Category: Review

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Solo camping with my EV

I took this week off to unwind. What better way than out in the bush, adjacent a creek, sitting next to a campfire watching satellites spin past?

I’ve wanted to get back into camping for a while now. I figure it’s a good way to get some downtime without spending a fortune on accommodation. The national parks in Queensland are seven bucks a night, which is a cheap weekend away these days, and there’s plenty of them.

The Qld Government has a website listing all their campgrounds, and you can filter by things like toilet availability, whether or not you need a four wheel drive to access.

I was originally planning to drive north but after checking the forecast figured south had less likelihood of wet and I landed on a little campground called Spicers Gap Campground.

It feels like a lot of things went wrong, but I figure the best way to approach them is with a sort of zen mindset. The first omen, I ordered a V2L cable for my EV so I could power my cooktop and assorted bits. It was sent express post last week but Australia Post managed to lose it somewhere in Melbourne. So I picked up a small gas stove instead.

my package did not arrive on time

Then I forgot to bring my water bottle AND the 15l tank of water, both sitting on my kitchen bench. So I had to stop in and get some bottled water.

One cool thing was finding an EV charger on the way at the Queensland Raceway, and it’s completely freeeee. It’s advertised as some ridiculously high speed charger, but I only got about 80 kilowatts, enough to charge the EV up while I ate a sandwich (ham cheese & tomato, stale, from the same fuel station I got the water).

Once I’d topped up to 80% I drove the hour or so south to the campground, only to hit a dirt road up a steep hill with a sign saying “4×4 ONLY”.

Rocked up to the camping area that the website said is most definitely available to 2 wheel drive vehicles.

I checked the website and yeah, it says it’s only accessible by four wheel drive. But it’s also listed as a regular 2WD accessible camp. So I checked to see if there were any other access roads (there weren’t), then had a look to see if there were any other campgrounds nearby (kinda), before practising my calm and driving off.

Manna Gum, the nearby camp was only 13 km away, but the drive up through the Great Diving Range and looping back on a long and windy road was 85 km.

Manna Gum and Spicers Gap campgrounds are pretty close together, but 85 km by road

I arrived about an hour later and un-thworped my pop-up tent in a little spot the furthest away from the only other people at the camp.

Some observations:

  1. There’s no mobile signal (Spicer’s Gap would have been on the cusp of service, so I bought a Telstra SIM specially for the occasion)
  2. There are cows! Lots of them, just chilling around the place.
  3. It’s really nice, it’s a eucalypt rainforesty looking place, and I can hear the creek flowing nearby. Can’t wait to check it out.
  4. It was also much further away than I thought. I went from 80% to 43% battery after the little detour. I know that the cooktop doesn’t use THAT much power, but I’d still feel a bit of that range anxiety getting back.
  5. Especially because there’s no signal I can’t look up nearby chargers hahahahaaaaa oh no.

It was at this time I realised I forgot to bring the ropes for my tarp, and the eggs for breakfast. Almost like I should have a checklist for this stuff.

a car and a tent and a little table covered in things in a campground, with lots of trees and a little dirt path

It was a nice afternoon though. I didn’t really do anything other than set up the campsite and sit around watching cows while trying to get the fire going. It took a little bit of coaxing, because I didn’t really have any kindling. But I got one of the thinner logs to catch fire eventually and it kept itself mostly going all night.

When the sun started to go down, a big swarm of cockatoos tore open the sky with their screeching. A couple of wallabies came out of the trees to snack on the grass, and a big fat possum jumped on the ground right behind me which gave me a fright. Can’t get away from them it seems.

So it was only myself and the campers up the hill at the campgrounds. At the other campsite it was only going to be ME all by myself. Shawn asked if I’d get scaredy out in the wilderness on my own, but there’s not really any wildlife to cause troubles here. Maybe overinquisitive cows?

Though when I went to book the original booking the site told me there were a certain number of campsites at the camp, and also that the same number of campsites were available to book, and I realised that anyone could just scrape that data and find campsites with 1 person staying by themselves. And go steal their nickels or whatever tech savvy criminals might do. So probably not great opsec there, so I booked for two people instead of one because I figured it’s not that much more expensive and it might give said crimbinals pause. I’m thinking about mailing the department behind it to suggest they don’t do that any more.

But overall it was fine, and I’m happy to say that my first night was tranquil AF watching the animals, the stars, the fire. Brain off, relaxation.

Dinner was sausage gnocci.

The moon behind some clouds behind some trees. It's not spooky unless you want it to be.

Around 8 o’clock the fire sort of gave up firing and I decided to go to bed to write some blog.

It was that point I realised the tent I bought is too small. It looked alright by the specs. It’s longer than I am, therefore all good? Turns out nah, I can’t lay down and type without both the laptop and my feet brushing the canvas. I think it’ll be alright to sleep in. A bit squishy, but alright. But I think I’m gonna have to upgrade at some point in the future.

So I’m laying here, finishing up, listening to the creek running down the hill and I’m pretty happy.

Also I forgot to bring a pillow.

The next day I woke up to the sound of a strange bird calling and warbling outside my tent. There were a few of them, and I heard them crashing around outside. Or maybe that was the wallabies.

I didn’t look because it was 6 o’clock and I desperately wanted to sleep. Also it was raining and I desperately didn’t want to get wet.

My choice in tent didn’t help there. It’s the Pavillo Cool Mount 2, another cheapy after my last one leaked. This one also leaked, with droplets beading in where the drizzle was pooling, and also where the front zip just wasn’t sealed at all. Also because it’s smaller, I couldn’t get dressed properly without rubbing all over the wet canvas and getting even wetter. I don’t rate this tent highly, I’m just waiting for it to dry out before I take it back and complain. If you have a favourite small tent for big people that can withstand a light drizzle, let me know!

But ultimately the rain was more than I expected and I wasn’t going to do any hiking or exploring in that weather so I packed up and headed back, considering it a very wet dry run for a proper camping trip another time.

The EV made it back to the free charger with 20% battery to spare. I think it ate up a lot of power defrosting the windows, but it also regenerated 3 kilowatts driving down the Great Dividing Range, so I was pretty stoked.

All up, I had a great trip even though it was a bit chaotic. I’m looking forward to doing the next one properly. Let me know your favourite camping spots!

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Panasonic SA-DP1 Review – hifi from the early 2000s

A Panasonic hifi and speaker sit on a cabinet with fancy lighting

Over Christmas while we were packing stuff up to move it around, my mum confided that she doesn’t use the hifi system in her office. It doesn’t get any radio signal and she doesn’t have any CDs to play in it any more, so it just sits there doing nothing.

Since my living room only has the tiny Google Home speaker, I offered to take it off her hands to hook up as an aux device to my living room TV to improve the sound. And it’s delightful.

I love a bit of a retro nostalgia trip, this website is proof enough of that, and this hifi system is really doing it for me. It harks back to a time when things were simple enough to plug together and screw around with. A good time for a kid like me.

This thing is a little beast. It’s an AM/FM CD/DVD player from back when these sorts of things were common. The year 2003 to be exact, just a year before HDMI was first released in consumer gear, so it’s the absolute peak of analog tech before digital signals fully took over.

Hooking up to my TV was a simple affair, I grabbed a 3.5mm audio to RCA cable to connect the TV straight to the hifi system. I could have bought an optical DAC (digital audio converter) for better quality, or even a HDMI audio splitter so I can play audio without the TV on, but this was the most straightforward solution and it sounds flawless.

It also happens that my TV is a hand-me-down old enough to support composite video directly (thanks Ben!) so I hooked it up in reverse to (theoretically) play DVDs. Why? Cos why the heck not.

The early and kinda disappointing days of digital video

A USB CD drive with a bright orange Verbatim CD-RW sticking out and some jewel cases in the background

Around the time this thing was made I was browsing an electronics store in Singapore and stumbled upon a VCD of the 2002 film Resident Evil with a gorgeous holographic cover (Video CD being the precursor to DVD icymi).

I needed to have it! In part because it the cover was cool, but also because I didn’t have a DVD player at home so I’d be able to watch this with the CD drive on my computer.

It was a pretty bad, but fascinating technical choice. Turns out VCDs have exactly half the resolution of VHS tape, and only fit about 80 minutes of MPEG-1 video per disc, so the movie was terrible quality and chopped in half to fit over two discs. Not only that, but the censors also cut out a bunch of good bits.

Still, I loved that film and I’ve been trying to burn a VCD with some old vlogs just for a nostalgia trip.

(Side note: Super VCD used MPEG-2 and had a higher resolution, so they’re almost passable quality-wise. But they’re still limited to 4:3 for that old school cool)

A Devede window reads 'Burning image to CD. Writing track 3. 154 MiB of 650 MiB. Estimated drive speed 723 Kib/s (4.2x)'

I didn’t have much luck creating a VCD in in the year 2020 because it’s all pretty outdated, but I found an all-in-one burner alled Devede which actually managed to take my rips from youtube, crop and convert em, then burn onto an SVCD disc.

Unfortunately the unit didn’t seem to be able to play them. I’ve got a couple of rewritable DVDs coming in the new year so maybe there it will have more luck with those.

Day to day Panasonic SA-DP1

Cool old tech aside, I’m mostly likely to use this as an aux system for the TV with the Chromecast as a source, because any other configurations are really too outdated to want to use on a day to day basis. And for that it’s fantastic.

Amazon is filled with reviews from people who loved this thing fifteen years ago. It wasn’t super expensive, it’s a solid piece of kit, and it sounds great too.

Overall, I give the Panasonic SA-DP1 five stars.

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MSI Optix 31.5in Monitor (MAG321CURV) review

Text reads "this display is crap, regret buying it" with an overly large pixel pitch

Ew. I can not stand this monitor.

The USBC display doesn’t work with my Macbook Pro. The monitor won’t turn on, and the laptop uses more charge than it can draw from the cable.

Reflections from even the slightest light source in the room deliver a different image to each eye, leaving me struggling to focus and causing eyestrain. Further, there’s enough space between pixels you can drive a truck through.

After about 10 minutes using this thing I was feeling nauseous. I turned it off, put it back in the box and submitted a return order. This display should be avoided unless you’re very confident none of these issues will bother you.

★☆☆☆☆

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Sony MDR1000X Review

A pair of Sony headphones sit on a desk

On the eve of my world tour I panicked that I don't have a decent pair of headphones for travelling. My day to day phones are open and would be pretty much useless on a plane, and I lost my earbuds some time ago.

I was going to borrow Nic's but forgot. I had a look online, and Nic recommended the Sony MDR1000X, a rather expensive, but pretty high tech headphone that sounded like music to my ear holes.

For the longest time Bose has been the king of noise cancelling, and other companies have been trying to catch up. According to other reviews, the 1000Xs represent the first time Sony has come close. I haven't used the Bose headphones extensively so I don't have a baseline to compare to, but even disregarding the noise cancelling Sony has come up with a solid offering (with some small caveats).

These phones have the following key features I'm into:

  • Noise cancelling with several profiles
  • ‎Instant NFC pairing with Android devices
  • ‎Both Bluetooth and 2.5 mm stereo cable input
  • ‎Pretty decent battery life + a passive mode that lets you use the cable even when the batteries are flat.

So how do they do? I put them through their paces as I circumnavigated the globe.

Noise cancelling

The 1000s were able to turn aircraft and train noise into a soft background ambience, a little like the ocean you can hear in a seashell. It's an impressive feat, made moreso by a feature that lets you temporarily disable noise cancelling by covering the right can with your hand. It's a bit of a gimmicky feature, but it comes in handy, and also serves to illustrate the stark contrast of the noise cancelling vs real world.

For voices, the noise cancelling does a good enough job that conversations are inaudible with music playing. The phones also do a decent job with filtering out screaming babies, of which there were several on my long haul Brisbane-Abu Dhabi flight. Again, babies were pretty pronounced without music playing, but with even softly playing tunes they faded into the background which made things pretty blissful.

One of the cooler features of the phones is that the same tech used for cancelling noise can also let sound in. One of my favourites is the 'ambient noise voice" feature which still cancels out lower frequencies such as engine noise, but uses the microphone to pick up and amplify voices through the headphones such as announcements or general conversation.

As antisocial as it might sound, it can be easier to understand flight attendants with this mode on, rather than with the headphones off. It's also a good mode for eavesdropping because it isolates and amplifies voices you might otherwise be able to hear.

Sound quality

Regarding the sound quality, there's a few factors at play here. The MDR1000Xs have different sounds depending on how the phones are operating.

When the phones are being passively driven by an external source they have a fairly standard profile, it's even and inoffensive. I haven't done much listening in this mode, but I've been very happy with the sound when I have.

You're far more likely to be using these in active mode, where the software onboard does a fair bit of processing. In this mode they have a very "Sony" sound, there's plenty of bass and it's a nice general purpose music listening profile.

The big letdown is the Bluetooth protocol itself. I think with higher end headphones the compression is more readily pronounced, especially in quiet listening environments. This kit does support higher resolution audio, but it's a proprietary Sony protocol that virtually no devices support. There's no lossless AptX support either, so if your device is rare enough to support that you're still out of luck here.

With the provided cable input the sound is much better, even using phone audio. I've yet to test this with a headphone amp to see what the difference is, but with noise cancelling in a loud environment I was satisfied with the quality and had no real issues.

Playback controls

The right can has a touch sensitive surface that lets you assist volume, skip tracks, and temporarily let the outside world in. This feature is flaky in my experience and it's difficult to get it to do what you want. I don't think anyone on the engineering team thought it through.

The volume/skip feature is fiddly, and only works in Bluetooth mode. This means you have to firstly be aware of that fact, and secondly keep track of what mode you're using your headphones in as to whether you can use it. A few times I've unsuccessfully tried to adjust the volume in cabled mode, which doesn't work, and this has trained me to not use the feature at all.

Overall it's a pretty dumb feature, but I don't use it so it doesn't bother me.

Comfort

These are some comfortable headphones. Over the 23 hours to Amsterdam I had no trouble wearing them with music, with only the noise cancelling active, and even switched off to keep my ears toasty warm. The over ear design means there's no ear squashing and the headset sits comfortably without too much weight.

I will say that these phones, like many of Sony's range, don't sit comfortably around your neck when they're not in use. They're too big and I find it difficult to look around in this configuration, so I tend to attach them to my bag instead. Out of the box you get a travel carry case, but I left it at home as I'm a light traveller and didn't have room.

The other thing I've noticed I'd that the band doesn't sit flush with my head, instead it arcs out wide, leaving an enormous gap that suggests maybe my head should be fatter to compensate. This is possibly because I have a big head and need to use the phones at a larger size, and perhaps they're not as shapely as they could be. Again, this isn't a deal-breaker.

Conclusion

Overall I'm very happy with these cans, they're an expensive but versatile high end system that works super well on the road.

The cabling system is awesome for air travel where transmitting devices mightn't be allowed, the sound quality is a delight in most cases, and they're generally a solid unit.

I would recommend them to anyone who wants a quality all rounder headphone and is okay with the tradeoffs of cabled vs A2DP audio, or folks already in the Sony ecosystem who can make use of the proprietary features.

More info

Here's the Cnet review, in case you wanted some action shots

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Garmin fēnix 5 Review


I’ve wanted a heart rate monitor for some time, mainly to improve my cardio performance and to track my progress as I go. One big thing for me is the wrist-based form factor because it gives you ambient recording, as well as not having to carry around a chest strap and all the awkwardness that entails.

I’ve done a lot of research into this over the past year and I’ve ruled out things like the FitBit (which only shows you HR for a few seconds when you press a button), and the ill-fated Pebble Kickstarter (I’m so disappointed they folded). Finally after a lot of reading, hand-wringing, and a very convenient 20% off sale at Rebel Sport, I apologised to my bank balance and bought the Garmin fēnix® 5.

Garmin fēnix models

Garmin’s fēnix line is the high end of the Garmin sports watch range, and is priced to suit. In Australian dollars you can pay $1k for the top of the line fēnix 5X, with the fēnix 5 and fēnix 5s retailing for$800. So these aren’t devices to consider lightly.

The main difference between the three is size:

 fēnix® 5Sfēnix® 5fēnix® 5X
Diameter42 mm47 mm51 mm
Thickness14.5 mm15.5 mm17.5 mm
Weight67 g85 g98 g
Battery life (smart mode)9 days14 days12 days
RRP (🇦🇺)$799$799$999
Garmin Fenix 5 prices in Australia circa 2017

There’s some smaller other differences, namely the “sapphire editions” of each watch give you a sapphire crystal display and wifi connectivity if you’re so inclined.

But more generally the 5S is intended to fit smaller wrists, and the 5X has more storage and comes with maps.

Garmin fēnix 5 comparison

The cool stuff

I’ve covered what the Garmin fēnix models are, but why would you buy one?

For me there are a few reasons:

First, it’s a really nice piece of design. This is something that’s going to last a long time rather than be replaced every year, so I want something that looks good and isn’t going to date terribly like a cheaper smartwatch might.

On a similar note, the hardware itself is truly excellent. I’m not going go into details when DC Rainmaker has done such a comprehensive review of the tech. If you’re considering this device and want all the benchmarks, definitely read that article because it’s what tipped me over the edge.

Perhaps most importantly it’s not an Android watch so it’s not going to lose access to updates, slow down, become a security risk or generally suck like OEM Android devices do. It’s an OS purpose-built by Garmin that does one thing well, and should mean the watch will live a long and prosperous life even after Garmin drops support for it.

Finally the Garmin ecosystem has really good Strava support which I use almost every day. Having this in a standalone device means on longer workouts I’m not sucking power from my phone, and can last some 24 hours without a charge — much longer than I can.

Initial impressions

I tried on each fēnix model at the shop before making my decision; the fēnix 5S didn’t even fit around my wrist, but the 5 sat snugly and looked good, so I anguished over the decision for another 20 minutes before finally taking it to the register.

The device itself is lovely. In the box it’s a carbon/polymer + stainless steel affair with a rubber band. You can get metal bands which I’m considering due to an unfortunate issue with sensitive skin, but the default combo looks great.

Pairing was simple, the app found the device before I’d even asked it to which was impressive. Once paired it immediately started sending notifications from my phone. I’m not a big fan of this feature and the next thing I did was turn notifications off for reasons of sanity and battery life. For me this is a fitness & tracking device, not a smartwatch.

The OS is fairly intuitive; it’s not touch based, but it has a very simple up/down/select/back navigation and all the features are nearby and easy to find. It’s also fairly standalone, so you could get away with using this without a phone if you wanted, however to sync to Garmin Connect and various other internet services you’ll need to bluetooth pair it.

Display in full sunlight
Display in ambient light with backlight
Display in litle light with no backlight
Display in little light with backlight

One thing that’s really stood out for me is the screen; not being a traditional LCD display, this one turns off the backlight and draws almost no power while still being completely legible. In fact, legibility is best in direct sunlight with no backlight, making this a really awesome exercise companion. I was super pleased to be able to start my bike ride today, switch to the heart rate mode, and check that easily throughout the trip.

As a result of that, the battery life should be measured in weeks, as opposed to the mere hours of the current generation of smartwatches.

Conclusion

It’s early days, but I’m pretty happy with this device. From a fitness tracker perspective it’s awesome, and I’m really optimistic about how this thing is going to fit into my fitness regime.

It’s not a smartwatch, and if you’re going into the market looking for that you may be disappointed, but it’s a really great purpose-built fitness tracker that also serves as a watch.

Update 2019

So this was an awesome watch, I really enjoyed using it. Problem was, after a while I noticed my skin was starting to itch and go weird where the watch was sitting.

After a few weeks of alternating wrists and trying to make things work, both arms a patch of messed up skin and I reluctantly decided to sell it on eBay. Guess I’ve got sensitive skin.

Still, good watch! Recommended!

Update 2022

Ever indecisive, I decided to grab a second-hand watch on eBay to give this one more try. It was cheap enough second-hand, and from the original article it’s still plenty usable because the software is fantastic!

This time instead of using it as an every day kind of affair, I plan to use it mainly for cycling and workout tracking to save the battery in my phone. So things worked out alright in the end anyway!

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Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Review

Oh dear. That's the first thought that crossed my mind when I turned this thing on. Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into.

The hardware's fairly pleasant. The mix of glass and plastic feels a bit like an upmarket Nexus 4. It's about the same size as that generation of phones, but the screen is big, at 70.6% screen-to-body ratio (compared to the Nexus 4's 68% or the iPhone 6's 66). It's also exceptionally thin and light; you can tell it's a flagship product.

But damn, the software. The instant I turned it on I was greeted by a custom setup wizard thing. Sony has seen fit to come up with their own software for the setup, and that's probably fine. It asks me to sign in to some Sony stuff and whatever, I can skip it.

Then the phone boots and it's like we're running Android 2 again. Everything's pokey icons and stupid animated wallpapers that look like nothing anyone would ever classify as good design. The launcher's customised, the drawer's customised, the settings are customised to the point that I can't even find where to set up my Google account.

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Laser eye surgery: my experience


I'd been considering getting laser eye surgery for a while, and while the idea appealed there wasn't any major incentive for me to do it.

But eventually I got frustrated. My glasses were always getting dirty, falling off, fogging up (while cycling, working out, or once getting off a bus). At work in particular I was finding myself taking them on and off all day since I don't need glasses for working at my desk but whenever someone would come over they'd be just outside my focal distance and I'd have to put them on again.

So having reached perhaps a vague not-quite-quarter-life crisis I decided to just do it and hang the consequences.

Table of Contents 👓

This post is a bit long, so here's a table of contents.

And some updates:

The Tech

There's a few types of laser eye surgeries and they're all pretty squeamish. The ABC has a high level overview of the various types.

I chose IntraLASIK (also known as Femto-LASIK) which uses a laser to create a corneal flap (as opposed to the dark ages when they used a miniature angle grinder), then another excimer laser to evaporate bits of the eye until it's the optimal shape. Amazing, totally terrifying technology, but it works amazingly well.

The alternatve, PRK, doesn't involve a "flap" but has a much longer recovery period since it effectively melts away the top layer of your cornea instead. This one probably isn't for you unless you have a special condition or are at particular risk of head injuries.

Some newer technologies are coming out that show promise, but ultimately IntraLASIK is the best, most mature option out there.

What to expect before laser eye surgery

I initially booked appointments at two places in Brisbane, but only Lasersight got back to me which was strange. The have offices in a number of major urban areas including Sydney, Melbourne, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts so it seemed reputable.

I arrived for my initial appointment not really knowing what to expect, but they were really good. I'd already researched most of the technology, caveats and read countless accounts of other people's success (and failure) stories, so none of the information was particularly new.

Lasersight offer PRK, LASIK and IntraLASIK, but only really do PRK and IntraLASIK as the traditional LASIK (angle-grinder) technology has been pretty much superseded. The nurse I spoke to in my initial consult had PRK himself due to his corneas being too thin for IntraLASIK, and was very happy with the results. Generally a good salesman.

In the initial consult I was taken through a number of machines that scanned my eyes, mapping out the various distortions and measuring the thickness of my corneas. I have a mild astigmatism as well as a mildish shortsightedness, and the machines picked this up and spat out a bunch of graphs and figures saying such. I was also given an eye exam like you get at the optometrist, which confirmed all this as well.

After all the measurements I was told about the payment options and booked in for the procedure the following week.

Lasik prices & extras

Prices I was quoted were:

  • $6600 for IntraLASIK, or $5400 for PRK (Divide by two for costs per-eye)
  • A $200 consult fee and
  • A $200 discount for payment upfront.

This includes all the drugs, consults within a year and the “for life” program in which any subsequent surgeries are free of charge (though consult fees still apply).

It's not the cheapest and some people on various forums have flown interstate or overseas to have it done, but I personally consider that to be a little far out.

On the day

Due to a mistake on the little card they gave me, I showed up expecting a consult but was actually being prepped for the full-on surgery. Thankfully there's not much you need to do to prepare other than not wearing eye makeup or fragrances, neither of which I'm wont to do in day to day affairs.

The initial consult was with Doctor Peter Stewart, director of surgery, who was friendly, answered all my questions and seemed to know what he was doing. He ran me through some of the same tests again to make sure everything was right, before sending me out to fill in some waivers.

The actual surgery was planned for a few hours after the consult, so I had lunch and sat in the stinking Brisbane heat sipping cola across the road.

O Bar mini review: they had inexplicable table service for the bar section, and it took forever to get a drink. The guy was kinda rude but the girl was nice.

At 2:30 I want back in and was ushered into the secret surgery area out the back.

The LASIK procedure

I was dressed up in a robe and hair net, given a bunch of pills to take and administered anaesthetic eye drops which stung like crazy until my eyes were completely numb and could no longer feel anything.

When it was time I was ushered into the room and laid out on the first of two beds at the femtosecond laser. There were three specialists which was really comforting, each presumably had a job to do. One wore fluorescent sneakers.

I don't remember much about the first part, although the general gist was having my eyes propped open, being slid under a machine and having it take a flap cut into my corneas. It was terrifying but vaguely surreal; there was no pain, just sensations of pressure and a primal urge to freeze and not move a muscle.

I was surprised to find they performed this on both eyes right away; the documentation suggested they would do one at a time in case something went terribly wrong, but I wasn't going to quibble because my eyeball was hanging open and I was more concerned about making sure i didn't make things worse.

Overall the procedure took a handful of seconds per eye, though it felt like an age.

After this they ushered me to the second bed. It was an interesting experience; I could still see at that point but everything was cloudy, apparently due to the microscopic bubbles the femtolaser had created.

The second bed was the hardcore stuff: the excimer laser. For each eye they propped open my eyelids and popped on a suction ring to keep the eyeball relatively in place. This was probably the most uncomfortable part, and I later found was the part that left a little bruising.

I was told to stare into the light and not to move while the doctor lifted the flap with a squidgy looking utensil. It was completely painless but silently horrifying to watch my vision distort as my optics bent and shifted with the flap. It also made it difficult to stare in the one spot since the spot kept moving.

The actual excimer laser took literally ten seconds to operate on each eye, during which there was a smell not entirely unlike cooked hair. After that, a bunch of cold water, eye drops and flap-replacement took place. The second eye seemed to require a bit more smoothing out but ultimately everything was fine.

After this I was given the all clear and ushered through another doorway.

IntraLASIK after-effects

I immediately noticed the difference. Having just had my eyes cut up and laserbeamed I expected perhaps to be completely out of it, but I was surprised that I could actually see everything. There was a very strong haze in my vision, but I could see the detail in the surgeon's eyes which would ordinarily be a complete blur without my glasses.

The nurse took me, did a bunch of tests, explained my drop regime, attached some goggles to stop inadvertent touching and suggested strongly that I go home and sleep straight away.

The initial six or so hours are the worst, so it's best to sleep through it. Basically your eyes feel really scratchy like you've got sand in them, but you can't touch or your corneas will most likely fall out (that's my nightmware anyway). They also get very watery and it's generally unpleasant. So go to sleep.

Thanks to some fantastic drugs included in the package, I ended up sleeping until midnight at which point I woke up and took a walk outside for the first time to find something to eat. Greasy pizza outlet was the best I could find, but honestly it was the best greasy pizza I've ever had. It looked good too. So did everything, really.

At this point my eyes still felt somewhat gritty, but there was no pain and most of the haze had cleared up.

The next day

The next day was pretty amazing. Even more of the haze had cleared up and everything was getting progressively better.

Here's a selfie of me looking slightly dopey, but outside without glasses for the first time in forever. You can see a bit of bruising in my left eye if you look hard enough. I'm assured this will heal in a couple of weeks.

One of the side-effects that worried me were “halos” or a “bloom” around bright things, to borrow a gaming term. Particularly things like traffic lights, signs, and (annoyingly) computer screens. This has definitely improved as it's healed, but it's still noticeable on high contrast light points. While you see results instantly, they say it takes about a week for the cornea to heal properly, and this was definitely one of the more noticeable healing issues.

I took a walk through the city the day after and it was quite windy so I definitely noticed some discomfort in my eyes and feel I probably overdid it a little. I bought myself a pair of sunglasses which has been on my list of things to do for ages now and definitely made things better.

LASIK as a programmer

I read a really fantastic overview of the procedure by another programmer who had the procedure done but still wears glasses for working. My surgeon assured me that my vision would be fine for the kind of work I do, but I'm wholly aware that this may not be entirely the case, and certainly won't be forever as presybopia eventually becomes an issue.

Thus far things seem pretty good in terms of working. The main issue now is that where previously focusing near was a zero-effort task, I now have to actively choose to focus on my phone or screens in particular. I can still read tiny ebooks on my phone screen from 10 cm away, though it's not as comfortable as it was before and there's a more sensible point further out.

My main goal is to be able to work at a regular desk with a 27" screen without having to perform acrobatics to do it. Initially there was some discomfort around the "halos" making it more difficult to do much on screens, and this continued for about a week.

I also notice it takes a bit longer to focus "out" from my work. For instance, if someone walks over I'll take a second or two to break out of computer mode and actually engage with them. Often I've instinctively reached for my glasses, so I'm not sure if this is psychosomatic.

The one disappointing thing I've noticed is that I'm having trouble with colour contrast, specifically red on black. This is arguably a terrible design decision to start with, but the super-pretty Monokai colour scheme that (I think) comes default with Sublime Text and that I use for my terminal scheme is uncomfortably difficult to read as a result. I've changed it ot a lighter, more contrasty white-pink, but apparently colour contrast issues are a potential issue, so there you go. I'll update if this changes.

Otherwise everything's great now. Initially I was really worried, but after a week or two it's perfect again.

Overview

Ultimately this was a well-researched but snap decision that I'm totally happy with. There were some initial side-effects that had me a bit worried, and I can't see distance as perfectly as I could with my glasses, but it's pretty damn good, and apparently better than 20:20 anyway.

Would I do it again? Probably. It's a freaky procedure that carries admittedly small risks, and part of me still boggles that I actually went through with it. There may be a touch of post-purchase rationalisation too, but ultimately it's just an amazing experience being able to see properly with my own two eyes.

Two Years On

It's hard to believe it's been almost two years. Life has changed a whole bunch, but for the most part my eyesight is pretty great.

The problems I initially reported are all either resolved or stuff I've gotten used to. I occasionally notice my eyes will get tired and hard to focus on screens, but I imagine that's fairly standard working at a desk all day. My distance vision is still not as perfect as when I had glasses, but again I'm more than happy with it. It's probably something I could improve with glasses, but it's not something I've a need or interest in pursuing.

Another thing I used to notice is that I used to get eyestrain and headaches watching TV for long periods. It only occurred after the surgery that this was due to context switching between my laptop and my TV through my glasses, which no longer happens. So now I don't get nearly as many headaches which is a pretty cool side effect of the surgery.

So overall would I recommend it? Sure. While it's not a complete solution, it's changed my life for the better and I certainly don't miss having to clean my glasses all the time.

Four years after laser eye surgery

It's some four and a half years later and a lot has happened. I've moved to Amsterdam for starters, which is a fair ways from home.

In terms of my eyesight things are still good.

I've noticed that I really need to take care of my eyes while working, otherwise the world is a blurry mess when I step away from my screen after work. This means fairly frequent looking out the window to change focus, and generally taking care not to stare at a screen all day.

In the Amsterdam winter my eyes dried out a lot more than they ever did back in Australia. This was easy enough to fix by making an effort to remember to blink from time to time, but I was on the verge of buying eye drops a few times. They say dry eyes is one of the side effects of the lasik, and I guess it's more of a thing in the cooler climates.

Anyway, that's about it. Just wanted to update things because I know posts like this are valuable when you're considering the procedure. Feel free to reach out on Twitter if you have any questions.

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Ridley X-Bow

My Avanti Blade 8 C has been at Lifecycle for the past two weeks and I haven’t heard a peep from them. I’ve had enough of the thing breaking down, and I don’t trust it not to fall apart underneath me.

Trust is an important thing to have in a bike. The amount of times the internal hub has skipped a gear as I’ve been climbing a hill, seized up or started making noises halfway home, and the number of times I’ve been left weeks waiting for Lifecycle to get back to me has left me angry and stressed out. Not being able to trust my bike to get me places is not only stressful, but makes me not want to ride at all.

For the last two months I’ve been riding my fallback bike which is a bit small for me and doesn’t have a pannier rack, meaning I have to wear a backpack which gets a bit sweaty. It’s a good bike, very reliable, and pleasant to ride short distances, but it’s not especially good for commuting.

So after stumbling upon a new bike store in Aspley, and stumbling inside only to stumble upon the perfect bike, I took twenty-four hours to arrange my funds and buy the sucker.

Black & white bike beside a bike path, complete with pannier and helmet.

It’s a Ridley X-Bow (Crossbow), which is billed as an ideal commuting bike. I took the opportunity to upgrade it with mud guards and a pannier rack, and fitted it with a set of SPD pedals that I had traded Thom for assorted cheeses days earlier.

A black & white bike on the back of a blue Hyundai Getz, in front of the red facade of the Aspley Bike Hub (no longer there)
The Aspley Bike Hub was a great bike shop, but is no longer there.

It’s a very nice bike.

It’s going to take a bit of getting used to because I’ve only ever ridden anything with flat handlebars, and these have three spots where hands can go. The gear changing mechanism is a bit strange to me as well, but I’m sure it’ll be fine once I’m used to it. Furthermore I’ve not ridden a bike with SPD pedals despite owning the shoes for a year now, so that will take some getting used to too.

I took it for a quick spin before it got dark this afternoon so I could work out how to use the pedals in particular, but I want to take it out for a longer ride before I have to go back to work on Monday, just to get the hang of it.