Cheap things you bought but DO like
Discussion
I keep a Fisher Bullet Space Pen in my pocket, (I think they’re about £30), but I used a Bic Biro the other day and was reminded how bloody good they are.
Motoring related, Clarke’s ratchets from Machine Mart
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-pro392-38-p...
A tenth of the price of Facom ones, (which themselves are better than Snap On ratchets IMO), but the Clarke’s are 95% as good as the Facom ones.
I’ve got a 1/4”, 3/8’s” and 1/2” versions and the 3/8” and 1/2” have got absolute abuse over the last 15 years without ever failing.
Motoring related, Clarke’s ratchets from Machine Mart
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-pro392-38-p...
A tenth of the price of Facom ones, (which themselves are better than Snap On ratchets IMO), but the Clarke’s are 95% as good as the Facom ones.
I’ve got a 1/4”, 3/8’s” and 1/2” versions and the 3/8” and 1/2” have got absolute abuse over the last 15 years without ever failing.
105.4 said:
I keep a Fisher Bullet Space Pen in my pocket, (I think they’re about £30), but I used a Bic Biro the other day and was reminded how bloody good they are.
Sensational pens. I’ve carried one daily from about 2012 and I love it. Being a lefty the ink can smudge a bit - what refill do you use? I’ve got the genuine Fisher in mine but it’s actually more prone to smearing than the Diplomat refills were. It’s a simple pen, especially in the basic chrome finish, but I’ve gotten a few remarks on it over the years.Levin said:
105.4 said:
I keep a Fisher Bullet Space Pen in my pocket, (I think they’re about £30), but I used a Bic Biro the other day and was reminded how bloody good they are.
Sensational pens. I’ve carried one daily from about 2012 and I love it. Being a lefty the ink can smudge a bit - what refill do you use? I’ve got the genuine Fisher in mine but it’s actually more prone to smearing than the Diplomat refills were. It’s a simple pen, especially in the basic chrome finish, but I’ve gotten a few remarks on it over the years.
I use Fisher #PR4 medium black refills.
One pen I keep in my pocket, the other I keep on my desk in my office.
sjwb said:
To SCE AUX, Wolf Blass Vineyard Reserve from Asda. Five quid a bottle, worth five times that, absolutely delicious.
Bought on your recommendation and concur, superb for the price. Thank you.
Seconded, although I had already picked up a few bottles before I saw the recommendation. Enjoying a bottle now.Bought on your recommendation and concur, superb for the price. Thank you.
Cheap (well, not expensive) things that I've bought that I really like - two Raspberry Pi. One runs Pi-Hole so no devices on the house wi-fi get ads, the other running Kodi for catch-up services, Netflix and the like.
Oh and my Squier VM Jazz Fretless bass, better than it's got any right to be for £250.
One item I use almost every day cost me 20p from a charity shop. A really thin, narrow engineers 6" rule with a depth slide on it. On one side it has mm and cm on the left (half mm marks for the first 50mm), inches on the right.
On the other side is a metric to imperial conversion chart.
Really decent little thing
On the other side is a metric to imperial conversion chart.
Really decent little thing
My violin, ok my dad bought it so I’m cheating a bit.
It was lent to me for quite a few years by a close family friend, and my dad bought it for my 18th birthday.
It was cheap for a violin, but a partially good one - £400.
It was originally owned by a pro player who used it for outdoor performances, as his main one was too valuable to be used outdoors.
I’ll never sell it, but it’s worth around £2500 now, maybe a bit more (I had it valued for insurance purposes about 10 years ago).
It was lent to me for quite a few years by a close family friend, and my dad bought it for my 18th birthday.
It was cheap for a violin, but a partially good one - £400.
It was originally owned by a pro player who used it for outdoor performances, as his main one was too valuable to be used outdoors.
I’ll never sell it, but it’s worth around £2500 now, maybe a bit more (I had it valued for insurance purposes about 10 years ago).
underwhelmist said:
sjwb said:
To SCE AUX, Wolf Blass Vineyard Reserve from Asda. Five quid a bottle, worth five times that, absolutely delicious.
Bought on your recommendation and concur, superb for the price. Thank you.
Seconded, although I had already picked up a few bottles before I saw the recommendation. Enjoying a bottle now.Bought on your recommendation and concur, superb for the price. Thank you.
Cheap (well, not expensive) things that I've bought that I really like - two Raspberry Pi. One runs Pi-Hole so no devices on the house wi-fi get ads, the other running Kodi for catch-up services, Netflix and the like.
Oh and my Squier VM Jazz Fretless bass, better than it's got any right to be for £250.
My other recommendations would be the 19 Crimes wines, also in Asda. There's the basic one, then "Banished" and "Uprising". Now these are pricier at £8 to £10 but again, just superb.
On the other side of the coin is a box of their Cabernet Sauvignon at £9.99. Now at £3.33 per bottle you don't expect much but it is very, very drinkable indeed.
mph999 said:
My violin, ok my dad bought it so I’m cheating a bit.
It was lent to me for quite a few years by a close family friend, and my dad bought it for my 18th birthday.
It was cheap for a violin, but a partially good one - £400.
It was originally owned by a pro player who used it for outdoor performances, as his main one was too valuable to be used outdoors.
I’ll never sell it, but it’s worth around £2500 now, maybe a bit more (I had it valued for insurance purposes about 10 years ago).
My violin was also a bargain, which my dad bought from my music teacher at school for £50 - 35 years ago. Although undoubtedly inferior to yours, it is, I think German made, has had a repair at some point way in the past, but still has a reasonable tone - certainly good enough for my level of playing.It was lent to me for quite a few years by a close family friend, and my dad bought it for my 18th birthday.
It was cheap for a violin, but a partially good one - £400.
It was originally owned by a pro player who used it for outdoor performances, as his main one was too valuable to be used outdoors.
I’ll never sell it, but it’s worth around £2500 now, maybe a bit more (I had it valued for insurance purposes about 10 years ago).
Slightly less of a bargain, about a month ago, I bought a 5 string electric violin and a new carbon fibre bow, which I'm also having a lot of fun with, plugging it into Garageband on the Mac via a Presonus iTwo interface.
Whilst on a musical note, my Hohner Special 20 harmonicas for around £30-£35 each - I have several in different keys - everyone learns on a "C" but if not playing with others, I really like to use one in the key of "G" as it is a lower tone and (to me) sounds better.
Looks like they are on sale for well under £30 - see links above.
I really like the tone, the plastic comb means you can wash them out without worrying that the wooden comb will swell, and they don't have the annoying habit of snagging my beard which the Marine Band and Rocket varieties do.
Many, many hours of fun for so little outlay.
Some little battery powered motion sensor automatic LED lights, something like a box of three for a fiver off Amazon in a Black Friday deal years ago on a whim. They’re about the size of a big box of matches and the batteries last forever. Really nice soft light, motion sensor works perfectly, they’re tiny and unobtrusive and come with self adhesive pads so they go anywhere. We now have one precisely positioned at the top of the stairs for night time bathroom runs without having to do a single switch, but they’ve also found homes in shadowier cupboards and even the lid of my tool chest.
Also an MG ZS 180 (the V6 one) for £850 bought as a stopgap, had never wanted one much but it has turned out an absolute hoot, encourages you to attack roundabouts like a touring car & our gravel driveway has become a Special Stage. So light feeling and chuckable, and the engine feels revvy and torquey, even sounds a bit naughty with a huge cone filter & a new back box. Cracking little thing.
Also an MG ZS 180 (the V6 one) for £850 bought as a stopgap, had never wanted one much but it has turned out an absolute hoot, encourages you to attack roundabouts like a touring car & our gravel driveway has become a Special Stage. So light feeling and chuckable, and the engine feels revvy and torquey, even sounds a bit naughty with a huge cone filter & a new back box. Cracking little thing.
Led security lights off Amazon "Mpow", festooned the house in them, everywhere lights up a bit like Michael Jacksons Billie Jean video, safer for walkign round moving the bins and stuff and means anyone up to no good will trigger them left right and centre.
Those Led strip lights on a reel, £15 for the set I bought this week, put them in my man shed and they are great, got some white ones under the stairs and they light every corner rahter than one bulb putting everything in shadow, were about £9.
Those Led strip lights on a reel, £15 for the set I bought this week, put them in my man shed and they are great, got some white ones under the stairs and they light every corner rahter than one bulb putting everything in shadow, were about £9.
SCEtoAUX said:
Glad you guys enjoyed the wine.
My other recommendations would be the 19 Crimes wines, also in Asda. There's the basic one, then "Banished" and "Uprising". Now these are pricier at £8 to £10 but again, just superb.
On the other side of the coin is a box of their Cabernet Sauvignon at £9.99. Now at £3.33 per bottle you don't expect much but it is very, very drinkable indeed.
Is "Reserve" a typo?My other recommendations would be the 19 Crimes wines, also in Asda. There's the basic one, then "Banished" and "Uprising". Now these are pricier at £8 to £10 but again, just superb.
On the other side of the coin is a box of their Cabernet Sauvignon at £9.99. Now at £3.33 per bottle you don't expect much but it is very, very drinkable indeed.
I can find Wolf Blass Vineyards Release Shiraz online only.
Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:
I bought a £40 down jacket from Decathlon last year to wear under my waterproof jacket, but I actually prefer it to my ‘best’ Rab version which is worth 4x as much. It’s the closer fit which makes me like it more rather than it being better in any way because, well, it’s not.
Worth? Cost, you mean.jet_noise said:
SCEtoAUX said:
Glad you guys enjoyed the wine.
My other recommendations would be the 19 Crimes wines, also in Asda. There's the basic one, then "Banished" and "Uprising". Now these are pricier at £8 to £10 but again, just superb.
On the other side of the coin is a box of their Cabernet Sauvignon at £9.99. Now at £3.33 per bottle you don't expect much but it is very, very drinkable indeed.
Is "Reserve" a typo?My other recommendations would be the 19 Crimes wines, also in Asda. There's the basic one, then "Banished" and "Uprising". Now these are pricier at £8 to £10 but again, just superb.
On the other side of the coin is a box of their Cabernet Sauvignon at £9.99. Now at £3.33 per bottle you don't expect much but it is very, very drinkable indeed.
I can find Wolf Blass Vineyards Release Shiraz online only.
SCEtoAUX said:
jet_noise said:
SCEtoAUX said:
Glad you guys enjoyed the wine.
My other recommendations would be the 19 Crimes wines, also in Asda. There's the basic one, then "Banished" and "Uprising". Now these are pricier at £8 to £10 but again, just superb.
On the other side of the coin is a box of their Cabernet Sauvignon at £9.99. Now at £3.33 per bottle you don't expect much but it is very, very drinkable indeed.
Is "Reserve" a typo?My other recommendations would be the 19 Crimes wines, also in Asda. There's the basic one, then "Banished" and "Uprising". Now these are pricier at £8 to £10 but again, just superb.
On the other side of the coin is a box of their Cabernet Sauvignon at £9.99. Now at £3.33 per bottle you don't expect much but it is very, very drinkable indeed.
I can find Wolf Blass Vineyards Release Shiraz online only.
alorotom said:
Levin said:
OllieJolly said:
What is it, though? You mentioned using it on surfaces in the car and I'm getting my hopes up it's something decent for interior fabrics.
You can definitely use it on interior fabrics, although it can cause damage to some so test it first, but it's fantastic for removing pet hair, bobbles, lint etc.
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