Best value item you’ve purchased

[leopard print]

What’s the best value item you’ve purchased compared to its price? First thing that comes to mind for me is a massage gun I purchased from Amazon. Got it for around $75 and have been using it regularly for over a year. It feels amazing on sore muscles.

[Nachbar]

Originally Posted by leopard print

What’s the best value item you’ve purchased compared to its price? First thing that comes to mind for me is a massage gun I purchased from Amazon. Got it for around $75 and have been using it regularly for over a year. It feels amazing on sore muscles.

Have and love my massage gun too.

For me it's the e30. Doubled in value since I boutht it 4 years ago. Oh.. and Bitcoin. Quadruplet since I bought it. I even managed to sell one of them before the crash.

[NorCalAthlete]

$5 got me an inflatable floating cooler thing for pool parties that I've used a ton, it's pretty rad.

I've enjoyed a ton of golf with my clubs that are now pushing 14 years old. I spent ~$1k on them and if you figure golf is about 4.5 hours per round, and I play ~20x on average over the last 10 years alone, it's like $0.25 / hour.

Sony MDRv6 monitors have been great for everything at my computer from gaming to music. $50 on sale on Amazon and I use them 10x as much as my Bose QC35s or Vmoda Crossfades (those are for work and the gym, respectively).

I dunno, a few other things.

[Tommy-G]

Hmmmm....I dunno

[vreihen16]

I bought a pair of cheap $4.00 sneakers at a K-Mart in Kansas back in 2000, and shaved the rubber soles down to next-than-nothing so that I could feel the pedals better while driving. Painful to wear on hot asphalt, but I got 15 years out of them and even wore them to my wedding.

During the One Lap of America in the 1990's, I broke my watch band on the road. Picked up a cheap $3.99 digital watch at a truck stop along the route, planning to swap the band over to my good watch. Wound up using that cheap watch for 7 years as my everyday timepiece, until the band broke. Several years later, it was still running and within a minute of accurate when I looked at it in the toolbox drawer where I stashed it.....

[Frostynorth]

Vitamix blender, worth every penny.

[King Rudi]

Most likely my home. Was fortunate enough to be able to pay cash (so I negotiated the shit out of the price) and have accrued roughly $42k (as the market currently sits) in equity since buying 5 years ago. I'd love to sell and turn a profit, but current market conditions prevent that.

[vreihen16]

I just remembered an item worth mentioning. While standing in the checkout line at Hazard Fraught (Harbor Freight) several years ago, they had a bin of composite 3/8" ratchets near the register with a sale price of $6.99 and a written *lifetime* warranty. Considering that "lifetime" warranty on a plastic ratchet as a challenge, I picked one up and threw it into my roller toolbox in the race car hauler.

I used it with a pipe to break aircooled VW cylinder head bolts free, remove frozen exhaust manifold nuts, and beat it with a hammer to free difficult fasteners on various other projects...and the thing still works and looks like new!

Although I don't get to wrench much these days due to medical issues, I keep an eye on the HF sales so that I can buy matching 1/4" and 1/2" ratchets if/when they ever go on a deep sale. If I was still able to work on vehicles, I would actually pay full retail for them.....

https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-t...het-66313.html




.

[RelaxIN2]

Gave it to the wife for her Birthday... she hasn't spoken to me in 2 weeks. Best money I EVER spent..!

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by King Rudi

Most likely my home. Was fortunate enough to be able to pay cash (so I negotiated the shit out of the price) and have accrued roughly $42k (as the market currently sits) in equity since buying 5 years ago. I'd love to sell and turn a profit, but current market conditions prevent that.

I will never understand the housing market in the states. It seems for the most part there are not dramatic swings in value (few states like NY, Cali, etc excluded). Housing market here has gone absolute bonkers.

Basically, if you weren't in already, it's unlikely you are getting in till there is a crash, if there is a crash. I figure our house has appreciated in value by at least a million over cost in the last 6 years. It's dumb.

But at the same time you don't want to sell because you have to buy in this market or take a flyer and rent for who knows how long. My dad thought the market couldn't keep going 8 years ago and did exactly that and sold. Boy was he wrong lol. He kicks himself now when he thinks about it.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by King Rudi

Most likely my home. Was fortunate enough to be able to pay cash (so I negotiated the shit out of the price) and have accrued roughly $42k (as the market currently sits) in equity since buying 5 years ago. I'd love to sell and turn a profit, but current market conditions prevent that.

I would say my home also, but that's the catch though, you have all this equity but by selling it you then have to spend all that equity buying your next house for stupid money. Mine has probably gone up $300k in the last 10 years but I would say at least like half of that has been in the past year.

For me my corolla that I paid around $19k OTD for and I'm in the process of selling to Vroom for over $20k a year and a half later. Did that with our first RV also, bought it new then sold it about a year later for slightly more than I paid for it.

However straight up best value for the amount of enjoyment I get from it would have to be my inflatable hot tub. I bought this in the before time for like $300. Prices for it have now skyrocketed to over $600 and I've seen it as high as like $800. However for what I paid I LOVE it. We use to have a huge "real" hot tub and that thing was a PITA. It was always leaking or broken in some way. Cleaning it was another big pain. This one is perfect!

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by King Rudi

Most likely my home. Was fortunate enough to be able to pay cash (so I negotiated the shit out of the price) and have accrued roughly $42k (as the market currently sits) in equity since buying 5 years ago. I'd love to sell and turn a profit, but current market conditions prevent that.

If we are gonna do houses, we paid 850k 10 years ago and could sell tomorrow for $2.2M but I think that's not in the spirit of the OP.

I nominated my 12 inch cast iron pan, cost me $30 5 years ago and it is brilliant. Eggs, stir fry, sauces, pancakes, crepes, searing roasts etc you bloody name it. Can be used stove top, in oven or on a grill.

Just a magnificent tool.

[3.0L]

Hands down, my hot tub.

[leopard print]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

If we are gonna do houses, we paid 850k 10 years ago and could sell tomorrow for $2.2M but I think that's not in the spirit of the OP.

I nominated my 12 inch cast iron pan, cost me $30 5 years ago and it is brilliant. Eggs, stir fry, sauces, pancakes, crepes, searing roasts etc you bloody name it. Can be used stove top, in oven or on a grill.

Just a magnificent tool.

Yeah, I was more thinking about cheaper items that provided a ton of value to the purchaser.

Love my cast iron as well. I think I use my Loge more than any other pot/pan in my kitchen.

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by leopard print

Yeah, I was more thinking about cheaper items that provided a ton of value to the purchaser.

Love my cast iron as well. I think I use my Loge more than any other pot/pan in my kitchen.

Ok, fine then.

My herb grinder.

[upstatedoc]

Did someone say herb

[Esteban]

Like this?

[POBEP]

Apple Watch.

Never had a watch in my life, was super skeptical about the concept in general.

After a year of ownership found it super useful.

Still can not justify the price though

[Darth One]

In terms of utility, I’d say my $90 Fitbit has really helped me get 100% more physically fit and get back to my ideal weight. I consider that priceless.

As far as actual value vs price of acquisition, i was once able to get an IWC Portuguesier chronograph for just under $2k net cost to me. This was back in the days when Bing was offering cash back - i happened to notice it mistakenly priced at an online dealer, and they not only honored the price, but made it eligible for cash back

[c1pher]

LL Bean Flannel lined shirt. Have owned them for 15 years. It seemed pricy to me at the time. I have two.

[TiMSport]

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

Sony MDRv6 monitors have been great for everything at my computer from gaming to music. $50 on sale on Amazon and I use them 10x as much as my Bose QC35s or Vmoda Crossfades (those are for work and the gym, respectively).

Dude, those MDRv6 headphones are awesome. I've owned a pair of these for many years and they still hold up. The only shitty thing about them are the earpads as they get worn relatively easy and that's a well known issue. Luckily you can find aftermarket replacements. These headphones have been around forever. To be precise, since 1985! I'll take these over any pair of Bose any day.

Wanna see something f'n crazy? Check this out! WTF?
https://www.videoandaudiocenter.com/...xoCMa4QAvD_BwE

[Merami fan]

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

Sony MDRv6 monitors

I used to daily a pair of those. Absolutely the best bang for the buck (for neutral headphones). The only issue with them is that the pads suck. I still use them for travel; I leave my HD600s at my desk. Similarly neutral, but open back instead of closed. Slightly better sound and better build. I think these are the best compromise between quality and price at $300. I'd say it's hard to argue anything else is a better buy until you go well over $1k, which is a completely different category.

$300 for headphones is more than most people care to spend, but I can wear them 12 hours a day, so it's a good value to me.

Other things:
$9 wrist brace. Don't need it often these days, but it helped a lot when I used to play PC games on top of the usual hours on the computer each day.
$25 weighted blanket (+$15 cover). Helps me sleep. Worth any amount of money.
Electric kettle. Tea, coffee, boiling water faster for food.
Bimmercode and OBD adapter. Turning off the fake engine noise, etc...