Imteeaz

@Davie Chase absolutely and truly deserved mate.

it is an honor to be supported by people like you during the drives.

keep it up mate

@Karthik Raptor congrats mate - well deserved. Keep up the great work and support that you have been extending during all the drives

24 minutes ago, Chaitanya D said:

Dear Friends 

• Imteeaz @Imteeaz
• Krishna R @Krishna R
• Senthil Kumar @Senthil Kumar

Will add you to the drive to clear the waitlist

Please confirm if you are still willing to join

 

Hi @Chaitanya D Doc - yes pls include me in the list of attendees.

THanks

@Beide Worku  congrats mate - well deserved - been sometime since we last drove together

7 minutes ago, MMansoor said:

@M.Seidam my car is still not back from garage, they need more time. 

Had to replace the head gasket. Once again I will be missing such amazing drive.😔

Hope it is not too serious mate.

Will miss you for this drive.

Cheers

22 hours ago, M.Seidam said:

Drive Report Sweihan Drives II 

Dear Friends 

Imteeaz  @Imteeaz

Imran Kashif @Imran Kashif

DP1011 , Deepak wrangler @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler

Davie Chase @Davie Chase

Tom B @Tom B

Daniel Yang @Daniel Yang

Looper @Looper

What a wonderful day and what an amazing drive! Thank you dear friends for making the day so fantastic from the start till the end appreciate you punctuality despite the long distance you drove to the meeting point which speaks out loud about your passion and camaraderie🙏

heading toward the rising sun enjoying the initial loops and twisty was of a good smooth warming up after which we took the pylon track to enter the desert again crossing and looping along the gravity in a crescendo pace as the dunes where getting larger and taller reminded me of little Sweihan but multiplied by 3 😅. The dunes where long range in a time and a lazy S shaped ridges which gave us a thrill riding them along their top. For a while the radio was silent letting the focus and enjoyment a hallmark sign of the drive till @Daniel Yangannounced that he started not to feel well. After a gentle break he preferred to exit from almost midway drive and luckily the track took him straight away to from where we started and was confirmed later by a phone call . 

We continued our journey heading toward Ghafeteen Bowl 
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Kz1NVcqKysuECr6u6?g_st=ic a huge oval shaped bowl as it looked to me . Where every one too a turn enjoying its super soft sidy in safe manner 

existing the bowl heading to the track as planned and on the way we did continuous ridge riding and criss crossing till the content of our hearts 

Along the trip we encountered few crests and refusals which gave us an opportunity to stretch our bodies😅

@DP1011 , Deepak wrangler Your second lead was superb gave me the freedom to navigate especially in some tight areas. Thank you 🙏. Amazing pictures too 😊

@Davie Chase I am glad making your 50th drive so memorable and joyful . Always pleasure driving with you.thanks for helping in the recoveries 🙏

@Looper always pleasure having you in any drive. Thanks for keeping the convoy safe from the back as always 👍. Can’t wait to see your clip 😊

@Imran Kashif @Imteeaz and @Tom B guys you all rocked today thanks for the accompany 

till we meet again take care and see you soon 

 

@M.Seidam  what a wonderful way to end this weekend - since the start the drive was promising, with all members being eager to 'hit' the dunes. 

Following through your tracks was not an easy task, with soft sand and lots of technical terrain.

The ride up the dunes was fun though; i could feel your anxiety to ensure that we all follow 'exactly' your tracks.

THANK YOU Doc. for keeping us excited during the entire drive.

@Daniel Yang  i hope that you are feeling better now mate - i just read on couple of other whatsapp groups that other drivers have been experiencing motion sickness as well....

@Looper  you always bring this sense of responsibility to all of us - 'don't drive like it is your last drive'.  This resonates deeply with me (and i believe for all) whenever we venture out in the desert.

@Davie Chase  i am sure that you were smiling while i was struggling to keep up with the pace.  thank you for being patient with me mate.

@Imran Kashif  even with your passengers, you drove amazingly well mate.  it was fun to follow you.

@DP1011 , Deepak wrangler  we will be definitely lost without you, while Doc was rushing in front.  your judgement in terms of keeping a proper distance between yourself and Doc was great.

@Tom B last but not least - always fun to share our experience dealing with garages mate.  i have been working on your advice to keep the RPM below the cut-off limit when climbing the dunes; i still need to practice in coming weeks.  I am also looking into 'maybe' an ECU tune - lets see.

I look forward to seeing the same gang on Sunday.

Until then, enjoy your week.

Cheers

I have tried mate - does not seem to work

@Haitham Khattab  congrats mate - keep it up

@salah2u well was missing the roaring V8 - congrats mate

1 hour ago, M.Seidam said:

 

@M.Seidam  is there a way to increase the resolution for the video from the dashcam?

@Looper great vid mate

57 minutes ago, DP1011 , Deepak wrangler said:

@Santoso Marjuki @MMansoor Will miss u guys, but just curious, did u guys both give ur cars in same garage?😂

Pls let us know which one so that we can avoid in the future….

1 hour ago, M.Seidam said:

Dear Friends 

Imteeaz  @Imteeaz

Imran Kashif @Imran Kashif

DP1011 , Deepak wrangler @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler

Davie Chase @Davie Chase

MMansoor @MMansoor

JamesThorn @James Thorn

Tom B @Tom B

Daniel Yang @Daniel Yang

Santoso Marjuki @Santoso Marjuki

Looper @Looper

 

Thank you all for signing into the drive . just wanted to confirm that our drive on  SUNDAY not Saturday as i missed to correct it in the drive topic although the date 23/10/2022 is correct .

stay tuned and good day.

 

Seidam 

 

Noted Doc

@Simon Dawood truly deserved mate - congrats

1 hour ago, Mohamad Anwer said:

Great seeing last night gentleman, and thank you everyone's for your care and nice get well messages on the carnity portal. 

I have been planning to send a long email, once I am fully recovered, which will follow shortly. 

Thank you Dr. @M.Seidamfor sharing some detailed explanation to what happend and it is obvious I had miss read the climb line. 

Its good to have that final closure of the accedent. 

Best and warm regards,

 

 

Hi @Mohamad Anwer great to read from you.
Looking forward to catching up soon.

Cheers mate

Thanks @M.Seidam

14 hours ago, M.Seidam said:

Dear Friends 

Hello and welcome to Sweihan drives II . Along Al taf road E16 and further south will be our start point but this time we will head east toward the rising sun ☀️ . The plan is to cross Sweihan from west to east direction ending up somewhere at E95 Nahel road. 
We can expect all kind of stuff along from medium to large dunes and in a time it can get very massive ( leaving Nagara and old lady dune for part III  🤫)😄 . Sand is always soft to super soft which entails to keep the momentum running appropriately to get through it . Possibly we might get to relax for some time at ghafeten bowl before it gets technical afterwords till we catch the track to exit . 
please check on your cars and gears in advance as we still have time . 
 

Stay tuned for further info 

Good day 

Seidam 
 

@M.Seidam  hello Dr.  looking forward to this drive under your lead.

could you please advise the location(s) of the last gas stations, if possible pls?

regards

@varunmehndiratta thank you Varun for giving us, Sand Sailors, another amazing opportunity to sail under your leadership from Faqa to the end-point (not sure how to call this area...).

The weather was simply amazing yesterday, with a cool morning, which provided us with the correct conditions to enjoy the drive.

Minus a couple of minor refusals and tugs, we all drove well and managed to keep up with the momentum.

@Mahmoud Taha  well done mate - you seem to be getting better grip at your Xterra now.

@salah2u  always a pleasure to drive with you mate - looking forward to your promotion.

@Niki been a long time since we last drive together - enjoyed your clear instructions and directions on the radio.

@MMansoor  you still amaze me how you manage to handle this beast on the dunes - keep it up mate.

@Looper  no drive will be same without your calm presence mate - you really add experience to the center of the convoy, and always have the right solution.

Enjoy your week gents

@Vaibhav truly deserved mate - congrats.

looking forward to drive with you in your new role.

cheers

@JeromeFJ  I was too excited for the drive.  Unfortunately I have to pull out of this amazing drive as my wife's car is still in the garage, and the family needs my car tomorrow.

Have fun gents.

Cheers

18 minutes ago, Looper said:

Previously I was on the fence about buying an action-cam for recording drives. I already had a Sony FDR 3000 4K, but I rarely used it. Dashcam footage from my 70mai seemed good enough. However, dashcam footage just accumulated, having stored 100+ drives footage on my NAS and I did nothing except edit a couple of drives which involved removing the stucks and refusals. It is difficult to get action footage from a 3-hour long drive and one needs professional video editing software to make it look better and cut to aspect ratios for social media shares.

Looking at all the social media it was clear that 360 camera was the way to go. Luckily for me when I finally decided to take a plunge, Insta 360 launched their new X3.

I did look at GoPro Max but decided against it because of two reasons.

1. The camera has not been updated in some time now, it is more than 3 years old now.
2. I hate the entire subscription model in GoPro world, and Insta 360 has a great app as well.

 

How does it fare with GoPro 11 or DJI Action 3?

Many who want to buy this camera would also consider a GoPro or DJI Action 3. They are both good cameras and they both have a slight advantage in the single lens camera department. If you need high frame rates GoPro or DJI Action 3 are necessary. The use case for them vis a vis Insta 360 X3 is different.

For off-road driving, 360 will be more useful since we don’t have to worry about reframing the camera toward the direction of the action as it keeps shifting. If you have seen social media the 360 seems to be the default way to go for showing off-road driving. Plus, Insta X3's me mode and Single lens mode do what those action cams will do while removing the need for any reframing.

 

How does it compare with Insta360 One X2?

If you already have an X2, it will do 90% of what X3 does. But if you are looking at buying a new one then X3 makes a lot more sense.

X3’s new two-inch screen is a substantial upgrade from X2. X3 has a better sensor at 1/ 2" compared to 1/ 2.5” on the X2. X3 has a f/1.9 aperture compared to f/2.0 on X2. X3 also records 4k 30 while X2 can only do 2.7k 30 on single lese. Both will do 5.7k on dual lease.

 

Where to buy?

I will suggest buying the action-cam and the initial accessories kit directly from the Insta 360 website, for a couple of reasons:

1. you will be able to buy Insta360 Care that protects you from accidental damage, and they repair your camera and cover the shipping both ways, and a 2year extended warranty while you buy the camera.
2. you will be able to buy more accessories and in my case some of them were cheaper on their website. Because it was recently launched few are available on Amazon.

 

How much does it cost? 

It is cheaper in the US at USD 449, but when you order online to UAE it is EUR 529. They do have some bundles, but they cost the same as the sum of parts.

 

How long does it take to reach here?

It gets shipped in a day or two from China and will be delivered in about a week time.

 

What Accessories to buy?

Insta360 X3 Sticky Lens Guards: Protection for both your lenses. Sticks directly on the lens to safeguard from dust and scratches.

Insta360 X3 Lens Cap: Extra, all-round protection for your lenses. You can use it when in the field, but you are not actively using the camera. Otherwise, I assume you would keep it in a protective case.

Extra Insta360 X3 Battery: Have at least one extra. It comes in a small box.

Fast Charge Hub: If you want to charge multiple batteries at the same time.

Invisible Selfie Stick: You have three options. 70 cm, 120 cm and a combination of tripod extending to 105 cm. There is an extended edition selfie stick that as well can be extended to 300 cm.

Bullet Time Accessory: You have two options. There is a bullet time cord which is cheaper and a Tripod that can be attached to the invisible selfie stick.

 

Other items to consider depending on your usage: There are a lot more items available such as Insta360 X3 Quick Reader, Mic Adaptor, Utility Frame, Quick Release Mount that works with GoPro Accessories. Vibration Damper, and many kits that seemed irrelevant to me but your milage will vary.

 

Things to avoid from Insta360:

Insta360 X Series Carry Case: It fits only 70 cm stick and a battery box. Many other accessories you might have would not fit in it so suggest going for a third-party case from Amazon.

Memory Card: On amazon for far less cost, and a lot more storage.

GPS Smart Remote: I considered it but did not buy it as I saw many complaints that it provided patchy GPS data to the footage. Your phone will do a better job.

@Looper thanks mate for sharing your insights.

14 hours ago, M.Seidam said:

Dear friends 

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie @Imran Kashif @ASAD. @Amr Aydin @Waqas Parvez @Karthik Raptor @Zed @Daniel Yang @Abdelghani and @Hisham Masaad

I hope all of you had a good rest and recovered the stress from last week. On personal level just today I did when I spoke with our friend @Mohamad Anwer I knew he is totally fine Alhamdulellah. 🙏🙏 

Thank you every one here who shared their concerns and wishes of fast recovery for Mohamed . 

Time is the best healer leaving just smooth barely visible scars and i am sure Mohamed will decide the proper time and raise again stronger than ever . 
 

I have edited some clips hope you enjoy 

At G bowl 

at Death bowl 

 

 

 

@M.Seidam thanks mate for the update with regards to Mohamad Anwer's health.

regards

@TT_Dubai congrats mate

@Sayed Bilal congrats mate - now you will need to push the Safari!

@Miguel Codes congrats mate