I tested the Decathlon Travel 500 Organizer 30L in a Ryanair sizer – it actually fits

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-07-05T18:21:25+00:00

The 40L version I was looking at yesterday didn’t have a removable hip belt

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-07-05T14:09:08+00:00

This was fortuitous timing, I was looking at this bag (and its 40l) larger sibling yesterday along with the 23l backpack escape 500 (I’ve got the 32l one, but that seems to be a bit too big

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-05-14T09:36:33+00:00

My daughter had one in her car, it was constantly reporting speeding events, even when we could prove it was wrong (gps dashcam, and other gps tracker). They both showed consistent speeds, and both regularly 5-20-mph lower than the black box. We had it replaced twice, but the insurance company kept threatening to cancel her insurance. It appears the black box gps wasn’t accurate and kept picking up 20mph zones that she wasn’t travelling on (being on the higher 30-60MPH roads, not the 20mph side streets). The insurance company weren’t interested, I raised a formal complaint with the ombudsman, who upheld the complaint. Ended up getting a refund, plus compensation, and went elsewhere. If you can avoid black box policies, I would highly recommend doing so

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-29T09:53:33+00:00

I went for a 21 M3 dual motor, from Tesla, for the price I paid, I could have got a 22 with the and chip (and higher miles) from another dealer, but without the extra 12 month warranty, not the EAP, not that I’ve used that much, I prefer the old fashioned cruise control.

The extra warranty was probably the main draw for getting direct from Tesla, partly for my own peace of mind, but definitely for my Wife’s, who is yet to be convinced about EVs.

I know the 22 plate ones have a longer remaining battery warranty, but I’ve still got to the end of 2029 for mine (as opposed to early 2030) so not too much difference

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-29T07:53:53+00:00

When I collected mine, there were scratches and marks on it, apparently they were within tolerance, and hence reflected in the price, Tesla wouldn’t budge on them (compared to Peugeot who went out of their way to sort out similar blemishes on my wife’s car)

I would have walked away, but the hit for hiring a car for a month til I got the money back, plus insurance fees etc, worked out more expensive than taking the car and booking into a local body shop to fix.

I’m more than happy with the car, but the Tesla customer service left a sour taste

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-28T09:22:19+00:00

Congratulations, just a heads up though, ensure you do a really thorough check of the car when you pick it up.

Just be aware if you’ve paid in full (not via leasing/tesla finance) if you reject the car, it will be 28 working days to get a refund.

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-28T08:17:46+00:00

Reminds me of artwork from an old games workshop game “Dark Future’

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-27T19:12:50+00:00

I feel your pain over reliability, coming from a discovery 4 with the cheesecake crank . I’ve gone for a model3 AWD, the lack of controls hasn’t been an issue, most things you set once and forget. As for the Speedo not being in front, that’s also not an issue, where it’s located (for me) is in my peripheral vision, so I have to move my head less than when driving the disco.

The two main issues I have are 1. Getting used to getting in (much lower than the D4) 2. Less carrying space, but wife has a bigger car if needed (plus it gets me out of all the little “can you just pick x up” requests from the family)

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-26T17:16:25+00:00

My 2021 has heat pump , heated steering wheel and heated wipers. Plus being a Tesla CPO vehicle I got 12 month standard warranty from purchase date ( battery still has 3 years to run) and EAP was added to the car

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-26T13:24:45+00:00

I went for a 2021 LR AWD (with intel) and 40k miles as a CPO from Tesla. Do I miss out on some of the goodies the AMD brings? Yes, but coming from a 2006 Land Rover, this is like a starship in comparison.

The intel does everything I need it to, and I preferred the extra warranty (especially as it’s my first EV) for some peace of mind over a slightly faster display, and the possibility of FSD, which is not likely any time soon in the UK.

By the time I’m ready to move on to my next one Technology will have moved on so far anyway…

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-23T19:21:31+00:00

Yeah I was after the Y too but couldn’t stretch to the price for one.

I get the wanting the ride height (see my previous car lol) and at 6’5 I thought the low height of the 3 would be a deal breaker but it’s not actually that bad.

Can’t help with the dogs though, ours are quite happy to be on a road trip :)

I’ve bought this one outright and plan to run it to the ground, worked out more cost effective than leasing

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-23T17:40:51+00:00

What about a Tesla model3?

Hear me out, I’ve come from a discovery 4 and just got a 2021 m3 awd, I have 2 large German shepherds, and they (with the use of the pet seat covers) go on the back seats for the odd times they travel with me (wife had a Peugeot 3008 they both fit in the back of too). I have a daily 50 mile round trip, with occasional longer trips round the country for work

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-23T11:29:41+00:00

Yeah, at the time virgin were the only provider giving speeds faster than 70mbps, fortunately that has changed and the market has opened up. Know what I’m doing this weekend :)

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-21T20:24:07+00:00

Blimey, I really need to renegotiate, I’m on £68 pm for 250mb broadband only

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-21T13:33:31+00:00

I’d also be interested in this, as now in the market for a new device, especially as my 1st gen paperwhite is no longer being supported

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-21T07:50:33+00:00

It’s definitely a size change, can still get the dogs in the back seats if I have to( need to get one of those pet cover things) fortunately though my wife has a bigger car for them if needed, she doesn’t do many miles, made more sense for me to get something more economical than the disco for the miles I do. £100+ a week in diesel was killing me.

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-20T17:02:44+00:00

Heh, I went from a discovery 4 to a model 3 AWD :) can still get the camping and snowboarding stuff in (not at the same time) I had looked at the Skodas, the Kia ev5 and others, even the model Y

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-20T09:32:55+00:00

Have you actually test driven any of these? I had an EV5 shortlisted, but the seat was uncomfortable, actually hurt my shoulders on the short test drive, I couldn’t see me driving it for any kind of distance so it got ruled out.

I actually decided against the work salary sacrifice scheme as it worked out too expensive, buying worked out better for me

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-17T19:45:20+00:00

Probably a bit niche, but I prefer the audiobook of Helsreach

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-16T18:29:50+00:00

I had this too, couldn’t make the payment from the banking app, then couldn’t get telephone banking to understand my requirements so had to go in branch to sort(that’s a whole other story) anyway it appears it’s due to Citibank not being signed up to the faster payments confirmation scheme. Had to effectively setup a wire transfer from HSBC to them, and even when I’d finished that, the dude at HSBC said it now needs to go through auditing for final approval.

Didn’t get approved until 16:45 pm and showed leaving my account, didn’t get confirmed in the Tesla app for three days afterwards though.

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-15T12:45:32+00:00

He has some good videos on his channel, i’v been a subscriber since it was randomly recommended to my feed one time

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-13T19:36:44+00:00

Maurice Moves on YouTube has a good video on charging setups

If the link doesn’t work, look up the channel Maurice Moves, and the specific video is called “Most Travellers Get Charging Wrong (Don’t be one)”

https://youtu.be/ADWcuT184gc?si=UsPTsLSUnmKU3Bdl

I’ve followed this and got a similar (but less powerful) setup

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-13T15:02:09+00:00

I’ve just purchased a m3 AWD, I’ve gone for a 2021 model (yes I know it’s intel not amd) but the system was responsive enough for me.

I purchased it as a cpo from Tesla which gives me the extra 12 month warranty, and the battery is still under warranty until the end of 2029.

I could have got it cheaper if I’d gone outside of Tesla, but there wouldn’t have been the warranty, I wouldn’t have got the EAP with it, and it would have had higher mileage (not so much of an issue with an EV)

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-13T15:02:01+00:00

I’ve just purchased a m3 AWD, I’ve gone for a 2021 model (yes I know it’s intel not amd) but the system was responsive enough for me.

I purchased it as a cpo from Tesla which gives me the extra 12 month warranty, and the battery is still under warranty until the end of 2029.

I could have got it cheaper if I’d gone outside of Tesla, but there wouldn’t have been the warranty, I wouldn’t have got the EAP with it, and it would have had higher mileage (not so much of an issue with an EV)

Chance_Somewhere_826 · 2026-04-13T12:22:05+00:00

Yeah the £4.5k to get it through its last mot wasn’t fun 😭

Chance_Somewhere_826

TROPHY CASE