Does it work well?
$500 hair dryers.
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I don’t know. I have a slow cooker too that I use. 
I used to cook a TON of food for my dad --puree, low salt etc., beef, veggies, potatoes, sweet potatoes. I’d make about 3 weeks of meals at a time. The instant pot was fabulous–no way I could’ve managed without it and with very little clean-up. What might use a couple pots, the oven and stove and take an hour to cook could be reduced to 20 minutes in one pot with set and forget. And easy to make larger quantities. The trick is in the learning curve. I’m not an expert at it but the more you use it the more uses you find. I started with Mrs. Rootitoot cook books which while having great recipes also is so explicit for the directions (she added all her mistakes and assures you how forgiving the process really is while telling you which buttons to push) it gave lots of confidence for a beginner.
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They also put the toppings on the bottom, so you taste the veggies first.
I hate having to rearrange my burger – put the toppings on top. Eating it upside-down just won’t do.
We really like heated seats. Originally I said no reason to seek out heated steering wheel, seemed overkill (partly because our garage stays somewhat warm). But hubby and friends seem to really like them.
Fancy wheels on cars are lost on me. My husband and I are both keen on having good tires. But I don’t care whether the wheels are snazzy or not.
A product category that I don’t get the hype over is fine red wine. It matters to my husband, so mostly I drink whatever type he’s in the mood for when we open or order a bottle.
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Crocs - the style/vibrancy are not for me. They remind me of my sister’s “jelly shoes” back in the '80s.
Papa John’s pizza – Sausage is my favorite topping, and theirs tastes way too sweet to me, almost like breakfast sausage. Also, the sauce is nearly flavorless. Let’s add some oregano, basil, thyme, garlic, etc.
Wendy’s burgers – I love their chili cheese fries, but the burgers seem dry and underseasoned to me.
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There are many products. One example is Rivian brand cars/trucks. I may discuss some other products in other posts.
Rivian cars/trucks seem quite popular in my neighborhood, rivaling Tesla in popularity among my neighborhood. I seem them every day. In the CR owner surveys, Rivians are consistently one of the most well likely brands by owners. The summary at Most and Least Loved Car Brands - Consumer Reports lists Rivians as the most loved car brand among owners by a wide margin. The gap between #1 Rivian and #2 brand is the same size as the gap between #2 brand and #20 brand (out of 27). In the 2024 owner survey 90% of R1S owners said they’d buy the same car again, which is higher than any other of the ~20 luxury car comparables they list and among the top few highest of all cars in the survey. Other models show a similar pattern to 1S. It’s not just my neighborhood. Rivian owners as a whole seem to love their cars.
Yet the same survey indicates Rivians have poor reliability. In the years for which sample size has been large enough to publish a reliability rating, the 1S has had a relaibility of under 10/100 – lower than all listed comparables. In the most recent available year of detailed reliability ratings, the 1S received the minimum possible rating by owners in reliability of suspension/steering, body hardware, leaks/noises, climate control, etc. Owner satisfaction is usually well correlated with having few mechanical problems. I am not aware of any other brand with such a discrepancy between owner reported reliability and owner reported satisfaction with car.
One possible reason why owners might like the car in spite of having poor reliability is lower cost. Lower cost often leads to lower expectations. However, this is not the case with Rivians. New from website range from ~$80k to ~$120k, depending on options (prior to incentives). There are many options for far lower cost EVs.
I’m not an EV owner, so perhaps I don’t have a good feel of what EV owners are looking for in a vehicle. Maybe typical Rivian owners don’t really care about cost or reliability and instead focus on other things? I personally don’t like the appearance, but it stands out, and can see how some might like it. They have good HP and range, although the same could be said about other lower cost EVs. Maybe they fulfill the SUV/truck EV niche market better than the limited number of other alternative options?
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Car wheels can have functional effects on aerodynamics and therefore efficiency, as described at https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/70600281.pdf . However, the better aerodynamic wheel designs have large flat areas with just enough openings for brake ventilation, which tend to be the opposite of what people seemingly consider stylish.
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I don’t see Rivians anywhere near the frequency I see Teslas, even including the Amazon electric delivery vans made by Rivian.
Yes, it could be that the pickup and boxier SUV niche does not have as many competitors that EV buyers are interested in (on the other hand, less boxy SUVs seem to have a large number of EV entries). Also, some of the competitors may not stand out as much (e.g. F-150 Lightning) to be as noticeable.
I have Raynaud Syndrome. Heated steering wheels are a must. I even use mine in August when it’s 95 outside.
A previous car didn’t have one so I had to use my heated seats and sit on one hand at a time while keeping my other hand on the wheel.
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The color gray
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Ha! Amen!
Actually, my instant pot can do slow cooking OR pressure cooking. Very versatile. But it’s the pressure cooking function that I love. Reduces cooking times significantly.
Funny, we had an old mirro regular pressure cooker for many years. Eventually the gasket just disintegrated, and this was before you would order a new one online. So…we pitched it…and I was sad. My favorite beef stew recipe was made in that old pressure cooker…hmmm…well son of a gun…I still had the Mirro pressure cooker cookbook…so made it in my instant pot…and it was exactly as I remembered it! Same for the beef stroganoff recipe!
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This chart supports your thought:
The chart at the bottom of the page shows that Rivian is the worst among 32 brands for reliability, yet the best for owner satisfaction.
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I love car wheels. They can make or ruin the look of car. I have two extra sets in my garage just in case I’m feeling bored with my current wheel choice. I’d have more sets, if I had the space.
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Fun thread. As someone posted above - I really don’t get the interest in fancy, name brand purses for hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.
Sooo many women are really into it - I’ve long wondered - what am I missing?? Been carrying my nice, small backpack with a bunch of organizational pockets (got second hand) and couldn’t be happier, lol.
(but I’ll spend a bunch of $$ on skincare so no judgment on purse aficionados!)
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lol. I use the same lotion on my face, elbows, heels, whatever. I’m still working on tubes of lotion my friend Dalia buys at the Dead Sea kibbutz where her sister-in-law resides and gives me when she and her husband stay with me. i am still working on tubes from some years ago.
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The combination gray and white forever and ever, amen.
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I assume you don’t have very thick hair that frizzes unless it is bone dry. Regular, inexpensive hair dryers have started overheating and smoking. Ask me how I know.
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Some answers. The bag I was thinking of buying secondhand a couple of years ago now sells for 2x what I would have paid for it. With strategically chosen fancy purses, the owner can resell and recoup most or all of the price they paid then update their bag with a new purchase.
I don’t have big statement bags, but I do own a WOC. It is a very practical micro bag, as it forces me to carry only essential stuff without overloading my back, and I will use it until it disintegrates. Decade into the ownership, it is still going strong. So there is something to be said about quality of craftsmanship in those designer pieces.
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