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posted by
cmn32480
on Monday November 21 2016, @03:48PM
from the all-I-want-for-Christmas-is-my-two-front-teeth dept.
from the all-I-want-for-Christmas-is-my-two-front-teeth dept.
Soon to be upon us is Black Friday — the time of year when retailers try and outdo each other to corner extra sales. In recent years, retailers have been springing their deals earlier and earlier trying to get a jump on the other retailers. Some amazing deals can be had if you know where and when to look.
In light of that, what things are you hoping for? New computer? Mobile phone? Tablet? Game?
Alternatively, what great deals have you found (both on-line and brick-and-mortar)?
I think it would be wonderful if someone, by posting a wishlist item here, were able to find a great deal known by someone else in the community.
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Tech-Related Wishlists and Deals for Black Friday and the Holidays
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Endless Loop, n.:
see Loop, Endless.
Loop, Endless, n.:
see Endless Loop.
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(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 21 2016, @04:15PM
That seems a good track to me. It's quite rare that an expensive gift is worth the money. A useful gift can pay dividends for years. For that, what you most need is attention to the recipient's needs. If it's your grandma and you notice she's having trouble opening lids on jars, get her one of those under-counter openers for a couple bucks. If it's your brother, who always has to whack the toaster on the side here, and exactly there, twice, to get it to work, then buy him a $20 toaster oven.
There's another route, too. Make something for the recipient by hand. That's a gift that no store carries. If the item itself proves useful, great, but the real gift is the time and care you put into it.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Monday November 21 2016, @07:33PM
A useful gift can pay dividends for years.
This is what I want from gifts. Granted with 2 young boys there is a fair amount of toys but I try to find ones that they will play with for a long time, thank you lego, but for myself and a number of family member I go for the useful ones. My cousin whom I am closest to got married last summer and bought a house 2 weeks before the wedding. His dad was complaining to me that they were borrowing all of his tools, so for a wedding present I got them a box full of good useful tools. My wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas I my response was a new 18" stihl or husqvarna chainsaw. My little 14" poulan chain saw just doesn't have the power it did new and even if it were new it doesn't really have the power for dealing with 24"+ diameter oaks and maples. Yes I have basically worn out a chainsaw it only took me 12 years, about 600 hours of use, 4 chains, 2 bars and a carb rebuild. It still works fine on smaller stuff like 12" diameter logs but much more than that and it starts stumbling. In my family tools are always good gifts for the adults and get many years of usage.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 21 2016, @08:38PM
I wish life were so simple that: toaster on the fritz, go pick a new one and replace it, could be a viable life strategy.
Anymore, you have to research the f-ing device, determine where in the "make it cheaper and cheaper until it just barely works" product/brand life-cycle the thing is, and then hope the one you get turns out to be worth the time taken to acquire it. The new addage is "you get what you pay for, or less - usually less."
I wouldn't mind paying $100 for a good 4 slice toaster that will be easy to clean and work well for 20 or so years like the last one did. Instead, I'm faced with a half dozen choices in the $30 to $60 price range, all equally crappy, most likely to die within a year or two.
Substitute blender, waffle iron, hand drill, lawn mower, or other appliance/tool of your choice and the same basic rules apply. The consumer doesn't get to choose, not really. The retailer presents an array of different looking choices, but (for the most part) they are all equally flawed and engineered to maximize long term profits, which means minimize product lifetime, maintainability, repairability, etc.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday November 22 2016, @05:37AM
I hear you, but there is at least some choice to be had. My watch word is simplicity - most of the fancy features seem to be primarily designed to look good in the ads/on the box, and usually disappoint in practice while adding new and exciting ways your appliance can fail. Not to mention
On the toaster front I've been extremely happy with the switch to a basic toaster oven instead, My current one wasn't quite the cheapest one from Walmart, so pretty low end, but I'm still happy with it many years later. Sturdier heating elements and fewer moving parts to go wrong than a toaster. Specific features matter though. Having used many off and on over the years I recommend:
- four heating rods, two each top and bottom, so that smaller, messy foods can be positioned to drip nicely between the rods (I also prefer to avoid drip guards - they seem to just make the mess worse)
- Fully removable drip/crumb tray sitting on the bottom for easy cleanup(can be added yourself, just a sheet of metal, provided there's enough clearance under the bottom heat rods for chunks to be pulled out)
- toaster-style timer to avoid absent-minded smoke-and-charcoal creation.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 22 2016, @01:18PM
I've bought some really good stuff at WalMart, but invariably, if I go back a few years later looking for a copy of the great thing I got there (shirt, tool, appliance, whatever), they'll have something with the same branding and appearance that has been "cost optimized" to a point that it no longer has value. There is a cost of going to the store, often greater than the cost of the goods you buy there, so it does me no good to get something for free that requires a trip to the store and provides near zero value. I exaggerate, slightly, but we are fast approaching a retail reality where this won't be exaggeration.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday November 22 2016, @10:04PM
Wish I could disagree with you on that one. Seems like most everyone is racing to cash out on their good names.