Tom Tom, will it be visible in it’s totality in Texas? My luck it would be but raining, and 33º…
And Tom Tom is correct in his statements about Neal, I have said it before and because Tom Tom stepped out on the limb here I’ll say it again, if Neal is involved it is a SNAFU scenario. I’ve been involved in too many of the group buys that had all sorts of issues due to his relation to the project. Including sending him a couple of quads I built on the X5 platform (the first mysteriously went missing in China, totally my loss) so they could make the S43 or whatever. In that one, despite the time and expense I personally went to, I was left out of the testing loop on their new light. Some folks griped about that and a light arrived with zip explanation after these complaints. I gave it away, had already made my own Ti/Cu quad that I still carry every day. So yes, I too feel like if Neal is involved I do not want to be. It is what it is. (after some run around, surprise, I was reimbursed for the DHL on the second light, which cost $67 to ship to China with a 30% discount as a first time DHL user… yes it was going to be a flat $100 to ship the small quad X5 to Neal!)
And to extrapolate, when the D1S was coming out and Neal had em first …I ordered from him so I could review it, among the first, I thought, that would receive one. He forgot to ship it. Took among the longest to receive of any light I’ve ordered. Others on that deal got wrong lights, wrong emitters, all sorts of mix ups. Like the GT shipments. And on and on and on…
…like the serial numbered X6/X5 sets that immediately went on sale without the serial number, nullifying the collector value of the set. They even sold the “special” boxes! And me and ToyKeeper were the spokespersons on those sets, convincing a great many to buy them when the other team members were absent without leave. Left a seriously bad taste, that one did. And of course, the Cometa SNAFU. I sent Neal a list of the exact components on specific drivers, drivers I’d built by the hundreds with full success, he agreed to use these for accuracy, then of course the components were not used. And glitches occurred. And then there were tubes that were too short. Wrong threads. Mismatched ano… all of this certainly can’t be hung on Neal’s shoulders and I’m sure he played he trying to get things right, but nonetheless he was involved and things went awry. After the X6 group buy I was sent 6 extension tubes and hosts to build lights for the team members of the X6, requiring an MT-G2 emitter. Neal sent the Astrolux X6 hosts and the extension tubes… the tubes were too short by 4 mm and the MT-G2’s turned out to be 9V and wouldn’t work on 2 cells… And on and on and on… The team members never got those special “Thank you” lights as the battery tubes never did get corrected…
It hasn’t been one or two simple things, it’s a long ongoing list of issue…. pretty much like how long this particular “group buy” has been lasting and the shipping errors (omissions) to the obvious right people…
I know all this is beating a dead horse, but does that mean all the folks tied into this are supposed to be kept blind as to how Neal’s deals have worked in the past? Like, do y’all really, even for a second, think I can shut up? I’ve tried, really I have, but Tom Tom is right on this, as well as on some other things. (I know, I know, he’s rarely right, but hey, it can happen! )
Here’s to hoping Neal’s wife has gotten him straightened out and all that bunk up above is just that, ancient memories. Good Luck!