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.
Bought myself a wireless charger but I never use it because I just plug in my phone anyways cause it’s faster.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Skateboard from IKEA. It looks cool, but I still don’t skate.
Good decks haven’t changed in price for 40+ years. Decent wheels, trucks, and bearings about the same. Unless you want an artist to paint your board, you can get pretty top class gear for about $125. Source: crazy good kid that cares about his board.
A gaming chair, one of those that look like racer chairs. It basically destroyed my back, worst purchase of my life
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 .
And it holds you against lateral G force with the gussets, which isn’t necessary sitting still.
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”
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 learned about the companies selling refurbished Aerons on eBay and picked one up a couple years ago for $400. Love it!
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.
A switch. There are a handful of good games but I prefer to play on my computer
Man, I use my switch all the time. But I love little metroidvania and smaller indie and single player games. Any time I see something interesting on steam, I’ll buy it on the switch if available.
I’ve also been using it to replay older stuff. The first red dead, the Arkham trilogy, currently going through Nier: Automata again.
I feel like even in your case it would make more sense to buy it on steam and use a steam deck.
But i get it and i want to be as enthusiastic about it as you seem to be. But my switch is also just catching dust. So is my ps5 tbf.
If i could redo my buys, i would 100% go for a steamdeck over the switch and a xbox s over the ps5. Not because it is better or has more games… just because the money saved would flow into the gamepass and i could use that on my PC too and still have a console to play with my wife once every 2 years. Also games for xbox are generally cheaper for w/e reason.
I bought a steam deck a year ago after realizing that most of my gaming was done on my Switch over my PS4, and I had a backlog of PC games thanks to Humble Bundle purchases over the years.
The amount of times a game I wanted to play was on sale on steam but full price on switch was a big influence as well. I play a lot of rouge likes, metroidvanias, and other indie weirdness, so it’s a perfect fit for me.
I fly a lot and the Switch saves my sanity. But I never use it for anything else.
I’ve got a Switch and I do love it as a machine but those first party titles are so expensive. I’m the kind of person who will never buy games at launch and always wait for them to be reduced. I got it for Christmas and when I went to look at Zelda BotW it’s still £60, and so is Mario Odyssey.
Buy second hand.
In my country first party titles go for $60 and all the way to $90
Second hand prices for these are often between $30 and $40.
And you can always sell those used games, and not really lose much (if any) money in the process.
Ps. Prices will fall even more when Switch 2 comes out next year. Hopefully it will be a repeat of the post-Wii days, where most Wii games were dirt cheap.
PS5 remote. It’s kind of useless as it doesn’t even have the Source selection button, so I need to keep using a regular remote too anyway. Doesn’t have other buttons for TV either, except volume. The apps buttons are hardcoded and cannot be customized. Any accidently pressed button starts up the console. I kind of still use it for video apps but I regret the purchase.
