[TSi+WRX]

Originally Posted by Subie_07

It covers the entire circuit board and components with exception of the Tx and Rx Diodes ... of course but even those are partly covered... to protect the soldering and what not.

^ But that's just the same as the AL G8, as well as the LPP - both of which utilize epoxy to effect sealing not only around the transmitting and receiving diodes (more specifically, the optical collimator overlaying this component) as well as to cover the circuitboard - and these examples all have seen both past as well as ongoing weathersealing problems.

And yet, strangely enough, the ZR3 heads, without any type of such circuitboard armor, have seen nearly worry-free performance in this respect, over the course of the last 4 years.

Photographic evidence of such "internal" head configurations for the AL G8, LPP, as well as ZR3 (and even the ZR4) readily exists in the many online sources, available to any hobbyist, and come from varied sources.

As I said prior, it just doesn't make any sense - and that the issue of weathersealing is not isolated to the type of sealant used, but rather, to both that as well as the overall component design.

I am realistic of my Subaru... even though I am not FI... It has been the best car I have ever drove and I have driven my fair share... so I am even more proud of my Subie...

But I know the limitations and I know of the complaints... I also know that its hard to make an engine that can take the engine load that boost adds and its hard to keep it running, but Subaru does a damn good job of it...

Pride of ownership is one thing, but that's approaching being a fanatic, and being blind to faults and shortcomings.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a very proud Subaru owner.

Neither of our Subarus have ever seen a day - or even an hour - in the shop. Certainly, my religious and rigorous self-maintenance schedule likely helps, but my wife lacks mechanical empathy, and although I admittedly take good care of my car, I'm also not the least demanding driver, either....and it's pushing power levels that's well beyond that of a factory STi (on the same dyno that factory STis put down 200/200 wHP/wTQ, I'm putting down 230/280, and that's on the same day, with runs that took place just minutes after each other).

Quite a bit of my everyday wardrobe (remember, I'm a laboratory scientist, so I can get away with wearing a T-shirt and jeans to my job, just about every day) consists of automotive-related wear, and a lot of that is Subaru related.

I'm well-known in both the local Subaru community as well as on the national scene, in terms of the BL/BP-chassis Legacy community. I've even helped-out random Subaru owners, on-the-road and in parking lots.

Yet, I well know that our vehicles are far from perfect. Of the Legacy, with which I'm more familiar, I can rattle off a near endless list of complaints that I've witnessed.

It's far, far from being the idol that you're making it out to be.

I know that the LI starting in EU... but I did not know when... so if its the same then, then great... But silicone versus epoxy ... epoxy wins every time! outside weather sealing ... still TBD... that is not what I am saying... I guess cause I never explained

I think that the current-generation LI started in Europe and in the Far East just shortly after the 2007 GOL. Several "silent members" on RD.net, beginning that summer, were able to procure grey-market imports from various European sources.... One local performance-auto enthusiast (serious enthusiast - his project-cars were an ongoing list of amazing undertakings and products/results, including a 1000+ wHP Supra and a 700+ wHP S4; and he's well-known in both the local tuner scene as well as in the underground/illegal street-racing scene) was among the first, and invited me to his shop to check out this "marvel of engineering" (his words). It turned out that before I got the chance to take him up on his offer (our family/work schedules conflicted), I obtained my own set, from Elvis.

And as to the epoxy versus silicone - see above.

I honestly hope that the LaserStar (as well as the PASS) have taken to-heart the experiences won by the various iterations of the AL and the LPP, in order to get its weathersealing "right." As we both know, though, only time-on-road and miles-on-road will tell the final story.

It would be better, though, if there was a larger sampling population as well. Unfortuantely, I think, due to the latest GOL testing, this is gonig to be harder to come by, as many consumers are undoubtedly now shying away from the PASS as well as the LaserStar, due to their respective failures in the hands of various hobbyists/hobbyist groups.

I wish that others in the community - known fixtures, not new and unknowns (who could easily be called "shills" and such, even if they truly are not) - would examine the PASS and LaserStar in more detail. But given both the performance results from the various testing sources currently logged (for the PASS), as well as the community's overall gut-reaction to The Goons, I think that this is going to be very, very hard to come by.

Just as I expressed doubts about the performance, as-tested, of the LI by The Goons, I also expressed the same about the performance of the LaserStar as-tested by the GOL. I've said, openly, in all of the communities where I participate, that there's simply too much history to discount, and that due-dliigence demands that such conflicting data be discounted, or at least viewed with caution. At the same time, such critical analysis is only to be fair to both sides of this equation.

And to be fully honest, this "doubt" that I've expressed above is even against what I would deem to be my own personal biases against The Goons, and my own implicit trust in the GOL.

Again, I just want to be fair to both sides - even though in trying to give yet another second-chance to the likes of Audi Quattro goes against every gut-feeling and bone-in-instinct that I have.


RE: Forums' impact on "real-life"

Not when the boards are used to just push products... which they are...

That's certainly true.

But again, the same can and must be said of LaserJammerTests, which poses itself as an unaffiliated and unbiased source of information, but is far from such.

I pretty much have answered the questions about the laser star... its all the political stuff I leave out...

Really?

You did not answer the questions that I posed here:

CONSUMER ALERT!! Laser Star officially sucks balls

- you answered neither of the questions that I asked, but instead, actually, you replied with comments on the politics between the GOL and The Goons:

CONSUMER ALERT!! Laser Star officially sucks balls

And again, in this exchange:

CONSUMER ALERT!! Laser Star officially sucks balls

CONSUMER ALERT!! Laser Star officially sucks balls

- you did not answer my questions and comments regarding the use of Ronin's LPP/ZR3 videos in a obviously deceitful manner, nor did you address the question of the conflict of data seen between The Goon's test of the latest K40 offering, versus what Craig Peterson wrote, and instead, the second half of your post was again dedicated solely to the politics at-play, a diatribe against the GOL.

And in this one:

CONSUMER ALERT!! Laser Star officially sucks balls

- to which crazyVOLVOrob then also expressed his sentiment in wanting to know why [b[Audi Quattro[/b] would try to run a "Group Buy" for the LPP here, and try to incite trouble here with the stateside LPP distributor and site sponsor/vendor LPP Rep/DMI-Sport, just before he went the way of the LaserStar?

Originally Posted by TSi+WRX

...before The Goon's ban on the Laser Pro Park Forums ( BTW, care to explain, exactly, what happened, there? why Audi was trying to end-run around go.mouse with a supposed "Group Buy" of LPPs, here, at that time, to also incite trouble with the stateside-authorized LPP reseller and site sponsor Vendor, DMI-Sport? and also care to explain why Audi PM'ed me to try to sell me a LaserStar, even at that early time, while he was still involved on the LPP side? nothing funny going on there, right? )....

This is a point which cVR later reiterated in post #74 - and as a matter of fact, LEADS OFF said post, but yet, it is completely ignored?

Is this perhaps touching on "politics?"

Yes, I think so - but given the political discourses of your previous two replies, why the reluctance to comment on this issue?

Your follow-up post,, #81 in that thread, again was a discussion on the background politics and the characters at play. And while I do understand your reluctance to bring others into the fray, without their own presence here on these Forums - and I appreciate the honor with which you're doing so (albeit a slight trespass in post #83, but it can be said there that you were responding specifically to cVr, and that does excuse this small transgression) - it still, nevertheless, goes against the grain of what you said above, here, in this very post, in that you've answered the quantitative questions, and do not discuss "politics."

You ask us in that post, post #81, to question "everything," yet, repeatedly, you assert that it is the GOL's results that we are to question, but not, somehow, the same of LJT.

And pretty much after page 10, your replies simply devolve into personal banter, telling-off various other members here, and to repeatedly say that you're not here to answer questions, but to, instead, "start debates" and to also pose more questions (posts #113 and 118).

No true answers were ever give to any of the questions that could have been answered in a straightforward manner (be it questions of the LaserStar, or questions of the various people concerned with the LaserStar or LJT, such as that very simple question of "why would Audi lie and use Ronin, his own friend's, known LPP/ZR3 video for LaserStar advertising purposes," to pervert the data and claims as-such?) - instead, most of the talk was about politics.


RE: LJT Blog

Then either you think its a lie or you missed it...

^ The former, sadly.

My responses to their various Blog statements (including the infamous "Consumer Alert" video) have been recorded both here and on other hobbyist Forums.

It's no secret that I don't see things that they way LJT/The Goons presented the story - not in terms of content, veracity, or validity.

----

Originally Posted by CJR238

Man, TSi+WRX & Subie_07, you guys love to type...

Originally Posted by Subie_07

Nah... I just have 8 hours to kill Monday - Friday...

And I'm just a child of the 80s that's all. Honed my typing skills on BBSs and mIRC, where having to type fast and accurately greatly affected one's relations with fellow hobbyists. Even the office secretaries are amazed at my typing speed and accuracy.