[Subie_07]

Originally Posted by TSi+WRX

^ 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 think it boils down to Build Quality... and the laser star is some of the best I have seen. The Epoxy is merely a back up protections... but I guess what you have been saying all along is if they get it right the first time (like the Zr3) they you wouldn't need a back up... So silicone vs epoxy would not matter if both have done well with their weather sealing. But we will not know till people use both...

Originally Posted by TSi+WRX

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 this... I just joke around alot about my Car!

Originally Posted by TSi+WRX

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.

And what happened to Elvis?

Originally Posted by TSi+WRX

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.

I am hoping to show up to the Houston Test with a Laser Star that Neil owes me but I am still waiting... He went out of town for a week and so I have had a hard time getting ahold of him... but If I have it I will be there with it.

Originally Posted by TSi+WRX

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 answer for the things I say... not them.. or anyone else...

And I forgot to Comment on the K40 ...
If you believe Carl on his tests... then you have other problems...

Carl and the SML is a sham! It pushes nothing but Belscort and Blinder and Veil!