Nerdy Awesome shit you bought!

[DaGaffer]

Oh God, someone please find me a UK retailer for this so I can spend my monies:

http://missionworkshop.com/products/arkiv-system-bags/VX-21-modular-backpack.php

(the ones listed on the website sell only the cycling gear).

Not. Cheap.

 

[Tom]

Don't care. Want.

 

[TdC]

Oh God, someone please find me a UK retailer for this so I can spend my monies:

http://missionworkshop.com/products/arkiv-system-bags/VX-21-modular-backpack.php

(the ones listed on the website sell only the cycling gear).

want!!!

 

[TdC]

Not. Cheap.

cheap travel kit is not the best choice

 

[TdC]

fuck me I decided I'd better stop clicking and look at the price...815 dollah sucky sucky :-(


they also have cheaper, less modular backpacks...omg

 

[Tom]

I'm very seriously tempted. I bought a Canada Goose parka a while back, it's bloody brilliant. I like quality gear, you just know that it'll last a lifetime.

 

[DaGaffer]

cheap travel kit is not the best choice

I know that, but fuck me that stuff is steep, and you don't really know if you're paying for the clever-clever design more than quality materials. Personally I wouldn't order a bag from the States without knowing the brand; at least in Europe you've got Distance Selling regs if it's not up to scratch.

 

[TdC]

they have a reseller in Landaaaaahn. they only stock one bag though, even if it is an awesome one (225 squids). currently got a bag dialled in on the site at 918 dollers (FML, really). as far as I can tell you're paying for modularity, hipster-chique and 'made in the USA' quality, whatever that may mean. I have some chrome stuff (bag, laptop case, penfold/toolbag) and they're pretty good. not great, but pretty good.

that said, tbh, they're certainly positioned for a special market. a lot of their promo vids feature bearded dudes on fixies and such, and while most of the riders I know will pay well for quality kit them dudes are not flush for cash by any rate. imo they are aiming for the (up and coming) design/it/craftsman crowd, of which I am a member I guess. that said, I would never pay nearly a grand, or even 225 pounds for that matter, for a bag I'd never held in my hands.

 

[TdC]

lol, even a small R6 gets me to 531 dollers. if I could get my head around travelling light and using laundromats / local washing arrangements for my clothes then I could have a use case for it.

 

[DaGaffer]

they have a reseller in Landaaaaahn. they only stock one bag though, even if it is an awesome one (225 squids). currently got a bag dialled in on the site at 918 dollers (FML, really). as far as I can tell you're paying for modularity, hipster-chique and 'made in the USA' quality, whatever that may mean. I have some chrome stuff (bag, laptop case, penfold/toolbag) and they're pretty good. not great, but pretty good.

that said, tbh, they're certainly positioned for a special market. a lot of their promo vids feature bearded dudes on fixies and such, and while most of the riders I know will pay well for quality kit them dudes are not flush for cash by any rate. imo they are aiming for the (up and coming) design/it/craftsman crowd, of which I am a member I guess. that said, I would never pay nearly a grand, or even 225 pounds for that matter, for a bag I'd never held in my hands.

I'll stick to my Crumplers. Best made bags I've ever owned by a long shot, and nowhere near this kind of money.

 

[Ch3tan]

My crumpler camera bag still going strong after 13 years.

 

[old.user4556]

Crumpler camera bags are most excellent - I have two, although I wouldn't use them for hillwalking / down the coast as they're a bit more "urban". I'll still take my Lowepro for seriously dirty stuff.

 

[Bodhi]

Right, so we've had 80 quid for a light bulb and now we're on to $815 for a fucking rucksack?

Take it the meth business is treating you guys well then?

 

[DaGaffer]

Crumpler camera bags are most excellent - I have two, although I wouldn't use them for hillwalking / down the coast as they're a bit more "urban". I'll still take my Lowepro for seriously dirty stuff.

I've taken my Crumpler camera bag all over the place, including tramping around some fairly rough bits of Africa. Most damage its taken is some suntan lotion stains.

 

[old.user4556]

Why don't you start up a "awesome bargains I got!" thread then?

This is the nerdy awesome shit thread, things may be ridiculously priced .

 

[TdC]

troo dat. also Crumpler? srsly? is this like...the 90's? ;-)

 

[DaGaffer]

Why don't you start up a "awesome bargains I got!" thread then?

This is the nerdy awesome shit thread, things may be ridiculously priced .

They may indeed, but I guess the unknown bit here is just how "awesome" these bags actually are? Found a review of the smaller one:
http://www.carryology.com/reviews-2/road-test/bag-review-mission-workshop-vx-rucksack-review/
Kind of, well-made, nice touches but not "wow". And it gives you a sweaty back, which is my biggest backpack annoyance.

 

[Tom]

Why don't you start up a "awesome bargains I got!" thread then?

This is the nerdy awesome shit thread, things may be ridiculously priced .

It'd be full of posts about BMW angel eyes headlamps and M-sport badges.

 

[soze]

I have had one of these in everyday use for about 5 years and it is still mint and is the best bag I have every had. It takes my laptop, tablet, a set of tools, a torch, various cables, chargers, glasses, sun glasses and my lunch. It even has room for a change of clothes if I need it. It was not £35 when I got it though.

 

[Moriath]

Why don't you start up a "awesome bargains I got!" thread then?

This is the nerdy awesome shit thread, things may be ridiculously priced .

Actually the thread title is awesome shit you bought, not awesome shit you might buy, or stuff that your longing for

 

[Jupitus]

I have a Samsonite kit bag that I've been using for over 35 years

 

[ECA]

I've got a shuttle rucksack that came with my shuttle pc, like 12 years ago. It's fucking indestructible and goddamn awesome.

 

[Bodhi]

It'd be full of posts about BMW angel eyes headlamps and M-sport badges.

As mine is an SE and pre Angel Eyes, I will be fitting neither thank you. Although I am tempted to get a 318d badge for the back, just to confuse people.

Although I am more likely to just replace the car instead.

I have no problem with paying good money for stuff, but 600 quid for a fucking rucksack that gives you a sweaty back? Seems pointless considering a I got a Burton Snowboards one 15 years ago for about 30 quid, and it's still going strong.

 

[old.user4556]

Actually the thread title is awesome shit you bought, not awesome shit you might buy, or stuff that your longing for

Ohhhhhhhhhh but it's on the change!

 

[Tom]

They may indeed, but I guess the unknown bit here is just how "awesome" these bags actually are? Found a review of the smaller one:
http://www.carryology.com/reviews-2/road-test/bag-review-mission-workshop-vx-rucksack-review/
Kind of, well-made, nice touches but not "wow". And it gives you a sweaty back, which is my biggest backpack annoyance.

That carryology site is where I found the bag manufacturer. It's quite good, I love looking at things like that.

As mine is an SE and pre Angel Eyes, I will be fitting neither thank you. Although I am tempted to get a 318d badge for the back, just to confuse people.

Although I am more likely to just replace the car instead.

I have no problem with paying good money for stuff, but 600 quid for a fucking rucksack that gives you a sweaty back? Seems pointless considering a I got a Burton Snowboards one 15 years ago for about 30 quid, and it's still going strong.

It's funny, some people spend thousands on cigs and booze, a few hundred on a nice rucksack is nothing tbh.

A mate of mine email spent thousands on a nice watch that he hardly wears.

My tax bill for July is only 500 quid (bought lots of work-related gear last year) so sod it, unless something nicer and cheaper comes along i think I'll treat myself. And as it's for work I won't pay much vat or any income tax on it

 

[caLLous]

I can't help feeling his parents were taking the piss when they called him email. :\

 

[TdC]

ok back on topic.

today I took delivery of a Fractal Designs 'Define R4' case, which is awesome.

Very heavy on the sound proofing. Fits a tonne of disks too. Not too expensive, and (imo) certainly outshines some of the competition especially at the pricepoint it has.

I also took delivery of a Seasonic 650W gold rated PSU:

it's packaged like it's literally made of gold, and very quiet in operation. the modularity and flat cables are very complete and feed the mobo and 6 SATA devices with consumate ease.

Also in the box was an Adaptec 6405 Raid card, which is a SATA to SAS card for 4 SATA disks so it needs a (4x) SATA to mini SAS cable.

It's a cheap and cheerful 'middle of the road' card but the first in the entry level cards to allow cached JBOD as well as RAID levels. It has 512MB of cache and preliminary tests in my server show it's fast as fuck compared to (non-cached) disk operations on the mobo's builtin IHCR10. Never again will I be buying a mobo with "raid" on it.

Moving the server over from it's old house and PSU in to the new case was as easy as you'd expect, but while testing and such four things happend:
1) After half an hour's faffing I had to move the Adaptec to the single 16x PCIe slot in the server mobo as it wouldn't POST through when it was located in an 8x slot.
2) I had to reseat all the SATA and SAS connections to the adaptec, as it only saw two disks, causing me to break out in the fear sweats thinking I had fried another two WD Red's. Luckily the reseat solved everything.
3) I noticed that one of my three 1600Mhz DDR3 ram sticks had gone to the great data-store in the sky, as all good ram does when it dies. This means I have to get new ram ffs.
4) I accidentally buggered up my existing zpool backups so am currently downloading 60GB of games, 30GB of CentOS repo and am rsyncing my NAS over for good measure. Data movement will take a while.

Other than that, all is peachy.

 

[Raven]

That's a lovely case. Is it nice and roomy inside? My graphics card is a fat old bastard.

 

[TdC]

Yes, it's very roomy, and they did all kinds of sound-proofing to it as well. on top of that you get two 120mm fans with hydraulic bearings, which you have the option of connecting to a switchable fan controller to slow or speed the fans as you require.

It has USB 2x 2 and 2x 3 at the top by the power and reset buttons, as well as your general audio things that funnel in to the HD-AUDIO cable for your mobo. My old case was an Antec, fairly old..5 or 6 I guess, and it was packed with the server guts. This FD case has room to spare considering there an extra HDD, and the RAID card up in there. Uber cable management too, with 4 rubberized slots on the central devider to route your stuff through.

 

[old.user4556]

That case is gorgeous. Less is more.