byronlandry

I want to thank all who responded. I think I will try to find some websites of tint manufacurers, like Herman suggested and see if I can learn what they recommend about tinting dual pane windows. If I find out any substantial information one way or the other, I will post again on what I've found. Koliver - I did tint the inside surface of single pane windows with a silver film in a 5th wheel I had owned before the motorhome. We were aware of the vulnerability of the plastic film, but it was as good as I first put it on 5 years later when I sold the 5th wheeler. It might not be prudent with young children or animals inside, but "old folks" who don't do any damage, it worked out. Again thanks to all and drive carefully Byron PS I hope someone responds to the original post that has done the dual window tinting, so we can all get some definite answers :-)

04 Newmar Mtn. Aire 4016 Are there any cons on tinting my dual pane windows? They let in quite a bit of heat and cold during the extreme times of the year. None of them are fogged and appear to be in excellent condition. I was thinking of getting GOLD home tinting film that has maximum reflectivity and UV protection. This worked well on my single pane windows on my home before we went full time. My concerns are that heat could possibly build up within the dual pane windows and blow the seal out. Any thoughts on this? I would welcome any opinions or suggestions on this as long as it's not of a flaming content. Drive safely. Byron

Frank We have always saved everything, including original boxes for anything with our computers. We have the original disc, original box, original Product Key, original License number, but the one thing we don't have is the original activation code they sent us by e-mail. We never thought this would be an issue later in life. We guess some things can come back and bite you in the a_s. We will go to our graves before we buy another product from ALK, no matter how cheap they sell their programs. It is now the principal of their actions that have soured us towards ALK, not the software. We decided years ago in our early married lives to be consider of others, do no harm to others and to help others less fortunate than us. That has been and will continue to be the way we live our lives. We just will not tolerate any company or person(s) to treat us like ALK did. Please believe us when we say "It's their loss". Maybe, with us telling the true tale, other people won't fall to their business practices. We wish to thank all who responded to our plight. We will start looking for a competitor's software and we plan on sending the receipt showing our purchase from their competitor. Drive carefully Byron & Linda Landry

Brett Long story, but every word is truth. We purchased the CoPilot Live V8 sometime in late 2005, we believe, because we wanted a large screen with the GPS. This software program that cost us about $300.00 has performed flawlessly on our 17" Toshiba laptop and we have never needed to contact the manufacturer, ALK Technologies, aka CoPilot. There is no mention in the manual, which is on disc, nor any mention of any type of expiration date on the outside of the original box nor any mention by the well known company that sold the software to us. It is odd though, that they recently stopped handling CoPilot at the local store we purchased from originally. We were just happy pigs at the trough travelling througout the North American continent with this V8. No problems until our laptop crashed totally. We purchased another large screen laptop and tried to install our V8 CoPilot. It installed, then a information box pops up and tells us to un-install the program from our other laptop which couldn't be done anyway. It also said we needed to contact CoPilot and ask for an activation code. Sounds normal to this point. We then contacted ALK Technologies for the first time since purchase of the program, by e-mail, and told them truthfully what happened. They responded by e-mail saying that because technology marches on, they don't support that software anymore, but we could buy Version 11. After a couple of other e-mails, they basically, but politely tell us that they would be sorry to lose us as a customer, but no activation code will be coming as it is best for them to spend time on the new technology. That answer didn't set well with us old retired fixed income folks, so we e-mailed them back saying that there was no mention of a time expiration on that software in any way and that we would take our money to their competitors and notify every forum we belong to about this little expiration ploy they use to take a customer's right away to decide when to buy an upgrade. This should be determined by the customer, not the manufacturer. That software was our property as long as we didn't give it away to others and didn't use it in any other way then what it was designed for. Never knew there was a time limit on it's use because of technology marching on. This software should run on a compatible computer forever and for as long as we wish to use the program. There should not be a time limit on the software because our computer crashed. Still no activation code, so we took time out today to post this as a general topic just FYI. We also plan on writing to RV Life, Escapees magazine, Motorhome mags and all other magazines we've subscribed to in the past. As a loyal customer for so many years of CoPilot Live, we've convinced many of our RV friends to buy their product. These old folks will not recommend their products anymore for their uncaring responses. Shame on CoPilot Live, aka ALK Technologies. We saved all of their e-mail responses along with our heated responses so we could prove how they treat old retired fix income folks like us. We don't have the money to buy programs everytime technology marches on when the original program worked fine. We wonder how many other people have been treated like this by them?? Respectfully Byron & Linda Landry

To all of our FMCA friends: FYI and a long story made short. We've used CoPilot Live Version 8 on our laptop for some years now. Laptop totally crashes. Try to load version 8 into new laptop, software tells me to contact company for activation code. Unknown to us when we purchased version 8, there is a hidden expiration time period within the software and the company will not give us the activation code. They say version 8 is old technology and we need to buy the new version 11. Retired seniors on a fixed income can't afford to buy new technology when it comes out every day. The old technology worked fine, but we are penalized because our laptop crashed. So, beware of CoPlot Live software with it's hidden expiration time period. They will not give you the needed activation code unless you upgrade. Your right to decide when to upgrade has been taken away without you knowing about it. Has anybody else encounted this problem with CoPilot Live? We are now looking for another GPS program for our new laptop and it won't be CoPilot Live. Drive safely Byron and Linda Landry FMCA # F405810

Hello to all Most parks have an electrical shortage of amps to the site you're paying for. We have traveled all over this great country of ours, including Canada and Alaska and we do more often find insufficient power. In our 5th wheeler, we had both an isolation transformer and a surge protector. We now have a motorhome and we've only installed a 50 amp surge protector. We thought that was more important to have than an isolation transformer, which will come by next summer. $$$$$$$$ Our surge protector has disconnected us a few times and it does indicate the condition of the power source when we plug in. We also have a cycle per second meter and a voltage meter plugged in at all times with our eyes on it when we get to the park until we know what we have. Money for protection is well worth it. You will figure this out if you don't have any protection and your rig gets hit with some electrical anomaly. We'd rather pay now for the protection then pay for the repairs which, we're sure would be extremely costly. It's your choice. Drive safely Byron & Linda Landry

Hello to all We have an automatic Datastorm Internet system on top of our coach. If you are going to actively manage your checking, trading, bank accounts or pay bills online, we highly recommend having a Datastorm system that is WPA encrypted. We are wireless as well. The pros are access anywhere you have a view of the Southern sky within the contiguous states. If you go into Canada or Alaska, you would have to change satellites. You can be out in Death Valley or out in New Mexico in isolated areas, you will get Internet. The ease of pushing one button and within 4 - 5 minutes you will be on the Internet, so we do connect at rest stops for lunch. You have to be stationary to use this system. You can also buy several levels of service of which the monthly fees can be as low as $80/mo to $100/mo. The cons of this system is that it does not always want to work because, a wire giggled loose going down the road, HugesNet changes your transponder without telling you, trees have blocked the GPS signal that is needed to locate you on the face of the Earth or the modem gets confused once in awhile. Most of the time, it's a wire that has worked loose out of one of the connectors. Also, the $4000 purchase and installation price is steep, but if you get a good installer and provider, this system is worth it. This system requires you to be somewhat savy on how it works. MotoSat does hold seminars that you can attend to help you understand how to troubleshoot the system and to understand how it works. We love the system, but it can be frustrating to you when it doesn't work and you expect it to work, but that can and does sound like cellular service, doesn't it, especially if you are out of cell tower range. Safe driving to all Don't forget to stand up for America Byron & Linda Landry Fulltimers 04 Newmar Mtn. Aire 08 Jeep Liberty