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Unexpected gadgets?

FireFire Posts: 19,096
in The potting shed
Are there unexpected gadgets in the home that you find you love? The kind of thing you would never guess would be delightful or so useful, but that you now use often? I'm interested to discover your gadget secrets.
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Posts

  • StephenSouthwestStephenSouthwest Posts: 635
    I do enjoy the moisture meter for the woodburner logs, slightly obsessively interested in the behaviour of the V2G charger, love the ecofans on the woodburners...
    ...but my current favourite gadgety gadget is a star shaped potato masher - looking at it you wouldn't think it would work, but it makes great mash!
  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    I loved my ThermPro Thermometer/Humidity reader so much i bought one for every room that has plants. I can't help checking them every time i enter a room.
    Maybe i have OCD!  :D
    Sunny Dundee
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    My 15(?) year old electric shaver packed up the other day so I bought a new one, another Panasonic. The difference in performance is astonishing.

    I also love my pocket sized torch, an expensive Christmas present from my wife a few years ago with a beam of impressive length. An added bonus, though not so at the time, was that the original purchase was a dud one and, compressing a long story here, consequently I later got to feature on the BBC programme ‘Fake Britain’.

    On the interplay of gadgetry and witchcraft I like the low fuel indicator in my car. Not only does it flash a message, it brings up a map showing the location of all nearby filling stations and, get this, it also gives petrol prices.

    At the opposite end of the technology spectrum I like dosette boxes - so simple, so effective. There’s one for my wife and one for the cats. The only problem is the spelling of the word - the permutation of letters s, t and e give about 60 possibilities.


    Rutland, England
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    After the power cut recently I was fed up with not being able to read properly so I bought a neck torch. I think it's great and I've used it for various jobs that needed extra light since. I showed it to a friend who thought it was a great piece of kit so I bought him one too as a thank you for a favour he'd done for me and now he's bought one for his grandson for Christmas. 
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    ooo, I've not seen a star shaped potato masher @StephenSouthwest

    @BenCotto "dosette" is my new word of the day! Thanks for that. "Your cats have a dosette box" is somehow quite a mindblowing sentence. And you have a crazy super-car! Witchcraft indeed.

    @uff - I've never heard of a 'neck torch' before either. I'm clearly not living in the modern world. But all this is exactly why I asked my question and started the thread. I am the proud owner of a Coast HP7R usb torch, I think I saw it recommended on the forum and took the plunge. I use it most days. It's the best thing ever and it gives me a thrill that I can plug it in to recharge. You can probably do that will all modern torch designs these days, but the idea was new to me. I suspect you could drop it of K2 and it would be fine.

    @Balgay.Hill oh, I love my Humidity reader. I'm a bit obessive about it too and might get another. It's so entirely useful.

    I guess these things are always a bit of a punt - we never know how they will fit for us, if they will turn out to be a bit of tat that lives in a cupboard. I'm always quietly amazed when something turns out to be useful or thrilling and changes our life slightly.

  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    This is the neck torch Fire, the black legs are bendable so can be bent to fit whatever task you are doing but leave your hands free. Nice and light too. Your torch looks terrific.

    I'd like to ask you all a question please? Does anyone know of a lantern type of light that is rechargable and that is left plugged into a socket so that if a power cut occurs the light comes on and continues until the battery is used up? My brother in law had one years ago and it was rarely used but handy in case of a power cut. I've searched the internet but not come across one yet. 


    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Is it wrong for me to be excited by a neck torch? :D
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    Fire said:
    Is it wrong for me to be excited by a neck torch? :D
    Actually, I like an excuse to wear mine :o S'truth I'm a sad soul. Mind you it's better than balancing 2 battery operated candles on my bosoms when I'm lying in bed reading. Picture that if you can!
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I don't think I have any gadgets😕
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    I have one of those jar openers @pansyface which works well but tends to chew up lids. I found another way to open lids using a very old gadget - remember those old bottle/can openers which had a round end for bottles and a triangular end for beer cans? Well you can use it as a lever under the rim of a lid to break the vacuum seal and make it easy to open jars without damaging the lids.
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