The Viper PST Gen 2 is Vortex’s mid-tier LPVO (priced between the Venom and the Razor) and lowest-priced LPVO that offers true daylight bright illumination. You have a choice of an MOA or MILRAD crosshair reticle with calibrated hash marks for long-distance shots. The fiber optic embedded in the reticle provides a red dot bright dot at the center with 10 levels of intensity, powered by a CR2032 battery.
Design-wise, the Viper appears very similar to Vortex’s premium LPVO the Razor HD. Its illumination knob features 10 steps of brightness with an off in between. The indexing of the illumination knob felt a tad bit loose and sloppy. Optically it is a bright, clear, and relatively flat sight picture with only a little fish-eye effect.
The Viper’s only drawbacks are its illumination turret and weight (22.7oz). The Viper was one of the first LPVOs to utilize fiber optic in its reticle but is a bit more expensive than fiber optic offerings from Monstrum and Primary Arms. The Viper is still a strong performer and matched with the famous Vortex warranty, still a viable LPVO option today.
Too Much Information live chat show. Today, we’re goign to delve into dashcams, why they’re cool, useful, and sometimes suck. My guest is Jessie of the Korean dashcam maker Vueroid https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-251022-dashcams
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This brand is a Japanese multinational mass media conglomerate is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. In the 1950’s their TR-63 transisiter radio cracked open the U.S. market to Japanese consumer microelectronics. In the 1980’s, their Walkman created the portable music device category.
Dashcams are widespread in Russia[4] as a guard against police corruption and insurance fraud, where they provide additional evidence.[5] They have been called “ubiquitous” and “an on-line obsession”, and are so prevalent that dashcam recordings were the most common videos of the February 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor
In 1991 this Japanese electronics brand launched the PlayStation, which dominated and expanded the video game console market, taking the crown from Nintendo and Sega.
Athlon means “Prize” or “Medal” and Midas was the legendary king who’s touch turned everything to gold. I was hoping adding a Midas red dot to my pistol could add a little gold medal performance to my accuracy. Athlon sent me a Midas Flash micro red dot to test. Midas has a LOT of Midas red dots in their product line, so I’m finding identifying them challenging (though nowhere near as confusing as Holosun or EOTech’s nomenclature). The Midas Flash, a low-profile 3MOA red dot with a RMR footprint.
The Flash has a underside battery compartment for its CR2032 battery requiring the Midas Flash to be removed from it’s base or slide to replace. While this could requires checking and perhaps adjusting your zero, in reality the unit as a 50,000 run time with a fresh battery, so battery replacement would be roughly every 5-6 years! The Flash has motion activation so when you draw it or move your pistol, it will automatically turn on and be ready for action. After a few minutes in storage the unit will automatically go into sleep mode conserving battery life.
Having an underside battery compartment allows the unit to be very low profile compared to other micro red dots (even others in the Midas product line). The low profile base allows the red dot window to sit low to the bore line of your pistol improving accuracy. Though not quite low enough to utilize my factory Glock 17 iron sights.
The Flash will fit a pistol with an RMR cut slide or mounting. It comes with a number of packets of screws labeled for various popular pistol models. My after market Glock slide best fit the packet marked Smith & Wessen 2.0. It comes with a gasket spacer to give the unit a weatherproof seal to your exposed battery compartment. Unlike some red dots which only offer a limited time warranty (because micro electronics are notoriously susceptible to damage from vibration), Athlon offers a Lifetime Warranty.
I ran through a box of ammo and found the 3MOA not too small to find and aim. I’m relatively new to using red dots on a pistol so it helped me to find the dot by increasing the dot brightness to the point of blooming for faster target acquisition. For more precision, I tone the brightness to get a finer point. Running through alternating target drills I was generally able to get most of my shots within an 8″ target in rapid fire. I don’t think this is gold medal performance but for me the Midas Flash aims like a winner.
The S1 4K Infinite is the first dashcam who’s footage impressed me. The best budget dashcams I’ve tested up till now produce footage that looks as good as the best home security cams. Granted, these cams I’ve tested typically cost anywhere between $75-$125. The S1 produces footage that looks as good as that of a 4K GoPro or DJI action cam.
Part of the reason for its superior footage is that the S1 comes with a Circular Polarizing Filter (CPL) which can reduce glare and reflections in the windscreen and improve readability and contrast. In addition, the S1’s native 4K resolution really looks like 4K and not just upscaled 1080p as with some budget 4K dashcams.
The S1 has a somewhat hidden Image Enhancement Mode that is only accessible when reconfiguring the camera settings from its default 4K@60fps to 30fps. An HDR + Infinite Plate Capture option becomes available at 30fps. This setting produces enhanced readability of characters in license plates, especially at night.
There were two minor issues that I experienced with the S1. When starting the car, the S1 took about 5-10 seconds longer to boot up than other dashcams I’ve tested. After a firmware upgrade that I downloaded from the Vueroid website, the boot up shortened noticeably. One other minor annoyance is that if you choose to change the camera’s Resolution, the S1 forces a full SD-Card format, erasing any files previously on that card.
The S1 also offers GPS and speed logging, WiFi connectivity to a downloadable phone App to copy files and modify menu settings. And the option to wire the S1 directly to your car battery to enable continuous recording when the car is parked and the engine is off.
For its premium performance, the S1 does come with a premium price. The S1’s build quality and its fit-and-finish, feels like a premium electronic device. Not the cheap plastic toy-like quality of many cheaper dashcams. But at the end of the day, having footage of a license plate could mean the difference between identifying a car or not.
While in Los Angeles, I stopped by the Evike.com superstore to try out their new interactive shooting experience: Level Up. It’s an airsoft shooting gallery game for up to 5 players. Game graphics are projected onto its walls, which contain impact sensors.
You choose from a selection of game modes, including a zombie attack. Your score is automatically recorded. You’re issued everything you need to play, including eye-protection, a full-auto airsoft rifle with a red dot optic, and glow-in-the-dark tracer BBs so you can see your shots.
I am trying out SK Long Range Match. SK is the German made rimfire brand now owned by Lapua of Finland. SK is one of the few choices for competition grade, match ammo that I’ve found in California. For the test, I’m comparing it to CCI Standard Velocity, which many consider the best overall “bulk” rimfire ammo for bolt-action rifles and bullseye pistols.
I am testing various 22LR rimfire ammunition at 100 yards to determine which produces the tightest groups in my CZ 457 rifle. My rifle build is a factory-stock CZ 457 VPC, topped with an Area 419 Picatinny rail, and a Discovery Optics XED 6-36×56 scope (their top-tier long-range optic with Japanese eXtra Low Dispersion ED glass).
After shooting 20 rounds of each, SK certainly outperformed CCI but its also about 4x the price.
Too Much Information live chat show. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle continues to dominate the box office and KPop Demon Hunters is a cultural phenominon. It all started with Japanimation: Japanese anime TV series that were adapted for US after-school broadcasts in the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s. https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-251008-japanimation-quiz/
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Japanimation was the common term that was used to describe Japanese Anime TV series released in the US. These are the most popular and influential Anime series that hit the US in the 70’s to early 90’s.
Kimba the White Lion, known in Japan as Jungle Emperor (Japanese: ジャングル大帝, Hepburn: Janguru Taitei), is a Japanese shōnenmanga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka.The anime series was released in English Dub to US markets, on September 11, 1966; on CBS stations.
Astro Boy, known in Japan as Mighty Atom (Japanese: 鉄腕アトム, Hepburn: Tetsuwan Atomu; lit. ’Iron-Armed Atom’), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. A B&W anime came out 1963 but not in the US. A color anime series did out in the US until 1986 in limited markets.
Star Blazers is an American adaptation of the Japanese anime television series Space Battleship Yamato I (1974), II (1978), and III (1980) (宇宙戦艦ヤマト, Uchū Senkan Yamato). Star Blazers was first broadcast in the United States in 1979.
Mazinger Z (Japanese: マジンガーZ, Hepburn: Majingā Zetto; known as Tranzor Z in the United States). One of the first Giant Robot animes to be released in the US.
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (科学忍者隊ガッチャマン, Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatchaman, lit. Science Ninja Squad Gatchaman), also simply titled as Gatchaman is a 1972. Heavily edited and adapted for the US in 1978 as Battle of the Planets (BOTP) and the team was called G-Force. These super hero teams would go on to inspire live Super Sentai series like Power Rangers.
Beast King GoLion (百獣王ゴライオン, Hyaku Jūō Goraion; The King of Hundred Beasts GoLion) is a Japanese super mechaanime television series that aired form 1981 to 1982. The animation from GoLion was edited and trimmed to create the American series Voltron: Defender of the Universe
Transformers is a media franchise produced by Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. The Anime doubted in the US 1985 becoming a hit, and was co-released in Japan under the name: Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers. The Transformersmecha were largely designed by Shōji Kawamori, the creator of the Japanese mecha anime franchise Macross
Sailor Moon (Japanese: 美少女戦士セーラームーン, Hepburn: Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn; originally translated as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon,[1] later Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon[2][3]) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. An English dub of the 1992 anime series was release in 1995.
A few months ago, I tested and reviewed the Discovery Optics HD MVPO 2-12×24 and thought it was a great general-purpose optic, whose only shortcoming was its usability at CQB distances due to its reticle and lack of daylight-bright illumination. Earlier this year, I also tested the excellent new OSight X multi-reticle pistol reflex sight. I wondered if both of these could be paired together to make an ideal combination sighting system.
I bought a low-cost piggy-back mount that is a scope ring with a small Picatinny rail. I attached this just forward of my turrets to allow me enough space to manipulate my elevation without obscuring the turret. Using an RMR/Picatinny adapter, I mounted the OSight X atop the scope. An added benefit was that the combo was actually lighter than most 1-10x LPVOs.
High-power optics are great for general-purpose use and hunting, but generally poor at distances closer than 50 yards. Iron sights and red dots are excellent for fast target engagement, but are limited by a shooter’s naked eyesight. A number of solutions have been invented to bridge the gap: LPVOs, low-power prism optics, red dot magnifiers, and piggy-back/angled reflex mounts.
For a practical test, I fielded this optical setup at a local falling plates match. I wanted to see if this setup was better than the LPVO I usually use to good effect. The first obstacle I had to overcome was that having a reflex atop my scope didn’t give me enough room in my rifle bag. I had to zip the bag, leaving the Osight X and cover poking out and exposed.
When shooting the red dot at closer distances of the match (30-45 yards), I utilized a heads-up shooting position. In theory, this is a major advantage in CQB threat environments as it affords a less obstructed peripheral view than an LPVO at 1x (and less visual distortion). But in practice, since the falling plate targets were always directly in front of me and there were no random threats that could pop up, the wider peripheral view was moot.
When I got to the 45-yard stage in the match, I found that the red dot suffered due to my aging vision and the size of the dot obscuring the 8″ targets at this distance. I switched to the MPVO at 2x, which was better than the red dot at this distance, but it lacked a bright enough reticle illumination in the variable lighting conditions.
In theory, this reflex/MPVO combo should have been a great setup, but in practice, it was far from perfect. Admittedly, my performance could be improved with further practice, but its advantages aren’t as significant compared to a traditional LPVO for CQB and action shooting matches. Adding a reflex sight to any long-range optic would be helpful as a backup sight, but with the trade-off of extra bulk and complexity.
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Too Much Information live chat show. The failed rebrand of Cracker Barrel also highlighted changes to the interior design of the restaurant, making it look more like other restaurants and fast food chains like Starbucks, McDonalds, and Wendys. Why do all these places look the same. We discuss this trend with Architecht, Matthew Brady.
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BRAND CONTEST CLUE
This hamburger chain has restaurants in 120 countries and territories and serves 68 million customers daily.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
In August 19, Cracker Barrel announced a redesign of their restaurants and brand and created a firestorm of negative blowback from their customers. After a major drop in their stock price, their CEO announced the suspension of their redesign plans.
A major part of their redesign was a more generic logo and a change in their interior design to bring their look more in line to many “modern” restaurants like Chilli’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, and similar corporatized fast food chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Starbucks.
Why are all of our restaurants looking the same or so similar in style that it’s nearly impossible to identify them without the logo?
Brothers Richard and Maurice founded this hamburger chain in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. Roy Croc joined the company in 1955 and launched its franchising, which would grow into the largest hamburger brand in the world.
