Things
worth
having.
A curated publication for discovering products, brands and ideas worth owning. Honest editorial verdicts, not affiliate filler. We keep a short list of what we would buy again, and a shorter one of what we would not.
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What we would buy again
Every entry carries a verdict, a list of what is wrong with it, and the case for someone else buying something different.
Sony WH-1000XM5
The quietest headphones you can buy without the cancellation colouring the music.
Keychron Q1 Pro
A gasket mounted aluminium board with wireless and a Mac layout, no group buy required.
Herman Miller Aeron
Absurd money for a chair, and you can still buy parts for one made in 2004.
Hario V60 Dripper, 02
A plastic cone that matches machines costing sixty times more.
Bellroy Transit Backpack
Twenty eight litres that still looks right when it is half empty.
And what we would not
Affiliate publishing has every incentive to recommend more things and none to tell you to keep your money. This section is the counterweight and it stays as the catalogue grows.
This is the clearest example we have of paying a design premium for an ordinary appliance. The atomiser output is weak, so in any room larger than a small bedroom the scent never arrives. It needs descaling more often than the manual suggests, and the light cannot be turned off independently of the mist on the model we used. It photographs beautifully. That is most of what it does. A ₹1,200 ultrasonic unit performs better and you will not feel protective of it.
Read whyGrouped by argument, not by category
Guides
A desk setup worth keeping
Four objects, bought once, that make a working day measurably better. Everything else on a desk is decoration and we will say which parts we bought for that reason.
The coffee gear that actually matters
Grind quality beats the brewer, water temperature beats the beans past a point, and most expensive equipment solves a problem you do not have.
What we tell people to skip
A recommendation only means something if the same publication is willing to say no. These are the objects we see bought most often and would not buy again.
Brands we keep coming back to
A profile that only lists what a company does well is advertising. Every one of these carries a caveat.
