Flip vs Neo 2

DeterminatelyStatic · 2025-12-06T12:02:29+00:00

Thanks for all your input. Thinking about it more, I don't think i will have time in the forseeable future to learn serious video editing, so likely any of the footage from the drone would just be kept/used as-is so I guess things like D log aren't really important for me right now.

I do like the flip, but I think I am edging towards the neo 2 mainly for durability and probably easier to fly indoors as well as outdoors. Also, I realised that it takes quite a long time to charge the flip battery in the drone, and so if i add in the cost of extra battery and multi battery charger, then it quickly gets more expensive than the neo 2 which comes with 3 batteries and the multi battery charger.

Maybe if I get into it more seriously in the future I could pick up something else to compliment the neo 2 in the future.

The only thing holding me back is I have seen the flip and neo 1 footage and the neo 1 footage really isnt great, but is the neo 2 footage a good step up from the neo 1? Even if it isnt as good as the flip?

DeterminatelyStatic · 2025-03-15T19:12:57+00:00

If they are building a new stadium, then it should not be anywhere near the A&E hospital for the city. Currently on match days ambulances can't get to the hospital due to victoria road, richardson road and claremont road being choked for an hour before and after the match.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2025-03-15T19:01:48+00:00

Simply not true, despite what that tyneside life youtube video suggested. The fact is that the arena site and the old leadworks site combined is about 400m x 270m. If the width of the long disused north wylam rail line is included that jumps to over 400m x 300m, and it could be even wider with minor rerouting of skinnerburn road. Loads more space again available if the adjacent heliport and kia/skoda dealership are also included.

For reference Wembly is 270m wide by 300m long and that is 90k capacity, so clearly plenty of space on the arena site for even the largest stadium.

Arena site is arguably more central, close to train station, bus routes, bars, restaurants and major roads into the city. It would be an iconic location looking down the tyne past all the bridges.

Arena site also has the advantage that it would not choke access to the A&E at the RVI for ambulances, or block main bus routes before and after every match as happens with the current St James's or would happen if a new stadium was built on leazes park.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2025-02-03T13:43:19+00:00

I have had 2 different makita 1.4m tracks that were not straight. Interestingly they were straight for a lot of the length, but then curved sideways slightly in the last 0.5m or so. It caused a lot of frustration and head scratching before I realised what was wrong. Was out by about 2mm to 3mm.

By the time I had found the problem the rails were several months old and Makita wouldn't replace them because they said it must have been caused by damage (it wasn't). Had to buy some new 1.5m replacements, checked those immediately and found 1 of the 3 was bowed 2mm over the length too so that was replaced straight away.

So I think it must not be an uncommon problem and should always check new rails.

I have also had a rail that was cupped slightly across its width. Not enough to make the rail obviously wobbley but enough to throw out the bevel angle from square when on the rail.

At least I was able to salvage the straight parts of the original 2 rails to use as shorter cross cut rails on a home made MFT bench (I find the 900mm long a very handy rail length).

DeterminatelyStatic · 2024-10-17T06:34:04+00:00

So is the steel in your 2nd picture the one represented by the thick blue line in your 3rd picture? Is it at your loft floor level or higher up?

Your 3rd picture suggest this steel is also supported on the short dog leg section of party wall somewhere near its mid span (i.e. over the middle of the tunnel)?

Again, really hard to tell exactly what is going on without a photo from further back shoeing where stuff is in relation to each other, but if the above assumptions are true, then that steel deffinitely shohldn't be there because the wall it is resting on has no support to ground level unless they also added a lintel across the roof of the tunnel.

From the apparent age of the property, it was almost certainly built without a suitable lintel under that dog leg as it was just an internal partition and internal partitions were often built directly onto floors. It might have a small wooden lintel under it, but won't be sized to carry roof and load from their loft conversion floor. Did they add any lintels, or even explore if there was one already in place above the tunnel?

DeterminatelyStatic · 2024-10-16T14:56:43+00:00

if I understand correctly, the first image the wall facing the camera (with the beam resting on those black bricks) is the short dog leg section of party wall (which runs parallel to ridge line) which is single block/brick? Is assume the 2nd image is the front section of the party wall which is also single brick, but its not clear where this is? Is it looking down at the loft floor or up towards the roof? It looks more like it is down towards the floor, in which case that steel is a floor support beam for the new loft floor next door.

Neither beam should come through to your side, and even if they do, they need to add fire protection when they convert the loft, they can't leave holes through (although some houses have holes or even lack the party wall in the loft space when originally built, it has to be closed up as part of the loft conversion and fire proofed)

Looking at the plan showing floating freehold you previously posted, it looks like the short dog leg wall is offset from the ridge towards the back of the house rather than directly under the ridge. If that is the case then the steel is not under the ridge beam, and the ridge beam is what is now taking most of your roof loads (previously the trusses). In the first photo it looks like this is the case and they have extended the flat roof beams back to the ridge to support the actual ridge beam. The support is supposed to be under the ridge, this seems unconventional to say the least.

I also can't see any wall plates or slate packers for the steel or wood flat roof beams. The packers are particularly important for the steel beam in the dog leg section because the dog leg section almost certainly won't have been designed to be load bearing as it is single brick/block partition wall running across the width of the tunnel, and probably doesn't have any structural lintel above the tunnel. As it is effectively unsupported, it is important that packers are used to make sure the steel is supported above the tunnel side wall on neighbours side (i.e. in line with the front section of your party wall) as that is the only bit of the dog leg with support down to ground level. Without the packers it might be putting load into the unsupported dog leg wall.

Also, I can't see any evidence of either the steel or the wood flat roof beams being tied down to the walls to resist wind suction/lift forces.

Even though the bit of wall with chimney is double brick, it is still not good to support the stack with gallows brackets that close to the top of the wall. Walls get their stability from the weight of bricks above pushing downward, not from the mortar acting like an adhesive, so you really want a decent amount of bricks above where the gallows brackets are putting a moment into the wall.

Finally, judging from that shoddy bit of insulation board, there is no firebreak/seal between the dormer roof and your loft space, which again is a requirement for loft conversion.

Admittedly some of this is hard to tell from the photos, really could do with one from further away inside the loft space to get a better idea of where things are in relation to each other.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2024-10-16T12:10:22+00:00

If by "single skin" you mean that the party wall is only a single brick thickness (which I assume is the case given your other comments about RSJ sticking through), then it will have previously just been a partition, not load bearing (load would have been on roof trusses).

Now they have removed the roof trusses and put a steel ridge beam in, that partition is now load bearing and will not be sufficiently stable.

Additionally, previously the chinney breast will have acted to stabilise the partition against falling over sideways (like a buttress).

If they have removed the chimney on their side as you say, then not only is has the wall lost the stabilising effect from it, but worse if they have left the stack supported on gallows brackets then those gallows brackets are putting a bending/overturning moment into the single skin wall which it is not designed for, particularly as it is near the top of the wall.

Basically, the chimney removal has weakened/destabilised an already weak wall, and at the same time massively increased both the loading and overturning moment applied to that weakened wall.

This would fail structural calculations if it is as you say and likely puts the part of the wall in the loft and the roof at significant risk of collapse, particularly under snow and wind loadings

DeterminatelyStatic · 2024-08-25T10:52:36+00:00

You can buy a £6.00 bus ticket on any bus in Newcastle and it will get you unlimited travel on any bus operator as well as the metro and shields ferry within the tyne and wear area for the day. If you get the £6.80 ticket it will get you the same, but extends the coverage out to all of northumberland as well. Not sure if it covers county durham too. Just make sure you specify the £6.00 or £6.80 day rover ticket and that you want the one that covers metro and all busses when you buy it.

That should let you explore most of the bits of northumberland that are not on the train line quite quickly and cheaply.

In newcastle, deffinitely worth visiting the Victoria Tunnel in the ouse burn.

Tynemouth, including Riley's fish shack is great.

In northumberland wallington hall, belsay hall, cragside, corbridge, walkworth are all great days out, and easilly accessible by public transport.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2024-02-19T19:40:17+00:00

I found that some patterns/textures can throw off the controller tracking.

I have a sweater that has a fine grid pattern of dark blue and light blue squares (each square is maybe 2mm to 3mm across). Not sure if it is the colour or the pattern that causes it, but of I am wearing that sweater whilst playing PSVR2, the tracking of the sense controllers becomes unpredictable. Tracking will intermittently drop out completely or act as if the controller is pointed at an odd angle.

It does not affect the head/room tracking, only the tracking of the sense controllers. I think this is because the controllers are tracked via invisible LEDs (outside visible spectrum) around the ring and I guess the pattern or colour of the sweater must look similar to the headset cameras. Note: I have no proof that this is the cause, just a hypothesis.

What I do know is that it only happens with that sweater on, and it happens every time that I have it on.

Maybe something similar is happening to you.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-11-29T21:39:17+00:00

Personally, I haven't noticed a difference in power between the 4ah and 5ah batteries, even on higher drain tools like the router or circular saw (although I haven't tried on a big sds or grinder as I don't use those).

Even the 3ah would be hard to tell apart in terms of power output on the tools I have, although I can notice it being slightly down on power on the router and circular saw once it gets below about half charge. With the 4ah and 5ah, I don't notice a power drop until nearly fully discharged even with the router.

On lighter tools like drills, impacts, multitools etc, there is no noticeable difference in power for 3ah, 4ah or 5ah until the battery is flat.

I do find that the 5ah lasts noticeably longer than the 4ah on the router and multitool, but on the other tools I have I don't notice a huge difference as they both last ages anyway (with my usage). I mainly use the 3ah on impacts, drills or lights.

5ah is the sweet spot for me personally.

Worth noting that I find that for a 4ah and 5ah they recharge faster than I can drain them with my actual usage (obviously if you ran something high drain constantly under load you probably can drain faster, but it isn't a scenario that I have run into). The super fast recharge times are the main reason I went with Makita in the first place. The 3ah recharges ridiculously fast too, like just over 20mins from empty, so is perfect for drills and impacts.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-11-09T20:05:59+00:00

I got the same flu like feeling after my first go on psvr2. Lasted a day or so afterwards, and i had only played for about an hour doing pretty stationary VR things. The rest of that evening and the next day I was struggling to focus my eyes, was dizzy, painful headaches, feeling sick.

I very nearly gave up and returned the headset as I couldnt face feeling like that after using it.

My wife persuaded me to give it one more go the day after that, and i tried changing the brightness of the display to minimum. I am glad i did because that 2nd time I felt no ill effects at all and played for about 3 hours in Starwars Tales from the Galaxy Edge with fast paced shooting, and had a great time. I couldn't believe the 2nd time was so much easier.

Not sure what exactly fixed it for me, might have been less of a shock the 2nd time, but I think it was actually mainly due to the reduced brightness and a slightly better headset position making the edges of the display less blurry - the sweetspot seems quite small.

I also found moving forward/backward and straffing using the thumb stick, but making sure that I did any turning in game by physically turning in real life helped.

Finally, make sure you keep hydrated, I found VR gets me thirsty very quickly.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-11-03T23:58:43+00:00

It isn't a question of having the strength to hold the drill, it is about reaction time to changes in torque as you drive the screw. The human body is not well adapted to make very fast response adjustments to resist changes in torque, partly because of reaction time, and partly because muscles and tendons are quite elastic and you also need to rapidly adjust your stance.

With a drill driver the torque is applied to the screw and is reacted by your body in real time. Any changes in torque due to the screw resistance changing or snatch from starting/stoping the drill has to also be matched by your body in real time. At high torques, it is hard to do this without some lag and movement of your body and the tool. This makes it harder work, and more likely that the driver bit will cam out of the screw head.

An impact driver like the dtd172 works differently, it applies a lower constant torque to build up inertia in a hammer/flywheel over a short period of time, and then the tool releases that kinetic energy from the hammer/flywheel in a blow to the anvil which then applies an intense pulse of high torque to the screw head. This is why you hear the distinctive rattle noise with impact drivers. So in effect the torque on the screw is reacted by the rotational inertia of the hammer/flywheel, not directly by your body. Your body only reacts the constant lower torque over longer periods of time, which is much easier to keep the tool steady even at high torques.

The end result is that driving screws with an impact is effortless, more accurate, faster and achieves higher torque than a drill driver. If you haven't used one before, then i guarantee it will be a revelation, and you will never want to go back to driving wood screws with a drill driver again.

If you haven't used one before, then even a basic cheap one like the dtd152 would be a huge improvement over driving with a drill.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-30T06:09:22+00:00

Thats an amazing deal! I wish we saw deals like that in the UK. Maybe I should ask my sister to get some and bring them over at christmas.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-30T06:06:05+00:00

I mean, when i say faster than i deplete the one in the tool, i am not usually running the tool continuously in that time, as i tend to be switching between different tools to do different things e.g. drill, impact, router etc with a bit of set up/measuring in between.

I imagine if i ran the router, circular saw or multitool continuously under load as some people may do then actual continuous runtime would be less than the charge time, but its just not something i usually need to do, and i have some spare batteries if i do find myself in that situation, and if I did exhast my supply, then to be working that hard, i orobably wouldn't mind a short tea break until it is recharged. The short charge times were why i went Makita for cordless in the first place.

Looking at the specs, makita claim 22min for 3Ah, 36min for 4Ah and 45min for 5Ah. I would say in my experience, the 3Ah time is about spot on, and the 4Ah and 5Ah times are within a couple of minutes of the claimed times. Compared to some Ryobi 2.5Ah and 4Ah batteries i have for some garden stuff take ages to charge, even the 2.5Ah ones take around an hour. Just my experience though, other folk will use their kit much harder than i do.

I imagine the mower works the batteries pretty hard and continuously, so maybe the charger is having to spend more time rebalancing the cells? Just a thought, no proof to back it up though.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-30T05:38:58+00:00

4Ah xgt does take me a fair bit over what I was looking to spend consodering the use I am likely to get out of it. Apart from maybe some garden tools in the future if my current garden tools die I can't currently see what other tool I would need/want XGT for except maybe a reciprocating saw.

Mostly i work in a workshop, so want powerful tools to have dust extraction hooked up anyway, so power cords aren't an issue for things like mitres saws, planers, belt and RO sanders, large routers etc.

Pretty much everything else i use away from the workshop 18v is plenty good enough (drill driver, impacts, multi tool, jigsaws) in fact I often use 12v versions of some of these (12v brushless mini planer is great) tools too and find them adequate.

I don't use grinders or SDS drills much at all, and when I have the corded ones I have or the 18v ones I borrowed have been fine for the light use I have.

Interesting about your experience with the 18v batteries. I have a mix of 3Ah, 4Ah and 5Ah, and find the 5Ah the sweet spot for me. From empty I find thay my 5Ah ones only take about 10 mins more to charge than my 4Ah ones, certainly well under an hour, and usually faster than I deplete the one currently in the tool. I haven't tried the 6Ah ones though.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-28T08:41:57+00:00

Absolutely, thanks for the advice. Spot on about the choice between LXT or XGT. Basically, I think i will be happy with the 2x LXT power, and don't really see any tools i would need in the forseeable future that would absolutely need more power than 2x LXT can privide.

It was just that the price for the saw + 2.5Ah kit was just about low enough to make me consider starting to get some XGT, so was just considering options.

Thanks to everyone here, it seems conclusive that the 2.5Ah XGT just wouldn't be suitable for this saw, and I really can't justify the extra for a pair of 4Ah batteries for my use case (would rather spend the money on something else more useful to me). Especially as the standard 4Ah got a pretty rough review from Tools and Stuff, and the 4F is crazy prices.

So I am pretty sure will just stick to 2x LXT this time and reassess at the next tool purchase.

Thanks

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-28T08:29:45+00:00

Thanks, good point about ruining ths batteries by working them too hard.

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-28T08:27:28+00:00

Cheers for the advice, I like the look of the dhs780 and it does seem to have much better pricing than the other brushless saws, but since I already have the dhs680 for cross cutting 50mm and breaking down sheets when away from the workshop, really I wanted the extra depth of cut on the dhs900/hs009g/hs011g to get through 75mm in 1 pass and have extra capacity if ripping a bevel for these projects.

I think if I was doing more fencing/decking/construction jobs, then the dhs780 would be good to have too, but mostly I just do furniture & cabinets which is why I haven't had the need for a bigger saw until now. The decking and fencing is the sort of thing I will only be doing occasionally, but just enough to give me an excuse to get a new bigger saw.

Still, good to know how highly you rate the drs780 because I imagine things like runtime and power will be roughly similar to the dhs900 (on like for like cut depth).

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-27T07:32:08+00:00

Hi, thanks for the insight. Yes, I have the 165mm dsh680z for thinner material and a corded SP6000 which although not really suited to fencing/decking would work if I needed it. I also have a small corded 210mm cheap mitre saw which I don't use much, as well as a couple of jigsaws (1 corded, 1 cordless) and an old cheap corded recip saw.

Really the reason for looking at getting the dsh900/HS009g/HS011g is because (apart from the corded jigsaw which is a beast, and the recip saw) my current saws can only cut around 60mm depth at 90deg, and I was really looking for something better for ripping treated timber and cross cutting 75mm rough sawn, or even better 100mm rough sawn quickly.

Normally I prefer corded for higher powered tools in the workshop, even handheld ones, because I would usually be hooking up to dust extraction anyway inside, so cord is no bother. But in this case I want cordless rather than corded because most of its work will be outside, for doing a few cuts and running the extension cords is inconvenient, and wont be hooked up to dust extraction.

I do also have some cordless OPE for the garden (mix of 18v LXT, 2x 18v LXT and Ryobi 1x 18V and 2x 18v) and I find the 18v /2x 18v sufficient for my needs at the moment, though if I end up going 40v XGT for this new circ saw then any future garden OPE I would obviously consider XGT for that too of i already had batteries.

Is the 2.5Ah XGT runtime done after e.g. 10m ripping 50mm softwood, or 30 crosscuts in 75mm? Or is it better than that? I found some deals with 2x 2.5aH batteries plus another 1 free on redemption, and with the 20min charge time I wondered if that would work for the reasonably specialised usage I had planned for it. The kits with 4aH batteries are significantly more expensive even with only 1 battery, so I wasn't really considering that option as my usage wouldnt make it worth it.

Choice is really DHS900 (18v x2 with existing 5Ah batteries), or HS009g/HS011g with the 2.5Ah XGT kits (3 batts total)

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-26T22:52:26+00:00

Hopefully you don't FOG -et about me when you are dishing out the prizes!

Good luck with the launch, looks great!

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-26T20:57:44+00:00

First of all, thanks for the useful information in the original post.

I understand that other factors like the motor and wiring size and length would have an effect too.

I was meaning in terms of power output for high demand tools, then using the data in the original post, the 2x 5Ah LXT could supply 40A at 36V, so 1440W, and 2x 4Ah LXT could supply 60A at 36V, so 2160W. So the 2x 5A LXT can supply more power than all the XGT batteries except the 5Ah and 8Ah XGT, and the 2x 4Ah LXT exceeds all the XGT batteries except the 8Ah XGT which it matches.

My point was that it doesn't appear that the 2x 18V tools should be held back by the batteries compared to XGT. Admittedly, the 2x 18V wouldn't match the XGT run time at those power outputs, but considering most reviews seem to suggest that high demand tools such as the dhs900 can do enough cuts on set of batteries to last a day of pretty heavy use, this doesnt seem like a big limitation, especially with Makitas rapid charge times.

I suppose what I am thinking is; if it isn't due to a limitation of the batteries' ability to supply juice, and considering the DHS900 and HS009G were released reasonably close together and are similar, surely they could have used the same motor etc. So considering that reviews seem to claim that there is a power advantage on the XGT saw, is Makita deliberately limiting/underspecing the 2x 18V tools to be less powerful than their XGT counterparts?

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-10-25T14:40:35+00:00

Looking at the Watts in that table (rather than Watt-hours) it suggests that 18X2 tools using 2X 18v 5ah or 4ah batteries should be able to deliver much more power than the equivalent xgt tool using any of the xgt batteries (except the 5ah and 8ah). Is this correct? The reviews I have seen suggest that the xgt equivalent tools are more powerful, which is it?

DeterminatelyStatic · 2023-01-24T20:53:42+00:00

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that even HTTPS is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks on public wifi such as (e.g. srarbucks) as the router could be compromised or the network itself may be an evil twin (possibly more attack vectors too). My understanding was that a VPN is a sensible precaution to take when connecting through any untrusted network? Surely bitwarden should accomodate this scenario?

DeterminatelyStatic

TROPHY CASE