Techie Day?

Feels that way anyway. One way and another we have ended up having to replace several tech gadgets. Three of which have decided to be delivered today! Enough already, I am getting overwhelmed. The first two items actually came last week. 

As mentioned in our last post my GPS tablet decided to get cranky and thus untrustworthy. There are I am sure many things we can manage without but unreliable navigation would make things very difficult. I told Geoffrey to check on Amazon and send me a link for what we wanted. He did and I promptly ordered it. In case you wonder why, it is silly to have two prime accounts with free shipping so we have just one and its in my name.

In a couple of days our Rand McNally unit was delivered. I went to checking it out and soon realized that Geoff must have been focused on something else because what we had gotten was the over the road trucker version, the TND740.

At first I didn't see any problem but as I got into it I found that it did not have a couple of features I was VERY accustomed to having as we traveled, most especially being able to find campgrounds, either nearby or at our destination, with just a couple of clicks.

Now, it is true that we could have just returned it but it was not the fault of the item itself or Amazon, but our own inattention that had caused the problem. Way back in our early travels, Geoff had gotten a smaller GPS for his side of Wolf more for checking speed and immediate route than for navigation. This was one of those smaller units, not the seven inch screen of this unit so I suggested we just replace his GPS with this larger screen and order the right one.

This we did and in another day or two we had the right Rand McNally unit, the RVND7 and yes, as you can see in the image to the right, it has the same Points Of Interest as the old one. So far, the only difference I have found from the old system is the screen size is seven inches instead of the previous eight. This I can live with.

I also got Geoff a shade for his new unit as his one complaint has been the sun frequently hitting the screen wrong and making it difficult to see. Not much of a problem for me, as a passenger it's no big deal to adjust the screen, not so for the driver!

Now for actual techie day ... I was just getting adjusted to the new navigation unit and getting it set up and more tech is arriving ... those invisible delivery guys are at it again! I don't know if you reading this have invisible guys but it seems no matter how much we watch (we have a camera at the door even) the deliveries just appear out of no where! Emails have advised me we will be getting three items delivered today and two have already shown up first thing this morning.

Shortly after our very first trial trip we decided better communications would help and this was posted about in Can You Hear Me Now? and I Can Hear You! back in May of 2016. Last year we ended up scrapping our communications setup. I mentioned briefly in an earlier post that we had tried some headsets and had not worked out and was just going to put them on new hats. I don't think I ever mentioned that this didn't work out either and since then we have managed without although we did miss the communication especially when Geoff was fueling Wolf or hooking us up to water and electricity.

Soooo ...  as long as I was poking around on Amazon, I looked for intercom set ups. Quite a difference from a few years ago! There were several that were not relying on helmets like our first time around and various forms. We settled on one advertised for referees. This came in various setups with different numbers of units one of which was for just two people.

Best of all, the main unit and the connection process looked just like the ones we had before! The main unit fits into a Velcro armband instead of having to be attached to a helmet or in our case jury rigged onto a hat! So far these units have checked out and are at the moment plugged into the charger for further testing later.

What else has arrived already?

For years now I have been annoyed by several stupid hairs growing on the edge of my chin and every so often they would get long enough and I would remove them, first with tweezers - ouch! Then I upgraded to a small cordless ladies shaver. This has lasted for absolutely years but recently it just wouldn't charge up anymore. Finally I got annoyed enough and looked on Amazon. My the possibilities have multiplied!

I finally decided on one listed as being for facial hair rather than a regular shaver. Cute isn't it? It charges with a USB cord so it will travel well and also be easy to charge here at home.

This seems to be the season for techie things to fail or start to ... my Kindle decided to join the parade. The one I had decided to get old and slow. Probably partly due to the sheer number of books on board. My poor old Kindle had over 2000 books on it! Quite the little library in the palm of my hand! As some of you may know, I am not only a voracious reader but also a re-reader if I like it. Some books I have read dozens of times over the years.

Soooo ... while I was at it, I checked out the Kindle possibilities and settled on a Kindle Oasis. Two things made it especially attractive ... Instead of just 8 GB for book storage, it has 32 GB so my problem with filling it up is way off in the future.

It also will show the page in either orientation. I especially look forward to this as I read several things in series and they have been listed with the number in the series at the end that gets cut off in normal orientation. If I can turn it sideways and see the full listing it will get lots easier!!

The size is slightly bigger at seven inches instead of six which might be a problem as far as fitting in the side of my purse but since I am now reading mostly at home or on the coach, that kind of portability is less important. Won't know for sure about that until it gets here.


And for the curious out there, my ball cap collection is now well north of 50!