Ask HN: Life-changing purchases since 2020? (Under $100 and under $1000)

I abandoned safety razors because the handles are minuscule. Never found one that didn’t cramp up my big farmer hands.

Same for me. The bidet is absolutely a life changer.

And the BambuLab's A1 3D printer (and mini-AMS) was by far my favorite under $1000 purchase. I've already printed some fidget "tools", toys for the grandchildren, toys for the children, and even a couple of useful tools for me. As a bonus I get some more experience in CAD and other 3D design tools. It's turning into quite a hobby for me.

What do you use the 3D printer for?

Secret bidet is secret.

I know this applies for bumguns —various water boards have published guidance— but a lot of the under-seat bidets retract [without positive water pressure].

There's no risk of the spout sitting in and siphoning dirty toilet water it back into your supply. I'm neither a lawyer or a plumber but these seem like they might be okay.

Without meaning to get too personal, what is the technique for using those? When I took a work trip to India the office had what I think you’re talking about. In the US, it’s like a sprayer on a kitchen sink. I didn’t dare try it out, as I couldn’t think of a scenario where I tried it for the first time and didn’t soak my clothes. I didn’t want that to be my reputation at the office.

I have seen that 'mini shower head' in multiple homes and hotels in Finland and Russia (but not in Sweden or Denmark). It is amazing!!

A side-hack for that matter is to switch from plain-TP to wet-wipes. Some time ago I visited a friend who had younglings, and treated myself to a pamper-wet-wipe and it was amazing.

If you can handle putting the nozzle on your garden hose, you should be able to handle it.

In the US, the water pipe almost always connects to the toilet through a small shutoff valve. After the valve, it connects to the toilet through a "supply." The supply is basically a short garden hose, with screw-on connections at both ends.

Shut off the water at the wall. Flush to empty the toilet tank. Unscrew the hose at the toilet, and screw that end into what amounts to a y, or splitter that comes with the bidet. From the splitter, screw one side back into the toilet connection; the other goes to the bidet itself. Turn back on the water at the wall.

(This is for a simple cold-water bidet. If you need heated water or electricity, it can be more complex.)

It depends on what your toilet supply lines are like and if you use a cold water only or a cold/hot water bidet, but a cold water only one (not nearly as uncomfortable as imagined before trying it) is very easy to install as long as your supply line has a shutoff valve and is relatively flexible.

It takes 15-20 minutes and it basically consists of unscrewing a few things and screwing them back together again.

I bought a Tushy during the pandemic, it took about 10 minutes and a flathead screwdriver.

I liked it so much that when I had a new bathroom installed a year later I put in a Toto Washlet.

Those are compression fittings which we also use in the USA for sink and toilet connections. Standard size here is 3/8 inch which is the outer diameter of the tubing. They are easy to work with as you only need a tube cutter (or hacksaw with fine tooth pitch) and a wrench. You cut the tube, slide a compression nut over, slide the ferrule(s) on, insert the tube into the fitting, finger tighten the compression nut, make sure everything is aligned then tighten nut with wrench. No solder, no fancy crimp tools. You can disassemble and reassemble without leaks. The only issue is the ferrule winds up becoming swaged to the tube after wrench tightening so you have to cut the tube end off behind the ferrule if you want to replace the nut.

However, instead of using rigid metal or plastic tubing you commonly find a flexible hose assembly[1]. Only fancy installs use custom formed polished rigid tube for the look. We also tend to leave most of the plumbing in the walls and only the shut off valve protrudes from the wall. Maybe there are flexible hoses available in your region.

When I installed my bidet all I needed was a 3/8 compression tee[2] which they make specifically to tap shutoff valves. The bidet came with a 3/8 connection hose so that went to the tee and I was up and running. The big issue was electric - no outlets in the bathroom. So having seen how Japan loves extension cords I too used one, ran a 12 AWG cord out to the hall to a GFI adapter plugged into a socket. Jank but highly unlikely to cause a fire.

[1] https://www.homedepot.com/b/Plumbing-Plumbing-Parts-Supply-L...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Breezliy-Lead-Free-Compression-Outlet...

To follow on to user infecto’s sibling comment, for most U. S. homes, it is probably fifteen minutes of work. Shut off water, connect t-line, bolt down new toilet seat, sorted. It shouldn’t be complicated for most installations.

I ended up buying a travel bidet because I couldn’t install one at our house for various reasons. It’s basically just a squeeze bottle with an angled head. Works great!

US based plumbing. You are imagining things. Most/all resi toilets in the US use a flex hose to connect the toilet to your water supply. Its usually a threaded connection. All these style of bidets simply have a T off of this connection.

Sorry if this is getting into TMI territory but how does the bidet avoid dissolving the unwanted material and spraying it all over everywhere? And how does one dry this without toilet paper?

You’re looking for a culo clean:

https://www.amazon.com/CuloClean-Portable-Compatible-Discree...

I have the high-end Totos installed at home, and occasionally still revert to this. It’s the best.

Have one in my travel bag, car, backup in luggage, briefcase. All you need is a cheap water bottle.

Test it at home so you know how to use it. Keep it in a tiny ziploc with extra tp (for drying in a public WC)

Luxe Neo bidet attachment - easy to tee into supply, fits under toilet seat, options for rear/male only, or both rear/front male/female separate spray nozzles.

Luxe Neo bidets are like $40-60, sturdy, easy to install and yes, rather life-changing.

Flip phones now have apps, but very limited. You can totally get a modern flip phone to check your email or play Spotify if you need to, but web browsing and doom scrolling are pretty tough.

There seems to be a hole in the market for a dumb phone that does sms well. Perhaps we can even get rid of phone calls entirely and just have an sms device with a camera.

In the USA -lots- of people use SMS only, and it’s their main communication. You can do that on a dumb phone, and if you tend to get into doom scrolling or TikTok dance scrolling it can allow you to recover a lot of free time back. No SM? Count me in.

i did this for some time. I'm probably due to again as I check my phone often. Apple watch does have standalone navigation which is a win. It got annoying not being able to do things sometimes, such as checking a groupme etc.

Sunbeam is a popular one. Also a bunch of Nokias should work.

There is also the Xiaomi/Qin/Duoqin F30. It’s a T9 phone with Android 11. But the “Westernized” version with Google Play Store has tampered with software (hacks applied) as the original Chinese software doesn’t have Google stuff nor is the phone Play verified. Then there are questions about the Chinese software itself. I’ve gone deep into the rabbit hole of trying to verify it’s secure but couldn’t to a satisfactory standard.

The F30 is still considered a dumbphone for how limiting the T9 keyboard and its tiny screen are. You won’t enjoy consuming or searching for any kind of content on it. But you can install many modern Android apps if you are comfortable with the security situation. And that’s quite important sometimes to not get isolated from people, to bank, for 2FA, streaming music, and a few other things. It’s basically then a capable but highly inconvenient phone, which I think is excellent.

Still, if you want privacy and security, how many days are you willing to sink into tinkering with these Xiaomi/Qin/Duoqin devices? You will need at least a few, possibly more.

It’s much less hassle to just get whatever dumb phone with a feature OS you can get on Amazon or Walmart.

Delete the stuff you’re compulsively checking. Turn off notifications, so you need to make the intention to check things, rather than the phone calling for attention. Spend some time now trying to ween, but going told turkey. Go for a walk, leaving the phone at home. Leave it in another room when doing things around the house. Don’t take it with you into the bathroom. Get comfortable with boredom. Allow your mind to wander and see where it takes you.

Cal Newport’s book Digital Minimalism is pretty good for stressing the importance of spending time in thought without the influence of the internet, podcasts, audiobooks, or anything else. This used to be the norm for large sections of the day for people… now it’s rather rare.

That’s why it’s important to have tech that serves you, like a dumbphone. You throw your smartphone away (leave it in your car, leave it at work, throw it in the deep end of your attic, etc), make it really inconvenient to act in these compulsions.

And then you just suffer through it for a few days. It gets better very quickly.

I wrote about my approach here: https://sjer.red/blog/2023/screen-time/

Remember to replace the bad habit with new activities, filling the void

I bought a rare one that I needed for a very specific reason. It was difficult to get it imported.

Try one of the mainstream ones. There is a dumbphone finder website online to see what’s generally available, though no such website is exhaustive.

Not the parent, but I would definitely recommend it. A lot of voice quality has to how you pronounce vowels and where you place the resonance in your mouth. Also, avoiding singing through your nose (hold your nose closed and if there's pressure, then don't sing that way). There are vocal exercises for all of those, as well as exercises for breath support, singing in tune, phrasing, etc.

If you'd like to improve, definitely! There are all sorts of things involved in singing that some do naturally and others (like myself) do not. Having a knowledgeable teacher who's able to observe you, identify areas of improvement, and help you progress is really beneficial. There's a whole lot of "not knowing what you don't know" at play.

Plus singing is a pretty personal way of making music, and there can be a lot of social fear of doing it badly. Formally studying it can help with getting over the psychological hump from self-identifying as "someone who is attempting to sing" to "singer".

I think you should pursue anything you're interested in.

I don't have the best singing voice, but after a few years of learning how to sing, it's like I finally "get it". It used to be this very mystical thing, but now I realise how to use my body to sing properly.

I would temper your expectations. Singing lessons will improve your singing faster than practicing alone but it still may take years and years to develop.

I had always enjoyed singing and I started singing and piano lessons at the same time. With consistent practice you can improve at the piano, learn more complex pieces and see your progress. With singing the process is a lot more mysterious. You probably don't understand the things that are going on inside your body very well and the teacher can't just say "Try putting your first finger on this key and your middle finger on this key".

After three years I could play reasonably complicated pop songs on the piano and read chords. I'm still a few steps the average "someone who likes to sing level".

I would add an immersion circulator to cook food sous vide as similarly impactful here, though getting a good thermometer is more necessary.

It's made meal prepping incredibly easy and food is always perfectly cooked. You never have to eat a dry or overcooked piece of meat again.

The advantage of this one is that I know it works with an app on my phone. ALso it's my understanding that instant read ones can't stay in the food while it cooks? This one can handle temperatures over 500 degrees farenheight.

My favorite one is Gregorian Voices : - )

I have recently discovered a combo of white-noise + music, but I must tell you crackling fire noise makes me too relaxed, making me feel I need a quick nap! Rainfall sound works better for me :-)

Haven't come across myNosie before, will check it out, thank you for sharing!

Wow - very cool.

I was always a bit put off by electric tooth brushes since the idea of having another "noisy" device was something I DID NOT WANT.

But after seeing so many recommendations from friends, family, dentists and online over the years. I felt buying one was worth a go.

And I am never going back. The quality of the clean and the massaging of the gums brought me from brushing my teeth as a chore to having a desire to brush my teeth (which I had never understood before).

Electric toothbrushes clean a lot better than hand-cranked toothbrushes

I've tried OralB's $120 toothbrush, and their cheapest $30 Pro 300. Functionally, they are almost exactly the same!

Dentists pretty much universally recommend electronic toothbrushes, in my experience.

I used to have a Braun. I would just immerse it in hot soapy water and turn it on for a few seconds. Occasionally it would need a bit of a scrub.

Mine also has a cord but the shaft/head is removable. I sort of assumed that that was the norm. It was some random "chinesium" brand from Amazon that cost $12. Works great so far!

Yes but not very long, otherwise it gets dry. But it allows to keep it for a couple of weeks instead of a single day.

Yep!

Yes! Abbott Lingo (iPhone only for now) and Dexcom Stelo. They go for about $45 per sensor that last for 2 weeks.

I second the OP's suggestion. It's completely changed my eating habits.

Dexcom Stelo is $100 for two, OTC

I don’t understand your q around food comas completely, but yes they have improved. I take all the supplements I mentioned

Why? If I’m having sex with my wife she can just take birth control and if I’m single and sleeping around I have to use protection anyways.

Yeah, we saw the conundrum and went through the inspection and all, and our bike's fit for biking! At that price... well, we earlier hoped it would be recalled and we would buy a competitor's version. But now everything is green, we're back on the road...

How long does it take you to normally drink a mug? I've been interested in it but I find that I tend to drink a coffee quickly before it gets too cold, and with tea I actually enjoy the change in taste as it cools

He did mention he lives in France ...

It's actually free in France.

+1 to the Zojirushi neuro fuzzy. It's an unbelievably good product - I've sold four friends on it and nobody has been disappointed. They go on sale for 180 routinely

I find this comment funny. Go to your local grocery store and pick a rice cooker up for $15 and just add the rice and eyeball the water.

…that much for a rice cooker—that’s nuts!

I haven't been able to figure out how not to burn my rice in an Instant Pot.

This one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0789F4Z2M

The $122 price is about what I paid for it. Dunno when they have ever actually sold it for $350

And what I solved with the dietitian that led to weight loss had more to do with blood sugar balance and what I do and don't react badly to. Cutting out stuff that keeps me inflamed made a big difference as far as actually getting the nutrients from my food and not being hungry all the time. So did a target set of 40g protein, 40g fat, 10g fiber every meal, which brings me in around 1900 calories per day. The nice thing was that at first, that was a 500 calorie deficit per day, but I don't have to recalculate ever, because it's also the maintenance calorie intake for my target weight. Weight comes off slower the closer I get, but I don't really care about speed, just trajectory!

My IBD (some dispute among my doctors whether it was UC or Chrohn's) is now confirmed in remission without medication, which is terrific!

Not op but I have a cubii and I love it.

It's at home. I already had an adjustable-height desk behind my sofa (unusual setup, but it works great in my space), but like I said, not that coordinated.

I've only worked remotely since way before covid, so it works out for my situation.

Yeah, they have to cover at least some generic ones. They don't have to cover every weird little specialty.

Now that I'm in more of a maintenance mode, I'm working with one who's in-network and free. It just cost more than $1k to get to this point.

This one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0789F4Z2M

The $122 price is about what I paid for it. Dunno when they have ever actually sold it for $350.

That’s great! There’s an even more polished version of my game made by someone else on the catalog called Core Fault.

I know you're joking, but actually, that is true. That original clock never got fixed. I damaged and lost enough parts that I'd have to fabricate too much for it to be worthwhile, and I have plenty of more interesting clocks to work on now.

I haven't done any work with radium dialed clocks and/or watches... yet.

I would guess most people who listen to music while they work have the volume way too far up for that amount of exposure. Anyone on an iPhone should go into Sounds -> Headphone Safety and reduce loud audio to 75 dB. You'll probably be shocked by how quiet that is.

That's just insane. And it's not a subscription you can ever stop paying unless you get rid of the 5000EUR bed itself. Absolutely a dealbreaker.

What if they increase the fee to 30EUR a month? Or 50EUR a month? That's guaranteed to happen once main product sales start slowing down and investors still want their quarterly gains.

Yeah, am getting a little worried about that.

I am kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop because the company has been nothing but amazing when it comes to their support. It has sprung a leak three times, about once every 18 months, and they've always replaced it with no additional payment.

I have a feeling next time it's going to involve a lot of cash being exchanged and I'll be faced with a choice.

---

The subscription thing is very much a bummer. I hadn't figured out why they weren't shaking me down for it until I also put together the grandfathered in thing. It is extremely distasteful to have a required (?) subscription on a product that is this expensive.

I don't entirely get how spending $2k - $5k on a bed system (not a mattress!) isn't enough. Just pure fuckin' greed if I am being honest.

I get they need to make money and their product isn't a monthly or yearly re-purchase but it's just short-sighted.

Like let's be real honest here: their product almost certainly doesn't cost anywhere near $5k in materials. The margins on their product are likely already completely stupid. My guess-timate would be maybe $500 in parts. It's literally just a pump that heats or cools water that is app-controlled... not exactly anything crazy. If you look at something like Withings sleep tracker, it's $130 so even the fancy pants sleep tracking stuff isn't some crazy tech even if we take Withings' margins as the actual price.

Never heard of them, temperature control sounds amazing. How is this product from a privacy perspective? Is the data kept local or is it some cloud service that tracks all metrics?

How do they work thermodynamically? It should make the room hotter, but I guess you don’t notice because the surface you are touching gets colder? Is it a closed loop heat exchanger or is it evaporative?

Is it _that_ much better than a wifi-controlled two-zone electric blanket?

I imagine most soundbars cheat since consumer protection is dead, but they're still better (and more convenient) than two simple speakers.

They use feedback microphones to tune the output to bounce off of the walls. Or at least that’s what they claim.

You can buy only a replacement mug (without coaster/charger). Also, get in contact with customer support mentioning the battery, they usually offer a discount code.

Oh, I wasn't even aware they were that much. I could've sworn they were like $70 - $90 last I saw.

That sucks.

Yes, sleep.me. I had their Ooler and recently upgraded to the Dock Pro.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=43305

I guess _technically_ it's right at $1000 but you'll really struggle to find any big monitor for under $1000.

Thankfully, none of us has had asthma. As far as anecdata:

The device does have a what-appears-to-be-accurate AQ (air quality) sensor on the side. In the presence of smoke, it turns red, cranks itself up, and then returns to blue (clearest) through purple over the course of some minutes. As such, I'd say that the "response curves" looked legit to my programmer brain, besides that the air certainly smells better.

I can definitely say, however, that -- having replaced the filters three times over these four years -- the HEPA layer (the inmost) definitely got brownish. Each 3-6 month pre-filter cleaning cycle had nice gradations of dust and stuff after each cleaning, sometimes a great deal if we were slacking.

Regardless, who knows what's been sucked into and blown through our ancient HVAC unit's ducts over these past decades, what with most people probably just buying the cheapest air filter possible? Why not err on the side of caution w/rt AQ?

I have allergies. I remember walking home from work one day thinking "Ah, my sinuses have cleared, the pollen must have finally gone." only to wake up the next morning all stuffed up again. Then it dawned upon me that work has HEPA filtered air, but my bedroom does not despite spending ~⅓ of my life there. Having an air purifier in my bedroom means I've avoided almost all symptoms of allergies for the last 5+ years without needing to resort to medication.

My favorite piece of training equipment by far. I've spent 6-month training blocks with nothing but my gymnastics rings, a 24kg kettlebell and a 32kg kettlebell. At this point I honestly only ever go back to barbell training because I don't like pursuing any single modality for too long, but I firmly believe that if I had to I could live the rest of my life with just rings and a couple of kettlebells (and a pair of running shoes) and I would be perfectly content.