Asklemmy

A cheap little projector I got using Amazon vouchers from my birthday. Is it perfect? No. Is it still great for watching movies and sport? Absolutely.

A cheap robot vacuum.

My wife was against it, so I bought it in secret, let it run around the house during the day, and she was amazed at all the cleaning I was doing. A few months later, I let her into my dark secret, and now she loves it too.

Speaking of wife, I bought her a hooded blanket with an electric warming bag a few years ago. Within 3-5 minutes it's nice and toasty, and she's used it practically every day since I bought it.

Massage gun. I thought they were an over hyped trinket until I tried one. Relaxed a muscle that hadn't relaxed in years.

If you're using it purely to relax muscles, then it is amazing. All the other claims about them seem to be BS though.

3d printer

Whirly-Pop popcorn pot. Perfect unburnt popcorn every time.

I'd like to mention a combo:

A Nvidia Shield TV 2019 Pro and a Synology NAS, they really are the perfect combo to sail the seas, or watch legal streams if you want to.

Both gadgets have been used daily since the day they were purchased, and that is a good sign lol.

The Shield TV uses hardware since 2015, and even when some could say it is failing into the enshitification territory due to the usual crappy decisions regarding putting ads in the stock launcher, it is to applaud that Nvidia still supports this thing officially though.

About the NAS, I have a two bay unit (bad decision) but it supports Docker and it has helped me to feel attached to Linux again.

Your usual multimedia selfhosted program that you have running in your overpowered server/rack, you name it, I could probably be using it too in my humble DS218+

If I had to choose only one I'd say the Shield, because along with Smart Tube Next already is 80% of my total usage lol (plus I had my NAS turned off for months because a recent fuck up, and I didn't have a PC to check it out, which is kinda solved now).

Last generation emulation console (A*bernic). All history of video games up to PS1 in my pocket/backpack <3

A spring assisted, liner lock, pocket clipped, flipper knife.

It is really useful to have a sharp blade in your hand less than one second after you think you need it.

Fidget cube, helps me get through boring but informitive youtube content.

Two "gadgets" that I'm never without. My Leatherman multitool and my RovyVon Aurora flashlight. The multitool with locking blades is like carrying a toolbox on your hip. And that flashlight - it's 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, but it can kick out a beam that lights up things 1000 feet away. Or provide enough light to read by for 40 hours. Yeah, I can use the smartphone's flash, but it isn't bright enough to show me if the two eyes reflecting back at me belong to a dog or a bear. That's important where I live.

A Blunt Metro umbrella. Makes me happy every time I get to use it. It's aesthetically pleasing, it oozes quality, it's easy to bring with you.

An Ice Cream Maker. Been making my own Ice Cream for years now and its amazing. The cheap machines which requires you to freeze the bowl is nice, but the one with a heat pump built in is amazing. In 3 hours I can make batches of Mint, Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream.

Koss KSC75, I've been using them for almost 10 years now.

chinese handhelds. always have my rg nano with me

Second whoever said massage gun, nail on the head.

I however developed an addiction to 3D printing, it's as frustrating as it is fun but damn have I been busy...

Chulka chuks https://www.chukachuks.com one more way I can pretend i'm a musician.

My QNAP NAS drive. As well as storing all my media I also have various containers running all sorts... My Home Assistant instance, MQTT broker, ESPHome, zigbee2mqtt, Frigate, and Emby to name a few. It does so much for something so small and cheap to run.

Stopwatch.

I can measure my computerless time, exercise time...and, of course, many other things 😁

I bought a cheap plumbers torch a little over two years ago and it's been the most useful thing I've purchased. Lights my wood stove quickly and without hassle, lights my offset smoker, lights my firepit and any other fires quickly and effortlessly. It's such a small thing but makes a huge difference in everyday life for me and my family. 4th of July is better without needing to constantly click a lighter that may or may not blow out from a gust of wind.

Years ago I got one of those iRig guitar input jacks for my iPhone. Having a wealth of tones and a basic DAW available to me for the first time really did a lot to help me expand my playing ability.