Mastodawn

RanchOnPancakes Jul 12, 2023

What is something really stupid you purchased that turned out far better than expected?

What is something really stupid you purchased that turned out far better than expected? - Lemmy.world

I bought a piece of 1.5 inch stiff foam to try to fix a sag in a bet. It didn’t work but having that thick piece of solid foam around has been a life saver. Need something flat to put a laptop on? Throw it on the foam. Going to be doing something that requires you to be on your knees for a while? Get the foam! It went from stupid purchase to something I’d gladly replace if it broke.

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danhasnolife Jul 12, 2023

My wife got me a fitbit. I resisted a little bit because I didn’t want to have yet another device to monitor, charge, and maintain etc. I’ve been really surprised and impressed and how effective it has been in subtly encouraging me to make some small improvements in my habits. Not a bad deal for $100.

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Captain Poofter Jul 12, 2023

This one really shocked me, too! I got a Fitbit to monitor my heart rate because of a genetic condition, but fast forward a couple years and I’m running a mile and exercising multiple times a week.

Didn’t see that coming, but a nice result!

Tbh, I hate the Fitbit though. I hate that it’s owned by Google and charge me to see my own data. I’d love to switch, but I can’t find alternatives that check all the boxes from a Charge 5…

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pebble3292 Jul 12, 2023

Albeit a bit more pricey I love the Garmin Forerunner Smartwatches. There is a very wide variety at many different price points, no subscription and access to all data, integrates well with other services. Not sure about the OLED versions but I love the non OLED ones. Touch display, color (although not as vibrant), smartphone connectivity (e.g. notifications) and even payment (credit card on the watch, no phone needed)… with all that the battery still lasts about 2 weeks.

Sorry for shilling. There was a time when I hated Garmin. But their watches have come a long way.

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kenblu24

I went from a Pebble Time to a Garmin Forerunner. Amazing battery life (2 weeks vs 5 days). But the software on the now defunct Pebble was massively superior. Sleep tracking on the Garmin sucks despite it having many more sensors. The Pebble pretty much always recognized short naps, and was pretty accurate with sleep/wake times.

The Garmin’s UI is also dogcrap. For example, if you get a text, it first pops up with the name of who’s texting you. You have to wait two seconds before the actual text shows up. If someone texts you again, the name pops up. You kinda have to wait for the other person to stop sending texts to be able to read anything.

I wish we could have Pebble’s software in the body of a Forerunner. Sadly Fitbit bought Pebble and subsequently threw it in the trash.