The "I just bought..." thread.

Page 36 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

SKORPI0

Lifer
Jan 18, 2000
18,396
2,306
136
The last thing I bought was a bicycle and it was one of my best purchases in my life. I don't understand why I haven't done this before. It's so cool, just get on your bike and go wherever you want. You can take friends with you and go to the forest, or to the park, or just ride around the city. It is also very convenient, because where I always went on foot, now I ride a bike, and it's very fast. Now I can get to the supermarket in 5 minutes, although I used to go 20 minutes. Very cool thing.
I wish I can do that here where I live. It would be a nice form of exercise.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
Ordered Jura Z6 automatic coffee machine

imageService
 
  • Like
Reactions: lxskllr

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
For that price it should have robot legs so it can walk over and serve me my coffee as well!
It saves me from having to get in my car and drive to Starbucks or Dunkin to get my morning coffee fix. My Gaggia Titanium super automatic served me well for like 10 years but since that machine broke, I've been drinking shitty K-cup for about 2 weeks now. While that's better than no coffee, I miss real coffee. Hopefully I can get like 10 years or more out of this Jura Z6.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,380
146
Thanks for the links. You are correct that they are not cheap but I think they are worth it because it is officially licensed and made by metals and not plastics. Nice find.
I know it hasn't been very long since you posted, but did you end up getting Soundwave?

I finally was able to get the batteries at the store today, so now he is 100% more awesome with glowing red eyes! :p

3.jpg
 

Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
15,332
7,792
136
It saves me from having to get in my car and drive to Starbucks or Dunkin to get my morning coffee fix. My Gaggia Titanium super automatic served me well for like 10 years but since that machine broke, I've been drinking shitty K-cup for about 2 weeks now. While that's better than no coffee, I miss real coffee. Hopefully I can get like 10 years or more out of this Jura Z6.
Definitely, K-Cups are an insult to coffee. We switched to a good drip coffee maker, world of difference, especially with the right coffee. I'd love a nice expression machine, but I always trend toward ones that are too expensive for our budget.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
Definitely, K-Cups are an insult to coffee. We switched to a good drip coffee maker, world of difference, especially with the right coffee. I'd love a nice expression machine, but I always trend toward ones that are too expensive for our budget.
Nice espresso machine is one of those small life luxurious that's really nice to have. You don't know how nice it is until you have one and then when it's gone, you miss it terribly. I know semi-automatics and manual ones are better, but I'm super really lazy when it comes to coffee. I just want to wake up and push a button and have my favorite coffee or speciality drinks at a push of a button with nothing for me to do. While these machines are expensive for what you get, if you spread out the total cost over the years and take into account the ultra convenience, it's really not that bad. Addicts have to pay and this is cheaper alternative that my whole family and friends can enjoy.

Look at all the people buying GTX 3080 or 3090 cards! I think they're crazy but they're more than happy to pay.
 

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,962
4,686
146
I have an old pump machine stored away, I just don't have the time to muck with an espresso drink on work mornings. It will re-occupy the counter when we retire :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: ponyo
Dec 10, 2005
23,990
6,793
136
Definitely, K-Cups are an insult to coffee. We switched to a good drip coffee maker, world of difference, especially with the right coffee. I'd love a nice expression machine, but I always trend toward ones that are too expensive for our budget.
Hell, even my old 4-cup $15 Mr. Coffee drip machine made a better cup than those K-cups. Then it broke, so I've stuck to either daily french press, or a simple 3-cup Chemex pour-over. With an electric kettle, it's not really time consuming or a lot of work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ch33zw1z

Geekbabe

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 16, 1999
32,167
2,399
126
www.theshoppinqueen.com
Considering an order from Amazon Fresh, I don’t go out to stores & ordering food is getting expensiv, particularly since I always tip well the people who assume the risk for my family
 

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
21,004
19,446
136
The last thing I bought was a bicycle and it was one of my best purchases in my life. I don't understand why I haven't done this before. It's so cool, just get on your bike and go wherever you want. You can take friends with you and go to the forest, or to the park, or just ride around the city. It is also very convenient, because where I always went on foot, now I ride a bike, and it's very fast. Now I can get to the supermarket in 5 minutes, although I used to go 20 minutes. Very cool thing.
Bikes are the best! Enjoy. They are one of if not the most efficient mechanical ways to get from point a to b.

10 or so years ago I bought my first bike since I was a kid because a good friend of a friend convinced me riding bikes in NYC for fun and adventure was a great activity. I thought he was crazy. But he was right. Was one of the best purchases of my adult life.

Then 5 years ago I bought my first steel bike. A used Jamis hybrid for a few hundred bucks. Over the next three years I upgraded everything, then swapped all the high end parts onto a new Soma steel frame a couple years back. It's a phenomenal ride. The problem is I can't leave it locked in the city out of sight for much time at all. That's fine for most rides with a group, but I had to get a second cheaper used bike for times I want to leave it out of sight for a while. But that works.
a45074d5e8af138a29ebdf73ccc06e7d.jpg
 
Last edited:

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
21,962
4,686
146
@Kaido I'm glad somebody read the fine print :)
We've had 3 of the MKIV and one MKVI. The ones that had bud vases (this one is missing), they are really handy for your bluetooth headset.
The MKIV are really tall inside, and also have the possibility of high seat position more like that truck than a typical sedan. I am really comfortable in it for long drives. With the TDI and manual transmission, it is 47~50 MPG on road trips.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Kaido

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
6,606
1,991
146
Just bought a 500 gallon stock tank. It's the open top blue one in the foreground. Stock and Field is going out of business so I got a great deal on it.
tank.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: ponyo and skyking
Mar 15, 2003
12,669
103
106
This is long because i'm a long winded person and won't change.. hahahaha.. Hope this doesn't come off as excessive during a recession, hahaha - lots of gift cards, returns (items kept = *), and just moved so justified on making some purchases for the home.

Sony XM4 headphones (Gift)* - My God, I love these headphones. I lived the lie that my $60 tribits were "80%" the experience of the $300-500 pairs. The noise reduction works so well I sometimes just turn it on for some peace and quite, with no music playing. The default sound is hip hop crap but there are some EQ "templates" out there and the end result of some tweaking is a clear yet powerful "impactful" sound. I have some very good open ear $50-150 over ears prior (grados, some well regarded phillips i love, senn) and the advantage is the bass presence, not just the boom but the chest feed. Listening to classical with the bass turned down proved so impressive I started to hate my other headphones and donated most of them to the kids. Hence my IEM and smart speaker search that follows

IEM true wireless search. I was so frustrated going through the below brands and all of them had flaws from connections that randomly go out to the biggest problem - AWFUL fit. I was blaming myself that i have weird ears but when I got some apple airpod clones: it's not that i have weird ears, it's that companies like apple (and i'm sure others) did the time to research that fit is a very particular thing, and the stem format is the most universal. This realization is leading to a very expensive Apple fanboy awakening (new laptop being researched now after wifi just stopped on my windows for zero reason)

iems with awful bordering on painful fit for my shape of ear: senhesser (Sp?), creative labs (ouch!), bose kept on falling out, MAster and dynamic i so wanted to love but the left but kept losing connection

iems with more "universal fit: apple airpod pros* and soundcore liberty air* (old version on clearance)*

i was in total nirvana with the airpod pros but had I got the liberty airs first I would have been quite pleased and stopped there. Fantastic bang for buck and I believe they should be comfortable for most people.

Airpod pro positives: not the biggest or best sound but the most "don't have to fuck with." I could tweak better sound out of most of the other pairs but would need to make adjustments genre to genre. the airpods on flat were better than "good enough" - it was the most ... consistent. ISOLATION is fantastic, their transparency mode knocks the sony's very good one out of the park. THe sony's sound like everything around you is being amplified. Very cool if you want to eaves drop hahahahaa. the Apples sound like someone pulled your earphones out. they literally sound like the room. i don't want to use the work magic. but .. but.. ok.. very impressive.

ok so I was happy with my headphones but just like magic my bathroom google home and kitchen sonos stopped taking voice commands. I 100% know the culprit is moisture, my bad.

SO i did some research and after much praise about the ATMOS "magical" immersive sound and rich audio of the Echo Studio I bit. and Man, the WORST FUCKING tech purchase I've made. The sound was always ALMOST there that I was always tweaking settings, always moving it because placement matters A LOT for bass, always reading how to bring out mid how to bring out bass all the time not just for hip hop.. i *HATED* how that even though they advertise IMMERSIVE sound I could tell EXACTLY where the sound was coming from. It was boxed in not big sounding (and it's a big speaker, bigger than my sonos which sounded vastly better and bigger). So I was going crazy and added to the online cart an echo sub for the low and and 2 echos for left and right for the boxed in feeling AFTER agreeing to pay something like $15 a MONTH for "atmos 3d high bitrate music streaming) .. i was about to buy in $750 into an echo system for a small desktop radio when all the gear would be bigger than my high fi when I finally snapped - hit return item. garbage.. i hope people find this on google to be frank....

Garbage garbage insulting garbage purchase number 2- echo mini. my god have i never been more insulted. the fake reviews say "wow, such great sound for the price" i ordered it to be a left and rich for the studio. thought - how good do they have to be? 100% full honesty, your am clock radio in college sounded better. unless it was a box of tissues of course.

so i returned everything echo (i spit on your grave) and was high on the apple and sony kool aid already so gave a homepod a try (the big guy). I'll save the hyperbole and just say the same day I ordered a mini beacuse I was so pissed at myself for fucking up the sonos (it can get airplay 2 but voice commands are a no go). the apple products are moisture resistant (proof, don't know). see apple thought of that. I love that i never have to futz with settings and full house audio is an absoulte treat and cheap to add ($25 used airport per room). The whole house can listen to music but it's like a museum not a frat house - it's not echoy and PERFECTLY in sync, the music follows you not overwhelms the house. it's very hard to explain but so slick that I'm 100 in. my wife asked for the mini immedietly when i showed off hand off - nfc and the thing glows like the eye of Soron and plays what's on your phone. I'm sure others do it but nfc never worked on my samsungs etc. 100% of the time.
After futzing with such half baked tech and a chromebook that's splitting at the seems literally, i respect apples "just works" that a lot more these days than when I was a hobbyist.. i swear none of this was paid for by apple. saving the pennies now for a macbook, i wasted so much time on trying to work with a bootleg laptop that i'm honestly screwing myself of opportunity - focus on working, not maintaining a janky ass $300 dell refurb. . proof i'm not a paid hack, the lenovo that just aged out thinkpad carbon X1 has an eternal place in my heart. everytime i pick up a samsung an old samsung bluetooth refuses to connect on it, no idea why and nearly 75% of the time.

happy accident - i love the Homepod max (the mini was great functionally and kinda hott with taht fireball but a very "great for the size" not just great. sonos for the size sounds fantastic. i lovved the homepod but it just didn't have that presence of my old bookshelves, that fill the room (though the homepod is great). i dug up some old pioneers i had and got a $25 amp and $50 "tube buffer" and let me tell you. i got emotional listening to classical music for $75 out of pocket and some spare speakers. nothing still matches that, it embarasses the homepod
 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,246
10,748
136
Just bought a 500 gallon stock tank. It's the open top blue one in the foreground. Stock and Field is going out of business so I got a great deal on it.
View attachment 39309


Cool ... however I'm curious as to what you'll be "stocking" it with? :D


And I just got back from snagging a Panasonic stainless steel 1100 watt inverter-equipped microwave oven from random Craigslist guy for $20!

Turntable is a little noisy but otherwise it works perfectly and looks brand-new ... an actual new one would have set me back nearly $200!
 
  • Like
Reactions: skyking

Svnla

Lifer
Nov 10, 2003
17,999
1,396
126
I know it hasn't been very long since you posted, but did you end up getting Soundwave?

I finally was able to get the batteries at the store today, so now he is 100% more awesome with glowing red eyes! :p

View attachment 39203

No I haven't yet. Nice picture. Need one taken in the shadow/dark corner so the eyes would be more glaring.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
94,694
14,940
126
Cool ... however I'm curious as to what you'll be "stocking" it with? :D


And I just got back from snagging a Panasonic stainless steel 1100 watt inverter-equipped microwave oven from random Craigslist guy for $20!

Turntable is a little noisy but otherwise it works perfectly and looks brand-new ... an actual new one would have set me back nearly $200!
A skid of 55ga water based personal lube.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Captante