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

Vans shoes.

- Palmer Monicon passive monitor controller

https://www.palmer-germany.com/en/products/studio-monitors-a...

- Olight Javelot Turbo

https://olightworld.com/olight-javelot-turbo

- Dirt cheap backpack with a Puma logo, extremely light and virtually indestructible.

- Honourable mentions: Seasonic PSU, Fuji X100F and a Casio SL-807A solar powered pocket calculator.

http://www.calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BONUS/63572/1.htm

Sony MDR7506 Professional headphones -- haven't changed since the 80s (on which a lot of classics have been recorded/mixed with).

Honda S2000, particularly the F20C 2002-2003 model years. High-revving 9000 RPM redline, completely driver-focused cockpit (tachometer from the Senna-era Honda Mclaren F1 cars), minimal computers besides ABS, hidden radio, et al. Bolt-action gearbox. The driving experience is sublime.

Been thinking about this a lot lately because I've been reading that Don Norman book, so I have several examples on the brain:

- 2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder. For me, it's the perfect example of explicitly choosing qualities to sacrifice (straight line speed, utility, interstate ride comfort, safety) to maximize the qualities you desire (very affordable, zippy, perfectly balanced, convertible, charming, fun beyond belief in the corners). Doing so allowed them to make a mid engine convertible sports car, using just use the engine from a Corolla, meaning repairs are cheap and rare (once you or the original owner solve the oil-burning issue the engines are known for). There's something so refreshing about design that doesn't try at all to appeal to anyone but the target market, and does everything possible to appeal to them in every way that matters.

- SSH. The moment I first used passwordless ssh to run commands on a game server across the room from me was the moment I truly fell in love with computing.

- Rust. I won't beat a dead horse, but the borrow checker was a real lightbulb moment for me in programming, and finally established an understanding of memory management and strong typing that has served me well even in other languages since.

- Thinkpad x220. The keyboard and the Linux compatibility alone were enough to convince me - the simple determined dependability has grown my love more and more over time.

- Nasal strips. Such a simple but clever little design to solve a host of pretty insidious air intake issues.

- Bass Ukulele. Being able to take a fully functional bass guitar on a plane as a carry-on is a transformative change. Helps too that they're fun as all heck to plunk on.

- Magic: The Gathering, especially the original Ravnica block. The beauty, intricacy, and depth of the design has brought me to tears more than once.

- Team Fortress 2. Same, minus the tears and plus a lot of hootin' and hollerin'.

- Kinesis Advantage2 keyboard. The physical design an instant halt to my wrist pain from typing all day. It being so configurable is a delightful plus.

- DrinkMate/SodaStream. Cheap, plentiful, easy carbonation in the home has helped keep this fella sober for years.

- Fellow gooseneck electric kettle. No frills, no gimmicks, just set the temperature, set the timer when you're ready, and pour.

- Loaded Bhangra longboard. Another example of sacrificing what you don't need (convenience, maneuverability) for what you want (immaculate balance and foot feel for dancing).

- Sony PSP. The degree to which it was ahead of its time still staggers me. I had an entire library of every NES and SNES games, plus a music player, plus an internet browser, all in my pocket in 2006. I still believe that if Sony had embraced instead of fought 3rd party applications, they would have taken over the world.

Honorable mentions: Marimekko backpack, Rotring mechanical pencils, the Shinkansen, the Taiwanese and Japanese traditional train systems, air-inflated blood flow restriction bands, vanilla rotation barbells, and the Kensington Expert Mouse with the ball and the 4 buttons.

Also many, many many many examples of evolved design in nature (birds, rats, succulents) and natural languages. I'm thinking in particular of the tone system of the Taiwanese dialect of Hokkien (there are obviously many others, that's just the one I know), which seems unintuitive to the extreme to an outsider but allows for an incredible density of information and for allowing you to know at any moment in a spoken sentence when a clause ends, without the need for a pause.

Tonal is amazing. It is the fitness system of my dreams. A resistance training setup with digital weights that hangs on the wall. It is filled with high quality content that showcases how to take full advantage of the tech. An ai combined with a well designed adjustment system and suddenly weight training is so fun and fluid I can do it every day.