 'feel' right and I love something that does 'feel' right and is razor sharp.
Every time I go to NZ I visit a knife maker not far out from Nelson - I would never order a knife handmade - I just go and have a look what he has at the time ----- and, the test --------- just pick them up.
A knife - just like many other things - either just falls into your hand and your life ------------ or it is forgettable. Specification wise - there is always the mystery of metallurgy to consider of course. Ie. I like carbon steel - but, I hate anyone else going near my carbon steel knives. Give them a SS and I can repair the damage later
I find exactly the same thing with torches, knives, guns, cars, clothes, baggage ------- all have their problems when buying as research needs to be done - and, in almost all you can come a gutzer sometimes ---------- but, in the end - it always comes down to feel - as long as the things perform as they are supposed to.
People may think I am pedantic also - but, it's interesting - when we started to build our fire system - the year before the Vic. fires where a lot of people died - I think my neighbors thought we were insane - we have a highly engineered expensive system ----------- oh, the nutter on the hill
then the Vic. fires came and left many dead - and, the nutter on the hill didn't look so stupid.
THEN - one afternoon - where everyone has visibility of about 100 kilometers - in 20 minutes - we came to visibility of about 20 metres.
Everyone hit the Tas fire service www ---------------- whoops, down - no go. So then, everyone hit the phone to Tas fire ------------ no one answered.
In short - no bugger knew nothing and the place settled into an eerie quiet as sunset approached -
Then - they came - phone calls from neighbors - and then they descended on the nutter's place and worked out that if one more thing happened - they were shifting camp up to the nutter's on the hill.
this of course, suited me right down to the ground - because, even though I can run the battle if it ever comes - with 2 people - and if push comes to shove - we retreat to our bunker inside the hill - it is easier if I had manpower - 6 people would be lovely - taking turns on watch and having more eyes on the ground at any one time.
Basically - all of this stuff - be it a torch or a security light or whatever ----- people often think it's over the top and expensive ------------------- until?????????
have a great sunday all
Pinto
