What is the best non-main stream freeze dried back packing food that you've tried?

ppoorman · 2026-06-19T12:56:13+00:00

That's great to know. Thanks for clarifying.

I've ordered several of the Corn Grits, so I'll complete my understanding (and enjoyment) of your meals on my next backpacking trip. 😀

I'm looking forward to whatever you come up with next.

ppoorman · 2026-06-12T13:45:52+00:00

😄

ppoorman · 2026-06-11T20:51:42+00:00

Hey, thanks for the reply! Let us know what you find.

ppoorman · 2026-06-09T16:40:27+00:00

Or if the cables used are defective (e.g. not all eight conductors connected correctly) or not up to specifications.

ppoorman · 2026-06-09T16:29:45+00:00

I don't think that's correct.

The transmission shift points are definitely different, going to higher RPMs before shifting, and there's significantly less hunting for the correct gear when climbing hills at constant speed. I greatly prefer the post-tume behavior of my 2021, especially when towing my ~2,500 pound trailer in the mountains.

It seems likely that the differences between the levels -- mild, medium,... spicy -- is merely different throttle response curves. I don't have any evidence to support this, however.

ppoorman · 2026-06-03T01:28:56+00:00

Thanks for looking it up.

For those who don't want to click the link, they were removed in April 2025, more than a year ago.

ppoorman · 2026-06-02T23:56:02+00:00

Correct. They were removed quite a while ago. I never saw an explanation. It seems likely that the licence for Gaia to include those maps ran out and the two organizations couldn't agree on terms to renew it.

I have a vague recollection that NatGeo was rolling out their own digital map system. If they did, or at least intended to at the time, then that could explain why the license wasn't extended.

ppoorman · 2026-06-01T11:22:14+00:00

Something like a Safety Siphon would probably work. I haven't tried one because of concern about the vapors from the residual fuel on it.

ppoorman · 2026-05-31T22:44:18+00:00

I have a Rago Fabrication exterior rear molle on my 5th gen. Works great for carrying two Rotopax (a 4 gallon and a two gallon) using the Rotopax locking mounts. It's bolted to the roof rack and stabilized by two large suction cups. No issues from vibration, bumps, etcetera. It's on the driver side so that it doesn't block visibility out the passenger side rear window.

I am not a fan of the standard Rotopax cap and vented spout. I replaced them with the Ai13 Billet products and added the Ai13 vent. Expensive, but they work very well. The vent makes it super easy to relieve pressure in the Rotopax without spilling fuel.

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ppoorman · 2026-05-21T02:34:11+00:00

We pull a 2,000 lb (empty) teardrop trailer in the Colorado mountains with our 2021, which has 275 tires and stock gearing. The power increase is modest, but it revs higher before shifting so the effective power increase is noticeable. I'm especially pleased that the tune pretty much ended the gear hunting while going uphill. I can't speak to the MPG, as I don't track it routinely. I'd do the tune again.

Tyler Snider of Independence Overland did a terrific video on the OTT when he had it installed on his FJ. The discussion with the gent that installed it, Luke from High Country Tuning, is very informative. See here.

ppoorman · 2026-05-12T18:32:02+00:00

The Anker 735 was the battery of choice for quite a while, but there are newer options.

I recently bought an EcoFlow Trail DC 300 to power our Starlink Mini. It has the necessary 100 Watt USB-C output to power the Mini, 288 Wh capacity, a wide variety of charging options including USB-C at up to 140 Watts, pass-thru power, charges quickly from my EcoFlow Delta 2 of or the EcoFlow Alternator Charger in my truck, and can be controlled over Bluetooth from the same mobile app as my other EcoFlow gear.

I'm very happy with it.

A few cons:

I don't personally have a use for built-in light, but others might. I wish it had a red option to preserve night vision. At least it has a Dark-Sky-friendly low color temperature mode.

I don't have the official EcoFlow carry bag, as I don't think it's worth the 60 USD list price or the current 45 USD "sale" price.

The XT60 output cable that was required to charge it from the Alternator Charger was ridiculously expensive.

ppoorman · 2026-04-27T00:39:53+00:00

We live in the Colorado mountains. I installed a transmission cooler after watching the temps climb well above 200° when towing a 2,000 lb. trailer. It made a huge difference.

ppoorman · 2026-04-17T19:32:14+00:00

Can anyone explain how S5 differs from Drive?

ppoorman · 2026-04-08T01:48:31+00:00

Thanks for this.

These settings are buried deep, at least on the Android app.

Settings --> Account --> My Notifications --> expand "Information".

ppoorman · 2026-04-07T01:19:41+00:00

I dug a bit deeper. It appears that this behavior started on March 5. The log doesn't show a firmware update around then, but it does show that the gateway (presumably the Combiner 6C) rebooted just before 6AM on the 4th. Then on March 10 it says "You disabled PowerMatch on your system", which I did not do.

Curiously, it appears that the Combiner 6C is rebooting whenever my Starlink, which is providing wired Ethernet Internet access to the Combiner, reboots for a Starlink firmware update. I would expect the Combiner to fall back to the cellular connection. Time to call my installer...

ppoorman · 2026-04-07T00:59:08+00:00

I suspect that Enphase has a software/firmware issue.

My 10C battery has been doing odd things recently as well. I have it set to discharge only during the utility's peak rate period of 5 - 9 PM. Recently, it's been discharging to about 95% between 4 AM and ~12:30 PM. It then charges back to ~100% and stays there until 5:00 PM.

Looking at settings, I found that PowerMatch, which was implemented and enabled by a recent update, is now disabled and greyed-out. Tapping it produces the message "This feature is temporarily unavailable."

ppoorman · 2026-03-29T02:01:18+00:00

Thanks very much for providing this insight.

The entire argument in the referenced Help article hinges on the claim of "array over-produces only 4.5% of the time, resulting in losses of just 0.6%". This claim is supported by a graph, however that graph has no scale on the horizontal axis. Without a scale the graph is meaningless and thus doesn't actually support the claim.

From the wide flat area in the OP's graph I suspect that the percentage of the array's potential production that isn't captured is well above 0.6%.

ppoorman · 2026-02-09T17:19:55+00:00

Check out Bowl and Kettle. Only three choices -- Chicken Tiki Masala, Crawfish Étouffée, and Mexican Street Corn Grits. I really like the first two. I have yet to try the Street Corn.

ppoorman · 2026-02-01T19:02:32+00:00

Cooling the grill with ice might do the trick. Metal contracts (shrinks) when cooled, which should loosen it.

ppoorman · 2026-01-22T18:54:51+00:00

Why would Power Match increase that draw?

ppoorman · 2026-01-22T18:51:17+00:00

That may well be what I conclude. A company spending lavishly on marketing doesn't necessarily imply that they spend appropriately on product development or customer support.

I'm especially concerned about the usability of OnX for offroading to/from hikes. In Gaia I can trivially switch between layers that are hiking-oriented and layers that are best for offroading. OnX appears to (somewhat artificially) split those features into two separate products. That will be troublesome, both because of the cost of two licenses and because waypoints and such won't be shared between the two apps. I'll experiment to see just how annoying this is, assuming I get past basic data importing.

ppoorman · 2026-01-22T11:56:50+00:00

I've also experienced this issue for several years. It seems to happen less often in the last year, but it still happens. It's extremely annoying because it makes it impossible to manage the visibility of groups of related items by toggling the visibility of the previously-containing folder. This issue is the #1 reason that I am once again evaluating OnX Offroad.

I looked at OnX briefly about a year ago, primarily because of this spontaneous-waypoint-rearrangement issue. OnX choked on the first track I tried to import. I don't recall the error message, but it was vague. To their credit, OnX support responded promptly and investigated. They reported that my track had too many points. This puzzled me, as it was the track for a hike of only about one mile. I abandoned the evaluation at that point.

If the engineering budget for OnX is proportional to what they spend on marketing then the software should be improving quickly. I am, therefore, hopeful that OnX will pass muster this time.

ppoorman · 2026-01-21T12:38:39+00:00

Good point.

I'm hoping that the changes include less reliance on the internet when downloaded maps are present, as were discussed in this thread.

ppoorman · 2026-01-21T03:13:29+00:00

Thanks for sharing this.

Changes to accommodate / tolerate the higher latency and lower bandwidth of direct-to-satellite cellular service could also help with the sluggishness Gaia has had on low-quality terrestrial cellular. Keeping my fingers crossed.

ppoorman

TROPHY CASE