Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 994 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#231

Post by shimonabi »

japhyr wrote: post #134

If you split your own firewood by hand, a Fiskars splitting axe is insanely better than any standard splitting maul you'd find in a typical hardware store: https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/gardening-and-yard-care/produc... For mechanical pencils, the Rotring 600 is the best thing I've ever written with: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZWYUA4/

I have this Fiskars model, but I haven't used it in more than 5 years. I had to chop up 2 huge cherry trees and this thing was useless.

For splitting wood, I now always use this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ochsenkopf-OX-3509-Log-Splitter-Rot...

Now THAT is really good design.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#232

Post by ozzythecat »

jessriedel wrote: post #209
grech wrote: post #151

This may be a normie response - but Apple Airpods Pro are one of the best products I've used. After years of using several bluetooth headsets that get finicky (with connections that is), having a set that just connects and works every single time is refreshing. They really changed my behavior - I went from not liking phone conversations at all (getting agitated after a few minutes)to comfortably having long phone cal…

Useful observations, but is this really a comment on design? The key feature, a robust connection, is just software/firmware quality.

I don’t quite understand this comment.

As a customer, I don’t care what a firmware is or if it’s the best software or if it runs in Azure or iCloud. To me, it just works. I don’t care how. The fact that it works way better than competitor products I tried over the years is enough to say it’s well defined.

The key is a frictionless experience.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#233

Post by pg5 »

3flp wrote: post #218

The BMW G650GS was the best bike I've had. Almost zero maintenance. Reliable. Amazing fuel economy. Decent on road when sat down. No probs doing 600km days. Decent off-when road standing up. It could handle deep sand when fitted with good tires. Not very sexy looking, but the perfect jack of all trades. And, yes, master of none - which is why BMW could not market it much further, I think. Pity.

Based on their cars, I was surprised to see BMW in this thread.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#234

Post by amarshall »

toomanyrichies wrote: post #155

One example of quality design which I gleaned from reading Don Norman's "The Design Of Everyday Things" is the metal plate I've frequently seen on doors which are meant to be pushed. The only affordance of such a plate is its push-ability, and the fact that someone actively installed a metal plate (instead of just relying on the door's natural flatness), as well as its location at the point of maximum leverage (all t…

Perhaps ironically, the opposite door design (one where it’s not clear whether to push or pull) is thusly called a Norman Door [1]. The term is sometimes applied more generically beyond doors.

[1]: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-kno...

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#237

Post by stjohnswarts »

wh313 wrote: post #61

My Aeropress coffee maker. It feels more convenient than a french press, and much cheaper than an espresso machine. https://aeropress.com/ Also a bidet. Americans really need to start using it more.

Aeropress is great if you like to experiment. I've long since given up on it and settled for the simplicity of using a moka pot.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#238

Post by ISL »

micro_cam wrote: post #227

Knipex Plier Wrenches ... so much better than an adjustable wrench and useful for all sorts of small tasks beyond bolts. Park AWS-1 three way hex wrench. Makes working on bikes so much faster. Dynafit Ski Touring Bindings... the patent has expired and there are loads of copy's based on the original idea now but they changed the sport of ski touring in a way that can't be overstated. (tlt5/6 boots and now the scarpa a…

HillMap -- I use it all the time; it just works.

:).

(Also, pintech-bindings are the best. They changed the course of my life. The TLT5/6 design is sublime as long as you're not scrambling in talus.)

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#239

Post by amarshall »

The Kinesis Advantage keyboard [1]. The height of the keys in each column are different because, well, the length of each of our fingers is different. It’s so naturally comfortable that it goes unnoticed and one’s fingers just fall into the right position. Placing one’s fingers offset left or right is so obviously uncomfortable that it’s basically impossible to have off-by-one typos. There is a lot of subtly well-designed ergonomics to this keyboard (though also some not great bits—looking at you, function row).

[1]: https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/

Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?

#240

Post by mkl »

japhyr wrote: post #134

If you split your own firewood by hand, a Fiskars splitting axe is insanely better than any standard splitting maul you'd find in a typical hardware store: https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/gardening-and-yard-care/produc... For mechanical pencils, the Rotring 600 is the best thing I've ever written with: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZWYUA4/

Speaking of well-designed Fiskars tools, I got this weed puller recently: https://www.fiskars.com/en-us/gardening-and-yard-care/produc...

Videos of how it works: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fiskars+weed+pu...

It's been making difficult weed removal trivial.

Post reply on HN