I see posts talking about good BIFL items but I don’t hear much about the other side of products that are bad or products you bought but don’t even use.
I bought a Wii U. Nintendo only made like ten games for it.
And almost all of them were ported to the Switch. Except Xenoblade X, which is the only WiiU exclusive I actually want to play.
Play it on an emulator like Cemu
That’s my plan.
Good plan.
Honestly, I got so much fun out of Homebrewing my WiiU. Getting free games, modding them
Interesting, I have one sitting collecting dust, what is this homebrew? What does it do?
If it’s an actual question and not sarcasm: Programs developed at home by hobby developers. Not strictly necessary though.
Something like Minecraft and Portal ported to 3DS etc or actually original games created for the platform of choice.
I read somewhere that GoPros and other action cameras are one of the least used purchases, so I figured “that should mean there’s plenty on eBay”. So grabbed up second hand bargain, played around with it for a couple of weeks, bought some extra batteries and other accessories, and since then it’s sat in the cupboard except for a single occasion.
Turns out you don’t need an action cam if you’re not getting any action.
The good thing is GoPros are still good years later. Most of the action my GoPro 4 has seen was in the last 2-3 years after sitting for a really long time.
I had one that must’ve fallen out of my pocket when I got out of the car, because a few days later I found it half embedded in the dirt driveway after getting ran over. It was scuffed and scratched, but still worked! I don’t think the battery holds a charge anymore, but it is like 10 years old now
Do people actually use those to—erm—document the proceedings?
I’ve seen it done!
I won one at an office Christmas party, took a time lapse of my chia pet, put it in a drawer for a year and felt guilty, then sold it to a ski instructor. It’s kind of like taking a video of fireworks or a concert. Unless you’re doing some wild extreme sports, who’s editing and rewatching that kind of video?
Oh damn I totally forgot about that one. My dad bought a go pro and I could’ve used it to film my scuba diving event but we couldn’t figure out where to mount it.
Dick mount.
I have the same thing with a drone
Many lemmy users have the same thing with a wife
ha ha women objectification funny
I would just say that not everything needs to be a BIFL product, but there can be a tendency to push towards recommending only buying the best of everything. Like, I cook a lot at home, so it made sense to buy a $200 chef’s knife that I’ll get tons of use from and decent sharpening stones to maintain the edge. I listen to a ton of music, so I’ve dropped probably around $1500 into a pretty good pair of headphones, a DAC and an amp. On the other hand, I solder like once every couple of years, so getting my cheapo $40 Amazon special made more sense than dropping $500 on a much better soldering iron that offers features I simply don’t need and won’t benefit from. Sometimes good enough is exactly that, but it can be a nuance lost in these discussions.
Heck, even though I use them several hours a day, my hearing just isn’t that good for me to justify spending a substantial amount upgrading my current audio gear. Even if there is an improvement to be had, I’m not sure it would be something I could even notice, so I’m not tempted to go down the rabbit-hole of upgrading my DAC, amp or headphones, as it would be chasing diminishing returns that I’m not even sure would be perceptible for me at a simple biological level.
My dental aligners :(
I’ve been trying to get braces since I was a teenager, so long that I kind of lost sight of why I wanted braces. I was almost 30 when I finally took my savings to an orthodontist and told him I wanted braces, and he told me that the aligners would work better than braces.
And he was right. That’s not the problem. I got so caught up with the general idea of braces that I’d forgotten that my goal as a kid was to fix my jaw, not my teeth. Even braces won’t do that at my age. Those savings would have been better spent on surgery.
Bialetti Venus coffee maker, it’s too fragile and needs a full 3 spoons of coffee to make half as much as my mug that I filled to the top with a paper filter while using just 2 spoons.
It changed color on the outside after a week, and you need to disassemble to store it so it takes a ton of space even though it’s so small, also needs medium coffee and I can’t find a good medium one in my area, my favorite is a fine ground.
My Seat Leon. I had been warned about VW Group’s new platform but holy hell, even the most dire warnings didn’t tell the truth.
The car crashes every day. Nothing works. Even basic functions, like keyless entry on the door handles. If it rains, nope doesn’t work. How about the speakers switching into centre speaker only? How about a reversing beeper stuck until the car is not just turned off, but left turned off for 10 minutes? How about Apple CarPlay which doesn’t work? The list is endless. It’s so so poor. After one update, the car sensors got confused about being in a left hand driving country, so cruise control wouldn’t overtake cars in the slow lane.
And I can’t afford to switch to another one.
this never happens to me because I’m poor
Salt and Pepper grinder from a well recommended brand. Was like 80 bucks for the set and it’s not better than the ones I get from Sam’s Club. Infact it’s worse. Disappointing.
Cast Iron Pan - I don’t cook enough to justify it. Girlfriend at the time thought it was a good idea, and she used it a bunch, but now it’s just in the cabinet probably rusting up.
Humidifier - It gets really dry in here and it was recommended as a solution to my dry eyes. But it’s a pain to clean and refill, so it mostly just sits there.
Robo vacuum - It wasn’t great at navigating the apartment, so I didn’t use its auto schedule thing. Then the cat hair overwhelmed it. It is languishing in the closet. I got some use out of it, at least, driving it around like an RC Car, but I ended up buying a more robust manual vacuum cleaner
i bought some tortillas a month ago, but never got the craving for burritos. I should probably throw them out now…
Countless video games.
A gaming chair, one of those that look like racer chairs. It basically destroyed my back, worst purchase of my life
I had the same experience and ended up donating it to a friend. What I found that was actually comfortable is a $1,400 office chair that I got a good deal on.
I have a “gaming chair” and I hate it. Still use it though until I can get enough money to get another one.
Probably because in a real racing seat there’s a harness to keep you from slouching. I used to have terrible lower back issues with a Recaro bucket seat I converted for a desk chair. Never had a problem with it driving for hours when it was in my car (may it rest in pieces). Then it dawned on me that the seatbelt was maintaining my posture. Added a lap belt and the back problems abated.
Not only that. A racing chairs is not intended to be good for your back. It has a very different use, it protects you in the case of a crash. So unless you often get into car accidents while gaming, better to buy a chair that is specialised at ergonomics, not impact protection .
My race seat is super comfortable and it’s a fixed back.
And it holds you against lateral G force with the gussets, which isn’t necessary sitting still.
To be fair, the gaming chair also holds you against lateral GeForce
Best advice Ive heard on chairs "Fuck gamer and racer style chairs. Look for something that screams “Im going to fire 3000 people over Zoom in this shit”
Yes! Puffy gloss leather boss chairs ftw! I don’t have one right now only because there’s no space for another proper workplace in our apartmentsm
Yes lol, whenever someone is asking for a computer chair recommendation, no one will recommend a gaming chair.
I learned about the companies selling refurbished Aerons on eBay and picked one up a couple years ago for $400. Love it!
Wait what, say more about used aerons for cheap
You can occasionally find sales or liquidation of office chairs for cheap. You can also buy refurbished chairs from places like Crandall and get basically a new chair with used metal bits for half the price of new.
You can get refurbs from places like Crandall’s too, I got a Steelcase Leap V2 with these big ass rollerblade type wheels and it’s been pretty good.
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Yep, same. Worst chairs you can buy by a wide margin. Cheapest IKEA chairs is worlds better than the priciest gamer chair.
It’s funny that I hear this a lot but I’ve been using my dx racer since 2017. I am quite skinny though so that might help. I’m wearing through the fake leather now though, looking to get something new by the end of this year. But the damage is mostly my fault for sitting half crossed legged, sometimes while wearing shoes.
Chairs are one of those things that you need to drop serious money on if you sit more than a few hours a day. Focus on chairs for office work and expect to pay over $1k.
I did exactly the same. Even the kids wouldn’t sit on it haha
Same but a gaming mouse. I came from a cheap office mouse that was amazing but ended its (long) lifespan. Replaced it and wow this mouse sucks. Yes it has RGB but every single time I scroll with it, it causes my finger to hurt like crazy, which is a REAL problem in this era.
I could never get into those. They look nice, but Ive read some damning reviews about how uncomfortable they are.
I kinda prefer the plush office chairs that look more like a couch with wheels.
My headphone pads on a pair of Sony MD7506 were fraying apart, so I bought a pair of $3 replacement pads online. While I was buying those, I noticed a nice looking $30 pair made of sheepskin leather. I bought those, too and figured I’d just use the $3 pair until they inevitably wore out, and then switch to the nice ones. Well, it’s been some time now and the $3 pair are apparently far more robust than their forebears. The sheepskin remain in their packaging untouched. One day…
Those potato spaghettifiers. Fuckers break when you try to push potatoes though. Waste of money.
What? Are you talking about a potato ricer?
I like my name better.
You need to cook the potatoes first.
I usually stop cooking the potatoes whenever a fork can split them. Apparently that is not enough?
Bought myself a wireless charger but I never use it because I just plug in my phone anyways cause it’s faster.
How is plugging in faster than simply putting phone on a charger?
I meant faster to fill up. It doesn’t even take that long to plug it in either.
Slower is usually better for the battery, use it if you charge at night. It also decreases the wear on the usb port.
I use one every night. It keeps my phone in a predictable spot, and it always charges fully overnight anyways. It’s also less wear and tear on the port.
You can get magnetic plugs now, you just stick a little magnetic dongle in the port and leave it there and then the cord just magnetically attaches to the phone. That way you have the benefit of charging it fast. Plus not wearing out the port
I had one of those, but I work in construction, so I can’t use those.
Those things are great because they also act as USB condoms meaning that no data lines are connected when you plug into a public USB port. Quite a benefit when out and about.
You do lose out on fast charging though.
These are what I use. Plus I can use the same cables for all kinds of different connecter types. Also, keeping that little plug doohickey in the charger port all the time acts as a kind of dust plug and keeps pocket lint and stuff from getting in there.
I also got one and don’t use it - used to use one with my previous phone and I’m pretty sure it ruined the battery over time (it causes the phone to heat up which affects the battery). Got another one, this time with a build in fan, but the high pitch noise the fan makes annoys so I don’t use this one either.
This pretty much sums up how I treat my gf.
At least you’re keeping her port intact for the rest of us
This is communism.
My last 2 phones stopped charging through the ports. Keep that wireless charger, it may come in handy. Saved me from buying a new phone for at least a year.
Make sure there’s no lint and dust compacted in the bottom of the port if you haven’t already. It isn’t always entirely obvious but it can affect both lightning and USB-C and you can usually get it out with some careful use of a sewing needle.
Yup this is definitely the first thing to check. Unfortunately I think it was my need for bulky un-destructible cases, that bent my charging ports.
My last phone had the same issue, actually relatively cheap to get the port replaced at one of those tech repair places
I looked into this, but the closest to me was about 1 hour away. When I looked up the streetview, it was a guy’s garage with small shady sign infront lol
Best place to go, just someone interested in it on the side. Its not a complex job.
For the wireless charger I got one of those Anker ones that hold it at angle like stand, so I put my phone on it while I’m at my desk. I can look at it and check any notifications that come in without having to pick it up. Saves me from having another cord on my desk.
I got myself a magnetic wireless charger for the nightstand. It’s great.
I didn’t use mine for years until I got a wireless charger stand to use with my phone in landscape mode. I love it for my office desk. Combined with work focus, I only see a clock or large relevant notifications. I can answer work calls without messing with a cord. And when I leave at the end of the day, it’s charged. The old flat charger is still sitting in a drawer though.
