Reviews – New Gloves, New Jacket

After my trip to MotoGP in 2022, and a few rides since, it is clear that some of my gear is a bit tired. The soles of my boots actually came apart on the last wet day of the trip down. So they will need to be replaced. The Dainese jacket that had been through rain, hail and shine since 2014 was struggling to stay waterproof, zips falling apart, pockets starting to come apart. Then more recently my Dainese Carbon 3 Short gloves have started to wear through along one of the fingers. So it was time for some replacements. So far here is what I have picked up

Jacket

After much hand wringing and such, I decided that I really wanted to stick with Dainese, mostly because my Travelguard pants are still fine. That would save me some money. I really wanted to get gore-tex, I know it’s expensive, but I’ve happily used it for years. I also prefer the waterproof layer built into the jacket. Saves you having to get off when there is just a little bit of water.

Touring jackets now come with layers. Layers that you can also wear off the bike, which sounds like a great idea, if you don’t already have a rack full of gear you’ve put together over many seasons (seriously, I’ve been riding in all sorts of weather for twenty years). I already have a quilted jacket, that fits under a riding jacket and is better off the bike. I already have a plastic over jacket for when it’s really wet. Because when it suddenly starts to rain, the last thing you want to do is stop, take off your jacket, spend a few minutes “putting it together” and then put it all back on. Much easier to stop, no need to take off gloves, helmet or jacket, and just throw the over jacket on. So I’m not super happy with this trend.

There are a few jackets that have the Gore-Tex incorporated into the outer layer which was exactly what I was looking for, but they were out of my price range. After lots more pondering, I ended up with the Dainese Ladakh jacket. Not Gore-tex, not built-in waterproof. But inside my price range.

Dainese Ladakh Jacket

I’m not overjoyed at the jacket, but it is fine. Apart from the comments above, the other thing that has me nervous are the two pockets on the hips. They are just folded over with a small velcro pouch near the main zipper and some elastic to keep stuff in the pocket. I am worried that won’t be secure enough (I’ve had items fall from equivalent pockets on my old jacket when I left them unzipped). I might add an extra strip of velcro under each flap. Further, it only has one upper front pocket (instead of two as per my old Gator Evo). It does also have an inner one that is waterproof.

It does have much better venting, which I have already tested and works well. This is more a four season jacket than my last one which suffered in warm weather. I still wouldn’t want to wear it on super hot days. (40C+). And the bunny pouch at the back fits either the D-Dry liner, or my RJays plastic over jacket. Until watching some reviews looking at options, I never knew what to put in that pocket.

So I’m okay with my purchase. It will do. I am planning to also spray it with the waterproofing chemical that is used to refresh Gore-Tex as a boost to what I think may be a water resistant outer layer.

Gloves

Well I did plan to get more of the same. I checked through my shelf. I actually have two pairs of leather race style gauntlets as well as a worn, but still ok pair of A-Stars shorty leather gloves. So this time I thought, why not some of these textile, light, but still well armoured shorty gloves.

I ended up with RJays Swift gloves. These are textile with extra protection on the palm. They also have knuckle armour as well as extra “armour” at the heel (of the palm) and along the fingers. I will admit that price was a big factor. I figured I can use these, see how long they last and I won’t have lost much.

RJays Swift in Black/Red

These I am happy with. I’ve always worn leather, so these were a bit of a revelation in the warm, humid summer weather Sydney has had for the last couple of years. I imagine they will be even better in the hot, dry summers.

A Review – D&D at Fortress Sydney

My face to face game was looking for somewhere to play a long session during the school holidays. Someone suggested this Fortress Sydney place, apparently a bastion of gaming and nerd culture in the city. I had not really heard of it, so checked some websites and some YouTube reviews. Was very little to be found. At any rate, we agreed to meet. Just after lunch on a weekday.

Up front, I was a little underwhelmed. The videos and websites made solid work by making it seem larger than it turned out to be. I was most disappointed by the arcade section. Barely larger than my bedroom it had a few machines and not the den of retro gaming it was advertised as.

A LAN/gaming cafe section seemed well set up. A dark room lit only by the dozens of identical Alienware computers. The chairs seemed nice and it was all clean and quiet. I assume the PCs were pretty specced up, but I didn’t look.

There is an esports arena, with several large wall screens. It had a very nightclub styled mezzanine floor viewing area above it. Smaller than I had thought from the media beforehand. But I’ve never seen one before, so it didn’t mean much to me. (Is esports still a thing?).

There was a cyberpunk themed bar, but I didn’t go into it. It seemed closed at the time (lunchtime on a Thursday). It did seem small, but I think that was just the entrance way. I assume it’s about the size of the Tavern below it.

And the Tavern. Where we planned to play. Quite large, decorated in a kind of clearly fake old fashioned wood, role playing game adventure style. Mostly tables, some quite big, but also a few booths that were set up as console gaming spaces. As I walked in, there were maybe 3 other groups. One having lunch (looked like a Fortress business meeting actually), one playing consoles, and the last group, maybe a TCG?

Not my picture, but it gives you the idea.

I picked a large round table near the back, and set myself up. The others arrived and we got started.

We played for about 4 hours, between lunch and dinner. The little bit of food we bought was nice but standard prices for downtown Sydney, so more expensive than I wanted to pay, but about what I expected ($20 for a plate of loaded fries). Drinks were there. It wasn’t too noisy with so few people actually in the Tavern.

Would I go back is the big question isn’t it?

Well probably not to run a D&D session. It was fine at that time as it was quiet. I’m not sure how good it might be if it was busy, maybe too noisy, maybe squished onto a small table? Ok, so if it was a quiet time, I would consider it again. But a weekend, in the evening, unlikely for a D&D session. Not as DM.

I don’t need the gaming cafe part. Something like a trivia night might be interesting with some friends. But in all likelihood, with my current lifestyle and it being all the way in the city, I probably wouldn’t go back.

However you could have a very different opinion and it may still be something worth checking out yourself.

Fortress Sydney is located at Central Park Mall, Level 2/28 Broadway, Chippendale NSW 2008.

BG3 Thoughts after release

Well, first up, it’s still awesome. In fact it decidedly more awesome than it was. They’ve just added more stuff. Even in the first act, which I am still deep inside, there is more stuff and things have changed.

There are new options, such as races and when designing your character. They have added alchemy, allowing you to harvest materials and create your own potions. New party members (Karlach especially) and new twists. Some things that were hinted at have developed, such as Gale’s need to consume magical items.

But it’s harder too. I’m playing on balanced and part of me feels like the team at Larian read my blog and changed some of the bosses to counter the methods I used to defeat some of the mini bosses around. I feel like the hag is a lot harder. I am working on a way to expose her so I can silence her, as at the moment she is invisible, I think, and wins initiative, steps and casts mirror image before anyone in my party can move. And suddenly I’m fighting four of them. And they all won initiative as well.

Even getting there is tougher. Along the way there is a toxic gas, which I would simply fireball and let burn away. Doesn’t work this time. You need to spot and then block the vents. Throwing things (I’ve seen rocks used, but I’ve used bones and skulls) blocks them.

I’m going to leave her and hit up the goblin strongpoint.

Something else was harder but as I write I can’t remember what it was.

But I’m loving it.

I’m still playing the areas that I’ve already played for over 140 hours in prerelease. I am playing a new character, a bard, which is interesting but seems powerful as a utility, especially during the dialogue, opening new bard options but also with stronger bonus generally.

So I’m feeling like this game is giving me a lot and the money spent was worth it. Now after over 10 hours in release (sadly real life has been in the way), that’s less than $1 per hour overall. And as I’m still in Act 1 (is there 3 Acts?) I may only be less than 1/3 through the game. I think each Tomb Raider was 20-30 hours. And it’s fun, the story is so in depth and I have no idea where it’s going to go.

It’s smooth on my very middle ranged system (no Mac version released yet, so I’m on my PC). In early release while both systems worked well, the newer NVME drive in my PC made loading times so much swifter than the older hybrid SDD/HDD in my few years old Mac. Though this didn’t affect actual gameplay or switching to cutscenes, just loading times.

If you have interest in story, or D&D, or RPGs, I highly recommend it.

Razer Naga Pro – A Review

I thought that since my previous post, about 11 years ago, which is one of my most popular pages, even today, that it might be worth an update of the new one.

So the only reason that I gave up the Naga Molten was that the plastic slides underneath had worn flat. Daily use for a decade did that. And that I couldn’t find replacements.

So as my troubled posts last year described (and here), I ended up with the Naga Pro, only for it to be, well, useless on my iMac. It could work as a standard mouse, but only in a wired configuration. The software wasn’t supported at all. So for OSX users… skip it. Oh, Razer does make it clear that the software isn’t OSX compatible, but I was being a bit stubborn.

Windows… well here is the list from last time…

Positives

• It’s light and easy to move around – Still true
• The speeds, and sensitivity are highly adjustable and can be set up to automatically switch for different games. Sensitivity can also be adjusted on the fly. I don’t use this but others may. Still true
• It can detect that it’s in a particular game and load the previously set up profile. still true
• You have a lot of controls at your fingertips, and with modifiers (Shift, Alt) even more. I currently have about 19 commands I use a lot and about another 7 or 8 bound to the 12 keys on the side. Plus your normal 4 or 5 buttons and scroll wheel. And I still use my main combat rotation along the first half of the keyboards number row. – still true (well, would be if I played WoW still).
• The keypad is illuminated. – still true
• and of course, you can swap the keypad between 2, 6, or 12 buttons, depending upon your use.
• and now it’s wireless, which the Naga Molten was not.

Negatives

• Biggest negative is the learning curve, but I’ll talk about that more in a moment – I guess this is still true, but there have since been many mice with supporting programs that allow mapping and profiles etc. Someone using this mouse is likely to be familiar with that.
• if your hand is the wrong size, it may be a very awkward mouse –still true
• the two buttons to the left of the Main button (call them buttons 4 and 5) are sort of small and awkward. –these buttons have been relocated to behind the scroll wheel, and are usually mapped to sensitivity. They are still small, but are in a much better location, so no longer a negative.
• If you’re left handed, learn right handed real fast – still true
• can’t do the multi finger swipe controls that the Apple Magic Mouse can. – technically, still true, but seeing as it’s really not suited to a Mac, this is kind of expected.
• takes a little while to get used to. – still true as well, though for me as long time user of the Molten, I really only had to get used to the software. Which to be honest, I’m not really using to its capacity.

Now the last review had a long description of how I set up my WoW controls with this. I don’t play WoW anymore, or to be honest anything much, except a little bit of Baldur’s Gate 3.

So, there, pretty much is my rather half-baked review. I think I will get myself sorted in BG3 to really make use of the Naga for that. But I will wait until full release of it in August. Otherwise it might reset everything. Using the mapping software I can see it working well, mapping things like jumps or crouch etc, to Naga buttons.

MotoGP Trip – Gear Report

So how did all my planning go? You’ve (hopefully) read the actual adventure, but the question is, how did my (years, thanks COVID) of planning go.

Tent

After originally planning to camp twice, then it got up to four days, I ended up twice. Tent went really well. Packed small (almost smaller than the sleeping mat!) and I found it easy to set up. First morning it went away dry as the temperature and wind kept any moisture off the tent. Second morning I was naughty and packed it away wet, as there was a lot of condensation on the inside of the fly. However, I knew it was my last camping night and I would have time to air out when I got home. Overall, plenty of space, kept bugs out, kept the wind off me. I do still wonder how I might keep the inside dry if it’s raining as I set up (or take down).

Camp set up.

Sleeping set up

So my sleep system was 3 parts. My self inflating sleeping mat, a sleeping bag (10C comfort, 6C transition down bag) and a sleeping bag liner. I found down to about 6-8C I was warm enough in my liner, on top of the mat and using the sleeping bag unzipped as a doona. So I guess for me, as a warm sleeper I can push the bag some. That was wearing a t-shirt and shorts no beanie etc. Again, happy with it all.

Bike luggage

As much as I try to love the Kriega T18 that I bought, I’m still frustrated by it. I can never seem to fit it into storage when I’m not wearing it, and I always prefer (on long rides) to not wear a backpack. BUT it’s not the bag’s fault. I couldn’t fit it into the top box as I planned as the top box was fuller than expected (and the T18 is not small). When I tried wearing it, the Kreiga US20 strapped to the seat was quite full and there wasn’t any space behind me for the T18 to fit. I ended up with it lashed to the US20 for the trip. IT DID WORK well on the island (which is where I expected it to). I also found a hydration bladder stashed way in a box, so filled it the night before and put it into my T18. I came down the next morning to find the bladder had leaked all over the floor. From the bottom, so the entire 2L of water was all over the carpet. On a positive, the dry bag part of the 1T18 had kept the electronics dry.

Most of the time, I had it packed this way (though I got better at strapping the T18 down)

I tried the luggage configuration a couple of ways along the trip, even to the extreme of repacking everything across the various bags and then back again over the trip. I am not surprised to find that I ended up liking my original set up the most. So tent, sleep mat, groundsheet, extension cord, mallet and puffy jacket all in the US20 strapped to the seat. T18, with a few items, including rain overcoat on top. Everything else in the top box. I did rearrange the top box internally to get better flexibility and that helped. It did rain, a lot, and nothing in my luggage got wet. I did use the two US10 I have, but they ended up as packing cubes inside my top box, and I might have saved some space if I had just used lightweight dry bags (which I also used a lot on the trip).

Experimenting, this time, the US10 are on the outside, not in the top box. Didn’t like this as much

If I had not been camping, there would be a lot less gear, probably to the point of just the top box and the T18.

Cooking Gear

Ah, weren’t you paying attention, I didn’t take this as I had no intention of cooking. So food wise was mostly from local bakeries. In Melbourne I was upgraded to a room with cooking facilities, so I went to the supermarket and bought a bunch of supplies to feed me for the entire weekend. I cooked for myself and took snacks and lunch to the racetrack with me. I even had leftovers on my first leg on the way home.

Technology

My tech worked fine the whole way. I used several SD cards, swapping them often in case of failures. My backup process using the NVME drive and iPad also worked fine. Footage looks good. etc.

One heartstopping moment as I was backing up the first night. I selected all of the videos on the SD card and pressed “Delete”. WAIT WHAT!!! First thing I did NOT do was to remove the card to check… I looked around for an UNDO in the Files app on iPad.

No, but there was a “Recently Deleted” folder, and in here I found my files to recover them. All good. And I was very careful the following evenings. Poor UI design. When you have a file selected the choices are Share, Duplicate, Move, Delete and More. Copy is inside More. There isn’t infinite room along the screen I know. But….

General Comments

Apart from the emergency stuff (like tools) I used everything I took. I also didn’t feel like I was missing anything. That’s two massive positives. Everything worked as I had planned and expected. The item I didn’t use as much as expected was my puffy jacket. This was meant to be the liner for the bike jacket as well as around campsite. I did use it the campsite, but wasn’t cold enough on the bike to wear it, along with the thermal under shirt and fleece mid layer I was already wearing (which I only had because I put it on the morning I left). I probably could have left it behind and coped fine, but especially on the first evening, it was nice to have.

Overall, I was really happy with how my gear turned out. Not bad for a first time, but I do have a fair bit of travelling on the bike under my belt already, just not camping. And I have camped a fair bit before as well, the difference this time was merging the two.

Saturday and Race Day I could leave all the extras in the hotel.

Would I do it again – ah, I’m not sure. I liked the camping, and it was flexible. But I don’t think it would be any more flexible than arriving in a small town and seeing if the motel or pub has a free room. And if I took away the camping gear, I would have only used the top box and the T18. No need for the US20/10s. If I did go camping, I think one of the US10s would provide space for cooking if needed.

So I would “go camping” again on the bike, but probably for an Island trip again, I’ll just book/stay along the way next time. Which might be a while – it’s awkward to take off at that time of year in my new career.

Mouse Troubles – Update

I gave up on the G604… it’s just super flakey on the iMac. I’ve been using the Naga, plugged into the USB. There’s probably no reason I can’t use it BT. I just haven’t got around to it. The 12 keys are mapped to the SHIFT-Number row. Seems to work alright.

The G604 is now on the Surface, though I’ve hardly used it, as I don’t normally pack it in the bag. The Arc Mouse is in the bag all the time and gets used instead.

Even more… the Logitech M555 that I thought was dead, wasn’t. Even though I thought I was resetting the BT to use it, I must have been doing it wrong. Turns out it is paired with the iPad. So I will keep that set up.

My other mice… Well I have my old Magic Mouse. I’ve paired that with my work laptop (a boring, clunky, overly large Dell – doesn’t even have a touch screen). That leaves the Magic Mouse 2 sitting here next to the iMac…. in case of, I dunno, … something??

Mouse Trouble

For a long time I have used the Razer Naga Molten as my mouse. It’s been excellent. Recently though it’s had a little trouble moving about on the desk. It turns out that the slick plastic sliders on the bottom of the mouse have worn right down to the hard plastic shell. It was becoming awkward to use. And I can’t seem to find a way to just replace those parts.

I started investigating replacements and of course the first place to look was Razer. Here, the Naga was now in several versions, with the fanciest being the Naga Pro. This had the three swappable side plates (so normal configuration, 6 buttons and the 12 button like my Naga). It added wireless, including Bluetooth.

But the Razer software no longer supports OSX. Though I’ve never used the Razer software on my existing Naga. With my birthday coming up, I put in my request.

Success! Birthday came along and so did the Naga. It connected fairly simply to the iMac. Obviously the software wasn’t working but I didn’t think much of that until I tried to play WoW.

Here I came across the problem I didn’t face with the older one. The Naga Molten has a switch on the bottom. This manually selects the 12 side buttons as either the top number row on the keyboard or the number pad. Now I had always had it as the number pad. This worked great as I used the number row on the keyboard for my attack rotation, then the Numpad on the Naga as my interrupts and other more situational actions.

Well, that’s what the software does in the newer ones. That software that doesn’t work on OSX. Mapping the keys in WoW didn’t help because the mouse thinks its the number row. I did manage a work around as I made them all bound to SHIFT-number.

I was kind of disappointed, so I handed the Naga over to the Surface to work with. I do like that I can actually use it for multiple computers. I have the USB cable connected to the iMac, which works. And when I switch the BT on, the Surface connects to it.

Anyway, after some more research, I picked up a Logitech G604 for the iMac.

This is also a Bluetooth mouse (that was one of the criteria for my choice) and it has 6 side buttons. The Logitech software also works on OSX.

So this arrived and connected. It was really slow to move across my desktop (I have the 27” iMac and another 27” screen slaved to it). Then I got into the software and messed about with the settings. This helped.

I’ve also set up the keys when outside WoW as a bunch of short cuts.. cut, copy, paste, screenshot. Works well for that.

I have struggled a little with it in WoW, but I’ve also not played much so I reserve judgement on that side of things. I can’t quite seem to get the Logitech software to automatically switch profile as I thought it did. Again, I haven’t played with it much to be sure.

However, I have been having trouble with it even working. It will often lose the BT connection and simply stop. I’ve had to go through the reconnection steps several times. Switching it off, clearing it from the iMac’s BT list etc have eventually got it up and running.

The other trouble is that, well as I said, without the G-Suite application running, it’s really slow across the screen. At the OSX login screen (there are profiles for each family member on my iMac) its slow. And it remains slow even after login (or wake up from sleep) until the G-Suite kicks in. This can be several seconds. Or it isn’t until I actually open it. Or it just doesn’t.

This has all been quite frustrating. Sometimes it all gets back together, or I have to switch on the Apple Magic Mouse that I have, or I’ve resorted to plugging the Naga in (via its USB) cable. On one recent afternoon I had to dig out an old Apple Trackpad to get some response from the cursor on screen.

So in summary. Naga Pro isn’t great for OSX (well it’s not supposed to be). G604 seems really flakey. Apple Magic Mouse is good for general stuff, but not games, make sure you keep a trackpad around…

Anyone got an older working Naga they want to let go?

Oh and my old reliable Logitech M555 that I kept for travel seems to have died.

Surface Pro 7 – Review Update

Thought the device could do with a longer review. In the main, I’ve not used it nearly as much as I expected. Almost to the point where I think I would have been better off just getting a HDMI-Lightning connector for my aging iPad. But that’s being coldly logical…. but where’s the fun in that?

Whatever, it has worked excellently in the areas that I purchased it for. It has surprised me in areas that I secretly hoped it might work out (gaming). Overall I’m happy with it, though as it’s been about 10 years since I bought a PC, and more than that since I last purchased a PC laptop, I can’t really compare it to anything. Oh, except the heavy, large, cumbersome and slow work laptops I sometimes need to use. (Which reminds me, my new work laptop is due soon – wonder what rubbish that will be).

Gaming

Not really what I picked it up for, but anyway. Playing some scrollers, it is fine. Trine and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles : China seemed to run without much problem. I can hear the fan start up, so even these will have a effect on battery life. Remember, it’s only onboard graphics, not a discrete card. Massive slow down when I tried Rise of the Tomb Raider though, enough that I deleted it straightaway. Mechwarrior Online wouldn’t even start.

It does play Wow alright, at least for questing, I’ve not tried it in a dungeon. The Arc mouse isn’t great for WoW, as I usually use a 17 key Naga. But it’s workable. Enough to grind out some solo questing.

Office Work

It works well for this and I have no complaints. Being a full system, it has the full versions of applications. I find the keyboard pretty good to type on. It does have a little more flex than a standard laptop keyboard but not enough that its noticeable. The keys are well spaced for my normal man sized hands. I like the hot keys up the top, as they are used much more frequently than F keys these days. I really like the backlighting too, the first keyboard I’ve used with it.

I do have the Creative suite installed (well some of it) but haven’t had cause to use it yet. I imagine Photoshop will work well, but it might be a little slow when generating high def movies in Premiere, but I don’t know yet. I do most of my video work on my iMac.

Connectivity

Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity are excellent. GSM connection would be nice to have (I think the Surface Pro X has that option), but I just hotspot my phone. For that I use the USB-A, as it charges my phone as well and is more secure.

The USB-C I have a dongle left over from an Apple, that gives me USB-C to HDMI and that works well.

Discovered the nicely tucked away microSD slot. Massive expansion in storage if you buy a large card. Most of my stuff is cloud stored, so it’s okay. I do have to watch how many games I load though!

You’re not going to be able to connect a whole lot at once, but the USB-A, -C and microSD pretty much covers everything these days. You can get a range of USB-C dongles to connect other stuff even all at once. I haven’t been motivated to do that yet.

Battery Life

I’ve not really pushed this so far. Obviously gaming pushes the battery, I can probably play WoW for a couple of hours. Using it in class to play videos and put things on the screen, it happily goes all day and then some. Even while charging the phone. It would be an unusual day if I took my charger with me.

Tablet / Laptop Mode

It switches readily between the two. I sometimes find the screen a little unresponsive to my finger, but I put that down to the screen protector I’ve added. Keyboard folds readily underneath and you’re in tablet mode. Most controls are workable with your finger, but if I get stuck I just use the stylus.

Using the stylus in the little writing box mostly works well. I also haven’t actually done that too much, so I know some my feeling of being underwhelmed is about practice. The Apple Pencil on the iPad was the same (and needed an OS update or two).

Other Comments

I do like the face recognition for unlocking it. It works quite quickly even in darkness and opens the device.

Physically, it slides nicely into my backpack.

Peripherals

I’ve added a glass screen protector and a case. The case is a Procase Cover. I liked this one as it covered the whole device, seemed moderately rugged and covered the fold out stand. I don’t actually use the Surface’s stand when its in the case. While some of the colourful or picture cases were inviting, I needed something more substantial, where if I’m carrying it about at school, I can relax about it. Been a solid cover so far.

The pen is still great. I use the buttons to open other apps which it does quite quickly. One press and I have OneNote open, two and Whiteboard opens. Handy. As above, more practice.

The Arc Mouse is a fine mouse, and it’s slim nature when stored is a big plus. As above, not so good for MMO gaming 😉

Battery wise both have lasted some time.

Review – Apple Watch

I feel like I’m late to the party, but I’ve finally gone out and joined the smart watch crowd. The main driver for me to be late is that many of the places I have worked over the past few years have bans on smart devices (along with all electronics) – either in particular areas, or in entire buildings. It was just easier not to have one.

But with teaching a watch is really useful. You know, for telling the time. For example, about 10 minutes before lunch starts, I need to ensure that some students are sent off to collect the lunches from the canteen. In one class I looked after, there were 4 clocks around the room – none of which were working.

I bought the 44mm Nike SE version. I plan to use it a lot as (drumroll) a watch (I know, crazy right). But besides that, as a teacher, being able to see incoming messages, and see my schedule without opening my phone are also a good thing. It’s a perception thing about being distracted by the phone, most especially when doing playground duty. A watch is less obtrusive.

Secondly it replaces the long dead Fitbit Charge 3 I had. Seriously, we’ve had 3 of these (paid for 2) and they last a year. 2 of the 3, the screen just went black. So the Watch becomes something to track my heart rate while running with the bonus of being able to have GPS and music without needing my phone. It doesn’t think that when I’m riding my motorcycle I’m doing 10,000 steps, 12 flights of stairs either, like the Fitbit would.

So that’s what I plan to use it for. And after 4 days, it’s doing all those well. You can even scribble responses back to people and it’s not too painful. Slower letter by letter, but then I was raised on the old multi tap SMS, so it’s okay. The Strava app works well and is simple to start tracking stuff. having the “complications” on the screen are a bonus.

I discovered Nike Training app, and am experimenting with that. In this case, the phone app and the watch work together. I guess in a similar way to the new Apple Fitness (which I will try soon) apparently works together.

The phone and watch also work together when using Maps for direction. Alerts, with sounds and haptic feedback along with text work in sync with the directions on the phone. Its quite handy.

Battery life – well so far in what is probably close to a “normal day” for me, which included a Watch/AirPod only run, was at 50% by the end of the day. I don’t know how long that would take to recharge, as I just left it overnight. Perhaps a couple of hours? I’m not worried about tracking my sleep as I experimented with that when I had the Fitbit and didn’t find it particularly useful. I know why I’m tired. I go to sleep late, have to always wake up at least once in the middle, and then always wake early. Just literally not spending enough time at sleeping. Getting to sleep is no trouble. So leaving the watch on the charger is no worries. I suppose some long haul travel might run it down, but then you’re likely to spend plenty of time in airplane mode (so battery saver) anyway.

The SE misses out on the always on display, but that’s almost never been a problem in a string of fitness/running and now smart watches that I’ve owned, so its the same there. It is quite responsive to movements to wake up, or a tap.

Overall, really happy with it.

BattleTech – a longer review

Battletech – I promised a review later, and it’s now later.

I am only a little way through the story, and I know that there are many who have finished. I do not know how long the story is, I think I am up to about the 4th or 5th story mission (called Liberation:Smithon). At the moment I am leaving that mission aside as I train and gear up my lance.

My first impressions of a faithful recreation of the table top game, along with decent graphics and AI are still pretty much unchanged. The first, that its a faithful recreation of the table top is for me a real positive. I think that has made it easy for them in that balance and such have basically been play tested for 30 years. The great big positive for me is that turn based copes very easily with random interruptions. I can stop and sort out life stuff without stressing about what the enemy are up to. I know it isn’t everyone’s favourite way of playing, but I don’t mind it.

The graphics look good on my iMac. I imagine there are more impressive games and on more capable systems there are more impressive games. But graphics aren’t everything.

The story is fine. It’s very similar to the really old “MechWarrior” game, where you are a merc with a story and the intent is to carry out some contracts until you’re geared up enough to finish the story. What I do like in this version is that the story engages you as you go. In the old game every time I headed back into the story I was arrested and the game ended. I gave up and just set about getting awesome mechs and lots of money. Turns out I should have gone back at that stage.

Anyway, the game does get a little slow during some combats when there is a lot of actions queued up. The random number generator can be a bit vicious sometimes, but it works both ways. Sometimes a game will be tough, sometimes its not.

The rounds can take quite a bit of time, an hour or more. But I don’t find that a bad thing 🙂

So overall I am very happy.