In Defense of GeoManGear

Like everyone who received and responded to GeoManGear's Magicshine battery recall, I have been increasingly skeptical about ever seeing a replacement battery (I'm not over that yet). I filled out the online form, recycled my battery at the local Home Depot and sent in the form. Since I expected the recal to take a while, I ordered a new light set just like the original one.The new light set arrived in a few days and I was off and riding. After about 2 months, the battery failed on the new light set. It would not take a charge, nor would it power the light. I worked up a 7.4 volt source and attached it to the light head and it worked ok. When I plugged the battery into the charger and energized the charger, the charge light was green, indicating that the battery was fully charged. With the charger plugged in to AC, and no load from the battery, the light is green, which indicated to me that there was an open in the battery circuit.

Not having seen or heard anything from GeoManGear regarding the recall, I was reluctant to send off the new set for warranty repair, fearing that I would never see the light again.

Since its so damn hot in Phoenix in the daylight, I was pretty well finished riding for the summer, since before dawn is the only relatively cool time of day, and its too dark to ride without a light. I finally decided to take a chance and send the set back for warranty.

I filled out the contact form on GeoManGear's website last Friday and received an RMA number shortly after. On Saturday, I boxed up the set and express mailed it to a PO box in Oro Valley, AZ. On Monday, I received an email indicating that the package was received and the lightset repaired and shipped. Tuesday evening, the repaired set was in my mailbox. Same Magicshine box, same light, new battery. I could tell it was the same light because in SOS mode it still codes dot dot dot dash dash dash dash dot dot dot, which isn't actually SOS, given that O in Morse Code is only 3 dashes.

GeoManGear restored much of my faith in them in making the repair trun around so quickly. I have never seen a warranty repair come back as fast as that. Kudos.

On the recall, I received an email this week that gave a timeline for the recall, and I do hope GeoManGear lives up to that letter.

In the meantime, I have them back on my list of folks I am willing to buy stuff from.

A Cautionary Tale

The battery pack died on my bike light and I was left in the dark, so I decided to go the cheap route. I went to Batteries Plus and bought 4 AA size Lithium batteries. Each cell was 3.6 volts. I strung them together in series parallel to make a 7.2 volt battery pack. Then I grabbed the charger from my light set and chared the batteries for a couple of hours. The next morning, I hooked up the makeshift light set and went for a road ride. Everyghing seemed to work fine.

Yesterday evening, I put the batteries on the charger in anticipation of a morning ride. Set the whole thing on the garage floorand went into the house to read. About an hour later, I heard a very loud gunshot out in front of the house. I ran to the window, but didn't see anybody. I went outside and opened the garage door. The garage was filled with smoke. The battery pack was in pieces.

Sometimes creativity is rewarding, sometimes, not so much.

Lasik revisited

It has now been about 4 months since I had my eyeballs zapped and things are pretty good. In reality, I traded nearsightedness for farsightedness. I have great distance vision, beyond about 3 feet, but I need reading glasses for anything close.

I used to be able to read the smallest writing imaginable by taking off my glasses and sticking the writing about 2 inches from my eyes. Now I need reading glasses and sometimes a magnifying glass to read anything close or small.

Tradeoffs?

Reading glasses are a heck of a lot cheaper than prescription bifocals. I now have about a dozen pairs of reading glasses at a total cost of about 50 bucks. A couple pairs of sunglasses at 20 bucks each. Prescription glasses were over $400 a pair. Prescription sunglasses were even more.

I am still having to modify my behavior. Since early childhood, if I couldn't focus on something I pulled it closer. Now I have to do the opposite, and the retraining is going slowly. Old dog, new tricks.

I read somewhere that very nearsighted people don't have the level of depth perception that 20/20 people have. Not sure I bought that idea, but I do now. Mountain biking made me a believer. The first times jumping up a step and descending a steep trail was vastly different. Step-ups looked higher than they did before and descents looked steeper. My timing was way off as obstacles approached at a different rate than they seemed to before. It took a few rides to get used to it, not quite as hard as learning to trail ride, but still unsettling. Its all good now.

Would I do it again? Yes. Even with the need for reading glasses and the loss of being able to read the itty bitty writing on the edge of my watch face, I'd do it again. Besides, I already know the watch was made in Japan.

My Mercedes Did

To begin, I don't own a Mercedes, never have, probably never will. Its just time for a rant, which I don't often do.

If you watch TV, you've probably seen the ad with three people relating tales of negligent driving who didn't realize something, but "Thankfully my Mercedes did." This ad is dumber than the ads of people driving like idiots on city streets, Lexus, Infinity, Volvo, you know who you are.

This ad basically says that its ok to drive tired, distracted, texting, or whatever else you might do instead of actually driving while behind the wheel. C'mon advertisers, there is no substitute for attentive driving. If a drivers actually trust systems that stop the car, warn of lane drifting, etc. they ought not be on the road, or they need a chauffeur.

We're coming up to the time when an ad shows some drunk explaining how his blood alcohol level was 2.5% and he drove home and didn't kill anyone, but his Mercedes did.

Lasik

As of 2011, my health insurance fully covers the cost of vision correction surgery. Its something I have been considering for a long time, but the cost made a cheapskate like me put it off, and off, and off. Since cost suddenly became a non-issue, I made the appointment and had it done.

This wasn't a vanity thing. If you've seen me, you pretty well know that vanity doesn't much enter into stuff like this. The real reason for Lasik was the activities I really enjoy, mountain biking and sailing. In both cases, there are always a pretty good chance of losing my glasses, or at least a lens. Without my specs, I couldn't ride a bike, so if I was 10 miles from the trailhead, its a 10 mile walk with a lot of stumbling along. Then, when I'd get back to the truck, I couldn't drive. In the sailboat, if the glasses went in the water, it was a pretty good bet I would not be able to find the landing, let alone the truck and trailer.

So, into the surgery I went. The whole thing was pretty quick, not more than 20 minutes, and surprisingly painless. I came out being able to see well, but a bit fuzzy. Its now 2 days after and I am seeing 20/20 at distance, but close in definitely requires reading glasses, at 3 pairs for $20.

I won't be doing any riding or sailing until next weekend. Looking forward to it though!

Total Awesomeness!

Like most people not born on February 29th, I have a birthday every year. This year I had one very recently, and something came in the mail that made it one of the best, if not the best birthday ever. Before you watch the video, a little explanation is in order.

My 2 year old Grand daughter, Naomi, is potty training, She is doing so well that she earned a coaster bike (future mtn biking partner for Boppa?!). Given that all is going well, Naomi's focus in life is, you guessed it, the toilet, and of course, potty humor is very high on her list. When my daughter, Sarah took her to the store to find a birthday card for Boppa, she naturally chose one that could not have been more appropriate.

Some credit goes to American Greetings, but the true master is Naomi.

Sailing in AZ

I dropped the boat in Lake Pleasant this morning about 11:00am . Paddled out of the harbor and sat for about 30 minutes, just ghosting along without enough wind to fill the sales. Then, about 11:30, I could see some riffle on the surface off in the distance. It took about 10 minutes to reach me, but then picked up to about 5 mph. I got in about 2 hours of sailing with light but steady wind. Pretty much died by 2:00pm.

The main thing I wanted to see was how well I fixed the leaks that were pretty bad 2 weeks ago, mainly around the centerboard trunk. It looks like I fixed about 95% of the leaks. In the time I sailed today, I don't think I took on more than 2 or 3 cups of water.

Arizona is not a very good place to sail, not only because there isn't much water, but because I have a wood boat, and the extremely low humidity is hard on it. Out of the water, the wood shrinks and opens seams. In the water, the seams don't really want to close up. In the next few days, I will be carving the seams a bit, then pouring epoxy into them to close them up.

As hobbies go, small boats aren't too costly, but the ongoing work can be a bit time consuming.