What is With the Items on Meh Lately?

@dave Do I even need to say it?

@dave I’d like to see a Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Coolatta.
If you can’t get that, then a Dunkin’ Donuts Fruit Coolatta.

@dave @Limewater That was easy

@dave cheap Ziplok bags, cheap LED light bulbs, hella cheap Windows laptop for my mum, hella cheap inkjet printer (WITH INK), cheap usb-c cables

@dave I miss pocket knives. I did buy the most recent two-for deal of folding knives (which are really nice (and it’s even nicer there are two so I have a backup for when the first one gets dull)) when they were offered the time before last, but they aren’t really pocket knives without a clip.
/image folding knife pocket clip

@dave @medz
/image solar outdoor LED string fairy lights

cheap inkjet printer

@medz Cost per page does not compute.

@dave @eonfifty I want solar string lights too. Decent ones, long strands, 75+ feet, etc.

@dave @eonfifty I would take cheap solar spot lights too.

@dave I would like a new car, please. I would like it to be dark blue, or even violet. I prefer American brands, and want a sedan style. No huge box with an engine, please. I currently have an Impala (2010), which was new (to me) in 2012 (I never ever buy a new car; I don’t like the drive-it-off-the-lot tax).

I’m not in a hurry, and there’s nothing wrong with the car I have, so you have at least a year or so to come up with a decent offer on a new car.

Just to be clear; the car doesn’t have to be brand new, just new to me. A year or two old is probably best. No electric car, thank you. No self-driving capability, and all those helpful features have to have off buttons. I don’t want anything resembling OnStar, or fancy GPS mapping things. I average about 4000 miles a year, and don’t need all that foolishness.

The color is non-negotiable.

Thanks in advance. :-}

@dave @Shrdlu I love purple.

@narfcake Cheaper than paying Kinkos to print me 2 pages every couple months.

@medz If you’re only printing a few pages every couple months, get a laser.

@medz There are some small solar spotlights on the woot app today. They look like rocks.
/image mini solar Stonehenge

@Shrdlu if you can find another 100 or so people who also want that exact thing, we might be on to something.

@dave cheap brand name zip locks including freezer bags

@narfcake ok. Lasers are like 8x more expensive, right?

@dave @narfcake
do you mean, like mediocritee coming along?

@medz About $100 for a Brother all-in-one when it’s on sale. Unlike ink, toner doesn’t dry out, so it can sit for months and still print fine.

@dave @Cerridwyn The site isn’t the greater concern; just the end product.

/image needz moar catshirts

@narfcake ok. Please post link when you haz one

@dave Regular Show merchandise.

@dave This…

@medz I get about 2500 copies out of one laser toner cartridge (around $90). I happen to be using a printer that is maybe around 1998 - it is an HP that the department was throwing out because the clips for the paper holder were broken (so it has been propped up by books all these years I have had it). Prints fine for my purposes and way the heck cheaper in the long run than a ton of ink. Rather amazing that the cartilage is still being sold but I am not going to question my luck.

@medz around here Dollar tree now has usb-c cables that support charge and data. They don’t get much cheaper than that.

@dave now that summer is over, see if Meh can pick a deal on the bug-a-salt gun. I already have one but would buy more as gifts and it definitely qualifies as different.

/image bug-a-salt

@djslack probably just 3 footers, though, right?

@medz 39", but pretty much yeah. You didn’t say what length

@dave stream of semi-consciousness list of things I might buy were they to appear on Meh:

• Tools. Not Bluetooth angle finders necessarily, a little more general purpose than that. If a pass through socket set of reasonable quality appeared on here, I’d probably jump because I hadn’t gotten around to getting one elsewhere
• Car care. I just changed vehicles. Got some leather care products, microfiber mitts or bug scrubbers, Mothers powerballs, or a batch of Mr. Clean Auto Dry kits and refill cartridges that were sacked away in a warehouse somewhere for the past decade? They’re pleasantly almost out of season and I’d probably be an instant sucker.
• Dog toys. We miss those bundles. Please no pizzle/bully sticks, fo rizzle.
• Something like the ridiculous packs of fidget spinners that were cheap enough to give away at Halloween. That was a surprise hit and more fun than candy, and it’s getting to be that time.
• Maker electronics or equipment, especially at impulse buy price points. Can you get a batch of Pi Zero Ws, ESP8266 kits, or good quantities of WS2811 addressable led pixel strips? This veers a little away from the mainstream of finished products and may not be distressed anywhere, but it can’t hurt to ask.
• Smart home stuff. There’s a fine line in this market between crap and not crap, but one time you had the actual Google Home when it was exciting to have that. GE smart switches (or other toggle/non-decora size switches) would be nice. I’m talking products that can become part of a smart home ecosystem in some way (Alexa, Google, Z-wave, Zigbee); Bluetooth/single app devices need not apply.
• We’ve delved a little bit into weirdish candy/caffeinated gum, and snacks. More snacks. Or maybe I’m just hungry. But more snacks. Bonus points if you can get a container of assorted Japanese Kit Kats when the weather is cool enough to not endanger them in transit. I’ll buy all you will allow. Or some kind of interesting jerky type product. Or swing that pendulum completely the other way, an interesting vegetarian snack. Yes, I’m definitely just hungry.
• Something musical but not too high dollar. I bought a ukulele from you in probably 2014. My wife still plays it several times a week. High dollar exception granted for a very good deal on a high quality digital piano with good action.
• Super random stuff. It’s maybe risky, but it’s fun.

I’ve probably rambled enough, but this is me putting actual thought towards the question for a while rather than trying to be a smartass. That was different.

@dave @djslack Yes, but asalt gun. Girlfriend wanted one and I was shocked when I saw they were like 50 bucks!

@dave @djslack Here Here! You nailed what I’d like to see!

@dave @djslack I’m still sad I didn’t buy that drum set.

@dave bidet toilet seats. Got one here, need another. Greatest thing since ice cream.

@dave @djslack Yes on the quality digital piano (not keyboard that you then place on a stand- a digital piano that has petals, etc.). I have a yamaha “real” one and living in apts people are not even close to fans of others owning pianos. This way I can play it with ear phones on. I’d sell my “real” one to be able to buy a GOOD digital one. Needs the bench too.

And cat toys too, not just dog toys.

@medz

ok. Lasers are like 8x more expensive, right?

I paid $39 for a Brother basic laser printer at Staples last year. It’s still using the toner cart that came with it. About 900 pages. When that cart is used up, a generic replacement is about $18. Durable prints, cartridges never dry out, no ink nozzles to get clogged, and I can let it sit for months and know with certainty it’s going to print the next time I turn it on. I will never own inkjet again.

Similar to one of @djslack’s suggestions, a name brand headlight lens restoration kit could go over well based on what I observed in another thread.

Again, following his lead, I second the suggestion for non-crap home automation devices.

How about playing your favours with Amz to get some killer deals on refurbed Echo devices or Kindle readers or Fire tablets or Fire TV devices?

Name brand 27” 1080p PC displays are reaching sub-$100 prices, so probably a market there. Or B brands at sub-$75.

Better quality “emergency” radios with 5-way power, shortwave and LED lights.

It’s been ages since the last radar detectors.

A good camera that’s not $600, (and not $30 Chinasian crap).

Enough of the pocket folders, how about some fixed blade knives.

Biscuits and gravy (because I know @djslack is hangry.

Oh, one more thing: Thermometer/weather station with wireless outdoor sensor.

I need hidden security cameras that are decent, wireless, and without a subscription, a way to record. I am moving back into (given a choice I wouldn’t but I don’t have a choice) where the management and maintenance are behind most of the stealing.

@ruouttaurmind Wow. I sure wish I could find a deal like that. Be sure to post links if you come across it.

@medz Will do. It’s not all that uncommon though. The simple basic laser printers have been hovering around $60 for quite a while.

@medz @ruouttaurmind I got a color laser by Dell about a year ago for $85; third party full sets of toner on Amazon are around $30 and black cartridges are <$10. I’m happy with it.

The trick is to check whether the printer has reasonable toner available up front. Some brands are better than others about accepting reman/3rd party cartridges.

@dave Maybe a carpet cleaner (not a vacuum, but something like a Rug Doctor), some more USB gadgets, something to clean grout, USB flash drives that have a weird quality to them.

@medz @narfcake how much should one pay for a laser printer used so infrequently?

@Stumpy91 From thrift stores, I’ve paid as much as $7.50 for a Dell Laser multifunction. The Brother I currently use was a whole $1.

@narfcake Ridiculous. Did they come with toner?

@medz @narfcake I know! Lookat Mr Moneybags Narfy over there.

@narfcake Were those color laser printers? Were they compatible with your Windows Phone?

@medz Yes they did! Any needing toner or drum would probably cost more than the printer itself!

• The Dell came with 60%; I dumped it when it ran out because even a generic replacement was $30 at the time.
• The $5 Brother fax/printer came with 50% AND a spare toner cartridge. I resold them for $40, as the machine itself didn’t even have 2k pages printed.
• My prior $1 Brother MFC was 30%; I brought it to work when it was “toner low”, since all the other machines here uses the same sub-$10 generic cartridges. It’s due for a drum, though; it’s done another 10k pages since I brought it in.
• My current $1 Brother was 40%, but uses a high-yield 8k cartridge. It’s at 30% now.
• The spare $5 Brother is 90% – and a new drum! It’s the same family as the current one, so I didn’t mind that the printer itself has feed issues. Page count is 182k.

@therealjrn It can’t always be catshirts.

@Stumpy91 Black and white. And Brother actually does have an app.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/brother-iprint-scan/9wzdncrfj3dc

@Kidsandliz I got a nice digital piano from Woot for Christmas years ago. It was really for my wife. I’m still meaning to get around to learning how to play it.

@dave Here’s a niche one: scale model kits. The good stuff like Bandai, Tamiya, Moebius etc.

@dave science toys, kinetic art, solar/wind powered gadgets

https://physicstoys.blogspot.com/

https://www.instagram.com/physicsfun/

@narfcake You have some amazing thrift stores near you- do you take requests for things?

@narfcake - You must have good thrift stores around you. Here (and where I used to live) not so much so. In fact very much not so much so. They are really crap actually. There is never stuff like this at the thrift stores I know about.

@djslack @ruouttaurmind a headlight restoration kit? can’t that be done with toothpaste and a towel?

@ThomasF I see I am not the only one

@ThomasF going back to 2014 even!!

@tylerlew89 People have scoffed at the product selection appearing to get worse multiple times a year every year since shortly after the site’s launch.

The wheel turns, yet its spokes remain the same.

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.

They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.

@eonfifty what’s a “good” score? ?

@ivannabc idk.
/image idk

@AZnatural1 Did you just ask them to ship you bricks?

@AZnatural1 @sammydog01

@dave I liked glasses. I have all the ones I need but I bought martini glasses and wine glasses for friends. I bought a set of travel martini glasses for when I bring cocktail makings to the home of friends I think might not have their own. Now I have a friend in need of Old Fashioned glasses. And I guess I could use a travel set.

@dave Cheap LED shop light (replacing florescent tubes) fixtures that are installed using existing home electrical wiring. (not the type you plug into a wall outlet)

@medz have you hit up a Lowe’s recently? I bought some LED retrofit t8 tubes for cheap, they pop in to replace the bulbs in your existing fixtures. They have a ton of lighting on clearance right now.

@djslack Did you have to bypass the ballast when putting the new bulbs in? I think I have a couple with bad ballasts. I figure if I’m changing wiring, I might as well put in a new fixture.

@medz They come both ways, but the ones I got (Utilitech) required the ballasts to be in place. I actually had to replace a ballast in my garage to get both lights working in one fixture, but it was cheap and easy.

@dave how about all the toys and puzzles and oddities sold in art/science museum gift shops.

@compunaut here’s a BBQ thermometer on Morningsave.

@djslack The ThermoPro is only $18

@compunaut I had a Husqvarna waffle iron. I miss it dearly. No other waffle iron has ever held a candle to it.

@compunaut @SSteve I need a waffle iron @dave.

@compunaut …and a Red Ryder BB gun.

@Stumpy91

@compunaut You’ll shoot your eye out.

@Stumpy91 @therealjrn Whoa shut that shit down, it’s too early for Christmas references lol.

@MrMark My toothbrushes from meh and my product from sidedeal both arrived today! I don’t think you’re trying hard enough. You can DO IT!

@MrMark The ocean is never still. Its tides rise and fall, and one never truly knows what strange, forgotten entity might wash up on the shores.

@therealjrn I actually ordered the tooth brushes…that was my first order in awhile.