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

Scrolling on mobile stutters.

This mechanical pencil https://uniballco.com/products/kuru-toga-elite-mechanical-pe... It just feels so good to write with and it just doesn't break. I've used so many mechanical pencils and some feel better, but they have quality issues. This pencil just works.

Toyota Sienna minivan. Having driven only sedans and coupes, and grew up riding in 90s-era SUVs, I was shocked to discover what modern "minivan life" is like... as a parent. For me, my reference for modern is the past two weeks of a mundane 2010 Sienna LE. Every couple days, I notice something new and thoughtful.

The side doors are powered and can be controlled from the remote, since kids won't often open doors for themselves or you.

The last row of seats can fold down flush with the floor, since we alternate between having more cargo space and passenger capacity (like trips with grandparents or for instance, equipment for sports or music).

The car windows come tinted. One less worry/discussion about harsh glare or sunlight on our young kids.

There's a second lighter outlet right beside the first, which is handy for our electricity-dependent lifestyle.

There is a compartment on the driver's side, near your head, that reveals sunglasses.

There are cupholders upon cupholders on every interior panel, which seemed absurd to me, until I saw them used by my own family. And when you've filled them all, pop open the coin tray and a slow reveal unfolds... yet another cupholder, like digging into the hesitation before the punchline of a joke.

Newer minivans cover more use cases, like automatically popping the rear door by waving your leg, or changing the middle row positions to accommodate side-by-side car seats, and I'm curious to see which features have staying power and which don't.

We often applaud elegant solutions to a well-defined problem as a good design, or at least I feel like software engineers tend to, but I have a growing admiration for designs that solve a problem complex enough to resist being defined once-and-for-all. Those problems tend to be "human" problems that are as deep as human psychology and change as our society changes.

My original cast iron pans.

I bought this no-name set of three from a small family-run neighborhood hardware store in Brooklyn for $20 somewhere around 2002. The guy behind the counter was surprised by the price and that they even had cast iron pans. I've used them regularly since. They're the oldest cookware in my kitchen by a large margin.

I've taken them camping, and I cook with then in my kitchen daily. I've cooked any food imaginable in them, from crepes, to patched eggs, to pizza, to all sorts of meats and stews and sauces - on the stove and in the oven. And they still work as well and look like the day I first pre-seasoned them.