What are the most useless (least used) things you once thought you needed.

For a work anniversary present, I picked a telescope out the catalog.  A crappy sighting scope plus a lack of precise controls meant finding even a full moon was hit and miss. Cheap lenses meant it would not hold focus. Very frustrating. Should have picked the juicer!  

Hook posted:

For a work anniversary present, I picked a telescope out the catalog.  A crappy sighting scope plus a lack of precise controls meant finding even a full moon was hit and miss. Cheap lenses meant it would not hold focus. Very frustrating. Should have picked the juicer!  

Count yourself lucky, in my usual obsessive way I bought a bloody huge 8 inch reflector with motor and computer control and a shed full of lenses.  It was brilliant when it was set up but it took hours to set up and weighed a ton and a back garden in Haydock is not the best site for viewing galaxies.  I used it perhaps six times (and to be fair I saw a good few interesting things when I did) including one trip down to the cabin in Wales and then sold it on at a loss that ran to several hundred pounds.

It comes to me - one of those brief moments of revelation that punctuate even the unconsidered life.

I'd spend the odd Saturdays wandering the Kitchen department of Peter Jones in predatory mode. I'd assembled a pretty satisfactory (if redundant) batterie de cuisine and was now into non-essentials.

One final trip found me kneeling by my bike loading into the pannier - an asparagus steamer.

I looked over at my girlfriend (and fellow conspirator) and mumbled "An asparagus steamer, a ****ing asparagus steamer. What have I come to?"

I attempted, without success, to pass it off on any passer-by. They reacted with nervousness.

"Like so many others, I had become a slave to the Ikea nesting instinct.
Yes. l'd like to order the Erika Pekkari dust ruffles.
- Please hold.
- Anything clever, like a coffee table in the shape of a yin-yang,
l had to have it.
The Klipsk personal office unit.
The Hovetrekke home exerbike.
Or the Ohamshab sofa with the Strinne green stripe pattern.
Even the Ryslampa wire lamps of environmentally-friendly unbleached paper.
l'd flip through catalogues and wonder
''What kind of dining set defines me as a person?''
I had it all. Even the glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections,
proof that they were crafted by the honest, hard-working, indigenous peoples of..."

One could live like this - if one was so inclined.

I'm thinking of getting one of those vacuum packing gadgets for cooking sous vide - or slow low boil in the bag. Also one of those foamers.

count.d posted:

Speaking of camping, I bought a set of glow-in-the-dark, luminescent key ring markers you hang on the tent pegs. These are supposed to absorb the daylight and glow throughout the night to mark your pegs..........but they don't.  

I've stumbled over any number of solar power garden lights.

Although - white outdoor solar Christmas tree lights. A gift that keeps giving. I think my old string is still winking in Aquitaine.

Hook reminded me about company anniversary gifts:  We had the "corporate" catalogue list to choose from (graded accordingly) They were good quality,  but were the kind of bling you would never actually buy yourself.  Anyhow, I chose a pair of platinum candle holders with a fancy & delicate glass bowls.   First rock in the road is USA candles have different base sizes to UK/Europe so candles were all floppy.   Next, as nice as the platinum holders were,  they were not exactly heavy & the glass bowls made them a little unsteady;  the first dinner party sent one flying (mea culpa) & the loose candle spilled wax over much treasured old family heirloom table cloth,  & the glass broke.   Oh well so much for 20 years  ........   The platinum holders are still used (occasionally) when we have need for a lot of candles & now we have perfected how to pack a metric candle in an imperial holder.

A petrol engine powered lawn scarifier, occupies a lot of space in the garage to store over the year to be used very infrequently. Creates a vast amount of work collecting the scarries (bits extracted from the lawn) and any way you can get the lawn service to do the work any way.

An electric leaf blower/vacuum, cable restricts usage, when in vacuum cleaner mode the bag does not hold enough rubbish and is fiddly to empty out.

A lesson I have learnt is to steer clear of garden equipment section of the garden centre.

Adam Meredith posted:

I think my old string is still winking in Aquitaine.

Is that a metaphor?

tonym posted:

Adam Meredith posted:

I think my old string is still winking in Aquitaine.

Is that a metaphor?

- or euphemism?

DrMark posted:

Another mandolin, since sold. Recently added a balalaika, but the jury is still out on that one.

Working in Korprate Amerika and engaging in any sort of self improvement that requires anything more than minimal time represents an unsolvable time conflict.

I bought my wife a (kitchen) mandolin for Christmas a few years ago.  She uses it quite a bit, but she has sliced her finger pretty good a couple of times with it.

I've had a balalaika for 30 years now.  I actually played it in grad school (a few of us students made a balalaika orchestra and played on campus).  Now it just sits on a shelf.

At least it's decorative. Hang it on the wall in the music room to break up resonances.

Adam Meredith posted:

count.d posted:

Speaking of camping, I bought a set of glow-in-the-dark, luminescent key ring markers you hang on the tent pegs. These are supposed to absorb the daylight and glow throughout the night to mark your pegs..........but they don't.  

I've stumbled over any number of solar power garden lights.

Although - white outdoor solar Christmas tree lights. A gift that keeps giving. I think my old string is still winking in Aquitaine.

I put some on our front garden tree at Christmas and then couldn't get the f@"kers off again. They're still there.

Still working though and actually quite pretty of a dusky evening.

For me it has to be something audio related:   My battery powered cartridge demagnetizer is one.  The never-used-but-once dedicated Wally-tractor to set up the Moerch DP6 is another.  The DB Systems protractor obsoleted by the Wally-tractor of course.   The Shure tonearm scale which the Lyra magnet sticks to is another.  The Audio Prism Quiet Lines, unplugged and in a drawer.  The stock Naim Tibia power cords and DIN-DIN cables.  A few no-longer-used ceramic cable elevators, etc.   The stock LP record paper liners cast off in favor of Tyvek liners by CABCO after the first cleaning.

My life insurance policy. I'll never be able to use it and I'll be gone when it finally pays off. I guess my heirs will have some fun with it at my expense.

joerand posted:

My life insurance policy. I'll never be able to use it and I'll be gone when it finally pays off.

Likewise with the comically expensive crash helmet I bought yesterday - it is my ardent desire NOT to use it.

The trick, as Seasick Steve will have it is "Keeping the horse between me and the ground".

As to hifi accessories - almost the epitome of the title.

How many who swore by the efficacy of, say, the CD Clarifier, still use it 'religiously'?

"I dunno."

Fondue set........  Just how often do you use yours? 

Also, does anyone remember these awful gadgets?  My mum had one - used once, didn't really clean the clothes, leaked like mad, crazy amount of effort to use it, then into the loft, never to see light of day again!

...and what about these gadgets from the seventies and eighties?

ATB. George.

Adam Meredith posted:

joerand posted:

My life insurance policy. I'll never be able to use it and I'll be gone when it finally pays off.

Likewise with the comically expensive crash helmet I bought yesterday - it is my ardent desire NOT to use it.

For the past twenty-some years I've been buying cars with airbags. First one airbag, then two, now maybe eight or more, I've lost count. Still haven't had a chance to use a single one. Maybe one day my investment will payoff ....

Then again, you might be outfitted with Takata airbags, which can go off just for the hell of it.

In answer to the question above - we used our fondue set last weekend, as we do a few times a year. Granted, I have three females in the house and I'm referring to chocolate fondue, the combination of which probably makes it a lot less mystifying.

Mark

Chocolate fondue is definitly the sales point here. In my book, add chocolate to anything and that thing becomes useful. 

Adam Meredith posted:

joerand posted:

My life insurance policy. I'll never be able to use it and I'll be gone when it finally pays off.

Likewise with the comically expensive crash helmet I bought yesterday - it is my ardent desire NOT to use it.

The trick, as Seasick Steve will have it is "Keeping the horse between me and the ground".

As to hifi accessories - almost the epitome of the title.

How many who swore by the efficacy of, say, the CD Clarifier, still use it 'religiously'?

"I dunno."

My riding instructor once suggested that I'd be better off wearing my"expensive"riding hat on my arse as that end seemed to be bearing the brunt of the unscheduled dismounts .

Willy.

Clay Bingham posted:

...In my book, add chocolate to anything and that thing becomes useful. 

Yes - as in 'chocolate teapot'.