u/UmbraTitan

Here's a twist on the "recommend a gadget" request.

I got a $150 gift card to Williams Sonoma. It's pretty thoughtful because I cook a lot. The only problem is that I think I have most of the kitchen gadgets I need or want. An incomplete list of my gadgets includes: sous vide cooker, vacuum sealer, fat separator, scale, micro plane grater, instant pot, air fryer, new y peelers, new mandolin, good blender, good coffee grinder. I think my go-to cast irons, spatulas, chefs knives, dutch oven, sharpening stones, and cutting board will outlive me. I'm at the point where I have accumulated pretty good gear and don't have space or want for much more. I think I have most of the "single use but great when you need it" items.

The things I might want include a cool wine opener, a new cocktail shaker, a new bread knife (old knife is dull but I'd rather get a sharpener for it) and a new digital thermometer, none of which have stellar reviews from Williams Sonoma. I also might get a yogurt maker; I stopped making yogurt in the instant pot because it was all tasting like meat and spices and I might get back to that.

Any off the wall suggestions are welcome!

My kid's Odin 2 had screen ghosting. He dropped it a bunch, so I purchased a replacement screen. I thought the replacement all went well, but it won't start up or charge. The battery reads 2.9v, so a little low, but not impossibly low. Options I'm considering:

1. Get him an Odin 2 Portal

2. Order a battery and hope that I somehow damaged the battery ribbon

3. Beg reddit to help me troubleshoot

4. Reinstall the old screen and see if it boots

All help welcome!

I get a little bit of vacuum assist when I brake but the pedal goes hard very quickly. You can hear a little "whoosh" when you press the brake pedal at first. It takes a lot of brake pedal force to stop. I suspect that the vacuum pump is working at least a little.

I'm also suspicious of the brake booster and the brake booster check valve. I'm not leaking any brake fluid that I can find. Pads, rotors, and calipers all check as good. No warning lights on dash. I haven't hooked up my OBD2 reader yet, but I'm not hopeful I'll find much without any warning lights showing.

Can anyone help with the best place to start diagnosing these symptoms? Anything obvious to check first or other components I should check?

I'm looking for an anime series I can enjoy with my kid. My kid has been watching One Piece. I can't stand it. I really did enjoy the live action because it was a cartoon brought to life with a positive message. We've watched almost all of Studio Ghibli together. Avatar (maybe not a true anime?) was great. I tried the more recent Full Metal Alchemist and it didn't really click after a few episodes. The first season of Castlevania had some very good episodes that I enjoyed, but I couldn't watch most of that with my kid.

So, maybe I'm not a big fan of anime series? but I'm convinced there's something out there with some humor, decent animation, and quality storytelling that I'll like. I'm not too picky about genre. Something with a planned ending would be preferable. We're ok with some blood, some drinking or smoking is fine, just nothing too violent or sexual. My kid has seen some carefully selected R movies, just isn't quite old enough for anything over the top.

Edit: Wow, lot's of quick replies for me to go check out. Thanks, and keep 'em comin'!

I'd appreciate any feedback from users for how well the Zepp app works for you with an Android phone (Motorola Edge, if that matters). Does it show notifications reliably? Does it do the things you expect it to do without frustration?

I installed the Zepp app but it's hard to judge how well it works without being connected to a watch. The first red flag was that it gave a battery usage warning for the app after being on my phone for a few hours.

I have an ageing fitbit Versa 4 that should be replaced soon since the battery seems to be failing and I'm looking at an Amazfit Active 2 or 3. It's mostly a smartwatch and not a sportwatch for me. I'll sometimes track distance traveled on a bike ride or a paddleboard day or a hike out of curiosity. I'll check sleep scores or other metrics once in a while. I might walk the dog a bit longer on days that I have a low step count. I don't really care about most of the health metrics. I know when I'm tired.

As far as smart features, I mostly want to get texts and calendar reminders without pulling out my phone. I've found that I can lose weight when I closely track calories, which after getting on the scale I should probably do again. I like being able to check Google Maps directions on my wrist. I wish the alarm was reliable- it's not. It's nice to be woken up silently without an audible alarm bothering my wife. I have to restart the watch regularly or the alarm won't go off.

I just received and inflated a Kino Hibiscus from Costco. Consider this a first impression before I've had it out in the water. We also have a Roc and a pretty cheap Amazon paddle board that serve us just fine for family fun at State Park lakes around Colorado. I was shopping electric pumps, and I figured I'd just buy a pump that came with a paddle board!

Paddle is probably carbon fiber. I say probably because there's usually also some fiberglass in cheaper paddles. That's fine, it's light. Seems decent for a pack in paddle. It seems nicer than the $oc pack in paddle, and not quite as nice as the $100 aftermarket three piece I bought. It might rotate as it has no anti-rotation features but the locks seem sturdy.

Bag is higher quality than our other two. Several external pockets, waist strap. I could hike a bit with it.

Dry bag, valve tool, patch kit (no glue, but you should buy glue that isn't hard anyway), tool tube, decent leash, and cinch strap all seem fine.

Pump inflated the board in about 12 minutes to 15 psi. It's annoyingly loud to stand next to, and not too terrible from 10 feet away. It has connections for other inflatables and spare gaskets. Came with a wall charger but no 12v car plug as advertised in the manual. Customer service has been contacted and we'll see what happens. Not a big deal. I expect the pump should be able to fully inflate two boards, maybe more, based on the advertised battery size of 4000 mah.

Board is as expected for a cheaper board. 11'6"x34"x6" and 450 lb weight rating should be good for me and the dog. There are some bubbles on the seams. Interestingly, one of the things I thought was a plus is that the Costco description is "heat fused seams" but the manual and the Kino website describe the construction as bonded. It sure looks glued. That's expected in this price range, but disappointing about the Costco description. Hard plastic removable fins should be cheap to replace from Amazon if needed.

So far I'm pleased and I got about what I expected. If anything goes wrong, Costco has an excellent return policy and Kino claims 5 year warranty on the board and one year warranty on the pump.