I was afraid of that... Back on topic Hidden Gems Diamonds in the Rough?? any more So far we have the Shed Ender Mr Clean Erasers Orange Cleaner Crest tooth brush
Claritin, or the generic variety. I get 60 pills from target for about 15 bux. I've got very annoying and chronic allergies, the type that has me always in search of a kleenex, always sniffling, watery eyes, itchy throat, etc etc. Living life was pretty much miserable. Got generic Claritin about 8 months ago...WONDERFUL! Everything gone in one day, takes only 1 pill/day, no side effects that I can detect, and cheap. If you've got allergies, and you are not using Claritin, USE IT!!!
The two products that were notably better than I expected them to be were: an HP45 pocket calculator (back in '74), and ... my Ferrari 328. One case of an "as seen on TV" product that actually turned out useful is a longer story: There's a local store here called "Tuesday Morning" where all the "as seen on TV" stuff that you don't see on TV anymore winds up at discounted prices. For under a dollar, I bought one of those "eyebrows and ears" hair remover "AA" battery shavers on impulse, because it was cheap. This past winter, I fell on the ice and my watch band ripped up my wrist. I used the shaver to remove the wrist hair from the area, and it helped keep the wound free of hair -- it healed up in a few weeks, with hardly a scar at all. (Although the shaved wrist on a hairy arm did look a bit odd for a while.)
+1, the Sonicare Elite series rocks, except for the replacement brush head cost. $32 Canadian for two replacement standard size brush heads. Oh well, you paid $200 for the toothbrush, what is another $32 every two or three months?
Someone loaned me these EZ Moves things when I moved a few years ago. You put them under the legs of your furniture and slide it around. The have foam on one side and smooth plastic on the other. I guess the idea is to spread the weight ver the pad and reduce the friction with the smooth plastic. They work on carpet really well!
I've got an automotive one: Rain-X. When I first saw the commercials for it, I thought no way in hell is it going to work as well as they show in the commercials. But I tried it and love the stuff.
Another use for Rain-X is the inside of shower enclosures, if you have the sliding glass door type of enclosure.
I bought an OBD II scanner on ebay (for VW/Audi) for $17 and it works AWESOME! It scans AND has the ability to erase codes.
I found Lasik@Home to work wonders, I have been able to enjoy the wonders of the world once again. Great investment, here is the website: http://www.lasikathome.com/
I'll add one. I'm a fan of outdoor charcoal grilling. I grew up as a kid grilling out with my family. We'd manually make the charcoal pile then I'd douse it with lighter fluid. Sometimes, the food would taste like the fluid (because at 8 years old I didn't know how much was enough!). When I got back into grilling a few years back, I got a "Chimney Starter". It pretty reduces the PITA factor by half. You stack the charcoal in the chimney, then get the coals started with a newspaper or starters in the bottom of the chimney. 25 minutes later, you dump the coals into a pyramid and are ready to go... No lighter fluid needed, which enhances flavor, reduces environmental "footprint" of the whole process, and saves money (nor do you have to buy fancy match-light charcoal). I was skeptical, but yeah, this thing is solid and works much better than expected. ($12) http://www.amazon.com/Weber-87886-Chimney-Starter/dp/B00004U9VV
I have another one: Kensington USB Wireless Presenter with Laser Pointer. The idea is when you're giving a presentation on a laptop (e.g., using PowerPoint), you can control the next-slide, previous-slide wirelessly with a little hand-held remote. This concept has been around for a few years. The one I got has a built in laser pointer, very useful. The fear was that it would be poorly engineered and not work. Well, I plugged it in and it worked. Both XP and Vista, no issues (product is formally "Vista-Compatible). The engineering is solid, the item feels good in your hand, and the USB remote stores inside the actual hand-held control remote when not in use. http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=SEARCH&Ntt=laser+pointer&N=0&Dx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&D=laser+pointer&Ntk=All&product_code=343967&Pn=Wireless_Presenter_with_Laser_Pointer It was a good feeling to just plug it in and have it work with 0 fiddling the night before a presentation. Even included the two AAA batteries (nice).