# Tell us about a product that you were pleasantly surprised by its usefulness **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838 "2022-09-19T16:15:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/41 "2022-09-22T17:42:53Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > It holds a trash bag open and gives it a hard edge, so you lay the butler on it’s flat side and rake leaves into it. A good product for around here is [the lawn and leaf chute](https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/lawn-leaf-chute-0590846p.html?ds_rl=1283573&ds_rl=1283573&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI17Sf2vio-gIVZfTjBx03ng6eEAYYAyABEgKL9fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#store=176). Our yard waste is supposed to go in these big biodegradable paper bags. The manufacturers claim the bags will stand up by themselves, but that almost never works, especially if there’s even a bit of wind. The chute makes it easier to unfold the bags properly, and also gives enough stiffness and weight so they actually stand up. Best 12 bucks I ever spent on yard care. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/42 "2022-09-22T19:26:33Z")
Related: My leaf compost pile and my rotating tumbler composters. We collect all our leaves and put them in a pile (I made an enclosure using field fencing) and by the next fall, we have fantastic compost. I turn the pile ever few weeks during the thawed months. Our rotating composters handle everything else: Lawn clippings, food waste, all our garden waste (I mulch it first), some of our paper waste, etc. We have 4 bins and it takes about one month to complete a batch during warm months. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/43 "2022-09-22T19:36:57Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > They do work well, but they’ll scratch anything soft and shiny. Don’t use them to clean dried bugs off your car. Matte finish wall paint is fine, though. Yes, I learned this the hard way on my recently acquired new-to-me classic Mercedes 🤦‍♂️ Thankfully I plan on getting a new paint job done on it sometime in the not-too-distant future so I’m not bothered by the small cloudy spot. They work ok on glass though. Which is weird because a Brillo pad will absolutely scratch the hell out of car glass. Something I also learned the hard way. My contribution: bagless vacuums. I know they’re standard now but ~15 or 20 years ago, when bag vacs were pretty much the standard option, I thought the canister vacuums were just a gimmick: all that swirling air and little tornado of dust couldn’t actually be effective in trapping dirt, right? Of course, now I know better. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/44 "2022-09-22T19:52:06Z")
My Instant Pot. My wife got it some time ago. It wasn’t a major event, we have too much crap like that around the house. But now I use it at least once a week. You can cook almost anything in it. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/45 "2022-09-25T00:43:31Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Related: My leaf compost pile and my rotating tumbler composters. We collect all our leaves and put them in a pile (I made an enclosure using field fencing) and by the next fall, we have fantastic compost. I turn the pile ever few weeks during the thawed months. Does it snow where you are, and if so how long is the ground covered in it? I have a big piece of such fencing I’ve been trying to figure out what do do with, and soon will have more leaves than I know what to do with. We average 5 feet of snow a winter, though, and I’ve heard that leaves don’t do much under snow which is why most you don’t get up before it snows are still there whole in April. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/46 "2022-09-25T00:49:41Z")
I live on the ID/WA border near Spokane, so yes, we get snow. We typically can expect to have snow on the ground Dec-Feb’ish. And no, they don’t do much when it is really cold since they often freeze solid. We try to add as much nitrogen in the form of coffee grounds (my wife gets a lot from her work’s coffee cart) to keep it warm and active, but we give up for a couple months (well, we still dump on the coffee grounds - just don’t stir them in). Coffee grounds are great for composting or just throwing in your garden beds. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/47 "2022-09-25T17:03:19Z")
Interesting. Maybe I’ll give it a shot and hope that the snow holds off long enough for some composting to happen. I don’t drink coffee but I do have a big bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer I can sacrifice part of in the name of science. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/48 "2022-09-25T17:54:26Z")
Swedish Dishtowels. These things work as advertised. > **[Amazon.com: Swedish Wholesale Swedish Dish Cloths - 10 Pack Reusable, Absorbent...](https://www.amazon.com/reusable-paper-towels-sweedish-dishtowels-swededishcloths/dp/B07GX6TRQX)** > > Amazon.com: Swedish Wholesale Swedish Dish Cloths - 10 Pack Reusable, Absorbent Hand Towels for Kitchen, Counters & Washing Dishes - Cellulose Sponge Cloth - Eco Friendly Gifts - Assorted : Health & Household ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/49 "2022-09-25T22:59:21Z")
I picked up a “hair snake” drain unclogger tool a few years ago in the sale bin at a local hardware store. Basically a length of coated flexible wire with a small pad at one end covered in Velcro hook material (like this one [General PDP Template | Canadian Tire](https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/flexisnake-hair-clog-tool-0638724p.html)). It’s fantastic for getting the wads of my wife’s long hair out of the bathroom sink and tub drains when they start to drain slowly. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/50 "2022-09-26T10:57:03Z")
Single serving bottles of spring water. It was the commercials for some water purifier that did it – they’d show people using these bottles of water and disposing of them, in a wide variety of ways, to show how badly our disposable culture creates waste. But on me they had the effect of showing me how convenient bottled spring water is. Also, the robotic vacuum cleaner. Though, not so much its usefulness, which turned out like I expected. The pleasant surprise was how much of a kick I get out of the downstairs getting vacuumed every Friday and Monday morning. I actually use the area differently, knowing that it will be clean. Gatopescado mentions Rain-X. That’s my Unpleasant surprise. It made my wipers shudder so violently I thought they were going to come apart, and it took a long time to clean it off my windshield though I tried all sorts of cleaners and solvents. I couldn’t believe what a mess they made of driving in the rain, for weeks! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/51 "2022-09-26T11:19:30Z")
I rolled my eyes when my wife bought a Magic Bullet blender; I thought it was going to sit on our counter collecting dust. But she has used it to make smoothies an average of 3 times a week for the past 10 (?) years and it really it easy to use and clean. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/52 "2022-09-26T14:47:49Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Swedish Dishtowels. These things work as advertised. YES! I love these. I bought 3 sets of 6 from Amazon about a month ago. I had a couple already and knew I loved them and used them more than any of the other dish cloths I had. So after I received my new Swedish cloths, I took all of the regular ones out of the drawer and gave them to my husband for garage rags. I also love all of the cute designs there are to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/53 "2022-10-04T03:03:36Z")
A fly swatter that telescopes. It was given me by a funeral home employee. I think flies in a funeral home might bother some people. I don’t care. I love that swatter ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/54 "2022-10-04T12:14:28Z")
On the topic of flies… My [Bug-A-Salt](https://www.bugasalt.com/pages/shop-collections#threezero) gun! It’s basically a lightweight pump-action air gun that looks like a Nerf gun and fires table salt. It is absolutely the best tool for pesky flies. They even have a laser sight attachment that greatly improves accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/55 "2022-10-04T12:46:47Z")
Bought one years back on Kickstarter. Fun at a picnic. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/56 "2022-10-05T07:15:19Z")
> [@susan](#): > > I’m digging the Instant Pot. Yep. I bought one on sort of a whim on Amazon Prime day back in 2017 (actually asked about it here, and was told I needed to acquire one). It died a month or so ago, and I immediately bought a replacement. I don’t use it daily, but often enough, and it’s just the thing for stuff like hard-cooked eggs, and if I want to make something involving, say, frozen chicken, I don’t even have to thaw the chicken. No canned beans? no problem! ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/57 "2022-10-05T12:21:18Z")
Regarding Rain-X, the stuff is great for glass shower doors. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/58 "2022-10-05T12:40:06Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Rosie This is the same name we gave our Roomba. Unfortunately, our house is so chronically dirty / dusty / full of animal fur, that every time Rosie is used, I need to spend 15 minutes cleaning her out. (Wifey also uses Rosie but never cleans the rollers, which is probably why it seems extra messy to me.) What I found most useful is a rechargeable, handheld vacuum with a long “nose” that can reach into tight places. The hose can also be unwound so you can more easily move it around the baseboards like a magic wand, while holding the main unit in your other hand. Works great on the animal fur mentioned previously, and keeps the place looking OK between thorough cleanings (major floor vacuum + mopping the hard surfaces). Between uses it sits on its charger and is always ready to go. It has various filter stages, including HEPA. I can empty it out, outside, and remove the filter and tap it onto a hard surface like a boulder, and the junk comes out. I just re-use the innermost filter a number of times, and repace it about once every 3 years or so. It is about as convenient as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/59 "2022-10-05T12:46:04Z")
The lowly manual can opener has been around for ages and, when they eventually break or wear down, we’ve replaced them at small cost and without a 2nd thought. Well, a few years ago I suddenly ran into a problem getting a manual can opener that actually worked right. Some would have a problem gaining purchase on the lip of cans, so you couldn’t begin to open them. Others would keep slipping and losing their cutting edge. In other words, they were cheap crap. Happy days, however, because the last one I bought works like a charm every time I need it. Please, oh please, don’t let it break! Is there insurance on can openers? LOL ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838/60 "2022-10-05T14:04:21Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Well, a few years ago I suddenly ran into a problem getting a manual can opener that actually worked right OK, it’s not just me. After having the same can opener for a couple of decades, I replaced it… and went through three in just a few months. Disheartening. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-about-a-product-that-you-were-pleasantly-surprised-by-its-usefulness/971838.md?page=4)