Aashenfox

Tag Heuer Aquaracer Automatic (black face, black bezel if you want my opinion). I've been wearing one every day and most nights for 14 years (almost without ever taking it off), it has been up mountains, in the sea, it's been smashed into walls, scraped on everything imaginable, and apart from some swirls on the stainless steel, is still like new (the sapphire glass is still completely flawless). I'm not recommending it because I own it, mainly because when I read your thread title I said to myself, 'wow, he's looking for my watch!', based on budget and needs stated. It will cost you exactly your budget from the high street or slightly lower onnline. I'm not a serious watch afficionado (as some of you will have realised by now, I'm one of those annoying bastards that seems to be into everything), but I dabble as an amateur, sadly I've never had the money to be really into watches. I prefer Tags to Rolex, as they are more 'man on the street', I can't help thinking that someone who wears a rolex is trying to say something without speaking, I know that's not always the case, but it's like BMW ownership lol. For what it's worth, the servicing costs have been: After 7 years, the automatic mechanism started losing 2 minutes a week, and the bezel ratchet started getting sticky and notchy. I got a chemical clean and a repair to the mechanism for 120 quid. Not bad I thought, after 7 years, less than 10% the value of the watch. 6 years later and it is going again for service for the exact same issues. Absolutely wear and forget, no battery, no BS. this is the latest version which I find isn't quite as beautiful as my older one. I've included a link to the older style as well. Beware! The cheaper ones are not Automatic unless stated on the watch face. http://www.ebay.co.u...dwAAOSwux5YSlo0 Older style (this is the exact watch I wear, and this is basically in the same condition as mine, after 14 years non stop wearing!): http://www.ebay.co.u...W0AAOSw8w1X96WK Having said all of that, my Aquaracer will be retired this Christmas in favor of my first smartwatch, a Samsung Gear S3.

^Good call (nice deal from Tesco there, I thought it would be over budget). As the next step up, there's nothing better for 200, or even the 220 that most places offer it for. 16:10 aspect ratio is fine for media, 1200p great for web browsing, images will pop nicely, 8 core processor should be able to drive most games at that res, and Android 6 built-in. Keep the brightness down a bit when you can as that screen will cane the battery. Sweet tablet for 200, much better than all the others discussed here by a good margin. If you were serious about the 200 budget, this is the one to get, it will blow away her expectations if she already liked the 9.7" one. Sarg, shame on you, iPads can never be better than any android tablet, no back button. In any case, I guess you were just exaggerating, cos Samsung itself has several tablets in the range much better. If anyone is looking for the best, there is nothing better than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 in either size at the moment, it's da sickness (I own the 9.7" version and my only complaint is that 4:3 aspect ratio, otherwise incredible tablet), but potential buyers might be better off waiting to see what comes next. P.S. I just realised, there have been price cuts across the market since this thread started. The Tab E is now going for 130 (160 when I posted that link in my previous post). That's amazing value, but get the Tab A 10.1 if you're going to spend 200.

Suspicious much? lol. No, I am a professional reviewer of radio controlled products, independent websites pay me (it's not big bucks, but it's decent) for my reviews of products that they feature as content. Proper 6000+ word reviews with edited video and photography, I've been doing this for over 10 years on the two biggest sites for RC (I've been into RC for 32 years on and off), though for 5 years of that I was technically amateur as I was often receiving only free product, no actual money. I do receive the products for free (and I am permitted to keep/sell/microwave the products thereafter as I please), but that is the extent of my incentive from the manufacturers or distributors. I'm actually on a break right now, haven't written anything for a year or so, but I'll be back. I would write tech reviews for fun, but it's such a competitive area, meh...

The Tab E is notably better and still well within budget. While the Tab A has better battery life, that's because its screen is notably lower resolution. Since a tablet is basically just a screen, that's the most important criteria when choosing. The difference between 768p and 800p is more noticeable than you would think. Try them side by side in a store you'll see what I mean. Also, bear in mind that the Tab A is a throwback to the original 4:3 aspect ratio tablet screens (a la ipads), this is great if you spend most of your time reading portrait stuff, such as browsing, but when it comes to watching media at regular 16:9 resolutions, a significant amount of screen real estate is not used, and when the resolution is lower too, it makes quite a difference. For hollywood movies at 21:9 (or more accurately 64:27), the letterboxing on the tab A will be quite extreme. I would review this stuff for profit if I wasn't already doing that in the area of radio controlled cars.

Samsung Tab E. I know of what I speak. Great tablet. So good for the money I bought one for each of my children (they're 199 euros here). There might be something for around 200 wih a slightly better spec on paper, but for 160, this is truly amazing value. http://www.currys.co...139237-pdt.html

lol, I had no idea...thanks!

Ideal offset? Depends how aggressive you want. As for caliper clearance, that depends 100% on the wheel itself, though obivously the wider you go, under most circumstances, the more clearance you'll have. What I do when looking at wheels is plug in the stock wheel size and offset to the '1010 wheel offset calculator' (google it, awesome tool), then the new wheel size. Flush on the 350Z means 25mm more poke in front, and 30mm more poke in rear. E.G. If you were to space out stock wheels to be perfectly flush/borderline aggressive, you'd run 25mm and 30mm spacers. So basically, you're looking for a wheel that when plugged into the 1010 calculator gives you 25mm more poke in front or thereabouts and 30mm more rear poke in back. If you go over these widths, you'll need more camber and definitely arch work, depending on tire choice. When choosing tires, remember that the Zs like tires to be 2% larger on the rear (use 1010 tire size calculator to confirm). As I say, that's for a 350, not a 370. A 370 owner will have to tell you exactly how many extra mm poke you want to be 'flush'. If that's what you're aiming for. When it comes to calipers, watch out for deep concave wheels, even wide ones sometimes have caliper clearance problems due to the extreme concave. For example, the best fitment of Enkei RPF1 won't go over the 350Z brembos, such a shame, I love that wheel. Lastly, apologies for use of american spellings, I've been on US sites way too long.

Yes. You would need an extremely big 3D printer (industrial size/very expensive) to do that all in one go or you would have to split the CAD up and print the pieces separately on smaller beds, glue them together afterwards and then hand finish it (would be subject to warping & all sorts of problems). The cost of which would be ridiculous to achieve in materials alone let alone the time it would take on the machine. Just not financially viable. Fair nuf Must be a better way to do it with plastic though? Absolutely there is. If you sent the metal piece to China, they would have a mould made within two weeks and be able to produce them in ABS plastic. The problem with doing that of course, is that when they have finished making your run, they won't stop, they'll make ten times more than you ordered, then undercut you on ebay. lol.

and the welding gas and rods/wire all the shipping materials its far from £75 dollars metal Once again, it entirely depends how many he's making. Anyway, in order not to drag this out, I reckon they can be done cheaper and still be profitable. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle as usual.

I say the same thing, I just see it differently... Painting, done in batches no doubt with generic black, cost per unit, almost nothing. Kit to fab them up? A jig, made once and used forever, hardly a big cost Time designing them is one thing I'll give them, but again, hardly rocket science. He doesn't make them if nobody wants them, he builds when he has orders. Knowledge required to get started...ok, fair enough, but if you're into fabrication, you're into fabrication. It doesn't cost me much to learn a new application based on the same technology as ones I currently administer. I would make louvres if I was into fabrication as I see easy money if people are willing to pay so much for them. But I'm a computer guy, not a fabricator. I've had this debate many times relating to many products, some do involve genuine blood sweat and tears to produce and are worth every penny. Many don't. If only I knew how many he produces on average a month, I'd be able to determine if the price was fair or not.

I'd also rather pay 500 quid for something awesome, than 200 quid for something average, but that doesn't mean I think it's WORTH 500 quid. The adage that you get what you pay for isn't really valid now for many years, there are loads of cheap products which are great and loads of really expensive products which are crap. Not unreasonable to imagine he can churn out one of these every working day as an average. There are 22 working days in the month. The cost of materials is not more than 75 quid, in fact, I suspect it's significantly less, so let's say 300 quid profit per piece. 22x300 is 6600 quid a month profit, especially as he's a sole trader, nobody else to pay, no rent, no bills, no corporation tax. That's 80 grand a year (100 grand in dollars) and only assuming one produced per working day. There's a word for that: Greed. The problem is the amount of people willing to stick their hands in their pockets with no consideration of whether or not the price is reasonable, partly because it's actually fashionable to pay more these days. Ah, gotta love capitalism. I don't blame you mate, I just wanted to rant cos I cant' afford it right now. lol

I love the look of these, but 375 quid for a piece of perforated sheet metal is pretty fking outrageous, roll on the day the Chinese copy these, and no I'm not at all ashamed of that statement. One thing to copy someone's shock design that has years of R&D in it, another to make a similar piece of perforated metal for a vanity piece that requires almost zero R&D and tooling cost.

That's a good one, he wasn't going slowly was he! On the bright side, get it out of the way first day, you can be sure he won't make the same mistake again! Did he seem like a bit of a div? Just curious. Sorry I have no practical advice.

Quite a new vid, though I realise the footage might not be, sorry if repost. Skip to 4:32 for the 350Z in traffic, or watch the whole thing and look out for number 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy20z6c5Jh4

Fixed those images for you. For reference, I did this by looking at the picture, right click 'copy image address or location', then I pasted that into a post and added image tags on either side... image tags = [img=image.jpg]

Yeh, abs sensor common cause of this problem, change it. By the way, it's not surprising that the computer says the signal is alright. ABS sensors usually go progressively.

Nice! It's funny you mention that Descent ran well, it was one of the games with better graphics of its time, and of course it was built on an iD engine (a variant on the Q2 engine I believe), and here we are God knows how many years later, 25, more? And still iD are making the most efficient FPS engines (iDtech and vulkan GL API in the new Doom is silky smooth). Just goes to show what can be done when you 'do it right'. I was also an only child from a similar upper middle class background as yourself, so I did ok, but I was a terribly rebellious child, when I realised I had advanced computer skills aged 9 (and in 1986), I decided school was a waste of time for me and as son as I could (aged 16) I quit. Didn't even do my GCSEs. I was working a month later at the IBM job I described above and excelling at it. After that, PC Upgrades came rather more easily. It was a magical time, people with skills like mine were like premiership football players for a few years, so in demand you could dictate the terms of your contract. After IBM, I used to flit around london from contract to ball scratching contract, getting paid silly money to do things that end users would do now. lol. From the old stuff, my first dedicated games machine was a Spectrum 128k+2, then a commodore 64, I never had an amiga, but I always wanted one, my mum used to say 'but you've got your spectrum!' and I'd be like, 'mum, there is no comparison...'. Anyway, I can't say anything I was pretty spoiled. Stuck with PCs until the SNES came out and since then I have owned every major console release, up until the Xbox One (first major console in 15 years I didn't buy). I too had an atari jaguar for a while. Crap thing, the power connector on the circuit board side kept breaking, and although I was able to disassemble and repair it myself, eventually after being soldered 50 times, it was dead. lol. Since we're talking about our gaming careers and for the sake of completeness of information, I should probably mention that amongst all of this I became a noted semi pro gamer. I was top 3000 in the world simultaneously on Q3 and UT2K4 (on UT I was ranked 7th in Greece in my first year here, but I must confess I was lucky in a major tournament and my correct position should have been more like 20th. My biggest achievement came much more recently in World of Warcraft which I quit playing about 6 years ago, having gone from a know-nothing newbie to leader of the best guild on our server in the space of two years. It;s a nice story actually... My wife's sister, who is a lot younger than us, had started playing WoW with a boyfriend and suggested we join in. this was late 2008 I think, shortly after release of Wrath of the Lich King. At that time, I had deliberately been avoiding hte game as I knew it would be a life eater. I knew NOTHING. The game appealed to me on every level, and I quickly became an expert, absorbing all the pro literature I could find. I was a Paladin tank primarily, and it wasn't long before a top guild recognized da skillz. I moved server to join an elite raiding guild which were raiding top heroic content three times a week. We were good, very good, I geared up to be the 2nd best geared tank on that server and top 100 paladin tanks in europe for a while, but I couldn't keep up the pace, 3 dedicated nights to raiding a week was crazy, and I was in the immortal words of Danny Glover "getting too old for this @*!#". So I decided to thrown in the towel on the hardcore raiding career and go back to the server where my wife and her sister and a couple of other friends were still enjoying a good ol' casual time. I had a bit of a reputation by then and when I was invited to the guild that wifey was in, a couple of their players recognized me, I must say it was nice. When you join a guild in WoW, every guild member gets an immediate popup 'whatsisname joined the guild', and immediately one guy was like, is that Aashen from Silvermoon? And another guy was 'don't be an idiot, what would one of the top tanks in Europe be doing in our guild'...and I was like 'yeh guys it's me, how's it going, nice to meet you all and all that', and they were like 'omg'. After that it was about a week before people started hassling me to train them to raid, so they made me the guild's raid leader (guild had never raided before up this point, lol) with the goal of training them to get through standard current tier content (hard enough for casuals, believe it, nothing easy about WoW raids, very challenging game of teamwork, coordination and skill). Training went well, and we started slowly working our way through Icecrown Citadel, raiding once a week. Some time went by, and I became more and more influential until one day the guildmaster was like 'this is your guild now, you should lead it' and I was like wow, are you sure? So they made me the guildmaster and I recruited a few more players. Atour height I had 320 players (at least 200 unique individuals) in my guild. After a year or so I had converted a bunch of total casuals into decent raiders (my wife and her sister were in the primary raid group and doing well!), and even raiding only once a week, we were rapidly rising through the server's rankings. Long story short, After we finished Blackrock Mountain in the beginning of Cataclysm, I turned to the raid out of totally nowhere and said 'Guys, that's it for me, I've accomplished what I wanted in this game. You guys are now a top 400 in Europe raiding guild, good luck!" And I didn't log in again for 2 years. the truth is we weren't a great guild like I'm insinuating, we were great for casuals, but we were still casuals, the guy who I left the guild to, went on to take it to the next level, transformed it into a proper raiding guild, booted out most of the casuals and they are still doing well. It remains one of my proudest moments that I helped some casual players achieve some hardcore goals which they will never forget and neither will I, video game or not. When we downed the Lich King for the first time we didn't sleep that night, amazing feeling of teamwork, friendship and accomplishment against the odds. We all wore our 'Kingslayer' titles with pride (title used to only be available to those who have downed the Lich King in current tier). Sorry for the essay life story, caught me in a nostalgic moment.

To be completely honest with you (and it's fresh in my mind still, I bought one two months ago), there isn't anything that is a 'common issue' (at least a major one 'to look out for') that is specific to the Zed, the only common issues are the ones that affect all cars just the same. Steering pump and anything in the clutch are the two jobs to avoid. You really want to know that the clutch disc has plenty of life, ideally that someone has already fitted a lightweight flywheel (this may sound boy racerish but it's not, there is no disadvantage to shaving half the weight off the flywheel, only advantages, the standard dual mass design is ridiculous). The best thing to do would be to find a car that the owner admits needs a clutch soon, and get the price down the grand it will cost you to replace clutch disc, pressure plate, bearing and flywheel. Niggles that I wouldn't exactly call problems,awhich are probably mentioned in the above threads, the elecrtic seat switches fail, this can be a great bargaining point though, as the switches are over a hundred quid each, BUT, they never actually fail, they are a super sturdy design, they just get coke build up on th contacts from occasional arcing, you just whip your seat out, whip the switches off, take them apart carefull, clean the dirty contacts (will be obvious where) and replace. There's a youtube vid on this which is excellent. The other thing is the 2 gauge problems, oil pressure and fuel. The oil pressure gauge itself is rarely the problem, it's usually the sender, and it's not a part you want to replace. If the car has oil pressure gauge problems, again, don't let it put you off, for the cost of an oil filter sandwich adapter and a chinese copy of the OEM sender, you can sort this on your own in the time it takes to do an oil change. The fuel gauge is a similar issue to the seat switches. There are two floats in the tank (one behind each seat), and the variable resistor from which the fuel level is read, gets gunked over the years and sticky. Removeal of these units, a good clening of the contacts and test with a multitester can give you another 100,000 miles out of the original units. Boot lid raising problems are also common and cheap to fix, if I think of anything else I'll let you know.

I was under the impression these were already super rare, must be thinking of something else. Still, one of the best looking wheels out there for a nissan. Got pics of the ones you have Alex?

On a black car these are going ot look just amazing. Wanna bet they'll be worth 10 grand or not far off in a few years time? What would it take to fit 10.5 +15 on the front of a Z? Roll, pull and lots of camber?

Yeh 15mhz of 60 is 25%, what we would do these days for 25% more performance! I also remember ordering my first pentium, though I don't remember which exact model it was. I spent an entire month's wages on a motherboard, the chip and a VESA graphics card in order to play Quake 2 at 640x480 and thinking resolutions would never get finer than this! Then the Voodoo revolution started, Matrox and 3DFX started producing cards with never-before-seen power, and it wasn't long before we were playing Q2 at 1024x768 (the limit of home use monitors for many years unless you were into graphics or incredibly wealthy) and thinking that this is the pinnacle of gaming. Nights and nights spent with my mates huddled around my pc playing Pinball Fantasies, taking it in turns. I can almost smell the bong water as I sit here typing this, probably why I don't remember much between then and now loooooool.

That badge looks genuine. The one on my Mini Cooper S Milltek pipes was the same.

This might help? http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/112963-milltek-black-friday-offer/#entry1682874

perhaps he meant that if you drive it like you stole it, it'll use more fuel, like any other car. But i have read on here somewhere that some members have managed to get just short of 40mpg from their zed on a good run. Which i think is quite incredible 38 mpg over 90 miles and 35 over 500 miles in my 370 earlier this year, no one was more surprised than me. Actually beat a 197 clio on economy after working it out. You must have an uncanny natural talent for driving conservatively! I have the exact opposite, I mash the throttle everywhere, want to hear my car. lol

I'd say quite impossible. Anyone who has managed it should flog themselves for buying a Zed and driving it like that on purpose. I won't get more than 15mpg out of mine, of that you can be sure. The S2000 used to get me the worst petrol station comments. "Nice car, has it tried to kill you yet?" "Ooooh, I heard those are deathtraps" "You have to be a racing driver to survive a year with one of those!" If that seems strange to you, come drive one in Greece and you'll see what they mean. It's not such a strange comment to make, they are bloody dangerous on our roads (because of the roads as much as the car, it's just an unsuitable combination of slippery roads and very twitchy handling), but it's very morbid to constantly hear that people are surprised you have survived more than a few months of ownership.