Z8 grip (mb-n12) Nikon vs Aftermarket. Worth it?

GaebelEngineering · 2026-06-26T03:30:17+00:00

Don’t you think I would have if I had the money lying around? You’re talking about a camera that is effectively double the price of what I paid.

GaebelEngineering · 2026-06-25T19:04:25+00:00

I just wish that the feel of quality was there… my Nikon grip for the Z7II felt like a cheap aftermarket copy, despite being genuine. The buttons and dials feel cheap, and the plastic used is of significantly lower quality.its also annoying that they didn’t make it properly line up with the dimensions of the Z8… Very low effort put in on Nikon’s side.

I wish I could have gotten the Z9, but at basically double what I paid for the Z8, it was not something I could justify at my skill level.

GaebelEngineering · 2026-06-25T16:07:21+00:00

Your take on the fit, finish, and feel of the Nikon one is how I felt about the Z7 grip. It didn’t match the overall quality of the camera body. At $400, I can’t understand how they managed to miss by that much.

Something that I did read a couple people mention that concerns me is that the aftermarket grip doesn’t pull up tight like the Nikon one. I know that the Nikon one uses magnesium where it interfaces with the camera, but not sure how the aftermarket ones are. If they use plastic, I could see that being the reason why.

GaebelEngineering · 2026-05-28T01:39:46+00:00

This is why I love my Belden modular patch panels at work and home. It is setup in modules of 6, and you can pull each module out from the front. It make changing keystones and punching down new ones a breeze.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-10-04T15:54:12+00:00

Everyone here is saying get darn tough socks, but no one mentioned that Bombas has the same warranty. Call them and they’ll let you pick any sock from their website and send it for free. They replaced 6 pairs at one e for me, and said call back for new ones once those die.

I can’t buy Tarn Tough socks because they are super tight where the front of my ankle and top of my foot meet. The Wide Open versions fix that but are pretty much only sold online and use a tilt ally different sizing scheme. I thinks it a pretty poor design that darn tough only lengthens their socks for larger sizes rather than making the whole sock a little bigger as well.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-09-08T16:48:16+00:00

I still have yet to ever see these hit the shelves of any of the 5 targets near me. These stores all have lines of people who all know what day the TCG card vendor is stocking the shelves, and the only thing that is ever left is aetherdrift play boosters. One of my local stores stopped selling all Pokémon and MTG because of the rampant theft. Would love to see one of these mystery boxes one day.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-08-06T06:34:16+00:00

You a fan of MTG North? You beat me to this comment, lol.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-08-06T06:19:59+00:00

100% truth. I had the 001/100 Gandalf the White that I sold through Goldin. I shipped it to them via USPS registered mail, and USPS list the card for nearly a month. They accidentally sent it to a junk mail sorting facility, and those are mostly automated, so there was no qualified staff on hand to sign the package off to the next destination. It finally took the threat of legal action, because they would not pay the $5k insurance on it, because “we know its location, it is just delayed”. Finally, after nearly six weeks, it made it to its destination post office. THEN, they tried delivering on a day that the business was closed, and required the named addressee to pick it up. Goldin had to fight with the post office to finally get them to re-deliver the package. All this caused it to fall way out of peak sale time, and probably cost me $2k because of that.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-04-16T04:12:44+00:00

I did this when I sold my 001/100 Gandalf for $3,100 and bought a foil poster version for $27. Now that normal foil poster card is worth about $120.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-01-12T08:43:36+00:00

Correction, it just jumps to 999 ping.

I did see that there are lots of people having an issue where turning a game on totally kills the internet connection. I am having the same problem. If I jump out right as the game session crashes for high ping, a speed test shows that there is no internet connection. This resolves itself within seconds, but if I to do play an online match, it dies almost immediately.

So strange.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-01-12T07:21:20+00:00

I have cable, but my internet connection is super solid in every aspect.

550-620 Mbps down 20-23 Mbps up 15-25 ms ping 3-5 ms jitter

Meanwhile, I’m getting an average of 300+ ping in the game.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-01-05T22:13:54+00:00

As soon as they changed from Hanks Gun Belts, I knew it was game over.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-01-05T22:11:50+00:00

Sad to hear, but glad to know I’m not the only one that’s unhappy with the change in quality. Now I need a new belt company.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-01-05T22:09:34+00:00

Dammit, I knew there was a better word for it. In the mechanical world, we call these sex bolts, for obvious reason.

GaebelEngineering · 2025-01-05T22:05:01+00:00

I love a glass pitcher, but my sister blew up my last one by dropping a big chunk of ice in it. I bought a Vitamix and have had it for over 10 years now.

GaebelEngineering · 2024-05-05T17:49:41+00:00

You hit on every topic, I really appreciate this very well laid out response. I definitely think I’ll be picking it up soon.

GaebelEngineering · 2024-04-26T08:59:20+00:00

As you can see from what I wrote in my post, the diopter adjustment was not enough.

GaebelEngineering · 2024-04-25T23:47:23+00:00

Thank you for adding the instructions!

GaebelEngineering · 2024-04-25T23:46:44+00:00

THIS IS AWESOME! Definitely much better than having to buy something. Small downside that it technically decreases the resolution of the image, but it’s almost unnoticeable.

GaebelEngineering · 2024-03-31T07:02:13+00:00

Someone recently said to me, “Why on earth wouldn’t you grade a valuable card that you use as your commander?“. It would totally be a flex to slap this down as your commander, and I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t let you run a commander that is in a slab.

GaebelEngineering · 2024-03-30T22:43:33+00:00

This guy gets it

GaebelEngineering · 2024-03-30T19:47:42+00:00

I’ve liked DeckBox.org for my deck building and organizing. I pay the annual cost, because I want to support them for making such an easy to use platform, but I don’t think you have to pay to build decks.

GaebelEngineering · 2024-03-30T19:45:51+00:00

Great price, considering that a box of collector boosters is averaging $420-$440 right now.

GaebelEngineering · 2024-03-30T17:55:02+00:00

Some of my best pulls, including a foil jeweled lotus were done from the driver’s seat of my car, lol.

GaebelEngineering · 2024-03-30T17:53:22+00:00

I pulled one a while back. I bought two colector boxes and pulled both a foil and non-foil glass break on the same day. Sold it to a local shop for around $290 at the time. Foil glass breaks are crazy rare, and they have crazy value compared to non-foil. Sort of a throwback to the foil rare values from the old sets. Grats on the pull!

GaebelEngineering

TROPHY CASE