We all said the poster should have opened it sooner, which is good advice obviously, however I’ve now caught myself betraying my own advice twice recently:
HP Printer cartridge, perfectly sealed in the box, absolutely no signs of tampering. My existing cartridge lasted longer than I expected and about 11 months after buying it, went to install it and inside was a refilled 3rd party branded cartridge. Someone must have done a really good job of heating open the box and re-sealing it. Luckily Staples apparently has a 12 month return policy on ink or something as it let me exchange it online no issue.
Set of drill bits that I grabbed on sale several years ago (fairly expensive tapered countersink bits) as I knew I’d wear out my current set eventually. Eventually was this past weekend, so pulled out one of the new ones, 1/2" into the softest pine imaginable, tip sheared right off the smallest (most commonly used for me) one.
So apparently not only do we need to open everything upon receipt, but test it out too
TBD whether manufacturer will replace the bit or not, I’m suspecting not (nor would I blame them), but it has lead me to find a promising looking new brand of them on Amazon, so may be a silver lining.
On a semi-related note, @Seapup care to wager whether I can take the lens out of my OG-T and put it in one of the Costco V4s? I’m looking for an excuse to buy the 2 pack but really only have a use for 1. The Frankenstein OG-T has inspired me. I suspect it may be a bit too different though.
Of course the more sensible approach would be making the 20 min drive to Microcenter to grab the single pack for $18 and not trying to find a way to destroy the other one.
It’s funny that you mention and the mounts, because I think I’ve seen @Seapup recommend something very similar (if not exactly the same thing) here on the Forum before.
Regarding the open-and-test practice, that’s something I need to do, too. I picked up some color smart bulbs at a decent price a while back and immediately configured all of those in their app to make sure they worked, then some went right back into their labeled box to be used as easy replacements when needed. Recently Wyze sent a warranty replacement for a Bulb Color that’s failing, and, while I have made sure that what’s in the box is what’s supposed to be in the box, I have not yet taken it out and configured it to make sure it’s working as expected. That’s something I should try to get done soon.
I had mostly talked myself out of the v4 but there is one spot it might yield a more detailed picture (people walking straight toward it which the compression handles well, so the increased resolution might be handy). I don’t care about the reduced night brightness on that one, it has plenty of ambient and the spotlight turns on with motion. Sort of hard not to want to try it out at this price ($18 for one or $36ish for 2).
With the 3x lens, it would also potentially do a better job than my OG-T at reading license plates (which that cam is pretty much dedicated to doing). But while the OG and OG-T sharing the same body/lens opening makes perfect sense, the OG-T and v4 is a bigger stretch. It sure does look similar though.
But then what to do with my OG (and potentially OG-T with v4 lens )
I think the thread adapter wouldn’t be needed, it looks like the v4 and v3 use a single screw hole mount which I could line up with one of the holes I made for the OG, and the other would be covered.
Let’s be honest, at SOME point they’re going to pull the plug on CPL. Maybe start by reducing the functionality, then come up with a reason (i.e. newer encryption not supported) to start sunsetting support for the older cams on it, etc.
But they’ll probably give you a discount code for 10% off your subscription
Need to run it for a week straight, the first week is when most faults happen. That’s a proven statistic that I just made up.
In all seriousness, the risk of stocking up is something like this. In the long run it does save money grabbing stuff when on sale and having backups so you don’t have to run out in the middle of something. But occasionally a dud will cut into that savings a bit.
Dewalt happily informed me today that they would not be replacing that particular $10 bit, but that gives me an opportunity to try out promising new “FTG USA” brand bits that seem to be gaining a big following. Of course I’m always weary of any company that goes out of their way to say “USA” as typically that means, not USA, as confirmed by “Country of Origin : China”. But then, neither are the Dewalt bits or just about any other reasonably priced ones. I think even Vermont American (pretty decent bits) are Chinese now.
I find rather than buying real high end bits and spending the time to sharpen (or have it done professionally), cheaper, disposable bits makes more sense. Of course occasionally, they are duds.
I was already thinking about using these new bulbs to replace a couple (another non-Wyze brand) that occasionally like to go offline and become unresponsive to Google Home and to the Echo Dot that’s sitting right beside one of the lamps—yet, strangely (to my thinking, anyway), if I open the Alexa app on my phone and tap to control the bulbs, that makes them start working again.
I won’t be around for a full week of testing, but that’s not a bad idea.
and the mounts, because I think I’ve seen 
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