Freebird
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OK...here's the continuation of my Christmas Story. As I mentioned in another post yesterday, my wife bought me a TomTom Rider 2 for Christmas. She was so excited that she had surprised me with something that I had wanted (a GPS) for a while now. The problem was, I spent all day yesterday messing with it and could NOT get it to power up. Then I got an email from BradT telling me that another member here had bought the same unit and that he had to hold the power button in HARD to get it to power on. So after reading his email this morning I took it out of the box again and pushed the button VERY HARD and sure enough, it came on in about 2 seconds. All is well. I then played with it for about 30 minutes but pretty much already knew that I was going to return it. The problem is that the TomTom Rider does not have an audio out jack or a built in speaker. The only way to use the voice prompts is to use the included bluetooth headset. That means that not only would I have to buy my wife a bluetooth headset but then some sort of hardware to convert the existing audion system of the RSV to bluetooth in order to use the headsets for the intercom, sterieo, etc. I think that TomTom really missed the mark with this setup. I ended up heading to Best Buy about 10:00 this morning to return the unit. The nice young lady asked me if there was anything wrong with it and I said well the main thing is that it's just not compatible with my bike. She then informed me that there would be a 15% "restocking" fee. I said are you telling me that it is going to cost me about $85.00 to return this product. She replied yes, all the stores do that. I said NO...Walmart doesn't. At any rate, I then asked her what the policy is if the unit is bad and she replied that there would be no restocking fee in that case. I said OK then....I can't get it to turn on. She said that she would have to test it and verify that fact to which I replied...PLEASE...do that now. She took it out of the box and pressed the power button and sure enough, it wouldn't turn on. She took out the AC Adapter and plugged it in and again...it would not turn on. I didn't tell her to press very hard on the button. She shrugged and said hmmmmm.....it must be defective and then gave me a full refund. I'm sure glad that TomTom makes them hard to power up. So now I'm on the fence. I'm trying to decide between the Garmin Zumo 550 and the 450. I know that the popular choice here is the 550 but after comparing them, I don't know that I can justify the extra $300.00. I don't want the XM capabilities and the only other thing that I see is text to voice. Am I missing anything?
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There are others also. Here is one that looks like a boat. http://www.bikebuddys.com/ and some more cars: http://www.americancustomtrailers.com/ http://www.carreplicatrailers.com/
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I don't have an answer for you but got a new TomTom rider for Christmas and have decided that I don't like it due to the fact that sound is only available through the bluetooth headset. Will likely return it today.
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I got a new GPS. Eileen was so excited and so was I when I opened it. I've looked at them for a couple of years but just didn't want to spend the money. I think though that I'm going to return it. Great screen and etc. but it's a TomTom Rider and the quick study that I've done on it just leads me to the conclusion that it's not what I want. I love that woman though and she really did do good.
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David, Thanks, but I tried all of that. This thing is just dead. It doesn't seem to be taking a charge or getting any power from the AC Adapter. I checked the adapter to make sure it is putting out the correct voltage and it is but after charging for 3 hours, the adapter isn't even warm so I'm thinking the unit is not charging for some reason. I went through the manual and came upon the tips you list but it just won't power on. No big deal, I'll run it back to Best Buy today and exchange it. As for the car, I'm just kidding about it. I'm not a huge Ford fan but I have owned two Taurus's in the past and they were both very dependable. This was my mother in laws car so it has been in the family for about 6 years and has never missed a beat. It has pretty much sat for the past 2 or 3 years and then we got it when she passed away earlier this year. I went over it well. New brakes, oil change, etc. and got it all waxed up and etc. Dylan thought we had sold it and was very excited when he saw it on Christmas morning with a box on top. It will be a great first car for him. The ring? My wife loves it. I actually did order the right size but they just made a mistake I guess. They will take care of it for me. So all is good.
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Venturerider flag !
Freebird replied to barry-only-n7's topic in Venture and Venture Royale Tech Talk ('83 - '93)
Sorry to say that we are out of flags at this time. I received a new one from a new vendor a while back and we should have them available again soon. -
We are having a wonderful Christmas and I hope you all are also. In SPITE of the fact that: The ring I bought Eileen doesn't fit. It will have to be re-sized. She bought me a new TomTom Rider Version 2 GPS. I like it...I think...it appears to be dead on arrival. Will not power up at all...even after charging for several house. Tried the reset button and other tips but it appears to be dead. Will have to exchange it tomorrow. Now Dylan (my 16 year old son) did OK. In addition to a lot of clothes and etc., he also got his first car. It is a '96 Ford Taurus. Low mileage and nice but ..... it IS a FORD. Hated to do that to him but he will have to live with it.
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OR.....you could click on the link in the left menu that says VR Members Map.
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Well....whether you really wanted it or not...that was a heck of a deal. I'm sure you can turn a profit on it.
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Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful members and visitors here. As the year comes to an end, I can only look back and be thankful for all the wonderful friends that have joined together here to become a family. Some of you I have met, others I hope to meet in the future but all are an important part of what we have built here. In spite of all the negative things that are going on in the world around us, I know that I can always come here and see so much good being done by so many of you here and I know that because of people like you, our future is bright. Here is a little clip from a classic animated movie that says it better than I can. God Bless each and every one of you. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKk9rv2hUfA]YouTube - Charlie Brown Christmas[/ame]
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I'm surprised that you are having that big a problem. These bikes don't run NEARLY as hot at the air cooled Harley. That being said, I have heard a very few complaints about the heat but not many. Sorry I can't answer your question about the shield. I've never seen them used on our bikes.
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I did my part. Thanks for letting us know.
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You might check with Rick at http://www.buckeyeperformance.com I think I read that he has them in stock and VentureRiders get a discount with him.
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I chose option one. I've got it and it's wrapped but NOT under the tree yet. I'll put it out Christmas morning.
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They are available and can be found in the VentureRider Merchandise forum area.
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OK...you are right. I did say that. Not really what I meant to say and I'm sorry about that. Doesn't change the facts though. I've already said that it would be done as a last resort and not something that want to do. We've been OK so far since the last changes that I made. If it comes down to it though, it will simply have to be done. I am not disputing that it may be the only choice for some people but I also know that it's a very low percentage of folks.
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Done here also....heck...you may be the ONLY bad one here.
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Joe, It already works that way. An email is sent out to confirm the email address. The person registering has to click a link to confirm their membership. Believe it or not, the spammers have come up with scripts to do all of that automatically. Don
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Look Before Bidding on Ebay
Freebird replied to Tom's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
I am just confirming. Thanks MUCH. It is sincerely appreciated. -
Well...nobody is in trouble at this time. Like I said, that is a step that I really don't want to take and I won't unless it comes down to the last choice. If I DO take that step, those of you who are already registered will not be affected, only new registrations. I made a couple of changes this morning that should go a long way in eliminating the problem. We'll see how it works out. There is one other option also but it requires more work on my part. That would be that any new registrations must be manually approved by me before they actually get access to the site. That would me me checking the address, running the IP Address through Whois.org to find out where it originates from and then me making a judgment as to whether or not it is a spammer or not. Most of the spams that I see here are coming from the RIPE network.
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Yes, it is a real email address. It was not me who made that statement. What I said was that gmail, yahoo, etc. are FREE email services. Because they are free, most spammers...at least ALL the spammers that have logged in here have used them. They have no problem signing up for a free email service, spamming the forums with links to cell phones, viagra, etc. and then just canceling or never checking that free account again. MANY forums have stopped allowing registrations from those free services. Their is also no danger of having their primary email addresses shut town by their providers when they use gmail and yahoo for their spam. I don't know what you mean by many people not having any other email address. I would say that there are VERY few who do not. If you have Internet service then you have an email address available to you. The only people I know of who may not have are those who have no service at all and login from a public computer at a library or something. I'm not doubting what you say but only saying that your experience does not parallel what I see here. I've never, so far, been spammed by anybody using a legit email address from their Internet Service Provider. Every single one has come from a free email service with about 95% of those coming from gmail accounts.
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Yea, every spammer we have had over the past 6 months has used a gmail address. I'm close to adding gmail to the banned email list. There is no reason for a person to not use their real email address here as the email addresses are NOT made public even to other members unless by members choice. There are several ways to try and thwart the spammers. I had already tried your suggestion and it worked for a while. Then the spammers found a way to program the bots using OCR to crack that. I then went to a question and answer type verification. It worked OK for a while but lately they are getting around it also. Now I've implemented a DOUBLE word image and a random question system. I think it will work for a while but eventually they will find a way to defeat those also. It's just a never ending battle.
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OK folks, it seems that the spam bots have found a way to get past the human verification manager in the registration process. I have implemented a new system which should stop it for now. We had several spammers join up over the past few days and I have caught them all fairly quickly. They have been deleted and banned but it's a never ending battle. The new system should pretty much solve the problem for now but it unfortunately makes it a bit more time consuming to register. I apologize now for making it so difficult for any new members who are joining up. If this doesn't stop the bots...the next step is one that I really don't want to take but it may eventually become necessary. That is to prevent anybody from joining up who is using one of the free email services. Almost 100% of the spammers are using accounts from Yahoo, GMail, etc. If the steps I have taken do not stop the spammers then I will simply have to require that people use a real email address and NOT one of the free services. The good news is that I think I can do it while allowing our existing members to continue using such emails but they will not be allowed for any new members who try to register.
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Yea...you tell em Dan. I loved the weather that you arranged for ME this week. I got back home a few minutes ago....we are supposed to get some of that ice tonight. By the way, it was great seeing you.
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Are you associated with that dealership?