Inexpensive thing is inexpensive.

[atfsgeoff]

Post something you bought recently that you probably should have spent a little more on.

I'll go first:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085LB5Y8M/

This bluetooth dongle is absolutely garbage. Won't let me use both the mic and headphones at the same time when hooked to a Windows 10 machine.

[CB]

@atfsgeoff Waiting for the first person to put a new car purchase in here.

Sunglasses, probably. And by "spend more", I mean I should've bought four or five pairs of the same style. I am... accident prone.

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@atfsgeoff should have gone with Black stone

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N98BFD2/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_F2F1HZQYMYP8YST0G592?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[facw]

@atfsgeoff For what it's worth I use this one, which works fine with my headset:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DFBNG7F

(larger than actual size)

I am somewhat surprised that Bluetooth 5.2 has been finalized for over 2 years and is common in laptops, but dongles are basically non-existent. Even name brand 5.1 adapters didn't exist last time I looked.

In any event to actually answer your question, looking through my Amazon history, the first regret that pops up is that I ordered a pair of these Hella Cleantech wipers (from Rock Auto, but they only sent one, hence Amazon), and they just aren't very good:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XDDCFXN

They don't get enough pressure to stay on the windshield at the end of their arcs, and the rubber warps weirdly around mount on one making it look broken.

I previously had bought Bosch Clear Advantage, but Rock Auto stopped carrying them, and I didn't want to pay Amazon/retail prices, but I guess I should have.

[benjrblant]

@atfsgeoff i purchased an open box prestaflator from amazon because it was cheap. it sucks. i should've saved up and gotten the park tool shop inflator.

[Krusty Walnut]

@atfsgeoff I bought a Epson printer from Amazon because it was cheaper than Costco. Little did I realize it had a sd card for scanning instead of usb. I kept it because I had opened it and set it up. Should have bought it from Costco.

[facw]

@benjrblant I have a crappy battery-powered tire inflator that I got for my bike when my shoulder wasn't working. Tends to stop inflating for no reason (overheating, low battery?) and is really picking about charging. It's nice when it works, but I would have preferred a better quality version. When I got it, everything was no-name Chinese stuff though, so I'm not sure I had an obvious better option. Fortunately surgery mostly fixed my shoulder and I can use a floor pump without pain again.

Roughly like this (Cycplus though not this one specifically):

[Snuze]

@atfsgeoff
Because this broke I get to spend $70 on a gasket kit and hours of my labor unnecessarily taking off the Volvos cylinder head. Fun.

[Krusty Walnut]

@CB Not a new car purchase but I bought a cheap 1978 911 back in 2017. Of course after spending another $10k on maintenance and major repairs, it was still not great. I ended up selling it at the beginning of the pandemic because I thought I'm going to need money to survive. Of course it's still at the dealer that brokered the sale but now sans engine because it's being rebuilt. I should have just bought a sorted out 911 instead of the basketcase. Thank god the Surpa is in good shape (lesson learned). Funny thing is, I sold the Porsche for the same amount I bought the Supra two years later. Here's a picture of it with the Supra that's there to get it's new exhaust and other work.

[Saracen]

6 years ago I bought a rough ‘99 F-250 7.3 for less than 5k. I’ve spent over 15k on deferred maintenance and repairs and needed upgrades since then, and that was doing most work myself. I’m selling it before my new F-350 arrives. But it needs paint, a new starter, a new door lock cylinder as someone tried to drill it out, and probably new battery cables and even when all that is done I’ll be lucky to get $12k for it.

In 2006, $20k would have bought me a clean, decent mileage and fully bulletproofed 6 liter. Or a good Cummins. Either would be selling for 30k in this market.

[Alfalfa]

I mean I could have had a mini moto with EFI, ABS, and disk brakes.
Of course the big selling point here was CVT ¯\(ツ)/¯
God that's a lot of acronyms

[RallyDarkstrike]

@atfsgeoff Quite annoyed by this:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08M8ZWK8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ordered it the other day to get data off a dead laptop (motherboard failure) for a client. I have a different Orico 2.5" SATA laptop drive to USB adapter that I've had for years that works flawlessly and is amazing quality for the price, but when this arrived....the actual port the drive slides into is the RIGHT port (M.2), but the part used for the port is so cheaply made that the nub for the slot on the drive is actually 1-2mm off to the side from where it's supposed to be meaning you physically can't even plug the drive in!

I tried every which way, even being pretty forceful with it before I said it wasn't worth it accidentally breaking the drive to get it to fit, so I just started a return and ordered a vastly more expensive but far more highly reviewed adapter that is built like a frickin' brick and works flawlessly.

[RallyDarkstrike]

@facw said in Inexpensive thing is inexpensive.:

I previously had bought Bosch Clear Advantage, but Rock Auto stopped carrying them, and I didn't want to pay Amazon/retail prices, but I guess I should have.

I bought some authentic Bosch blades awhile back for my Accent at Canadian Tire and, either I was unlucky or what, I don't know, but they are the worst blades I've ever put on the car 0_o

Chatter like mad, very streaky, don't wipe cleanly....I ended up buying a cheap 'Reflex' brand blade for the passenger side as it was driving me bonkers and it's orders of magnitude better. I still have the Bosch blade on the drivers' side as it's mostly working OK, and I'd hate to waste the money so I'll just deal with it for now until it stops letting me effectively see...

[RallyDarkstrike]

@Alfalfa said in Inexpensive thing is inexpensive.:

I mean I could have had a mini moto with EFI, ABS, and disk brakes.
Of course the big selling point here was CVT ¯\(ツ)/¯
God that's a lot of acronyms

I love scooters and have thought about getting a little bike or scoot for a local runabout....I'd need my bike license first, but the Navi here in Canada is $2300 CAD (plus tax and fees), but that's a pretty damn reasonable price for a new vehicle with a warranty, especially from a reputable brand like Honda...the Navi is really appealing! Apparently we only get it in nothing but red here in Canada though, which is kinda stupid....I'd want to get it wrapped to personalize it a bit...

[liam]

@RallyDarkstrike said in Inexpensive thing is inexpensive.:

@atfsgeoff ordered a vastly more expensive but far more highly reviewed adapter that is built like a frickin' brick and works flawlessly.

I have one of those. Work just fine, only thing that is a little annoying on my one is that it's 4 very tiny screws to open the case to swap the drive. They sent a tiny screw driver with it that fits right, but it's about an inch and a half long - hard for my fingers to manage

[RallyDarkstrike]

@liam I have a decent set of other screwdrivers, so I used that to open it up when I installed the drive in it....funny thing is, the lady whose dead laptop I was retrieving the data off said laptop's drive to transfer to her new laptop....she wants the old dead laptop back to give to her young nephews in case they want to tinker/fix it and use it themselves, so I have to take the drive out of my enclosure and put it back in the dead laptop to give her....meaning I will then have a $54 adapter with no drive, and I own no M.2 drives...lol

Guess I'd have to keep an eye out for a cheap but OK-reviewed one sometime....or just leave it empty for those rare times I need to transfer data off a client's machine again...

[liam]

@RallyDarkstrike said in Inexpensive thing is inexpensive.:

Guess I'd have to keep an eye out for a cheap but OK-reviewed one sometime....or just leave it empty for those rare times I need to transfer data off a client's machine again...

This shows as $40 off for me today - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08V83JZH4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have one in my server build. I won't buy Samsung appliances, but their SSDs are a good bet.

[KngT]

@atfsgeoff the supposedly same quality but lower price because we removed the middleman shaving razors and refills from Amazon. Tried a couple of these brands for a year and then went back to trusty ol' Gilette Mach 3s. I buy the refills once every few months from Sams Club when they offer discountsm I also saw no additional benefit with 5, 6 blades.
I know the cheapest option is the single disposable blade razor way but I'm fine with the setup I have now.

[facw]

@RallyDarkstrike My brother bought Bosch (I think Icons?) for his car and they chattered so badly that he took them off. We tried them again at Christmas and this time they worked perfectly. Who knows?

[facw]

@liam My 1TB 970 failed and went into read-only mode. They were willing to warranty it but wouldn't let me physically disable it to prevent my data from being readable (apparently read-only mode even prevents secure erase), so I kept it, not worth the risk of having accounts compromised over a 1TB drive.

Nevertheless, I did (perhaps dubiously) go right back and buy a 2TB 980 Pro when they were only sale for $250 recently (and then the price dropped further to $243 ). But I was smart enough to enable Bitlocker everywhere so that if I get another premature failure, I at least avoid the risk that someone could quickly scan my drive and compromise my stuff.

[RallyDarkstrike]

@liam Yup...Samsung drives are great and highly regarded / reviewed. I've got a Samsung EVO 860 256GB as my OS drive in my Windows desktop and it's fast and been rock solid.

I'll prob order a drive (if I do bother) something like this:
https://www.amazon.ca/HP-SSD-EX900-M-2-500GB/dp/B07B2ZVJ5F/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2GY0UA5WAGVGJ&keywords=ssd+m.2+hp&qid=1648775651&s=electronics&sprefix=ssd+m+2+hp%2Celectronics%2C85&sr=1-3

HP makes decent stuff and it may not be the best, but it's cheap and seems to have decent reviews.

[facw]

@KngT Maybe I should consolidate these posts. I do prefer the Fusion over the Mach 3, though both are decent enough. I like the extra detail blade on the back of the Fusion. Though I'm also lazy and these days mostly just use a cheap electric Philips OneBlade, which is the very definition of mediocrity, but is quick, comfortable, and good enough.

I tried Dorco's 7 blade razor sometime when they were offering the kit cheap and it sucks ass.

[liam]

@facw said in Inexpensive thing is inexpensive.:

Nevertheless, I did (perhaps dubiously) go right back and buy a 2TB 980 Pro when they were only sale for $250 recently (and then the price dropped further to $243 ). But I was smart enough to enable Bitlocker everywhere so that if I get another premature failure, I at least avoid the risk that someone could quickly scan my drive and compromise my stuff.

I bought this 2TB as the drive for my wife's 27" iMac
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0829DZH2W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's been running since Feb 2020. The heat sink on the case can get too hot to touch, but other than that it's been a champ. I try to manage the risk of the SSD dying with multiple Time Machine targets (currently down one as my Synology died in the last power outage - waiting on a power supply and hoping that will revive it).

[liam]

@RallyDarkstrike said in Inexpensive thing is inexpensive.:

@liam Yup...Samsung drives are great and highly regarded / reviewed. I've got a Samsung EVO 860 256GB as my OS drive in my Windows desktop and it's fast and been rock solid.

I'll prob order a drive (if I do bother) something like this:
https://www.amazon.ca/HP-SSD-EX900-M-2-500GB/dp/B07B2ZVJ5F/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2GY0UA5WAGVGJ&keywords=ssd+m.2+hp&qid=1648775651&s=electronics&sprefix=ssd+m+2+hp%2Celectronics%2C85&sr=1-3

HP makes decent stuff and it may not be the best, but it's cheap and seems to have decent reviews.

Yep, I have a bunch of HPE SSDs in the servers at work - as reliable as any others.

[facw]

@liam Sabrent has a pretty good reputation as well. I had backups so even if the drive hadn't been readable I would have been fine. But obviously nicer for things not to fail, and though it's common I really don't like the idea of sending a readable drive in for replacement.