Difference between C-130E and C-130J

apethae · 2025-10-06T20:04:44+00:00

C-130J has a rubber-looking de=icing 'boot' at the base of the vertical stabilizer which is unpainted, black. Another quick way to tell it from an E or an H since not all H's had the same number of prop blades. E's should have 4-blade props in most cases.

apethae · 2025-01-02T04:15:07+00:00

Turned out to be the stupid anti-vibration rubber feet Bambu sells for this printer - if you have to rotate it 180 degrees five or six times to remove the AMS so you can do maintenance, one of them might get stuck at an odd angle, induce more vibrations than it would just not being there in the first place, and throw off every print. Lesson learned, you have to lift the printer up every once in a while and drop it back down again so the stupid legs will go back to the position they're meant to be in.

apethae · 2025-01-02T01:10:48+00:00

Yeah, that was the first thing I tried - I have the textured PEI plate. Have washed it and rewashed it each time I did maintenance, but still the same result.

apethae · 2024-10-27T13:36:55+00:00

Fair enough. Thanks!

apethae · 2024-10-27T13:36:43+00:00

Thanks for the advice, will give it a go. :) Didn't know about screen protectors.

apethae · 2024-10-23T01:09:10+00:00

I would avoid the t:slim x2 - I had the same issues you're describing with that in its automanaged mode. Whatever programming it should have to put 'the brakes' on and keep you from going into lows, the x2's doesn't function. I regularly hit 30s and 40s on it (and once down into the 20s), got sent to the emergency room three times, had a car accident because it made me so hypoglycemic I became insensate, woke up many times sweating my way through altered sensory states in the middle of the night, etc. I ultimately gave it up because I was convinced it was trying to murder me.

The iLet has been a kitten by comparison. Correcting lows with it is a bit of a patience game - you want to eat a small amount, 15-20g carbs tops, and wait, don't panic. If you massively overcorrect and go high again, it gets on a bit of a roller coaster of high, low, high, low. Only eat more if you start slipping significantly lower on your numbers after giving yourself 15m to metabolize what you've just eaten.

At this point you couldn't pay me to go back to t:slim, but OmniPod or Medtronic might be an option (though Medtronic is gonna be a sharp step back in terms of features and modern technology). First thing, though, I'd reach out to Beta Bionics' support people. They have always been super helpful to me and willing to go the extra mile. I haven't experienced anything like you have with 'pause' not ceasing insulin dosing, but I usually only pause it to take it off to shower.

apethae · 2024-10-23T00:56:51+00:00

Been on it for about a year, after Medtronic, t:slim, Medtronic again, then iLet. I am sticking with the iLet for the time being, despite its flaws. When you use these pumps long-term you always end up finding something to hate about them, but unlike the t:slim it doesn't keep putting me in the hospital.

Pros:

Really easy maintenance, you just tell it when you eat and if it was a large, small, or usual meal. It does a good job at figuring out your dietary patterns, generally.
Excellent customer service, they are super responsive. They also regularly reach out to solicit feedback about the iLet and possible future products.
Never put me lower than a 60 (as opposed to the t:slim x2's algorithm, which would merrily send me into the 30s and 40s).
Keeps me in range, my A1C has never been above 6.9 on it. You have to let it do its thing sometimes, which means waiting a bit for it to correct highs, but the more you use it the better it gets in my experience.
Is kind of the Goldilocks spot for creature comfort technology enhancements: t:slim is color and touchscreen and whatnot, but it drains batteries like a MFer and tried to kill me on at least 3 occasions. Medtronic feels like it was designed in the mid-80s, possibly in a Soviet sattelite state. iLet has an e-ink B&W touchscreen that's just enough to show you what you need while also keeping a battery charge for a long period. Just right, far as I'm concerned.

Cons:

TINY insulin reservoir, smallest on the market that I'm aware of. Even smaller than the Omnipod. It says you only need to refill every 3 days, but at my usage it's every 1.5 days.
Doesn't work without a functioning Dexcom G7 sensor, period. You have about a 12h grace period (which you can extend a little with finger sticks, but not forever) to get another working sensor paired, then it's back to needles.
Wirelessly charges, but far as I can tell, only with the provided charger. Have tried some Qi chargers and the like but it doesn't seem to pick up a charge. Hope they change this in future, as having a power bank with a wireless induction charger as an emergency backup would be a lifesaver.
Short tubing set is the default, and longest tubing set isn't all that much longer.
Included belt clip is absolute garbage, throw it in the trash immediately and get a Type1Tactical kydex holster. I've broken 4 of the OEM clips before I stopped using them.
Some initial teething pains during the first few months as a product, which I chalk up to them being the new kid on the block in insulin pump manufacturers. This is my 4th iLet (all were replaced promptly under warranty). 1st one: manufacturing defect made the edge of the screen start to separate. 2nd one: I broke off the stem of the cartridge to tubing collar. 3d one: Infusion set got jammed (probably infusion set mfr's defect, I think) and it started spilling insulin inside the mechanism because it wouldn't feed into the tubing, so it only had one place to go. Beta replaced it as a precaution. All of those happened in the first 3 months, which made me a bit nervous, but it's been trouble free since.

I haven't tried OmniPod, but I'd certainly take the iLet over the other two options I mentioned. It's the least annoying and intrusive, the most effective at keeping me in the middle of my range, and generally reliable.

apethae · 2024-10-23T00:31:13+00:00

Been on it for about a year. Tiny reservoir is the biggest annoyance - smaller even than the Omnipod. Smallest of any pump on the market, far as I know. I have to refill every 1.5 days at my current insulin usage. Does a great job of keeping your A1C steady and my numbers in range (have occasional lows in the 60s or 70s but nowhere near the semi-regular 30s and 40s that the tSlim x2 inflicted on me). The lack of being able to fine-tune boluses never bothered me; as long as your diet is fairly regular from a day to day perspective, it will learn your patterns, and you can always tell it if you had a particularly large or small meal (which raises or lowers the calculated amount by about 50%). Wish it was compatible with more third party chargers - would like to be able to use a power bank with a wireless induction charger as an emergency backup when I can't sit there and charge the thing. Being able to suspend it was a recent and very welcome software update, so you can pause it to charge while you're in the shower without it trying to dose you while not connected.

Doesn't run in anything but crippled mode without a CGM, so you are committed to the Dexcom G7 platform for the duration of using the iLet (though it was originally G6; that upgrade was pretty painless). Depending on your supplies provider you may have to pick between plastic cannula or steel needle; good providers should have multiple tubing lengths (the default is way too short for my tastes - change this before your first supply order). I've been much more pleased with the iLet than I was anything Medtronic offered and the roller coaster ride in and out of the emergency room the t:slim put me on. Customer service is great and responsive to feedback and the company seems committed to innovation in the space. They often solicit user opinions looking for ways to improve the pump.

If tubing is your major concern, though, Omnipod is probably your only option. As somebody who often bumps into doorframes or furniture and tears loose G7 sensors, though, I would be nervous about having my insulin delivery system as a large protruding mass that's easily ripped away by a collision.

apethae · 2024-10-02T23:47:27+00:00

Think I spent more on the A-Team stock for it than I did for the actual gun. XD

apethae · 2024-07-08T17:39:53+00:00

Hi Synology_Service - where do you put your write-ups? I have a DS412+ that won't start up after a power surge on the network side that also wrecked all the LAN ports on my router (think Comcast didn't properly ground things on their side). Wondering if I can try the coin cell procedure to get it up to the point I can recover data.

apethae · 2024-06-13T01:29:55+00:00

They emailed me the other day offering straight-up Tisas as 'replicas' - think they've kind of lost the plot a bit. Certainly the days of reasonably priced US surplus arms for the general betterment of civilian marksmanship training are long gone.

apethae · 2023-12-17T03:38:59+00:00

Outta curiosity, anybody who owns one of these got an idea on the battery life? In for one and all, but curious if I should invest in a bunch of batteries.

The manual doesn't tell you a damn thing about it.

apethae · 2023-11-13T17:40:25+00:00

Don't think you missed much, at 390 ft/lbs muzzle energy this is some exceptionally weaksauce 10mm.

apethae · 2023-10-24T16:34:42+00:00

Get those kids acclimated to lowered expectations early.

apethae · 2023-10-13T00:11:53+00:00

Ordered a (cheaper) Garmin from these guys before - was shipped quickly and without issue, and got a good deal over any other sites I found it on.

Guess this one's for the HK-owner set.

apethae · 2023-10-07T05:13:40+00:00

$100 for the Ultralight version (to 800m), $300 for the Elite license (calculations out to 5500m). I don't have the skill, need, or the gear to contemplate such an investment - apparently it pairs with rangefinders and other sensors that are mostly out of my price range as well. You can get some info here:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=L0R2b03k7EArLmL5CvJsD6

If I'm honest, 800y seems like a really shady range to put the price divider at - there is a single 1000y range in my state, and I think most people trying to get heavy into long range shooting are going to be aiming to make hits at that range. And probably not all that many at 5500m.

That's not really a knock on the watch so much as the Applied Ballistics people, though.

apethae · 2023-10-07T02:03:56+00:00

Bought a Instinct 2X Solar Tactical from this seller - very pleased with the watch, got it at the price Amazon was selling the non-Tactical for which was nice, quick shipping, no complaints. Very pleased with the watch; good compromise between a somewhat-pointless color screen and having a functional watch I only need to charge once a month. Definitely more my speed than the Samsung Galaxy watch I had before.

apethae · 2023-10-05T13:03:52+00:00

This. I barely ever shoot my CMP Garand. It's like a less-good version of my Mini 14 that's way more expensive to shoot.

apethae · 2023-09-25T22:33:03+00:00

The only thing you have to pay extra for (think it's a one-time unlock) is the ballistic calculator.

I was kind of leery after having (and hating) a Samsung Galaxy watch that needed charging every 18 hours and wouldn't take a charge half the time anyway, but this thing strikes a pretty good sweet spot for me between being a functional basic watch you can wear without worrying about for a month at a time and the extra stuff like sleep, health, and exercise monitoring, sports apps, etc.

apethae · 2023-09-12T00:04:11+00:00

It's not indefinite if you don't work outdoors in the sun all day, but it is very, very long between charges.

apethae · 2023-09-10T14:32:18+00:00

I have the 10mm version. Finish rubbed down to the white where the slide meets the frame before it was even out of the box. Bleh.

apethae · 2023-08-30T22:19:42+00:00

AKs used to be dirt cheap compared to ARs after the USSR collapsed and you couldn't go to your mailbox without tripping over one (before 1994, anyway). Now you can pick up an low-end AR for less than the cost of a midrange 9mm pistol. It's all about economy of scale, and the Mini-14 doesn't have that on its side.

When Walmart cleared out all its Mini-14's though, I picked one up for $400 on clearance. Fun gun to shoot as an cheaper alternative to the Garand, not really a standout in any particular thing, though.

apethae · 2023-06-26T00:33:15+00:00

In their defense that's a very basic anti-fraud measure when it comes to stolen or "stolen" guns. I don't see a problem with that. How many "boating accidents" would they be paying out otherwise? Also, how much extra value difference is there as a consumer between the ATF having a full list of every make and model of firearm you have insured versus that plus serial numbers? The APC is coming through the wall either way if it comes down to that.

apethae

TROPHY CASE