The only affordance of such a plate is its push-ability, and the fact that someone actively installed a metal plate (instead of just relying on the door's natural flatness), as well as its location at the point of maximum leverage (all the way to the right of the door, in the door's vertical center), is a clear signifier for such push-ability.
Not only that, but it does its job without offering any other confusing affordances (such as a vertical handle which is also technically pushable, but which many would interpret as being meant to be pulled).
Whenever I need a relatable, succinct example of affordances and signifiers for my engineering comrades, I turn to this one. Anyone interested in design is doing themselves a dis-service by not reading Don Norman's classic.
Fast, snappy, responsive. No banners or cookie prompts, doesn't ask my to sign up for a newsletter or an account to continue and see more selection, it doesn't load in megabytes of JavaScript to show me products.
Plus, responsive as all heck, and there isn't any bullshit prompts like "click here to see our selected offerings" or "check out our value products here" Like, from. The short url, I'm already looking at the products.
I've bought from them many times before and have yet to be disappointed with what I got. It is definitely expensive compared to other suppliers or Amazon, etc. But you pay for the convenience.
I hear they aren't very good outside the US though, which is a shame.
Wirewrap tools. They're mechanically simple, easy to learn, and let you create neat, dense hobby prototypes faster and easier than soldering.
Wago Lever Nuts. These let you join a wide range of wires, from 24 to 12 AWG, stranded or solid. They're quick: strip, insert and flip. They're verifiable: you can check that it's done right just by looking at it. They're reliable: the spring pressure ensures they never come loose, even with vibration and heat over many years. I'm never going back to twist-on wire nuts.
Ruby. The seamless blend of OO, functional, and imperative programming is beautiful. It can be dense without being obscure. irb and pry make it easy to explore code and data. The syntax is mostly conventional and easy to learn. The standard libraries are well designed, and have consistent interfaces. The documentation is concise and easy to scan. I won't say its "The Best", but of the dynamic, interpreted languages I know, Ruby is the most fun to use, and it starts with the clean, well-considered design right at its core.
Another is Macbooks - the pre-2015 ones at least. I haven't used the latest M1 ones, which I hear great things about. The Aluminum body, the flawless screen, magsafe, great sound - there is so many things I love about Macbook hardware. Such a beautiful marriage of form and function.
For mechanical pencils, the Rotring 600 is the best thing I've ever written with: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZWYUA4/
* My Hilleberg Akto single person hiking tent scores very highly. It is designed for lightness, durability and simplicity when setting up. It can better be set up/torn down by one person in a storm than most other tents I've owned.
* My Leatherman multitool has been with me for years in some fairly bad conditions. It just keeps working and sometimes in ways that I hadn't imagine it could be used.
* My Aeropress portable coffee maker is in my mind amazingly designed and portable for making a decent cup of coffee anywhere in the world.
* SSH is simply amazing. I think it can be overly too easy to forget what it gives us the ability to do.
* SQLite. It is amazingly designed in pretty much any way you can look at it (requirements, speed, size, resource use etc).
* My Kindle (and other such devices) is an amazing piece of tech. I carry around my whole library in only a few hundred grams, and its power usage levels are so low that I need only charge it for an hour or so each month.
* The Kotlin programming language. Such a breath of fresh air after having been stuck with Java (pre 9) on Android for so long.
* Android's new UI design toolkit Jetpack Compose is a seismic shift in native Android development where everything looks and feels like it has had some serious thought put in behind it.
These are obviously subjective, and I have no longing to get into discussions on the merrits of the software I mention here. There are plenty of places that has been done before.
Also a bidet. Americans really need to start using it more.
- click to pause
- double-click to fullscreen
- customisable captions
- speed controls
- sensible keyboard shortcuts for practically everything (press ? to see them all)
- theatre mode
- picture-in-picture
- loop (on the right-click menu)
- dark theme
- all settings are saved and synced across multiple tabs (with the irritating exception of video speed, but that can be fixed with a browser extension)
- hover to preview
- drag to seek
- video chapters
- clear and subtle indication of video buffering
- auto-resume when you come back to a video after navigating away
- easy and obvious translation of all controls to live-streams and "premieres"
- pretty animations and obvious cursor changes that make it really obvious what you're doing (looking at you, Twitch)
- you can scroll in fullscreen
- "instant" page navigation that never gets out of sync with itself
- 4K support
- HDR support (not very good, but still)
- 60+FPS support
- 360° support
- all of Google's CDN resources behind it so it never lags
- excellent video quality detection that never picks an unnecessarily low-quality option when my computer could handle better, nor a too-high one that my connection can't manage
https://www.amazon.com/Crock-Pot-SCV700SS-Stainless-7-Quart-...
OP-1. Expensive and makes music feel easy.
https://www.amazon.com/Teenage-Engineering-002-AS-001-OP-1-S...
LG Tone Flex HBS-XL7. The best earbuds with the worst name. I really like this form factor. I often forget that I'm wearing them and this particular model is the most comfortable of the ones I've used over the years.
https://www.amazon.com/LG-HBS-XL7-Bluetooth-Wireless-Neckban...
Kindle Paperwhite. I have the older model. I've heard the nooks are good too. The simpler the better. Nothing to break or distract. Don't use the backlight and the battery lasts ages. I know a lot of people are partial to physical books but I've read hundreds more books than I might have otherwise read since I started using my kindle. It's probably my favorite thing I own.
https://www.amazon.com/All-new-kindle-paperwhite/dp/B08N38WQ...
Swiss Army knife (they're sooo well made)
Under armour underwear: no seams, last ages, extremely comfortable.
Darn tough socks: extremely comfortable, last forever, never smell.
Altra Lone Peak trainers: foot shaped, light, comfortable, quick-dry. Right now every pair of shoes I own are Altra (but I'm trying out Topo Athletic phantom 2 next)
Gore-Tex. And Neoprene.
Docker. People like to hate a winner, and they've gone the paid route, and they did just take already-available kernel features and wrap them up... But man, they did it well and they revolutionised software development and deployment.
Debian, XFCE, Tailscale, Syncthing, rsync, ssh, ffmpeg
Nothing since comes even close.
the plastic coating hasn't ripped, torn, loosened, or discolored. none of the metal has rusted. the thread pitch is big enough to screw and unscrew quickly but small enough to not loosen on its own and has good clamping force. the threaded end for passing through keys is small enough for all my fobs and keys. its tough and strong but pleasant to handle. no part of it is worse for wear even though i fidget with it and have changed keys multiple times. it also currently has like 11 keys and a large fob on it. ive had it for ~5 years and I'm fairly certain it's the most reliable thing i own. it's easy to use and easy to understand and it always does its job.
and to top it all off, it was like 70 cents.
it's a god damn marvel.
looks like this, although mine is smaller:
Bonus entry: the GameCube controller. With that huge, luscious analog stick and that huge, luscious A button. And the overall shape fit the hand really nicely too. For any game that didn't make prominent use of the secondary analog stick, I think it was and still is the best game controller out there.
The 'best design' is often something that's so frictionless and easy to use that it's invisible in day-to-day use. Everyday infrastructure like steps are something that's noticeable when they're off (e.g. spaced too far apart, or too steep); most are designed well.
It's easy to find things that are designed poorly. But much less tangible to find a 'best designed' item.
I've invested a lot of hard earned money into it. I have an ipad, iphone, a macbook air, an apple watch, airpods pro and a mac mini. Bought these over the years.
Just the way these things work so cohesively to me is pure magic. The attention to detail on extremely minor things is pretty impressive. I haven't had to think about "doing" anything with tech ever since I bought apple products. You just remember to charge them and everything just works. I come from a pure windows / android background and I was mindblown by how convenient things were.
I'd highly recommend Apple devices to friends and family.
https://www.core77.com/posts/61976/The-Honda-Elements-Unsung...
- it’s waterproof, so easy to clean
- it has a single physical button, nothing else
- it has a small flat stand on the back, so I can put it somewhere horizontally and it won’t roll, and the brush won’t touch the surface
- the heads can be easily changed, so we share the same toothbrush with my SO but have our own brush. The heads have a different color ring so they’re easy to recognize
- the charging station is small, holds in place and is generally painless. You just put the toothbrush on it and that’s it
- the battery itself easily lasts 2 weeks
- when using it the brush buzzes every 30 seconds but that’s it, you can ignore it if you wish. If you accidentally turn the brush off but turn it back on quickly, it remembers where you were and won’t start the buzzes from the beginning
- the best thing about electric toothbrush is that they gracefully degrade to a normal toothbrush. I love graceful degradation
I talked about users of more expensive electric toothbrushes (100-200$), but I’m confident mine is the best.
Dewalt power tools. Not absolutely perfect, but normally everything about them just seems right, and the durability over 28+ years so far has been perfect (with one exception: a jammed chainsaw motor).
My Bourgeat 24cm vertical-sided saute pan. When I moved from Seattle to Phila. in 1996, I drove 400 miles out of my way to pick this up from a tiny kitchen store on the Oregon coast. It is the best kitchen tool I have ever owned. 25 years later, it remains my go-to pan for more than half of my cooking. Encased copper base, stainless body, I can burn the shit out of something in here, and after a night's soaking it cleans up like new with almost no effort. Sadly, although Bourgeat are still in business, they dropped this particular model a few years after I bought it.
Sandisk Clip+ music player. This is far from perfect, but it's also so far ahead of almost everything else when it comes to portable music while exercising. No touch sensing, just physical buttons, usable with gloves of various sizes. Storage size limited only by SD card availability (I'm at 120GB right now, could go larger). Battery lasts longer than I tend to remember. Rockbox firmware makes it work better. Plays every format that matter, plus a few that don't. Tiny, weighs almost nothing. Not what I want to listen to at home, but if I'm out running, cycling, skiing, snowshoeing ... I've just never found a better device. Out of production.
Ableton Push 2 control surface for DAW workflows. The tactile quality is outstanding, the screen quality is gorgeous, the knobs have just the right level of resistance to turning, it's just a thing of beauty. But what makes it so much better is that Ableton fully documented every aspect of this beast, which allowed me to make it work with my own software. The documentation is almost as lovely as the Push 2 itself.
* The AK-47. Love or hate guns, the AK was designed with tolerances that encouraged simultaneously good maintenance patterns and using it as a gorram hammer if the need came to it. * Nalgene bottles. Impact resistant, infinitely screen printable, polycarbonate body, cheap and everything you could want. * The venerable aluminum drinks can: The sheer amount of engineering that has gone into making a bit of aluminum for canning but with the design constraints of pressure and temperature, it's a very neat design. * Fluxx, the game. Fluxx has one rule, the only base rule: Draw a card, play a card. There's no resolution order, no many pages of legalese text like Magic. There is Fluxx.
And that's one of the things that makes Fluxx well designed. I can teach someone how to play Fluxx in 30 seconds: "Draw a card, play a card. When the conditions for winning have been achieved, the game ends." The one thing I don't like about Fluxx is the later addition of Creepers, but those are easily one of the most write-off-able types of cards ever created.
Park AWS-1 three way hex wrench. Makes working on bikes so much faster.
Dynafit Ski Touring Bindings... the patent has expired and there are loads of copy's based on the original idea now but they changed the sport of ski touring in a way that can't be overstated. (tlt5/6 boots and now the scarpa alien rs are up there too as well as modern powder skis)
Petzl Nomic Ice Tools. Again much imitated but they way they work with the human body to make climbing ice (or rock) easier was revolutionary and is something you can feel just by picking them up.
Leica M6 - or m series in general. what if we made a camera from a squished piece of pipe.
Honda S2000, particularly the F20C 2002-2003 model years. High-revving 9000 RPM redline, completely driver-focused cockpit (tachometer from the Senna-era Honda Mclaren F1 cars), minimal computers besides ABS, hidden radio, et al. Bolt-action gearbox. The driving experience is sublime.
The dough hook, whisk, and other attachments secure in place with machined fittings so there is no play or wiggle. This has made them last.
I took the top off of it 10 years ago to make sure it was still properly lubricated. That’s all the maintenance it has ever had. (Well I broke one of the Pyrex mixing bowls…but eBay)
Solves all the problems with an ice cream scoop. Critically, this version had a rounded front. They seem to have moved to a straight front, which I can't imagine being as effective?
40s/50s Gillette Super Speed https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/wiki/Gillette_40s_Style...
Shaving was a cheaply and effectively solved problem by the 1950s. Everything since then has been bullshit.
Not counting the radio, the car had a tiny number of buttons and switches- window up/down, headlight knob, and 5 buttons. There was nothing extraneous or redundant. There were no door lock buttons- the lock indicator was the button to lock the door, and the door open handle was the unlock button.
Also, every darn control in the car was exactly where it was supposed to be. It’s hard to describe it, but even from the very first time sitting in the car, I never had to search or guess how to operate anything. I would think about needing to do something, put my hand where I thought the control would be, and there it was.
I’ve never had a machine delight me like that car in its simplicity and elegance of design.
Thinking of software, probably early "beta" Gmail. There was so much about the email experience that was improved by a stable web client, with what felt at the time like unlimited storage.
Thinking of hardware, I've never been much for Apple products, but the iPhone (particularly early models) is undoubtedly a design marvel.
I've played countless hours and never get bored. The level designs are all so interesting and unique I find myself discovering something new every time. It's social and I've seen it dominate dinner parties.
The Gerber Chameleon (and its Remix followup) pocket knife design. (https://www.gerber-tools.com/Gerber-Remix-22-01969.php) Absolutely brilliant - the pivot itself is a ring, so when you use the knife you have zero chance of slipping and cutting yourself, and instead of a side to side motion for cutting, you just use your hand naturally, the way you would a handsaw.
And the iPad stand and mount I use, whose brand escapes me. It folds compact to fit in a bag and the legs and main clamp separate for easy carrying, but the feet pivot outward or can be used, when pivoted inward together, as a base that can be slid into a holder (that came with it) or anything that can hold it up. I often slip the feet behind the vertical pipes in our kitchen to watch videos while I'm doing dishes, and I've built a lap desk that uses pipe strapping to allow me to slide the stand feet underneath the desktop, so the iPad itself doesn't take up any space at all on the desktop - it's just hovering over it like an IKEA worklight. Fantastically simple and useful design.
Unfortunately, it has been consistently downhill the past couple of years. What used to "just work" now constantly has issues and glitches, and speakers I got just a few years ago that work great are now essentially EOLed in their software. I've definitely purchased my last Sonos product.
Modern tents that just have a couple of elastic cord connected structural members the tent hangs off that go up in seconds. Anyone who put up a tent 25 years ago must see how much innovation there has been.
Almost everything about cars - if you think of the conditions and amount of use they have to survive (and despite massive annoying failures). I had a Mazda 3 with rain sensing wipers that I loved, I've driven lots of more expensive cars without them and I don't understand why they're not ubiquitous
Unfold, stick in, see the temperature.
If it's dark, it will highlight the screen, If it's upside down, it will flip the screen.
Very fast, because it uses gradient descend and not linear estimation.
Pull it out, place it down and it switches off. Move it, it switches on.
Single moving part, no buttons. You want it in Farneheights - open it up with a screwdriver, flip a microswitch.
Fairly big in size for no other reason but to be convenient to hold and to read.
Battery last for ages.
And on top of all that it is also very well made.
I bought it 11 years ago, a couple years after moving out. It was more expensive than many of its competitors, but the build quality seemed worth the investment. Early in my career, it was a big investment.
I have used it nearly every single day in that time, and honestly never stopped to think about it until now. It's been a fixture of my life. Other than the occasional descaling, it's been perfect without maintenance.
Beyond that, as someone who drinks a lot of coffee - I'd also like to mention my classic Bunn coffee maker. It has a reservoir of water it keeps hot, the new water you add displaces the old water like a water heater, so you're able to make an entire pot of coffee in under 3 minutes.
I bought this no-name set of three from a small family-run neighborhood hardware store in Brooklyn for $20 somewhere around 2002. The guy behind the counter was surprised by the price and that they even had cast iron pans. I've used them regularly since. They're the oldest cookware in my kitchen by a large margin.
I've taken them camping, and I cook with then in my kitchen daily. I've cooked any food imaginable in them, from crepes, to patched eggs, to pizza, to all sorts of meats and stews and sauces - on the stove and in the oven. And they still work as well and look like the day I first pre-seasoned them.
Its 65mm lens is amazing to use - the edges line up almost perfectly with the massive rangefinder window, so it's like taking a picture of what one eye sees. This is great because I believe the best images are the ones that look like seeing, that make it seem as if beauty is commonplace.
Hp basically put a lisp machine into your hands. The 28 is better than the 48 except for I/O, battery door, and screen and CPU speed. (What can I say. I love the clamshell)
- mechanically, anything by Honda
- Lada Niva. A relative has one in S. American. While out w/ him a cop pulled us over just to tell my uncle that he had better: “take good care of my little Russian!”
My Fender Telecaster. It’s a paradigm of simplicity, reliability, playability, and tone. From the original barrel-style string saddles to the 2-pickup/3-way switching system to the high-output single coil to the bolt-on neck construction to the straight string-pull head stock, there is no better guitar on the planet. What’s even more impressive is that it was designed by a non-guitarist and was one of Leo Fenders earliest designs (and is largely considered to be the first mass-produced electric guitar). I own far too many guitars of various styles and cost, but I nearly always perform and record with my Tele. It’s my proverbial desert island guitar.
Built June 2, 1987. I've been typing on it for 20 years myself, never had any problems except issues with the third-party USB converter not playing nice with some KVM hardware. And I guess the time I spilled coffee in it.
To steal Apple's annoying marketing phrase: It just works. I've never had to fiddle with it's settings or spend a bunch time figuring out configuration crap. I just install, and login and that's it. There's no need to care about manually configuring Wireguard devices or to care about key management, which I would think would get annoying quick as you add in more and more devices.
The app Sync for Reddit Pro has basically precisely the UI I want from a reddit app. There's almost nothing I would change.
I absolutely love the feel of just about every part of the Xbox One controller, and you can even get back buttons on the Elite model.
My 2005 Prius feels great to sit in and operate. Foot operated park brake, keyless entry and pushbutton start, comfortable seating and controls, plenty of space, sensible layout.
All models of Macbook Pro except the TouchBar era have been a pleasure to use.
I don't even care for peanut butter and this just hits. Super smooth, not too sweet - i eat it by the spoonful. I literally did not think there was any difference between different peanut butter brands until I had Pic's.
Apple, Levis, Patagonia/LL Bean/North Face, Garmin smartwatch, Goruck, Toyota, Bosch or Milwaukee tools, Fender, Sonicare, Thule, Yakima, Ankur cables, weather tech floormats.
Well designed websites:
Google, Old reddit, and HN, can't believe they've stayed true all these years.
Brands, I or a friend, has had extremely poor success with, enough to call out:
Dell (their quality control dropped off, I think, they used to be great), Amazon Basics, Mini Cooper, Fitbit, Beats by Dre, Goal Zero Yeti, new Reddit.
Oh and a lifetime warranty (I have personality returned one pair 5 years later for a new pair).
The reason I know it's great is because all the others I've ever used are inferior.
This one is in two distinct pieces which you place together to work. The metal is kind of grey and dull but it's incredibly strong.
It's easy to clean. Indestructible. Powerful.
The side doors are powered and can be controlled from the remote, since kids won't often open doors for themselves or you.
The last row of seats can fold down flush with the floor, since we alternate between having more cargo space and passenger capacity (like trips with grandparents or for instance, equipment for sports or music).
The car windows come tinted. One less worry/discussion about harsh glare or sunlight on our young kids.
There's a second lighter outlet right beside the first, which is handy for our electricity-dependent lifestyle.
There is a compartment on the driver's side, near your head, that reveals sunglasses.
There are cupholders upon cupholders on every interior panel, which seemed absurd to me, until I saw them used by my own family. And when you've filled them all, pop open the coin tray and a slow reveal unfolds... yet another cupholder, like digging into the hesitation before the punchline of a joke.
Newer minivans cover more use cases, like automatically popping the rear door by waving your leg, or changing the middle row positions to accommodate side-by-side car seats, and I'm curious to see which features have staying power and which don't.
We often applaud elegant solutions to a well-defined problem as a good design, or at least I feel like software engineers tend to, but I have a growing admiration for designs that solve a problem complex enough to resist being defined once-and-for-all. Those problems tend to be "human" problems that are as deep as human psychology and change as our society changes.
Sturmey-Archer AW 3-speed bicycle gear hub. I'm running 2 of them, both 50+ years old, still going strong. Originally designed in 1948.
Pretty much anything made by Mitutoyo, glorious quality and aesthetics.
"Ideal Stripmaster" wire stripper.
We paid $1,000 (a LOT of money) for our set when we were just married in 1980. Every piece of that set still looks like new, with a mirror finish, and every lid handle and pot handle is still tight like it just came out of the box. They are naturally non-stick, cook everything with only a tiny bit of water, and are indestructible. The ones pictured on the website today look exactly like the ones we have used daily for 40 years, since they cannot be improved upon. Made in Wisconsin since 1906 and every piece is guaranteed forever.
They are only sold direct or at county fairs, home improvement shows and the like, but they are worth the high price since you will NEVER need to replace them.
Most Chinese dictionaries have a different search bar for English words and latinized Chinese words (pinyin). Pleco let’s you toggle your search from English to pinyin and back again with a button. It also lets you navigate from words to their characters and from characters to words that use them.
Most importantly, it color coded characters so you can see how they’re pronounced more easily which is incredibly useful for beginners.
In general, a dobsonion telescope has a simple design that made it cheap and easier to use compared to other telescope setups. The dobsonion mount also allowed for a large aperture that would have been unwieldy otherwise. For me, it is an example of how complex things can be made simpler and easier to use.
Simple yet efficient, solving everyday problems and having some of the best apps. You are missed almost daily.
Best of all you can step into or out of one faster than most people can take off a jacket. Every time I put it on I feel a rush of joy and satisfaction.
On the topic of transportation, the official app for the Swiss transports (SBB CFF FFS) is also a joy to use: input your start and destination and you have your minute-by-minute travel plan with changes. It's fast, precis and tells you about alternative and delays if needed.
It sounds like a marketing post but I just realized how grateful I am to have to travel around. (I have no car)
So much functionality and extensibility in a pretty small software, it almost didn't change in years, and still does its job very efficiently, and my favourite part is that you can literally do every possible action with just a keyboard.
I love software that doesn't require a mouse. Terminal emulators and shells are obviously things I love using (hello vim users), but Total Commander is probably the only GUI software I respect because I could do just fine if my mouse got broken.
---
Also, Keypirinha + Everything search. Both of those individually are great and do their job well, but the fact that you can combine them makes them even better. Oh, and Total Commander also can use Everything search.
Airpods Pro - Again, the physical design and "sound" interactions when placing the buds in the case, closing it, opening, etc. all give a sense of satisfaction. The noise cancelling is great, and it's not fussy like other bluetooth earbuds.
Pilot Frixion pens - I played with erasable pens when I was kid and they always kinda sucked. The Frixion pens behave how I would imagine an ideal erasable pen would. Great for designing things on paper, especially the multi-color pens.
3M Command Strips - They hold shit on the wall and they're super easy to apply.
Second would be the Tesla Model 3.
It is even so good that if you start something that listens to a TCP port, VS Code will just forward it for you.
VS Code itself is still not nearly at the level of things like IntelliJ.
The shape makes it really easy to hold compared to other soda bottles.
I don't think I've ever known a product I loved more. I got so much pleasure from it that it made me want to learn more about product design.
I thought the later static touch-wheel wasn't as good, and firewire was such a great way to load it with music, fast charging and super fast data transfer.
I've never been as happy with anything "cloud based" - something is always broken somewhere.
It does exactly what it is supposed to. It's better than the "pro" tools, despite being marketed to homebrewers. It always reliably fills bottles, to a consistent fill, with quick and easy pre- and post-purge with CO2.
Moreover, the engineering is beautiful. Every part has a purpose. Everything that could be a stock part is. Each custom part is machined as simply as can be.
Just a joy to use.
I’m also a great fan of my (Japanese) unit bathroom control panels. I can set the shower and bath temperature to a specific number, automatically fill my bath to a specified level with the press of a button, have it keep the bath at temperature, let me know when it’s full when I’m in the living room.
It’s glorious. Every time I’m staying anywhere overseas I cannot believe I’m back to fiddling with a hot and cold tap again.
EvapoRust
It's not a "thing" that was "designed", insofar as it really is just a specific chemical solvent.
But god damn it's some black magic stuff.
The Locking mechanism is the less impressive but still useful, most locks on a pram are done by the foot and you have to push down on a bar or some other lock near the wheels and then when you want to start you need to kick up on them. Fair enough, although obviously now you are putting your locking mechanism near the area most likely to get dirt and rocks in to wear it down, and other potential ways it can be damaged.
Furthermore since you are using your foot to lock and unlock it can be something of a hassle because let's admit it, most people are not very good at manipulating things with their feet.
The city elite locker is by the handle, you can pull it up to lock, pull down to unlock. That's nice. You can easily see if it is locked, because it's at hand level not down at foot level, you use it with the part of your body most people use for manipulating objects - the hand - and finally it is unlikely to be damaged because you ran over some big rock.
The folding mechanism is the impressive part, in the middle of the seat is a thick strap with some instructions on - I think it says 'Pull up to fold' but I'd have to go down to check the exact wording. When you pull up by this strap magnets on the sidebars of the pram are released somehow and the pram folds in half automatically.
Yesterday I had to take a taxi with it, when the taxi driver saw this action his eyes bugged out and he laughed and said "now that's smart" (in Danish though) he commented on how he had a lady the day before who could not figure out how to close her pram and mine was so easy. Indeed some of our previous prams have been so irritating to fold that my wife generally left it up to me to do. It is equally easy to unfold.
Everything has a downside, and this ease of folding means that sometimes you can be doing something with the pram and accidentally start the folding process, but because it is easy to unfold you can stop it as you feel it starting and put it back right. Believe me, this sounds more irritating and problematic than it actually is but I figured I should note it anyway.
My favorite dictionary app is a Thai one from word-in-the-hand and Paiboon [2]. The dictionary data is quite extensive, and includes linked categories like "food", "pronoun", "geography", "counter", etc. Tapping on the category tags takes you to other words of the same category (great for studying, say, restaurant vocab) and also to articles that teach you Thai via phrases and cultural info, and to grammatical explanations for, e.g. counters or prepositions. On top of all that, it supports several romanization schemes and includes baked-in information to help you learn to read the Thai orthography. It's a fantastic combination of extensive dictionary with good information for learners. Plus it has a (limited) export feature, which is something that Ex-Word never supported (except for if you bought special hardware to export to).
[1] http://gakuran.com/casio-ex-word-xd-gw9600/ [2] https://word-in-the-hand.com/thai-dictionary/
Sonos Playbar (got the Arc for free, sold the Playbar): Perfect sound, a timeless design, software was dope around 2015-2016. All downhill from there, when Sonos decided to pivot to supporting Alexa/Google Assistant and attempting to become smarter.
Google Pixelbook: Super thin, light weight, super clean Linux system with first class support for Progressive Web Apps, Android and Linux apps. Chrome OS features the simplest software update process I've seen in action so far. The design is unique, the keyboard was perfect when right when Apple decided to ship shitty butterfly keyboards. 7 years of software updates.
Rancilio Silvia: Budget Espresso maker that's close to indestructible. Everything can be serviced, replaced, upgraded, there's no shortage of replacement parts, the Espresso is great once you know how to use it.
Aeropress: Simple to use, fits well into almost all travel luggage, and produces great coffee with little effort.
Corona 10-inch Pruning Saw
I had been using an old pair of loppers to trim most of the low hanging branches in my yard. This pruning saw is so much easier. It can cut through a 4-inch branch like nothing. Also it folds up so there’s no need for a sheath.
EGO 650 CFM Blower
Electric lawn tools are amazing. No dealing with fuel and oil. Plus they are so much quieter. This blower has been a life saver this fall. Planning to purchase an ego mower soon.
Leatherman Skeletool CX
The skeletool has replaced my pocket knife on camping trips. It’s not like most leatherman tools with 100 functions. The skeletool has about 7, but pocket knife, pliers and bottle opener cover most of my needs.
Outdoor Voices Sunday Short
Bar none my favorite pair of athletic shorts. Extremely flexible, comfortable and they look pretty good. I can wear them working out, lounging around the house or out to run errands. I probably own 6 pairs.
I'm also impressed by the MSR whisperlite international camp stove. The international edition is designed to work with a variety of fuel types-- white gas, kerosene, etc. The stove compacts down to a very small size. It produces a jet sufficient for boiling a pot of water in less than 10 minutes. It can be easily maintained and there is a market for parts. https://www.msrgear.com/stoves/liquid-fuel-stoves/whisperlit...
Chinese knives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_knife#Chinese_chef.27s...
Chopsticks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks
CPUs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_processing_unit
Fiber lasers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_laser
IP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol
Mail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail
Trimarans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimaran
Unix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
PS. This is a very interesting question. Although I suspect the OP was looking for products and UI/UX, I think higher-level categories are more objective and timeless bastions of design excellence.
PPS. Note these which stand out to me fall roughly in to two categories: those which harness physics, and those which avoid or abstract it.
European style windows ( https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/4kjsnp/european_win... )
Excel (before latest reskin which made it less productive because there is less space for user)
Pivot tables
I could probably list few mobile phones. Each were good for their time (nokia 3310, nokia e52, samsung galaxy s2).
Nintendo entertainment system (put the game and play...).
https://www.palmer-germany.com/en/products/studio-monitors-a...
- Olight Javelot Turbo
https://olightworld.com/olight-javelot-turbo
- Dirt cheap backpack with a Puma logo, extremely light and virtually indestructible.
- Honourable mentions: Seasonic PSU, Fuji X100F and a Casio SL-807A solar powered pocket calculator.
Today's modern microwaves ovens have _horrible_ UX. I talked to someone a few years ago who'd worked at an oven manufacturer and told me that UX people aren't involved in designing these ovens anymore; the process is entirely driven by marketing departments requiring more buttons, weird sliders, digital UIs and other ridiculous features - all to increase sales and convince people they need a new microwave when 99% of people really don't.
Sorry for the shameless plug but I have a problem with the Bialetti Brikka. I think it's great, but recently I did a full cleaning of all parts and since then it stopped working. Each time when the coffee is starting to boil up it spurts out of the hole in the lid and makes a huge mess. I checked everything but didn't find anything that might be causing this. Any ideas how to fix it? Thanks!
[0] https://toolmonger.com/2008/12/08/utility-knife-revolver/
Python is still the best-designed language I ever used, warts and all. It's often grouped with Javascript because they're both interpreted and "duck-typed", but imho the gap between them is huge.
Svelte is amazing for UI logic. It makes hard things feel easy and simple, and really hard things to feel possible.
QBasic was a horrible language, but its IDE (if you can call it that) was incredibly helpful for beginners. Maybe I'm nostalgic, but I never experienced such helpful hand-holding in programming ever since.
Sorry it's all about programming. Most real world design is either too trivial or too impossible to make an impression.
[1]https://www.champagneking.co.uk/product/3904/veuve-clicquot-...
The General Public License. The foundation of Linux, Wikipedia, and more. Every company and government agency that took it on lost. It uses the rules it wants to subvert to subvert them.
The United States Constitution. So far it has withstood onslaughts and survived. We may be seeing the end of it, but people have said that before. It's inspired many others. The United States may be young, as cultures go, but our Constitution is, I believe, the oldest.
I've been using the gr1 26L for work, grocery shopping and travelling for 5 years. https://www.goruck.com/collections/gr1
The gr2 and gr3 are excellent travel bags when you need something bigger. Only backpacks of that size that I have found comfortable to carry with just shoulder straps.
RayBan Stories glasses: for $299 you get functional wearable normal-appearing glasses that take pictures and make 30-second movies. Wonderfully easy to set up and use.
Ultra Heavy-duty Scotch tape dispenser: https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Invisible-Photo-Safe-Engineere...
Giant Foot doorstop — works with doors with up to 2" clearance: https://www.amazon.com/Giant-Foot-Heavy-Clearance-Yellow/dp/...
[1] https://www.jensonusa.com/DT-Swiss-Spokey-Pro-Nipple-Wrench
I had an OP-1 for a number of years but I could never progress beyond 2-4 bar loops. When I bought my Deluge I made a full track in my first two hours with it, and I was pretty proud of it. I own a number of groove boxes now, but have only ever managed to completed tracks on my Deluge.
Creates slices of cheese. Very cheap, very efficient at what it's supposed to do, and the more you use it the better it gets (it gets slightly more bent = more cheese per slice).
Buy one for 2€, use it every day for 10 years.
Wick-based works like a lamp, but with 8 wick. Very clever burning chamber makes it burn with blue flame. Probably works equally well with any kind of oil, example diesel.
My singular gripe is the fact that I can't assign macros to any of the numpad keys - "Num 1" and "Num 3" do literally nothing when Num Lock is off which is a bit of a waste. Was hopeful that a firmware update would come along to help with this but AFAIK none has.
[1] https://cdn.coolermaster.com/media/assets/1017/masterkeys-pr...
[2] https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/peripheral/keyboards/ma...
Wifi router WNR3500L with DD-WRT. True eventless running for 10 years. Cannot tell the same of my current setup. On PC the Debian GNU Linux distrib is pretty good for peace of mind.
I like Vim for its modal interface with old-school menus as a fallback and mplayer for its complete command line and keyboard controllability, and its effective OSD.
I grabbed a Global 12” chef’s knife after reading about it in Kitchen Confidential twenty-ish years ago, reminded of its superiority whenever I’m in a friend’s kitchen. I am sad to admit that IKEA makes a very decent clone, though.
An old nemesis gave me a Benchmade serrated knife with this miraculous spring-button release, absolute joy to handle.
I used to tie fishing flies in Montana as a kid; fly-tying scissors are fantastically sharp and useful for all kinds of micro projects. I often use them for extracting slivers that tweezers can’t reach. For macro work, nothing beats a pair of sewing shears; get a decent set and you’ll never touch a standard office or school scissor ever again.
Oxo scissors for the kitchen, though — the blades comes apart so you can clean the space between the hinge, lotta gross stuff will build up there in the kitchen.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009VC9YK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_...
https://www.casio-europe.com/de/produkte/uhren/vintage/a168w...
- Zwilling Professional S Universal Knife 13 cm - For the daily joy of cutting fresh "Brötchen"
https://www.zwilling-messer.de/Zwilling-Professional-S-Unive...
- Nintendo Labo series - Child toys made from cardboard for the Nintendo switch with an incredible level of perfection on so many levels
https://www.nintendo.de/Nintendo-Labo/Nintendo-Labo-1328637....
I have many styles between the Apple Watch and a Garmin Fenix to a 5$ Casio. The functionality is amazing both day and night.
Features I wanted:
Automatic time updates to the second
Analog face
Digital second readout
Solar
Visible at night
Secondary time without any button presses (I use UTC)
I list it because it is the best designed watch I’ve used. I’d use it over a breitling any day for functionality. However I would gladly give up one of those circular dials for a date readout. It takes one rotation to switch between the secondary time and the date currently.
https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Eco-Drive-Navihawk-Timekeepin... (Deal of the day..)
JVC Flats
GBA SP (the pocket clamshell one)
Retro microwave with the original-ipod style single knob controls
More generically, forks
Grand Prize Winner: wood Staunton chess set - beautiful, durable, affordable, practical. The piece design is exquisitely balanced between representation and abstraction
Fractal Audio FM3: guitar amp+FX modeling done incredibly well. Guitar is now a fully addictive hobby for me.
Fish shell: I use it 8 hours a day and have very few complaints. Performant, ergonomic, and thoughtfully maintained.
Last year I picked up a HP Jornada 720 from Ebay out of curiosity. Considering its from the year 2000 it's impressive how much it can do. The build quality is sturdy, the keyboard is amazing and the OS feels more snappy than most of my current setups. I wish they would do a reboot with better screen and wifi. I'm not sure if it's "the best-designed" thing I have ever used, but it impressed me.
Full Linux CLI, all the game systems of the 90s playable, all the hardware devices of the 90s emulated but much better (the Pokédex app was very good, TI emulator, etc), OTG docking for wired devices or you can use BT for hardware. They can do 90% of what your current phone can do but everything is a bit slower and worst, so using it as a dedicated device for various purposes like a Linux man page app at your computer, a device to game on, attach a controller, spares your non easily replaceable battery, if you have an iPhone and didn’t jailbreak, having a handheld Linux computer in your pocket is convenient to easily use CLI tools and SSH/MOSH.
Figured it was relevant here.
1. 2013 Macbook - Still us it. Though bought the new m1 today.
2. Pelican Kayak - Special edition for costco (has detachable bags). Probably not the best kayak. But at $300, probably the funnest thing I've purchase per $ spent. I've explored so many places with it; beautiful, sublime places filled with birds and wildlife. Super fun. 70% of the world is water.
3. K2 Rollerblades - Hate running, but rollerblading feels like a superpower
4. Delonghi Expresso machine + Oat milk.
5. Sony FDRx3000. Like a Gopro, but better. Though now badly needs an update.
6. DJI drones.
Best deal ever: All you can jet pass from BluJet. Flew around the world for $600 for a month. (plus some minor fees).
Facebook portal. Yeah Facebook privacy and all that but that's a good product that allows me to call people without having to mess with the phone. The audio and video is super clear. I use it despite it's from Facebook.
Work sharp knife sharpener. It's superior to sharpening the my knives with the stone.
Apple airtags. I often forget where I put my keychain so this is really well executed. Apple airpods. They just work and they are nice enough.
Hakko soldering station. I don't know if the recent Chinese usbc ones are better but the hakko one I have work well enough for everything I want to do.
• Amazon Kindle PaperWhite
• Chrome Industries backpack [2]
• A.P.C. denim jeans [3]
• Stan Smith sneakers
• My Nexstand laptop stand
• Surprisingly, these cheap Theragun knock-offs you can get on Amazon for a fifth of the price.
[1] https://fellowproducts.com/products/carter-everywhere-mug
[2] https://www.chromeindustries.com/
[3] https://www.apcstore.com/petit-new-standard-iai-codbs-m09047...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Bluetooth-On-Ear-Headphones-B...
- Older Intuos drawing tablets. Super sturdy, great experience to work with, and battery-less pen tech which for many years was offered only by Wacom products
- iPod Classic. Great interface idea with the touch circle, nice metal back.
- HHKB Keyboard. Something i use to this day and don't really plan to change, even as I'm strongly into custom keyboards as a hobby. The layout is just too perfect for programming, especially if you're used to Vim.
To raise the seat, you have to swivel a tiny by stout metal latch that keeps the seat from bouncing around on it's hinges. The metal latch is held in it's position by gravity-- you have to use your finger to swivel it when you want the seat to move.
This is engineering at it's finest. Effective, durable, efficient in it's purpose. Timeless design as well-- I don't think it could be improved upon.
Small fact: the lateral “blade” to cut out the eyes of the potato is obtained from the removed central part of the main blade; some newer models have it extended from the grip…
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/rex-the-peeler-is-king-of-the-k...
I bought one for each family member.
It is very practical if you want to use different colours for note-taking away from your desk.
I had my first one aprox. 40 years ago when I was a school boy. Its design hasn't changed since.
In the random order I thought of them here are a few that stand out:
Miller 35s Mig Welder, Victor Cutting Torch, Mac Mini, Vise Grips, Suzuki Samurai 4x4, 1985 Toyota Pickup 4x4, LED Flashlight, Handheld compass, Handheld Garmin GPS with Maps, BBedit, Beverly Shear, Super Cat Alcohol Stove, Raspberry Pi, Lancaster Metal Shrinker/Stretcher.
Also Dell Latitude D630 laptop with great idea on the extended battery that extended up front as additional rest pad - also with 7-row keyboard.
I did not realized how great they were until they were gone ... now all laptops have these counter productive island type keyboards ...
- my regular Bialetti moka
- my texas instruments ti-86 (still rocking strong since 1997)
- thinkpads: T42, X220, w530, T440... they're just great.
- my wenger/swissgear carbon backpack
EDIT: actually my regular bialetti moka is replacing an induction moka (still from bialetti) because the induction moka is hard to open (due to the round base).
Clean-ability turned the press from a 1/mo to a near-daily usage frequency.
I've owned 2 pairs for 4 years total now and they just work. Very convenient to use and the design is great and they fit well into my ears. Most inconvenience I've ever had was that they sometimes randomly don't connect once in a while but a simple disconnect/reconnect fixes that each time.
The one plus 3t is the best phone I've ever used. Close second is the nexus 5.
It's a difficult question because you don't really think about things that work seamlessly in your life, you think of the ones that have UX sticking points.
https://www.swissarmy.com/ca/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Knives/M...
*nix OS's and their terminal with various commands. The idea of pipe operator in terminal is just mind blowing, high praise to the guys who came up with this, they literally included FP concepts inside a terminal back in the late 60's.
And there's just something about it's refined heft that makes it a pleasurable object to hold.
Gerber Suspension
Geekey
Sanrenmu clone of a kershaw Cryo with no spring loaded flipping (I consider it dangerous)
Nalgene water bottle, I wrapped mine in cloth tape and it serves as a foam roller
Concept 2 erg
Mealsquares
...weird pick: Core Transformation by Connierae Andreas. After experimenting with a dozen different therapy modalities it blew them all out of the water.
The important sign (red) is at the top. So simple and so important.
- 2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder. For me, it's the perfect example of explicitly choosing qualities to sacrifice (straight line speed, utility, interstate ride comfort, safety) to maximize the qualities you desire (very affordable, zippy, perfectly balanced, convertible, charming, fun beyond belief in the corners). Doing so allowed them to make a mid engine convertible sports car, using just use the engine from a Corolla, meaning repairs are cheap and rare (once you or the original owner solve the oil-burning issue the engines are known for). There's something so refreshing about design that doesn't try at all to appeal to anyone but the target market, and does everything possible to appeal to them in every way that matters.
- SSH. The moment I first used passwordless ssh to run commands on a game server across the room from me was the moment I truly fell in love with computing.
- Rust. I won't beat a dead horse, but the borrow checker was a real lightbulb moment for me in programming, and finally established an understanding of memory management and strong typing that has served me well even in other languages since.
- Thinkpad x220. The keyboard and the Linux compatibility alone were enough to convince me - the simple determined dependability has grown my love more and more over time.
- Nasal strips. Such a simple but clever little design to solve a host of pretty insidious air intake issues.
- Bass Ukulele. Being able to take a fully functional bass guitar on a plane as a carry-on is a transformative change. Helps too that they're fun as all heck to plunk on.
- Magic: The Gathering, especially the original Ravnica block. The beauty, intricacy, and depth of the design has brought me to tears more than once.
- Team Fortress 2. Same, minus the tears and plus a lot of hootin' and hollerin'.
- Kinesis Advantage2 keyboard. The physical design an instant halt to my wrist pain from typing all day. It being so configurable is a delightful plus.
- DrinkMate/SodaStream. Cheap, plentiful, easy carbonation in the home has helped keep this fella sober for years.
- Fellow gooseneck electric kettle. No frills, no gimmicks, just set the temperature, set the timer when you're ready, and pour.
- Loaded Bhangra longboard. Another example of sacrificing what you don't need (convenience, maneuverability) for what you want (immaculate balance and foot feel for dancing).
- Sony PSP. The degree to which it was ahead of its time still staggers me. I had an entire library of every NES and SNES games, plus a music player, plus an internet browser, all in my pocket in 2006. I still believe that if Sony had embraced instead of fought 3rd party applications, they would have taken over the world.
Honorable mentions: Marimekko backpack, Rotring mechanical pencils, the Shinkansen, the Taiwanese and Japanese traditional train systems, air-inflated blood flow restriction bands, vanilla rotation barbells, and the Kensington Expert Mouse with the ball and the 4 buttons.
Also many, many many many examples of evolved design in nature (birds, rats, succulents) and natural languages. I'm thinking in particular of the tone system of the Taiwanese dialect of Hokkien (there are obviously many others, that's just the one I know), which seems unintuitive to the extreme to an outsider but allows for an incredible density of information and for allowing you to know at any moment in a spoken sentence when a clause ends, without the need for a pause.
Obsidian.md - such a joy to use it for keyboard-based notetaking.
Zulip - group chat that is not Slack and not Teams and the threads actually work for comms.
Supernote A5X - a tangible upgrade over the pen-and-paper notetaking.
Fiskars splitting axe. Estwing hatchet (the leather handled one). Kershaw knives. Victorinox knives.
First generation Honda Rebel: this bike is two bolts and a nut so super easy to work on, reliable, and gets amazing gas mileage.
Molle style backpack as a diaper bag.
It's older than my partner and me together and still works like a charm.
Surface Duo - while it has tons of flaws on the software level, it looks like a sci-fi device because of how slim it is!
Just very nicely done. When I'm finished beating it to shreds, I'll require another.
More frustrating: Linux on the desktop
incredibly influential and the source code is amazing
Very thoughtful design and execution.
Perfect organic shape affordable responsive/non-responsive modern yoyo. Cheap enough to use anywhere, light, great response..
The parts are cheap, interchangeable, work with the bees and are pretty obvious in the wet, the dark and to a beginner.
Built-in attenuator, excellent spring reverb, and easy to dial in edge of breakup. Great clean and dirty tones
My lodge cast iron skillet and dutch oven.
Thank you, long forgotten prehistoric people.
If you think about it, airplane toilets. Small and efficient. They tend to have a clear design cue to know how to push open the door. The door lock also turns on the light, so it’s almost impossible to accidentally leave the door unlocked.
Frequenter suitcases. Only available in Japan, they have completely silent, user-replaceable wheels. The one I have is exactly the largest possible carryon size for most airlines.
Anker 45W usb-c GaN charger. It’s not much bigger than a standard iPhone charger. Overall a bit smaller since actually, since the power blades fold inside which is a nice touch. I just travelled for a month. I brought only this charger, one lightning cable and one usb-c cable. It was good enough, with a little bit of foresight to swap things out, to keep my all of my work and personal stuff charged (2 MacBooks, 2 iPhones, Nintendo switch, mouse and usb-c shaver). Made possible by the standardization of usb-c. It’s a bit of a nightmare for all of the various incompatibilities for data transfer and video but for charging it’s great!
GPS in cars, in Japan. They are usually slow and have terrible UIs. But, they usually give a picture perfect view of which lane to be in, even showing you the highway signs exactly as they appear in reality. And even 10+ years ago, a highway radio system broadcasts traffic conditions and (I think) highway toll information to the GPS units.
3M command strip hooks. Essential for home renters and have a clear indication of how to remove them.
Ski boots with a walk mode. At the lower end they let you walk easier but may be a bit less stiff. At the high end, they let you choose between touring mode and downhill mode, barely have a stiffness penalty and as a bonus let you walk easier. If you have a budget of under $800 don’t even try high end ones on because they are impossible to not buy. These are interesting to research too because it turns out there are only a handful of high end ski boot designers in the world and some of them are on the ski boot forums to answer your questions.
My biggest one is AirTags. They seem to be completely unadvertised recently, probably because when they first came out there was discussion about privacy. Like AirPods, you just open them and they sync and start working.
They are cheap for what they are, I got 8 of them and put one in every bag I use. I’m a forgetful person and have left many things behind over the years.
So far I’ve conveniently been able to find stuff I’ve left in another room, which is nice and once was alerted when I left my suitcase in one of the main stations in Paris. I got the alert that I left it behind well before I got on my train without it.
When I demo them to people, they are usually blown away when they realize they work anywhere there is an iPhone nearby. Not only near my iPhone.
I also put one in expensive shipped items for work. Has been great to be able to see where stuff is. It works reliable to things show up on the tarmac as soon as a cargo flight lands.
It will be something to pass on to your kids if you like camping.
I have a version of the doussal they dont sell anymore which is one of these https://shop.trangia.se/en/trangia-stove/trangia-stove-25-la...
a kettle https://shop.trangia.se/en/kettles/200325.html a green cutting board/strainer https://shop.trangia.se/en/accessories/multi-disc-md25.html and I got a 1Litre fuel bottle as an extra https://shop.trangia.se/en/accessories/fuel-bottle-1-0l.html
The kettle and green cutting board fit inside the main setup (pots) so it takes up no extra space and you can stuff a couple of knives, forks and spoons inside the setup as well.
You can comfortably cook for two with this so its weight between two backpackers with other equipment like tent is not that heavy!
All you need to clean it is hot water and a metal scourer like one of these https://www.diy.com/departments/stainless-steel-scourer-pack... which fits nicely inside the kettle.
I got the Stainless Ally combo because you need to clean it and stainless cleans easily with a simple metal scourer, you can even get black soot off it easily so you cant ruin it like you can with non-stick coated camping stoves.
You can run it on pure alcohol, methylated spirits, petrol (gasoline) and other flammable liquids, although Meths is recommended and with a push even small twigs, branches and kindling if you run out of flammable liquids.
You can also get a pressurised gas burner for it as well which I dont have so cant comment on.
I've cooked for 2 near Ben Macdui wild camping on the Cairngorm plateau in a few feet of snow one Easter when the UK was getting hit with plenty of snow, a Met Office amber alert gale force storm not far from The Devils kitchen, Snowdonia another time I like to test things to destruction and this is one tool which gets my recommendation!
Plenty of decent evening meals, none of this freeze dried just add water nonsense and a decent cooked breakfast in the mornings, namely sausages, bacon, hash browns, baked beans, black pudding and eggs with HP Brown Sauce. Most of the weight in my rucksack when I go wild camping is good food!
The two pots are slightly different sizes so they fit inside each other russian doll like one way but the other way they stack on top of each other so with the green cutting board for a pot lid, you can keep cooked food warm/hot whilst cooking the rest of a meal up. Yes you may be swapping two stacked pots with the frying pan periodically if you want to do a fryup for breakfast or steak, mash and veg for an evening meal, but if you like cooking thats part of the challenge of having decent food in the most remote inhospitable parts of the world.
Its very bash proof as well, I've seen state of the pressurised gas burners break out of the box on expeditions whilst being pumped where as the Trangia has no moving parts to break, its the best designed product for me because of its simplicity and ruggedness. You could chuck your rucksac down the side of a mountain and it would still work!
A little tip, if you like a Full English breakfast dont take a bottle of cooking oil, take some hard solid blocks of pure saturated fat aka beef dripping. It doesnt melt except in the hottest of environments so its still solid during a British summer and you wont risk a flimsy bottle of cooking oil splitting inside your rucksack and you dont have to have the weight of a ruggedised bottle to store cooking oil inside your rucksack. Every good chef knows, is where the flavour comes from whilst giving you the calories to do some very nice expeditions.
When camping in the snow when its below freezing, take a couple of fuel bottles as you will burn through more fuel especially if the only water around you is melting snow.
All in all it gets my top marks, best designed, could not recommend it enough prize, design award, etc etc every time.
Potato peeler
Every tub/shower fixture in the apartments I've lived in and all the hotels I've visited since has been different. They have all replaced this simple arrangement with some godawful thing that tries to combine the two variables of "amount of hot water" and "amount of cold water" into one knob/lever/dial/whatever. Usually with absolutely no markings. It takes an annoying amount of time to figure these out the first time and sometimes they remain annoying forever - the one in my current apartment is mounted at a weird angle, so "off" is slightly to the right of pointing the handle straight down; maximum hot water is somewhere below pointing straight right, and pointing straight right is cold. Pointing straight down is an annoying, chilly trickle.
Every time I take a shower I miss the simplicity of two knobs, clearly marked.
----
The humble handlebar-mounted bicycle gear shift. So much more pleasant than reaching down to a little lever mounted on the frame like I did before these became standard on even the cheapest bikes. Just move my hand over on the handlebar a little, grab, and twist: there's a little resistance, then a distinct click as it moves to the next spot, which changes the tension in the cable and makes the derailleur do its job of moving the chain from one gear to another. It is not perfect, but its failure modes are much more prone to "a little out of alignment and now you skip over a gear or two in the middle" than "it's super easy to shift the chain off the gears entirely". People have come up with other ways to alter the gear ratio between the crank and the wheel but they are all much more complex and power-hungry than the grip-shifter and derailleur combination.
----
If you want a specific brand and model of thing, my Tom Binh "Pilot" bag is really nice. Durable, reasonably cute, carries my computer and everything I need for a day going out to cafes to work, with enough room for a change of clothes or two if I stuff it tightly. Has some nice touches like a pocket in the center with a drain hole for a water bottle or a compact umbrella, and a pocket in the back that unzips on the bottom so you can empty it and slide it over the extended handle of your big rolling bag when traveling. I've had it for like half a decade and it's been my main bag for a lot of that time. https://www.tombihn.com/collections/travel-bags/products/pil...
It was the perfect design, nothing could be added nor taken away to make it better.
But apple being Apple they redesigned it to be crap then discontinued it.
On the topic of designing great things and Apple …. Can I say that I hate Apples “minimalism above all else” approach to design. For example I want computers with lots of ports - what’s the point in buying a minimal Apple computer only to instantly plug it into another box that provides the basic ports I need for keyboard mouse external disks and camera? Somehow though the designers at Apple think this is the optimum design. I do acknowledge recent Macs bring ports back but still not enough.
I also hate it that Apple got rid of the standard headphone jack - for gods sake why? Answer: Apple designers.
https://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fx950.html
There are similar things on the market but nothing that ties it altogether quite so succinctly.
