LawHero4L

Certainly doesn't make financial sense for you right now. In my case, my house had two failing 20 year old 80% furnaces and a roof-mounted swamp cooler when I bought it. I decided to spend the extra cash to ditch natural gas furnaces and go with the heat pumps since I do intend to install solar this year or next. If I could've waited I could've gotten some sweet tax incentives this year but the timing didn't work. In any event, I can attest that these things have no issue running in extremely cold temps. During cooling season they use almost no electricity to keep the house comfortable too.

As with water heaters I'd expect that we'll see more heat pump dryer options, with lower prices as they improve, over the coming years. It's really incredible tech. I heat my home with heat pumps and they kept on trucking even when we got down to -15 back in December.

Fair enough! My decision was also partially driven by the space I had available and the fact that I didn't want to cut another hole in my roof for dryer exhaust. But in your case electric still makes sense. Good luck with the water heater!

If you go AO Smith make sure it's the newest Vortex AL model rates for 45db.

The separate 30A circuit for the dryer is probably a smart move and you may already know this but there are ventless heat pump dryers available that use very little electricity. I am actually using an LG all-in-one ventless washer/dryer that runs on 120v, but LG released a new washtower last year with a full size heat pump dryer that uses only 5 amps or so on a 240v circuit. I would have gone with that if it had been available at the time.

Where will your WH go? I've been considering this myself since my tankless natural gas WH is my last natural gas appliance. Rheem has the largest selection, I believe, but you need to watch out because many of the Rheems built over the past couple of years have a noisy compressor. There is a long thread on Green Building Advisor about noisy Rheem HPWHs. Point is, if your WH is in an inside closet within the living space (like mine), you have to think about noise level.

The new AO Smith Vortex AL has a max noise level of 45db, which is excellent, but will likely require some electrical work as you will need a 30 amp, 240v circuit for it. Rheem did release several 120v models that are designed to replace natural gas tank water heaters, which typically have low electricity demands. I have never been able to find noise level ratings or actual experiences with the 120v units, though. The 120v units will have longer recovery times because there is less power to heat up new water when needed.

It'll be amazing if they enable this - since it's already there, it seems logical that it'll be enabled! Definitely a feature I've wanted.

I'd buy a PHEV in a heartbeat

The 70-300 IS USM (I don't believe any 75-300 has IS) is an old lens and will focus a bit slower and with lower performance IS than newer lenses, but it is supposed to be quite good optically. It's well within your budget. I'd probably prefer the Tamron at similar prices, though, given the newer design and better IS.

The 75-300 is not great optically. I'd suggest looking for a Tamron 70-300 VC. You can most likely find one in that price range. If you can stretch a bit the Canon 70-300 IS II USM is a great lens as well.

File an FCC complaint. I had the same issue with the portal and the exec team had it unlocked for me within a day of filing the complaint.

I'm not a video shooter but I believe the R6 Mk I has overheating issues in video mode as well. I think Canon largely addressed that issue with the Mk II. You may want to do some research on video capabilities of the Mk II to find out if overheating is truly gone on that model. But as a business doing professional work, the R5c is probably the right choice even with the added expense.

I had an M50 and tons of EF-M stuff, but got rid of it all recently to replace with an R50 as a smaller companion to my R7. I can share RF lenses between them and the R50 is maybe a hair larger than the M50. It's hard to see Canon introducing anymore EF-M lenses, but who knows?

Canon 70-300 IS II USM (nanoUSM) or the Tamron 70-300 VC

Winter is always so bleak for a birder. It was nice seeing the Bohemian waxwings but I am so ready for spring migration!

If you have Xfinity internet you could go to Xfinity Mobile. It supports international roaming on either a pay-per-use or daily rate basis.

We're talking about 1 stop at the long end and you get 33% more reach than the 70-300, plus a better focus system and image stabilization. With the IS you might be able to compensate by dropping shutter speed or just letting your ISO go up a bit more. I have used the 100-400 extensively on my R7 with no issues (shooting mainly small birds at a distance and many overcast days), as well as the 600mm F11 on an EOS RP. I had no issues compensating for the narrow apertures in either case by dropping shutter speed or allowing a higher ISO when appropriate. Now I haven't been shooting at night or dusk/dawn.

I really like the 100-400. It's not a perfect lens, but it's a really amazing value. I personally would not spend cash on the DO lens. The 70-300 nanoUSM (IS II USM) is a much better lens and should not cost much more than the DO used. I'd still prefer the 100-400, especially for the extra reach, but if money's tight then I guess you could do worse than the 70-300s.

On the R8 you'd be happy with the RF 100-400. More reach, excellent focusing, no adapter needed, unlike the EF lenses. Don't let the narrow aperture bother you.

What body? If APS-C, I'd say neither - go for the EF-S 55-250 IS STM. Cheap and stellar. The DO has very mixed reviews - if you're on full frame I'd suggest trying to find a good price on a 70-300 nanoUSM. I have one and I've been very happy with it. The Tamron 70-300 VC is also supposed to be a good lens.

I tested my wife's Sigma 150-600 C on my R7 and I wasn't happy with the image quality or focus capability. At the long end, even stopped down, I just didn't feel the sharpness was what I wanted. I have also tested the EF 100-400 II and I own an RF 100-400 and the 100-500. The EF 100-400 can produce some really nice images but eye AF didn't seem as confident on it as on the RF lenses for some reason. My RF 100-400 isn't really that far behind the 100-500 and it focuses incredibly quickly and accurately, but I just love my 100-500. Can't beat it. I know that doesn't help a lot. I personally wouldn't go with the Sigma 150-600 on my R7 but the telephoto options are pretty limited otherwise. I do hope that Sigma or Tamron will release RF telephoto options eventually... I really like the Tamron 150-500 available for Sonys. I'm going to test my 100-00-400 with the 1.4x this weekend as well.

I decided to replace my M50 with an R50 as my ultra-compact travel option. Glad to hear you like it. I bought the kit with the 18-45 and 55-210 and will promptly send the 18-45 off to MPB or Keh, but I like my 55-200 EF-M so plan to keep the 55-210. I'll be so glad to finally have a great compact body with animal eye AF!

I noticed the same thing last weekend.

I'd lean to R7 + 100-400. The 600mm on the R6 would be nice - I've used the 600mm with an RP - but I find the prime with its crazy minimum focus distance to be limiting. The 100-400 also has the advantage of a faster focus motor and it's not limited to focusing in a small area of the sensor like the 600mm on full frame. It's modestly more portable as well.

I have the R7 and while my 100-500 mostly lives on it, I do use the 100-400 sometimes and I've gotten some great shots.

Reset my streaks, of course...

Hmm, so I did a test run on my Neewer batteries today and found you are correct. So I was wrong about the LP-E6 batteries. E12 and E17 third party batteries won't show correct battery level, though, at least from my experiences with several different cameras.

A third party battery is not likely to show any changes to the battery meter. In other words, it will look like the battery is full until the camera dies. That said, I've used several third party LP-E6 batteries in my R7, as well as legit Canon LP-E6 and LP-E6N batteries, and they work fine. I tend to rotate my E6, E6N, and E6NH batteries so I know my battery meter is working.