[LOL_FWD]

Hands down this thing, especially since the WFH started. I have two phones and a tablet that I use extensively throughout the day for work and personal use. I start my day working on the sitout, move inside to my desk during noon and then move to my rooftop until late evening. Sometimes I use it on my bed too when I'm extremely lazy to fire-up my laptop or the TV and decide to watch movies on my phone/tablet. This small 30 Rupee thingamajig accommodates both mobile phones, my tablet and caters to the different viewing angles as my seating/sleeping arrangement changes.

It has helped me prevent a lot of pain which used to be caused by strain on my hands and accidentally dropping the phone on my face when horizontal.

[Night_Fury]

From the perspective of a student, nothing has helped me more than my Kindle. Made reading so effortless that I went from an undergrad in physics to a master's in International relations

[IshaanIan]

Two produucts:

Mi Portable Electric Air Compressor. In a country where most pumps are reluctant to fill air post 9pm, this can be extremely handy to use before setting out. The fact that it is smaller than the rest and is chargeable instead of having to be plugged into a power source, makes it even more convenient (takes longer to fill air though).

Sharp Air Purifier. No matter where you live as long as you are in a metro city, the air around you is contaminated. Even if you stay in a colony with several trees and live in the outskirts, you still have to face pollution from factories and construction projects. Having an air purifier in every bedroom has proven very beneficial. For me personally it has drastically improved my quality of life as I suffer from sinus issues and ever since I bought the air purifier, I have not woken up feeling absolutely debilitated by clogged sinuses.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by AutoConsultant

Great thread! I also made good use of the one time reimbursement my company was offering for WFH equipment and got the following :

Are you me. Same laptop and same bottle on my desk

My 2 cents on this thread. I think a wireless earphone for work calls has been a boon. I have the Airpods but you have so many good options available for less. My brother picked up the Realme Airbuds 2 and he's also happy with those.

I'd say in general, cutting out the wires and clutter does make you more productive and is "freeing", if that's the right word.

[Sach_511]

I am no fan of Bluetooth headphones and I concur what others have said above; however, my perception changes post my wife got her Airpod, hence I have start searching good (non-Apple) Bluetooth for me (not a fan of Apple you see), and my search ends at Liberty Soundcore Pro II, not only they have awesome sound, but also made my WFH calls way easy now (since they have good ANC).

Apart from above invested in Dishwasher (Voltas Beko) in first lock down, and now there is no going back (though it is very costly to operate on a monthly basis; however its save tons of water and crockery is much cleaner and germs free.

Also, Wifi smart switches (to turn off/on Gyser on scheduled time), Smart Bulbs, Google Speaker, SMart TV.

[headbanger]

Originally Posted by Piyush_DT

Most of us have to take calls for whole day during WFH. Using headphones and headset is really not comfortable after some time. We also should not use headphones for longer time. Hence, I got below Jabra portable speaker. It has helped me significantly as you dont have to use headphones everytime and you dont feel tired and exhausted after longer calls. The sound is clear and it also has noise cancelling feature. It also has USB to connect to the laptop so that you don't worry about charging it. It integrates with Teams so that you can use physical keys to mute/unmute and to manage the volume.

If you have your own room you should definitely get it. I would highly recommend this in your WFH setup.

Attachment 2262676

This has been literally a life saver for folks like us who have to spend multiple hours at calls.

Excellent sound quality, noise cancellation and the way it integrates with MS Teams is simply amazing. Much recommended for IT guys.

[binoybnair]

My picks would be:
1. Inverter bulb: Needed some kind of lighting solution to manage the intermittent short duration power cuts in our area especially during nighttime. Installing an inverter and the wiring would have been an overkill. Halonix had an answer: The inverter bulb. Rs. 400/- per bulb and nearly 4 hours backup. An elegant solution to an irritating problem.


2. IFB Dishwasher: Has been a lifesaver. Bought it just as the first COVID wave was subsiding and has saved us a lot of time and effort over the past year.

3. Jump Leads for the car: The humble set of cables has helped not just my car but a couple of my neighbors as well, since the lockdown and WFH meant negligible car usage and consequently, battery issues. Highly underrated.

[AutoConsultant]

Originally Posted by AZT

Are you me. Same laptop and same bottle on my desk

My 2 cents on this thread. I think a wireless earphone for work calls has been a boon. I have the Airpods but you have so many good options available for less. My brother picked up the Realme Airbuds 2 and he's also happy with those.

I'd say in general, cutting out the wires and clutter does make you more productive and is "freeing", if that's the right word.

Haha, I can bet you can find this type of bottle in around 90% of Indian households

I did go wireless in the initial phase of this WFH stint and enjoyed the freedom but gradually started hating the fact that now I have one more gadget to charge. Have gone back to wired ones now

[G V Krishna]

On top of my list of things that improved our living:

1. First & Foremost it is none other than my 2017 Pre-Facelift Dzire ZDI AMT. Until 2017 I was of the opinion that Automatics are a waste of fuel and only are driven by people who cannot drive manual shift cars. Starting of 2017, I had a unique back ache that I was able to clearly correlate to the Clutch movement of my left leg. Sadly the diagnosis was of a non treatable condition and seems that I'll have to rely on pain killers for the rest of my life. At this juncture, I test drove a Dzire AMT and bought it without delay. That really & greatly helped to over come the back pain and also helped me to completely relax during drives.

2. My electrical timers for water pumps (Motors). Not living in a Flat or apartment has a bane where you need to take care of all utility on your own. We have two motors (0.5 HP for sump and two HP for ground water). When the overhead tanks are empty and the pumps switched on, it was a petty task to remember to switch off the pumps. We had to resort to alarms, water level devices etc.., but none lasted more than a month. Every now and then somebody would forget turning off the pumps and there would be a colossal waste of water and electricity and also blame game sometimes. Being an Electronics Engineer, I installed electrical timers on both the pumps and from then we only switch on the pumps. They turn off automatically at the preset time (accuracy up to mins) and will not turn on until someone turns them on manually.

3. As many have said, dishwasher, robot vacuum cleaner (like Roomba)

4. Pressure Washer

5. InstaPot

6. Wireless Charger.

[sunikkat]

During the first lockdown 2 products that helped the most is Dish Washer and Robo Vaccum cleaner. With maids not coming this was a boon. Again it helped when whole family got Covid earlier this month. Else I would have been cleaning dishes than browsing Team BHP

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by Sach_511

Apart from above invested in Dishwasher (Voltas Beko) in first lock down, and now there is no going back (though it is very costly to operate on a monthly basis; however its save tons of water and crockery is much cleaner and germs free.

I have a Bosch and find the detergent cost reasonable. The tablets (like the finish ones for example) are expensive, but I use fortune branded detergent that works quite well and reasonable. There is a thread in tbhp where other options are also discussed. We have been on dishwasher for most of the last 2 years and I won't ever go without it now.

[nandadevieast]

I have a disorder, if you can call it that going by the consumption led lifestyle that we lead. Its called ‘Minimalism’.

Anything extra that i own just clutters my brain. It occupies physical space as well as mental space. So I can’t have two similar items or duplication or buying it just for the heck of it scenario. No too many T-shirts, no too many jeans, so on and so forth.

My backpack will have just 1 compartment in it so that i can take control, rather than various pre-sorted compartments in the same physical space. My top end T-jet has many features but i learnt about couple of them from my sister’s kid recently because i had no use for them. I disabled Blue-and-me promptly because i find it a novelty and not really adding any value to how i was making calls. I can’t fathom how a Bluetooth headphone can beat my old ubiquitous pair of headphones, if at all i need to use one sometimes. You get the drift.

(Well, i am not an old person at all )

This ailment spans most things in my life but i especially dread 2 items. Wires and batteries, and of course the chargers that come with these. Everything you buy nowadays comes with a battery and couple of chargers, and more batteries and more wires

1
Kindle and USB ‘C’:
With that lengthy background, i found ‘Kindle’ and USB ‘C’ to be the products that really added value to my life. My 2 wall sized libraries have not seen a single addition for the last 3 years because i can store all my books in my pocket. Battery doesn’t deplete for couple of months. And it takes the now commonplace USB C wire that does multiple duty on my phone, laptop, car charger, i-Pad and even my camera as well. I wish they made a single battery or wire that works on everything.

I can list multiple Apps for the same reason, but i suppose this thread is about hardware.

2
Mindshift 360/Lowepro Urbex backpacks:
A friend gifted me these and they are epitome of common sense. You typically get these photography gear backpacks which store, well, photography gear. Many compartments that take your camera bodies and lenses.

But in real life, when you are out photographing, lets say an early morning stroll, you need few other things too. A jacket? A water bottle, couple of sandwiches? Where will you store them?

So these bags have a place for all this and your lenses as well, designed in a way so that you don’t have to stop and take things out or search for them. Highly recommended.

3
Four-wheeled suitcases:
Nothing new, but i rate four wheeled suitcases very highly. They killed the coolies single handedly, and saved a whole generation from visiting an orthopedist. I recently bought couple of these.

4
Cotton track pants:
A gift from WFH. Rendered my trousers and denims useless. Trendy, fashionable and super comfortable.

[Sach_511]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

I have a Bosch and find the detergent cost reasonable. The tablets (like the finish ones for example) are expensive, but I use fortune branded detergent that works quite well and reasonable. There is a thread in tbhp where other options are also discussed. We have been on dishwasher for most of the last 2 years and I won't ever go without it now.

Yes, completely agree, however I have tried to compare vis-a-vis maid cleaning them. However, after using a dishwasher, its feel so unhygienic to use utensil cleaned by the maid.

[TorqMaster]

At my home, its my privilege to do the dishes. My wife bought me the following thing to ease my back pain and help me in cleaning. This has been such a useful tool and life saver.

[Sebring]

I agree about the Sharp. Its the very best there is. And, Our LG Dishwasher has made life easier. my wife loves the sparkling dishes that come out

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Sharp Air Purifier. For me personally it has drastically improved my quality of life as I suffer from sinus issues and ever since I bought the air purifier, I have not woken up feeling absolutely debilitated by clogged sinuses.