Thank you for your comments and suggestions.

Yes GAS is good, but what is GAS?

I have the Nikon 810 and am hung-up on selling the 810 and buying the 850.

Not a pro, just a serious hobbyist taking mostly walk-about scenery, travels, family, and of course, Trooper Dog.

A decent set of Nikon lens to include the 85mm, 70-200mm, 35-70mm 2.8 w/macro (old) shooting in RAW and doing selected pictures in
Occasional an enlarged print for my wall but mostly slide shows with a Blu-ray DVD on a flat screen TV for the best resolution. I love SHARP focused pictures. Using Photoshop's Camera RAW.

?Will the increased number of the 850's 45.7MP pixels produce a less sharp picture even with a hand-held VR lens on the 850? (all of my lens are VR except the 35-70.) Yes, I do understand increasing the shutter speed - but still. . ..
?Concerned that the on-camera flash has been eliminated making flash fill shots not possible without adding my flash attachment or overexposing the background?
If you have gone to the 850 from the 810 I would be interested in your thoughts. Would you do it again and why?

I have a low-cost All-Risk policy with USAA that covers cameras, lens, camera accessories, firearms, and jewelry. Covers damage, mysterious disappearance, theft, etc. Some years ago I opened the lift-gate on my SUV and my Nikon D90 with lens rolled out and fell to the driveway. Nikon's estimate to repair was $1,700.00. USAA said they would fund a new camera for $1,850. Oh, and there is no deductible.

I experienced the same problem with my Epson SureColor P600. The printer's print head (not the ctg) would not print several ctg colors. All the King's Men (Epson Tech Support) could solve the problem. Answer, replace the printer's print head for $500 to $600 after mailing off to another city. Probable reason was not using the printer more often. The happy solution was that I purchased the printer with my Costco Visa that extended the mfg's warranty by one year. They paid for a new P600 printer and I trashed the old one. Now I print a nozzle check every two weeks. Hope this works.

In response to the question about how long one can go without using the printer, I had an Epson P600 on which print head clogged after several months of non-use. All the tech support means to clean and flush the head failed. It was non-fixable and a new print head, shipping, and Epson install labor added up to 90% of a new P600. Fortunately I had purchased the P600 with a Costco Citi Visa credit card/membership card that doubled the mfg's warranty from one year to two years. The sent me a check that covered my new P600 that was on a $200 cash back sale at B&H, with a Visa credit for 1% cash back. I exercise my printer at least once a month having been taught to do so.

I was and am the USAA guy. It is the Valuable Personal Property, A Personal Articles Floater. They cover Jewelry, Cameras (lens, tripods, etc.) and guns on my policy and have for >25 years. One incident when my Nikon fell to the driveway on opening the rear door on my SUV. $1850 to repair. They opted to advance almost $2,000 for a new lens and camera. Makes one a believer.

Don't understand your concern about a lack of maintenance. Who would cover long term damage or being worn out from use? This insurance extends to drops, theft, mysterious disappearance, etc. I use the stated item form which has better coverage.

Don't know about the material however recommend an All Risk insurance policy on your photo gear. Not really expensive and they pay for damage due to drops, accidents, etc. Have my policy with USAA that bought me a new D90 when mine rolled out the back of my SUV tail gate to the driveway. $1,800 to repair - they sent $1,900 for a new camera.

Off the backs of their workers??? Really daft comment. And so is the government and every business that has employees off the backs of owners.

It is faulty thinking to blame the tax cut and bonus to employees for the store closings. To opine otherwise may indicate you are a victim of the liberal spin doctors. Walmart is in business to make money with or without a tax break. Sam's Club stores never had the right atmosphere and certain features that Costco presents. Compare Costco and Sam's who have the same basic business plan and Costco wins especially with the quality of staff. Sam paid minimum wage, Costco much more and they attracted "people persons" and not the dead heads at Sam's who let you know ringing up your order was a bother.

There are two serious problems in computer/laptop land happening right now.

First the Intel processor chips have a design flaw that allows hacker to take control of the computer. The cure via a Windows software patch will shut down that section of the processor. The result is that the speed of the processor will be reduced by something like 25%. Wait until newow that the two critical chip flaws affecting virtually every smartphone, tablet, and computer are publicly known, tech companies are racing to issue security patches to mitigate or at least minimize the impacts of the bugs.


Here is the story on the chips from Kim Komando:
The security issues, known as Meltdown and Spectre, are probably the worst bugs found in processors ever and they might fundamentally change how chips will be designed moving forward.

Google's Project Zero wrote that there is no single fix for all variants and each requires a specific method of protection.

Fortunately, it is believed that the vulnerabilities have NOT been exploited as of yet and there is no evidence that hackers have abused or are actively abusing them. Technical details about the flaws are still scarce, buying hardware and software vendors some time.

Since Meltdown is easier to exploit, these updates are addressing this flaw first. Spectre exploits are more difficult to execute and it's not as critical as Meltdown right now, but fixes are also being prepared to deal with them.

Note: Meltdown is known as Variant 3 of this type of attack, affecting mostly Intel chips. Spectre attacks are Variants 1 and 2 and these are said to impact AMD, ARM and Intel chips.

In the meantime, prepare for these inevitable updates that you must apply as soon as you can to protect yourself from the "chip-ocalypse."
Microsoft

Microsoft will likely push its fixes in this month's Patch Tuesday updates for supported Windows systems. Most Windows machines are set to download and install updates automatically by default. If you haven't changed your automatic update settings then you should be fine.

On Windows 10, click Start (Windows logo), choose "Settings," select "Update & Security," then on the "Windows Update" section, click on "Advanced Options." (Note: the "Windows Update" section is also handy for showing you updates that are currently being downloaded or applied.) Under "Advanced Options," just make sure the drop down box is set to "Automatic."
Apple

Apple has also confirmed that its products are also affected by the chip fla chips are available.

Second HP laptops are having battery problems - overheating and ?fires? The cure is to replace the batteries - a professional repair. HP will send a software patch that will not allow the current batteries in the recall to be recharged.