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Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

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Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#101

Post by bilal4hmed »

crmd wrote: post #74
tonster wrote: post #46

Ubiquiti Dream Router and a couple of WiFi 6 Access Points. Excellent WiFi is so underrated and not as common as we might think. It has allowed me to work comfortably in all corners of the house as well as outside when the weather is nice, all without skipping a beat during calls. Highly recommend setting up a proper WiFi network and looking into this more prosumer level hardware which has been rock-solid for me.

I am literally researching now for a home network upgrade. Been running Dr-wrt on a linksys for years and WiFi is starting to get super unreliable. Can you say more about your ubiquiti experience? I am looking at ubiquiti, meraki go, and aruba instant but am open to ideas.

I came across Firewalla as well. Anyone using those ...looking at the gold while wondering if gold+ is the way to future proof

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#102

Post by dariusj18 »

mikeryan wrote: post #9

An AXS wireless derailleur for my mountain bike. A $600 outlay to get rid of a cable doesn’t make too much sense on its face, but I wasn’t prepared for how much it improved shifting performance.

I had not considered that this kind of technology would exist. Very cool.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#103

Post by agumonkey »

omershapira wrote: post #10

A professional-grade musical instrument caused me to want to get better at craft, and increased my reward curve in a way previous instruments had not. In my case it was a Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar ($1900 nowadays).

At the bottom end of this effect, I first learned bass on an Ibanez sr400 (cheapest being the sr300 at the time) and couldn't do anything I wanted. Years later I tried a 2nd hand Squier JazzBass vintage edition and was shocked how easy everything was (even though the neck was thicker than the ibanez). Revived my passion for many years after that.

A good instrument (not necessarily expensive) is indeed important.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#104

Post by giaour »

mabbo wrote: post #50
giaour wrote: post #18

A Litter Robot 4. Automated litter boxes are easy more expensive than I thought they would be, but you just can't put a price on not having to scoop

I've been using the "Omega Paw" box for years. You don't scoop. You just roll it upside down (one side is rounded for this) and when you right it, everything solid is in a long cup, which gets dumped into a garbage bag. More work than the Litter Robot, but a lot cheaper.

The litter robot scoops automatically after the cat uses it (plus a configurable delay), so it helps with the smell, too. It also has a ton of useless features (eg, it tells you how much your cat weighs each time they poop), but overall it's great.

I know it was too expensive, but it has definitely paid for itself in reduced martial friction by removing a shared chore and making the area around the cat box more pleasant

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#105

Post by AdamMeghji »

gnicholas wrote: post #72
AdamMeghji wrote: post #13

Electric Unicycle. For short trips and errands, it's a super fast and effective way to zip around my area. For more recreational trips, off-roading on local trails and ravines is super fun. It feels like snowboarding around the city, and has a learning curve of a few days (like skiing). Initially, I borrowed an old one from a friend and decided to stick with it by getting my own (a fairly good one). Next up was the v…

Yeah, I got a powerful escooter and have really enjoyed it. It's fun zipping through town, and it makes it much faster to get to some places since I can go through parks/campuses no problem. A couple safety tips though, for anyone considering an escooter versus ebike. On an escooter, the wheels have a very small diameter, which means that they are much less stable when you go over bumps. If you're going 15 MPH it's n…

A big motivator for going the EUC route was a) the wheel is a huge 18" tire and 3" wide, so small potholes and roots/branches are no problem, thus safer, and b) having a EUC w a suspension means I'm less likely to be bounced off, even less so if you add some "power pads" that support the upper foot area. Check it out!

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#106

Post by regulation_d »

tokamak-teapot wrote: post #12

A really, really good coffee machine for home. Price: about $1k. You can spend more but the coffee doesn’t get better - you just get more automation.

> You can spend more but the coffee doesn’t get better

I went down the espresso rabbit hole during covid, as did a good buddy of mine. We both upgraded from setups in the ~$1k range and are experiencing much better results in the cup. Obviously you'll see diminishing returns at some price point, but most of my friends/family agree that a latte from my new setup is noticeably better than one from my old setup.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#107

Post by tristor »

peruvian wrote: post #95
tristor wrote: post #28

The Steam Deck 512GB. It gave me a realistic pathway to replay classic games I love, while bringing AAA titles to a playable state on the go. As someone who travels pretty regularly both for work and personally, having a portable way to play games like Cyberpunk 2077, Stray, etc. as well as run emulators for Skies of Arcadia, Chrono Trigger, et al was a huge step up. The ergonomics are great, it gets fair battery lif…

You don't need to emulate Chrono Trigger unless you want to play the SNES version (fair enough if you do). The Steam version itself is fine nowadays. Same with a lot of Final Fantasy games. Obviously, emulating is cheaper due to not buying the games, which tend to be expensive.

I actually own all of them through Steam as well. I just find the emulated experience to be better. In the best case, many of the PC ports were simply an emulator with a wrapper anyway, in some of the worst cases they subtly broke the controls. Most of the PC ports from Square have been horrific historically, and while I do own all of them, I massively prefer playing in an emulator.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#108

Post by giaour »

abakker wrote: post #19
giaour wrote: post #18

A Litter Robot 4. Automated litter boxes are easy more expensive than I thought they would be, but you just can't put a price on not having to scoop

You like it? I've been considering it. Any reservations?

I haven't had mine that long, so I can't speak to the long-term issues already reported in replies to your comment.

But overall, it seems worth it so far. My partner and I put off buying an automatic box for years because of sticker shock, and I'm glad we finally got one.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#109

Post by tristor »

escapedmoose wrote: post #49
tristor wrote: post #28

The Steam Deck 512GB. It gave me a realistic pathway to replay classic games I love, while bringing AAA titles to a playable state on the go. As someone who travels pretty regularly both for work and personally, having a portable way to play games like Cyberpunk 2077, Stray, etc. as well as run emulators for Skies of Arcadia, Chrono Trigger, et al was a huge step up. The ergonomics are great, it gets fair battery lif…

I’ve been afraid to move on from my 2015 MBP for the reasons you stated. Good to hear they’re getting back on track

I would definitely recommend the new M1 (and maybe soon the M2) Pro/Max MBPs. Thanks to work, I've gotten to experience first hand basically each generation of MBP, and 2016-2019 are hot garbage, IMO. I opted for an M1 Max and managed to snag it through Microcenter for $800 off MSRP, and it is everything my 2015 was and more, and smaller more manageable form factor (went from the 15" 2015 MBP to a 14" M1 MBP, which is effectively the size of the 13" from 2015).

If you haven't had a chance yet, try to get your hands on one just to try it out. You'll immediately see what I mean. It has both an SD card slot and an HDMI port built-in, which I think were two things that were inexcusable to remove from a "Pro" device in the 2016-2019 generations, and yet it doesn't feel clunky or bulky.

It's a truly great machine.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#110

Post by stronglikedan »

robmerki wrote: post #36

I spent ~$2700 on a new mattress. I no longer wake up with hip or lower back pain. My sleeps are an order of magnitude better. I ended up with a Tempurpedic. I spent about 2 hours trying every mattress at the store and bought the one that felt best. There’s probably a million hacks to get that mattress cheaper, but I regret nothing. One of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It also came with 2 “free” memory foam pill…

Seconded on a quality mattress. I acquired a new luxury Puffy hybrid from my parents, who bought it but didn't like it. I sleep better than I can remember, and don't wake up with random aches and pains. It's life changing, coming from a series of budget mattresses.
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