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North Paw

sensebridge.net

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Re: North Paw

#131

Post by blamazon »

throw0101c wrote: post #129
blamazon wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question - why is either of those options better than a mirror?

>> I ride a bike […] behind me. > Question - why is either of those options better than a mirror? Where are you going to put a rear view mirror on a {bicycle?, motorcycle?}? Sure you can have mirrors for the sides for lane changes, but behind you?

It's not like a car, because your person is so much narrower than the structure of a car, less of the rear view is blocked width wise. You just put them towards the outsides of the handlebars and angle them inwards a bit. With careful placement you can have really good awareness of what's going on behind you, both directly and side to side. Oddly not very common on bicycles, but mandated on motorcycles.

Re: North Paw

#133

Post by dzhiurgis »

maliker wrote: post #7
mabbo wrote: post #2

> As you might have guessed by the long period with no posting, Sensebridge is out of business. We’ve been out of stock on Northpaw Kits since late 2016; we do not have plans to make more kits.

I wonder if any smart watch apps can reliably achieve something similar. I looked briefly for an Apple watch app that did it but no luck.

Watch wouldn’t be perfect since your hands move a ton. Perfect for phone since it’s in a pocket. Might confuse you with notifications tho.

Re: North Paw

#134

Post by TrueGeek »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #96
blamazon wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question - why is either of those options better than a mirror?

because you don't have to turn your head to check; and sometimes you can't hear cars approaching (especially EVs or when there's wind that masks the sound). Mirrors don't provide full visibility and it's also harder to judge the distance and speed of approach (which the radar provides).

yes, exactly this. I thought for sure the radar unit was a gimmick and I'd be returning it, but after seeing so many positive reviews I ordered it to give it a shot. It consistantly tells me there is a car (and how many) well before I hear it.

With a mirror I'd have to be constantly checking which not only takes my eyes off the road ahead, it makes the ride much less enjoyable.

Re: North Paw

#135

Post by insane_dreamer »

TrueGeek wrote: post #134
insane_dreamer wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because you don't have to turn your head to check; and sometimes you can't hear cars approaching (especially EVs or when there's wind that masks the sound). Mirrors don't provide full visibility and it's also harder to judge the distance and speed of approach (which the radar provides).

yes, exactly this. I thought for sure the radar unit was a gimmick and I'd be returning it, but after seeing so many positive reviews I ordered it to give it a shot. It consistantly tells me there is a car (and how many) well before I hear it. With a mirror I'd have to be constantly checking which not only takes my eyes off the road ahead, it makes the ride much less enjoyable.

I hadn't considered it until I met a couple this summer who were bikepacking from Seattle to SF. They told me it was one of those items you don't think you need until you get it and then you wonder how you did without it.

It's like blind spot monitoring and rear cameras on cars. I'd been driving without those for decades, but now that I have them I wouldn't buy a car without them.

The Varia radar also connects to the Wahoo bike computer, which is great.

Re: North Paw

#136

Post by TrueGeek »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #135
TrueGeek wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, exactly this. I thought for sure the radar unit was a gimmick and I'd be returning it, but after seeing so many positive reviews I ordered it to give it a shot. It consistantly tells me there is a car (and how many) well before I hear it. With a mirror I'd have to be constantly checking which not only takes my eyes off the road ahead, it makes the ride much less enjoyable.

I hadn't considered it until I met a couple this summer who were bikepacking from Seattle to SF. They told me it was one of those items you don't think you need until you get it and then you wonder how you did without it. It's like blind spot monitoring and rear cameras on cars. I'd been driving without those for decades, but now that I have them I wouldn't buy a car without them. The Varia radar also connects to the…

Yes, that's my setup - Varia and Wahoo. I have the original Wahoo from 2015 - 7 years and they're still updating the firmware so that it supports new stuff like radar.

Re: North Paw

#137

Post by shagie »

throw0101c wrote: post #130
shagie wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This depends on the law in jurisdiction. For example... https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/pompanobeach/latest/po... > In all spaces marked for city administered public parking within the city, all vehicles shall be parked with the front end of the vehicle facing into the space provided for parking. It shall be unlawful for any person to back any vehicle into such parking space. No person shall stand or park a veh…

> […] all vehicles shall be parked with the front end of the vehicle facing into the space provided for parking. Is there a particular rationale for this rule?

Florida only requires a rear license plate.

You're much more likely to see such ordinances in states that don't require front license plates. https://blog.appwinit.com/states-that-require-a-front-licens...

Note that this is for "for city administered public parking within the city" and doesn't apply to private / commercial lots (which may have their own parking restrictions).

Re: North Paw

#138

Post by _Microft »

unwind wrote: post #124
kelnos wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On their downloads page[0] it looks like they have CAD files for the board and a BOM for the components. Probably wouldn't be too hard (or expensive) to have a few boards fabricated by PCBWay or OSHPark. I imagine the enclosure could be 3D printed, though I don't see any CAD files for that. And not sure how easy it'd be to source the other components, especially with all the component shortages these days. But I imag…

The board seems to be 100x80 mm and two layers. The low-cost services don't seem able to directly eat Eagle-format files, so I could only price it on Eurocircuits [1] where it came out to €50+ which seems like a lot. Strange for an open project to publish in a proprietary format. [1]: https://be.eurocircuits.com

It looks like the files are in an older, binary Eagle file format. Importing it into a newer version of Eagle and saving it in an XML format would be the first step. After that, KiCad might be able to open the files if you prefer an open-source tool. From that you could export Gerber files for the fabrication houses.

A board of that size with just two layers should be $2 + shipping for five boards with e.g. JLCPCB. A bit more if you want to go lead-free.

Re: North Paw

#139

Post by throw0101c »

blamazon wrote: post #131
throw0101c wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I ride a bike […] behind me. > Question - why is either of those options better than a mirror? Where are you going to put a rear view mirror on a {bicycle?, motorcycle?}? Sure you can have mirrors for the sides for lane changes, but behind you?

It's not like a car, because your person is so much narrower than the structure of a car, less of the rear view is blocked width wise. You just put them towards the outsides of the handlebars and angle them inwards a bit. With careful placement you can have really good awareness of what's going on behind you, both directly and side to side. Oddly not very common on bicycles, but mandated on motorcycles.

I ride a motorcycle and bicycle regularly. I generally don't focus my mirrors on right behind me.

At most, when I'm at a red light, I lean over slightly to make sure the next person is actually going to stop and not rear-end me. Otherwise, while in motion, I have never felt the need for a rearview mirror on any form of two-wheeled vehicle.

Re: North Paw

#140

Post by roughly »

ok_dad wrote: post #126
roughly wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an article posted here not too long ago which talked about decoding an old Polynesian map, which the sailors used to navigate between islands in the pacific, and it turned out to be similarly situational - the map wasn’t useful for telling objectively how far you were from one place to another, but it was very useful for navigating from one spot to another based on references to what you could see. I’ve men…

Yea, I tried to find that article but couldn’t!

I think it was this one: https://knowablemagazine.org/article/society/2021/reading-pa...
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