RangerCub's SoapBox

RangerCub's Soapbox

Cars

Recommend		Don't Buy
Domestic Ford	Import Honda Suzuki	Domestic GM Dodge Chrystler	Import Toyota Hundai

Why you may ask?

The Domestic Side:
Ford Vehicles are generally constructed with better materials and quality than it's domestic competitors.
GM continues to make "Cookie Cutter" vehicles that have the simplest parts fail before their time. Dodge and Chrystler vehicles are rushed to market - often being designed to last only 5 to 7 years.

On the Import Side:
Honda vehicles really are designed to run forever and still keep you alive in a crash. Suzuki is the world's most popular small car company in the world, and makes a well-rounded product with few mechanical failures.
Toyota designs their cars so that you feel like your on a cloud and use very cheap parts and metal in critical frame and body construction. Hyundai may sell the most cars in the world, but it's because you have to buy a new one every 3 to 5 years because they fall apart or stop running.

These opinions are my own, and if you disagree - good! Keep driving that inferior P.O.S. till it lets you down one day.

Drivers

A Study was done by a college which I cannot remember the name, about the skill or proficiency of a driver because of the make of car they drive. From memory, here's a list of the types of cars, and charateristics the study mentioned.

Worst Drivers	Best Drivers
VOLVO (Weaves, sudden lane changes, swerves, slow driving) SAAB (Swerving, un-necessary accelleration, un-necessary braking) TOYOTA (Daydreaming, not confident with lane changes)	FORD (Pickups) (Generally considerate, keeps with the flow of traffic) CHRYSTLER / DODGE (Minivans) (Waits their turn, doesn't take un-necessary risks) SUBARU (Very middle of the pack - considerate and confident drivers)

Consumer Electronics

DO NOT BUY SONY
(See Below)

Manufacturer	Attributes Pro / Con
JVC	Inventors of the VCR. Makes generally solid and reliable equipment. Recommended for car stereos and VCR's (But who buys VCR's anymore? - Go get a DVD Recorder / Burner)
Panasonic	Has been making televisions longer than anyone . Average craftsmanship and life of products. Recommended for cordless phones.
Toshiba	Was the first to manufacture HDTV's with their Colorstream technology. Main $ behind the DVD (to go along with their HDTV of course.) Above average life of products with average craftsmanship. Some products have strange issues w/ functionality. They are also behind the HD-DVD - which is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED over any other High Def Disc out there. Keep an eye out for SED Displays (Co-built with Canon) - They are AMAZING!
Mitsubishi	Longest maker of Big Screen televisions. They keep cutting down rainforests and don't really invent anything new or revolutionary.
LG	Relativley new to the US market. Generally on the pricey side, their products are aimed to compete with Philips. Their quality is comparable to Samsung and Toshiba in their HDTV sets.
Samsung	Current leader of Flat Panel computer displays and HDTV Plasma and flat screen displays. Do not buy one of their cell phones (they buy 2 year old Motorola technology. Good product lifespan but having general speaker / sound issues currently.
Philips	Netherlands based electronics company. First company to produce a "Plasma" HDTV for market. Makes solid television sets with standards better than the US minimum (TV's are made for PAL and just sent over here for NTSC). My personal 27" set has been running strong for over 12 years!
RCA	Still trying to recover from their flop in the 70's and early 80's with some crappy television sets. Generally low on quality and life on products - they, like Sony, do not manufacture their own stuff.
Zenith	Has fallen off the radar as a reputable manufacture of TV's and electronic equipment. Similar to RCA except they didn't burn as many people with bad equipment.
Sharp	Sharp is your lower end manufacturer but still makes a decent product for the money. Some of their higher end products like video projectors are made well and last a long time.
Sony	Sony continually refuses to "buy in" to existing standards and tries to invent their own to obtain a monopoly on a technology. Remember Beta Max and the Mini Disc? Sony does not make any of their consumer based electronics and continues to pretend that their equipment is quality. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Their equipment consistently falls short of expected longevity and quality - all the while, charging about 25% more than the competition. DO NOT BUY SONY By the way - interesting how they were busted for putting "spyware" on their audio CD's - Here's a company so paranoid about their IP (Intellectual Property) that they are willing to sacrifice your computer's security for their profit. And they wonder why we hate them so...

Mobile Phones & Providers

Company

Technology

Notes

Cingular / AT&T	GSM & (Old TDMA)	After finally combining 2 newer GSM networks, most problems have been resolved - Better sound quality A great thing about GSM technology, is that you're not stuck to a particular phone - you can change it almost at will by moving your SIM card.
Verizon	CDMA	Generally good coverage, but more on the pricey side, and you have to watch out about their marketing practices - as in just because you use their service, doesn't mean you get to call other Verizon customers for free - you need a special "plan" that includes that. A downside - their equipment (phone selection) is not very versitle / state of the art.
T-Mobile	GSM	They use Cingular's network - They seem to be the most customer-friendly company when it comes to equipment, and usage plans.
Sprint / Nextel	CDMA	Having the oldest technology in their network, there are going to be some problems expecially with Nextel till about 2008 as they sort out frequencies. Their covrage is dissappointing, but Sprint has some of the best rate plans.

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