Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022 • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#711

Post by Kadin » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:23 PM UTC

I paid a guy a bit under $200 to pull Ethernet cables from my basement up to the attic of my house.

Now I can keep heat-generating stuff like my storage server and the cable modem (surprisingly heat-intensive) in the basement, have a WiFi AP in the attic for great coverage in the yard, and I can easily drop lines down into rooms on the 2nd floor from above by just drilling a small hole in the top of a wall and feeding the Cat6 down, or put one into a 1st floor room by going up from the basement. Cat6 anywhere I want it, basically.

It's something I've wanted for years and held off doing because I knew I was capable of DIYing it, and therefore I hesitated to hire it out. This was dumb.

It took him an hour or so using various specialized tools ("fish bits", "fish tape", tall ladders, drywall saws, etc.), when it would have probably taken me the better part of a weekend and I wouldn't have done as clean of a job. He also knew from experience where the easiest place would be to get all the way from the basement to the attic, given my house's construction style.

Definitely worth the two bills, and also now I have a "wiring guy" for future projects. I've already called him back to help run wiring for PoE outdoor cameras, another thing I've wanted for years but haven't bothered to execute on.

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#712

Post by TYMorningCoffee » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:23 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #699

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #154

An air fryer. It’s really a badly marketed product. Its real utility isn’t that it uses less oil, but that it cooks incredibly fast. Essentially an oven on steroids. It’s made cooking so much easier. I usually toss some boneless chicken in with a light coating of soy sauce and cornflour. While the chicken cooks, I prep a basic Asian sauce on the stovetop. The chicken and the sauce are both done within 10-15 minutes.…

I wanted an air fryer, so I got the same one my friend has last year, one made by PowerXL. Mine produced this horrific chemical smell that filled up the whole house and soaked into the food. Reddit told me that it just needed to be variously washed or run a few times and it would go away, but it never did. I had to return it. I suspect the plastics used were changed, or some preconditioning process was skipped to get…

It's a shame how you and your friend received very different products. An additional hypothesis: Could it have been a counterfeit?

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#713

Post by dkarl » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:24 PM UTC

angry_moose wrote: post #635

Heated Mattress Pad. It's like an electric blanket built into your bed, with dual temperature zones and an on/off timer. As someone in a northern climate with a less-than-ideally insulated house its a life changer.

This was a game-changer for me and my wife. Previous, I'd be laying naked on top of the covers, too hot to sleep, while she was under a thick comforter in pajamas asking me to turn the heat up another two degrees. Now she'll let me keep the house cool enough that I can even get under a sheet.

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#714

Post by ElijahLynn » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:25 PM UTC

nfriend wrote: post #137

As silly as it sounds, this water warmer for baby bottles: https://a.co/d/hhJzLBn Nothing's worse than trying to mix the perfect water temperature at 3 AM while the baby is screaming, waking up the rest of the family. (We use pre-boiled water for the baby's bottles, so it's not as easy as adjusting a tap.) We bought this after we had our second baby and it's made feeding the baby slightly less stressful.

I got excited by this idea because I would like to use it for shaving gel...

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#715

Post by squarefoot » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:27 PM UTC

miki_tyler wrote: post #512

Havoc wrote: post #146

Sodastream. Has significantly increased the amount of water i drink and conversely decreased other crap being drunk High end ricecooker ended up getting more use than expected. USB KVM style switch to change mouse/kyb over between work and personal device

Sodastream is a money making scheme. Canisters are super expensive. After years of paying $30 per exchange, I decided to switch to an Spärkel Carbonator machine, which just takes a tablespoon of citric acid powder ($5/lb) and a tablespoon of baking soda ($1/lb) per bottle. So much cheaper.

What is the purpose of the carbonator machine? I recall making sparkling water as a kid by mixing the right amount of sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid (very similar to citric acid) and no hardware was needed: one just had to put them in water, shake until they went into solution and drink.

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#716

Post by stronglikedan » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:29 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #697

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #154

An air fryer. It’s really a badly marketed product. Its real utility isn’t that it uses less oil, but that it cooks incredibly fast. Essentially an oven on steroids. It’s made cooking so much easier. I usually toss some boneless chicken in with a light coating of soy sauce and cornflour. While the chicken cooks, I prep a basic Asian sauce on the stovetop. The chicken and the sauce are both done within 10-15 minutes.…

It's the exact opposite. The "air fryer" marketing lets companies present it as a healthy alternative to deep frying, and people eat that up (heh). If they sold it as what it really was – a toaster oven – there would be a lot less enthusiasm and demand, and people would definitely not spend multiple hundred dollars on one.

You obviously have not owned an air fryer, if you think it's a mere toaster oven. Or you got one of those convection toaster ovens with an air fryer rack, which really isn't an air fryer, like the basket ones are. I haven't used my stove, oven, or microwave since I got one.

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#717

Post by stronglikedan » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:31 PM UTC

no_wizard wrote: post #652

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #154

An air fryer. It’s really a badly marketed product. Its real utility isn’t that it uses less oil, but that it cooks incredibly fast. Essentially an oven on steroids. It’s made cooking so much easier. I usually toss some boneless chicken in with a light coating of soy sauce and cornflour. While the chicken cooks, I prep a basic Asian sauce on the stovetop. The chicken and the sauce are both done within 10-15 minutes.…

Interestingly, the Wirecutter recommends people just get a really good high end toaster oven[0] over an air fryer, since its just a convection mode cook. [0]: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-fryer-to...

That style of "air fryer" is just a convection toaster oven with an air fryer rack. Shameful marketing, if you ask me. A real air fryer (the ubiquitous basket style) cannot be replaced with another appliance, but replaces many, while doing a better, faster job.

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#718

Post by nop_slide » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:31 PM UTC

hbn wrote: post #381

dougmwne wrote: post #147

Airpod Pro 2 They are basically bionic ears. Headphones, headset, earplugs, hearing protection, hearing aids, extendable ears, and more. Wish they could act as universal translators, but I suppose that's still yet to come.

I finally bought a pair of 1st gen AirPods at the end of 2021, and while they have some issues (tap gestures stopped working and/or became very unreliable at some point, occasionally in-ear detection gets messed up) the convenience of them is hard to overstate. No untangling wires or having to be tethered to the device. At the gym I can throw my phone on the ground nearby and continue to get my music while I do exerc…

Going on 5 years with my OG airpods, still work fine.

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#719

Post by stronglikedan » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:32 PM UTC

miki_tyler wrote: post #487

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #154

An air fryer. It’s really a badly marketed product. Its real utility isn’t that it uses less oil, but that it cooks incredibly fast. Essentially an oven on steroids. It’s made cooking so much easier. I usually toss some boneless chicken in with a light coating of soy sauce and cornflour. While the chicken cooks, I prep a basic Asian sauce on the stovetop. The chicken and the sauce are both done within 10-15 minutes.…

I had multiple air fryer models over the years. The stirring functions (a rotating paddle that stirs the food) is an ABSOLUTE GAME CHANGER and a must for me. Unfortunately those equipped with a stirring function come up as expensive. I would love to see a < $100 air fryer equipped with it.

But the basket shaking is half the fun of air fryer cooking! Sooo satisfying.

Re: Ask HN: What sub $200 product improved your 2022

#720

Post by dougmwne » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 8:33 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #611

dougmwne wrote: post #147

Airpod Pro 2 They are basically bionic ears. Headphones, headset, earplugs, hearing protection, hearing aids, extendable ears, and more. Wish they could act as universal translators, but I suppose that's still yet to come.

Second this. I upgraded from the first-gen Pros after seeing many strong reviews about how much better the noise cancellation is. I can tell the noise cancelling is much better because previously I couldn't cook with our (very loud) exhaust fan on and listen to podcasts. Now it's no problem. For me, I view the purchase as an investment in my hearing health. Instead of having to turn up the volume to account for traff…

I just gave a pair to my mom who uses hearing aids. She was able to enter her audiogram in them and use them as both backup hearing aids when her regular ones are on the charger or in for repair and as headphones that match her hearing needs. So heck yeah they can be viewed as a medical assistive device.