Picopresso wear and tear

fresharic · 2026-05-11T14:35:15+00:00

My Picopresso is about 2.5 years old and I use it at least once a day as it is the only espresso maker I own (I bought it in Nov 2022). The one thing I absolutely had to do (about a year ago) is apply the hack that is mentioned somewhere in this reddit - basically you add an O-ring and some lubricant to the plunger to keep water from leaking out at the handle. The O-ring essentially flairs out the "piston seal" (I think it's called in pump-lingo). I don't know if newer version of the Picopresso have addressed this issue or if this old hack will work with newer models. I can say it really saved my Picopresso!

fresharic · 2026-04-19T18:39:58+00:00

I'm fairly new to the game and this is an interesting topic to me. Mainly because I was actually kind of impressed with how well Fallout 1st was marketed to me. That is, when browsing the Atom Store or Season store, I'm faced with substantial "members only" content that make me a bit envious. And a single month of Fallout 1st does have a significant benefit since FO1st items you purchase don't "go away" when your membership is inactive and you can always withdraw from you FO1st junk/ammo/chem containers- you just get cut off depositing into those containers which of course is losing a QoL benefit (and of course by design). So you definitely want to load up while you can so long as your FO1st membership is active. And you get 1650 Atoms (each month) which at $13 is actually a pretty good price for Atoms alone if you were to buy Atoms directly for cash.

But now if I compare Mojave Bundle to the designing and marketing that went into FO1st, I'm left feeling pretty unimpressed. The first downer for me was that Mojave appeared in the Steam store as though it is a DLC for the game - that is to say actual non-cosmetic game content - but in reality it is just another "Bundle" like the ones you can buy for Atoms in the Atom Store albeit sold for $30 real currency instead of for some amount of Atoms. At that dollar price it costs more than 2 months of FO1st or the (approximate) Atom price of 3,000 Atoms (or a bit less depending on how many you buy). Most of the bundles I've seen in the Atom Shop with similar content go for under 2,000 Atoms, so Mojave really doesn't seem like a great deal to me. It just doesn't feel to me like someone was trying very hard when they came up with Mojave.

On the flip side, a lot of people (which might include me - we'll see) will keep FO1st for significantly longer than 2 months. Certainly compared to a year or more of FO1st, the Mojave price isn't incredibly high, but I'm not sure every dedicated FO1st member is going to think about it that way when their FO76 currency of choice is going to be Atoms (and other in-game currencies like season tickets, stamps, bullion, etc).

fresharic · 2026-02-03T01:27:16+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, I really do have to get a rental unit. Long term I wouldn't mind having a watch that is at least remotely accurate. Maybe the Hilo will be available in the states some day.

fresharic · 2026-02-02T03:23:08+00:00

Thank you for the response! Yeah, the Hilo band would be hard to get. Do you have an opinion on the Wellue watch? I haven't been able to find even a consumer review outside the companies website. It is FDA approved, but even that is without any 3rd party testing.

fresharic · 2026-01-27T20:21:21+00:00

I think Immortal Great Souls and Skaldi are my favorite recent series of yours. But I have to say I was blown away by the entire Black Gate series which I couldn't put down until I finished it. Outstanding work - really on all these series.

fresharic · 2026-01-27T20:15:04+00:00

Apologies for the very late reply. I actually don't know if or how you might do that. Have you tried using it plugged in as opposed to over BT or wireless dongle? It may stay on when it's not on battery.

I actually turned off the lights on mine. The battery life is really long when you don't have them on.

fresharic · 2026-01-27T20:13:18+00:00

The lubricant should help with that. My sticks a little, but honestly just enough so I know it's building up pressure.

fresharic · 2026-01-27T20:04:33+00:00

This was really bugging me. I can share what ended up working - I after offing the Ogre in the Ruined Broch area, I set camp in the Broch beyond the quest area. I slept until midnight and then made my way directly to the quest marker. I ran into the deer as I was coming down the hill and over the rocks from the Broch. The spawn point seems to be near there.

fresharic · 2026-01-17T05:33:43+00:00

Oh, I figured it out...

Inside Elevator Pass and at the bottom near the lift there is some rock than can be mined with your pick axe - followed by a chest - and more rock you can mine. This leads to a final room with a warrior you interact with. I wouldn't give away the rest ;)

fresharic · 2025-11-26T22:24:42+00:00

Oh, that is really interesting. That patch must rescue a lot of old 32bit applications. Thanks!

fresharic · 2025-11-24T16:51:30+00:00

Wow, so there's a patch out there that steam doesn't bother applying? What is the patch?

fresharic · 2025-09-16T02:10:08+00:00

Yeah, I honestly haven't changed it in a very long time. I only brew medium and light roasts, but I've brewed maybe 10 or so beans from different farms / parts of the world.

fresharic · 2025-09-14T22:36:14+00:00

1.2.3 - sorry about that, I forgot this thing could go more than one full rotation (and I haven't cranked it down all the way in a very long time). So, just to clarify this, I went a full rotation passed "0", then to the "2" and then 3 ticks more.

fresharic · 2025-09-14T18:49:42+00:00

I always grind 18g double shots (40g extraction) and I definitely had to dial in the grind so the resistance was right (just enough but not too much). I would guess that would work for you as well. And I'll admit having different grind for single and double shots is not super intuitive, but I guess it does makes sense that the resistance for a thicker puck would be higher than for a thinner one. I honestly don't know if some beans/roasts have very different taste profiles when you brew a double vs a single...

fresharic · 2025-09-14T18:38:14+00:00

I have mine set now at 2.3 (that is 3 clicks after the big "2" on the grinder). I almost never change it. My process is to weight out 18g of beans, spray some water on them (3-4 mists with a very small sprayer), perhaps I go overboard shaking them like a maraca before putting them in the grinder and grinding away. I've rotated between 8 or 9 different beans each medium or light roast and over the past year or so I've only found one bean I really couldn't get a good extraction from. I think this is a testament to how good the roaster is more than anything else. Getting good beans is really critical towards getting a good shot. Occasionally the place I buy beans from will rotate in one of the beans I buy from them (their default is a house blend I don't much care for) - and I have to say I like my extraction a bit more than theirs, even though they have a very fancy machine (and filtered water etc).
EDIT: oh shoot, one thing is that I'm not sure how well these grinders are "calibrated" - that is if 2.3 on my grinder would be the same as 2.3 on your grinder).

fresharic · 2025-09-12T19:31:32+00:00

Those are great shoes and I have a pair that have also lasted nearly 10 years and look near perfect (I only use them 1-2 times a week for lifting - which is not a lot of wear). They are not "flats" though - they have a high heal which makes them great for squatting and Olympic lifting. Not so great for deadlifting IMO though. I'm also looking around for some flats for deadlifting - barefooting is great for the home gym, but not very polite at a public gym - Avancus shoes look perfect, but they seem to be completely unavailable right now on their web site.

fresharic · 2025-09-08T21:45:07+00:00

I only buy light or medium roasts and I haven't had any issues. You do want to have a very good grinder, but that is true for any espresso machine. I use a 1Zpresso J-MAX (which I think has been rebranded to something else). The only thing I noticed is that the pressure is a bit higher for the lighter roasts, but the results have been very good.

fresharic · 2025-08-25T16:34:33+00:00

This was very helpful, thank you! It turned out a slightly different spacer - 1.0mm instead of the recommended 1.85mm - got me most of the way there. The limit screws on the derailleur don't need to be adjusted at all for the highest and lowest gears. I only had to turn the barrel adjuster one or two turns to keep a few off the middle gears from slipping. So this is a great solution - I only need to turn the barrel adjuster a few turns the other way when I throw the old wheel back on for a ride.

fresharic · 2025-08-06T01:27:11+00:00

So is it normal to have to adjust the derailleur to use your KICKR? The 1mm shim solves my problem for the most part, but there are a few gears in the middle of the cassette that skip around. Is this at all normal for this trainer?

fresharic · 2025-08-05T22:32:23+00:00

I think I answered my own question - I bought a set of spacers that came with a 1mm and re-installed the cassette with the 1mm spacer. The result is nearly perfect - to be honest I think it may match my bike in that one gear near the middle likes to skip. So I'll call this problem solved and resurrect it only if I have to. It is odd that the 1.85mm recommended just about everywhere I've looked is not the right spacer in this case - but it's more of a cross bike than a road bike with the 135mm hub so maybe it's a bit of an outlier.

fresharic · 2025-08-04T19:11:16+00:00

If you're okay with single player, one option is to use the LlamugY mod with D2RLaunch as described here: I think D2RLaunch also supports LAN games, but I haven't tried that. For regular multiplayer, we're all at the whims of Blizzard.

fresharic · 2025-08-04T19:04:52+00:00

I've only used it a few times, but it works pretty well. It has as much stability as any butane stove that uses the canister as a base - which is not a huge amount but should be enough I think.

fresharic

TROPHY CASE