What's an impulse purchase you've made and it turned out to be awesome?
What's an impulse purchase you've made and it turned out to be awesome?
So I kind of impulsively bought a Steam Deck OLED this weekend, I hadn't really done much research and I haven't really played any games in about 15 years.
Now I have to wait for it to be delivered and, I'm worried this is something I'll use a few times and forget about it.
What's something you impulsively bought and fell in love with?
Espresso machine. I was spending 8 bucks a day on lattes, and now I make them myself and stopped going to the cafe every morning, saving time and money. I also think it's a fun morning ritual to grind the beans, measure everything, tamp, distribute, steam the milk, etc.
Btw I also impulsively bought a Steam Deck and use it way more than I thought, it's amazing and you'll love it!
Nice to both. What do you find yourself playing on your steamdeck?
Aside from smaller titles I've e been using it for sea of thieves, monster hunter world, and ffxiv with good results even though that last one took a fair bit of fiddling with. Impressed with it.
Sounds like you're doing a lot of steaming!
I impulsively paid rent because I can't afford a Steam Deck. I love not being homeless!
I hope that some day you have the means to impulsively do both ❤️
My house lol.
TLDR: Unfortunate life event caused me to have to accelerate my house shopping by 2-3 years. Bought right before COVID hit and everything could not have turned out better (and I'd have been worse-off buying a house in 2022 than I was when I had to impulse buy on in 2019)
On the flip side I sold my house in December of 2019. Then decided to rent for a year to figure out where to buy next. Didn't pay close enough attention to the market before it was too late. I still stay up at night sometimes thinking of how bad that went.
Don't beat yourself up over it. You can't time the market.
right before COVID hit
Isn't that a year before house prices and mortgage rates dropped to all time lows?
Right as Covid quarantimes hit, I found a deal on an old decommissioned Bird electric scooter for like $250. Snapped it up immediately. I have gotten SO MUCH use out of that thing just running out to grab takeout to save on delivery fees. I’ll also use it to commute to work nowadays when I’m too lazy to walk (I am lucky enough to live only a couple miles from my office) and don’t feel like biking. It’s probably paid for itself several times over at this point.
Honestly, steam deck lol
It's an odd form factor that people don't really have much experience with, hence they don't really know how useful it'll be to them. To be fair to myself, I had been holding back on purchasing one until maybe a year after the initial launch, so I think I would personally describe my experience as a leap of faith.
In any case, it turns out to be a great little thing. There's a lot of games in my backlog that don't feel "desktop-y," and therefore I've never played them, if that makes sense. But with a handheld form factor, now I have more motivation to go through those games. Emulation on the steam deck has also been great, for a similar reason. And sometimes I just want to be in bed than on my desktop. Or sometimes I'm just on the bus or waiting for something.
I think SteamOS also taught me how usable Linux was, and that's been pretty instrumental in getting me to minimize my Windows dependence
Same, it’s the holy grail of gaming, such a great device that keeps getting better.
This makes me feel so much better! Its kind of one of my thoughts, playing the steam deck in bed, those evenings where you don't really want to do much but also aren't fully ready to go to sleep!
You've definitely given me some reassurance 🙂
Steam Deck is definitely one of the best purchases I've ever made. And I don't play a ton of games these days.
An old RTS game called Darwinia, that caught my eye because of its box artwork, and wasn't very expensive.
Turned out to be loads of fun. I really need to get that installed on my PC again actually, been a while.
Ooh that also reminds me of an RTS I impulse bought once and ended up absolutely falling in love with for a long time.
It was called Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. What I most enjoyed was it's unique factions: a clockwork/steampunk faction, an Arabian Nights inspired faction, and a Chariot of the God's inspired Mayan/alien faction.
Remember seeing this in Linux format magazine as it was one of the first early Linux native games
On the same note, I bought into the breach because it's from the same studio as FTL. I played a few games and forgot about it.
I recently picked it up and I'm having loads of fun.
A $1 grand piano off of eBay. I had been looking around on stuff like FB Marketplace for a "real" piano after learning with a really basic keyboard for a while, and happened across a gorgeous 6'1" grand piano on eBay. It was reasonably close, the ad said it was in good working order, and they took very detailed pictures of basically every single flaw in the case. I called up a piano mover, and had them pick it up from the church, sight unseen. I was so worried that I'd made a mistake, given that the moving was still about $400, but I got insanely lucky, with a beautiful looking and sounding piano worth about $5k for basically just the cost of moving it.
Haunted piano?
So far, no ghosts yet! Only haunted by the vague odor of the church it was in before, so it kind of smells like an old lady's house, but it's going away pretty quickly.
What an amazing story! Its always amazing the stuff you can find second hand 😁
Even $5k is extremely cheap for a good 6'1" grand piano in good condition.
I went on the low side since it's not in perfect shape and is an older (1985) Young-Chang built Wurlitzer. It was a church piano so it has some bushing wear in the keys, but still very playable, and had a broken string on D2 that was an easy $50 fix. I think after moving, tuning, the string, and eventually rebushing it in the next year or so, I'll have about $900-1000 into it all said and done. Still definitely a pretty inexpensive piano overall, but understandable why they might not have wanted to put money into something that was probably a donation to begin with.
You're in for a good time with that thing. Its also great if you want to do more with it as you feel comfortable doing.
As for my impulsive buy? Id say the same thing as yours, when the steam deck came out I immediately pre ordered it. I had been waiting for a good PC handheld experience for a very long time and Valve were the ones to show up unlike the very bad GPD Win I used a couple years prior.
The only thing I knew about it was that it was going to use linux so while I was waiting I started to learn about it and actually use it on my main PC over windows and I have never looked back since.
Haha same, after using the SD for so long, I started to question why I was still using the abomination known as Windows on my actual gaming PC. I switched 3 months ago and haven't used Windows since. I realized that all I really used it for was Steam games and web apps, and Linux can do both perfectly.
Proton is really great.
Bread maker. A guy I worked with said he loved his and I just bought one with no research. It's my favorite specialized appliance next to my popcorn machine.
We bought the machine with most functions that could make the smallest breads. Freshly baked bread 2-3 times a week. We fight to get the 1st slices ofthe bread.
Serious question. What exactly does it do to save time? My wife treats making bread like boiling an egg. Something you can do quickly and easily whenever you need it. So I'm wondering which part of it can be simplified.
It depends entirely on the type of bread. Soda bread/biscuits/etc. can be as simple as mix and bake, but yeast breads usually require multiple steps over the course of a couple of hours. Usually something along the lines of:
- Mix ingredients
- Knead thoroughly for several minutes
- Let rise for ~1 hour
- Press the dough flat again and knead again
- Let rise again
- Bake
- Let cool
The intermittent rise periods are what allows the loaf to expand and gives the center its fluffy texture. It's not a terribly difficult process, just requires intermittent attention over a fairly long period of time. You may have heard talk about bakers starting their job very early in the morning; people traditionally wanted fresh bread in the morning, and it takes several hours to actually make (even if most of that time is just waiting), so bakers need to start several hours early.
A bread maker turns the long process into basically just "put in all the ingredients and press go". It still takes a while, but doesn't require any attention once it's started. You can also just put the stuff in at night and have it start on a timer so it's ready in the morning.
Over COVID I bought a new guitar. It had been probably a decade since I stopped playing and suddenly found myself with a lot of free time. This absolutely was the best impulse buy as it reinvigorated my love of playing and I’ve since made it part of my daily ritual. It’s done wonders for my well being and mental health.
7 watt blue laser I bought for shits and giggles. Didn't realize just how stupid powerful that is. Now I feel like I have a highly effective long range weapon in a country that bans almost all kinds of weapons. It won't blast through skin but I guarantee if someone points it at you and keeps it on you're going to run, and FAST.
If I ever get bothered by illegal drones, I can also use it to destroy the camera from far away. One fraction of a second and any optical sensor is 100% toast.
One concern I have with those things is people casually using them outside. I mean, I'm not a big fan of heavy regulation in general, and I also think that lasers are cool devices, but even if someone's got eye protection -- which I would be using if messing around with something at that kind of power -- and is not trying to aim at someone, it's damned easy to flash that across someone else's eyes, and that's way outside of the range where your blink reflex is fast enough to avoid permanent eye damage.
I mean, most people won't take a firearm and go blasting the thing randomly in a city or something. They register that they can mess up whoever the thing is being aimed at. But there are people who will be dicking around with seriously souped up lasers without regard for who might be downrange.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety
A Class 2 laser is considered to be safe because the blink reflex (glare aversion response to bright lights) will limit the exposure to no more than 0.25 seconds. It only applies to visible-light lasers (400–700 nm). Class 2 lasers are limited to 1 mW continuous wave, or more if the emission time is less than 0.25 seconds or if the light is not spatially coherent. Intentional suppression of the blink reflex could lead to eye injury. Some laser pointers and measuring instruments are class 2.
Like, that's 1 mW that's listed as the max for safe exposure before the blink reflex is no longer able to protect a human eye against permanent damage. You're talking about a 7,000 mW laser, almost five orders of magnitude up the scale.
And that's not even considering the fact that there are various reflective surfaces that can be hit, can be riccocheting the thing all over.
Like, at that kind of power, if a laser isn't in some kind of confined case or something, that's something where I'd want someone using it a room with eye protection on everyone in the room, only adults present (so some kid doesn't yank off their eye protection or something), an access-restricted door, and a warning sign on that door telling people that high-power lasers may be in use.
Here's a laser engraver that uses less than half of the power of that laser:
https://www.amazon.com/Bisofice-Engraving-Accuracy-Household-Woodwork/dp/B0BVVRFN5L/
You're absolutely right. I don't play around with that thing lightly - it actually requires a physical key to unlock before use. I also don't intend to mess with wildlife or whatever, or risk any kind of fires. It'll be used indoors, in a shielded basement, while wearing the appropriate safety gear.
Many years ago, some guy was trying to impress my girlfriend with his super powerful laser pointer by shining it on a building a few miles away. He shoved it in his pocket very fast when she told him he was shining it at a hospital.
An unkind part of me was pleased when less than 30 seconds later it was revealed that he forgot to do whatever he needed to do to prevent it from turning on accidentally, and bumped it, burning his pocket/pants slightly, and getting soot inside the lens.
Portable projector. I don't have a TV in my room, but I use the projector all the time. I can point it on the ceiling or the walls. I can connect my hard drive to it, or stream to it. It even has access to apps so I can log into, say, YouTube directly on the device. I love it. It's was something I kept saying I didn't need (and it's true, I would have survived), but it's been a swell experience.
There are so many you have to tell us which one you like.
A bed, and now I'm having gooood sleep
Never underestimate the importance of having a good sleep! ❤️
Now get a thick memory foam mattress topper and never want to leave bed again!
Tandem Showerhead, you can slap however much you want on it to luxurify the whole setup, and just seeing it installed was enough for my SO to start doing the thing where they start just leaving their stuff behind at your place to stealth move in.
That looks so cool. I might have to try that.
How has it been with staying place? Tension rods don’t always stay reliably. I’d prefer something permanently mounted
Most tension rods I've seen drop have been fixed up by just really making sure they're really tightened up when you put them back up, but if you're worried worried you could probably use a water resistant adhesive on both ends to give it a bit more hold up.
As for mine, it's holding up pretty well on its own, even with me hanging shower baskets off it.
Those Ikea snap together decking tiles. We rent but have a tiny all-concrete backyard, and for like $250, we transformed it into a remarkably pleasant deck between those tiles for the ground and planters for the perimeter.
The Govee Dreamview TV lights and Philips Hue lights are also pretty high up there.
3D printer is now, but it took it several years of occasional use and occasional CAD upskilling before it got really useful.
Automatic cat feeder for dry food. It's so nice to reduce cat feeding to just the wet food, and it makes it way easier to put them on a diet.
Dyson handheld vacuum, but only because I got it refurbished and on sale for substantially less than half the original price.
Edit: oh and the biggest one by far is my Onewheel. I hate the company and will never buy anything from them again (will be making an open sourced VESC board or buying a Floatwheel instead), but I bought the board at the start of the pandemic to have something to do during lockdown and I now have ~7000km on it. It's way more fun and practical then I was expecting. Even compared to like an e-scooter, a Onewheel still give you both hands free and is small enough to fit on the bottom of the grocery cart, making it surprisingly more practical for hauling stuff.
I wanted to get those tiles but they seem a hassle to clean/maintain. How long have you had yours?
Cleaning is a non issue, some dirt accumulates beneath them but you never notice until you lift them up again.
Maintenance wise they do fade in the sun, but it only takes like a couple hours to apply a couple of coats of new stain to a whole deck (like maybe once every two or three years depending on your tolerance for fading). Otherwise they've held up great for ~4 years of constant, year long exposure.
Literally the same, what a great impulse purchase.
You'll love it!
I plan on replacing my laptop with it as well
I bought an E-Bike, the impulsive bit was not getting a normal bike.
I kinda just figured it would be fun, and probably useful for some longer trips through the city. It ended up being one of the most empowering things I've ever owned, I have a pretty nasty health condition with lots of really bad fatigue and I live in a hilly area. I was able to look after myself to a whole new level, it was in almost every way a mobility aid for me, it made it possible for me to get supplies and meds on bad days it was a game changer.
Anyway it got stolen a couple of weeks ago so that's cool
Sounds awesome (except the stealing part)!
My local government is pushing for people to bike more instead of driving, but if you have a decent-looking bike it will be stolen. Bike theft is so bad that there is a satirical movement to oppose biking until the bike theft situation has been dealt with.
Yeah my current bike is literally just an abandoned bike that I repaired, so I doubt anyone's gonna want to steal it. If I get another E-Bike I'll be a lot more particular about where and when I leave it, and use multiple locks
A gaming computer that was the most expensive one they had. Beyond a faulty wi-fi adapter, it's held up incredibly well and I can run pretty much anything on maximum settings and achieve a frame rate of 60 fps or more, even on RPCS3, which is a PS3 emulator that is known for being rather slow on most systems.
A cheap beginner bass guitar. I was like man will I play bass even? I’m a drummer mainly but I also play a decent amount of piano bc my main drum things are drum set and marimba and I played synth for 1 season in drum corp. I got a bass because I wanted to actually try playing bass parts for songs instead of clicking them in. It does sound better (well, eventually it did) but it’s just really fun to play. Like I had also bought a $100 used guitar and I just find playing that a chore. I can play a few songs but I’m a permanent beginner and have no real interest in growing. The bass though? I play that like an hour a day and it’s actually cutting into my drum and piano time
What bass did you end up buying? I'm thinking about getting an inexpensive one to add variety to my beginner/intermediate guitar skills. Some days I just want to play quarter notes along with songs I like.
Ibanez gsr200. Got it used locally for $150 in really good shape, basically never played. But new they’re like $200. Yamaha tsr/trbx was the other option I was looking at, similar price range. Both had pretty excellent reviews as long as you kept in mind they’re beginner basses but they’re very solid.
I did go to a shop and played them both before buying. Pretty comparable. Main differences were Yamaha was a bit heavier and Yamaha has 24 frets vs 22 on the Ibanez. The Ibanez is also not a passive bass, it has a bass boost circuit. It’s the smaller 4th knob on the front of the bass. This means the bass needs a 9v battery which some people may not like. Also means you can give the sound a bit of texture/growl when you want, or you can just leave it off for a clean tone.
I do like Yamaha gear a lot, my primary workstation/synth is a Yamaha and it’s been a workhorse for me since literally 2007, played almost daily and been on several tours. I also have a Yamaha marimba I got cheap from one of the corps I marched in like 09 or so and it’s held up great despite the fact that it was certainly abused in its former life, played hard, and toured constantly (plus I still play it regularly). But the Ibanez was a sweet deal and I didn’t want to spend too much (as you can see I’ve already spent way too goddamn much on music gear in my life)
Also shoutout to rocksmith, which has been so awesome
I’d recommend a P-bass clone. If you get serious enough about it you could drop in a legitimate pickup, which are passive – no 9v.
As someone who has taught a lot of beginner students, Ive seen more kids quit due to having a crappy instrument than due to any lack of desire or ability.
You probably got a good beginner, and a crappy guitar that makes it a chore.
A good setup MIGHT be able to save the guitar.
My guess is that if you are comfortable learning bass and marimba, you can handle guitar. You just need one thats playable!
I genuinely think I just can’t get into guitar. I played piano from 4 years old, I played drums from 4th grade, i played marimba and synth in wgi and dci, so playing for long hours and practicing hours on end is not something I’m not accustomed to, but for whatever reason I just can’t get into guitar.
For posterity my guitar is an epiphone les Paul clone. I don’t remember the exact model off hand. You are certainly correct that it’s crappy, it literally cost me $100 (back in like 2014 or so), but I think it’s serviceable, at least
You have made a solid impulse buy. I love my steam deck as does my wife. If you get a dock you can also use it as a regular laptop too.
I bought the official dock and have struggled a bit with it. It sometimes doesn't recognize my TV and has other connectivity issues that seem to only be solved by repeatedly restarting it. I had an extra HooToo adapter lying around at work and holy crap that thing is such an awesome adapter for cheap that connects to the TV or my monitors and peripherals so easy and I've never had issues.
Neir: Automata and Nier: Replicant were on a steam sale recently and I picked them up.
Automata had been on my radar for a while and I assumed it was just one of those annoyingly difficult souls-likes throw the controller at the wall type games that also (feat.) a Waifu—color me surprised with how in-depth and bizarre the world building and game design was.
Replicant had its issues but the remake was equally fantastic.
Both were wonderful surprises. Considering you just got a steam deck I’d say get both.
Fun fact: NieR:Automata is the sole reason DXVK (a huge source of Proton's performance) exists. The avatar for it on github (or its developer) is fanart of 2B
My HP ProLiant DL380 Gen8 (awesome name, ik)
Was randomly scrolling through a local 2nd hand marketplace and saw it for an absolutely killer price and just bought it.
Thing's been great as a homelab/VM server/ Local dev server/NAS.
I went from DL380g6 to DL380g9 they are quite powerful for what you get. Also very noisy though. I have installed two p40s. I love it.
the steam deck is the first pc gaming console. Steam deck, 3ds, and original PSP slim were my 3 big impulse buys that went well. The PSP only because it rules when you install homebrew on it.
I remember a ton of amazing LUA-scripted games running on it after that PNG-based jailbreak. There was these crazy Smash Bros and Dance Dance Revolution clones running on my PSP in 2005 and it blew my mind haha
Steam deck.
A Casio G-Shock! It’s the only watch I’ll ever need. My Apple Watch has been relegated to being used for workouts only! It’s so nice to not have to worry about smashing my watch against a surface bc clumsiness, not having to charge it bc solar & no notifications of any type!
https://www.casio.com/us/watches/gshock/product.GW-5000U-1/ 🖤🩶🖤🩶🖤
If you sidegrade to a Casio F-91W, there’s a fun open-source project called Sensor Watch that repolaces the PCB to bring some nice features.
My watch can now tell me sunrise/sunset times, run 6 different count down timers, and act as a full dice set for DnD.
Full list of complications: https://www.sensorwatch.net/docs/watchfaces/complication/
Casio G-Shock
Real nostalgia hit with that one, I've never really liked wearing a watch, and haven't really before or since, but for a few years in my teens, I was a huge Baby G fan, I had to beg my parents to get me one for my birthday lol
Yep, got 2! And Casios are stupid cheap on eBay. My wife and I are a bit addicted to thrift store watches. She just got me a digital Citizen for $1.99!
I have power tools. I had like 7 batteries for them. I saw that they offered a USB adapter so I could charge my cell phones. $20. I quickly stopped using wall warts and standard battery packs. 5 amp hours, hot swappable, always a battery in the charger so I could never run out of power. Power tool batteries are built to higher specs than typical cell phone chargers so they didn't die after 10 chargers. The batteries are rugged so a drop doesn't destroy them.
My tools were stolen. I replaced all my Makita with Harbor Freight Hercules brand, their premium brand. Half the cost of Makita and actually better designed in a lot of areas. I quickly bought the USB adapter because I could never live without it again.
If you have power tools and always use them, I'm a handyman, then a USB adapter is a must.
Spent a few hundred on a nice butterfly knife. I love the thing, it's my favorite knife.
I got a robot vaccuum cleaner (Samsung Jet Bot), and while pricey it's saved me so much time and effort keeping my apartment clean. Definitely worth the money.
Chefman counter-top water heater. It's not the worst crime I perpetuate while making tea.
*kettle, honestly forget it's not a global thing. How much does one set you back? We can get one for like £5 in the uk?
I can't call this chefman thing a kettle, but that word is used here. It's more a boil-and-hold urn like you'd see on a meeting-room sideboard with some bakery treats. Like I said, it doesn't make a great cuppa, but I'm already a heathen before this point anyway. I'll boil some proper water if the Yorkshire comes out, though.
Amazon basics, stainless steel 1liter, $21
I “splurged” on a cool looking glass one that lights up when in use for $30, during Covid. I was concerned I’d never use it and I really don’t, but one of my teens drinks tea and the other is always up for hot chocolate so it’s gotten plenty of use
Well, I wouldn't call it a strictly impulse purchase, but I did get a steam deck because I was missing gaming and I'm glad I did. I haven't played in maybe a week or so, but I've put a good number of hours into BG3 so far. You'll enjoy it. I'm glad I got it.
Meta Quest 3. I had been saving for a Valve Index but I was getting impatient. Turns out it was an amazing buy and (for me personally) having an untethered headset was more important than I realized. My computer room is small but my living room has plenty of space. Plus the Steam Link app works so well nowadays I can still play Steam VR games but wirelessly anywhere in my house. Pretty awesome deal for something that costed half the price.
Didn’t know what to get my boomer father for Christmas so I got him an xbox. it’s been great for his mental clarity and for our ability to hang out more since I can’t often make the trip to see him.
I did exactly that, albeit with a 3rd of your hiatus. I want to play it every moment I get - I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Hi-Point .45 carbine, total impulse buy but it scratched several itches.
For those that don't know, Hi-Points are stupid cheap and stupid looking guns. But everyone says they work great, so I was Hi-curious, if you will. The design makes me think they took a gang of skilled engineers, showed them pictures of guns, and said, "Make one." Everything about the assembly is bizarre, no idea how to take it apart.
Stumbled on this thing for $300. Love me some .45, wanted a PCC (short rifle that shoots pistol rounds) and it's white, looks like a Stormtrooper rifle! True to their rep, it won't misfire, even with the cheapest remanufactured ammo. Taking it out today, it's a hoot. God help me if it ever needs cleaned.
I bought their 9 mil a while back and when I got it I took it out to the range to test fire it. Some decent Winchester ammo, fired through the first clip fine.
Loaded up the second clip fired five shots, misfire, turned the gun to the side about 30° and downward with my finger off the trigger and the gun clicked and fired at the ground.
That was the scariest shit. If I hadn't had the small modicum of trigger and pointing discipline that I have I could have shot someone without pulling the trigger.
I never fired that gun again, and I am now radically against hipoint weaponry
I impulse bought a Steam Deck around a year ago, mainly for emulation, and haven't regretted it once.
An electric keyboard (Casio Privia s1100). I played the trumpet in high school and wanted to get back to it but trumpets agent exactly the kind of thing you can practice regularly when living in an apartment. One weekend I decided I was just going to switch instruments and picked up a keyboard I could play with headphones on. Its been almost two years now and I love it.
While back I randomly got a little over a thousand bucks from the state and I used some of it to buy a PS5 just for Bloodborne and Demon's Souls but I ended up really loving the adaptive triggers. Motion and gyro controls are kinda lame. I can take or leave rumble/vibration. Adaptive triggers, however, are actually fucking awesome. I want to see it adopted more; maybe it'll be something most consoles have next gen.
The system itself isn't bad, either, I guess.
Not the steam deck OLED lmao, I used it a few times and forgot it.
Same bestie. Steam Deck OLED is genuinely an awesome gadget. I don't really buy things much, especially not something so expensive and new, but the steam deck is just so worth it.
giant OLED television.
I have a feeling you’ll love it! Hooking it up to a TV is very functional also. If you use Linux at all you’ll feel right at home for the most part.
A puffco peak pro and 3DXL chamber. It felt insane to spend as much as an Xbox on a vaping device but honestly I fucking love this expensive little guy. He slaps lol
A donation to PragerU
Eww
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