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

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

#851

Post by papertokyo »

spoils19 wrote: post #548
glandium wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More generally, the Japanese bathroom, which allows that bath design (or, most probably, was designed around that).

Perhaps tangential, but it still astounds me how Americans scoff whenever I mention that we have floor drains in Australian bathrooms. "What, is your bathroom a locker room or something? snicker ". Setting aside how it helps with potential flooding* and makes the floor tiles infinitely easier to clean, it also allows things like this. *I've also had comments like "why would your bathroom ever flood???" as if nothing…

I was also surprised that most American showers only have a temperature control and not pressure, and the toilets waste several litres of water every flush.

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

#852

Post by papertokyo »

glandium wrote: post #525
idlewords wrote: post #326

Any Japanese bathtub. It's deep, you can fill it to the very top, and it's designed to overflow rather than deprive you of the top 1/3 with an annoying safety drain.

More generally, the Japanese bathroom, which allows that bath design (or, most probably, was designed around that).

What are the other aspects of their bathroom design that are notable? (Never been but it's top of my wishlist)

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

#853

Post by papertokyo »

krisrm wrote: post #4

"Things" is pretty broad. Thinking of software, probably early "beta" Gmail. There was so much about the email experience that was improved by a stable web client, with what felt at the time like unlimited storage. Thinking of hardware, I've never been much for Apple products, but the iPhone (particularly early models) is undoubtedly a design marvel.

I deeply miss my iPhone 5. Small, light, pleasingly minimal. I'm so glad they released the new mini models.

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

#854

Post by Lhiw »

raffraffraff wrote: post #501

Garmin Fenix 5s Sapphire: notifications from my phone with custom replies, 6 day battery life, buttons. No touch screen (operate it "blind" and in the wet), waterproof, scratchproof. You do need to pay extra for the sapphire screen. Swiss Army knife (they're sooo well made) Under armour underwear: no seams, last ages, extremely comfortable. Darn tough socks: extremely comfortable, last forever, never smell. Altra Lon…

Gore-tex isnt that great these days, there are better options now.

It requires dwr to function, as soon as the dwr fails (pretty fast depending on your usage levels) its ability to breath ceases to function, at that point you're wearing a heavy, expensive, water proof coat that doesn't breath so it rains on the inside instead.

It's saving grace is that it's durable in heavy brush.

For a better alternative take a look at Columbia outdry, it doesn't require dwr so its breathability lasts for the life of the garment instead of requiring retreatments of dwr.

Frogg toggs are another option, way less durable but as far as breathable rain proof it doesn't get better.

Both outdry and frogg toggs are also way lighter than goretext. Though look around for the outdry they have heavy duty and light versions.

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

#855

Post by rsync »

invalidator wrote: post #149

GearWrench ratcheting wrenches. They're compact and fit in places that sockets never will. The ratcheting mechanism is very fine, with low backlash, which matters a lot in those tight places. They feel great, and they're a delight to use. Wirewrap tools. They're mechanically simple, easy to learn, and let you create neat, dense hobby prototypes faster and easier than soldering. Wago Lever Nuts. These let you join a w…

"Wago Lever Nuts ..."

These are great but you need to strip a specific length of insulation of off the wire - within a certain range, that is.

That's not that difficult but I wonder if there is an adjustable stripping tool that can be fixed to a certain length to get repeatable strips over and over ?

It seems like this is what I am looking for:

https://www.amazon.com/C-K-TOOLS-T3757ESD-Adjustable-Strippe...

... but the largest wire it strips is 20ga and I would (usually) be stripping 12 or 14ga ...

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

#856

Post by papertokyo »

colordrops wrote: post #337

I bought a Breville Barista Express when everyone started working from home. It's one of the best product investments I've ever made. It's beautifully designed, reliable, and makes amazing coffee. Has a steamer and grinder included. And I probably paid it off in all the coffee I didn't buy from coffee shops. Second would be the Tesla Model 3.

Breville also does some great toasters and juicers.

Fun fact: the company started out making radios in 1932. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breville

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

#857

Post by cc101 »

howenterprisey wrote: post #407
kirubakaran wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://npshistory.com/publications/park_structures_facilitie...

Who wrote this? It's great.

howenterprisey: thank you for your post. I am surprised at all the positive karma I have received. I thank all of you.

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

#858

Post by jbay808 »

theduemmer wrote: post #203
jbay808 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love it if they added a price filter option! If I want a clear plastic tube I don't always know whether I'll get a cheaper price with acrylic, UV-resistant acrylic, static dissipative acrylic, ultra-strength polycarbonate, high-temperature polycarbonate, etc... It can take a lot of clicking to find the cheapest option!

Unfortunately I don't see them creating a price filter as they are mainly geared at businesses vs. hobbyists or consumers, where "get it here fast" is more important than saving a few dollars. That being said, I find adding all of the prospective parts to the cart works well for me when I want to compare prices

Often, the only reason you wouldn't choose, say, stainless steel over regular steel, or UV-resistant polycarbonate over ordinary polycarbonate, is because of the expectation that one is cheaper. So price can't be so unimportant. And one version always is cheaper, sometimes by a factor of five or ten times. But sometimes there are surprises and the stainless version is cheaper for other reasons. Maybe the non-stainless bars of that particular size are only available with super tight tolerances, for example.

So why force the customer to know and guess which material grade they want as a proxy for price, when you can directly let them find the selection that meets their needs at the lowest price?

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

#859

Post by cinntaile »

MrDresden wrote: post #809
cinntaile wrote: post #746

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hilleberg tents are amazing quality but they are not light. They can't be because that would impact the quality.

I don't know what you'd consider light but the Akto packs to around 1.3-1.5 kg. Given that I've been in it during weather reaching up to 35 on the Beaufort scale (~20m/s) with severe rain I feel it packs a fantastic punch for its weight. I'm sure there are some niche ultra light space age material tents out there. But that would be like saying a Tesla isn't a good car because it can't reach space.

A solo tent needs to be below 1kg before I'd consider it light.

Maybe it is the lightest tent when considering the weather it can deal with, but this was not mentioned in your original message.

I don't get the analogy with the Tesla going to space? You don't expect cars to fly. What would be the tent equivalent? Using the tent as a boat?

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

#860

Post by papertokyo »

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #608
WorldPeas wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to be the contrarian I am, I'll say that dell is still actually pretty good. You just have to buy the business models like the precision to get the best experience now

Maybe that's the issue. I bought consumer XPS's. One had a fan go out after 1 year. One had a keyboard failure out of the box. My co-worker had hardware issues on theirs. It was too many issues in too short of a span. All consumer grade though. Maybe business is the way to go.

I had an XPS laptop from 2008 which constantly overheated. I ended up having to remove the bottom of the case and put it on a stand to make it usable.

One day a bolt of lightning struck the house across the street and it died instantly.

Used the insurance money to buy a macbook pro and never looked back.

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