Don't have an old laptop or such sitting around? Cheap wireless mouse for 'remote' control. All that can be done through the web-sites, plus, when entering passwords it is like 50000 times easier. Or if you ever want to comment during a twitch stream, etc. Just setup the laptop to not go to sleep when the lid is closed, and shove it away like a DVD player.

That is a decent amount of BTUs for the small size. If you have an IR camera, give it a look at see how uniform the surface temperature is. Probably not very with poor airflow control from cheap grills. They are really fun (IR cameras, and can be gotten to work with a phone for reasonably cheap)!

I personally have never had a gas grill that I bought over the years get over 550 out of the box. The lava rocks have helped some as it retains heat.

Most gas grills are only rated for 550, so if yours truly is rated for 650, it probably requires fine tweaking of the gas to air ratio.

However, a grill getting that hot will require a lot of propane. You maybe pulling propane out of your tank so fast for such a large burner system that is is cooling the propane tank down, which reduces the ability for it to vaporize and reduces the total flow out, resulting in lower temperature.I have experienced it a lot with camping grills and cheap or not properly balances grills at friends places, even ones that do not get as hot as yours is supposed to get (just huge so requires a lot of burners). Next time give the side of the propane tank a feel, if it is overly cold, this might be your problem. You may can solve it by just when cooking having the propane tank in direct sunlight. But you also might need a bigger tank than those little 20lb tanks you get and exchange at the home store and gas stations. Upgrading to a 30 lber might be required. Luckily, those are readily refilled for cheaper anyway than the 20lb exchange.

Blue, unfortunately gas grills take way to long to truly get to full temperature. Not worth the waste of gas for most things, especially when cooking for just 1 or 2. It is important to have the thick grill grates that have a lot of mass and will retain heat, really improving the crust. Like we discussed 15 years ago on here for your charcoal grill! Haha!

You can also add lava rocks to the gas grills, which helps hold heat in and makes it a little more like charcoal, but not exactly.

The major difference is actually burning propane produces more water vapor than charcoal, which reduces the ability for flavors from flaring and smoke from penetrating. Making sure the outside of the beef is super dry is key to allowing that flavor to get in. For steaks, "dry brining" is key, putting salt on all sides and leaving it on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, but ideally 4 hours to overnight in the fridge to really pull out some of the water in the meat to help offset the water produced in the combustion of propane. And then drying with paper towel right before to remove water.

Hamburgers, really just drying it with a paper towel right before throwing it on is about the best you can do. Unless your burgers are super lean, but why?

I have always had both grills, and both are great. But when just cooking for 1 or 2, it is damn hard not to appreciate the ease and convenience of gas, especially once you make those few adjustments. Good luck and enjoy!

This comment was edited on May 4, 2020, 09:33.

He deserved to have his car crashed into for filming a vertical video.

I have been in a lot of harry and dangerous situations in my life, I have all kinds of crazy stores that just floor people. This is not about how awesome I am. The one time in my life I was truly scared, and compared to my other stories people just never get how this was actually scary (because nothing bad was happening and I was having to react, it was all anticipation or potential).

I was walking through a park on a trail, a protected park with no hunting. I come across a small field, it is during sunset. I get halfway into the field and realize that to the right of me are approximately 50 deer, and to the left of me are approximately another 50 deer. They were slowly traveling as a group from my left to right, and I just happened to wander into a break. They did not care about me. But there were tons of large antlered deer. It was at this point I was just hoping like crazy nothing spooked them and they panicked, as there was no way I was getting out of there. I just waited patiently and quietly and very still for them to just mosey by me. This was truly a fearful situation because I had no control or real ability to do anything, and there was plenty of things that could have happened to change the situation that did not.

Instead of turning the screen off at night, just let it go to sleep. And set a windows task scheduler task to do something and wake the screen up up 30 minutes, or however long to warmup, before your typical routine starts. Another thing to try would be to drape a heavy thick towel over the monitor at night and help keep it from getting as cold.

I will also say that my CVT on my Subarus I really like, because I like driving in automatic mode most of the time but also really enjoy being able to up and down shift on the fly or in certain terrains drive the car as a clutch-less manual. All cars should have this option. But also the CVT in automatic mode at low to mid speeds when accelerating is not as smooth as I would like.

Cutter wrote on Dec 12, 2017, 09:20:

Enahs wrote on Dec 11, 2017, 21:38:

Cutter wrote on Dec 11, 2017, 16:59:
Anyone own a Subaru? Crosstrek specifically?

I have a Crosstrek and an Impreza. I get Subarus at cost, cause I know someone. At least in the US, the markup on Subarus's that are not the top of the line pimped out version are only ~$1000-1500. So you can not negotiate down a Subaru very much. Subarus also by default come with a crappy warranty compared to the other cars. But they maintain their value and condition longer than most other cars, so it is an odd dynamic. Subarus are also in high demand, and if you are not willing to take what is available near you, you will be waiting 1-3 months or paying a fee to transfer it from another dealer far away.

Thanks fellas.

Yeah, I noticed that in my research so far. The salesguy at the dealership said the same thing. They limit inventory intentionally to keep supply low and demand high so it's basically the sticker price or nothing. The warranty is pretty standard compared to the rest of them out there. But the longterm is the important bit. I like the boxer engine as well. Gonna go take a loot at the Kia and GMC today but so far it's looking very much like it'll probably be the Crosstrek.

The Impreza inventory is not kept low to maintain supplies. All 2017 and beyond Imprezas are assembled in Lafayette IN, which is where I use to live and why I know someone who gets me my Subarus at cost. They are literally making them as fast as they possibly can. They are at 100% production capacity and have 3 shifts operating ~360 days a year. But that is the only facility assembling Imprezas that are sold in the US (not sure if those are the ones going to Canada as well), and it is a large facility but still small compared to the facilities in Japan or China, and just limited in amount they can produce.

Blue wrote on Dec 12, 2017, 10:52:

Cutter wrote on Dec 12, 2017, 09:20:

Enahs wrote on Dec 11, 2017, 21:38:

Cutter wrote on Dec 11, 2017, 16:59:
Anyone own a Subaru? Crosstrek specifically?

I have a Crosstrek and an Impreza. I get Subarus at cost, cause I know someone. At least in the US, the markup on Subarus's that are not the top of the line pimped out version are only ~$1000-1500. So you can not negotiate down a Subaru very much. Subarus also by default come with a crappy warranty compared to the other cars. But they maintain their value and condition longer than most other cars, so it is an odd dynamic. Subarus are also in high demand, and if you are not willing to take what is available near you, you will be waiting 1-3 months or paying a fee to transfer it from another dealer far away.

Thanks fellas.

Yeah, I noticed that in my research so far. The salesguy at the dealership said the same thing. They limit inventory intentionally to keep supply low and demand high so it's basically the sticker price or nothing. The warranty is pretty standard compared to the rest of them out there. But the longterm is the important bit. I like the boxer engine as well. Gonna go take a loot at the Kia and GMC today but so far it's looking very much like it'll probably be the Crosstrek.

Impreza owner here... We were looking for used, but these retain a surprising amount of their value, so we ended up buying a new 2017 model. After a run around the block updating the computer and replacing the battery it's been a trouble-free car that we really love. It rides well, gets great mileage despite the AWD, looks nice, and seems bigger on the inside than the outside (I presume it has D&D bag-of-holding technology). I see comments in reviews that its one engine choice is underpowered, but while it's not a race car, I think the acceleration is fine, and that only gets mentioned because it's one of the few quibbles you can possibly have with the car. It also has stellar crash-test results.

We're talking about replacing MrsBlue's Civic for our (presumed) move to PA, and I would say the Crosstrek is already atop our shortlist if we do move, based on our satisfaction with the Impreza. Enahs is right though, margins are tight on these, so don't expect to bargain them down very much from the sticker price.

Starting with the 2017 models, the Crosstrek is just an Impreza with added ground clearance and slight changes in minor curves of the body. It is literally the exact same engine and drive train, everything is the exact same parts except the suspension. Because the Crosstrek is a little taller, the feel of the drive is a little different. But if you like your 2017 Impreza you will like a 2017+ Crosstrek and will barely be able to tell you are in a different car, except for the height.

Cutter wrote on Dec 11, 2017, 16:59:
Anyone own a Subaru? Crosstrek specifically?

I have a Crosstrek and an Impreza. I get Subarus at cost, cause I know someone. At least in the US, the markup on Subarus's that are not the top of the line pimped out version are only ~$1000-1500. So you can not negotiate down a Subaru very much. Subarus also by default come with a crappy warranty compared to the other cars. But they maintain their value and condition longer than most other cars, so it is an odd dynamic. Subarus are also in high demand, and if you are not willing to take what is available near you, you will be waiting 1-3 months or paying a fee to transfer it from another dealer far away.

Cutter wrote on Nov 4, 2017, 12:19:
Fuck you Amazon and fuck you Truedeau and the Liberal party! 1000 more jobs? 1000 more foreigners taking Canadian jobs more like.

Huh? Amazon is a US company and headquartered in Seattle. How can it be 1000 more foreigners taking Canadian jobs? They are not Canadian jobs to begin with.

Cutter wrote on Jun 4, 2017, 12:53:
That's actually sad to hear.

No it is not. It is at the base of mount Everest and all the communities around it and in the Himalayas. It is helping schools and the community. Read the article. Also, people have used satellite communication at the top of mount Everest for years.

jacobvandy wrote on Jun 1, 2017, 14:01:
Bing may be so horrible that Microsoft has been needing to pay people to use it for years, but I do miss the good old days of getting real prizes in exchange for inflating their traffic numbers. I was too late to get a free Xbox (or two, or three, as it was apparently not too difficult to do), but I did get several retail copies of Vista Ultimate, a couple of wireless 360 controllers, a pretty nice webcam, a few DVD versions of MS-published PC games of the era... Just for running macros on their stupid mini-games all day.

What is wrong with the 2-3, $5 Amazon gift cards a month?!

RedEye9 wrote on May 12, 2017, 12:19:
Simply put, If you want a decent photo your cell phone is not going to take it.

The internet and actual photographic evidence disagree with you.
http://gizmodo.com/5576509/395-photos-taken-on-cellphones
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/31/sony-world-photography-awards_n_6976552.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/flickr/galleries/72157644100931123

And the cameras you linked to, their only benefit is optical zoom and large lenses. Which is great, not knocking it. But the actual sensor size and quality are in most cases inferior to good cellphone camera sensors now. You can now get for cheaper than those cameras you linked, mounts and and such you can hook your cellphones into, and have decent lenses and optical zoom as well; and make it far superior than those less than ~$250 cameras.

Blue wrote on Apr 5, 2017, 17:42:

Shineyguy wrote on Apr 5, 2017, 16:02:
Holy crap, slower traffic keep right. I remember watching that video maybe 10 years ago. Looks like someone reposted it as new.

Nope. It was March 18, 2016.

Here's a story about the pilots getting their well-deserved medals.

Pilots get medals for cops making a slow driver get over? Man, medals are easy to come by these days!

If she is cutting cable and just wants to go with all the standard streaming services, just get an Amazon TV stick. Or go a little fancier and get a Fire TV.

Maybe silly Hollywood action directors will watch this video and learn some things about making an exciting and realistic chase.

Sorry Cutter, no I do not. Nope, sorry buddy, do not. Changed jobs and the new place no longer has 100's of unused copies sitting around. If I was smart I would have grabbed a handful from the old place, but alas, I am not. And mail reply says you have it disabled, so couldn't reply directly.

Cutter wrote on Nov 28, 2016, 18:08:

Rigs wrote on Nov 28, 2016, 17:26:
Hmmm, soon you'll have to take out a mortgage just for a phone...or a 52-month loan like on a car! Fucking ridiculous!

=-Rigs-=

No one is forcing anyone to make those vanity purchases. I paid $150'ish bucks for a work phone - a tough phone thast's waterproof and shatterproof - 6'ish years ago and I still use it today as it works just fine for what it's supposed to do.

If you can not slice prosciutto with it, it is not a real phone!