J. Motts posted:Where are these guys located, are they in the USA or overseas? Are they safe to use a credit card with? I know all of you guys have ordered them and I'd like to order one too, its just that I've had some bad experiences ordering from overseas companies or websites. Do they seem pretty reputable ?
I used PayPal. Hope I get it in the next few weeks.
Aliexpress, to whose listing GRJ referred, is the Chinese version of Amazon. I have found them to be reliable. Due to the International Postal Regs, from which Mr. Trump said we'll extricate ourselves, shipping from China is cheaper than from next door.
J. Motts posted:Where are these guys located, are they in the USA or overseas? Are they safe to use a credit card with? I know all of you guys have ordered them and I'd like to order one too, its just that I've had some bad experiences ordering from overseas companies or websites. Do they seem pretty reputable ?
The ebay listing above appears to be a US seller. From the listing - "Item location: Monroe Township, New Jersey, United States."
I use Paypal for all online purchases that I can. Had Paypal for years, never had a problem. Use your credit card with Paypal and you get 2 layers of protection, also my preferred method. Without looking, I'm not sure if ebay takes anything but Paypal now?
As RJR says, Ali Express should be fine. They are a very large outfit. I have no experience with them so far, but wouldn't hesitate to order from them if I saw something I liked. Banggood is fine as well, I have ordered quite a few things from them with no problems. Actually, I did get one marred item, emailed them and they sent me a new replacement. They didn't want the marred item returned.
RailRide posted:Now if it could do streaming video, you could livestream your repair jobs just like Louis Rossman does on Macbooks
---PCJ
It does do video, it records it on the micro-SD. 
J. Motts posted:Where are these guys located, are they in the USA or overseas? Are they safe to use a credit card with? I know all of you guys have ordered them and I'd like to order one too, its just that I've had some bad experiences ordering from overseas companies or websites. Do they seem pretty reputable ?
On or before Fri. Nov. 02 to 19446 John and Tom, can you provide some info about the lithium battery mentioned to power the unit? Is the battery type/size commonly found or proprietary to the brand?
PS: John did you find/get that suburban tank I referred you at York?
rtr12 posted:As RJR says, Ali Express should be fine. They are a very large outfit. I have no experience with them so far, but wouldn't hesitate to order from them if I saw something I liked. Banggood is fine as well, I have ordered quite a few things from them with no problems. Actually, I did get one marred item, emailed them and they sent me a new replacement. They didn't want the marred item returned.
I've ordered tons of stuff from AliExpress and a number of things from Banggood as well, no issues yet.
Keystone posted:John and Tom, can you provide some info about the lithium battery mentioned to power the unit? Is the battery type/size commonly found or proprietary to the brand?
PS: John did you find/get that suburban tank I referred you at York?
I haven't taken the unit apart, the battery is internal. When it stops holding a charge, I'll open it up and then I'll know what it is.
Speaking of the tank engine, I got it for $400, when I got back from York my NIB Reading T1 had arrived as well. 
Both of them checked out, so I bumped my Reading motive power up significantly. 
GRJ and others that chimed in also, I thank you for your answers, I'll use Pay Pal to pay for my purchase. Thanks again, oh yeah, great looking little tank engine, I'd sue like to have one of those. I'll bet it runs as good as it looks. Too bad Lionel or MTH doesn't do one of those.
Great find GRJ and RTR12.
This will make my rivet counting so much easier!
J. Motts posted:Thanks again, oh yeah, great looking little tank engine, I'd sue like to have one of those. I'll bet it runs as good as it looks.
J,
If you are serious about that, look here: Western Depot
Jim, I was looking at those, but the $500 + shipping and tax was just a little too much. Mine came NIB for $400 at York.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Keystone posted:PS: John did you find/get that suburban tank I referred you at York?
Speaking of the tank engine, I got it for $400, when I got back from York my NIB Reading T1 had arrived as well.
GRJ, congrats and glad to hear that it was still available and you were able to get it at your price.
J. Motts posted:...Thanks again, oh yeah, great looking little tank engine, I'd sue like to have one of those. I'll bet it runs as good as it looks. Too bad Lionel or MTH doesn't do one of those.
I'm wondering WHO has the tooling for that 4-6-6 tank? When Lionel got access to the K-Line Pacific, Mikado, Berkshire, 2-truck shay, A5 and B6 tooling for some of their new Legacy steam, I thought Lionel might also have this unique, gorgeous and 0-31" layout friendly gem to eventually offer w/ the smooth running and full sound of Legacy. But every Lionel person I questioned replied that Lionel did NOT have the tank. Maybe Sanda-Kan held it back, to later have their Williams by Bachmann offer it as a higher end steam model. Who knows, but IMO the 4-6-6 has great character that can run on almost any layout.
Sorry for this brief thread tangent.
Not sure where the tooling disappeared to, but it is a neat little unit. I have the new Reading and also the CNJ one. I'm thinking it's a candidate for the Super-Chuffer to improve the smoke performance and have smoke at idle. Of course, then I can also automate the cab light and add Rule-17 lighting.
That must be the engine you were carrying when I bumped into you by the Lionel stand. Very Nice little engine. I should have grabbed it and ran. 
LOL
How fast do you run Dave, can you outrun a 9mm bullet? 
I ordered one of the digital microscopes. This will be a great addition as the old eyes aren't as sharp as they used to be.
Got mine in today. Looks well built. Hopefully I'll get time to play with it tomorrow.
It works surprisingly well with the aluminum stand Dave, I find it useful for examining really small stuff.
I just received mine today. That really does make a difference when compared to the lighted magnifier I have been using!! Thank you John for bringing it to our attention!!!
The return address is Monroe Township, New Jersey.
Received mine yesterday. Trying to decipher the so-called "User Manual." Can anyone interpret for me, "5: Fast loading 4 holes' bayonet, push the bracket's 4 claws into the bayonet, hearing "ka" once, it says the assemble is finished."
Also, when powered on, for a couple of seconds, I see a screen with four small windows towards to corner; then they're gone. What's that?
Plugged it into my laptop, and it came up as a TIGA camera. Don't know how to get the laptop to display anything.
If you figure out the screen, let me know, I have no idea what it's supposed to be telling you.
Throw away the stupid bracket with the claws, the aluminum stand is the only way to use this device! The plastic stand is useless, mine is resting comfortably in a landfill somewhere.
It didn't come with the stupid bracket, only the aluminum one.
So, ignore those instructions, just stuff it into the aluminum stand and use it!
Some descriptions imply magnification is 1-600x. Am I misunderstanding this? It appears I can only reduce magnification by maybe half of 600 or ~300. Still overkill for most of what I would use this for. 20-40 times would be more than enough.
Pete
I just want to make sure I'm not missing some feature. The instructions are a tad lacking.
I think I'm getting a lot more than a 2:1 change from min to max, here's an example. This is from min to max on this part, looks like a lot more than a 2:1 change in magnification. The actual part is 3/8" across for reference.
John, are you achieving this with the knob on the front or with some menu setting? I was just guessing on the range. I agree thats more than 2-1.
Pete
The up&down knob controls magnification, but there is also a menu option.
Pete, you have to use the stand height adjustment to run the head farther away to get the lower magnification and then focus again.
If you take it out of the stand and walk around, you can get even lower magnifications, here's it hand-held, not very steady, but you get the idea. The window is a 2 foot window from across the room, the meter is about six feet away. It's kinda' dark at long distances, the window is actually very well lit. I guess that's why the bright LED halo lighting.
Ok, I get it. Thank you.
Pete
I tried the menu resolution, but the change from 2mp to 5mp was not very visible on the screen, though the pixels changed a bit.
I'm not sure how they get 5mp from the first resolution, I get 3,686,400 pixels unless my calculator is broken.
Thanks John. My wife ordered me one for Christmas.
It's a handy little tool for fine work or for seeing stuff that the standard magnifier can't resolve.
One addtional tip on using the microscope. Lighting is key, and while the provided halo light works well for many situations, some side light will greatly aid some situations. Here's a sample of what I mean.
This is the same chip with and without side lighting from a little LED flashlight.
I wonder if placing a black sheet of paper on the table would reduce reflective glare?
RJR posted:I wonder if placing a black sheet of paper on the table would reduce reflective glare?
Gosh, I wonder if you tried it?
No, I've been too tied up on other matters to do more than give it a quick once over and try.
I actually had a non-model-RR use for this gadget. A steel tube between fuel pump and carburetor on a V-8 marine engine had a pinhole spraying gasoline. After replacing it, I put the tube under the microscope and am amazed at the amount of pitting that shows up on what appears to be a not-so-bad steel tube.
Now if I could only figure out how to take photos and save the to the computer. One would think that somewhere there's a half-decent manual for this.
I think you're going to have to make do with the manual it has, just tinker a little.
You need a microSD card for the images.
Job done.
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