What's your gadget addiction?

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › What's your gadget addiction?

gehenna

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#303671 27-Feb-2023 08:02

You know what I mean by addiction....it's the thing that gets announced that you already have, but now the one you have is obsolete because there's a new one out and you have to have it.....

I'll start....I can't let a year go by without getting the latest Samsung Ultra phone....and that got even worse in the past 2 years because I added a Z Fold to the addiction. So, I basically have to budget for 2 new phones every year to avoid the depression of not getting one. I realise "have" is a subjective word in that sentence....

What's your gadget addiction?

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#3042544 27-Feb-2023 08:06

Expensive habit there gehenna!

In general I have to reign myself in otherwise I give wifey an excuse to buy something silly like expensive hair straighteners or somesuch. But if I relent it will generally be something related to one of hand tools, home automation or golf. Typically I find myself buying a tool for a one-off job such as a right-angled drill adapter which then sits in the toolbox forever after unused.

Totally worth it though!

gehenna

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#3042545 27-Feb-2023 08:10

I've had more destructive habits in the past, I'm ok with this one 🤣

MikeB4

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#3042546 27-Feb-2023 08:11

I was abit like that however I decided a while back to no longer buy the flagship devices and keep my devices a lot longer.

alasta

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#3042552 27-Feb-2023 08:48

I'm not an IT guy, so phones and computers don't excite me.

I'm more into health & fitness, so multisport watches are a big thing for me. Being able to track my running and swimming stats like speed, distance, cadence, vertical oscillation, and VO2 Max is hugely valuable for training management. It's also good to be able to assess my general fitness and training readiness based on things like sleep and resting heart rate.

Having said that, I don't upgrade my watch every year. Every two to three years is enough.

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#3042554 27-Feb-2023 08:52

Mine is weird...it's not so much that I have to have the latest and greatest gadgets, but more that I am obsessed with constant tinkering - especially so with my Mountain Bike.

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turtleattacks

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#3042555 27-Feb-2023 09:07

alasta:

I'm not an IT guy, so phones and computers don't excite me.

I'm more into health & fitness, so multisport watches are a big thing for me. Being able to track my running and swimming stats like speed, distance, cadence, vertical oscillation, and VO2 Max is hugely valuable for training management. It's also good to be able to assess my general fitness and training readiness based on things like sleep and resting heart rate.

Having said that, I don't upgrade my watch every year. Every two to three years is enough.

Apple Watch or something else?

What's your VO2Max? :)

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Senecio

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#3042562 27-Feb-2023 09:14

Like @alasta my addiction is sports technology. I’m a data geek so love seeing all my training stats and history. I’m a middle aged , middle of the pack long distance runner so a long way from the pointy end of the field but I do love to geek out on the numbers.

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turtleattacks

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#3042565 27-Feb-2023 09:19

Senecio: Like @alasta my addiction is sports technology. I’m a data geek so love seeing all my training stats and history. I’m a middle aged , middle of the pack long distance runner so a long way from the pointy end of the field but I do love to geek out on the numbers.

Do you geek out on Strava? Or something else?

There's an iOS app called HealthFit which is also great to geek out at the numbers.

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Dingbatt

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#3042567 27-Feb-2023 09:25

When things were truly advancing year on year, I was on that tech treadmill. While I resisted being a bleeding edge early adopter, having some nice new tech was always a draw. I really don’t like being a beta tester though. I want things to work.

Hence an HD Plasma TV, then a FHD Plasma (bigger as well) and then an OLED (bigger still). Not just any OLED, but a wallpaper one. But after that I lost interest in further ‘improvements’ because they were too incremental.

I waited until the third iteration of the Samsung Fold before jumping in and really like the concept. I justified it by saying it replaced a phone and a tablet when travelling. Ultimately, I like it because it is a gadget and, if I’m honest, it’s kind of nice when someone says “hey that’s cool, what is it?” I also like the latest S Ultra but had to remind myself that, despite it having an internal S-Pen, it was too big to fit in my pocket. My first Android phone was the HTC Hero.

My focus has moved on to EVs at the moment. Now you really are talking expensive obsession.

I had a recent discussion with a relative who is obsessed with GM/Holden vehicles and has a growing collection. He began telling me what a great deal he had got on his most recent purchase. I thought it was a huge amount of money but I said that if he wanted it, he could afford it (easily) and it brought him pleasure, no other explanation was required.

I know that may sound a bit hedonistic to some, but as long as you aren’t buying that phone instead of paying the mortgage, or feeding your kids, then that’s all good by me.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

timmmay

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#3042568 27-Feb-2023 09:43

Oddly enough for a tech guy, I don't really need the newest / best of anything. I have a Pixel 4a I might upgrade to a Pixel 8 later this year if it works in NZ, I'd like something a bit faster at some point. I replaced my 10 year old PC when the USB ports started failing. LCD TV is 10 years old, no need to replace it because it works. So as long as things work, and don't slow me down, I tend to keep them.

GV27

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#3042574 27-Feb-2023 09:59

Getting the biggest tech bump while spending less and less money to do it, mostly due to my perception of value changing over time.

Over the years I've dropped out of the Samsung Galaxy S series and down to the A line.

Samsung have kind of ruined it by supposedly nuking the A74, not sure I can be bothered waiting around for a S23 FE that may never exist. I've never really had the disposable income until now and now that I do, I just don't care about the high end stuff anymore.

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#3042577 27-Feb-2023 10:06

I wouldn't call it an addiction but, like @alasta and @senecio I don't mind spending reasonable amounts of money on sports related gear. More running shoes than anything else, but I do enjoy geeking out on the data my Garmin offers. Recently upgraded from a Fenix 5 Sapphire to the Epix Gen 2 Sapphire and the difference was staggering! The touchscreen and OLED screen make a world of difference, not to mention all the extra data available. Not that it helps me run much faster, but it's good to know how I'm progressing.

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#3042601 27-Feb-2023 10:55

Dingbatt:

I know that may sound a bit hedonistic to some, but as long as you aren’t buying that phone instead of paying the mortgage, or feeding your kids, then that’s all good by me.

A few years ago, I would have agreed that this was hedonistic, but I've recently come around to the point of view of people being able to spend lots on wants rather than needs is a net plus - they get to enjoy their stuff, and that money goes back into the economy.

Many people would laugh at yuppies spending 20k on a bottle of wine at a restaurant, but in doing so, they've paid the wages of the staff for a good period of time, and kept another company afloat.

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alasta

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#3042603 27-Feb-2023 10:57

turtleattacks:

alasta:

I'm more into health & fitness, so multisport watches are a big thing for me. Being able to track my running and swimming stats like speed, distance, cadence, vertical oscillation, and VO2 Max is hugely valuable for training management. It's also good to be able to assess my general fitness and training readiness based on things like sleep and resting heart rate.

Apple Watch or something else?

What's your VO2Max? :)

Yeah, at the moment I have a series 6 Apple Watch which I'm really enjoying using now that WatchOS 9 has added heaps of new running related features. I might upgrade to the series 9 this year but can't quite stretch to the Ultra as it's too big for me.

Previously I had a Garmin Fenix 5 Plus and I feel like Garmin make a really good solid product, but I don't think they offer good value for money any more. For example, the Epix 2 sapphire is $500 more than an Apple Watch Ultra despite having no cellular connectivity, and no Garmin offerings under $700 support open water swimming. Polar and Coros have some quite nice looking options but I wonder how long those smaller players will survive now that Apple is trying to eat up some of the serious athlete market.

My VO2Max seems to hover around 59 which probably isn't bad now that I'm in my 40s! I'm starting to get into some of the local segments on Strava, particularly the hill climbs which I tend to compete well in.

alasta

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#3042604 27-Feb-2023 11:01

Gurezaemon:

A few years ago, I would have agreed that this was hedonistic, but I've recently come around to the point of view of people being able to spend lots on wants rather than needs is a net plus - they get to enjoy their stuff, and that money goes back into the economy.

I think with technology it depends on lot on how you are applying it. If you're buying a new phone or iPad or whatever to sit on the couch and play games then that's not great. But if you're buying a new phone to help organise your social life, plan travel, analyse your health & fitness, help manage your workload, etc. then it's money well spent as long as you can legitimately afford it.

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