Gavin Newsom, Bill Maher and the Epson EX3280 Review

This is episode number 317 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We are so glad you could join us for another live episode here in the studio. How you doing, Kev?

Um, it's late.

It's late.

It is. It's a little bit late tonight.

Yeah. Let's get to the chicken killing. Um, so, uh, dude, I'm, I'm already tired, but like, here's the thing is we have a big event tomorrow.

We do.

Um, we're doing a live episode with the Meredith Law Firm. It's gonna be a business development episode as well as we're doing some live networking, uh, with the net. Uh, so that's gonna be really fun. It may not be like as pertinent to most of our audience who tunes in for all of our homeowners stuff. Uh, but we've had a request. I mean, we've been, we've been interviewing, uh, business owners and entrepreneurs for years now.

Oh yeah.

And one of the requests, I don't know if you get this a lot, but like one of the requests I get from a lot of them is I wish you would do some business content.

Sure.

Um, and it's not what we're doing tomorrow is not necessarily business content, but it's business adjacent. Yeah.

We're, we're gonna be helping people.

Yeah, for sure.

In business.

Well, we're gonna be talking about the difference between trusts and wills. We're gonna be talking about corporation formation and that part is business. But trusts and wills, man, I mean, like everybody should have one of those. Yeah. Especially if you own a home. Yeah. It's your biggest asset. It needs to be protected. One of the best ways you can do that is through estate planning. Yep. Uh, and Dave is a fantastic estate planner. Um, I mean, he's an attorney, but like, that's a big part of what he deals with.

And he's a really good dude. He's a really, really good dude.

You know, I've, I've known Dave for close to 30 years now.

Yeah.

Um, and so I'm, I'm excited about it. We're, we're gonna be hanging out at B52. Uh, my friend San and his food truck are gonna be there. Taste the Asian. They're gonna be, you know, the yum. If you listen, y'all, if you hadn't had the Mama Noodles, mm-hmm, they're legit. Um, but dude, I had a crazy day yesterday. Well, Friday kicked off on Friday. I shot in a clay tournament. Oh yeah.

I actually saw your truck over there. I was like, I think that's today. And I did this last year and I didn't this year. Oh, you're right. For some reason.

Yeah. So I shot in a clay tournament on Friday. And then I shot in another one on Sunday.

Oh, really?

And, uh, the one on Sunday was, uh, was really, really big and a lot of fun. I mean, both of 'em were fun, don't get me wrong. But like Sunday morning I played a gig, mm, playing guitar, and then I went and shot in the clay tournament, and then I had another gig right after that.

So it's been a long weekend.

I, I start— my day started at 5:00 AM on Sunday and I did not get home till 10:00 PM. Yesterday, here we are, and here we are at 11:30 almost. So anyway, we got we got some fun stuff. I just got a new projector for the pool deck. We're going to talk about that tonight. We're going to talk about a Bill Mark clip that is getting a lot of attention, even though we can't get a copy of it because those guys over at Max are selfish jags.

Seriously.

Anyway, we got some sponsors.

Yes, we do.

3 sponsors.

We have a new sponsor, and we're gonna start with them just 'cause they're new.

Let's kick it off.

And we are so excited to be able to, uh, really, I guess, project and promote Crazy Clean.

Crazy Clean.

And I'd have to go back and look and see which episode that was, but, um, not too long ago, we had them on.

We had Steve in the studio.

Yeah, and just—

The founder and CEO.

That's right, and they're just first of all, just really cool people. And, uh, we, we had a great time interviewing him. But Krazy Clean is a really, really cool product. And, and the primary thing that you need it for, because that's what it does, is it helps keep your toilet clean. And, and more—

Yeah.

I mean, that, that's really what it is. But it's a, it's a more than keeping your toilet clean. What it does is it is a chemical-free water treatment that, you know, keeps your toilet from staining. So if you have hard water or anything, you get that, that stain line around where your water is. I mean, you have to scrub and scrub and scrub to get that thing off. But you put this Crazy Clean product in, there's no chemicals in it. It's just magnets.

Right.

And all of a sudden, I mean, over the course of basically a week, and it gets better and better and better the longer you use it. your stains just wipe off.

Yep. Yeah. The cool thing about it is it prevents, it prevents scaling, especially if you have hard water, but it also releases scaling.

Yeah.

Uh, and, and so, you know, I've been handing them out like candy.

They're easy to give away.

And well, because like, one, it's like, I wanna hand them out to people who are, uh, suspicious. Like, I can't do that.

Sure.

And I'm like, no, stick it. Like, cuz Kevin and I have been keeping them in our toilets. I don't know how many months we've had 'em in there.

Oh.

You know, enough, you know, well, and then Kevin's house, you know, it's his son's job to clean the toilets and Crazy Clean's been stealing his, you know, allowance money.

That's serious for months now. Seriously, like he doesn't even have to work. I mean, you still have to wipe it clean, but that's any toilet.

It's a great product. It teaches terrible work ethic.

Um, because you don't have to work anymore.

So, which by the way, we're gonna be giving away one of these tomorrow night at our live event. Yeah. So if you wanna get one of those, show up for that. Anyway, we, we love this product. It's incredible. I actually handed it out to a, a lady that owns a house cleaning company. And I was like, look, I want you to try this product out at home because I think if you begin selling these to your clients, you're actually gonna reduce the amount of time that your girls are spending cleaning people's houses.

That's interesting.

And she's like, that's an interesting idea.

Yeah. And, and time is money. Right?

When she's like, how much are they? And can I buy them in bulk?

Well, yes, and I mean, yes. I mean, they're roughly $30 apiece.

Yeah.

And you can buy them in bulk.

I think they're running a special right now. You'd have to go on the website to see.

Yeah. And so to that end, this product, if you're watching online, it's spelled with a K. Krazy Klean. Also Krazy with a K, Klean with a K. And so you go to their website, it's krazyklean.com.

Yeah, just order it online. I think they have like a special if you order 3.

Okay.

I think you get like a discount or something like that.

Yeah, um, I'm actually, I'm actually on their website right now. So you can get, yeah, I mean, your, your best deal is to get 4.

Okay.

And they're, they're $31 apiece if you do that. And the cool thing about that is just get a friend. And most people have 2, at least 2 toilets in their home. Some people have 4, but Mine, we have 2. Just get with a friend that needs 2 and, you know, split the price.

Cahooting is allowed.

It's perfect.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So awesome. Reach out to 'em, order some Crazy Clean, keep your toilets, you know, spotless.

That's right.

It's incredible. Next sponsor, who we got?

Next one up is Lone Star Appliance Repair.

Lone Star Appliance Repair. Uh, look, I, I was actually at a, uh, commercial building today and they were having some issues with a refrigerator. And part of it was, is the, the guys coming into the kitchen were not keeping the refrigerator clean and it was causing some other problems.

Okay.

And one of the things that, you know, when we talk about appliance repair, you know, general maintenance on those, I mean, getting it cleaned, that's not something that you think about a lot, but like one of the big ones that doesn't get cleaned like it should is like the washing machine. And if you've ever had to do that, it is worth the money to hire somebody to do it. It is nasty.

Right. I mean, honestly, all you have to do is after you've washed your dishes, you unload your dishwasher, take a whiff.

Right.

Open it up, take a whiff.

I was talking about a washing machine for clothes. Oh, you're talking about dishwasher. But yeah, that—

I'm talking about dishwasher.

Dishwasher.

Either one. Honestly, you can do the same thing in the washing machine. Just take a whiff. I mean, I'm telling you, you would be shocked at what your appliance smells like. And the thing is, you look at it and you go, look, this thing literally washes for a living. It got soap in it all the time. Why is it that I'm having to clean it? But that's just not the way it works. That's not the way it works.

So, I mean, yeah, take care of them.

Take care.

Get them cleaned. Or, you know, and like we always say, it's way cheaper to get them repaired than it is to replace them. So give them a call. What's the number, Kev?

The number is 936-647-2364.

And they're gonna be hanging out with us tomorrow night. So if you want to meet them, come see. That's right. We got one. We got one more.

One more. And that is True Texas Solar and Roofing.

And Roofing.

It is late, dude. True Texas Solar and Roofing. And I'll tell you what, guys, these, again, another longtime sponsor, and there's a reason for that.

Yeah.

We've said it before, we're not gonna bring on sponsors that we wouldn't use ourselves.

Right.

And that we couldn't fully endorse and, and truly promote for you guys. These, these guys at True Texas Solar, they just do things right.

Yep.

And I know that there's a lot of people out there are trying to sell solar and they're fly-by-night people. They're, they're gonna come in, sell you something and hope it works.

I was, I was, I was in a, uh, Facebook group the other day and there was somebody looking for an attorney, uh, to go after a solar company because they had taken advantage of their mom and like screwed them out of a bunch of money. It's not shocking, you know? And I, I had, I, I looked at it and I felt so bad for them because I was like, man, I wish that I could have connected them with True Texas Solar because like that's, That's not a story that you're gonna hear about. You hear a lot of stories about solar scams and people taking advantage of people. And that, that's one of the reasons Kevin and I

love working with these guys because they're honest. They're gonna take care of you. They're gonna give you, you know, the truth. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, and let you know about all the incentives and programs that the, the government has going for these and, and get you the best deal that they can.

Right.

You know, and they're not, you know, they're not obliged to give like a certain product or a certain brand or anything like that. They're just gonna get you set up with the one that works best for you your home. And one of the other things that I think we, we often forget when you talk about solar is, like, all the other things that can work together with solar, and they're set up to get you in with those programs as well with, like, a whole home battery, a whole home generator, and you can actually get all 3 of those working together where you can have complete energy independence. You can't get off the grid if you're already on the grid, but they can get you set up to where you're on it as little as possible.

Yeah. And right now with some crazy things that are happening with tariffs and all that kinda junk, like, prices are for at least a time are gonna go up on everything.

For sure.

And, and one of the things that will go up is the cost of our bills. They're just gonna, they're gonna go up. And you can truly lock in your price whenever you do a solar system because that's the way that works. You lock in a price and you pay basically a, you know, a monthly fee to own that system. And so that's something else to just be aware of. And here's the other thing. Your, your solar system works on panels and the best deals right now based on like the, uh, the rebates that you get are American-made panels. So guess what, what will go up in price?

Yeah, it's all of it.

All of it. Not gonna go up on price because they're not importing that stuff.

Yeah.

You know, so no tariffs. All right. Let's just say that.

Yep.

All right. Well, that's it. Church Texas Solar. You can get them at 936-286-8325.

Give him a call. Give him a call. Guys, uh, well, in the, in the spirit of talking about solar, there's this clip of, uh, Gavin Newsom and Bill Maher on, on Bill Maher's show. What? I didn't even forget what that guy's show is called.

I don't ever know.

The Bill Maher Show.

Yeah, that's the one.

It used to be Politically Incorrect, and I, I think that was the better name for the show.

Yeah.

Um, I don't know what it's called now.

I don't either.

But anyway, there's this clip going around of Gavin Newsom doing a sit-down with Bill Maher. And he— one, like, he's, he's fanboying.

Isn't it called Real Time?

That's it.

Okay.

He's fanboying with, with Gavin Newsom because he thinks that he's like the next big star for the Democratic Party. And he may be.

Maybe.

I mean, he like, look, he's, he's a gifted communicator. He's got his podcast now that, you know, and he's in there, he's talking with Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon. He's bringing in all these guys. He's like, I can talk to these guys.

Yeah.

Um, and, and he does well.

Sure.

I, I, I'll give him that. He does well. But Bill is pissed off, uh, because he's had to have 2 inspections for his solar panels to be put on his roof. And he's mad because like it took so long to put the solar panels up and then he had to pay for the 2 inspections. And he's, he's given the business to Gavin because apparently they talked several years ago and Gavin's like, it's a new day in California. We're gonna change all this. We're not gonna have as many regulations. And Bill's like, it's my roof, right? Why, why am I beholden to the state to tell me what I can and cannot put on my roof? And his, his bit that he's been doing in some of his

stand-up is like, if it falls on, you know, if my roof falls in on me, that's my problem, you know? And he's not—

He's not wrong.

He's not wrong. But like, that's just— look, here's, here's my issue with the whole thing is like everyone thinks that Bill Maher is giving the business to Gavin Newsom. And my issue is Like, what did you expect? Like, everyone in California, like, not only elected this guy, right? When, like, he got caught having dinner at the French Laundry during COVID like, in a rules for me but not for— rules for thee but not for me, right? Kind of a situation. And they recalled him. They didn't even win the recall. Like, California was like, nope, we still like him.

Yeah.

You know, and it's like, that's what you vote for when you live there.

Right.

Like, that's, that's just what it is. Like, it's, it's a, in, like, in my industry, we all pay attention to what California is doing now because we know what's going to be the regulations in our state in like 10 to 15 years.

Right.

It's just a regulatory state. It's what, it's what it is.

They always have been.

Always have been.

Yeah.

You know, except for when it comes to like forestation, but, um, you know, Like, they don't have any rules about that. They just let it run wild.

Yeah.

But I, I don't understand his frustration. I understand his frustration from a perspective of like, he's, I guess he's having an awakening when it comes to property rights.

But the truth is he lives there. He knows that there's rules.

Yeah.

And, and you just—

California, right?

And, and honestly, there's a reason so many people are fleeing from California. 'Cause they don't want that rule, you know, whatever it is.

I think that's part of the issue. I think so many of his friends have left, and he's hearing about the good time party happening in Austin.

Right.

And everyone's like, I put solar on my roof. I didn't have to pay for any inspections. In fact, the solar cost me half of what it cost you. And he's like, son of a—

Yeah, exactly.

I think that's what's happening.

Sure.

And he was like, well, why can't we have that here? And it's 'cause you can't.

Right.

Because people refuse to vote anything different.

Yeah, and you're not gonna change it.

No.

I mean, again, a reason why people are leaving is 'cause they're like, We're powerless here.

Yeah.

So we're just gonna leave.

It's not my house.

No.

And, but, and, and what was so interesting about this is Newsom fully recognizes that the state is like this and is going to change nothing.

No.

Because his response to this was, well, if it's an emergency situation, we can move very quickly. Meaning, like right now, in the wake of forest fires, right, we're gonna, we're gonna waive all the regulations so that people can get their houses built.

Right.

But as soon as everybody's house is gone, we're turning the switch right back on.

Of course.

Because it's not an emergency situation anymore. It— okay. It's like, why? What's the difference?

It's, it's all it— that there's— it's just—

why can't it just be like that all the time? And I get the downside. I understand the downside. Sure. Everyone's like, it'll be the wild, wild west. Like, look, not that many houses fall down.

And, and it's not the wild, wild west in other places.

Like here.

Here. Like, I mean, and look, we don't love HOAs.

No.

But they're around.

It's a thing.

And it's a thing. And if you really want like some sort of regulatory thing, put it in the neighborhoods, right? Put it in the cities, put it in the places where, look, if you choose to live in this city, you're gonna have— I mean, The Woodlands is kind of that way. They got all kinds of— I mean, if you want to chop a tree down, no.

It ain't happening.

Not a happen. It's not. You're gonna have to get a permit for it. Mm-hmm. And it's not, and they're not gonna approve it. No, that's just the way that's gonna work.

Like, it's definitely a forgiveness, not permission situation.

Oh, absolutely.

'Cause, but like every, every tree cutter in the tri-county area knows I ain't cutting trees.

No, I'm not going over there.

Yeah.

If you wanna do it, that's on you. But like the best you're gonna do is trim it up.

Right. And what I mean, like in The Woodlands, like, you better be good.

Oh yeah.

If you're gonna do it yourself, because otherwise it's gonna fall on somebody's house. No, you're not wrong. So like, I'm just disclaimer out there. Don't cut your trees down in The Woodlands.

Yeah. And it's just, so you choose to live in a township of The Woodlands.

Sure.

And if you don't want those regulations, move to Conroe or move to Spring.

Not city property.

Either way. Well, yeah, but that's a whole nother thing. But like, that's the thing is like you, Put it in the, in the hands of the city and in the hands of the neighborhoods rather than at a state level where it's just like, you're, you're screwed.

So speaking, speaking of Conroe, have you heard all of, not all of it, but like, cause there's many layers to this, but have you heard all of the nonsense with home building in Conroe right now?

Maybe none of it. Cause I'm not, I have no idea what you're talking about.

So do you remember when we had, I mean, this was years ago now. We had Chip Steinberg on the show.

Oh yeah, it was early on.

So, and I remember asking him this question very specifically when this situation came up. I asked him, hey, does the city of Conroe have the infrastructure for the kind of growth that we're experiencing right now? Because I think at the time when we had him on—

Well, that was 6 years, 6 and a half years ago almost.

Right. And for context, I think he's, over 911 dispatch.

He is.

Um, is he still doing that?

Uh-huh.

Okay. Um, and I, at the time, I think Conroe was like the number one fastest growing city in the United States.

Yeah.

You know, and my, my question to him was like, does the city of Conroe have the infrastructure to handle the kind of growth?

Mm-hmm.

And at the time he told me, oh yeah. Right. We're set up for it. And I'm not saying that he was not telling the truth.

Sure.

Because I think he was telling the truth.

Sure.

We've, like, we were the fastest growing city in the United States 2 years in a row.

Yeah.

That's a lot of growth.

It is.

So city council the other day, the other day, it's, it's been several weeks ago, shut down building projects completely. Well, within the city limits.

Really?

Yes. They, I think there was 2 or 3 brand new neighborhoods going up that they put the kibosh on.

Really?

Because people were having water pressure issues.

Uh-oh.

People were having water supply issues.

Oof.

And these neighborhoods weren't even up yet and they were building thousands of homes.

And is this like over in the Grand Central Park area?

I don't know exactly. I need, I need to go through and look and see where all these building sites are.

Okay.

Um, but it's not good.

No.

And like builders are pissed. Well, sure. Because these projects have been approved for a long time.

They've got contracts out. They've, yeah.

Yeah. And I'm, I'm specifically not saying names because I don't wanna get involved in the kerfuffle.

Sure.

But, like, these, it's, it's a big deal.

Well, it's, yeah. I mean, I would imagine so.

Well, and, and part of it is, like, some of these neighborhoods already have, you know, the, the infrastructure built to start pouring pads.

So they've already invested a significant amount of money.

Gobs of money.

Yeah. That, because that's some of the most important money that you spend. It's the most expensive money, right?

You know, and, uh, and, and now the city's just saying, no, you can't do it.

Wow.

And so they're having to pivot. So like, and already what's more than usual expensive investment is now having to sit and they're having to move on to other projects, which means they're probably having to start land, uh, grading and all that kind of stuff in other areas other than what they're doing right now.

That's crazy.

So yeah, it's nuts, dude. Um, so anyway, uh, all that going on, uh, I got a new projector.

Okay, let's talk about it.

For the pool deck. It is an Epson. Um, and I did not want a new projector.

Um, that's how that goes.

I was pretty content with the one I had, but it was not content with itself.

No, it died.

It didn't die. Um, it still turns on. It just does not like to recognize inputs.

Oh. So it, so it strategically stopped, like, caring about—

It didn't like what I was playing.

Don't tell me what to play. That's right.

But I, I gotta tell you, I couldn't be happier that I had to get— when we were, we were having an event at the house and we needed some— we, we needed to be able to put a presentation up for a lot of people to see, and we just didn't have It wasn't working. And so we had to pivot like 2 days before this event. And, and I was literally installing this thing as people showed up at my house for my wife to have her meeting.

Wow.

Um, thankfully I was able to find what I needed at Best Buy.

Okay.

Okay. Let me, let me share my beef with Best Buy real quick.

Okay.

Um, this, this, it's the Epson EX3280, right? It's, it's a, it's a projector. It's, it's nothing really fancy.

Sure.

Um, I mean, because like, I think Sony now has one that's like $15,000 or $20,000, you know, and it's one of these home theater, like uber home theater projectors. Um, it's nothing like that, right? This one was $399, not $3.99, $399.

Okay.

Um, at, at Best Buy. I ordered online from Best Buy. And I made sure to check that they had it in stock.

Okay.

And, and so I was like, you know what? I'm gonna save myself a little bit of time. And the, the event at my house was on Sunday. On Friday, I ordered it for curbside pickup, made sure online that they had it in stock, ordered it, paid for it, Accepted my order, and about 5 hours later sent me an email and said, your order will be ready on Thursday.

What? Of the next week?

The next week. And I was like, you have it in stock. At least it says that you have it in stock, you know? And I can't— Thursday's too late. It's not gonna work. So I canceled the order and said, why are you canceling the order? I was like, because it's not gonna be ready in time.

Right.

I need it now.

Right.

Um, now, now, I mean, to be fair to them, like, I was being a little demandy.

Well, yeah, but, but, but you checked.

I checked, but my screws were getting turned by the wife.

Well, yeah.

And she's like, I need it now.

Right.

And I'm like, I'll make it happen, babe.

Okay.

So I checked the inventory again and I was like, well, maybe they have it in a different store.

All right.

And it still showed that it had it at the one closest to me.

Okay.

So I was like, you know what? Rather than drive all the way, because they showed that they had it at other stores.

Sure.

The one that I wanted. And I was like, it says that they have it. I wonder if I walk in if they'll have it because that'll save me an hour.

Right.

I walk in the store and there's a guy and I was like, hey, man. Like, I see that projector right there. Do you have one? He pulls it up on his thing.

He's like, yeah. It says we have one.

I'll be right back with it. Walks in the back. Grabs it, brings it to me.

What?

I buy it right there and I walk out of the store and I'm like, what is wrong with your system online?

That's bad.

Where it's like, I order it on a Friday. It tells me it's not gonna be ready till next Thursday, even though it's sitting right there.

Yeah.

I don't know. I don't get that.

I don't either. Um, they're, they are probably, and I don't know their business structure, they are probably holding on by the skin of their teeth.

You think so?

Yeah, because they're the only real electronics store around anymore because Fry's is gone. And, you know, is Fry's completely gone? I think so.

I mean, I know Circuit City's been gone for years.

Circuit City has got Best. Do you remember Best?

I do.

Yeah. Like, uh, all, all of those are gone.

You know, people, people working at Circuit City used to make gobs of money.

Sure they did.

Like, like a, a, a standard, like, walk off the street sales guy could easily expect $60,000 to $70,000 a year.

Yep, because they worked on commission.

Yeah.

And so anyway, that— all that being said, they're really the only electronic guy in, in the game except for TVs. I mean, TVs you can get anywhere.

I, I think that's what's keeping them in the game is it's— for me, it's difficult to buy a TV without actually looking at it.

Sure. No, it is.

And making sure that the colors work for me, that the resolution works for me.

And it is difficult going into Sam's. It's that your whole perspective is off because of how big it is, or Costco.

But like Walmart too. I mean, Walmart, Target has them now. Um, but the quality is not there.

They're not. And so, you know, Best Buy is hanging on because they've got the electronics that you need. And, and I, I think the one thing that they're doing really well is I think it's up to $400. They'll match prices online even.

Oh, wow.

So like up to like $400. So like, let's say you go in and look at this Samsung TV and you look on Amazon and Amazon has it for $399 less, right? They'll match that price. And so that is, that's a really, really good thing to know about them. But I mean, if their system is that messed up, yeah, that's frustrating because I mean, Target figures it out. Walmart figures it out.

Yeah.

Like, I can— it's— those 2 stores, you can literally buy it and you drive up almost within 30 minutes and they're gonna have it ready for you. Yeah.

I, I, well, I think one of the other things that's keeping them in the game is I think they're pretty competitive when it comes to appliances.

Oh.

And I think, I think they have some brands that they have access to that, a little more readily available than, than like Home Depot and Lowe's.

Yeah.

So I think they're, I think they're doing pretty well.

Yeah.

And, and they actually, Uh, their, uh, appliances are laid out better in their stores, I think, than those other places. I would agree with that. I think the other places are catching up though. I really do. I mean, like their, their showrooms on their appliances are, are really looking better and better all the time. And Home Depot and Lowe's has a bigger area to set those things out in.

They do.

So I think eventually they'll overtake them, but I think right now Best Buy is kind of holding its own with, with appliance. And I think they do really well in the smaller appliances. Um, Like they have like a really cool like cocktail. Oh, uh, like an automated cocktail maker.

Yeah.

Um, that's a really cool like little ninja. It's like a ninja. Yeah.

I think they got like the ninja margarita machines and stuff now. Yeah.

But this one is like, you want an old fashioned, just hit the button. You want a Manhattan, hit the button. You want a, you know, whatever.

It's like your, it's like your, uh, Keurig for cocktails.

Yeah. The, the evening Keurig.

Yeah. There you go. That's right.

Uh, so they, they, but like that, like, you know, like, air fryers and popcorn makers and, you know, boutique coffee makers and all that kind of stuff.

Right.

All that to be said, we needed a new projector. We got this Epson. Um, the one that we had before, uh, you couldn't run it in the daytime. Um, you could only use it at night, which was fine. That's usually when we had it available.

And that's partly because of the lumens.

Yes.

That were available at the time when you bought that projector.

Yeah, because I mean, like, it was a budget decision.

Sure.

I wasn't gonna spend like you know, 3 grand on a projector that sits on an outdoor deck.

Of course.

Um, and so it didn't make sense to spend that much money on something that's going to get full of pollen, right, and dust. Even though our deck is completely covered, yeah, it still gets the yellow snow.

The wind blows, right?

Um, so the price point on this one was right, but it still has 3,600 lumens.

Yeah. Which, I mean, like, not the brightest, No, but, but I mean, like, a typical projector, you can get away with 2,500 in your home.

Yeah.

And, and, but, you know, outside, like, full sun, you can still do really well with, like, a 5,000. So 3,600 is a pretty good amount of lumens.

And we, we have a lot of natural light coming into that area, even though it's under a roof. There's windows and all that kind of stuff sticking around. With, with all that natural light, I was blown away with the picture we were able to get with this thing. Cool. Like, middle of the day, sun full shining, no clouds in the sky that day. Everything on the screen was crystal clear.

Cool.

Now it's under a roof.

Yeah.

There's shade. Yeah. But still, there's a window behind that screen and there's 2 windows on either side of it. There's a lot of light coming in there.

Yeah. It's open.

It's open. Yeah. It was awesome. I was like, I've never been able to turn this thing on in the day, or the other projector, I've never been able to turn it on in the day. And I'm like, is it on? Like, is it happening? Like, is it warming up? Like, how much longer is it going to be before it like, oh, this is as good as it's going to get, right? No, it's like, it's on. It's like, oh my gosh, like, I can actually read the menu.

Cool.

Um, and so we had a few stipulations on requirements in order to make this projector work.

Okay.

Um, One, not all projectors come with mounts or are mount compatible.

Sure.

And we had very specifically bought a universal mount so that inevitably when the one broke, we could get another one in there.

Sure.

What I learned as I was shopping is not all projectors have mounts.

Really?

Because not all projectors are inverted compatible.

Sure, that makes sense.

Um, so, uh, we had to find one that could hang upside down and have the mount, right, uh, that worked with a universal mount.

Sure.

That's not— so many of the projectors that you find on the market today are like these little home projectors, right, that are intended to like pair with like a kid's cell phone.

Oh yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, just to— because they'll project them On the wall in a room and who cares where they put it?

Yeah. Yeah. And they're just kind of gimmicky, honestly. They're not like legit projectors, but I say not legit. Like they'll project a picture, but like it's not a legit projector for like movie watching or anything like that.

Right.

And that is something that we do really enjoy in the summertime is swimming and watching a movie out on our deck. The kids love having friends over to do that. And so it's a big deal for them to be able to have that. Um, it was— there are other projectors that we could have gotten that are smart compatible, meaning they have built-in like Rokus, built-in Amazon. We didn't need any of that.

Right.

We were always already wired up with an HDMI cable going up there, so it was nice that it had an HDMI input. Um, and, uh, the, the 15,000:1 ratio, super nice. The image that we get up on the screen is very high resolution. Even though our screen is dirty and it needs to be cleaned, we're still getting a good image up in there. So, and like, so it's a very basic projector. And so like, if you don't need a lot of those fancy buttons and features on it, like, it'll get the job done.

But for $400, like, that's cheap.

And it's very much intended to be a portable unit.

Okay.

Um, it comes with a carrying case, like a padded carrying case with like an arm strap. And it's like, you can take it wherever you want to go.

Sure.

You know, and you can set it up and, and then, you know, the, the keystone on it, all the, all the menu options. I was, um, I was very happy with the remote.

Okay.

It was a sturdier remote. The, the remote on the previous one was like one of those, um, flat remotes that you get to like change like stupid light bulbs. You know what I mean? Like it had like the, the, the the penny battery in it.

It's one of those.

It's like the buttons just don't feel substantial. Like this one is like an old school VCR remote. You know, it's like a brick. If you threw it at your sister, she's going to get a knot on her head.

Good.

You know? Yeah. Let her know that you throw it, throw something at her. It's like none of this dinky stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah. You get a good knot on that.

Yes. You got it. Yeah.

Um, so it's, it's a little more substantial. It has actual buttons, you know, So that, I don't know why that's a big deal to me.

Well, it's also, those other ones are easy to lose.

They really are. So those are the ones that you end up putting like a stick of Velcro on the back.

Yeah, just to keep it somewhere.

Don't touch this.

Don't touch it. I need it. I put it there on purpose. That's good. Well, it looks like a good, a good option, man. Like, and, and so, and most people aren't using projectors outside. Most people are putting them inside.

It's, well, it's becoming more and more of a thing. I mean, where people like the inflatable screens and things like that. And people are starting to like buy those, not rent those. They keep them like, okay, let's, let's go watch a movie in the backyard.

Sure.

You know? And, and, and so something like this is good because like you, you can almost have it to not be permanently set up like the way ours is.

Sure. Makes sense.

So the, the only, here's something I wish more projectors did, and this one does not have that, but again, we don't necessarily need it because we've got the HDMI cable and like, like my, like my Mac Pro. My Mac Pro has an HDMI.

Right.

So I could hook my Mac Pro up to the projector.

Right.

Via the HDMI. We're gonna be good.

Right.

For audio, for video.

It's all there.

I could AirPlay from my phone, all kinds. What I wish is more projectors already had the built-in features of screen sharing and AirPlay.

Yeah. It can't be that difficult.

It's really— it can't. I mean, like, everyone is doing it. Look, if I can pay with Apple Pay at a stupid gas pump, right? We can figure out Apple Play, right, on any projector.

Sure.

It's just not a— it can't be that.

I can buy a 65-inch Roku TV for $297 at Walmart. You can put Roku on one of these.

Sure.

Easy.

Well, look, I've had to over the years, pay for these stupid Apple Play apps to put it on these Fire TV sticks.

Oh yeah.

Um, and it doesn't even work that great.

No, no. The, the, the ability to actually connect to those, it's so frustrating.

It's stupid.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I agree.

So, but it, I mean, like sometimes it's what you got.

Yeah.

You know, um, you can't stream any video because the audio is like disjointed from the video.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, It's frustrating. Yeah, it is.

So, um, we can wrap this thing up, but I thought it might be fun to roll through a couple of the 1 stars.

Oh, okay. On this one.

I mean, I'm giving it, I'm giving it a bunch of stars. I mean, I don't know that I'll give it 5, uh, just because it doesn't, it doesn't have all the, all the options that I think would make it like a steal.

Yeah.

Like, I think if it had AirPlay and what, what's the Google version of that? Is it Well, the Android version, screen share or something, whatever, whatever that thing is for all you Android people. Um, which is fine.

Whatever.

It's fine.

Use what you like.

Yeah. I'm just an Apple guy.

Yeah.

So me too. It's because I don't want to change.

Yep.

Yours could be better. It's fine.

Maybe it's not. I'm not, and I'm not gonna find out. So that's right. I'm gonna trust you that you say it's better. Um, let's see.

Okay, this one's interesting. It was, uh, back on April 3rd of this year.

Okay.

Um, the title of it is Bought New and Got Used. I ordered a new projector and received a used or renewed item. This is obvious with scratches on the lens and the general look of the item. This is not right and I want a refund.

Well, I don't think that's a 1-star. type of thing.

Wendy J, I hope you got your refund.

Good luck.

Yeah, and this is from February of this year. Um, it just says defective.

Defective.

Was excited to be upgrading our projector at church, installed, and within 20 minutes got a warning that the projector was overheating. Tried to turn it off with the remote, wouldn't connect. Returned for refund. Okay, so probably just a bad one.

Hopefully.

I mean, yeah.

We don't need overheating. Nope, nope.

And let's see... This one's in Spanish, so I really can't— Let's see. I'll translate it to English, see what happens. OK.

Terrible.

It looked dull and broke down within weeks.

Broken!

That sounds like you didn't take care of it, but—

Yep.

Let's see what she says. She says, the projector looked in good condition, but from the outset, the image was opaque and dull.

Opaque.

After a few weeks, it completely stopped working. It was never mistreated. I don't believe you. But the projector is a disappointment. I don't recommend buying it, at least not a re— oh, at least not a refurbished one.

Okay.

Terrible that the return option was not enabled. Why would— okay, look, if it's a refurbished one, they're not gonna let you return it.

No, it is what it is.

You're getting a deal.

Yep.

And you roll the dice.

You made your choice.

Um, of all the reviews, it makes up 7%, 71% 5-star reviews on this thing. Oh, at least on Amazon. Um, so anyway, if you're looking for a budget-friendly projector like me, because it's on my porch, um, this, this might not be a bad option. And if, uh, don't believe Best Buy.

No.

When they tell you that they can't get it to you the same day, because they probably have it in stock.

They probably have it. Go get it.

Just, just drive up there.

That's it.

Don't let, you know, Johnny in the back take a smoke break and have it delivered 3 days later.

Yeah, he just got tired. Well, listen, thank you guys for listening to the episode. It's late. It's 12:01 AM. It's tomorrow. So thank you for being here. And if you haven't already, look, please, if you're listening live right now, we're tired. Go leave us a review. Do it. You, you're literally doing nothing else.

We're up working late, hard for you.

Yes, you're welcome. So 5-star rating review on Apple Podcasts would be great. Like and subscribe our channels. Until next time, we'll see you later. See ya.