Sony MH755 earphones. These earphones were the first step to a discovery that lead me to how I do stuff now.

They were dirt cheap ($5~) earphones that came bundled with an old Sony product. There are earphones in triple digit price ranges I have tried that sound worse than these earphones do.

I was lucky to get a pair from Russia and an additional pair elsewhere years ago. Nowadays all you see on eBay are fake clones of them that come from China.

I got the earphones during a time I was trying to be a non-conformist. Was moving to Linux, installed LineageOS on my Galaxy S5, scrapped my HP laptop for an old ThinkPad. I eventually became obsessed with open-source software and started using Tor a lot, wouldn't have learned about Bitcoin at the time if I wasn't into all of this stuff first.

I still have them, with a custom firmware Sony MP3 player too:

The iPhone 5s I had lasted for years. Loved that phone. Replaced it with the SE later because the SE was basically the same thing.

Longer phone charging cable. Simple yet life changing.

The last tech product that went from zero to one for me were probably AirPods.

I find it interesting the couple of replies regarding earphones / headphones. Mine is about speakers.

In the outdoor gazebo here at a family member's house (where I've been house-sitting for a number of days), and I find this Sonos Move bluetooth speaker to be just amazing. It was up on the deck all day blasting out tunes while I was in the yard, but a number of hours ago I took this thing down with me into this gazebo (so as to not have to be loud enough the neighbors would have to hear it), and I've been here ever since, on my laptop, working. Playing some nice jazzy type chill music -- truly quality sound coming from this device -- giving me the needed auditory equivalent of junk food, ... i.e., it's absolute bliss.

I've no idea how long before the batteries go before needing recharging, but it's been far beyond my expectations already.

Bought a white ceramic kitchen a few years back. It’s still sharp af and a pleasure to use in the kitchen for cutting veggies.

3d printer. FFF based personal 3d printer.

Nokia N95: one of the first smartphones made to be a real tool and not a time consuming loophole. WiFi, GPS, camera, touch screen, pocket form factor... absolutely great, was a invaluable tool when travelling.

Pebble: eink smartwatch that just works, with a nice slim factor and a really good app ecosystem.

Yotaphone 2: piece of art dual screen (eink) smartphone. A bit too fragile but absolutely amazing.

ThinkPad x220: wonderful form factor filled with a lot of cool and useful tech (minus the mediocre screen), best typing experience.

Remarkable 2: an eink tool with a paper like experience that forces you to disconnect and focus on reading and writing.

There are couple things that I really enjoy and that I also gifted to others:

mac mini m2..

I self host a lot docker applications there and move back cloud VPS to home.

I would say some Apple products have been rock solid without issue. But another tech product I am still pleased to own is the Nvidia Shield Pro, it is a little outdated but still the best Android TV device overall, still receiving product support from Nvidia and nothing is similar to other Android device. It can play anything from emulated roms, game streaming, 4K Dolby Vision remuxes, YouTube without ads and sponsor block, and the list can go on.

Wireless keyboard and mouse.

I was very skeptical of everything wireless. I still am, especially when it comes to LAN vs WLAN, but I must admit that it's really nice to have less cables on my desk.

Sometimes, there is indeed a small hiccup (which I assume is because it's wireless) but it's still better than to have to deal with the cables.

Next thing will be wireless headphones. I would love to upgrade my existing headphones (Beyerdynamic MMX300) but seems like there is no such thing even though the cable is removeable ...

Got one of those Start9 nodes. Earning/Privacy tools on it are fun

The Creality 3d printer was easy to setup, and you’ll be able to print seed signer cases and whatnot

Rift S and airpods

Using VR for the first time was amazing, still play beat saber every now and then.

Airpods are just great

Amazon Kindle 4th generation (not the backlit, touchscreen one, rather the old version). You can buy a used one for about $25 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/134613535149. I've had about 4 of them, they last forever but you will ding the screen up if you drop something hard like keys on the screen. I don't connect the wifi, I just transfer books via cable (easy with Calibre). With no connection, it's like a book and not a distraction device. And practically speaking you really can't browse the web even if you're connected, it's so painfully slow and awkward, without a touch screen

m5stack and m5stickv

m5stickv can be flashed into the smallest most secure offline DIY bitcoin wallet krux and/or you can use it to display the bitcoin price. you can program 1000+ apps on it.

m5stack is modular. it can also be a bitcoin wallet. or you can build a robot. actually endless opportunities in endless projects. you can learn everything about ai and machine learning by doing. also but not exclusively highly recommended for kids. it will not break the bank.

Kindle, specifically of the Paperwhite lineage. I've had one for many years now. Knowledge is power, never stop reading.

Steam Deck, 'nuff said.

Professional digital camera. There's no other category of product that will perform over and over, consistently for years with lots of abuse. DSLRs and their new mirrorless counterparts are the most impressive tech I've ever touched, no matter whether it's Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, Fuji, etc. They're just amazing.

An AR-15:

Bose noise-cancelling headphones (QC-45 I think). I have a very noisy work environment.

This is old school. But this product helped my while travelling. I was able to download maps as this device had gps. Helped me NOT get lost. And I still have it.

i thought i could come up with a more original answer, but i think my kindle is the best bang-for-buck product i can remember buying

I do not buy anymore crap shit, just for buying it. I always remember this: https://bitcoinorshit.com/

Bitcoin teaches you HOW TO SAVE not buying crap that you really don't need it. Including so called "technology". Literally I have a garage full of crap technology that is useless now, including like 20 old phones and smartphones.

We are buying so much crap in our life, but in the same time we cry about "environment"...

Before you buy something, think 3 or 4 times if you really needed and for how long. Is not about not spending your valuable sats but is about how to SAVE THEM, for things you maybe need later.