I’m too old to remember that my phone has a light, but I do remember there’s a flashlight in my pocket.

Though in another comment I said :

But I also always forget phones can do light as well. That said, I’m not shoving my phone down in an engine bay to get a better look at wiring, but that $15, 20 year old flashlight, sure.

I’ve had an OClip Pro on my backpack for a couple of years (and another stuck to the side of the fridge for checking on chickens in the dark) and it’s been great. I’ve been considering the Ark Pro for a year or two but the only thing that held me back was how long it is and thinking it might be awkward to keep on me… but I suppose I could just slot it into the backpack as well.

Do you find the size awkward or is it generally “fine” for keeping in a pocket or storing in a pack? How long does the battery last for you (and usage pattern)?

I was hesitant to switch to rechargeables because I want something that can sit unused for years and “just work”. Having an extra alkaline AA/AAA on hand is no big deal (easier/smaller than a battery pack or small solar charger). That said, the OClip on the fridge has been there for at least a year with short intermittent usage and no recharge - still showing “green” when I flip the selector so it seems to have little to no passive drain.

Though, I could also argue that the OClip is brighter than I ever need (mostly use the red mode) so I probably don’t need the brighter Ark but…

Fenix AA / E11 crew 🙌

https://lemmy.world/post/53212824/26380191

They’re very small, adjustable brightness, tough, last years on a single AA, and “just work”… forever.

EDIT : Also - Chicken crew 🙌

That is definitely a thing. When I got into it I repinned all our locks with a difficult bitting and added spools/serrated pins.

… All the while knowing that a burglar is just going to smash a window or kick in the door so I really just made it harder on myself ; )

Congratulations, you’re now “the wizard who can open doors” forever. It’s really nice to be able to help people with something that isn’t that hard (for most locks) but appears as magic to so many people.

I was once at a wedding at a lodge type place in the middle of nowhere with rooms that auto locked like a hotel. Opened the locked closet that held the tables/chairs when the owner had accidentally left it locked and was two hours away. … Then three rooms for drunk people that locked their keys inside… Then somebody who rented a cabin 30 min away drove me out there to let them back into the cabin they’d locked themselves out of (hopefully I didn’t just break into a random cabin for them… But the keys were sitting on the counter just inside the door, and they knew exactly where they were, so probably not)

Plus, it’s just fun.

What picks do you use?

: D

I didn’t realize it was a core memory for me until this post pulled it up immediately.

It was… very satisfying.

There’s even little (tiny) lipo rechargeable ones these days that are stupid bright. I’ve got an OLight OClip on my backpack that’s very small and way brighter than I’d ever need for simple “find something in the dark” purposes

I’m having trouble thinking of something to compare it to size wise … Maybe 5cm x 2cm x 2cm?

I don’t carry the 1200 lumen surefire edc2 around anymore because I just don’t ever need a mini sun.

… Shit, am I a “flashlight guy”?

I humble brag about my backpack being a bag of holding for everything I may need for any situation and, yes, yes it is a good feeling.

Is that a modernization of the Poe story by the same name or am I confusing titles?

I’ve got a memory where I was in a small meeting room with no windows and the power went out. One person said “I wish somebody had a flashli…” right as I clicked mine on.

I’ve had a little single AA Fenix in my pocket for almost two decades now… Comes in handy more often than you’d think.

… But I also always forget phones can do light as well. That said, I’m not shoving my phone down in an engine bay to get a better look at wiring, but that $15, 20 year old flashlight, sure.

I guess sign me up for flashlight crew.

This is me (US, not Canada, but same situation)

I’d cycle more if there were bike lanes but there’s not more bike lanes and there are a lot of people driving who are oblivious, assholes, or both

A long beard acts like a radiator for more efficient cooling.

Source: I made it up

I also called, no answer : /

https://www.3dbenchy.com/

Too late.

Often smokers in my experience. A cloud of perfume to cover the smoke smell but the two combine into a noxious area effect chemical weapon.

It’s Initrode now.

And, yeah, when I tell people I work in tech the response is either “cool” or questions about what we do and how we do it, from the more geeky people. But I also don’t work for a company that “shortens the kill chain” or “connects the supply chain to the kill chain”

EDIT : I want to be very clear that “Connecting the Supply Chain to the Kill Chain” is the real actual title of one of their advertising docs on their official website linked above.

I am the CEO of the fediverse but I’m struggling. If you send $7 to my account, I will reimburse you $2m when we succeed. My scam coin wallet address is “0”, please reply quickly… I can not hold long

If it helps for comparison, my esp32 got about 2.5 days on a 2,000mAh battery. My nrf52 gets about 10 days on the same battery.

Edit: that was with no charging at all, just “plug it in and see how long it lasts”

I breezed through the other replies and didn’t see anyone asking why you want wifi.

If you’re going to hang a node somewhere and have it solar powered, the nRF52 will give you waaaaaaaaay longer life and easier (solar) recharging. I’ve got nodes that have been out (unmaintained) for three or four years now, running on a 2,000mAh battery and 2x crappy 60mA@5v solar cells, and they’ve never dropped out as far as I can tell… even in deep winter when you shouldn’t be charging lithium-ion battery packs in sub freezing temps : )

I’m probably dumb, but I don’t see why anyone wants wifi from a LoRa node when all it does is rob power/longevity without adding any benefit that I can think of.

Is there any difference in the hardware between Meshtastic and Meshcore? I didn’t think there was… but I haven’t been keeping a close eye on it.

I have a lot of RAK4631 based builds and I flashed a few from Meshtastic to Meshcore, said “meh”, then flashed back to Meshtastic. So … I assume no hardware difference. I think it’s mostly just the software/routing protocol that is different (which is why I stuck with Meshtastic).

EDIT: Also tried RNode (Reticulum) on the same hardware which was… interesting, but a silly protocol to have on a solely LoRa device.