Not meaning to be at odds, really. I just don’t understand why/how things are happening to you as a noob that haven’t/don’t happen to anyone else. I have no idea what you’re seeing over there across the pond, want to understand, try to understand, if for no other reason than to try to keep it from happening to ME!
The reflector and lens fogging could be from something in the thermal paste used heating up and vaporizing. I don’t know. I know the paste used on mine is grey and sort of watery, and very little of it, so I’m cleaning it off and using Arctic Alumina Thermal Paste.
I’m gonna talk to my new buds that make simulated diamonds and see if I can get a disc instead of a faceted cut stone. Sells by the carat, regardless of cut, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t be accommodating. First I have to financially recover from all these group buys and replacing the engagement ring my wife “lost”. I knew once I put down the money on a replacement, the original would get jealous and rear it’s head… yep, found the lost engagement ring, the new one is being made as we speak. Go figure.
Science named our planets. Science then decided one was just a rock. So every kid that went to school was told we had 9 planets in our Solar System. Then they decided to downsize one, after the fact, and now we have “8” planets. There’s Science for you, always changing, adapting to the new data coming in. So, is anything actual, matter of factual? Or do the scientists simply shift and adapt at will as new things are discovered? Eggs are good for you. No, wait! Eggs are bad for you! Uh, hold that thought, eggs are good for you again unless you have cholesterol problems. How are we ever to really know what’s what?
How many people are on Earth? How many people were in Harvard’s sleep experiment? So the data is based on a minuscule percentage of available test subjects? Once again, subject to change. So, what IS normal? It’s a misleading concept.
Not very long ago, normal was a nicely made flashlight with all the goodies glued inside, no access. Not so very long ago, normal was 100 lumens. (Surefire still believes in this, by the way… both the glue and the weak lumens high price concept)
Science learns of a lot of really cool and essential stuff. The guys/gals at myth busters blow most of it up.