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

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

#801

Post by pkd »

tdk wrote: post #451
pkd wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re 1. Almost all fountain pens are "hacker friendly". I have a couple of pens which are much more expensive than Noodler's and I have completely dismantled and then reassembled them multiple times while cleaning. Unless you are using some proprietary filling mechanism, both the nib, and feed are interchangeable.

Most fountain pens have the nib and feed as one glued unit (confusingly, informally called the 'nib'), so you can't adjust the flow. Compare the 'nibs' at the top and bottom of this page. https://www.gouletpens.com/replacement-nibs/c/294 The ones at the bottom can only be used in Noodlers pens. The Noodler's also have the feed made of cutable ebonite instead of cheaper plastic, so you can carve out a deeper ink chann…

I have never used a fountain pen with a glued together nib and feed. The ones on the top of the page aren't glued together, they are the screw on type. These are generally found in hand-tuned pens (like the Edison Noveau) or premium pens (like Pelikan MX00 series).

You can still adjust the flow of the nib without tampering with the feed by just using a brass strip and running it through the slit in the nib (to increase the flow). I have never wanted to decrease the flow of a nib unit.

What you are saying is true though. Ebonite feeds have their advantages, like you can heat tune them as well to fit to a certain nib shape.

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

#802

Post by takingflac »

falsedan wrote: post #397
0xcde4c3db wrote: post #201

The standard, boring toggle-style light switch (US). Inexpensive, standard, durable, easy to replace, and extremely easy to operate. Basically the polar opposite of the average phone/laptop/game console/etc. power switch.

I would agree, if they are installed the 'right' way (toggle down to close circuit, up to open) to match the rest of the world. It's extremely hard to toggle up with a full cup of hot beverage…

This should be the standard, but the exception is always going to be multi switch circuits with multiple switches controlling the same light.

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

#803

Post by cellularmitosis »

mitchellst wrote: post #688

The Trek 500. It's a bicycle. It's a steel bicycle, which is out of favor these days, but Trek still makes a few each year. And they haven't really changed the design since it was introduced in the 80's. Why? Because it's the perfect bicycle. At least, if you're doing a very particular thing. I rode one from the Oregon Coast to Long Island. It was an unsupported tour, so I had about 50 pounds of gear strapped to it t…

There is a counterintuitive slump in quality of experience along the progression of bicycle frame materials technology. One would expect each point along the progression to be completely superior than the last: steel, aluminum, carbon fiber.

I had to learn the hard way that isn't the case. Steel is flexible (comfortable ride) but heavy. Aluminum came along and offered lighter frames, but the frames had to be made much stiffer to avoid the perils of repeated stress fatigue (steel's asymptote for strength after repeated stress is some fraction of its original strength. Aluminum's asymptote is zero -- flex it enough and it will eventually accumulate micro strew fractures and break). The progression to aluminum was a trade off: ride comfort for weight.

Carbon fiber came along and offered a no-compromise solution: the flexibility (ride comfort) of steel, and lighter than aluminum. Unfortunately, the cost is much higher with carbon fiber.

If you are on a budget, I'd agree that you're better off with steel than aluminum.

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

#804

Post by gukov »

psonic wrote: post #590

Some djing/music related stuff: Roland 808/909 Technics 1200 MK2 A&H Xone mixer serie Shure SM58 Ikea Expedit

I own a Xone:32. It's a great unit, but has a few headscratches, like the gain knobs at the back. Xones sound better, but I have to say the Pioneer products are designed better and easier to use.

I'd like to add the 1200 of headphones, Sony MDR-V6.

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

#805

Post by mdip »

artimaeis wrote: post #668
mdip wrote: post #374

It took me about a second to think of Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. These are the perfect nexus of good and cheap. These things have the critical features one looks for in a writing instrument, my favorite of which is that I can put it in my electric pencil sharpener and the lead never snaps just prior to the point at which it becomes sharp. And these guys finally figured out something useful to do with that pink, rubbe…

The Ticonderoga is a wonderful workhorse of wood cased pencils. As you've pointed out their lead is sturdy and their price is almost unbeatable for the performance. Possibly the only downside is they're no longer made in the USA and I feel like their overall quality has suffered since the move to China and Mexico. If you're willing to explore pricier options there are so many excellent wood case pencils to be had! Th…

I'm a pencil junkie, personally. This is mainly because I'm particularly good at losing things, especially when said things cost less than $0.25/piece. They're so cheap you don't even waste time thinking about keeping track of them. When I do construction projects, I sharpen up a half-box and bring them to wherever I'm working so that when, invariably, I'm holding a piece of wood and a ruler but failed to actually grab the pencil to mark the spot, I can feel around with my free hand until I am jabbed by a sharp lead.

On that list, though, I have a box of Blackwings and three of them are sitting in my pen cup on my desk as I type this. They're exceptional pencils -- almost too good in some ways -- something about the weight/density of them feels at the same time both like you're holding something that's "better than a pencil" but also something that's almost not a pencil. The friction of the lead against the paper is smoother than I'm used to -- not bad, just different. I jokingly call them my "hipster pencils"[0].

I haven't tried the others, but I'll take a look - thanks for the tip!

[0] When they arrived, my wife informed me that my "Yuppie pencils are here" -- I informed her that "yuppie" is about a decade dated and we settled on "hipster" but even that is a pretty inaccurate term since most of the hipsters I know have an affinity for this watered down, swill beer called PBR that we used to buy when we were underage because it was cheap. Kids these days. :P

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

#807

Post by mdip »

MrTonyD wrote: post #757
artimaeis wrote: post #668

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Ticonderoga is a wonderful workhorse of wood cased pencils. As you've pointed out their lead is sturdy and their price is almost unbeatable for the performance. Possibly the only downside is they're no longer made in the USA and I feel like their overall quality has suffered since the move to China and Mexico. If you're willing to explore pricier options there are so many excellent wood case pencils to be had! Th…

I've struggled with sharpening pencils. I enjoy a good pencil - but I've never found a sharpener that works consistently. Any advice?

We go through a box of 96 ct. pencils every 3 months (4 kids in elementary school). Here's the thing, there are some really good pencil sharpeners out there, but at the end of the day, if you buy good pencils, any newer sharpener will work well. The one I use, today, cost me $6.00 at Office Max last September. It's a motorized, battery operated, sharpener but the sharpener part is one of those cheap, plastic, single blade deals. It's set at a good angle and when it goes dull -- like they all do -- in about 6 months or so, I'll throw it out and spend another $6.00. If I put any pencil in this thing that's lower quality than the Dixon Ticonderoga pencils I buy, the lead snaps off before it gets sharp, but I've never had that happen with anything at least of that quality. And I won't pay more than $6.00 because regardless of how much I've spent on a sharpener (my last was about $50), they go dull in about year and have to be thrown out.

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

#808

Post by hayleox »

I'm a big fan of my Logitech M510 wireless mouse: https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-mouse-m510

It runs for ages on just two AAs (their website promises a 2-year life, which honestly sounds about right from my experience). It's very ergonomic, fits my hand perfectly. The back/forward buttons are positioned perfectly -- you can easily press them when you want to, but you'll never press them accidentally. The scroll wheel is nice and even has horizontal scrolling (not something I need often, but nice on the rare occasion I'm in Photoshop or whatever). The USB receiver is tiny enough that I can leave it in my laptop all the time. Logitech's been selling the M510 for years with almost no design changes, because it simply doesn't need improving.

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

#809

Post by lolive »

patmcguire wrote: post #254

Google Reader. It actually let me add feeds, read them, and mark them read reliably. Everything after is focused on value-add instead of just fucking working.

OMG, it is a blast from the past. I was fond of the Google ReaderGoogle BuzzGMail integration. Most of my non-geek friends used that seamlessly. When Google+ replaced all those tools, my friends switched to FB. (and I switched to Twitter).

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

#810

Post by mdip »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #576
mdip wrote: post #374

It took me about a second to think of Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. These are the perfect nexus of good and cheap. These things have the critical features one looks for in a writing instrument, my favorite of which is that I can put it in my electric pencil sharpener and the lead never snaps just prior to the point at which it becomes sharp. And these guys finally figured out something useful to do with that pink, rubbe…

I would argue that this is not the nexus of good and cheap. While 100 for 14 may look like a bargain in cents-per-pencil, would you really spend the next couple years working with 100 slightly worse pencils for $10? Stated in this way, the answer is obvious. I would, instead, recommend the Ticonderoga Black. The cedar wood is both smoother to grip and more fragrant than in the traditional pencils. Getting ready to st…

I have some Ticonderoga Blacks here. I gave them to the kids, though, because I don't like the weight. The cedar wood is more dense, making them hard to "hillbilly sharpen"[0] accurately. They're heavier, which kind of annoys me because it just doesn't feel right (I feel the same way about the black wings, but they don't feel quite as hefty as the blacks).

On the eraser, I've not run into pink smudging with the Ticonderogas, or had any of them dry out, but that's mostly because I blow through these things very quickly (4 kids, all elementary age, and I'm good at losing cheap things).

Very good point on the shape -- I hadn't even thought of that as a feature but I should have being that I specifically purchased a few boxes of triangular crayons for the kids -- I hate climbing under tables to fish out whatever color they want that's managed to roll off the table.

I totally get it, though, I'm pretty ridiculous about my pencils, too. I've tweeted, reviewed and written (in pencil) a letter to Dixon Ticonderoga. And they wrote back a snarky-ish reply ... in pencil (I think there's a picture of the reply on my Twitter feed somewhere)! :o)

[0] A term my dad used to use when you're doing construction work, you snap the lead of the pencil and are nowhere near a pencil sharpener so you take whatever qualifies as a sharp edge (often one half of a pair of clippers) and scrape it sharp, again. I often sharpen my pencils with razor blades and find it easy to get a good tip in a minute or two on the standard Ticonderogas.

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