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Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

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Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#661

Post by dionidium »

XM/Satellite radio. For all the talk about Netflix and Hulu and the like, I actually sit down to watch something on those services maybe once a week. But I listen to satellite radio every time I'm in the car. It's especially good for sports. No fumbling with streaming services. Just tune straight to the hometown game on the dial, even though I no longer live in my hometown. It's a bit strange to me that one never hears anything about satellite radio, anymore. It's a great service. The content options are good. And it just works.

SNOO Smart Sleeper. It's a $1400 smart bassinet and I was for obvious reasons dead-set against it -- after all, parents have been getting their newborns to sleep without a "smart sleeper" for hundreds of thousands of years, right? -- but after a few weeks of sleep deprivation I would have emptied my bank account for a good night's sleep. Our once-recalcitrant infant son fell asleep within seconds of first being placed in the SNOO. It really, really works. He's 4 months old now and mostly sleeps through the night.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#664

Post by waihtis »

slimbods wrote: post #647

A very basic but effective home gym: A barbell and 140kg of bumper plates, Squat/bench stands, bench, slam ball, dumbbells and a small range of kettlebells. The whole thing cost about the equivalent of a year's gym membership but have lasted two years so far and show no sign of wear. Being able to lift something heavy on a regular basis over the last year has been a massive boost for my mental and physical health. Yo…

Used to be a dream of mine, except now the gym is one of the few places to socialize (100% wfh)

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#665

Post by mtoddsmith »

I bought my wife a Liv electric mtb (front suspension only since it was cheapest). She never rode mtb before this and now 6mo later she's an almost daily rider. We live at the base of a large mountain range with lots of trails and the electric assist has allowed her to gradually build up the endurance to ride the mountains. Soon she'll be transitioning to a non-electric full suspension and we'll probably sell the electric.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#666

Post by don-code »

Not counting a home: my favorite purchase has been a good stereo for my home office. Nothing that broke the bank, either - I picked up an older Technics receiver and a pair of Advent Legacy floor-standing speakers for under $200.

Now that I stay in the same room 12-16 hours per day, they've been extremely helpful in making things feel less boring and monotonous.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#667

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

nunez wrote: post #282

The AirPods Max have been incredible for music and Zoom calls. The Tesla Model 3 is an amazing car that completely ruins all other cars for me. I can't imagine driving anything else right now. The MacBook Air M1 really does live up to the hype. You can do all-day Zooms on this thing and still have battery to spare. This was impossible on my Intel MacBook Pro. The Air is also insanely fast. It's literally the perfect…

> The Tesla Model 3 is an amazing car that completely ruins all other cars for me. I can't imagine driving anything else right now.

I bought a Model 3 Performance back in November 2019 and I have recalibrated what "normal" acceleration feels like.

It's not that I'm flooring it at every red light, but without an engine making noise and giving me audible feedback on how much fuel I'm using, I do find I give it a little more punch than most other drivers.

So then when I sit in my wife's Honda CRV, it feels so slow unless I'm giving it a lot of gas.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#668

Post by lastofthemojito »

gabagool wrote: post #550
TacticalCoder wrote: post #362

Unlikely to get upvoted here but a used Porsche Panamera with an extended bumper-to-bumper manufacturer warranty. As Doug Demuro says it's cheap, really cheap. There's not a single brand new car costing, say, 75 K EUR or less that I'd have rather than that because the quality simply ain't there. The ride comfort, soundsystem, sound insulation, interior quality, how it drives superbly (and can yet be used for some spi…

Is there any way to figure out what the maintenance costs of a car is? For example, for an 8-year-old Porsche Panamera? Otherwise, I've always just come across anecdata on message boards.

Edmunds has a "Cost to Own" calculator here: https://www.edmunds.com/tco.html

Sadly it does not go back 8 years. You could check the numbers on a 6-year-old Panamera vs a new Camry though: https://www.edmunds.com/porsche/panamera/2015/cost-to-own/?s... https://www.edmunds.com/toyota/camry/2021/cost-to-own/?style...

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#669

Post by Rendello »

omarhaneef wrote: post #567

Scanning these recommendations, the plurality -- perhaps even the majority -- are ergonomic. You would think everyone is constantly in pain: keyboards, desks, monitors, chairs, shoes, that relieve pain. Even the air filters, robot vacuums, and noise reduction devices reduce some kind of pain. The only non-pain recommendation that comes close is coffee and the apple M1. One strange thing is the contrary recommendation…

I recently took up running, unfortunately all I have for footwear is an old pair of Vans, just about the worst thing to run in. All the disadvantages of both minimalist and maximalist shoes, wrapped up in a flat, hard sole with holes in both heels.

After some online research, I have a pair of minimalist (barefoot) running sandals coming in the mail. I'll have to let you know if it was worth it or if I was just punked by the marketers ;)

Re: Ask HN: Favorite purchases of last two years?

#670

Post by amerkhalid »

I am a little reluctant, but I will add Kindle Oasis.

I upgraded to Oasis from Kindle Paperwhite. But my favorite Kindle is Kindle Keyboard 3. It is the easiest to hold among all Kindles. As it doesn't have touchscreen, I never worry about inadvertently turning the page or activating some menu. Only reason I got Paperwhite was because I wanted waterproof and builtin light.

PW is really awkward to hold especially when laying down in the bed.

Oasis is obviously ridiculously over-priced. But I got it because I got tired of PW. I like that Oasis has a large area to rest your thumb or fingers on, and also physical buttons definitely makes reading experience better. But it is not perfect, metal on back is too slippery, I still end up turning pages by accidents especially when switching hands. And did I mention it is way too expensive.

But it is still one of my favorite items, it is so much easier to read on it for extended period of time. I also send blog posts, news articles, docs, etc to Kindle via chrome extension and read them later when relaxing in the evening.

Also while I enjoy reading on Oasis, I am going back to physical books as much as possible. Mostly because I want to gift my books to my kids, and I don't know if Kindle would be around in 20 years or not. So the stuff I read on Kindle is mostly borrowed books from Prime library, personal docs, free books, or books that I am pretty sure will be useless in a few years like books on Kubernetes or other hot technologies.

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