u/SaxonyFarmer

The lease on my '23 Wind is ending next month so I went car shopping. I stopped at a Hyundai dealer to drive an Ionic5 but they only had one XRT trim level on the lot. The SEL and Limited shown on their website were not available and their excuse was a 3rd party manages their inventory on their website (sounded sketchy to me).

I drove up US19 on the west coast of FL to a KIA dealer where their website showed 8 EV6s on the lot and 5 were white (my preference this time around) GT-Lines. Three were RWD (again, my preference) and when I arrived, all were on the lot because the sale person's inventory was exactly like I saw.

I turned in my '23 dark (midnight) blue Wind and drove home in a '26 white GT-Line. I got 0% financing so I liked the deal. The dealer included the J1772 to NACS adapter (and it worked when I charged it last night) and a new charger. I haven't explored the specs on this included charger but I see it includes 240V 4-prong and 3-prong 120V plugs. Plus, I get 3 years of Kia Access for free on this car (the '23 only had much less).

Lots of nice upgrades from the 23 Wind to this year's GT-Line. I think the seats on the GT-Line are more comfortable, I like the HUD, I like the placement of information on the driver's display, I like the pop-out door handles (and so does my wife - it makes opening the door easier with arthritis), and the improvements in HDA software. The lane assist is nice - flick the turn signal and the car switches lanes with only a light touch (and no assistance) needed on the steering wheel. I'm getting used to the wireless CarPlay and need to understand it better (like, how do I get my music to start when I start the car).

I'm still learning, like where to tap on the door handle to lock the car when the handles are extended, and I need to learn how to keep the regen level where I set it everytime I start the car and if I want to use the 'auto' regen like I did with the '23.

So far, a real nice upgrade!

I’m looking at a BZ to replace my EV6 when the lease ends in a few months.

Has anyone fit a Homelink mirror on an XLE trim, either from Toyota, a 3rd party, or from a used car parts dealer?

(I was able to find a Hyundai version that fit perfectly in my EV6.)

Can any riders share your choice and experience with a tool bag in a water bottle cage? I currently use a bag hanging under my saddle for a spare tube, CO2 cartridges, tools, and more, but the straps are wearing from constant rubbing on the saddle rails. I’ve reinforced them but I think I need to look for a replacement.

I can live with one bottle because water is readily available on my rides so I’m looking to either repurpose an older bottle for tools or get a tool bag specifically to fit a cage.

Can anyone share experience with repurposing a bottle or a bag that’s working well for you?

I have a need to send an SMS text to a specific phone from a Python program when an event completes. This event is often a daily occurrence but not always - I probably send 250-300 messages over a year.

I started doing this a couple of years ago when the carriers allowed SMS via email. I'd just send the message to a phone number at the carrier's messaging server (<phone#>@mms.att.net, for example). The carriers shut these off a few months ago so I went looking for an alternative.

I found 'TextBelt.com' and signed up, buying a quota of over 700 messages for USD$11. I figured getting two years of simple messages for that price was pretty fair, and the coding was easy.

But, TextBelt seems to have died. On April 24, my code reported my remaining quota was 536 messages. On April 25 (and since), the attempt to send a message fails due to a quota of 0.

I have notified TextBelt support and even sent a message to the founder, Ian. I have not heard anything back since the problem started. I fear it is dead and gone.

Until this is either fixed or I find another provider/solution, I added code to send the message via email after the 5th failure.

So I'm back to looking for a stable and inexpensive solution to send a text message to one phone number about daily. In the research I've done in the past week, I've found a number of offerings, all geared to sending marketing, status, and other messages from businesses, with monthly costs. Way too much to spend for my needs.

Any suggestions?