Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

kyfdx

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

TCL is the brand name

roadburner

bwia said:

Well, I took the plunge and purchased a Chinese made (sorry LG and Samsung) 4k, 65" TCL QLED TV for $1,584, including delivery, set-up and removal of packaging and old TV. Here is the manufacturer's hype.

"The brilliant blacks and captivating colors of the 65-inch TCL QLED TV offer a spectacular, immersive viewing experience. The Quantum Dot technology includes 1.07 billion colors which creates a strikingly lifelike picture with stunning richness and clarity. The TCL 8-Series TV's mini-LED backlight display technology and Contrast Control Zones provide a high degree of precision, smoothness, uniformity, brightness, and illumination. All this on a FullView edge-to-edge glass display set on a T-pedestal stand designed for style and stability. Four HDMI ports and one USB let you connect multiple devices."

I hope you won the panel lottery. TCL and Hisense have spotty QC; a good one is great, a bad one can have multiple dead pixels and/or DSE.
I’m about 90% certain that I’m going with a 75” Sony 950H; I’ll pick it up and set it up myself.

ab348

I've had a 55" TCL for a couple of years now (not the QLED model but a cheapy 4K set, under $400Cdn) and it is fine. Great value for the money. I also bought a 32" TCL last year on Black Friday for the downstairs (to replace a Sony that crapped out, making me 0-for-3 with Sony) and at that size the picture is excellent. When the 55" finally gets replaced I will probably stay with the brand. Only real problem is that the remote is small and not the greatest design, but I rarely use that one anyway. The other neat thing is that most of their sets are Roku-based so you get that for streaming, and you can get an app for your iPhone that lets you adjust advanced picture settings that the remote apparently cannot access.

driver100

bwia said:

Did any of you guys felt an earthquake about 9:00 am EST this morning? Don't know if the entire house shook but we heard a loud noise as dishes, and pots & pans rattled. It lasted for about 15 seconds and then all went quiet.

Hope the new TV didn't blow up!

driver100

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

TCL is the brand name

65" TCL QLED TV
Oh, I get it....I thought that was part of the fancy features they have now. 4k, OLED, 60 or 120Hz, HDR, HDMI.
Our 55 Samsung is about 6 years old...I have been out of the market for a while!

snakeweasel

bwia said:

Well, I took the plunge and purchased a Chinese made (sorry LG and Samsung) 4k, 65" TCL QLED TV for $1,584, including delivery, set-up and removal of packaging and old TV. Here is the manufacturer's hype.

"The brilliant blacks and captivating colors of the 65-inch TCL QLED TV offer a spectacular, immersive viewing experience. The Quantum Dot technology includes 1.07 billion colors which creates a strikingly lifelike picture with stunning richness and clarity. The TCL 8-Series TV's mini-LED backlight display technology and Contrast Control Zones provide a high degree of precision, smoothness, uniformity, brightness, and illumination. All this on a FullView edge-to-edge glass display set on a T-pedestal stand designed for style and stability. Four HDMI ports and one USB let you connect multiple devices."

Boy 4K and over a billion colors, TV's are getting beyond the capacity of the human eye.

stickguy

testing this trick out.

sample Scotty link..

stickguy

Hot dang. It worked. I always wondered what those handcuffs were for!

Michaell

stickguy said:

Hot dang. It worked. I always wondered what those handcuffs were for!

Handcuffs = links of a chain....

ab348

snakeweasel said:

Simply type in the word or words you want to have as a link, highlight the word(s) and above the comment box next to the Emotorcons is a button that looks like a very short chain. Click on that and there will be a box that you put the URL for the page you want to link to, I did that for this

That assumes of course that the pull-downs in that row above the comment box actually work, which in my case they never do unless I switch to the miserable MS Edge for a browser.

stickguy

I always use chrome. Just did that above. always works just fine. On a windows laptop.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

roadburner said:

imidazol97 said:

I tried one kit on my 08 Cobalt several times. Always was not great results and clouded back up.

I found what works best: I bought new headlamps out of the multitude of choices on Ebay. They're lasted years now without clouding up.

New headlights for the Clubman are $257 per side. $514 vs. $20 and a couple of hours of effort wasn't a difficult choice.

I hope it lasts longer for you than my trials lasted. I shopped ebay and read reviews for what they were worth. Weren't the cheapest offered but brand was slightly different and has slight smoked tone to plastic. I believe it was about $100-125 total for both sides.

Big difference in cost for Clubman vs Cobalt in aftermarket. But they came wired and with bulbs.

I think domestics in general have cheaper parts. I got replacements for the Sebring for $75 each.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

testing this trick out.

sample Scotty link..

My God if there is one person I want to reach into the screen and slap it's him.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

Hot dang. It worked. I always wondered what those handcuffs were for!

Yeah I am answering posts like this I should be a host here at Edmunds.

Or at least have my dues be reduced.

Now I have to ask did anyone fine the third link I hid in that post?

snakeweasel

I just spent the better part of the day raking up leaves filling up 15 lawn bags. As I sit here now looking out the windows I have to ask myself "Did I do any work?" The leaves keep falling and it looks like my lawn hasn't been raked.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

snakeweasel said:

Simply type in the word or words you want to have as a link, highlight the word(s) and above the comment box next to the Emotorcons is a button that looks like a very short chain. Click on that and there will be a box that you put the URL for the page you want to link to, I did that for this

That assumes of course that the pull-downs in that row above the comment box actually work, which in my case they never do unless I switch to the miserable MS Edge for a browser.

Those stopped working for me a few days ago. I only have the browser that came with the iPad so I guess I’m out of luck.

stickguy

you can download any normal browser if you want. Not limited to the crap that comes on the tablet (I assume it is not an Ipad. )

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

you can download any normal browser if you want. Not limited to the crap that comes on the tablet (I assume it is not an Ipad. )

You assume I know how to do that. Remember who you’re talking to.

qbrozen

snakeweasel said:

stickguy said:

testing this trick out.

sample Scotty link..

My God if there is one person I want to reach into the screen and slap it's him.

just do what I did and flag @stickguy for posting it and bolstering that jerk's youtube income.

stickguy

he's a multi millionaire from these videos anyway, so I doubt a few less views will matter too much.

suydam

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

TCL is the brand name

65" TCL QLED TV
Oh, I get it....I thought that was part of the fancy features they have now. 4k, OLED, 60 or 120Hz, HDR, HDMI.
Our 55 Samsung is about 6 years old...I have been out of the market for a while!

We also have a Samsung 55”. It’s doing fine, but I could see replacing it in a few years to get better streaming — it’s not set up to easily access newer channels although one can do it, just a little clunky. Maybe not as smart as some of the newer ones. I do like Samsung though.

nyccarguy

suydam said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

TCL is the brand name

65" TCL QLED TV
Oh, I get it....I thought that was part of the fancy features they have now. 4k, OLED, 60 or 120Hz, HDR, HDMI.
Our 55 Samsung is about 6 years old...I have been out of the market for a while!

We also have a Samsung 55”. It’s doing fine, but I could see replacing it in a few years to get better streaming — it’s not set up to easily access newer channels although one can do it, just a little clunky. Maybe not as smart as some of the newer ones. I do like Samsung though.

We have a 55” Samsung too. It’s old, but still has a gorgeous picture. I can’t add apps to it like Disney Plus. Every so often Netflix (We are watching AWAY right now which is fabulous) or Amazon Prime won’t load, so I have to unplug the TV and plug it back in to reset it.

driver100

suydam said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

TCL is the brand name

65" TCL QLED TV
Oh, I get it....I thought that was part of the fancy features they have now. 4k, OLED, 60 or 120Hz, HDR, HDMI.
Our 55 Samsung is about 6 years old...I have been out of the market for a while!

We also have a Samsung 55”. It’s doing fine, but I could see replacing it in a few years to get better streaming — it’s not set up to easily access newer channels although one can do it, just a little clunky. Maybe not as smart as some of the newer ones. I do like Samsung though.

I like Samsung too suydam and I agree, adding new streaming channels is tricky. I tend to be loyal to brands that work for me, Samsung for TVs, HP for computer things.

driver100

nyccarguy said:

suydam said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

TCL is the brand name

65" TCL QLED TV
Oh, I get it....I thought that was part of the fancy features they have now. 4k, OLED, 60 or 120Hz, HDR, HDMI.
Our 55 Samsung is about 6 years old...I have been out of the market for a while!

We also have a Samsung 55”. It’s doing fine, but I could see replacing it in a few years to get better streaming — it’s not set up to easily access newer channels although one can do it, just a little clunky. Maybe not as smart as some of the newer ones. I do like Samsung though.

We have a 55” Samsung too. It’s old, but still has a gorgeous picture. I can’t add apps to it like Disney Plus. Every so often Netflix (We are watching AWAY right now which is fabulous) or Amazon Prime won’t load, so I have to unplug the TV and plug it back in to reset it.

I don't know much about these things but previously our TV did not have SMART, so I bought a DVD player that had SMART features....cost about $60. Can you still do that?

nyccarguy

driver100 said:

nyccarguy said:

suydam said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

TCL is the brand name

65" TCL QLED TV
Oh, I get it....I thought that was part of the fancy features they have now. 4k, OLED, 60 or 120Hz, HDR, HDMI.
Our 55 Samsung is about 6 years old...I have been out of the market for a while!

We also have a Samsung 55”. It’s doing fine, but I could see replacing it in a few years to get better streaming — it’s not set up to easily access newer channels although one can do it, just a little clunky. Maybe not as smart as some of the newer ones. I do like Samsung though.

We have a 55” Samsung too. It’s old, but still has a gorgeous picture. I can’t add apps to it like Disney Plus. Every so often Netflix (We are watching AWAY right now which is fabulous) or Amazon Prime won’t load, so I have to unplug the TV and plug it back in to reset it.

I don't know much about these things but previously our TV did not have SMART, so I bought a DVD player that had SMART features....cost about $60. Can you still do that?

You know what,. I never thought of that. We have a TCL TV Downstairs & my kids' XBox is hooked up to it. They were having trouble with streaming, and now stream everything through the X-Box.

ab348

driver100 said:

nyccarguy said:

suydam said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

TCL is the brand name

65" TCL QLED TV
Oh, I get it....I thought that was part of the fancy features they have now. 4k, OLED, 60 or 120Hz, HDR, HDMI.
Our 55 Samsung is about 6 years old...I have been out of the market for a while!

We also have a Samsung 55”. It’s doing fine, but I could see replacing it in a few years to get better streaming — it’s not set up to easily access newer channels although one can do it, just a little clunky. Maybe not as smart as some of the newer ones. I do like Samsung though.

We have a 55” Samsung too. It’s old, but still has a gorgeous picture. I can’t add apps to it like Disney Plus. Every so often Netflix (We are watching AWAY right now which is fabulous) or Amazon Prime won’t load, so I have to unplug the TV and plug it back in to reset it.

I don't know much about these things but previously our TV did not have SMART, so I bought a DVD player that had SMART features....cost about $60. Can you still do that?

I got a Sony Blu-ray player that was supposedly smart, and offered streaming. Unfortunately it was through Sony's own infrastructure (not Roku/Fire/etc) which was really awful. Half the time it couldn't connect to anything no matter what you did. Another dud Sony device.

snakeweasel

RIP Alex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69p1xplmKl4

dino001

I got 55" Sony X950G this spring for $1000 plus tax. It's an LED with a top (then) visual processor. Didn't want to pay almost double for same sized OLED, plus it was available quickly in the local Best Buy for a pickup (these were lockdown times) as opposed to week-two long delivery. It's got some annoying quirks, but generally works well. The worst one is sound output to the receiver randomly drops off the HDMI when on Youtube (only there), which suggests some software glitch. I just need switch to TV and back to sound system and it comes back. Doesn't happen often, but enough to be annoying. The colors are very good, early on felt even too vivid in normal setting, I kind of liked my old dead Toshiba plasma, it felt more natural, especially people's faces in a studio (everybody looked orange to me, not just DJT), but it could be just something I was used to, not an objective measure. It doesn't bother me anymore, I guess we get used to things.

stickguy

our 52" Sharp is now 11.5 years old. Still has a picture like new. Only has IIRC 3-4 stream channels built in (netflix being one) so to stream anything else need to go through the firestick. But, we almost never stream so not a big deal. The old Sony DLP (quasi-rear projection) is downstairs. That must be a good 20 YO at this point. Takes a while to warm up, and picture not all that bright, but it only gets used a few hours a week when I am using the eliptical machine down there. Keep waiting for that to die, to give me an excuse to move the Sharp downstairs, and get something new (maybe 60, 65" max) upstairs, with all the streaming stuff built right in.

some absurdly low prices. Was in Target the other day, and normal brands (LG, Samsung, etc.) were everywhere. 55" LG 4K ULHD smarts for something like $400. Crazy.

graphicguy

TCL makes good TVs. Nothing bad about them, at all! I like them!

stickguy

last year when my daughter moved she picked up a TCL Roku built in TV for the new place. Nice picture, worked fine, and was about $240 (40" maybe?) All numbers estimated!

venture

As I was going through the drive through at Chick fil A this morning I noticed that some cows had destroyed their garden.


I ordered a Number 5 with bacon. Maybe I said "bacon" too forcefully.

bwia

Not complaining, but the Dow is up 1,248 points (4.4%) to a new world record. Yes! Who gets the credit for this?

jmonroe1

venture said:

As I was going through the drive through at Chick fil A this morning I noticed that some cows had destroyed their garden.


I ordered a Number 5 with bacon. Maybe I said "bacon" too forcefully.

I like Chic fil A but I won’t sit in their drive thru line, they are way too long. In fact their lines are so long everyone laughs about it. Sure hope we get a vaccine soon so I don’t just have a memory of how good they are.☹️

jmonroe

venture

I like Chic fil A but I won’t sit in their drive thru line, they are way too long. In fact their lines are so long everyone laughs about it. Sure hope we get a vaccine soon so I don’t just have a memory of how good they are.☹️

jmonroe

I was the only one in line for breakfast. There's a Dunkin' next door and their line was packed.

stickguy

no way I would get on that mess of a line at chickies. If I really felt the desire to go, would park far away and walk over to go inside.

we go by one all the time, pretty close to our house. Opened about 4 years ago. I think we went once, when they first opened and they sent out free sandwich coupons. Though we often stopped at one somewhere in VA right off I95, on our way to NC when the princess was in college down there.

houdini1

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

Good article about the Mercedes CLA AMG which this reviewer really liked. Best feature 0 to 60 in 4 seconds, probably the worst feature $60k Cdn, but can go up quickly and probably close to $50K U.S.
https://www.wheels.ca/car-reviews/review-2020-mercedes-amg-cla45/

The worst feature has to be that dash design.

Too much shiny stuff, and that steering wheel looks like it was molded out of clay.

carnaught

bwia said:

Not complaining, but the Dow is up 1,248 points (4.4%) to a new world record. Yes! Who gets the credit for this?

Apparently it's from a hopeful ("90% effective") Covid vaccine from Pfizer.

nyccarguy

bwia said:

Not complaining, but the Dow is up 1,248 points (4.4%) to a new world record. Yes! Who gets the credit for this?

What goes up MUST come down

fintail

And if only the market had some kind of connection to actual economic conditions, especially for normal working people. It might as well be a random number generator in that regard.

nyccarguy said:

What goes up MUST come down

houdini1

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

vapor lock, freezing in the winter, dealing with a choke. That goes way back. But I honestly can't recall ever having to deal with a fuel pump. My oldest car was a 1967 (6 cylinder Camaro) that was replace by a 74/75 Duster. So I never really dealt with the truly old stuff.

Those cars you mentioned had mechanical fuel pumps. They were pretty reliable given the mechanical beasts that they were. I think I only had to change 3 of them with all the cars I had. I’m pretty sure my ‘95 Bonneville was the first car I owned that had an electrical fuel pump that was in the gas tank.

jmonroe

If a car failed to start today, people would panic and sell it immediately. Used to be a common occurrence. On one old car I owned, at times I would have to open the hood and bang on the shift linkage to get it unstuck so it would shift. Just ordinary stuff.

dino001

nyccarguy said:

bwia said:

Not complaining, but the Dow is up 1,248 points (4.4%) to a new world record. Yes! Who gets the credit for this?

What goes up MUST come down

Simply not true, even in nature. Have you heard of cosmic escape velocity? First, second, third...

houdini1

imidazol97 said:

Just another "feature" to go bad. I see an MB around the area that's sitting on it's wheels almost because of an air ride feature that's gone bad.

I used to marvel at the windows on a TTS owned by a middle-aged guy who gets coffee at the same quick market store I do. It lower the windows a 1/4 inch when the doors are being shut, then puts them back up to seal...

He replaced it with a more dependable vehicle, CTS. Both purchased on the internet. He's had the CTS for at least 4 years.

"Just another feature to go bad". I used to say that about garage door openers.

houdini1

bwia said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

I bought it at Best Buy and the company is TCL. I understand they are now dominating the low-end market segment around the world and this QLED model, the TCL 8-Series mini-LED, is their flagship competing directly with Sony, LG and Samsung.

Costco is advertising a 65" LG for $379. in my area. That is sort of unbelievable.

nyccarguy

houdini1 said:

bwia said:

driver100 said:

Sounds impressive. Does it have a brand name or is it a No-Name product. Where did you buy it? What made you buy this one compared to the others? Questions....questions?????????

I bought it at Best Buy and the company is TCL. I understand they are now dominating the low-end market segment around the world and this QLED model, the TCL 8-Series mini-LED, is their flagship competing directly with Sony, LG and Samsung.

Costco is advertising a 65" LG for $379. in my area. That is sort of unbelievable.

This is the reason it is quite dangerous for me to go to Costco with my pickup truck that has a 6' bed.

nyccarguy

fintail said:

And if only the market had some kind of connection to actual economic conditions, especially for normal working people. It might as well be a random number generator in that regard.

nyccarguy said:

What goes up MUST come down

I agree 100%

stickguy

they just opened a new Costco not too far from us. We were planning going for a look-see. I have never actually been inside one. Not really convenient enough to join, and we did recently renew at BJs.

might do it when i start thinking about new cars again.

[Deleted User]

We were Costco members many years ago, just renewed our membership recently to take advantage of savings on tires for the 4Runner. Discount was a tad over $1,100, got them installed with road hazards for under $900 at Costco, so worth the $60 to re-up. We strolled through the other night, a bit overwhelming. I can see where you need to have a plan before you go or you could drop a lot of cash before you know it!

andres3

omarman said:

"It was fun while it lasted. That's probably the best thing we can hope for with every job we take on in life. Funny thing about sleep position. I seemed to always get lower back pain unless sleeping on my side. Good luck with the new plan and hope all goes well.

Also, not so unusual to find a doc who charts patient noncompliance after complications arise.

My dentist said I had a very strong bite when complications arose with my first crown.

andres3

fintail said:

Yep, and those cars (A/C/CLA etc) have some false pretense of sport, too. Funny, many bemoan the CLA, I've known a couple people who had one, and loved it. Style can forgive some sins, especially if one isn't a traditionalist. When the CLA debuted around 7 years ago, some predicted the death of MB cachet, hasn't happened yet. The key is to keep your highline cars desirable, a case of something actually trickling down.

I'll wager the youngish Rolls-Royce age is due to the propensity of dirty/blood money dynasties and real corruption in a few locations.

driver100 said:

Agree, but lots of younger people buy CLA's and C Class MBs. But, that was the idea, get them in at a younger age and they will move up to a larger, more expensive, more comfortable MB later in life.

Average ages: The global average age of a Rolls-Royce customer is 45 years old, down from 56 seven years ago. That's lower than the average age of car buyers over all, which hovers around 52, and younger than the average age of luxury car buyers, too, which is 50, according to data from Kelley Blue Book. Buick has an average new-buyer age of 59. At Cadillac it's 52, at Mercedes-Benz it's 51, and at BMW it's 50. (from 2017)

Buick, for instance, has an average new-buyer age of 59. At Cadillac it's 52, at Mercedes-Benz it's 51, and at BMW it's 50,

I'm one of the younger whipper-snappers that Audi picked up into the brand with the release of the new A3 in 2006.

Although Audi continues to be successful with the A3/S3, I think they offered much better bang for the buck nearly 15 years ago. I suppose the newer cars have more bells, whistles, gadgets, and electronic doo-dads, including nanny driving assistance features. I valued the far less "cost cutting" the original A3's had. I felt like Audi was subsidizing the entry level models just a bit; that's value.

Examples:

1. Aluminum Shift Paddles, not plastic (sport package w/ DSG)
2. Aluminum ringed/trimmed air vents (sport package)
3. Aluminum glove box handle (I think standard)
2. I think all 4-doors had an aluminum sill plate; though I might be remembering the S4 here.
3. Very nice leather steering wheel (sport package).
4. Same motor as the A4 standard.
5. Quality leather seating surfaces with sport package.
6. Quality bolstered seats with sport package.
5. In 2006 "free" maintenance to 50K miles.
6. Standard audio system had a subwoofer (not a very good one, but it had one).

A 2020 A3 would probably be missing a lot of this, especially if you don't go "prestige" trim.