I’m looking for a dull man’s gift guide for Christmas. Any suggestions? What dull gifts are on y’all’s wish list this year?
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- Rechargable AA / AAA batteries
- Wool socks (can never have enough)
- Good USB-C cables
- Coffee
- Work gloves
- A pack of 9V batteries to shut the beeping smoke detectors up
- Edited to add: A fire extinguisher. People often forget those need maintained every so often.
If anyone wants to be a dull secret santa, hint hint ☝️
Aeropress is interesting for coffee fans. It’s a tiny and portable single serving french press.
Any thoughts on the best battery charger? We have a Nitrcore pro charger. Curious if he’d like an upgrade, or if a few more packs of batteries would be enough. We do cycle through them quickly in this house.
I’ve got mostly EBL-brand batteries and 8-bay charger. They work well but the charger uses micro-USB which is kind of a bummer.
The other set I have are by PowerOwl. They also work great, and the charger (only a 4 bay) is USB-C.
Both brands are the low self-discharge Ni-MH style and can charge any combination of batteries (some chargers require them to be charged in pairs; neither of these have that limitation), so no complaints.
If you live near IKEA, they have a sleek ass 8 bay charger that closes shut and attaches to a wall. And they sell eneloops (in the name of ladas) but they’re from Japan and were (and still likely are) eneloops. And eneloops are the top tier of the rechargeable batteries.
Edit: forgot ikea ships now, usually with a minimum total, but they do ship now
Btw thanks for asking, I’ve got many dullsters to think about
The latest version of the 8-bay Xtar VC8 uses USB C and is great for NiMH, NiCd and Li-ion.
Rechargeable 9v’s are a thing I found when randomly searching on Amazon, the ones I found have a USB-C port on the side and are pretty good. Definitely handy for random 9v tools that always seem to be dead when I grab them.
These are amazing for guitars
I wouldn’t put those in a fire alarm. Fire alarms are really low-power, long term devices. Perfect for non-rechargable batteries. A lot of rechargeable batteries have some self-draw, meaning, if you leave them out on a shelf for a year, they’ll be noticeably emptier.
Yeah, definitely not something for a fire alarm lol, when I said random tools I was actually thinking about my tone test tool. No clue why it uses a 9v but that and my favorite multimeter both need them.
Yeah, I’ve seen those (though not with the built-in charging; that’s cool). Even had some Ni-Cd ones back in the 90s. The only issue I have with using those in things like smoke detectors is having to deal with them more often. I can usually get about 18-20 months out of an alkaline but a Ni-MH one would probably be only like 8 months since the voltage and capacity are both lower.
Well, scratch that. I just found what I think you’re talking about, and those are 1300 mAh lithium. Those should last longer than an alkaline. Will keep those in mind next time I replace the smoke alarm batteries.
Wool socks are awesome. I like the thin, toed ones to use when I’m dual socking.
Seriously, don’t buy me anything. I am at the point if my life if I want something I go and get it. There is very little I actually want anymore. In fact I want less stuff now.
Use the money to buy more gifts for kids/teens/young adults who have real needs and not enough funds.
Long Underwear would be very appreciated if they do any snowsports.
Fixit sticks, they’re compatible with existing hex drivers. Using the right amount of torque is important!
Gifted myself a new pocketknife.
I am upvoting the only correct answer in this entire thread, short of someone suggesting gifting random motorcycle parts.
- The nice moccasin slippers from LL Bean.
- An ulu-style knife for the kitchen.
- A nice smelling puck of shave soap, and a brush if they don’t have one.
- Fingerless gloves or phone-compatible ones.
- A Megapro ratcheting screwdriver
- Pacas brand wool socks
- Wool socks.
- A book.
- A plain t-shirt.
Dull gifts are the best, important things are probably expensive and are for me to agonize over for ages and eventually acquire.
There should be as little burden on the giver as possible.
“Darn Tough” brand socks
A high quality, metal spatula from Lee Valley
A double edged razor
A wood blank and a spoon knife
Merino wool socks and/or t-shirts
High quality coffee beans
I second a traditional razor. It’s a wonderful rabbit hole to go down.
https://www.therazorcompany.com/products/rockwell-razors-travel-shaving-gift-set-gunmetal-razor
I used a Merkur HD for a long time. My partner got me a Leaf after seeing it on some social ad and I hate to say that I love it. I still get to use my nice Feather blades, but it gives me a closer shave with fewer nicks.
A Bic pen…maybe a 5-pack.
Crockpot.
3-meter USB-C cable. Maybe a power brick. USB-PD-compatible if you want to go extra.
Or, you know, wool socks.
I like running across things where my reaction is either “oh wow that’s a thing, that’s interesting!” or “oh wow you can own one of those?!”
I’ve given some necklaces made out of 6,500 year old Irish bog oak. I gave some trinitite (the glassy residue from the Trinity nuclear bomb test) to a rock-hound friend. I’ve given small pieces of meteorites, some originating from outer space, some from the Moon, some from Mars. I’ve given fossils - a few from the Cambrian or Ordivician periods (about half a billion years ago), the rest more recent. Just weird things I run across and I’m like, “oh that’s kinda cool!”
If they have a PC and you want a cheap gift, ask them if they’re happy with their fans.
There’s a chance they bought some cheap fans with no PWM, with proprietary connectors etc, and they will be super happy if you get better ones. There’s very cheap GOOD ones: Arctic P12 Pro. Make sure you get PST’s if they need some for daisy chaining.
Sausage/cheese gift assortment
