For me, it’s an electric toothbrush. It doesn’t matter if you go with Sonicare or Oral-B, once you start using an electric toothbrush, regular toothbrushes don’t ever feel like they clean your teeth properly. The smooth plaque-free top layer of your teeth that you can feel after using an electric toothbrush can’t be replicated with a regular toothbrush.
There’s actually a pretty cool community sort of tangentially related to this! [email protected]
Anyway, my pick is definitely just a GOOD mp3 player. Whether that be an open hardware one you can crack open and repair, a proprietary one that can at least be Rockboxed, or bare minimum a proprietary one with a good iFixit rating.
I needed a Bluetooth speaker for my work PC (I work from home). I got one with a radio tuner as well. I’m fortunate that I have several radio stations in my area that play music I like. I prefer having some music on in the background while I work, but I was getting tired of having to actually think about what I wanted to listen to next. So I’ve been listening to OTA radio quite a bit, and it’s a nice change of pace from streaming music. And it’s not like the radio bits added much to the cost of the speaker.
Edit: also eyeglasses (sure, I’ll count that as a “gadget”). I hadn’t been to the eye doctor in probably 20 years. Hadn’t really noticed any problems but wanted to get my eyes checked since I had just gotten insurance. Doc recommended a prescription and now it’s like seeing the world in HD instead of standard def. If you’re in your late 30s/early 40s and haven’t gotten your eyes checked, it’s possible your vision has slowly degraded over time and eyeglasses will help more than you realize.
It’s a pricey one, but a kegerator converted to corny kegs. Infinite seltzer water.
Plus room for another carbonated beverage of your choice.
Cordless drill. I was a die hard corded guy but then I tried a friend’s one during a big move. Went out and bought one the next day.
- Warm white christmas lights. Diffuse lighting is so much better.
- Induction cooktops. Because gas cooktops are toxic both inside and outside the home.
Bought a tribit Bluetooth speaker. Now I have music all around the house and it doesn’t give a fuck what I do to it. Dropped it in mud? Ok I’ll throw it in the sink, it’s fine. Shower music is fantastic.
Pressure Cooker. I have one from Fissler and it’s my go to for so many dishes that normally would take ages to cook.
It’s also so convenient to throw dried lentils in there and have them ready in half the time lol.
Does a bicycle count? Changed my life.
Wake up light. If you live in places where is dark most of the time this is quite handy to initiate a sunrise…
I have one from Phillips, but it lacks more music tracks.
Wireless charger for my phone. No more fiddling with cables.
Some little wireless ear buds. I just got cheap ones but I use them all the time, they’re small, the case charges them, so they last ages. The sound quality of mine is mediocre, but I’m sure there are ones with better sound.
Red light therapy panel.
You mean infrared, right? What positive changes die you experience?
A Vitamix blender. Most reliable blender I’ve ever used and so many things you can make in it. Smoothies, nut butters, you can even cook soups in them.
They are on the expensive side, but the worst model refurbished is still well worth having and goes on sale from time to time.
Honestly, my favorite purchase of the past years is the Steamdeck. Can take it to work, play in my lunch break. Can take it on trips, play in the plane or train. Also got a dock at home, where I play coop games with my kid. So I guess if you are a gamer not playing any not supported games (there aren’t that many), go for it.
I was going to say the same thing. I regret waiting so long to buy one. Between that and Bazzite I never play my consoles anymore.
I am currently in the process of making an arcade cabinet for my Steam Deck! I bought it for my wife, but she basically stopped gaming for now. So, I decided to turn it into an arcade cabinet instead. Love that thing
I bought a used one and it gave me the confidence I needed to move over to Linux. I tried Pop os and wasn’t really feeling it, and now I’m on Mint and I’m mostly happy. I want to build a desktop and do cachy os instead of getting a PS6.
Steam deck is an impressive little thing, but it’s not quite powerful enough for what I’d like to do with it. I would trade the portability for more power. But a handheld PS4 is absolutely nothing to sneeze at!
Robot vacuum. My floors are spotless except for some areas you’d never walk on and I only need to do some spot cleaning every month or two.
Dishwashers are awesome too, watch Technology Connections’ video on YouTube if you think your dishwasher doesn’t do a good job. It’s likely just how you’re using it. Priming the hot water before running, using powder detergent instead of liquid or packs (booo), and using the pre-wash and rinse aid will have even the gnarliest dishes coming out spotless.
I was so excited when first got a roomba 5 or 6 years ago, but that faded so fast after it turned into an endless stream of notifications that it was caught under furniture, stuck on a cliff (the edge of a rug), full of dirt, couldn’t find its base, or trapped under a maze of dining room table legs.
I love the idea, but man that was $500 wasted. I’m sure they are better now, but I cant bring myself to buy another one.
Love my robot vacuum! As someone who works 12+ hours a day, it’s such a life saver. We have had our Roborock for 4 years now and it has 0 issues. Any issues I had were easy fixed by just opening the thing up and cleaning inside.
Absolutely love watching Technology Connections. Dude improved my dishwasher game by 400%
My first roborock met the fate of dog poop and an idiotic husband who thought he could just hose it 🙃 my second one is doing great.
My Roborock actually also went through diarrhea, but I was able to open it up completely and clean it up with a lot of rubbing alcohol and paper towels. Never had an issue with it again
I disagree on the toothbrush. The problem is all the e waste. Everything else being equal I would love it and my wife won’t give it up but basically the manufacturers change and you can’t get heads that will work and you end up having to buy a new brush every few years which is almost worse with rechargeables.
I have been using Quip toothbrushes for quite a few years now and they seem to be going pretty strong. Every quarter they send me a new brush head and battery and your toothbrush is covered under wareanty as long as you have you subscription. I have rwally liked it and there doesn’t seem to be much risk of their support ending.
it disturbs me they send you a new batter every quarter. Do you send back the old batter? If so do they say what they do with it?
You should take a look at Suri. I had the same annoyance and objection fo oral b and philips and their lazy lack of any form of effort to improve or innovate or be environmentally responsible. Been very happy with a suri for a couple years now, I send heads back for recycling and the battery lasts months at a time. https://www.trysuri.com/
Wife and I have had our Sonicare toothbrushes for something like 15 years and never had trouble finding replacement heads. In the event Phillips stops making them I’m certain 3rd parties will still make them.
must depend on model because one was definately soniccare.
But you could just go with Phillips? They have been using the same heads for a long time I believe. I buy mine from Costco in bulk.
Im not sure who I started with but initially there was no rechargeables and then like the first rechargeable I got had to be replaced because we could not get heads. I gave up at that point. I just don’t trust them to keep the things going. A few years is not enough for me its gotta last minimum a decade and preferably a few.
