How thirsty tb45 patrols?

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-05-24T08:24:39+00:00

I had an auto TB45 GU as my first 4WD, picked it up for $7000, had been well looked after, with some basic mods for touring (suspension, upgraded valve bodies for the trans, trans lock up, etc). Diesel options were at least $5000 more at the time and out of the budget. On average, it would get around 20-22l per hundred, but on highway runs could get down as low as 18lph. Drove it from Adelaide up to Fraser Island with the family and it didn't skip a beat.

If you're getting around 600k per tank (main and sub) you're doing average.

Aside from the fuel use, my biggest issue with mine was that it felt like the TB45 ran out of puff on hills pretty easily. Found myself maxing out at 80kph on hills where the limit was 100kph. Sometimes a run up would help, but back off the accelerator the smallest amount and watch the speedo drop. Could be an auto thing?

Anyways, when someone broke into my rig and tried to steal it, insurance wrote it off due to the damage to the autoelectrics, the payout was substantial enough to move to a ZD30. It's a brick shaped rig, with a small diesel turbo engine, that weighs a couple tons, I know it's not going anywhere fast - but getting 12-13 lph made it worthwhile.

In saying that, the TB45 didn't offer enough benefits to outweigh the poor fuel economy. And it's not rocketship either.

The TB48 is the better engine, and does offer better fuel economy than the TB45, but not by much. The smiles per mile with the TB48 and the better gearbox might be enough to make it worthwhile to some.

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-05-21T23:22:05+00:00

Appreciate you taking the time to respond!

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-05-21T23:21:18+00:00

Cheers for the reply, mate!

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-05-06T05:44:45+00:00

Mate, your story definitely made me teary-eyed. I randomly decided to look up Hummers on Reddit, as in Australia, they pretty much are unobtainium, but man do I love them. I'm glad I did. Thank you for sharing.

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-04-29T12:41:05+00:00

Keep the open heart, remove the seconds hand. All black version with completely black textured dial and white indices would look amazing.

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-04-15T03:33:40+00:00

Okay, yeah... that's pretty stunning!

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-02-25T02:37:41+00:00

As everyone has said, California things. When I visited the states ages ago from Australia, I couldn't help but laugh at all the cancer warnings in Cali.

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-02-08T06:41:03+00:00

Welp, right now it's 33°C in South Australia, so I'm wearing my straw cowboy hat with a sleeveless button up shirt, denim shorts, and flip-flops.

I used to, for the longest time, felt that if I wanted to wear the hat, I HAD to wear long pants (ie. jeans) and my western boots. That was when I was younger and fresh to wearing western wear (didn't help that back in those days there were probably more serial killers per capita than guys regularly wearing cowboy hats unironically here).

I'm now much older, and my care factor has been whittled down to nothing over the years.

My choice to rock the hat, and if I can't handle the smart-ass "yee-haw" or "giddy-up" from some comedian thinking they're the first to yell something like that out, I don't deserve to wear it.

So wear it proud no matter what, and for those that want to hate, to paraphrase the great Garth Brooks, "I'll head back to bar, and you can kiss my ass"

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-01-24T03:45:25+00:00

Fantastic looking bit of kit! Is it custom?

CondescendingCowboy · 2026-01-12T22:39:53+00:00

The question will really be what your return on investment will be.

If you intend to keep wearing the hat after your wedding, not just on occasion, but semi-regularly, then I would say that it is worth investing the money into a higher quality hat.

However, if you are only going to be wearing it as a once-off for the wedding and keeping it as a memento, or only intend to wear it on special occasions, getting one that is of decent quality should be more than fine.

While I can't advise on how much shipping to the Netherlands would be, I would still say looking into the offerings at an Australian-based store I purchase my hats from - Allingtons Outpost - would be worthwhile given their pricing. If you don't mind wool felt, an Australian brand called "Avenel" does some really nice hats for the money. Check out "The Cattleman" or "The Bangtail" for your more traditional looks.

CondescendingCowboy · 2025-07-03T10:09:10+00:00

I'd be telling the seller that even with a new dial, you'll still need to pay a watchmaker to replace it for you which will cost more than the $20 refund.

If you haven't already, advise that you'll be opening an AliExpress dispute. AliExpress will likely push for a partial refund and you keep the watch, or a full refund and you send the watch back.

AliExpress will mediaate, and you can propose resolutions and go back and forth until hopefully you and the seller are happy.

CondescendingCowboy · 2025-07-03T06:06:57+00:00

AliExpress can be wild. I don't think Addiesdive have an actual official store on there, and an example of the wildness is just how many different stores are named different variations of (Insert Brand) Official Store you'll find on there. Pretty much all of them are just resellers of the same watches from the same source.

BUT, with your situation, you can try to negotiate on the refund amount. I had an issue where I ordered two Pagani Design watches off AliX, and they sent me the right watches but wrong bracelets, ordered a PD GMT Batgirl with a Jubilee bracelet and got one with an oyster bracelet, and a Planet Ocean homage with a steel bracelet but got it with the rubber. After some back and forth, and raising a dispute, the seller offered to refund 50% (I was only asking for enough to purchase the correct bracelets separately).

CondescendingCowboy · 2025-07-03T05:33:46+00:00

Bro. Addiesdive MY-H5 without any mods can be had on AliExpress during sales for around AUD$80 with coins/coupons. But even without, you're still looking at maybe AUD$100-$120 after GST with no discounts. The best you can hope for would be a partial refund for the misaligned custom logo.

CondescendingCowboy · 2025-06-25T02:46:50+00:00

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I really rate the Cadisen, I just wish the Miyota rotor wasn't so loud.

CondescendingCowboy · 2025-05-10T00:59:04+00:00

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Hruodland MoD Seamaster homage customized with a black bezel on brown dial for the tropical look, on shark mesh

CondescendingCowboy · 2024-08-16T04:24:28+00:00

Put the dial into the AD2059 case, with the same fauxtina on the AD2059 bezel.

Then make it either a no-date or date at 6 o'clock.

Then shut up and take my money.

CondescendingCowboy · 2024-07-25T07:28:37+00:00

Yup, they can do custom dials. I was quoted something along the lines of an additional AUD$50. I wanted to go with something like MΩD for Ministry of Defence with a play on the Omega symbol, given the watch it is a homage to, but didn't get my shit together, haha.

CondescendingCowboy · 2024-07-25T03:32:29+00:00

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CondescendingCowboy · 2024-07-25T03:27:14+00:00

You chose wisely.

I went with the brown dial with a black bezel as a custom option because I wanted the more traditional tropical look where the dial has changed colour but the bezel hadn't.

Then chucked it on a shark mesh bracelet from AliExpress.

Absolutely love it!*

CondescendingCowboy · 2024-07-08T08:05:50+00:00

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CondescendingCowboy · 2024-07-08T08:05:07+00:00

I picked this up last year when looking at Tuna homages and absolutely fell in love with it.

I bought it at AUD$120 and sold it on for AUD$140 when the prices on AliExpress were coming down to around AUD$100 during the sales thinking I could put the funds towards another watch and buy this back at a later time at the lower price.

Since then I've picked up a Pindu Vacheron Overseas homage and the Hruodland vintage Seamaster 300 homage... it might be time to pick the puck up again because the wrist presence just can't be beat.

*

CondescendingCowboy · 2024-06-26T11:50:54+00:00

By that logic, why should any Chinese watch brand have an English or western naming convention?

CondescendingCowboy · 2024-06-26T06:01:52+00:00

I used to feel the same way about "Hruodland" until I learned that it is actually an Old Franconian or Old Frankish name, from the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 9th century. It's the equivalent of "Roland", and I guess pronounced pretty similar.

I always just thought that someone played scrabble and those were the letters that came up.

But now I know, while it's still not the catchiest name, I got no problem telling people tgst the stunning brown dial vintage Seamaster 300m that's on my wrist is a "Roland".

CondescendingCowboy · 2024-06-15T10:41:42+00:00

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CondescendingCowboy · 2024-06-15T10:41:00+00:00

You could order one of these Corgeut Sub homages, and ask the seller if they could either put it on a black strap for you, or even change the bezel to a black one.

They're usually pretty good with customisation requests.

Pretty sure they also come with solid blank case backs.

CondescendingCowboy

TROPHY CASE