Ultimario

I think/hope it will be a boat.

My 8043 is the new version but it does not have any of those new type of gears. However mine is one of the first new versions since the LAs are all with the 36X0 code in them and nothing newer which i hear others getting.

Get the 8258, primary reason being that it will be dicontinued sooner and is an absolutely awesome model. I own both and i gotta say my vote for which is better goes to the 8258. It has a lot more pieces and the size of it is incredible along with playvalue that is not that dependant on 100% fresh batteries. After i built the 8043 i felt kinda like, was that it? Don't get me wrong, 8043 is by far the second best build i had and playvalue is also top notch but the size leaves me cold, i need size and from what i can tell it is the smallest flagship in a long time. Another very good thing with the 8258 is that it is the best source of the new gear racks and those technic frames so as parts cache it's worth it's weight in gold, but then again the 8043 has the 2 IR receivers and 4 m-motors so i guess it's up to what one needs. I needed them both as in really craved for them so i'm glad now that i have them :D

You should avoid keeping any kind of Lego in direct sunlight. Sunlight is the cryptonite to any plastic, even car tires start cracking up from sunlight and lego parts it makes their color fade and makes them brittle. The best place to store them would be a dark closet i guess, where you just turn on the lights when you want to look at your grand lego collection.

I'm going with Zblj here. At first i was admiring it but when i looked at the brickshelf pictures mroe closely and saw that most of the suspension is made by modifying links and the attachment was in many ways crude, as in links going straight on axles, i had to shut down my firefox window. Though links on axles is not modifying i think it is an ugly way of building as the construction becomes "loose". I never was against modifying bricks before but this MOC pushed me over the edge. Also something tells me glue must have been used to hold together these modified links, otherwise they would come loose pretty fast. Using non-lego tyres though is something i can accept especially since they were used on lego rims. If the rims are nonlego then i go to the boo section again.

At rjk1977: The gearing is not a gearbox as one could understand it. It is more like a gear reduction that is present in all the PF motors, without gearing it would be directly attached to the electrical motor which i don't think we've seen in any lego motors but i could be mistaken on this. So no, no switchable gears, just a different gear ratio than the regular PF motors. Thanks Milan for the good links :)

You can use a motor as generator and vice versa.. They are the same thing, feed rotation in get electicity out, feed electricity get rotation out. You can actually use your current motors as generators too but i'm guessing this generator motor has gearing that is more suited for generating power than the regular PF motors. You can try it by attaching two of your motors directly to each other and put a wheel on them. Then you rotate one wheel and the other wheel follows.

I think it comes with the renewable energy set number 9688. Has been out there fora while and if i recall correctly discussed to some amount a half year back or so. Though i haven't come across any tests revealing usefulness but the rpms sure sound like they could be useful. Check it out at Brickset

Bought the set a fewm montsh ago when it hit the shelves. A-model was nice but i was annoyed that you had to block the front wheel to see the suspension move, if you just pushed down on the bike it would bend the spring towers instead of the intended function. In any case i just built it to have it done so i could build the B-model which was what convinced me to buy it. B-model, this is the model i bought the set for, built right after the A model and is up until now the only technic set i haven't taken apart for parts. Also i likely never will take it apart, the chopper is awesome looking even if the frame isn't 100% stable. About the chains, i have the same problem on both A and B model, when rotating in one direction it sticks while the other direction is better. I do have plenty of older chains but i haven't tried if they make a difference. PS: the rims have been used in some star wars turbotank set as wheels too apart from the Hero Factory bike, without the tyre of course.

This guy in the Flicker page, i don't see him claim anywhere that he invented the models. He does seem to be selling the models but i don't see him stealing credit, in fact i see him crediting the original builders at several places. However i guess it is wrong to sell the models he has copied off others.

This theory works but only up until a certain point. When you slip too much you end up losing traction again. So yes, a little slip gives you better grip but when you step over the line you end up losing all the grip you just gained, balance is everything. And physics apparently have problem addressing this rubber wheel slip thingy, at least that's what my university physics professior said, It's apparently a science of its own that you best describe by trial and error :P

This is indeed odd that models seem to perform very differently for no apparent reason. Leads me to believe more in that LAs vary very much in quality as there are lots of problems with the 8043 aswell connected to the linear actuators. I wish my 8265 was still built so i could do some real tests and weigh the load it can carry but sadly it was disassembled for a MOC some months back. Anyone who have their 8265's built could perhaps weigh what they can lift in the bucket within reasonable strain. Perhaps get a view of how different they are.

I could be misunderstanding something here, But you say the bucket can barely lift a small load. With my 8265 i had no problems lifting very heavy things, things impossible for pneumatics. My take on the linear actuators are that they are stronger and more precise and also have a longer range of movement, i suspect you have some construction errors if your 8265 performs as badly as you say. So i see them as far superior to pneumatics as long as the model is motorized so you don't have to turn the knob for a minute to raise the bucket. However even unmotorized the linear actuators lifting abilities should be top notch. About the steering mechanism i agree, it is very bad and destroys gears or liftarms unless you play very nicely.