The list author says: "They may not be glamorous but these are some of my favorite gadgets. Some are well-known and others might be more obscure. All recommendations are from experience and come from someone on a tight budget."
"I've been using NiMH rechargeables for what seems like a decade. The ability of these to hold a charge without self-draining makes them so much better. We keep buying more 4 packs of AA and have over two dozen batteries around the house. Perhaps Sony and other "pre-charged" batteries may be identical but I haven't tried them yet."
"I've gone through several antennas and this combined with the Motorola amplifier were the first ones that did the trick for me to get over the air antenna reception that was watchable."
"We've been using a satellite DVR since 2003. At times it can be a little flaky but we've been pretty happy with it. It can tune 2 satellite HD signals and a third over the air from an antenna simultaneously while watching a pre-recorded fourth program."
"Logitech's bluetooth mouse has had great battery life for me, re-pairs with my laptop without a noticeable lag, and has been a joy. I generally avoid the bloated logitech custom software and just let Windows XP handle it. I can't think of another computer peripheral I've been more satisfied with."
"Seems to have better quality control than the sigmas and is far cheaper to get to f2.8 for good background blur and shutter speed help than other zooms from Canon. 1000s of pics later, I still like it-it is far from perfect (focus speed is slow and the wide range is much too narrow on a crop camera) but for the price, it is great."
"This can make a DSLR so much more useful-it is amazing so few people have it. The focus is fast enough to keep up with running kids and the aperture (f-stop) setting is fast enough (small number) to allow lots of light for indoor shooting. Parents with the 18-55 kit lenses end up struggling for indoor pictures."
"I've tried hard to get the right tool for the right time. I rented the Canon 100-400 for a trip to Yellowstone. When I went on safari to Africa the next year, I thought hard about what lens to take and decided on this humble lens. It didn't get the "oohs and ahhs" of the 100-400 but it got the pictures. For the price, it is another great bargain and quite useful."
"I bought it in 1991 and for a film camera and it still works with my Canon 400 XTi DSLR. Not something that gets frequent use but I keep it on the camera strap for when it is needed. A little pricey for what it is but it would make a nice gift for someone with the small DSLRs from Canon."
