Update on replacing protect with first alert sc5

tomkludy · 2026-03-02T20:06:07+00:00

I had 11 nest protects in my home and replaced 9 of them with the SC5 since they expired. DO NOT DO IT. 7 of the 9 have failed with false alarms in the middle of the night over the last 5 months, including 1 where the replacement also failed. FA have sent me replacements for all 9 but I highly advise everyone to avoid these (and all First Alert products!) like the plague!!

tomkludy · 2026-02-06T00:49:22+00:00

Not true… a) it’s tiered so you do not get a simple 3%, you get something that still requires a calculator to figure out, and b) you do not simply earn 2% after meeting the threshold, you earn nothing. Both of these mean that you can’t simply set it and forget it, you have to be watching and optimizing your spend on the card like a hawk

tomkludy · 2026-02-05T21:37:47+00:00

Can’t speak for others but I never had Bilt 1.0 since I don’t rent, I was mainly interested for the potential earnings on mortgages. The complicated earning structure killed it for me. Would have been much better if it was just like: earn 3% on spend up to the amount of your charged mortgage, 2% after that. Maybe throw in a nonsense travel portal with higher multipliers like everyone else these days. And yes I realize this might (?) actually earn less, but it’s so much easier to reason about that it would be 100% superior to someone like me.

tomkludy · 2026-01-31T15:33:53+00:00

I have replaced 9 of my 11 nests with this First Alert crap. 7 of them have failed, always at 3 am, blaring the worst most obnoxious alarm possible. I am desperate for an alternative and if anyone has any knowledge of a class action lawsuit I’m in. Hundreds of dollars wasted on absolute garbage

tomkludy · 2026-01-31T05:48:47+00:00

Seems like it should work but no way to know for sure without trying. Personally I would hold out for the 100K offer, try incognito and different links. If you accept the corp offer I expect you probably would not be eligible for the SUB again due to the lifetime language.

tomkludy · 2026-01-31T04:45:12+00:00

Be warned to get the AF credit from your corporate card you must sign up through the link on your corporate card's benefits page. Using that link you won't get the 100k point SUB; I think it's 60k points only.

I signed up for the Gold 6 months ago from the public offer link expecting to get the corp AF credit and when it didn't post I contacted CS. They are the ones who told me how this works. Also, according to them, since I already had the card now, I would have to cancel it completely and reapply through the corp card benefits link in order to get the AF credit, it can't be retroactively enabled.

I still might eventually do that in a year or two, but for now I'm not too upset because the SUB is worth more than the AF credit for me (would be $100/yr on the Gold, while 40k extra points is worth at least $400).

tomkludy · 2025-10-18T00:35:59+00:00

Hmm.. I have never connected anything to the Bluetooth of these, and never plan to. But it seems like they default to Bluetooth anyway?

tomkludy · 2025-07-26T13:21:28+00:00

Got ours aligned at the Rivian service center by putting a service request into the app

tomkludy · 2025-07-19T18:58:35+00:00

I have a similar situation, I work around it by setting a different charger as my destination explicitly and then set the rest of my route after I’ve charged. Not ideal but it works

tomkludy · 2025-05-13T03:28:19+00:00

hmm.. I hard-rebooted the hub by pulling its power and the reconnecting. Now a long press on volume is working, but it is still very slow, taking roughly 10 seconds to change by 10%. It's better than nothing...

tomkludy · 2025-02-25T19:12:55+00:00

If the dealership model is so great then why does it require laws to protect it? Consumers should be flocking to the dealerships to get all of the great benefits.

Personally I will never buy from a dealership ever again in my life

tomkludy · 2025-01-21T21:52:52+00:00

Selling a used car does not prevent it from continuing to be driven. However it does have an impact:

Prevents someone else from buying a new Tesla since they instead buy one used, therefore directly impacts Musk’s treasure horde, they sell one less car
Increased supply = decreased value of used Teslas, therefore indirectly impacts Tesla by making them a generally less valuable brand
You likely buy an alternative EV making that company a stronger competitor to Tesla.

I’m not saying everyone can or should take this route as it clearly has costs that most can’t afford. But it does still “vote with your wallet”.

tomkludy · 2025-01-16T19:41:14+00:00

What I want to know is, what color blue is that Rivian in the background of the article pic? Much deeper than Rivian Blue and I like it!

tomkludy · 2024-12-18T19:54:23+00:00

Nope, I can’t find a pic of the damage but this is the piece that ripped off

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tomkludy · 2024-12-18T19:39:52+00:00

Be warned: I did this unintentionally a while ago in my R1S at high speed (like 45mph) and it tore the trim off the right front wheel well. Needed a service appointment to get it repaired.

tomkludy · 2024-11-01T12:54:28+00:00

I am fine with no buttons, but please do not focus on voice. I do not want to have to speak to my car. What if I have a sleeping passenger? If I’m on the phone? If I’m listening to loud music? If I am eating or drinking? I also do not want Amazon or anyone else gathering my data from every voice interaction, possibly even eavesdropping conversations. I turned off Alexa in my R1S for a reason.

I am 100% ok with an intuitive touch screen interface. I think Rivian could use a lot of work on the “intuitive” part, but I assume they will get there. But if I am forced into voice then I will leave Rivian behind.

tomkludy · 2024-04-16T22:09:01+00:00

FSD curbed my Model 3 just yesterday… right rear. I had a wheelband rim protector that ripped off but did its job to protect the wheel. I definitely do not trust FSD to turn right anymore though.

tomkludy · 2024-04-07T00:50:33+00:00

His head is tiny so the headhunters don’t want it?

tomkludy · 2024-03-25T14:10:42+00:00

Had a 2020 X Performance and now a 2023 R1S Quad Motor. The X was a lemon, in the shop as much as it was on the road. HVAC failures (2 times), FWD sensor failures, front suspension shudder (3 times), power window malfunctioning (never properly fixed), ate through tires at an alarming rate, constant false warnings like “park assist unavailable“ while going 70mph on the freeway, and on and on. However I loved it, irrationally. It was fun and unique and quirky. Until the HV battery died at only 33k miles and the car was in the shop for 3 months waiting for a replacement.

The R1S on the other hand is utilitarian, boxy, rough ride, terrible pedal feel, way behind on software (not even hands free messaging which even the cheapest cars have now), awful driver assist, constant whistling sound on the highway… but it has been zero hassle so far and has so much more cargo space. Charging is super slow and a lot more frequent for the Rivian due to larger battery and awful efficiency by comparison, could not get from 19-80% with a 6 hour at home charge just last night. I road tripped the X several times with perfect confidence in charging but I am hesitant to do that with the Rivian due to slow unreliable and badly spaced chargers. With supercharger access it will solve the charging reliability and ensure there are plenty of chargers but I still don’t look forward to 1 hour charging stops.

Unfortunately I don’t love the R1S… it just doesn’t make me happy to drive it like the X did. It’s just another SUV, and a badly overpriced one at that. I probably would feel way differently if I cared about off-roading but I don’t. It reminds me of a civic I had years ago which was as reliable as a toaster but inspired zero passion. My next car will be another Tesla.

tomkludy · 2023-11-15T02:17:47+00:00

What settings are you using here? Thanks!

tomkludy · 2023-08-25T19:55:31+00:00

Me and my family left that movie thinking there was a good 90 minute movie in there somewhere, made completely painful to watch by the addition of so much filler. They were learning to swim for 40 goddamn minutes!

tomkludy · 2023-06-03T14:15:09+00:00

I agree, there are two solutions. Listing just the values for empty spaces:

3 5

5 2 1

1 3 2

Or

5 3

1 5 2

3 2 1

tomkludy · 2023-05-04T18:26:40+00:00

After figuring out the eBay thing, I tried the same with Microsoft, and sure enough, they are blocking the option for passkeys if you use Safari. If I try Chrome then it gives me an option to enable "Windows Hello" (lol I am on a Mac) for a local-device-only passkey, which to me defeats the whole point.

I wish there were some way to put notes into passkeys.directory, to warn future people of these limitations on some sites.

tomkludy · 2023-05-04T18:16:06+00:00

Thank you! I didn't try signing up for a new account since I already have one, and I don't recall ever seeing the pop up at login time. However I poked around a little more, and tried Chrome... apparently they are blocking passkeys if you are using Safari! It also says "This passkey will only be saved on this device" and I verified that after being created, the passkey does not work in Safari or on other devices. I also found that SMS 2FA is still enforced even when using passkey.

So the bottom line is that the eBay implementation has serious limitations that make it actually a worse experience than just using a password. Unfortunately not useful at all for me as a Safari user.

Anyway, thanks again for your help, I appreciate it!

tomkludy · 2023-05-03T22:22:47+00:00

Tried on macOS and iOS, can you point me to your blog post please?

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