shawndoggy
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Posts posted by shawndoggy
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mac or pc will both work fine. Using "mac" (hackintosh pc running OSX) now and honestly I think that windows 7 and a decent editing program is just as good. You don't "need" a mac, but it will work well if you get one. I'd just spring for the fastest one you can possibly afford. Which costs about twice as much as a comparable PC.
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What computer do you have (specs for cpu / ram / video etc)?
The "old" gopro helmet hero which shoots 640x480 works like a champ, is relatively cheap, and you can edit video on virtually any computer made within the past five years. Biggest shortcoming of this camera is that it uses aaa batteries, and doesn't perform at its best unless you use lithium AAAs. I saw these at our local costco over the summer for under $100.
Screen capture from the "old" gopro hero 5:
The "new" gopro hd has a rechargeable battery and pretty stunning video and image quality. Biggest downside is that it definitely takes some processor power to edit HD video (any HD video, not just from the gopro). So if he wants to get into editing too, you'd better either have a nice computer purchased within the last year or two (and if it's that old, it better have been a smoking fast machine then), or plan on buying one pronto.
photo from gopro HD (with some color tweaking in picasa):
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skiers are the ones who can go uphill without removing equipment and without postholing a a traverse.
snowboarders are the ones who can effortlessly float pow while the skiers work at it.
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Yeah, but I don't care about the off-road capabilities of this vehicle. The most off-road it's going to get is gravel. The only reason I'm looking at stuff like the 4Runner is it seems it needs to be body on frame to have any reasonable two capacity.
'zactly.
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NG I've come full circle on this thread.... For what you want I think you are right about the V8 4Runner being the best compromise.
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If anyone is looking at a Ridgeline, act soon they are rumored to be short for this world..... Honda just doesn't sell enough of them.
They are GREAT trucks!!! Not real pretty though.
And only rated to tow 5K.
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No mention of north Lake Tahoe yet? Alpine Meadows? Sugar Bowl? Squaw? Alpine Meadows and Sugar Bowl were my most memorable trips ever for conditions (although this was pre-hardboots for me)...not sure how they are for hardbooters...
Having had a pass @ squaw this last year, I'd give it a serious "meh" overall, and a yuck for carving. Their grooming is atrocious. Yes, that bad. Plus they are low (in comparison to Mt. Rose or Kirkwood), so a lot of the groom is boilerplate. If you are a skier and you like to ski bumps, not a bad place to go... guess what I did a lot of last season? I couldn't beat 'em so I joined 'em, slapping on skis and skiing some bumps.
Alpine has similar terrain and elevation to squaw... so not the best place for carving, though arguably a much better place if you like off-piste stuff that you are willing to work for. Again much more diverse if you are on skis than a snowboard, let alone a carving board. There are a few good carving runs, but not many.
Sugar Bowl... it's been a while, but its nature as a "day tripper" resort for Bay Area folks would remove it from World Class for me right from the get-go. They do get a lot of snow, but they don't have that much vertical and it's really not all that big of a mountain.
Which is not to say that any of the three foregoing resorts aren't phenomenal on the right day. I just wouldn't put them in the "world class" category.
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I'd put Mammoth on the list. Not sure about ski in ski out (I'm too cheap), but 5-8 min. walk is definitely affordable. Zoo on the weekends (as will be most any north american resort), but midweek you are pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Getting there efficiently would be the challenge. Probably flying into LA and driving or then flying to Reno and driving would be about the same. Guess it just depends how far you would be willing to drive.
The drive up to Mammoth from LA is unspectacular to me but I've lived most of my life in the desert. For those who are unfamiliar, the desert can be pretty spectacular in its own way. Plus, there's nothing like landing in 75 degree LA weather and being in full on winter at 8500' 7 hours later.
Sun Valley and Jackson Hole would definitely be on the list too.
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Thanks for all your suggestions! As I said before, my wife's work takes her into some rough roads, sometimes she has ditched the van for a rented truck so a truck or SUV is what we really want for her day to day use. We will miss the huge interior of the van but as our kids are older now the long family trips are a thing of the past.
The specific trailer we have our eyes on weighs 3170 lbs dry & unloaded, has a maximum loaded weight of 4640 lbs and a hitch weight of 240 lbs. It also comes with electric drum brakes. I don't think pulling this trailer with a vehicle rated for 6500 lbs is out of line but I'll defer to those of you with more experience if you think that's the case.
What will your towing be like? Long hauls? Short hauls? Hills? Mountains? What speed? Etc?
For flat-ish shorter hauls something like the 4runner would prolly be great. If you will be towing over mountain passes, prolly not so great. But if it's only a few hauls a year, maybe "not so great" is acceptable in relation to the other 355 days of the year that you'll be driving the vehicle.
One more for the list... landcruiser. 6500lb towing, and 8" shorter than the sienna.
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The Commander v8 (we have an -08) has the dodge 5.7l hemi - a very reliable engine. Jeep electronics can be questionable, though.
It's a beast - the only two negatives I can say about that truck are 1) buy used - they drop really fast once you drive them off the lot. My $45k truck is worth about $20k blue book after 2 years. 2) REALLY BAD GAS MILEAGE - I'm talking 11-12mpg average.
My F150 (2005 crew cab 4x4 w/5.4 v8) gets 12ish around town if I drive like a grandpa (11ish if I don't), 17 on the highway, 10ish towing. Best towing was 12, worst 9.5.
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sienna isn't a clown car... for sake of garage-fit-comparison, the armada/qx56 is only 5" longer and 3" wider. minivans are pretty big. Yukon/Tahoe/Escalade is about the same (for the non-suburban version).
As for the "don't want a gas hog..." well, you gotta pay to play. Get a heavy load, you need power to tow it. Power that you will be wasting when the trailer isn't behind you, to be sure.
You're gonna miss that van too. Till you step up to something as big as a suburban, all other vehicles (even big gas guzzlers) are going to be smaller inside. Still have a soft spot for our dearly departed 03 Odyssey.
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Any full-sized truck is probably too big. This is not primarily a tow vehicle, it would normally be my wife's daily driver. She drives a lot for work, and often ends up on gravel and in out of the way places in the province. She doesn't want a huge truck that is hard to park and guzzles gas, and they wouldn't fit in our garage anyways. Our van barely fits.
As for tow load, we are planning to get one of the hybrid campers such as a Rockwood Roo. They start at around 3500 lbs dry weight for the minimum size we'd be looking at (the 19 footer), but with options and loaded with various stuff realistic tow weight is probably more like 4500 lbs. We're also eyeing a 23 foot model that would be closer to 6000 lbs.
Have you asked this question on the owners' forums for those campers? Those folks will have some realworld experience.
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Don't Jeeps have bad reliability?
We just got a Honda Pilot, it's great. According to Consumer Reports it gets better mileage than most full size minivans, except the Honda Odyssey, which gets 1mpg better. Seats 8, or fold the 3rd row seat down for lots of cargo room and seating for 5. "Realtime" 4WD is FWD until you need more traction. 3.5L V6 runs on 3 cylinders while cruising. Comes with tow bar, just add a hitch. The Mazda CX9 got better driving reviews, but the Honda will have better resale value.
If you can wait maybe a month, Ford just revealed the 2011 Explorer, looks nice. It's now unibody, instead of body-on-frame.
Pilot ain't gonna tow three tons though.
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Is the extended cab Tundra out? Much prefer that platform, if I am towing 6K lbs., to the 4Runner or Taco.
And if you are looking at those you might as well look at the sequoia....
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The Touareg is expensive and has issues, a lot of issues. Even VW diehards are leary. I'm a VW owner myself.
The 4Runner is a truck-based SUV. Why wouldn't it tow well, within its limits? It's rated for 7000 lbs with the V8.
Don't disagree re touareg... but you were asking what else should go on the list.
What are you towing? 4Runner would be my pick of what you listed, but I've heard annecdotally (friend of friend, so take for what it's worth) that they tend to get "pushed around" because of the shorter wb.
I went with crew cab F150, and can say that I wish I would have done full sized SUV because we haul people (kids) much more than we do cargo, so I'd rather have seating than bed. But even the F150 (rated for 9K towing) is no dream towing a 5k boat over the mountains. It's all compromises.
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Gearheads, help me out. My wife's Sienna minivan lease expires in February. She wants to replace it with either an SUV or an extended cab truck. We have the following requirements:
1. Seats 4 reasonably comfortably
2. Fits in a small garage, not much more room than for a minivan ie no full-sized trucks
3. Tows at least 6000 lbs
4. Not insanely expensive - trying to keep it under $40K Canadian
The list of candidates so far:
Toyota 4Runner (older v8 model)
Toyota Tacoma
Ford Explorer SportTrac
Jeep Commander (v8 version)
Any other suggestions/recommendations? Wanting something with reasonable towing capacity that is not a big-ass truck really limits choices.
I guess I'd add the diesel vw touareg to that list if you could find one. I don't see any of those rigs (save maybe the vw) towing very well though. 6k is a heavy load. Can you rock something as big as the nissan armada/infinity qx56? That's the shortest wheelbase "real truck" (for towing purposes) that I can think of. I'm also actively looking and the nissan has the best combo of HP/towing capacity/garage friendliness. We also need the third row, so the touareg is out for us.
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My kids call this one the "fail video...."
my toesides suck.
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Should be able to find nonstop southwest flights to reno or salt lake for cheap.
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Here's one of my son (age 11):
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And another of me that shows how you get up with the rope:
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcOrJND20H4&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcOrJND20H4&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
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SEJ -- boat is a 2006 malibu vride (v-drive inboard wakeboard boat). We run about 1000 lbs of ballast in the rear surf-side locker and then sit everyone on the surf side of the boat while under power.
TR -- yeah, is a kick. My wife and kids can surf without the rope now too.
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Another one with the gopro from a different angle....
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<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3NNruewQNA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3NNruewQNA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGHIHdqdY14&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGHIHdqdY14&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
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Hey, now.... THAT was fast. Sold to the man from Idaho.
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replied to your e-mail.
where is the best deal on a set of mondo 28 intuition wrap liners?
in Carving Central
Posted
I'm looking for a set of mondo 28 intuition thermo liners for a set of 27 Head shells. The deeluxe thermo liners that Fin sells won't work... for whatever reason they don't get "puffy" enough for this application (believe me I've tried). So I need intuition. Who's got the best deal right now?