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Category: Product Review

Reviews of products used, and links to those products.

Who's Back There? (Diode Dynamics C2R Reverse Lights)

There are so many things I've loved about my Tacoma since the first day I got it. Nowhere on that list has been any of the stock lighting. Over the years, I've taken care of the most prominent offenders. My first mod - back when the truck was still just a truck - was disabling the daytime running lights. Then, mostly to finish the "look" I was going for (I was explicitly trying to copy another truck I thought looked great at the time) I added Hellas to my front bumper. But it wasn't until I added fog lights -…

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A Second Attempt at Dehydrated Dinners

TL;DR - We initially settled on Peak Refuel as the brand that seemed the best for dehydrated meals, but getting a good, dehydrated dinner when backpacking is not something you get by looking to one brand. Evaluating meals individually - and ignoring the brand of each - led to a much better experience our second time around.

Every meal is different. No brand gets it right all the time.
Every meal is different. No brand gets it right all the time.
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My Worst Crash Yet of the DJI Air 3 (Can I Fix It?)

Have I mentioned that I'm a terrible drone pilot? As much as I love our little buddy for all the cool angles it's able to get, I'm nervous every time it takes to the air, as I know there's a good possibility that it will be the last time it flies. I knew this would be the case when I got it, and on the recommendation of Mike @mk5, I also got the DJI Care insurance. For a mere $250 dollars, they'd give me the privilege of sending in another $99 and my broken drone - up to four times…

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Big Glass - A New Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

I've been using the Canon RF system for four years and in that time, I've come to enjoy shooting the full-frame mirrorless Canon R6 and Canon R5 bodies. I've also enjoyed the two lenses I picked up when I first moved into the mirrorless ecosystem, a Canon RF 24-240mm F4-F6.3 IS USM lens for most day-to-day shooting, and a Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM lens for wide angle and low-light situations. Both lenses have been fantastic, and for the most part when I'm out adventuring, have done everything I could hope. In fact, there's only been one situation…

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Out with the New, In with the Old (Seats) | scheel-mann delete | or not

TL;DR - I tried to swap back to my OEM Tacoma seats because I wanted their functionality, but it only lasted one trip; the scheel-mann are way more comfortable.

Original TL;DR - I'm swapping out my scheel-mann seats and going back to the originals. Their functionality (sliding, folding) is better, and they weren't that much less comfortable.

Back to stock seats.
Nevermind.
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Upgrading the House Battery to Lithium | Component Selection

Six years ago, when I initially installed my house battery, it allowed me an entirely new sense of calm when I was in camp at night. No longer did I need to worry about my fridge - or the other small electronics I might turn on or charge - draining my starting battery overnight, thus leaving me stranded. Plus, the whole system of linking the two Northstar AGM 24F using a Blue Sea Systems ML-ACR (automatic charging relay) meant that I could easily - either manually or automatically - link my two batteries for charging or more power, and unlink…

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