@ruouttaurmind each of my children have refurb’ed Canon T6… (Gotta love grandparents!) When the kids deign to let me use their cameras, they each were a thing of beauty!! You could not tell they weren’t brand new, except for the box… On my long list of wants!

@ruouttaurmind

You gave a link. I was gonna merely post this screenshot:

@ruouttaurmind $666.66 This is the Devils deal!!! Don’t do it!

@mfladd

https://www.fhm.com/posts/super-bowl-52-tom-brady-sold-soul-to-devil-152746

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnNews:New_England_Patriots_sign_five-year_extension_with_Satan

https://www.sportsgrid.com/real-sports/nfl/tom-bradys-pact-with-satan/

Oh ya! Don’t forget to pay via PayPay using your Chase Freedom VISA for another 5% cash back!

I just saved another $7 on top of seller’s 10% off and eBay’s 15% off.

@PlacidPenguin Muwahahahaha!

@ruouttaurmind

Did you also use a cashback site?

@PlacidPenguin No, I haven’t sold my soul to the cashback sites. I fussed about with ebates a couple years ago but after about half my deals weren’t hunoured I gave up and haven’t bothered with them again.

@OldCatLady Thanks!

@OldCatLady

Oops. Didn’t see this here. Put a reminder in the book talk topic.

Dunno if this deal is good beyond today or not.

Anyway, it’s about horses so it’s excellent!

@f00l @OldCatLady
This was about horses?!? Phew, phew, phew! I thought this was about the Soap Box Derby…

@Barney @f00l @OldCatLady

I like this purple soap box:

This one is $19. CNET says they’re fine with Android devices now.
https://misfit.com/fitness-trackers/misfit-flare

@PlacidPenguin

What’s is an “IAP”?

@f00l

In App Purchase.

@PlacidPenguin
Thx.

@PlacidPenguin @f00l monument valley is sooooo good. Beautiful chill music, clever puzzle, gorgeous art, and a fun little story.

@f00l @UncleVinny

Picked it up in 2014 back when Amazon still had FAOTD for their app store.

'Twas one of the only deals which I actually liked.

@PlacidPenguin Interesting. Too bad they’re not something I’ll need.

They just made a thread about it.

@PlacidPenguin I read up on it … eventually. It’s my lunch hour and other things take priority right now.

@narfcake

Just remember…

@PlacidPenguin FWIW, the CD version is different from the broadcast version.

@PlacidPenguin I could use some good shades. My MJ’s were stolen and my Bolle’s are starting to grow a bit long in the tooth. There’s one annoying scratch right across the pupil LOS.

@ruouttaurmind

I only ever owned one pair of sunglasses.

The first time I wanted to wear them somewhere, I proceeded to sit on them. Have not owned any since.

@PlacidPenguin It’s mandatory equipment for me. Otherwise my eyeballs may spontaneously combust.

@narfcake So buy it for $20 and resell using the profits to get something you need.

@medz @narfcake

PENGUIN SHIRTS!!!

@narfcake

Just the ending, if I’m not mistaken.

@del

Well I think this experiment went delightfully well.

@PlacidPenguin Unidentified Flying Banana? That’s what the interwebs says UFB stands for.

@sammydog01

• 3 minutes ago
• permalink

ThunderThighs

quality posts: 1033 Private Messages

Staff

dwaynesr wrote:UFB, you can put up this scam, and not realize the damage you have done to your brand. You're not funny or even slightly amusing. You have insulted everyone who ever read this promotion, by assuming they are all idiots!

Appreciate your feedback. What part of it did you hate? As we noted, it was an experiment.

Also UFB?
Unidentified Flying Balloons?
Underrated Flimsy BBQs
Underneath Farting Baboons?

** You must log in with Amazon EVERY time **
To contact CS, use the Customer Service form in the menu at the top right corner of every page
••• ► Woot's UPDATED Return Policy ◄ ••• ► Did you check your spam/junk folders for a CS reply?
CANCEL?? How to cancel your order in the first 2 hours!! - except orders with expedited items

• Reply
• Tattle

@PlacidPenguin She obviously uses a different search engine than me.

@sammydog01 @narfcake

Must be from Amazon…

https://meh.com/forum/topics/ask-irk-amazons-shitty-search

@del

By the way, nice new badge.

@PlacidPenguin Wow- someone at Meh took their mean pills today.

@PlacidPenguin //eyeroll. I’d rather have a woot favicon.

@Del

And I’d really like a jumbo flying Woot monkey, but we can’t all be happy.

(Shame I didn’t get any monkey in my last BoC though. Then again, getting one would have made it not be a disappointment.)

@PlacidPenguin My wOOT avatar is an eViL flying monkey.

@ruouttaurmind Ugh. I am dealing with a scratch and just a general roughing up of the lenses right now on a pair of my Smith’s. It’s kind of sad

@mfladd You can get replacement lenses for many models of Smiths for around $20. Better than doling out for a new pair.

@ruouttaurmind wait, what?

@mfladd Replacement lenses are available for many models of Smith sunglasses. An eBay search for “Smith sunglasses replacement lenses” nets 1600 results.

@ruouttaurmind I looked and they are actually Revo’s. I have done a search and can’t find lenses for the undercut titanium frames anywhere (just the undercut ti’s). So sad

@hillee It’s a matter of opinion?

@hillee @sammydog01

Good thing I got one last Woot-Off.

@PlacidPenguin Me too! I got green army men magnets. Score!

@sammydog01

At least you get useful stuff. Not sure what I’m supposed to do with a record. Or a speaker dock. (I prefer Bluetooth speakers.)

@PlacidPenguin Thanks!

@UncleVinny Done. I keep forgetting. And you’re right, they don’t spam you.

@ruouttaurmind

Can you remind us what MintSIM offers? Thx.

@f00l I paid $180 for a year of unlimited talk/txt with 2GB data each month. On the T-Mo network.

@ruouttaurmind

So this new one you found looks better to me.

@f00l If one needs more data than 2GB, and you’re ok with the AT&T network, it’s a pretty good price.

@sammydog01

Here’s a BrickSeek link for Energizer 24ct AA so folks can check stores in their area for price and stock status.

And for AAA.

Yesterday there was one location in my area showing the $4 price, but today they’re all $14. I guess I shouldn’t have procrastinated heading over there, innit.

Ok, I found Duracell in stock. Tons and tons of AAA on the shelf, but only 2 AA. Resisted the urge to buy several packages, and restrained myself to the last 2 AA and 4 AAA.

Here’s the BrickSeek linky for Duracell AAA.

And for Duracell AA.

@ruouttaurmind That link is cool!

@sammydog01 Right? You can check Target, Walmart, Lowe’s and Office Depot. If you don’t have a SKU, you can enter a description and BrickSeek will do it’s best to find the item for you.

I’ve found the results to be about 70% reliable. But Pro Tip, resist the urge to call the store to have them do a physical check if the item is deeply discounted and low on stock.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01

Re resisting the urge to call after checking brickseek.

Slickdeals rule #1
Never ever call big box stores to check inventory on a really great pricing deal.

If you do, you have just alerted on site store employees to the deal.

Either the employee then goes on break to purchase it for themselves, or they call/text friends or family to come wipe the stock. Before you can get there.

The is known to happen all the time. I believe Slickdealers have seen this effect in action.

So just spend the time and drive there.

@f00l I have personally experienced this.

@f00l @ruouttaurmind or they realize the computer fucked up the price and they go fix it.

If I combine this with the 6% eBay Bucks offer which I got this morning…

There was an item which I was looking at on eBay, which offers a free return for any reason.

So… Free Google Home Mini + $2.94 eBay Bucks?

Sure… I’ll take that.

The $2.94 is for the Home Mini, not the Pixel.

As per my request yesterday, my order for the OG Pixel was cancelled. Later in the day, a tracking number was provided for the Home Mini.

I had to pay tax on it despite it being free with the coupon, but I’ll still make a small profit if i decide to sell it.

@PlacidPenguin I’ll pay you $10 for it.

@ruouttaurmind mine showed a MOQ of 2, so I dropped $2.68 with tax to pick some up. Thanks!

@djslack I just picked mine up. Five bucks and some change for a couple hundred gloves, not bad. They aren’t super heavy, but quite suitable for housekeeping and light garage stuff.

@ruouttaurmind Just ordered. Thanks!

@mfladd I suggest nitrile gloves. I almost always rip vinyl gloves putting them on. Granted, vinyl are cheaper. Just don’t be so damn rough.

@RiotDemon Thanks for the suggestion. Some of the chemicals I use in the garage quickly eat nitrile, but vinyl tolerates well. Some solvents, and ammonium hydroxide in particular both of which which I use for cleaning parts.

@RiotDemon But…but… nevermind.

@ruouttaurmind I just constantly walk out of work with gloves in my pockets. Considering they’re light purple, I should package them all up and send them to @Barney. I must have hundreds here.

@cinoclav Purple? You are sooo lucky!

@ruouttaurmind at least you’ve given me reason to save the few boxes of vinyl gloves I already have. Didn’t think about the chemical aspect.

@Barney @cinoclav I stole those out of the doctor’s office once for my miltank Halloween costume.
/image miltank

(It also gets me free dinner at Chick-Fil-A on dress like a cow day.)

@sammydog01

I just realized that I’ve been getting the name wrong.

@Barney Luckier than the person on the other side of those gloves.

@cinoclav Ouch!

@djslack Great! I ordered up a couple of back-up thumb drives.

so not earthshaking …

@djslack Yeah. For reference, I picked up several $12 Samsung 64gb micro SDXCs from Woot during the last woot-off.

@therealjrn Note that some of the flash drives are USB 2.0.

@djslack @narfcake USB 2.0 is fine for my needs.

@djslack I’m just dumbfounded that you can get 400gb on a Micro SDXC.

@cinoclav

When I read go through a particular comic strip series, I watch how the technology progresses on the desktop front.

Yes, I have been alive during the progression, but (almost) all y’all have been around for more of the technological timeline.

@cinoclav @PlacidPenguin I used to view Strongbad Email much the same way.

@cinoclav Amazing what technology has brought on. 20 years ago, 340 megabytes in a 1" drive was just about the highest capacity small format storage available.
/image 1" micro drive

@cinoclav @narfcake

February 22, 1990:

@cinoclav @PlacidPenguin The 80 megabyte Seagate ST-4096 was sub-$1000 by the late 80’s already.

@cinoclav @narfcake @PlacidPenguin

Toshiba PA2012U 4MB PCMCIA flash card for my Apple Newton MessagePad (precursor to the iPad). Purchased from MegaHaus mail order in 1994 for the rock bottom price of $229. It was a tremendous amount of storage for my little Newton PDA.

I still have the Newton, and the PCMCIA modem I used to get remote email access. In fact, I think I even still have my original Palm Pilot around here somewhere.

@cinoclav @narfcake @PlacidPenguin @ruouttaurmind I still have my Palm somewhere…

BUT LOOK AT YOU!!! 4MB!1! How did you ever fill it?

@therealjrn LOL!

(TBH, I didn’t. It became obsolete before I ever came close.)

@PlacidPenguin

Yes, I have been alive during the progression,

Huh.

Evidence for truth of assertion?

BTW, I purchased my iPad Pro from QuickShip Electronics (via eBay) and I was very happy with the transaction. Item was shipped promptly in a well protected box and was exactly as described. Plus, they offer free 30 day returns if you aren’t satisfied with your purchase.

@moondrake I can’t find them outside of a set of two with a table included, and they’re not $25 each but $90/set. But maybe this could help you define the style you’re looking for (positively or negatively):
https://m.ebay.com/itm/Outdoor-Patio-Furniture-3pcs-Cast-Aluminum-Bistro-Set-Antique-Table-Chair-Bronze/352324102559

@moondrake Are you close to an Ikea?
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00211088/

@narfcake Those chairs look uncomfortable AF. I suppose if you don’t want guests to linger, this is a great choice.

@narfcake Unfortunately, it looks like the closest one’s about 500 miles away. Too bad, those would be perfect. Oh, but shipping is only $9. I’ll probably order these. Thanks! I’ve never bought an Ikea product before.

@narfcake @ruouttaurmind No, I do want them to linger. I do most ifof my art at this table, and when the weather’s nice we board game on it.

@moondrake @narfcake @ruouttaurmind would those chairs survive outside?

@moondrake you’re definitely gonna want a set of these then…

@moondrake If you haven’t placed the IKEA order yet, what about one of these styles from Wayfair? (Free shipping and larger seating surface with padded seats)

@ruouttaurmind What a deal! I ordered two sets. Free shipping! Thanks so much for the lead.

@riotdemon As long as things are out of direct sunlight, indoor stuff does fine outdoors here. It’s very dry (8% humidity today). Most of the furniture in my screen room is indoor stuff, other than getting sandy when the wind blows it’s fine.

@moondrake totally forgot about your lack of humidity.

Lucky you.

@moondrake Cool. What style did you select?

@ruouttaurmind The Lansdowne one. While the smooth seat on the Folmar would have stayed cleaner, it would have decayed a lot faster in our dry environment.

@moondrake I’m thinking the curved back on the Lansdowne will likely be a bit more comfortable as well.

@moondrake For ten bucks a chair they don’t even have to last that long. You might want to add a cross brace on the legs if you have any friends that are extra fluffy though.
/giphy score!

@moondrake @ruouttaurmind That’s a deal! Some of the thrift stores here aren’t even this low!

@moondrake Wondering how the chairs worked out? Have you received them yet?

@ruouttaurmind They canceled my order. I wrote them and complained that this was my very first purchase from them and they’d backed out of the sale. They gave me a measly 10% off coupon which I won’t be using. I won’t be shopping there again. Found a couple of old office chairs at a local thrift store that work, and I’ll keep two of the ones I have. Not a happy solution as I wanted four matching chairs and I was looking forward to how nice these were going to look with the mosaic table I worked so hard on and I end up with mismatched second hand stuff. Sorry, looked like a great deal but turned out to be an untrustworthy vendor.

@moondrake That’s disappointing. It annoys me when a retailer does this. Unfortunately it’s not that uncommon for massive sites like Wayfair, Walmart or Amazon.

I ordered a couple television wall mounts from Walmart about 2 weeks ago via Google Express. The order made it through to the point they sent a tracking number, but after 4 days the tracking details still showed “waiting for package from shipper” before I received a cancellation notice from WM with no explanation.

Last week I received a message of apology from Google telling me they were investigating why Walmart did this and offering a $10 account credit for my next order from Google Express. At least Google tried to make amends. This is the kind of foul up which can doom a relatively new service like Express, so they took responsibility for WM’s blunder.

I’ve had a number of orders cancelled by Amazon. They make no apologies and don’t offer any explanation.

@ruouttaurmind is there a way to capture video with this thing?

@RiotDemon From the manufacturer’s product website: “View and record video from the done POV. Includes an SD card to store your videos and share with friends.”

@ruouttaurmind whoops. Guess I missed that paragraph!

@ruouttaurmind sweeeettt… I need a birthday/bar mitzvah present for next weekend!! Totally out of drones!
Thank you…

@ruouttaurmind holy guacamole…I did not read the specs on it…this is NOT a mini drone!!

@mikibell @ruouttaurmind I really hemmed and hawed on this and now it’s sold out. meh.

@mikibell Yeah, I guess I wasn’t really clear on that when I wrote:

MUCH easier to control than the little micro-drones Meh was pushing

I should have clarified “it’s easier to fly because it’s bigger”.

@ruouttaurmind hehheehe…I bought 2…one because my boy would drive me insane until I bought him one – he and his father are trying to rescue it from a tree now! The other as a gift. The shipping box could easily fit 4 12-packs of soda and more! Now I am worried I will embarrass the mom and dad when I give it as a gift!!!

@RiotDemon it is cool! I liked that it was all included…no pc/phone/tablet needed!

@ruouttaurmind

Dilemma:

I want a FPV drone for… Reasons…

But I don’t shop at Walmart.

@ruouttaurmind
/giphy size does matter

@PlacidPenguin You’re in luck- they’re sold out.

@sammydog01

And who said that holding back is a bad thing?

@PlacidPenguin @sammydog01 back in stock and ordered!

It’s been sold out and back in stock several times. I broke mine out last night although I only got as far as looking at it. Was impressed enough just from the look that when they came back in stock this morning I ordered 2 more as gifts.

@PlacidPenguin @ruouttaurmind

I want a FPV drone for… Reasons…

Mr. Penguin, I will shoot it out of the sky if I see it over my house!

p.s. I ordered one for xmas

@mfladd Kinda want a garlic drone now…

@ruouttaurmind just got my drone. I’m just as terrible with this one as my little $5 drone. lol

@mfladd @PlacidPenguin @djslack @RiotDemon @mikibell This is a pretty decent unboxing and review from a drone novice. For $25 it looks like a great deal.

@djslack @mikibell did you guys get more than one battery? I only have one. This video shows two.

@ruouttaurmind his point about the plastic screw mount, I totally agree. It sucks. I also had a screw that I almost stripped trying to get the battery hatch open.

@djslack @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind the rechargeable battery?? Joe says he only got one…

@RiotDemon I only see one battery with mine. Was going to look online for more this weekend, although they have to be charged in the drone it’s always more fun to have multiple batteries.

@mikibell I checked Walmart. Only had one listed. This video was recorded when the drone was $150+ so I’m not surprised at $25 we only got one.

@RiotDemon

I’m just as terrible with this one as my little $5 drone. lol

Didja switch it to “beginner” mode? I think it’s selection 1 on the outside ring switch of the right joystick and N on the left stick?

@ruouttaurmind I saw a review that said to never use the N mode because it changes how you actually fly and it will confuse you when you change to a normal mode. I am using the beginner automatic stabilizer mode. I might try the N mode later if it ever stops raining. The drone is pulling to the side and I tried to adjust the trim, which made it way worse in a different direction… So tried to fix it back, even worse, lol.

@RiotDemon I’ve heard that argument against using headless mode (what they call Nykko mode) as long as I’ve been flying.

I suppose it depends on what your goal is. If you’re hoping to master drone control and go to work for Amazon as a professional delivery drone pilot I suppose a case could be made to avoid N mode and “learn to fly right”. If you’re really just after having a bit of fun and avoid tearing up your new toy, I say N-mode away!

The same argument could be made against GPS assisted flight, altitude stabilization, return to home capability, auto takeoff and landing… all the things which are highly valued in a smart drone.

@RiotDemon

So I tried to fix it back, even worse

There’s usually a “reset to factory default” function. Check the manual and see if your can find it. It’s usually done by holding down a couple buttons when powering up the remote controller.

@ruouttaurmind thanks, found the factory reset. It stopped raining so I’m going to give it a try in the N mode.

If anything, I might need to download the flight simulator game it comes with.

@ruouttaurmind I got leveled up and have an avacado drone now

This is Paco. He turns into the drones for the plant side.

It’s sad. My life revolves around Garden Warfare 2 now - and it’s kinda your fault

@mfladd Well then… you are welcome!

Just one thing though… Paco been gamin’ ya. He’s a Saguaro cactus, not an avocado.

Go Zombies!

@RiotDemon How did the flight go after the rain stopped yesterday? Any vid or pics to share?

This is a hell of a quadcopter for $25! I finally got to break it out and charge it up and take it for a test flight. I’m not used to flying from video down at the controller level (or really in goggles either, right now) but I tried it with the screen mounted to the controller. So I mostly flew visually and just glanced at the video screen from time to time. I did record for a bit so I’ll dig out a micro SD adapter and check that out later. The video didn’t have incredible range but so what. I have a non tiny drone that I can fly like I care about it as much as the tiny ones, and it has decent fpv!

The camera setup is strictly FPV, you can’t point it downward at all. I’m not sure how much it would calm an irate neighbor to know this but it seems at least they’re thinking about people’s privacy concerns.

Responsiveness seems great on A mode and level 2. I didn’t try level 3 or P mode, I ran out of battery first. At least I guess that’s what it means when the controller starts vibrating like crazy and won’t stop.

Going to put it back on charge. After I get some yard work done I’ll break it out again and maybe fly up and down my street.

@djslack help. My drone goes from barely hovering above the ground to twenty feet in the air in a second and then I always manage to crash it trying to get it lower. I haven’t tried FPV yet cuz the rain is back.

I think I need one of those altitude adjusting drones, lol.

@RiotDemon it does have some power, the throttle is pretty responsive. Work on being super gentle with your left thumb until you can put it in a hover at whatever height you want. At takeoff you want to punch it out of the ground effect and get off the ground with authority, but after that it takes really tiny movements to keep the altitude stable.

I’m not sure if the 1-2-3 speed settings do anything with the throttle, but keeping it on 1 should keep everything else from getting out of hand until you’re used to it. Definitely keep it in A mode on the left dial, P or rate mode is a whole other kind of challenge.

Also you may want to check out the simulator. I think you mentioned it above. The ability to connect the controller to the computer through the drone is a slick setup that also makes this a huge deal at this price. I hope to get to try it tonight myself.

@ruouttaurmind The zombie imp Drake is my go to for the undead side. I have to admit I am more comfortable with playing most of the plants though. Mastering the other zombies has been more of a challenge.

He calls to download a mechanized dragon to cause chaos and destruction unless some damn sun flower knocks him out with a solar flare.
p.s. I NEED HELP!

@ruouttaurmind the flight was not great. I was flying over the grass since I kept crashing. I ended up stopping since the grass was really wet and I was afraid I’d fry the drone. The steering was slightly better, but I can’t control the altitude for shit. I think if I try FPV I might not freak out as much when the drone is suddenly super high. I definitely need to download the simulator.

@djslsck was there a code for the download somewhere?

I kinda want one of these… but drones are illegal at my house… I need someone to talk me in/out of getting one. Or for them to go permanently out of stock.

@metaphore go for it! I bought 2 more for Christmas presents. My son has allowed me to hit a few buttons on the remote and that is it… Might be my own Christmas present!!

@RiotDemon the download is supposed to be at nikkoair.com, I found it in the pilots corner section but when I went to the simulator page last night it was “currently under maintenance” and I was to check back later

@metaphore how, specifically, are drones illegal at your house? Close to an airport? Local law? HOA rule? I’d buy one just to do the simulator and you can always take it to a park or sports field after you have practiced on the simulator.

The simulator is a game for sale on steam for $20 by itself, and you have to have a controller for it. Getting the whole drone that acts as a controller with the simulator included for $25 is crazy. I’d say get one. They’re in stock right now.

@djslack I’m near a military base that says we can’t fly over them, or near enough that it looks like you might fly over. They are trying to get the city to agree to banning them within 3000 feet of all 5 of their outposts in town which would make almost half the town blacked out. I want to say the current law is 80 feet, but when looking for that I kept only finding info on the new law.
I also found that drones are banned in all the Washington State parks and that my county decided to follow suit and ban them in county parks and when someone tried to find out if drones are allowed in city park they were told that they are banned but when asked to see the law no specific one was found so the new answer was that if anyone complains about it you’ll get fined. Two neighboring towns are pro drone though, so flying in their parks would be an option.
I’m still thinking about it, but am probably gonna buy one even though I have no idea where I’ll fly it. Now I have to find a $10 filler so I don’t have to pay shipping.

@metaphore don’t you need some toilet paper?

@metaphore look up tv mood light for $4.88 of filler, if you’re into lighting or LEDs at all you get over 6’ of rgb led tape, a controller and remote powered by USB.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/MagicTV-USB-LED-Mood-Light-for-TVs-PCs-or-Home/227473148

Drone hype is real some places I guess. This is really a toy and not something you can fly out of sight (I lost video two houses down today trying to fly solely fpv and almost lost the drone because when I looked away from the screen I couldn’t find the drone in the sky, and I couldn’t have been more than 30’ high) but you don’t want to risk getting in trouble, I can see that. That said it’s an awesome toy, and the cheapest (so least scary) and easiest way to get into unassisted rate mode I’ve found.

@djslack Time to bust out the soldering iron an do an antenna mod? The video display is gonna have it’s own internal antenna, so it’s probably a pretty easy mod. I’m guessing the camera transmitter is also a self contained unit, so again an easy mod.

My first quadcopter, a Syma X5c, had a pretty limited operating range. I opened the transmitter and fished the single wire antenna out, drilled a small hole, and left the wire hanging. Similar mod on the quadcopter, except I extended the wire, then tied the excess to the landing skids. This took less than an hour and doubled my range.

@ruouttaurmind Great minds… I took the rx apart Monday and the top off the quad last night. They use what looks like a very very fine coax on the antennas and it’s a strange design with a single “bell” on the rx and a double bell on the tx. Here is a pic of the rx side, I took the heat shrink off of it. The tx one is hot glued inside the canopy and I haven’t yet touched it - if those bells are to do circular polarization I might try to leave it alone and do an spw on the rx.

I was thinking about a cloverleaf setup but the tiny coax may be too delicate to build on which was my initial thought. Haven’t found anything online about modding this quad. I do have a spare on the way in case I screw up either flying or modding. I’m not comfortable flying my racers in such close quarters around the house but I can bash this thing around the yard with abandon.

I also wrote to their customer service about the simulator. I suspect people may have been abusing the form to get the sim for free without purchase of the quad. I believe you just get a steam code to redeem the game.

@djslack I’m guessing the bell is acting as a kind of a balun for what is essentially a dipole antenna improvised from the coax.

@ruouttaurmind that occurred to me in reading last night, but the tx side has a double arrangement kind of like a butterfly yo-yo which threw me. A piece of the center conductor appears to continue out the far side. Either way this makes the drill a hole and pull the wire through option a little messier (guess I could just cut a slot instead).

I originally wanted to build cloverleaf antennas at the end of the existing wire but I think I might do better to get some sma connectors and wire the coax to a connector on the case/top and then add a screw on antenna to each. It would be stronger for sure. I’m not sure how hard that really tiny coax would be to solder to anything yet.

The original antennas may get much better range in an open field where there are no walls nearby to create multipath interference. My control range was fine but good video range is a must, especially if you do the goggles.

@djslack Is the center conductor on the coax solid or stranded? I’m guessing stranded. My experience with tiny coax: I wind up burning the conductor before I get a good solder joint. If you have an adjustable iron I’m sure that would make a difference.

You’re probably right, the best option is to replace the coax with SMA connectors.

@ruouttaurmind I believe it’s stranded.

I’m hoping not to have to replace it completely (all the way back to the tx/rx board) but I guess that’s an option.

This FPV drone is OOS again. WM offers a “Get in-stock alert” feature for this item, so it may become available again.

@ruouttaurmind I used the in stock alert and it came in two days after I found them in stock myself and ordered some more. So it works, but you may do better watching for yourself.

@ruouttaurmind I think this deal is toast… Shows $59.99 now (still not a bad price for what you get).

@ruouttaurmind mutter, curse, not nice thoughts, Walmart never fulfilled my other drones or the other items I ordered, most of the items are either out of stock or much more expensive now!! Offered me 10% off… told the chatty woman that I didn’t care; that 10% off of nothing really wasn’t helpful. Cancelled my order and guess what went back into stock, at 59.99???

@mikibell Walmart sucks.

@RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind so it seems that toy state may have caused themselves a problem by throwing up a form to get the DRL Simulator code - I’m guessing they maybe didn’t include proper verification for ownership because I saw links to the form on several sites.

I emailed their customer service back around memorial day, then tweeted them a few days later and when Twitter responded I told them the customer service email never got back to me. They don’t even have an autoresponder that says “we got your message”. It took them about a week to get back to me, then they asked for pictures of the receipt or the drone. Yesterday I emailed them back and said it’s been another week with no response and asked if there pictures were sufficient and they responded in a few hours and said they were working on getting more codes.

This morning I got an email with my code and left my home PC downloading the game on steam. So the process was a bit of a drag, I probably would have been better off just buying the game on steam if not for the principle of the matter. Hopefully I’ll get to check it out this evening.

They did say they were working on getting the form back online but if you want a code in a few weeks you might start now by emailing consumerservice at toystate dot com explaining your situation and expect it to take some time.

@djslack thanks for the update! Will try again.

@djslack they emailed me within an hour. Sent photos of my email confirmation and waiting for an update!

@ruouttaurmind I checked above link today & price was down to $30 (online; pickup not available)

@compunaut Dammit! My credit card is cowered into the corner after yesterday’s Woot-off!

And now I have to buy this. I would blame @Seeds, but let’s face it… @compunaut is really the one that brought the price drop to my attention.

@compunaut @ruouttaurmind now I want this too, but bad timing

@ruouttaurmind Tell us if it’s fun, OK?

@sammydog01 Imma give it to my nephew in July for his b-day. I’ve given him 3 drones and a helicopter, and he’s crashed all of them within the first couple flights. So maybe putting him on the ground is a better plan.

@ruouttaurmind how old is your nephew? My great nephew is 8, 9 in Sept… Age appropriate?

@mikibell He’s 13. He’s Autistic, and has some hand-eye coordination challenges. He begged my brother for a drone, and brother refused, knowing it would be difficult (impossible) for him to control, and would just be flushing $$ down the drain. I was the cool uncle and said “flush away!” Turned out bro was correct. The flying machines were an insurmountable challenge. So we’re gonna try keeping him on the ground and see how that goes.

@mikibell @ruouttaurmind Those Sphero Ollie’s are really fun if you can find one at a good price. You need a phone or tablet to control them though. They go fast.

@ruouttaurmind as long as your nephew wasn’t upset, flush away!! Sometimes kids, no matter their mental capacity, just have to be given the opportunity to try to satiate that want! It is hard as a parent with limited resources to allow such capricious purchases, but I thank my crazy inlaws for whatever age/dexterity inappropriate gift my children receive. It amazes me at the stuff they buy which I know will be ruined. But it makes them happy and my kids!!

I asked because my great nephew is NOTHING like my geeky son… Just baffles me…and I am not a sports person and their house is like a shrine to the NYC Yankees. Always perplexed on gift buys for him…struggle is, my other great nephew is super easy to buy for, so it looks like favoratism, which it kinda is … Wow…tmi

@sammydog01 I gave him a Sphero Ollie Dark Side and Force Band controller for Christmas 2 years ago. Even I admit it was way too fast for him. Inside the house he would crash into everything, outside he would very quickly lose his orientation and Ollie would scream off into the sunset.

@mikibell The nephew wasn’t upset by the crashes, but my brother was, which in turn upset nephew.

I had a tête-à-tête with bro and eventually convinced him I didn’t care if they were destroyed, so bro needs to not care either. I mean, it was an accident FFS. Let the kid grow and learn and evolve a little, innit. Bro is just extremely protective of nephew and often gets misguided because of it. #oppositeeffect

Ya, my turn for tmi.

@ruouttaurmind fine line… hard to let a kid destroy something and not get upset, because the next time it might be something important… sigh, kids… parents… relatives… So glad I have left mine to raise themselves!! (hahahha, they have on many occasions called me a helicopter mom!!)…

Wait till you see what I am making for a birthday present!! It has to be done my tomorrow, so I will post pics by then!

This FPV RC car is still in stock at the reduced price of $25 as of May 31st.

@mikibell Excellent! I’ve been looking for some premium rainbow color embroidery floss! SO much better than that waxed mint flavored floss most people use, don’t you think?

Do you have any experience with those particular cutting mats?

@ruouttaurmind I have them in each size, they are less sticky than the silhouette brand, but I like that they are immediately useable! I destroyed one with glitter, quite quickly… Haven"t tried to clean it. I would recommend them.

@mikibell I ordered those earlier today, lol. Had them sitting in my cart when I ordered the ai race cars deal @ruouttaurmind posted earlier.

@mikibell Less sticky is good! TY!

@mikibell I’m going to try for the embroidery floss. For tassels.

Thanks for the heads up.

Linky linky…

@ruouttaurmind oops, and thx

@therealjrn

Laundry Detergent pods (81 count) – $9.99.

And yay, not eligible for a Bathtub of Cheese.

@PlacidPenguin Speak for yerself, pretty bird.

@PlacidPenguin Me either. I get to sleep in!

@therealjrn

Why would you be happy that you’re eligible for a bathtub of cheese?

@PlacidPenguin What’s not to like? Everybody likes baths. Everybody likes cheese. That sounds like a marriage made in heaven.

@therealjrn

@sammydog01

Me either. I get to sleep in!

But… don’t you wanna buy stuff? Cool stuff? Like maybe the dino taco set will be one of the items, marked down to half price!

The comments at slickdeals are funny.

there hasnt been a good woot off in like 4 years

There hasn’t been a good woot off since Amazon took over way more than 4 years ago.

Deals sell out faster than you can refresh only way to get good ones is to get the link from Twitter the Chrome Twitter extension updates instantly. Why am i telling you this your op?

Wurst Woot-Off Evar

@PlacidPenguin The pods will be selling at gourmet.woot, right?

@therealjrn It’s contractual that every woot-off is “worst woot-off ever”.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01

If either of you really want to buy stuff…

… just send @PlacidPenguin all your card information and the rest will be taken care of!

@narfcake

I believe Woot was told that they can’t do that.

@PlacidPenguin As if that ever stopped them from breaking the rules. Woot couldn’t even understand that catshirts and cat,shirts are completely different!

@narfcake

Which is why my catshirt hoard is full of catshirts???

@PlacidPenguin Purrhaps.

@ruouttaurmind
/giphy lalala I cant hear you

@sammydog01 Gotta catch 'em all!

I will find him for sale somewhere. Then I shall buy him, and I shall call him Nachosarus and he shall be mine and he shall be my Nachosarus for happily ever after.

@ruouttaurmind Now I wish I had bought one on the app- he would have been in a box on his way to your house.

OOS. Deal is dead.

@sammydog01 was listening to Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song as I read your comment.

As an immigrant, I approve.

@RiotDemon I will cook something in your honor.

@sammydog01 I saw that. Can you please set a timer and remind me, Samlexa.

@mfladd @sammydog01 57 minutes to go.

@mfladd Ding Ding Ding Ding

@sammydog01 So where is the deal?

@mfladd @sammydog01 waiting.

@mfladd @RiotDemon OK, Bill, it’s 6 pm EST. What’s the deal?

@mfladd @RiotDemon Maybe he doesn’t know what time zone he lives in.

@mfladd @sammydog01 the $15 shipping is now active… So hopefully soon.

@mfladd @RiotDemon @sammydog01 All I see is “Spend $50 and get a 1/4 cup of spicy Northwoods Fire (great for grilling) AND a 1/4 cup of tasty Cilantro (value $6.90)!”

@therealjrn Hippies are notoriously bad about being on time.

@mfladd @sammydog01 @therealjrn no email yet. Checked Facebook, nothing yet. It says we can find it on the site after 6 or email in the evening.

@sammydog01 Damn hippies and their hemp clocks or sundials or whatever they use to tell time.

@sammydog01 @therealjrn @RiotDemon @mfladd

I have no email, but the offer is active on the website.

Edit: Oh, dear, what to get?

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @therealjrn Yep, I just got my spices ordered. I pulled the info off the Facebook page. So much stuff coming!

@Barney Get the most expensive stuff free? I picked up Fox Point, Sunny Paris, and the fanciest peppercorns with the codes and bought salsa and pico, Tuscan, mural of flavor, and pico fruita. I’m hooked on pico fruita.

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @therealjrn Well? What did you guys buy?

@mfladd @RiotDemon @sammydog01 @therealjrn Still working on it.

@mfladd @RiotDemon @sammydog01 @therealjrn Hot chocolate with hint of mint, cocoa powder, Brady Street Cheese Sprinkles, Fox Point Seasoning, Chicago Street Seasoning. Whew! Lot of work because I screwed it up (as usual).

Edit: Still no email.

Now I need a pepper grinder. I looked up on pepper grinders on google to see how much they cost. There was an urban dictionary entry. I read it because I’m compelled to read every urban dictionary entry I find. Ouch.

@sammydog01 Nope, nope, nope, I can’t hear you. Not gonna look. La la la la la la la la la.

@sammydog01 I couldn’t wait any longer. I just finally got a shower after working a chainsaw and cleaning my gutters for the last 2.5 hours. Looking into it now!

@sammydog01 I’ve been fairly happy with this pepper grinder:

https://www.target.com/p/oxo-softworks-pepper-grinder/-/A-13557789?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Kitchen+Shopping&adgroup=SC_Kitchen_Top Performers&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=m&location=9012442&gclid=CjwKCAjwxZnYBRAVEiwANMTRX9FUoPXEhlREsITos0J9Nyh00VSWtjwS_aTjv-1Ow_FiaCFtwB4TzhoCOHUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

And lol at the urban entries. Some of them sound like they got Indian burned.

@RiotDemon I’ll pick one up. Thanks! I still have a 1/2 cup jar of the ground stuff to get through first though.

@Barney Have you tried their hot chocolate mix?

@sammydog01 Nope, but I will next winter.

@Barney @RiotDemon @sammydog01 @therealjrn Fucking excruciating trying to order. Unauthorized pages, slow, glitches, had to enter cc info 4 times. But it went thru

whole Tellicherry peppercorns
White Sarawak peppercorns
spearmint
chicago steak
Brady St Cheese Sprinkle
Penzeys Curry

Got everything for $20 and FS…sweeet

@mfladd Yep, ordering was a pain in the butt.

@mfladd What are you doing with the spearmint?

@sammydog01 I want to start cooking with it more because I love the flavor in some dishes I have had. I will let you know more once I try it.

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @sammydog01 I’m just getting back home…late meeting…I might have to pass on Bill’s generous offer. His website is very slow tonight.

I’m still waiting on the damn hippie to send me the “butthurt over Trump” freebie box.

@Barney @mfladd @sammydog01 @therealjrn I think I might wait until the morning to try again. Bill said that might be best.

@Barney @RiotDemon @sammydog01 @therealjrn I would. It was horrible. It took me around an hour to get thru that site. Bill needs to get that fixed.

@therealjrn Still waiting? Holy spicy crap - that was ages ago it seems.

@mfladd @therealjrn I was down at the store two weeks ago and bought a few things (of course). Some woman saw my bag, ran up and asked it that box was back in stock. Sorry lady, I have no idea.

@Barney @RiotDemon @sammydog01 @mfladd Yeah, still waiting, but they ran out of butt-hurt jars. And Bill has been apologetic, so there is that.

In these times of inhumanity, I would like to celebrate the super-humanizing of cooking by maximizing Bill’s offer today.

Since it is ending after today, has anybody figured out the optimum order to capitalize on the deal? For example: priciest spices to least?

@therealjrn The site is too bogged down to properly study it. But I’m fairly sure that Fox Point is the priciest stuff in jars. Maybe that cheese stuff in the bags?

@sammydog01 @therealjrn the site was slow on a computer but worked just fine on mobile. Thanks for the heads up!

I didn’t work out the priciest spices overall but i got a bag of cheese and jars of sunny paris and california seasoned pepper. Bought mural of flavor, hot curry and tellicherry peppercorns to go along with it.

@Barney @sammydog01 I almost picked up that pico fruita. What do you use it on?

@mfladd I’ve never tried it. @sammydog01 seems to be our “spice” girl.

@Barney @mfladd I sprinkle it on sliced cucumbers. Yes my favorite thing doesn’t require actual cooking.

@sammydog01 ended up ordering roasted granulated garlic, fox point, cheese sprinkle, sandwich sprinkle, Italian dressing mix, and the teachers box even though I have a big paprika. I figured I’d give it away and keep the forward seasoning to test out.

For anyone curious, the buttermilk ranch dressing mix was so so. I prefer the hidden valley packet. It tastes much better now that I added a crap ton of black pepper, but it just doesn’t have the right oomph.

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @therealjrn My order from last night shipped already. They have jars for me anyway.

@sammydog01 That’s pretty darn fast. It’s a good thing your name isn’t @therealjrn, otherwise you’d never get your order.

@ruouttaurmind how terrible are the speakers?

@djslack I have yet to meet a LED TV with speakers which didn’t make me wanna shove bamboo skewers into my eardrums. This TV is no exception. Down firing speakers resonate a tinny glob of flat sound. LG 6 speaker soundbar for $70 from Best Buy helps quite a bit. I’m sure the electronics giants got together and concocted a nefarious plot to use really poorly engineered sound systems in TVs so consumers would be forced to spend more on soundbars and HT receivers.

@therealjrn
Thx.

@f00l I love me some Taco Bueno.

@f00l @therealjrn We don’t have Taco Bueno here but Moe’s had five dollar burritos because the local soccer team made a goal in the last 15 minutes of a game. It made me feel better.

@f00l @sammydog01 Good ol’ Moe.

@f00l @therealjrn I love me some Texas taco bueno. We just got one here and I have been a little underwhelmed with it.

@OldCatLady this site looks shady AF… Domain is registered at namesilo which doesn’t even have a workable whois server (but all their registrations are private anyway). If it wasn’t for being from you I’d call it out as link spam. Do you know it’s legit?

@djslack I’ve ordered from them in past, but it was a couple of years ago. Probably bad now. Ignore, sorry.

@OldCatLady No need to apologize on your end. I am sorry if I was a little harsh. It just smelled strongly of a templated e-commerce site aping a big name brand and offering their supposed merchandise at unbelievable prices. Like the copyright “Ray-Ban Online” down at the bottom. If you did order something and receive it, great. Were they real Ray-Bans or at least quality shades?

Q: DO I HAVE TO PAY TAX?
A: No, we mark all packages as gift / sample so that clients do not need to pay for it.

@OldCatLady Yep, @djslack is right. Shady AF. And no physical address anywhere. I’ve edited the site out of your post.

@djslack @narfcake Good thing my sole purchase was on a gift card. Won’t be fooled again! Thanks for catching it.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01

together they will interact with each other.

And make lots of little R2-Q2’s?

@Barney Then you can put all the wee droids into a cardboard box and stand out in front of the market trying to find homes for them all.

@ruouttaurmind Nah, I’d keep all of them and give 'em a good home.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind Dammit that’s an offer I can’t refuse. I saw a video on the interaction and it was kind of crappy but I’ll let them play anyway.

@sammydog01

You and family have a collection?

@sammydog01 Can I have pick of the litter when they have pups?

@f00l A rapidly growing collection.

@ruouttaurmind I own one. He’ll say Good Morning Pyro Fury when I walk by. That’s my superhero name. Yes I have a superhero name.

@sammydog01 Pyro Fury? Surely there’s a rich story behind that one?

Spidey looks like he might not be as interesting as the R2 twins.

@ruouttaurmind He’s pretty boring and lights up too much at night. But one day he said “Remember Pyro Fury you’re a superhero” and it made my day. BTW if you see a cheap BB-9E could you ping me? He’s the last one I need for world domination.

@sammydog01 sometimes it’s the little pleasures.

BB-9E on my radar.

@sammydog01 Added to my script, first result was a hit on eBay for $70 incl. shipping. Independent seller with 100% feedback. I’m sure you’re hoping for a bit less than that, but if world domination can’t wait… the seller feedback indicates high likelihood of a legit, smooth transaction.

But he’s in the search script now, so I’ll tag you if anything remarkable comes up.

@ruouttaurmind Wait! Do we really want Pyro Fury (aka @sammydog01) to dominate the world? Think about what you might be unleashing.

@Barney An alter ego named Pyro Fury and an army of Sphero droids? I think I’ll take my chances…

@ruouttaurmind

And so it begins innocently enough.

Then this:

And this:

And then this:

You will be held accountable.

@Barney Whatever comes, it all started right here with this constantly messing with me.

@ruouttaurmind I have it for a year thru EA Access. but owning it for $8 is a bargain for the game that is now responsible for my ever spinning downward spiral into addiction and online gaming. I had one top sharpshooting asshole tonight who took me out three times before I made it my mission to leave his bloody carcass laying on rocks. Mission accomplished - with a peashooter in Gatling gun mode. He may have been top performer for that game, but I felt a morose feeling of joy over that moment.

For those who haven’t seen the trailer for it, it’s pretty well done. And the game plays pretty close to how you see it.

I suggest everybody here buys it, and we can have meh game days!

p.s did I mention the Rose character can turn zombies into GoaTs!

@mfladd I watched a gameplay trailer and the graphics look pretty sweet. I should be able to pick it up in store Sunday morning and likely waste the remainder of the long weekend.

I saw this dude in the gameplay and I dig him ‘cause he reminds me of Groot.

@ruouttaurmind We are so having games together online. You start with 1 of each character and then thru collecting coins you buy game packs to acquire more, and the accessories to add to their look. I have almost everyone version now, except for the Legendary characters. Playing to rip open those packs is half the addiction. I hope you love it. It’s soooooooooooo fun.

@ruouttaurmind That is Torchwood (Grumpy Stumpy). You don’t see a whole lot of players with him or the Hoverboard GoaT 3000. They are only obtainable for those who pass the Trials of Gnomus - which is crazy hard.

@ruouttaurmind Are you playing?! Are you playing?!
I had some kid friend me and invite me into his backyard game. I unlocked some achievement by killing him in his own backyard (snicker)

@mfladd Had to run to the office this morning, turned out to be an all day deal. I’ll head over to BB after I’ve fed the hounds and settled in a bit. I expect to play offline for a bit so I can learn the game, and because I don’t have Live or EA pass or whatever one needs to play this game online.

@mfladd Picked up the game, but I haven’t had my Xbox on it a while, and now it’s downloading a monster system update!

I just wanna try the game for cripes sake.

OH! And as I was stepping into my car when leaving Best Buy I stepped on a 7 pound wad of gum and didn’t notice until I planted my foot firmly on the carpeted floor mat, grinding gum into the fibers. No clue how to get that out.

@ruouttaurmind ice cubes… Or peanut butter! Ice cubes will freeze the gum to keep it from being sticky, will get the worst of it out… Peanut butter will help release it …or some other type of oil… (Long hair, fell asleep with gum in my mouth, not a pretty sight!!)

@ruouttaurmind Since you are a Zombie lover that was actually a potato mine from Paco Cactus. The game has begun. It manifests in real life! Let me know if you have any questions.

p.s. I bought the game too - $9 w/ pickup.

@mfladd So you bought a GCU sub also? Good timing since they’ve closed the program to any new members (effective 5/20). At least I have another 18 mos or so left on my membership.

@ruouttaurmind No, it was $10, but there was a $1 discount for pickup option

@mikibell Peanut butter you say? I just happen to have 31 lbs of peanut butter in the pantry.

which is insane even by @ruouttaurmind’s standards

You sure about that, @sammydog01?

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01 do I want to know why??

@mikibell @ruouttaurmind @sammydog01 Prepping for Zombie apocalypse is my guess.

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind @sammydog01

@mikibell the thing that puzzles me: why do I have 31 lbs of peanut butter, but only 11 lbs of strawberry jam?

@mikibell @ruouttaurmind Peanut butter had better coupons?

@sammydog01 Buck a jar vs. two bucks for jam, so you get the sticky gold star! ⭐️

@mfladd Kinda. Peanut butter is usually coded with a 12 to 24 mos (these jars are 24 mos) “Sell by” date. It actually remains palatable for up to 5 years if stored in a cool, dry place. Plus it’s high in protein. This makes it ideal as a emergency stores item.

@mfladd I’ve been playing for about an hour now. The thumb sticks are SO sensitive, and there are no in-game settings for… well, for anything.

I’m still trying, but this may wind up on the shelf next to the (unopened) COD:WWII I received for Christmas.

@ruouttaurmind What!? Don’t give up that easily. But you are right about the sensitivity. But there are options. Took me a while to find them. When you are in game hit the menu button and you will find options to control aim sensitivity, look sensitivity, etc.
My aim on the fly is improving but still needs work. Over 1000 people with 4.6 stars CAN’T be wrong

@mfladd When I press the menu button in-game nothing happens. When I launch the game from Xbox Home it opens straight into gameplay without the opportunity to select anything. Perhaps settings are only available for online play? Ya, I’ll keep trying, but it a bit frustrating which drastically reduces the fun factor.

@ruouttaurmind No, I can’t change them online. You should be able to change them when you are in your backyard. I’ll check again in the morning. They are there (somewhere).

@mfladd I launched the game as soon as I saw the “ready” notification pop up. It was still installing (about 48% complete). Maybe that stuff isn’t available until the full install is finished.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@ruouttaurmind Ohhhhhhh! yup! You can only do a few limited things in install mode. You are only seeing the tip of the iceberg for the game.

@mfladd The game installation and game updates were taking forever to complete so I left the Xbox running and went to bed. Woke up this morning to a fully installed game… with menu options!

I turned on aim assist, set look sensitivity to minimum and fiddled with a few other settings. It’s an entirely different experience now! I just played one scene, but I was actually able to kill zombies, shoot mailbox alarms, and defeat the two mega zombies and only had to respawn once. Ya, fully different gameplay when you can tweak settings.

When I tried to play before it was fully installed, the game defaulted to some kind of citrus thing. An orange I think. But this morning it’s defaulting to a… sunflower? Dandelion?

Anyway, I’ve got to run some errands this AM, but I’m looking forward to giving it another try this afternoon. vs.

@ruouttaurmind Yup, defaults to Citron in the Zen Garden I think. Glad you are having more fun. I will help you navigate quests and such to gather coins, gold stars, and rainbow stars. The rainbow star willl unlock the keys to the trials of gnomus to obtain Grumpy Stumpy. Keep me updated. I didn’t see an aim assist (just sensitivity)?

@mfladd Aim assist:

@ruouttaurmind LOL WTF!? Why have never been able to find it. Ugh…

The sunflower is my favorite character. It is the most complex to play. They can make a break a game by saving players (fastest) and giving life. Their sun pulse is also one of the best weapons against the mech’s. It is also the first character I reached Master status with.

@mfladd How does multiplayer work? Is it basically a team vs team shoot ‘em up? Or is there some kind of cooperative mission each team is supposed to accomplish? Local play is 100% mission based.

TBH, I’m not usually a mission oriented gamer. What I enjoyed about COD multiplayer was the simplicity. Team v team, first team to score 75 wins. End of story.

@ruouttaurmind Wow, sorry. I just found this. Multiplayer can be done in house with family. If you want to play online multiplayer you will need Live Gold
With online games it is plant vs zombie teams. up to 15 players on each I think. You play until one team reaches a score of 50 kills. I much prefer the online team part than I do the quests in-game. I know you don’t have LG but you should try it for a month and give playing it online a whirl. It’s a WHOLE different experience. It’s where the fun is at.

@mfladd Everything I loved about COD.

Didn’t you get online access through some kind of EA pass rather than Live? Or is EA how you got the game, and had Live from the Sea of Thieves debacle?

@ruouttaurmind What I found online was bad info. Even with ea access you DO need xbox live gold for online play. But I am telling you it is worth a month to try. I think you will really like it. Just get ready to get slaughtered at first Can you get a $1/mo XLG deal?

@mfladd I have that initial 1 mo free offer MS puts on the home screen when you first setup the console. I’ll probably give that a go sometime this weekend.

@ruouttaurmind Yes!!! Tell me when you try it. I have to buy another month as of today until I can find a good deal on LG. I missed the 3 mo for $9.99 one
EA servers are down at the moment and I am Joneszin!

@mfladd Before I sign up for the trial I have to wipe the console and reload everything. It’s still set up using my former roommates MS login. Don’t want to do something which will cause a charge to his saved payment method. So best bet is to wipe and start over (all those updates and game loads!!!)

@ruouttaurmind Better get crack’n!

@ruouttaurmind sounds like a lot of work. you can’t just remove the roommate’s account?

Press the Xbox button to open the guide.
Select System > Settings > Account > Remove accounts.
Select the account that you want to remove, and then select Remove to confirm.
When you’re finished, select Close.

@mfladd Despite djslack’s valued advice to just replace the UID, I did follow through with my plan to do a full reset. The only game which tried my patience was Forza 7 and it’s 38GB update.

After everything was installed I prepared to take advantage of the Live Gold 30 free trial… but it wasn’t appearing on the Home screen anymore!!! I guess I should have signed up for it before doing the reset. Doh! Ya, so, now it’s gone, and I’ll be searching for a deal on Live Gold.

In the meantime I decided to do some missions. I spent the weekend doing the Dave-Bot LEAF missions. Now I’m ready for… I don’t recall the name, but it’s like the level 2 LEAF missions with the Kernal Korn in the commanding role.

So far I seem to have bonded with Peashooter. Unintentional, really. I was playing Sunflower, but once I switched to Peashooter I was performing much better. So I stuck with him.

I’ve also tried Chomper, Citron and Rose. I don’t fully understand Citron’s alt weapons/defenses, and Chomper has to get too close. Rose seems like a decent fighter though.

Now I need to learn about levels and upgrades and such.

@ruouttaurmind Yay! I had a bad night of gaming
I also love peashooter - I have been spending time upping the level of each of mine. Fire pea is my favorite. Citron is slow but is a great combat fighter if mastered - I have not. Love Rose’s look, but she lacks point value on hits. Also, turning someone into a goat who doesn’t get killed is annoying because they just come back and kill you. I have trying to do better with the pirate. I have a legendary Bling hat for him, so every time I kill someone they get to listen to the hat music!

Some of the characters require better aiming than I have. You are right about chomper. Fun to play but often you will get killed after eating someone unless you can find strays. You are probably doing more missions than I did. Make sure you look for some easy quests on the quest board. You have to make them active before you score points for them. Also you can only have so many active at one time. Save your gold stars for right now and I will tell you the first thing to use them on - it’s important if you ever want Torchwood.