published 2023 June, last updated 2023 October

There are a small number of products in my life that, in little ways, are life-changing. These are them.

5.11 Belt

I wear a belt every day. I used to buy a new one every 1–2 years, then I got this belt.

That was 10 years ago. I have worn it > 95% of days since then and it shows nearly no signs of wear. I expect I will never buy another belt.

Amazon / 5.11

Micro Four Thirds

For photography folks.

Micro Four Thirds is a camera and lens conector. Unlike most proprietary systems, it's an open standard with many companies participating. The de facto flagships are OM System (formerly Olympus) and Panasonic.

Its biggest advantage is its high photo quality : gear size ratio. My archenemy is not having my camera with me; every time I have to settle for my phone camera I question having a camera at all.

Since I switched to micro 4/3 I can fit my setup in ~half the space as before. That means a full-day setup in a 20L backpack, a camera + couple lenses in a 6L sling, or a camera + lens in a 2L chest pouch.

I'm using the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III (Amazon / OM System). My everyday versatile lens is the Olympus M.Zuiko 14–150mm F4.0–5.6.

A Long, Mountable Power Strip

Mounting a hilariously long power strip under every desk in my house, paired with any cheap cable basket, has given me the best and easiest cable management I've ever had.

It's important to overbudget your outlets by ~2x and to go long, not fat, so cables can plug in where they are instead of playing musical chairs with a rat's nest of wall warts.

Any will do, but I use these: Amazon / KungFuKingSocket

Noctua Fans

As a noise-sensitive person whose hobbies involve computers, silence is important to me in a gaming machine. Noctua makes giant, silent, brown fans. That's it.

Once I got one I could never switch back. My build is centered around their obnoxiously large fanned heatsink, and has been purring for six years. I expect to reuse the same fans for my next build, whenever it is.

Amazon

Jetz Scrubz Sponges

These kitchen sponges are easily a 10x–100x improvement over the traditional sponges, in all of these categories:

They're pricier upfront, but cheaper long-term.

Amazon

Bidets

If someone came up to you in the street and smeared poop all over you, would you wipe it off with a paper towel, or would you take a shower?

Before I tried one, I had three fundamental misunderstandings about bidets:

  1. Bidets are separate from toilets.
  2. Bidets are expensive.
  3. It's a big deal to install a bidet.

None of these is true. It takes about 15 minutes to install a bidet onto your toilet, and you can get one for under fifty bucks. It's just a piece of plastic that goes between the toilet and the seat. You do not need to put your hands inside the toilet bowl to install it.

Bidets pay for themselves in unused toilet paper. I use between 1–10% of the toilet paper I used before. Its only function now is drying.

Bidets feel weird for about 10 seconds, then never again. It's honestly disgusting not to use one now.

Buy whichever one makes you try it, but here are some options:

In Search Of

I'm in search of a life-changing product for these categories. Please email me if you have recommendations.

Water Bottle

I am in search of a reusable water bottle with the following qualities:

The closest I ever came was the Thermos Element 5 32 oz, but I lost mine and the product has since discontinued.

Hair Trimmer

I am in search of a combination beard and head trimmer with these qualities:

The closest I've found in my research is the MANSCAPED Beard Hedger, but it seems to need five or more passes for good coverage.