u/Pandabirdy

Time Flies.

So here's me back in 2020 who just ran over my own pair of Peltor's.

Kinda wanted try something different so here was an odd but exciting option.

Long story short, what a ride. Be it tractors, boats, lawnmowers, chippers or just late night gaming. These headphones never disappoint. I can listen to music all day long. In the rain, in the freezing cold. Had none of the issues, never failed me. I've been quite rough on them by normal standards, one hinge broke off after I chucked them straight at a tree once. Well a bit of wire and it was good as new. They may not be certified for it and I of course can't be recommending them for it, but they do one helluva good job as ear protectors when used in combination with regular foam earplugs.

Need another pair for the missus and can't really find these exact ones anymore, and the 5 and 6 look a bit impractical to me. How is the 4?

I adored this Thrustmaster Fusion. The absolutely jagged 90's design that somehow just slotted into your hands was something else. It had paddles that were more like clickies in the back but they did their job, the plastic was cheap and it served me well for over a decade. And the seamless hardshell plastic d pad was just excellent for the era. Many racing games won with this one. One thing especially worth mentioning was the sideways 2 x 3 button layout, really wish they'd stuck to that instead of the opposite one we have these days. Start and select buttons right where they need to be, not too much fluff, no extras. Pure awesome.

Yes this might sound really stupid to some people, but I am forced to use this setup in this particular position due to space constraints as I am gaming on a ship inside a little cabin.

Let me start by giving a lot of praise to the cooler. It has enabled me to game with the laptop backed up against the wall. I got 44-47 idle temps instead of the 51-65 before that, even when raised by a stand. However, it still bugged me that it draws air from the same direction as the exhaust of the laptop, inevitably some of the hot air has to go in, right? So I cut this little separator out of plastic and lo and behold, idle temps dropped by another 5 degrees just like that.

I just wanted to share because what is happening is an intake-exhaust loop is taking place due to the wall naturally rejecting any air to pass through, curving it back to the hungry intake.

If you currently have a laptop setup with the laptop against the wall, try adding a sheet of plastic just below the exhaust fans, careful not to block any intake holes of course. Hot air will be forced upwards and fresh air will be added. You will definitely see an improvement and it's perfectly free. Heck try with a piece of cardboard if you like.

Got this fun little Swedish tank destroyer from a brand called Sluban.

General impression of the brand is rather positive. Brick quality was a bit of hit and miss; some pieces were smoother than others. Some seemed to come from different manufacturing lines or factories, but the colors are consistent. Didn't agree with the hand-tool colors so I spray painted them black. Other than that the parts puller is the coolest one I've ever seen, shaped like a little crocodile with real prints and all. Also the minifigures were surprisingly articulate, necks and hands are on ball joints and the legs can rotate in sideways axis. Sadly no handguns or rifles though I have a lot of them left over from the 12GO kits so might as well use those.

Onto the build itself. What I found interesting is it has an actual pivoting suspension mechanism, controlled by rotating a knob in the back of the tank. Strv103 had a completely fixed gun and relied entirely on the suspension and tracks for aiming the barrel. I'm always fixated on how well the suspension works on these so this was certainly a welcome bonus.

Tracks stay surprisingly well in place and while the rollers look far from realistic I'm willing to give this one a pass because the price was, shall we say enticingly competitive. Another minor complaint is it uses stickers instead of prints, although once again it redeems itself by being the kind with the peel-off edges leaving only the print itself.

Instructions were really good and straightforward, build was more relaxing than anything (coming from a recent two week binge of building a 12GO WTE100, Cobi Maus and the Lego Delorean)

I'd say 9/10

It all fits in a backpack including a fairly large portable speaker not seen in the picture so yes I classify it as a fully portable setup. I move between locations on a monthly basis.

Some noteworthy peripherals include; Anmite 16" 2560x1600 144hz travel monitor, Flydigi BS2 Pro cooler, Deltaco DK440B wireless keeb with Kailh brown switches, Sony WH-1000xm3 noise cancelling headphones and the champ; Logitech G502 Lightspeed. With everything packed up and on the go I got my ROG Tessen, a foldable gaming controller for my smartphone. Almost forgot to mention the laptop itself, Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18.