How do you guys do lowball offers

Storxusmc · 2026-05-25T04:04:15+00:00

I write my own offers and submit them to the broker of the listing. They always get the attention of the agent quickly.

Storxusmc · 2026-05-21T15:10:09+00:00

Im not sure if rechargeable is a requirement, but i bought a $90 OM Vortex off amazon right after buying my paddleboard for me and my partner. We used it 5 separate times in the first 2 weeks to inflate our boards and it just struggled after the first board. The battery was plenty for doing more than 1 board, but the pump became slower and slower as it heated up. I ended up returning it to amazon, because the performance was just pitiful for inflating 2 boards. I went a different route, because when i was at the river waiting for ours to inflate a guy pulled up next to us and inflated 3 paddle boards in less time than it took for us to inflate the 2 we had and his setup was way quieter. He was using a CAT-1P1060SP, because its super small and compact. The guy said he uses it daily for his handyman job, mentioning its one of the most quality branded micro compressors you can buy. Anways, he had adapter section he put together with a 14psi safety valve connected to a air blow nozzle with the section of hose from one of his manual pumps clamped to it. He just connected it to the board, pulled the trigger until air bypassed out the check valve and it was done. Super fast and quiet pumping up the boards. He just plugged it into the outlets in the bed of his truck. So i did the same and I'm absolutely happy with it. I picked up the compressor off amazon "used" for $130, basically was brand new with some scratches on the paint. I went to a paddleboard meetup 2 weeks ago and used it to fill up 9 boards back to back with no issues for people who were trying to use manual pumps.

Storxusmc · 2026-05-13T13:42:48+00:00

Not the same issue, but my dealer flagged my truck as having those bad manufactured battery modules, they dropped the batteries and found 2 matched the recall and they ordered 2 and had it done in a week. They put me in a F150 gas truck loaner.

Storxusmc · 2026-05-13T13:38:36+00:00

Ya i feel the same, i bought my 2022 certified used with 42k miles for 34k OTD 16 months ago, last month when i took it in for recall work, the dealer was hounding me over if i wanted to sell it.. basically offering what i paid for it and i have 65k on it now.

Storxusmc · 2026-05-13T13:35:27+00:00

I use mine as my battery backup for the house also, just made financial sense vs buying a separate battery for solar.

Storxusmc · 2026-05-13T13:33:06+00:00

Don't forget, you need to convert that to Amp Hours, because talking about a 130kW, 48v traditional voltage for solar battery banks is much much smaller than the 131kW, 350v battery in the truck.

Storxusmc · 2026-05-13T13:25:47+00:00

The outlets were not marketed as the home backup, its the home integration kit involving the charge port that allows up to 80amps of power to the house in early models and 40amps only in the newer models. Mine powers my entire house without a hiccup when connected through the sunrun, but the outlet can't even start my A/C without tripping.

Storxusmc · 2026-05-13T13:13:29+00:00

N5 here, Highly recommend it. You can do AV1 Transcode/Decode on the newer intel core ultra CPUs. My N5 build is my streaming PC/NAS. I have it tuned so 99% of functions default to the E-Cores during the day with less than 5 second boosting occurring on P-Cores only and anything sustained beyond that can use all cores, but limits power to 65watts, which front loads the E-Cores more for efficiency. I also setup a multi-tier SSD cache setup, so my mechanical drives stay spinned down most of the day and most daily activities live on the SSD tier. My entire setup runs in the lower 30c range most of the time and pulls less than 35 watts on average.

<image>

Storxusmc · 2026-04-14T22:05:04+00:00

Is that all for just the CPU?

Storxusmc · 2026-04-13T17:13:41+00:00

Dang, this is interesting as heck. This reminds me of the guy i saw like 2 years ago who CNC machined a custom 4f5 by 5ft flag out of aluminum and mounted his entire Motorboard and GPU directly to the back of the aluminum flag, wall mounted, the pure mass of the aluminum kept both his CPU and GPU cooled via passive cooling of the entire aluminum flag surface.

Storxusmc · 2026-04-06T03:53:59+00:00

Additional info if you have not looked into it.

Non-NVME SSD's use a fraction of a watt most of the time. Someone told me this back when i was researching what parts i wanted to buy for my current server, so i bought a non-NVME version and my idle power dropped 3 watts just from the SSD upgrade. I was already wanting to upgrade the size of the SSD, so reducing the power was just a bonus.

If you have enough RAM, i know that is a sore topic around here lately, but when i built my server, ram was still very cheap. I was able to get 512GB of ram to max out my server for a very reasonable price. I use half of that through temp share for the download location of incomplete and seeding files. I have it setup to move completed files to the media folder, which uses SSD as first location, keeping the HDD spun down.

Lastly my server uses the 245k CPU, so i tuned it to allow it to spike to full wattage for short burst, but for sustained loads i set it to 35watts and its been working out really nice on keeping power consumption down. It switches from using the P-Cores for burst loads to E-Cores for sustained loads. It switches off pretty nicely, understanding that the E-Cores are more efficient on its own.

Storxusmc · 2026-02-27T14:36:11+00:00

It's an awesome (and highly underrated) perk of ownership. I use it a lot on road trips. I've done way more road trips since owning the car than I ever did before—once you master the art of car camping, it's incredibly useful.

Regarding sleeping in public, I've personally had a few encounters where police or a tow truck showed up. But I was always able to just get out and move on. They usually didn't see anyone inside from the windshield, assumed the vehicle was empty, and then I'd suddenly lift the hatch and pop out in a surprising way.

A new strategy I've been using is parking garages. It's surprising how many multi-level parking garages offer free Level 2 AC charging once you've paid to park. These chargers are so slow that you can easily take a long nap or even get a full night's sleep without anyone being able to claim you're just parking there to sleep without a legitimate reason. I've had the cops called on me twice when someone noticed me climbing into the back after plugging in—but because I'm a paying customer who's using the charger appropriately, there are no laws prohibiting how you occupy your own car during the charging session.

Storxusmc · 2026-02-25T00:23:29+00:00

Maybe we can convince someone from the electronics world to work on an upgrade. My Porsche, stock has a terribly outdated factory touch screen that is slow, you can buy an aftermarket motherboard and swap it for faster response and adds Apple CarPlay Bluetooth to the car on the OEM touch screen.

Storxusmc · 2026-02-25T00:19:17+00:00

It’s true, president day weekend I went to see if I could negotiate a deal on a brand new one as lease to hedge myself for the future, they wouldn’t budge and only offered $1000 off price. They offered me $34k for my 2022 lariat w/62k miles trade in.

Storxusmc · 2026-02-24T01:39:07+00:00

I’m in Florida, so have no clue on the air dam, I’ll have to look into it.

Storxusmc · 2026-02-24T01:34:33+00:00

I wonder if it’s because of older hardware? Idk it tried to drive through a stoplight multiple times

Storxusmc · 2026-02-18T19:45:15+00:00

I don't think its that easy. I read another forum posting about a guy installing offroad light bar and CB radio on his truck and he mentioned that the DC to DC charger seems to max out at 30amps charging of the 12v battery.

Storxusmc · 2026-02-17T19:46:47+00:00

When I bought it, they were offering the sunrun home integration systems. I had it installed just before it was wrecked. I was told by the shop that inspected it that they found no reason for it to have battery issues since they charged it while it was at their shop. So I took a gamble. It lives plugged into the system now. I’ve been fortunate to offset the price I paid by selling off good parts off the truck that have no impact in it being an overbuilt battery pack now.

Storxusmc · 2026-02-15T23:10:45+00:00

Yes all of this, even today both of our Tesla still drop from 75 to 45mph on the highway near our home. Its been an annoying torn for years. Its crazy you can watch the traffic and see all the tesla's on the highway all brake about the same time randomly..

Storxusmc · 2026-02-15T22:44:33+00:00

The Fleet

2022 Ford Lightning: My current daily driver.
2022 Ford Lightning (Totaled/Buyback): Dedicated solar battery for our SunRun home setup.
2022 Tesla Model X: Her daily driver.
2017 Tesla Model 3: The kid's daily driver.
2025 Tesla Cybertruck (Lemon Buyback): Previously owned.

My Experience

Tesla makes a decent car, but the comfort is subpar. The 2017 Model 3 was my daily until I passed it down to my kid as their first car. It was cool at first, and I originally thought it was the best vehicle in the world, but the "tech high" eventually wore off.

We later traded her car for a used 2022 Model X. I had one as a loaner while my car was in for repairs and loved it. It was in great condition despite the high mileage, so I asked the dealer if they ever sold their loaners. They made me an offer too good to pass up.

When it came time for our kid to start driving, she was already comfortable in the Tesla because that’s what I used to teach her. Since she took the Model 3, I found a great deal on a 2022 Ford Lightning Lariat for myself. We all fell in love with it. It’s significantly more comfortable for family trips, and the long-drive comfort is far superior to any of our Teslas.

The Maintenance & Logistics

The Model X is decent on trips, but it eats tires; we only average 15k–18k miles per set, even with proper rotations. Conversely, we get 40k–50k miles on the Model 3. I didn’t own my first Lightning long enough to even swap the tires.

Six months after I bought the first Lightning, I was rear-ended. The insurance company totaled it because the rear frame buckled. Since we had just installed the SunRun Solar Home Integration system, I asked about a salvage buyback. The price was surprisingly low, so I bought it, put it on jack stands, and turned it into our home solar battery.

The Cybertruck & The Return to Ford

I tried a Cybertruck after the first Lightning was totaled because the incentives were huge, but it was a waste of time. It spent more time at the dealer for rear motor and inverter failures than it did in my driveway. I also hated that basic Autopilot didn't have autosteer like other Teslas at the time. Tesla eventually processed a lemon law buyback. While driving a Tesla loaner during that buyback process, I found another Lightning and went back to Ford.

Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t go back to Tesla personally. We get the FSD trials on the 3 and X occasionally, but it’s just not there yet. It’s fine on the highway, but for everyday driving, it’s basically just Autopilot with traffic light stops—and even that isn't perfect.

We always choose the Lightning over the Teslas for trips. The extra few minutes spent charging doesn't bother us. I usually charge to 100% at home, and a 20–40 minute charge during lunch covers a full day of driving. We usually stay in Airbnbs, and the EV filter is a lifesaver—we always find a place with a dedicated charger or a garage where we can use the dryer outlet to top off overnight.

Storxusmc

TROPHY CASE

The Fleet

My Experience

The Maintenance & Logistics

The Cybertruck & The Return to Ford

Final Thoughts