HN Explorer

Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?

178 points by lllllll0 ↗ HN
An obvious one might be a new car (e.g., Tesla), or a house that you improved your quality of life.

What other purchases might be worth considering?

529 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 359 ms ] thread
king_magic
Full suite of good battery powered cordless tools. Can fix/build pretty much whatever I need around the house whenever I need.
amelius
How often do you need to fix things?
qznc
I use my Ixo roughly once a week somewhere in the house. I'm not sure what more of a "suite" I could use.
eitland
Not OP but I fix / improve things surprisingly often since I have five kids in my house.
petecooper
Adguard.

https://i.imgur.com/CCLHQTT.png

Spare_account
I use uBlock Origin and PrivacyBadger (which are both free). Does Adguard work better/differently to justify the cost?
ffpip
Don't use both. Use uBlock Origin. Never, ever use 2 ad blockers in a single layer (here, browser).

Privacy Badger also changed how it works. Making it just another adblocker. So stick with uBO

h2onock
I’m curious, why should you not use 2? I use Privacy Badger and ublock and haven’t had any problems that I know of.
jdeibele
Not original poster but I recommend Adguard for your DNS: https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html I changed the router settings for the house six months ago and have had no complaints. We've got 3 teenagers doing online high school or university and no issues.

Once in a great while I get a message from a site that says "we've detected you're using an adblocker" but really no issues.

There's no control over what is blocked or not blocked. That worried me but has turned out to work just fine. There are other solutions that do allow you to maintain a list but charge an annual fee.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=adblocking+dns shows a lot more options than there were six months ago.

petecooper
>Does Adguard work better/differently to justify the cost?

I can't comment on better as I haven't used either of those products in anger or recently, but Adguard installs itself as a system app, not a browser plugin, and it just works. It's become a standard install on new computers when I set them up. The only side effect I see of an average day is some pages taking a second or two longer before the first paint, presumably due to the quantity of ads removed.

For where I am, the cost of an evergreen licence for a single seat is less than an hour of work, it looks after itself, and I only see ads in Tor. Well worth the $.

rgoulter
I'd say getting into wet-shaving has saved me a lot of money, and led to a more luxurious shave.

The cost of safety-razor blades vs cartridge blades alone should makes it worth looking into.

turnsout
Agree 100%. A while back I decided one of the best ways I could improve my quality of life was to look at every object I use every day and slowly replace them all with the premium/BIFL versions.

It has been a success, and my two safety blade razors are standout exemplars.

Another random one: a nice but basic digital kitchen timer. I no longer yell at Siri at 6:30 in the morning when it doesn’t understand my timer request!

btschaegg
Totally agree. My parents got me a Merkur Solingen Futur as a gift about a decade ago, which I'd never have considered buying on my own. I haven't looked back since.
WheelsAtLarge
I went from from shaving cream can to shaving brush and soap. It made shaving so much more enjoyable. I highly recommended.
bradlys
Did it for years - cause of cost. Gave up on it and went back to regular razors. The difference in cost is maybe $20/yr for me but the time difference makes it not worth the trouble. Back when I was living off a $700/month, safety razors made sense (cause $10 for 100 blades)... But now I'm living off more than 10x that and it doesn't make sense.
znpy
Been there done that.

I got an electric razor from Philips, for ~40€ (it was on sale).

It has already lasted a year and shows no sign of wearing.

I can clean shave without cutting myself in any way. It used to happen from time to time with both the safety razor and throwaway razors.

rektide
I was very happy switching to a double edged safety razor, a decade ago.

18 months ago or so I upgraded to good battery powered clippers/trimmers. The trimmers are just the start of the investment. Lube & 5-in-1 cleaner are both consumables that are ongoing but not bad. But wow, the clippers are all fixed size, not adjustable, & buying a set was about as much as the clippers themselves. Very pricey. But wow, my ability to trim & maintain myself has gone way way up. I used to use an Oster and sometimes scissors+comb, and I got by, but this is so much more consistent & even & easy & fun to do.

mdisc
Apple Airpod Pros -- long battery life, near instant bluetooth tethering. Even other expensive headphones/earbuds (Bose) for instance could not compete with the ease of use, noise cancellation, and comfort.

I don't think about headphones anymore, they just work the way they're supposed to.

secretsatan
I do love them, but the noise cancellation does bad things to bass and for my real low end stuff, produces a rattle? I turn it off when i want it full volume
sonofhans
The rattle is a defect. Apple will replace them.

I got a pair months ago, after using gen-1 AirPods for a couple years. Soon the left AirPod Pro started rattling at certain frequencies. It got worse. I complained to Apple and they sent me a new left ‘Pod.

Soon the right one exhibited the same behavior. This time, I could hear the rattle if I tapped gently on it. Clearly something was physically loose inside it. Apple replace that one, too.

I had to argue a little, but less than with most tech support. Now I have two AirPod Pros that work perfectly.

jdeibele
I had noticeable distortion on mine. Used chat to talk to Apple tech support and they had me reset them and that made the distortion go away.

I do get a squeal when pushing them into my ear canals which is a known problem with having noise cancellation on.

I find the Airpods Pro stay in my ears much better than the Airpods. And they seem pretty water resistant - the left one survived a bath in the dog's water bowl when I was filling it.

moltar
I’ve got rattle in both in less than a year. It rattles even without any sounds, just walking around is enough to trigger it. So must be something physical.

I’m in Vietnam right now. There are no Apple Stores, but there are official authorized repair shops. Unfortunately they have to order parts from Singapore.

I’m now without the headphones for two weeks waiting for repair or replacement and I really miss them! My daily walks are just not the same without the podcasts.

chadlavi
this same exact thing happened to me, in the same order even. Now, about 6 mo later, I'm getting the rattle again on the left...
secretsatan
I have heard these stories, i don’t doubt them, but maybe rattle wasn’t the right word in my case, the fact it happens only on noise cancellation makes me think it’s a software issue. It’s very few tracks, not a general issue, 99% of tracks sound great, just some tracks with real low loud bass and it triggers on the bass drum. I’m no sound engineer, but it sounded a bit like a glitch that spunds like a rattle of a speaker that can’t handle it. Maybe the bass gets boosted on noise cancellation? Like i say, turning off the cancellation stops it, and the bass come through just fine
cjauvin
Anyone would have a recommendation for a good choice of wireless earbuds (with a mic) for a Pixel phone?
explorigin
I use Airpods on my Samsung Phone. You don't need an iPhone to enjoy the best aspects of airpods.
awiesenhofer
I have the first gen samsung buds, they work great with all my devices so far and for me sit way better than airpods. But the new "bean" buds seem to have better sound and noise canceling
freetonik
I got Samsung Galaxy buds when I switched from iPhone to Pixel 3a, and I can definitely recommend them. I like them much more than airpods (I had gen 1). Being able to rewind and fast forward by tapping on the buds is great.
crossroadsguy
You all might want to read about long term irreversible health effects (read: hearing loss) of in-ear speakers (irrespective of which company makes/markets them).
pingiun
Do you have any research that talks about in-ear speakers in particular? With my very lazy Goolge search I only found articles about loud volume being bad
tupputuppu
I think that's incorrect. All the research discussed in-ear headphones that are not noise-cancelling, which lead people to turn up the volume to drown out background noise, which leads to hearing damage.

This is relevant to regular Airpods, but not Airpod Pros which are noise-cancelling. These sort of headphones are actually safer for you hearing, as you can keep the volume lower and still hear well.

secretsatan
Cordless vacuum
technotarek
Seconded. The stick kind with a variety of heads, including a head for hardwood floors. Game changer, at least since having a kid.
compscistd
I prefer the joy of using a great lightweight cordless vacuum over having a robot vacuum. Vacuuming has been one of the household chores that was delegated to me as a kid growing up, and the difference compared to extremely heavy corded vacuums makes the experience feel like house magic.
msluyter
Seconded. A while ago we had a bit of a windfall in the form of a Lowe’s gift card and so we splurged on a Dyson. It felt extravagant at the time but now we use it daily and it’s been well worth the investment.
amelius
Yes. Bosch makes good ones, which allow you to switch the battery (and even exchange them with the batteries in their power tools).
nicbou
I can't overstate how much more pleasant those are, compared to a regular vacuum. It takes the pain out of the process.
gotem
Noise-canceling headphones. I recommend Bose QC35 IIs. You don’t realize how loud the world normally is until you take them off.
ir123
Could I use them to cut off external noise that keeps me awake when I am trying to sleep?
gotem
Yup I sometimes accidentally fall asleep with mine on. The noise cancelling works even while not playing anything. Just make sure you don’t sleep on side and crush them but you should be fine as they’re pretty resilient to damage (except water).
ciaranlee
Yes. Probably depends on the exact noise. I've used them to good effect on planes and when sleeping beside a snoring person.
math
best trick i know for this is to have another source of noise that you can tolerate (e.g. a fan). noise cancelling headphones are useful if you sleep on your back...
rich_sasha
YMMV, I would struggle to sleep in mine. Noise makers are better for drowning out noises, IMHO
dzhiurgis
AirPods Pro work way better for sleep due to low profile (mostly just using single one tho), but I've used big cans too. They do get damaged rather quickly (pads compress, drivers crackly all the time) and not comfy.
spiffytech
The kinds of noises that often keep people awake at home aren't really the strong suit for active noise cancellation technology, but it works well enough that there's a whole market for noise cancelling sleep aids. You're probably better off looking there than the Bose QC; ordinary headphones and pillows often don't agree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise-cancelling_headphones#As...

torvald
So true. Most bang for the buck i know.
jermeh
I own the Sony version of them, the wh-1000xm2. They have xm3 and I think xm4 now and they are all highly praised. I bring them with me basically everywhere. They're especially incredible when flying.
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gtirloni
I upgraded to the 1000xm3 from a QC15. It was much better. Im pretty satisfied.
santa_boy
Thanks, bookmarked. I so much wish I went for these. I bought the Beats headphones that were a little cheaper. I don't find anything good about them either in comfort or functionality.

Social media influence!

seventhtiger
I have worn the Bose QC35 II on a 19 hour flight. It greatly reduced the terrible hum of the airplane and the battery lasted all the way through (bluetooth and sound were on maybe 6 to 8 hours). They are that comfortable.
nicbou
I have Airpod Pros, and I found myself wearing them without playing anything, just to tune out the noise.
amerkhalid
I got QC35, one of my favorite thing ever. I can listen music at really low volume and still hear all different notes. And I can sit outside in my patio next to a running A/C unit and not hear it at all.
bingo_cannon
An automated pet door. My dog loves to go in and out of the house every five minutes and whines annoyingly if he doesn't.
RyJones
PRK eye surgery. Why did I wait so long?

Good, sturdy luggage.

A nice printer. Color laser with duplexing.

elviejo
a Dishwasher.

Before buying it I would spend 45 minutes every night doing dishes.

Now I load the dishwasher in 10 minutes tops and go to bed half an hour earlier!

More sleep => better humor in the morning => happier family

e15ctr0n
A friend of mine bought a tabletop dishwasher even though he has a perfectly good, standard-sized one in his spacious kitchen. He says that cleaning baby bottles and things every night was tiring him out. Now he loads it every night and turns on the Baby Steam mode that sterilizes the stuff after cleaning. Apparently, the dishwasher needs no connection to the faucet. Pour in water from the top and allow the dirty water to run into a bucket.
turnsout
Leaf razor... overall my favorite purchase in the past 2-3 years.
davidedicillo
A Xiaomi Mi Pocket Magic Massager which I use almost daily. Because of decades of bad posture, I often have crippling tension in my neck muscles. After I discovered acupuncture, I realized that this small tens unit could provide a similar effect more conveniently.
gotem
What muscles do you use it on? My forearms have been super tight recently.
explorigin
My forearms get tight when I'm stressed or sleep deprived. I have one of those large "thumper" massagers (like the "Hangsun Handheld Neck Back Massager" on Amazon). When you use them, find the sore spot in your muscle very close to your elbow. Work that out with the massager.
gotem
Does it ever lead to tingling sensations in your hands? I was dealing with what I thought was cubical tunnel and noticed my forearms are always so tight
explorigin
All sorts of vibrating things will make your hands go tingly after a while. But if you're talking about your hand on the arm receiving the massage, you should probably see a doctor about that before you cause yourself nerve damage.
davidedicillo
I use it for my upper trapezoid. More recently I bought a fancier unit with independent electrodes, but I keep coming back to this unit because it's so much more convenient.
RangerScience
Recommended way (if any) to buy in the US?
davidedicillo
So far I bought 3 from Aliexpress (eventually you'll get tire of your partner stealing yours and it's a great gift idea)
mleonhard
I've had neck muscle tension that was due to emotional distress. I went to the free 10-day Vipassana meditation course (the Goenka one) and learned how to relax my neck muscles and process the emotions so my neck stays relaxed. After learning to deal with the root cause, my quality of life has improved. Therapy also helped.

Most neck tension, migraines, headaches, and lower back pain are from emotions. If your neck tension is due to emotions, I hope you can learn to deal with them and find long-lasting relief.

statquontrarian
Books. A few handfuls of them, combined, made a magnitude of a difference in my quality of life.

An incredible amount of similar content is available now in video and text form for free, but I think that the same ideas non-book form wouldn't have had the same impact on me.

macobo
Examples, suggestions?
statquontrarian
I've never created a reading list, so this was a fun exercise.

Programming:

* Analyzing Computer System Performance with Perl::PDQ - Gunther

* The Mythical Man Month - Brooks

Philosophy:

* A Journey Around my Room - de Maistre

* Anger, Mercy, and Revenge - Seneca

* Schrödinger - What is Life?

* Man's Search for Meaning - Frankl

* Essays - Montaigne

* Ethical Intuitionism - Huemer

* The Consolations of Philosophy - de Botton

* A Manual for Living - Epictetus

* Meditations - Aurelius

Psychology / Meaning / Purpose / Science:

* Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace - Dik, Byrne & Steger

* The Case Against Education - Caplan

* Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids - Caplan

* Dawkins - The Selfish Gene

* A Confession - Tolstoy

* Enlightenment Now - Pinker

* The Better Angels of our Nature - Pinker

* The Improving State of the World - Goklany

* The Skeptical Environmentalist - Lomborg

* Religion for Atheists - de Botton

* Ending Aging - de Grey

* Gut Feelings - Gigirenzer

Fiction:

* Heart of Darkness - Conrad

* Candide - Voltaire

* Brave New World - Huxley

* Selected Works - Goethe

* 1984 & Animal Farm - Orwell

Politics:

* Obedience to Authority - Milgram

* The Problem of Political Authority - Huemer

* The Communist Manifesto - Marx

* Socialism - von Mises

* Just One Child - Greenhalgh

* The God That Failed - Crossman

* Death by Government - Rummel

Thought-provoking:

* Free to Learn - Gray

* The Beautiful Tree - Tooley

* Education and the State - West

* The Machinery of Freedom - Friedman

* Against Intellectual Monopoly - Boldrine & Levine

* From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State - Beito

* The Not So Wild, Wild West - Hill

* More Guns, Less Crime - Lott

* Race & Economics - Williams

* Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men - Hummel

97amarnathk
What books would you recommend one must read?
nestorD
My variation on that is realizing that I know have enough money to buy the expensive, specialized, books I want to read without having to debate it with myself.

Getting one or two book I love every month fills me with both joy and knowledge.

znpy
My variation on that is realizing that I can now buy the more or less expensive books that I downloaded illegally when I was a teenager.

Most people in the publishing industry don't realise that I probably wouldn't have got into the industry or wouldn't have reached my current level without some pirated books.

I can now afford without many problems to spend 60+ euros on a book and I'm doing it. Not often, but I'm doing it (books take time to read :) ).

My last purchase was advanced programming in the Unix environment (~65 euros), about one month ago, I'm currently at about page 200 out of ~970.

O'Reilly is going to get so much money from me in the next years... They kinda deserve them lol.

smaslennikov
Automated cat infrastructure: automatic USB water fountain[0], food dispenser[1], Litter Robot 3[2] (as of recently, with a homebrew controller[3]).

These allow me a good four days of absence from the house - for camping or whatever else. Doesn't happen often that both the wife and I are MIA, but when it does, these things are indespensable.

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WGLYV22/

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIXRB6O/

[2]: https://www.litter-robot.com/litter-robot-3.html

[3]: https://litter-controller.smaslennikov.com/

mdeeks
I second this. It’s an incredible time saver. I don’t do the powered water fountain anymore though. The last two filled with a disgusting bio film in the pump that was nearly impossible to clean and is unhealthy for the cat. I had to dump both. You need to clean them super regularly. Easier to just use a bowl and swap it out every few days. Or a large bowl when we go on a trip.
justsid
The problem with bowls is that cats love love love running water. Stale water is super gross for them, so they’ll only drink out of it if there is no other option. Our cat refuses to drink from anything but her fountain.
melenaos
So you automated your cat! This reminds the automaticon nanny from the Ted Chiang's book.
bot41
The litter robot looks good but for 500 dollars I think I'll stick to manual scooping the litter
nunez
I was considering getting the robot until my wife got these sifting litter box trays. They come in three layers, with one being for filtration. To recycle litter, you dump the old litter into the filtration tray. This filters litter through while leading solids behind. Throw the solids away into a garbage bag. Done.

No scooping. Takes 30 seconds. $15/set.

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rozab
I wonder if you've noticed any change in your cats behaviour towards you as a result of this? People often claim that cats only like their humans because they're the ones who feed them etc
joeyjojo
Now I know why my girlfriend's cat was such a little prick, swiping me in the face and drawing blood. She had an automatic feeder.
nunez
Cats are easier to deal with thanks to our auto feeder
bloodorange
Those claims are false. Cats are very affectionate creatures. They are not dogs and you shouldn't expect them to behave like dogs. They are not all the same and not all of them are cuddly (especially if they are not taught to share affection via touch since a young age) but if someone says that cats only like people who feed them, then I have to disagree based on my experience raising more cats than _most_ people.

However, I do concede that sharing food is an easy way to form a bond with an animal (including our very own species).

flowersjeff
Litter robot 3 owner here... take note, the company's tech support ain't at all as it should be. My partner got the device, I'm responsible for its running.

Had issues and tried to interface with their tech support. Unless you email with the person's email that bought it - nothing. Then when you email them with that person's email - nothing.

There are a number of systemic issues that I think can be fixed either in firmware (which I guess they don't believe in updating) and/or a hardware upgrade kit (which I'm willing to buy - if I felt that they understood the issues.)

In this day and age, not allowing easy community access to root out issues is just not excusable. They need to spend more on updating their site for honest feedback and less on the advertising that they have been up to of late.

hatchnyc
This is very easy for me, I bought a Boosted Rev electric scooter last year. It cut my commute time nearly in half compared to biking to work (before covid), I don't arrive hot and sweaty in summer and in winter a helmet with a visor keeps me totally warm. It is powerful and sturdy enough that my wife and I can ride together, now that's how we get around Manhattan. All the benefits of a car + bike in a smaller package that can fold down to fit in the back of a taxi or be carried on the subway.

I've said this here before I think, but the Segway inventor was claiming cities would be designed around it and everyone was laughing, but with an electric scooter I can totally see this happening.

gregoriol
+1 for electric scooter: life changing for me in Paris, France => spend more time outside, travel times as fast as subway but more enjoyable, a (very little) bit of phyiscal activity, ...

I'd recommend one with removable/swappable batteries: it's very nice to be able to have 2 of them for a long day.

mleonhard
"IIHS researchers found that e-scooter riders sustained more injuries per mile than bicyclists and were twice as likely to be injured because of potholes, pavement cracks, lampposts, and signposts, although bicyclists were three times as likely to be hit by a motor vehicle."

https://www.consumerreports.org/electric-scooters/safety-ris...

Boosted Rev has both regenerative and mechanical disc brakes.

"The typical 15 mph stopping distance for mechanical systems is 20 feet, with the absolute best stopping power being under 10 feet."

https://electric-scooter.guide/guides/electric-scooter-brake...

If you put two people on a scooter, the stopping distance increases.

I searched online and found no data on the risk of double-riding an electric scooter. Intuitively, I expect double-riders to be 10 times more likely to get injured than single-riders. I worry for you and your wife and the people I see double-riding in SF.

Someday, US cities may be safe for scooter riding. I doubt they will ever be safe for double-riding.

dragonwriter
> I've said this here before I think, but the Segway inventor was claiming cities would be designed around it and everyone was laughing, but with an electric scooter I can totally see this happening.

Powered (both electric and gas) scooters in the same form factor as is now becoming more popular were around before Segway; Segway’s innovation was a new form factor tied to a balance-based control system (sure, the brand later got applied to traditional-layour scooters, but that wasn't what Kamen was hyping when made his bold predictions.) The key enabling developments from the scooters before Segway to the modern electric scooters were battery improvements; the original Segway was mostly a distraction. (There are balance-based devices which owe something to it, but basically-traditional-layout scooters like Boosted Rev aren't among them.)

11thEarlOfMar
Tesla Model 3. 'Measurably' is subjective, but I graduated from a BMW 328i, which I loved dearly. The Model 3 is more fun in almost every way, and costs far, far less in maintenance. No gas stations, diamond lane, cost to operate is far less.
netsharc
> The M3 ...

this confused me because I thought you meant the 328i is the BMW M3...

LanceH
I'm tall and my knees/back are getting older. I went from a prius to a pickup. Sliding sideways into the truck vs dropping down into the car seems like a luxury every time I get in, and it's been 2 years now.

Bought a chef's knife. I had tons of kitchen items from parents/grandparents, but somehow never had a chef's knife. It gets used every day now.

Fifteen years after having my house built, I installed a ceiling fan in the bedroom and that has been wonderful.

blackrock
Tell us how you built your house.
sliken
Same here. So fast it's more of how fast do I want to go, where do I want to be instead of working the clutch, shifter, and trying to plan ahead in a much slower car. I quite enjoy waking up each day with 300 miles of range instead of trying to figure out when/where to add a gas station to my errands. My Subaru was quite needy, oil changes, checking the oil, head gasket problems, gas filling, brake pads, engine maintenance, warming up before pushing it, taking it easy before you turn it off (because of the turbo) etc. I'm at 14,000 miles on the Tesla, and I'd have done 4 oil changes, 56 gas fill ups, and I suspect a few other scheduled maintenance trips already.

I moved to a new city and a nice big map has been a great way to visit a city and the being able to speak my music selections, destinations, etc has been a pleasure. I now regularly visit 3 nearby cities (all within 30 minutes) for entertainment, tasty food, and hiking. I look forward to time in my model 3, I wish everything worked as well. I'm surprised at how primitive other nav systems are, is it really that hard to match top of the line Android/IOS touch screens and graceful handling of things like pinch to zoom?

technotarek
Rewind to 2013: MacBook Air.

More recently, a thermostat with a remote room sensor.

mg
A flight ticket.

The last one was to Madrid. But really every time I go on a journey, I am surprised how much it improves my life quality.

Not only while I am traveling. But also afterwards, when I am back. The effect holds for quite a while.

amelius
How do you travel? Do you travel alone, do you meet people? To what part of the journey would you attribute the positive effect?
throw51319
Of course the pleasurable experiences are part of it. But the lasting changes are from exposing your brain to the new unknown landscape, meeting new people, trying new things. It gets you out of the same mental rut. Routine is a healthy part of life, but so is travel/new pathways.

Going solo is going to let you do this the best. No link to your normal life.

eswat
I hadn’t realized how travel played a valuable role in my life until that was severely restricted this year…
torvald
A robot vacuum cleaner. «I» now vacuum every day, the the flat just looks overall better. There is barley any dust on the shelfs anymore either.

https://us.roborock.com/pages/roborock-s5-max

kyriakos
Similar experience here. Also cause I have it on schedule it also indirectly forces me to keep things tidy so it can clean the floor without too many obstacles.
stevekemp
I'd say the first few years of owning a Roomba were magical, but recently a combination of too many children's toys on the floor, and working from home has meant that I don't use the daily-schedule any more.

I have to remember to turn it on when I head out for a beer, go shopping, or do something else outside the home. There were a few days I was working from home, on a video-call, when the robot started cleaning away.

Wonderfully useful tools, but not at all quiet!

kyriakos
I agree about the children, Lego pieces on the floor are a big issue. Working from home the only issue is the noise it makes but because its constant my noise cancelling headphones filter it out completely.
wavepruner
So it decreases dust levels in the entire house, even far above the floor?

That would suggest a major source of dust on counters / shelves is the floor. Seems counterintuitive!

frank2
A dust particle in the middle of the room takes many hours to settle on the floor or other horizontal surface. During that air time, it frequently changes direction and rises and falls many times. Every time someone walks on a dusty floor, lots of dust is put into the air. Most will eventually settle on the floor again, but some ends up on other horizontal surfaces. But the dust that ends up on the fllor again is likely to put in the again by people walking.
nielu
I have a complete different experience. Went from cheap robot to high end dyson standing vacuum cleaner, and the latter performs much better. Robot was getting stuck everywhere, after some time the mechanism broke due to dust getting inside the gears. Now i just spent 10 minutes every two days for a quick vacuuming around the house and lo and behold - the dust is no more.

It might just be that the robots aren't best suited for small flats.

codq
We actually just bought this exact model, the S5 Max, and it was a near-instant quality of life improvement.

We can now walk around the apartment with bare feet without any dirt or kitty litter-dust getting on the soles of our feet. The kitchen floor is now always clean, it's really incredible.

bardonadam
Power rack, to be able to do squats and all sorts of other exercises at home.
synapse0
So true. At my squat rack right now, which is 3 mt from my bedroom.
bardonadam
Mine is directly next to my workstation.
philipps
During Covid: an espresso machine (and quality grinder)
explorigin
If you're more into coffee and are on more of a budget, the Ninja 12-cup makes an excellent cup of coffee. Combine that with Eight-oclock whole bean Columbian Coffee and any cheap grinder. I prefer this to any coffee-shop coffee.
barrkel
Coffee-shop coffees these days are dark-roasted (i.e. bitter) espresso for adding flavour to an otherwise milky (or your milk alternative) sugary hot or cold concoction.

Filter coffee made from a lightly roasted regional with fruity / tea-like characteristics is a world apart from a watered down Espresso. And really all you need is some filter paper and a pour-over filter holder, if you order your coffee pre-ground.

melenaos
Don't trust automated coffee machines for filtered coffee. Buy a V60 (ceramic), use your normal kettle and start making poor over coffee.

This way you will get the best out of any coffee, you might need to research a bit and practice somedays until you get the right recipe but after that you will get the same result everytime.

explorigin
I had a Chemex for years. The Ninja gets very close to it in terms of flavor.
97amarnathk
I bought a battery powered yellow light table lamp. Turning off the main room lamps in the night and using this a few hours before my bedtime, allows me to get asleep faster, while still being able to do minor tasks like reading books, office work etc.
olfo
Agreed. Battery-powered LED booklamps are incredible nowadays. We get around 20 hours out of a dimmable USB-chargeable booklamp we got for around 12 EUR and it helps us a lot as a nightlight for new parents.
qznc
More cables to load various devices at different places without carrying the cable: Work, home, car.
skainswoo
A split keyboard. Way, way better ergonomics. I got the Ergodox EZ one but just about any should do the trick. Made my back pain go away.
wheybags
ifixit screwdriver kit. Never stuck without the right bit ever again.