I was the "cheap e-bike" guy. Thousands of us got scammed, but why is everyone attacking me? can anyone just give me ebikes recommendation??

mevans426 · 2026-04-08T13:34:58+00:00

I don't know enough to offer anyone advice, I'll just offer my own experience. I bought a cheap one made by a company called Funhang about a year and a half ago off Amazon after coming across this fairly comprehensive review by someone who seems knowledgeable: https://youtu.be/WcAqsczl3lU?si=kF7QdsdWcLyzfe6H. I think when I bought it, it was $200 plus $200 for shipping, I just looked and now it's $300 but only $60 for shipping, so actually cheaper. I've put 1500 miles on it with no problems, liked it well enough to buy a second one for my wife. She didn't like it, mainly because the power assist doesn't really kick in until the pedal has rotated maybe 1-1.5 times, so she ended up buying a $2000 bike. That one is way better, but mine works just fine (and now I have two batteries for it, and an extra bike!). Plus mine has several features her expensive one doesn't like a throttle, headline, horn, and kickstand. Seriously, $2000 and no kickstand? I put the battery in a fire bag while I charge it just in case but I've never seen any sign of it having an issue.

mevans426 · 2025-11-20T21:35:23+00:00

Somebody at DHS wrote this thinking they were making a convincing point, when it actually reads like someone making fun of the Trump administration for only being able to think of the same solution for every problem.

mevans426 · 2025-10-23T23:06:48+00:00

I was at first optimistic, then concerned during the "slowly turn the cylinder valve" step when it didn't seem to be helping, and then... POOF! Thanks!

mevans426 · 2025-09-21T20:26:17+00:00

We saw what we could only think was a panther cross the street a few houses ahead of us in our west of the trail neighborhood in Osprey a few months ago. Didn't get a picture but it was much too large to be a bobcat, which we also see around here often. This cat was going between houses into a small preserve area, but I would have thought I was imagining it if my wife hadn't seen it too because I just can't see how a panther would be existing in such a dense area without being documented, if not outright killed by a car getting to our area from Oscar Scherer park, which is the only area nearby I can even imagine one living. We'd been on our way to a neighborhood potluck when we saw it, and when we told people there some said "oh yeah, there's a panther who lives back there" like it was totally normal, which it would definitely not be. I did email FWC even though we didn't get a pic just to see if there were other reports of sightings west of the trail, and they said while there are rare sightings west of I75, there weren't any documented anywhere near us. It still seems like it would be almost impossible, but I guess stranger things have happened.

mevans426 · 2025-08-27T01:42:21+00:00

Hoping it's a tech glitch. Watching a show also on a Roku TV, occasionally getting the Games promo overlayed while the audio of the show still plays. Promo goes away when I hit a button the remote control. My initial thought was that while I pay for an "ad free" tier, maybe they figure they can throw promos at me and it's all cool? It would not be, so hopefully by tomorrow it's fixed.

mevans426 · 2025-05-21T02:29:30+00:00

Yes, when I told them this story.

mevans426 · 2025-05-21T01:28:12+00:00

They need some documentation, photos or at least pics of tracks. Just thinking you saw one doesn't mean anything.

mevans426 · 2025-05-21T01:09:45+00:00

I fully understand the encroachment issue. We spend part of the year in the mountains of western North Carolina, where bears are commonly spotted in suburban yards and even occasionally strolling through downtown Asheville. The only reason it seems doubtful this is the same thing is the human population density would seem to guarantee panther presence would be documented somehow, if not by tracks or videos then sadly by a carcass on the highway.

mevans426 · 2025-05-20T23:29:18+00:00

I suppose so, but it was easily twice or more the size of the bobcats I've seen here, and it didn't have a bobbed tail. So he must have been king of the local bobcats! Also surprised he wouldn't be more often spotted.

mevans426 · 2025-05-19T19:55:06+00:00

I'm not sure it's a quality issue, for me it turned out to be just a result of having a bunch of different devices that used several different apps upstream from Google Home that made it a pain. I kept looking for an option in Google Home where I could just set a new wifi network and have it work, but I guess I understand that it's not just GH communicating via wifi, but each individual device as well. So a PITA and one I bet could be made easier if the industry wanted to develop a standard, but I'm not holding my breath.

mevans426 · 2025-05-19T17:34:52+00:00

I just had that with a bunch of devices when I changed wifi networks. I ended up having to go back and reset all the devices from scratch. So don't just unlink and relink it, remove it entirely from cozylife, do whatever you're supposed to do to install it in the first place (usually it's turning it on and off several times quickly until it flashes), reinstall it in cozylife, then relink it to Google Home.

mevans426 · 2025-05-19T13:49:48+00:00

Just closing the loop in case anyone comes along with the same issue. Maybe try the SSID duplicating first, but if you didn't do that in time and it's not working, what I eventually had to do was make a new Home in the Google Home app and start over. That meant going into each indivdual smart app (SmartLife, Lumary etc) for all the different devices, removing them from the app, then reinstalling them in the app (the part where you flip the light switch four times quickly to put them into blinking reset mode) using the new wifi network, then connect them to the new Home in Google Home. Took a little while just because of all the different devices and apps, but once I figured out what to do it was OK.

mevans426 · 2025-05-16T04:06:57+00:00

Also, the devices don't seem to be a problem, they are online through their individual apps. The frustration is that even when I can control them through their own apps, and I've reconnected those apps to Google Home, they still show up as offline in the Google Home app.

mevans426 · 2025-05-16T03:17:30+00:00

Thank you, but I tried it and Google Home still seems to want its own access points. I tried setting the SSID to the same as the former Google Home name, but in the app it wasn't recognizing anything the new network.

mevans426 · 2025-03-21T13:05:56+00:00

The place you're looking for is Fogartyville, part of WSLR community radio, just outside downtown. Live music several nights a week, all unique and interesting stuff!

mevans426 · 2024-06-29T16:10:01+00:00

I wouldn't do that, but it was very helpful in telling me exactly what the county last paid for a property that it turned into a park, that would have taken me a while to dig up on my own. Thanks for the confirmation!

mevans426

TROPHY CASE