That One Thing You Bought and Now Can't Live Without™

DPI

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 20, 2013
Messages
12,880
There are those rare products you buy and may not expect much of, but then turn out to be game changers. I'm curious what others have found.
 
XPOWER Powered Air Duster Vacuum. I used to go through throwaway air-duster cans like chewing gum. I tried a few expensive, rechargeable air dusters but they weren't powerful enough. Then I discovered this thing. Extremely powerful airflow with two speed settings, amazing for blowing out GPU's, PC components, mining rigs, or in the general direction of a dog/cat/kids that won't leave you alone.

https://www.amazon.com/XPOWER-Airrow-Multi-Use-Electric-Computer/dp/B01BI4UQK0/

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May seem small and trivial, but something like this saved my right wrist:

https://www.amazon.com/IMAK-A10165-...eywords=imak+ergo+beads&qid=1620365430&sr=8-2

Mine is called Imak ergoBeads and has lasted years. Unlike gel pads this one is filled with small plastic beads so it is both durable and washable. Pretty sure I bought it from CompUSA or Circuit City - it's THAT old. Long gaming sessions are impossible for me without it.
 
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Toss up between a nice memory foam mattress and my cherry mx brown mechanical keyboard that lets me type like I'm a kid again.
Yes! Tempur-Pedic best $2400 ever spent. Seemed like a splurge at the time, but I rationalized I'd be spending a third of every day on it, so it's been an investment paying off daily for 20yrs.
 
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My house!

We were very lucky. We sealed the deal in December 2020, and were moved in just in time for the pandemic/lockdowns. Almost immediately after, the housing market really caught fire here, and a shortage ensued. We paid less than asking price, and now it is a seller's market with most selling well above asking. The value of our home went up by $50,000 in the first year.

Not exactly what you were looking for, I know, but definitely fits the description.
 
I got tired of battling my 20-year-old Craftsman gas mower. Even with a new carb, plug, fuel line, and filter it would still take 15-20 pulls to start and then ran crappy. Pulling that damn string aggravated my back so much, I would put off mowing for a couple of weeks.

I went out and bought a battery powered Toro 60v Recycler with the Personal Pace drive system. Holy shit, I should have done this years ago. It starts up with the press of a button and is quieter than a vacuum cleaner. The drive system is fantastic. I can cut my 6000 sq ft yard in 24 minutes and I still have half a charge left on the battery. The cut is also top quality. Now I cut every two or three days because it's literally no work at all.
 
I got tired of battling my 20-year-old Craftsman gas mower. Even with a new carb, plug, fuel line, and filter it would still take 15-20 pulls to start and then ran crappy. Pulling that damn string aggravated my back so much, I would put off mowing for a couple of weeks.

I went out and bought a battery powered Toro 60v Recycler with the Personal Pace drive system. Holy shit, I should have done this years ago. It starts up with the press of a button and is quieter than a vacuum cleaner. The drive system is fantastic. I can cut my 6000 sq ft yard in 24 minutes and I still have half a charge left on the battery. The cut is also top quality. Now I cut every two or three days because it's literally no work at all.

It's amazing, isn't it? No filling a gas can, no tugging repeatedly to get it started, and it's quiet. Glad that battery tech has improved so much.
 
It's amazing, isn't it? No filling a gas can, no tugging repeatedly to get it started, and it's quiet. Glad that battery tech has improved so much.
Speaking of gas cans, I got a real metal can and a 'for amusement only' flexible metal spout instead of the CARB approved stuff that puts about half of the gas on the ground to prevent emissions and spills. That was definitely worth it and I'm not going back.
 
It's amazing, isn't it? No filling a gas can, no tugging repeatedly to get it started, and it's quiet. Glad that battery tech has improved so much.
Wish I could use them here. Grass is too thick, and too much yard. The rider is a pain in the ass, but I only have to use it 4-5 times per year... did buy a high-end honda-powered husqvarna though for the push stuff, and that's worth its weight in gold
 
Wish I could use them here. Grass is too thick, and too much yard. The rider is a pain in the ass, but I only have to use it 4-5 times per year... did buy a high-end honda-powered husqvarna though for the push stuff, and that's worth its weight in gold

You make a good point - even the gas mowers these days are better than ever. I had a rider when I lived in Texas, and had to cover 5 acres. I do miss that a little as I did find it really relaxing... except when the temp climbed up to 100+!
 
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M18 Fuel cordless impact driver. This thing is incredible and I can't believe I wasted time with socket wrenches anywhere I could have used this. Ditto for the M12 3/8" drive ratcheting wrench. Power tools gimme smiles.

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I will never NOT have a lift after having this one. If it breaks, I'll buy another same day. I freaking love this thing.

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After seeing other people talk about their lawn mowers, I've gotta throw in a good word for mine, too. I went from a craftsman to this. And not a modern Craftsman, one of the old metal good ones. This blows it away in every category. Hell, I could probably mow the lawn at 2AM and the neighbors wouldn't even wake up. I love it.
 
First Place: My toothbrush. After all my life using rattly, inefficient store-brand rotary or oscillating electric brushes at best (and often just the old-fashioned human-powered kind, the horror) I "splurged" a couple years ago on a midrange Phillips Sonicare brush and my teeth have never felt better! And it's wireless rechargeable so my consumption of AA batteries is way down too 😉

Second Place: The notebook flagship of my fleet (the Clevo thing in sig). I've had workstation laptops and gaming laptops before but they always felt compromised one way or another. This is the first portable I've had that actually feels like it can properly function as my primary workstation/gaming machine without me secretly pining for a desktop whenever I'm pushing the compy hard. What's the biggest game-changer tho is that it also manages to still be actually portable while performing like a midrange desktop- its far from a "DTR" sized machine and more like a pre-Retina MacBook Pro 15" (or smaller than a standard zBook 15) in size & weight and the battery is ok enough for someone who stays plugged in 6 days out of 7.
 
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M18 Fuel cordless impact driver. This thing is incredible and I can't believe I wasted time with socket wrenches anywhere I could have used this. Ditto for the M12 3/8" drive ratcheting wrench. Power tools gimme smiles.
best impact in the industry....same one i use. My socket wrench almost never get used....almost
 
Portable BT speaker. Just an inexpensive Anker brick that I can use while driving an empty bus. When I decided to buy one, my shift had me doing long trips to nowhere to pick people up and bring them into town and it was just boring driving the same dark roads every morning in silence. Having the music makes that part of the job so much more enjoyable and lowers my distraction level. Now I drive intertown routes and some reverse-commute directions get little to no traffic, so it's right there to click on. Also works great for destressing at lunch time when I've had a few trying passengers.
 
My DX Racer chair 5 years ago. I use to replace chairs every 6 months to a year. 10-12 hours a day on these chairs were/is common and all of them would fall apart, from not holding the height, setting on wood (no ass padding, this was the most common issue), leather ripping open, cracked plastic arms rest. I don't weight 200+ and those were $99 to $399 chairs, they just didn't last. After seeing my favorite youtubers all have this chair I figure I would give it a shot. Was I glad I did.

This chair is holding up with the exception of the leather is falling apart now but it's just as comfy as it was when I got it. I know what I will be getting next time. Another DX Racer chair.
 
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