I’ve bought tons of stuff over the years that I thought I would use all the time but ended packing them up in a crate somewhere, never using them again.
That’s because the device either didn’t work well enough or it did work but my requirements were not carefully thought out beforehand and the device couldn’t meet them.
But I don’t want to talk about these devices, but the exact opposite: devices that fit your requirements and work so well, like a hand and a glove so to speak.
If I were to choose one such device, that would be the Fujitsu Scansnap S1500 document scanner.
I bought it for a one-off job. I had an old book written by a family member in loose pages and I wanted to digitize and reprint it. The scanner was so fast and efficient, that I decided to use it for the digitization of all of my important documents. This has proved invaluable because now I do not have to rummage through stacks of paper, I can find anything I want in my computer. That would be impossible to accomplish with a simple flatbed scanner because it would take ages to digitize everything.
About 20 years ago, before we moved from California to Minnesota, I saw a refrigerator dolly for sale at Sam’s Club for $50. I pointed out to my wife that we were going to move three times in two years, and each time we’d be moving a washer, two dryers and a refrigerator, so it’d pay for itself by the end of the second move.
All this time I had thought being “the guy with the van” would make me popular. Nope. That dolly was in use constantly, because in our circle of friends in Minnesota, somebody is always moving. At one time we had a couple people on a waiting list to use it.
I bought this little stick-thing with a sort of blob on the end. You stick it in a potato, then twist. That way you can peal the potato really easily without your fingers getting in the way, even if it’s small. It’s nifty.
Yeah, my life is pretty exciting. Peeling potatoes.
I’m gonna say it again…My HP15-C calculator is entering it’s 31st year of devoted service for me…it’s been around longer than my wife…serving me faithfully…hmmmm…I guess that actually makes my wife my mistress then.
HP LaserJet 4MP printer. 600 dots per inch, no power saving mode, and the ambient lights flutter when the drum is spinning. But we’ve had it since 1994, it’s printed paper-master plates for an offset printing press, invitations for my best friend’s wedding, and tens of thousands more sheets. And printer makers back then had not yet figured out that they could make these things disposable and self-destroying.
My little personal shopping cart. I use it multiple times per week - I can get just about everything we need from the stores without using my car (although I do a big shop every once in a while for the bulky, heavy stuff).
Also, the Magic Eraser for home cleaning - it is as good or better than advertised. I use a combination of bathroom spray and a Magic Eraser for cleaning my tub, and it just sparkles.
I bought this three dollar toy in a Zeller store several years ago. It’s made out go cheap plastic, about a foot and a half long. It has a squeeze thing on one end which makes the claw on the other end close tight, makes a somewhat harsh noise. I loved it and bought it over my husbands protests f ’ What the devil do you want that for.’ He knows it’s pointless but still protests. I could not stop clenching the thing on the ride home, till he told me to knock it off already.
That silly toy has proven to be exceedingly useful over the years. Drop some thing down behind the dryer-no worries! Of course whenever it is used I like to spend some time clench, clench, clenching the thing, till told to knock it off. I also give it to children who may be visiting. They do the same thing, clench, clench, clench!
Similarly, I bought a trailer for the handcycle after our van died. Never realized how much stuff I hauled on a regular basis besides doing the shopping.
i bought a small dirt devil vacuum cleaner (about the size of one of those handheld ones, only with a long handle so you can use it upright) during a black friday sale three years ago for $10. i vacuum the whole place with it, and have moved cross country with it. i can’t fathom why people spend hundreds of dollars on vacuum cleaners.
An Eco-i-Lite. There are many models; this is the one we have had for years. It’s an LED flashlight that plugs into a wall outlet and stays charged, it self-illuminates in a power failure. It’s charged inductively so that it can simply be lifted out of its base and used.
While it’s only useful for providing light, there are a couple of reasons it’s turned out to be really good at that. It has six LEDs, and makes a very bright light for its size; it’s always our illumination of choice for looking behind a cabinet or cleaning the dogs’ ears. The charge lasts a long time; I can carry it all day in my pocket and use its undiminished brilliance in the evening. It’s a lightweight item for the pocket – much lighter than traditional metal flashlights with batteries.
But most of all, it’s always there. Because it’s plugged into its station all the time, we know where it is; it doesn’t get moved around except for actual use. It’s always freshly charged; no yellow weak beam, no hunting for batteries. It’s immediately findable when the lights DO go out. And the batteries never corrode from sitting unused, there’s no filament to burn out or bulb to break, and it doesn’t feel hot to the touch in use.
However, I understand the induction charging system was de-listed from Energy Star status because it drains a bit more power than the Energy Star standards. So it’s not as “eco” as the name implies.
My other complaint would be that the lens isn’t “shielded” – light leaks out around the edges. That’s a deliberate feature, I think, to make it easier to find in a power outage, and also to make it more useful as a table lamp. But when pointing it at the path ahead at night, I have to shield my eyes from the side of the lens or the glare will make it harder to see. It looks like later models fixed that issue.
But if you want bright light that’s always there and always fully charged, it’s great.
My wife bought a Magic Bullet blender and I was sure that it would go into the cupboard of junk that we never use (along with our full-sized blender, for instance). But she has used it hundreds of times (maybe a thousand?) since she bought it, mostly to make fruit smoothies for breakfast.
Back when I was in high school – mid 1980s – I purchased a Casio FX-451 scientific calculator for $39. I used it through high school. I used it through six years of engineering college. And then used it when I got my MS in engineering. I now teach part-time, and I still use it. It won’t quit. And it’s a *fantastic *calculator. No other calculator made today comes close in terms of ease-of-use.
Heh, how about this… a bar of Lava soap. Nearly three years ago when we bought our home I bought a bar for my bathroom sink. I work outdoors a lot, have garage projects and just get dirty all the time. I’m constantly using that same bar to clean up with and not only does it do a good job there but the damn thing won’t wear out. There’s still about half left. Well, I don’t mind buying a new one every once in awhile but it just won’t let me. Am I really going to have one near daily bar of soap for 6 years?
Also, I figured Porsches were high maintenance and expensive to own, always in the shop, etc. Not true. Occasional maintenance required but the V8 Cayenne has been suprisingly bulletproof. 100K and still smooth as silk.
Also my Ryobi cordless drill I bought in 1996. I’ve built countless things with it since, drilling through steel, large nails into 2x4 to 4x8, through concrete, pressure treated, etc. While I have had to replace the batteries several times (batt technology wasn’t as good then) the drill itself is still as torquey and fast as it was 17 years ago.
Over the last 16+ years I’ve owned 3 desktop computers and 2 laptops. I spent a lot of money on RAM, monitors, modems, sound cards, mice, keyboards, etc. But I still use my original set of speakers. And not just on my computer. That cheap-ass Radio Shack shit is still going strong.
Oh, I’m fully aware that the whole point of them is to be useful, but when I bought it I had now idea just how useful it would be. I must have used every tool on the thing at least 4 or 5 times, and some of them many many more. Well all except for that one strange bladey-shaped thing on the back with the hole near the tip; I’ve no idea what that’s for.
