(Part 2) Best products from r/nova

> I feel like telescopes should be one of those things people can rent for a day, like a kayak.

Well, kayaks are pretty hard to break, while telescopes are pretty fragile. Kinda like renting an iPhone for a day.

If you want a cheap entrance to the hobby, look at getting a pair of Celestron Skymaster binoculars. You can pick up for under $60 and they are great for looking at many objects. You can easily identify the moons of Jupiter with them.

Car stereo is a little vague. We will need to know at least the model of your car and what you are actually trying to improve. Do you want upgraded speakers, upgraded headunit or just better sound and an aux input?

I've installed a bunch of car stereos for friends and I've also had good luck with inline fm modulator. Unlike regular fm modulator which wirelessly connect, these ones directly connect to the antenna cable located behind your headunit.

FM Modulator

Disclaimer: The link above is just a random modulator I found on amazon. This is not a specific product recommendation only a possible cheap solution.

My Mother loves to cook, and is a self described kitchen alchemist. One look at any of her spice cabinets would make most people agree, it's impossible to find anything in there. So I found these cool cabinet mounting spice shelves that pull out so you can dig through a bit easier. I hope she likes them!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L4IBYXE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

As an amateur wine maker, here's my advice - Start drinking wine and hit up friends and family! You can certainly use used wine bottles for this. The labels come off pretty easily when soaked in water (bath tub). You can sterilize using a bottle cleaner like 1 step and one of these from amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Carboy-Bottle-Washer/dp/B003H84UD0/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1502891465&sr=8-12&keywords=wine+bottle+cleaner

You'd be amazed how quickly you can come up with a bunch of empty bottles.

Billy goat trails are nice and I believe there's a book that has a lot of good suggestions for this area in particular.

My typical stomping grounds that I usually hit after work in the evenings for the sake of going outside are nice little 2 milers at Difficult Run or Scott's Run. Neither of which are too far from the village of Great Falls. Plus you get to see water most of the time and the tree cover's nice. These are by no means challenging hikes, but the views are nice and the trails have many options/ routes.

I've also been looking to find a few new spots around the area. Do you have any particular hikes you could recommend to an avid trailblazer?

Maybe not quite as immediately fulfilling, but then you could have snow cones 24/7 ...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UBMRKG/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B004UBMRKG&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=f52e26da-1287-4616-824b-efc564ff75a4&pf_rd_r=20NF9G6AJ6F87ZTAK3MZ&pd_rd_wg=njdJl&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_w=nXiNl&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pd_rd_r=c695df67-ce26-11e8-9fea-e722222b4194

I bought this before I had my tonsils taken out as an adult (which is a real bear). It works GREAT! Then you can buy whatever flavor syrups your heart desires.

This is the one I bought from Amazon. Works great.

OP, I moved into a new place with hardwood floors. I'd be happy to sell you mine if you want. It's in great condition.

What do you use? Previously I had the Planet Blinky SuperFlash Turbo and it was pretty good during the day, and great at night.

I never found a front light that I felt was bright enough during the day. The Design Shine is so bright that I can see street signs reflecting the light ... during the day!

Planet Blinky:

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-Blinky-Superflash-Turbo/dp/B004U5PV5A/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1382388839&sr=8-4&keywords=planet+blinky+light

Not really answering your question, but if it's just for casual use and not trying to do anything hardcore, or cover a lot of distance, I'd recommend looking into an inflatable kayak.


They take about 5 minutes to pump up, can be used on minor rapids (not too rocky and sharp), handle okay, and best of all, they can be packed down into a bag that fits in any car.

I have 3500W recommended by my electrician that should run my gas furnace via a transfer switch, sump, fridge, and a light or two, just not all simultaneously.

For generators, few things:

• Good luck getting one, they're going to be cleaned out.
  
• Do NOT back feed into your house. Do not do it. Use a transfer switch or a higher rated extension cord (like the indoor/outdoor kind, not the dinky cheap ones you use for a lamp)
  
• Do not run it in the house, or an enclosed space, like an outdoor stair well
  
• Keep it dry
  
• Try to find ethanol free gas (Pure-gas.org), also marinas usually have it, but not a show stopper
  
  I also grabbed one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018LRUDUU
  
  The photos in one of the top reviews speak for itself.
  
  You may also consider a drill pump, it's literally a little pump you attach to a hand drill and has a hose input and output.
  
  

I'll second this. I started with a few different pairs of binoculars and ultimately settled on a nice pair of 20x80s. There's nothing comparable for familiarizing yourself with the sky and star-hopping, except maybe a nice push-to (no automatic object finding) Dobsonian.

10x50 is enough to start finding asteroids, Messier objects, clusters, galaxies, some nebulae, and even some comets in dark enough skies. Plus you can sit in a nice chair and hand-hold them.

Also the Pocket Sky Atlas is very affordable and indispensable. Binoculars in skies like those you'll find at Sky Meadows or further out will get you to about the magnitude limit of the book, or a little further, which makes it a nice companion for binocular observing.

I love my Columbia ski jacket. It has a waterproof outer jacket and an inner down jacket. I wear the down one on its own most of the winter, both zipped together if it’s snowing, and just the outer one as a rain coat in spring/fall. When I lived farther north, I wore both layers all winter. I don’t ski or winter sport, but the coat has been great.

It’s like this: Columbia Women's Superpipe Slope 3 in 1 interchange Winter Omni Heat 650 DOWN Ski Jacket (M, Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076QGK5XH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_b0j4BbT4A0ASH

I bought the following for my parents: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CQTLJM?keywords=knife%20sharpener&qid=1452753421&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3

They have had it for like a year now and it works great. A few swipes in the coarse section and a few in the fine and the blade is super sharp.

That's a valid personal choice.

However, I'm not sure the size would work.

This one maybe. It's 120 dB which is ok and might work but it's a bit bulky and even in a purse - how do you get to it quickly?

Consider Pepper Spray AND combine it with training. It's smaller, likely to be more effective than an air horn, you can have it in your hand as you walk etc. But the training is key.

I am NOT recommending these instructors or the course as I don't have experience with them but I wanted to provide some link/info for you to look into. In addition to the product, they have trainers in the NoVA area enter your zip code and find what works for you.

Just found this sub and this is weirdly my first post. :)

I had one of those plug-in models and the plug wore out. I switched to this Bluetooth guy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DDPUQTS/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and it's awesome.

It's inching closer to $20 ($17.99) but it works great. And it has this deep voice that says "WAITING FOR PAIRING ... PAIRED" which I'm kind of attached to.

I use 106.3 as my station - works without interference almost everywhere.

It does well in a somewhat shady location, first of all. Second, make sure it gets watered twice a week (except in winter - march through September) especially in summer! Best to use one of the green “gator bags.” No need to fertilize, or backfill the planting hole with top soil. Only use whatever soil came out of the hole that was dug for it. Add 1-2” of mulch in a ring around the tree about 3-5’ In diameter. None touching the trunk of the tree. Make sure you can see a “flare” of roots, with that flare being at grade level.


https://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-SharedLibrary/default/dw95ae9a56/Articles/Gardening/2014Content/8741-tree-diagram.jpg

.

https://www.amazon.com/Treegator-Original-Release-Watering-Trees/dp/B0006GT6C6/ref=asc_df_B0006GT6C6/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167139575215&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8515573393224828036&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008192&hvtargid=aud-801738734305:pla-306024069488&psc=1

As said its very easy to do. If you leave a deposit you are welcome to use my dryer cleaning tool. Just hook it up to a drill and it will clean it out well.

For those wondering what I and others are talking about its this...
https://smile.amazon.com/Deflecto-Cleaning-Remover-Extends-Synthetic/dp/B00IB4BMDQ/

Looks like a pretty straight forward swap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmJwXa9Bkgc

A quick google search and I found the adapters needed to it's plug and play, but do you own verification.
Speaker Mount: https://www.amazon.com/Mosuch-Plastic-Speaker-Adapter-Highlander/dp/B007ZQGZWO
Wire harness: https://www.amazon.com/Metra-72-8104-Speaker-Connector-Vehicles/dp/B0002BBP7Y

As for pro installers. I used to work for CarSpa like 15 years ago in Arlington. They were good back then, not sure about now. They used to do almost all the dealership installs around the area. The boss was a bit of a douche, Yelp agrees apparently.

something like this should do it: https://www.amazon.com/Million-Scoville-Pepper-Extract-Sauce/dp/B01F2K494K/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1543358755&sr=8-3&keywords=hottest%2Bpepper&th=1

Read the reviews "what are the ingredients?" -"hell"