I’ve started making my own wine lately

I know I should do it more often but one has to find the time.

Walmart has a sale this weekend for a 24″ RCA LED TV/DVD Combo. I don’t care much about the DVD – with or without it made no difference.

The main objective was, that it had be small (i.e. no bigger than 24″) and had to have a earphone jack – as simple as that.

Price was decent enough and affordable so I went to pick one up.

Got it home, out of the box, connected and ready to go. The ad looks like this:

Picture quality – for a 1080 connected to cable = HORRIBLE

Sound quality – I’ve had better sound from a cracked speaker. Sound is terrifyingly tinny.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PIECE CRAP.

At that time, I thought I was purchasing a different model simply because I failed to READ what was in the ad on kijiji a ebay company. I went to the link indicated

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00382002000P?srccode=cii_10043468&cpncode=25-43329148-2&i_cntr=1310396880065&sid=IDx20070921x00003c

NexiPak picture from the seller's ebay listing

I recently purchased NexiPak Dual CF & Power Battery for iPaq Pocket PC.

It came in a sealed bubble pack.

It is supposed to increase the memory and extend the battery life of the HP iPAQ Pocket PC, in my case the H5550.

It has two CompactFlash (CF) slots for increased memory and connectivity.

And has a detachable, rechargeable Li-ion 1550mAH battery usable up to 6 hours (so the package says)

The price was excellent and the shipping was free and, the package arrived by Registered mail even.

Here’s my beef…

It has 2 slots for CF cards for increased memory but they don’t recognize any of the cards I inserted. I wrote the merchant (http://myworld.ebay.ca/seokyoseon) but they haven’t replied. I rechecked the feedback and it stands at 100% so, it must be me right? NO!

I decided to try to make contact with those who bought the same unit from this merchant and ask them whether they had experienced the same problem. There was 3 who still had a link (the others were older than   months). Of the 3 buyers one gentleman found the time to reply.

“The only ones I’ve had luck with are Sandisk Ultra II 4gb.
I bought a couple Seagate ones, they don’t seem to work.”

Ahhhh! It wasn’t just me. Which brings-up the question, “Why don’t people say so, in their feedback?” especially now that ebay has made it possible to play fair.

Of course it could be that the others just didn’t use the CF slots or, it was discovered after they had left the feedback.

The seller was kind enough to link to other websites which sold or reviewed the NexiPak and which I viewed before clicking on the Buy button.

With the first link (http://www.amazon.com/Nexian-NXP3100-NexiPak-Power-Pocket/dp/B000062R4W) I failed to scroll all the way to the bottom where the reviewrs said they had problems with the CF slots – mea culpa

With the second link (http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/n/2776.html) it was quite a raving review and included the following but I doubt its truthfulness now that I have one of my own.

“In our experience, the Nexipak managed to handle all cards we could throw at it”

The next link (http://discuss.pocketnow.com/showthread.php?threadid=15109) speaks for itself – it was comparing prices.

And finally, the last link (http://www.pocketpcfaq.com/reviews/nexipak.htm) mentioned the CF slots in a positive way.

Once I discovered the problems I tried to find the manufacturer’s website www.nexian.com good luck cause they ain’t in business anymore. So, according to international law who is responsible for the guarantee? I asked the seller the same question and they have yet to reply.

I’ve done further digging and it would seem that many sites just plain reprinted Nexian’s Press Release of the time but many forums (fora for the stickler) out there list the same problem with the CF slots.

So there you have it, a merchant (http://myworld.ebay.ca/seokyoseon) with a perfect rating of 100% is about to get nicked – for refusing to reply to my emails and for selling discontinued products.

As the motto goes “caveat emptor – buyer beware”

With impunity these guys are allowed to circumvent ebay policies at OUR expense.

For example, I recently purchased a couple of batteries from http://stores.shop.ebay.ca/Cellular-Link-Wireless__W0QQ_armrsZ1. The price was OK and I had already purchased batteries from this guy before – about three or four years ago.

The iPAQ battery

Shipping and handling was $2.99 per item and an additional COMPULSORY insurance of $2.00 – in US funds. The problem I have with this guy is the fact that when the package arrived there was NO INSURANCE and the postage was $1.18 – Canadian funds. That’s about 300% when you consider the exchange rate. Of course you need to remember that since I ordered 2 batteries this guy was also charging for the shipping and handling for the second battery at NO EXTRA COST to him. Are you getting all this.

Costs of shipping

 PayPal didn’t do anything but then what could they do!!! ebay on the other-hand hasn’t yet done anything. Will they investigate? I doubt it but I will give them the benefit-of-the-doubt for now.

Was I cheated when I first ordered from this guy, probably, but I didn’t pay much attention then. Are other buyers being cheated by this guy, probably, but perhaps others don’t care about being shafted, I do.

Let’s do some math:

This seller has 19,000+ sales. If there was only one item per package that’s US $19,000 now add to that the profit on the shipping and handling and the figures will speak for themselves.

Hey, I don’t mind people making a profit because it takes work, blood, sweat and tears. BUT don’t do it at my expense.

Got your own story about ebay? Add a comment.

They’re amazing really. What do you do, take ‘em out of the package and knife someone to see if they’re worth the purchase. Dumb name for a knife if you ask me.

I have several flashes of which, 6 are Vivitar Flashes. Because everyone keeps referring to the high voltage of some of these Vivitars I decided to document the voltage of all the flashes I have.

Of the Vivitars the two 285 Zoom (not the HV) register just above 8V with a multimeter. They’re both Made in Japan and have the following SN 5847401 and 5084959

Of the four Vivitar 283 these are the readings:

SN 1071308, 8.32V, ”Korea”
SN 1262073, 283V, ”Made in Japan”
SN 5236480, 267V, ”Made in Japan”
SN A463935, 267V, ”Made in Japan”

Other Misc flashes:

YinYan, 5.23V
YinYan BY-480H Ring-flash, 5.4V
Hanimex CBX350, 165V
Bower SFDS, 4.6V

According to Pentax, the istD is safe up to circa 30V

Disclaimer – it is YOUR responsibility to confirm this and I will not be held responsible for actions you may take which may damage your equipment. Got it!

Yesterday I tagged-along with the organisers of this year’s Fall 2008 Goodman Rally. They were the organisers because, well because they won the Spring 2008 version.

After much preparation over the summer month they were ready to leave but first, they had to meet-up for that one last moment of worrying. So here they are…

You can see the worry on their faces right! From left to right; Anna, Al, Borden, Tim, Cheryl and Kathy.

Off we went. Al and Kathy were stuck with keeping me company for the evening – poor them.

The first meeting place was a baseball diamond in Leamington, next to the Roma Club, to make sure everything was in order for the first destination the various teams would be going to. The sneaky thing about these organisers was to have different clues for different teams BUT at the same location. Mean, I tell ya. Very mean.

So, after a little tomfoolery we headed for Seacliff Park in Leamington – the Starting Point. We did make a side-trip to Staples to develop a couple of pictures and stumble upon a good deal on a chairmat. Hey, a deal is a deal. You can’t let these things pass you by just because you’re having fun.

I wanted to travel light so didn’t take my usual Pentax camera kit with me. However, to prove the ole adage it ain’t the camera but the person behind it plus, a little help from mother nature of course. Here’s a couple of nice shots of Seacliffe Park.

Once everyone received their packages it was time to start but, NOT before having some fun.

The first objective was for a member of the team to get into a burlap bag and have the other members of the team wrap them in Xmas wrapping – it WAS a Xmas theme after all – then walk about 15-20 feet and back. Some ran, some walked and some even flew or was carried. It was fun for all and an opportunity to warm-up in the cold wind coming off the lake (Erie).

more to come…

The album with images, is here

Pentax 10mm-17mm Fisheye

My solution was to add a Post-it Flag to the bottom of the card. Makes life easier.