Under $100
Wireless cooking thermometer
https://store-us.meater.com/products/meater-plus
Since I'm blind this allows me to cook with out worrying I'll eat under cooked food.
Under $1000
Meta Ray-ban glasses.
https://www.ray-ban.com/usa/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses
I find using them as headphones to be a better option then transparency mode when using my phone. The Meta AI is also pretty good at recognizing flavors of bottles and types of food in packaging.
Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
111–120 of 618 posts
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#112Under $100: 1) A bidet! Got one in the pandemic when toilet paper was scarce and I wanted to be more efficient, but now I'll never go back. The Tushy ones are good. 2) A safety razor & accessories. I get a cheaper, closer, less irritating shave, and I get to customize every part of it. This can certainly be a rabbithole you spend a lot of money on, but you can get a solid customized starter kit for under $100 that wi…
I can’t live without a bidet but the Tushy ones are no good - tight knobs and awkward spray angle.
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#113Under 1000:
Steamdeck I love it, as someone who is trying to cope with not having as much time to game it is the best. It is also Linux with a modular body, so I get to tinker with it like no other. Added clicky Dpad and replaced the shell
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#114About $100: dynamo-powered light setup for my bicycle. Never forget lights, and they’re always bright.
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#115Under $1000:
A road bike. I live in LA (county) and the default is to drive everywhere, but here's the thing: driving sucks. We famously don't have great bike infra, but I thought, would I go more places if I didn't hate getting around? For trips up to a couple miles, biking is faster than driving, and I never have to worry about parking.
Ergo stuff. A kinesis keyboard, a logitech ergo mouse, a standing desk and mat. Between these, I've probably headed off carpal tunnel and back problems by years.
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#116$28 bluelight glasses for the computer. $18 ceramic pans. $9 vertical monitor from thrift shop. $30 chirp wheel for back cracking. $180 theragun for muscles. Finds knots that you didn't know you had. used dell server towers with 128GB RAM for linux velcro cable ties + phone mount for bicycle + battery tester + usb controllers for emulators + sivga headphones (i think they are 5x more expensive now)
Seconding the vertical monitor from a thrift shop, I did the same thing basically by getting a Fujitsu monitor that can easily rotate and I'm incredibly pleased.
I use it with multiple Emacs frames because PaperWM (Gnome extension) makes it easy to scroll between windows (in this case Emacs frames).
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#117AirPods Pro Max I've had two Sonys (XM4 and XM5) and a bunch of Boses (QC 1x something, 25, 35II). These are by far the best ones for me. The fabric on the ear cups doesn't get sweaty, I have tactile buttons for every function (unlike the Sonys), ANC works even when the mic is on (Bose can't do this). And the best feature: I can charge them while I'm using them. Neither the Sony or Bose can do that, they just go offl…
I just went back to my Bose because the fabric o top on the max started sagging and were hurting my head. Totally bummed but something for others to know!
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#118Quies ear plugs. I sleep much much better at night. I haven't slept this well in decades.
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did that a decade ago and it saved my marriage as well :D I'd lived alone before marrying and I did all my chores, but my tolerance for messy stuff until I got to action was way more than my wife's.
I don’t think people talk about this enough. You can be the poster boy for modern men doing all the chores and taking care of your household all on your own without wife or mother around and a 1950s nuclear family house wife would be proud af. You are still going to get into arguments if your idea of what „clean and tidy“ means is different from the definition of your partner.
And when you have a house cleaner you always have a third party that's responsible for every issue: “that's the house cleaner's fault” (my in-laws have one and I'm pretty sure she's not responsible for a quarter of what gets attributed to her, otherwise she'd have gotten fired long ago)
Re: Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)
#120Aeroshox bone conduction headphones