Tell Uncrate: What Was Your Best Purchase Of 2006?

Chris

A prime lens.

Specifically, a 50mm/f1.8 (for Canon, but they make them for other manufacturers as well)

It makes photographing people an absolute joy.

This particular lens is (relatively) cheap and made of plastic. If you get one, make sure to keep it in a padded camera bag.

toasterhunter

2006 Aprilia SR50 R Factory
http://www.apriliausa.com/modelli/scooter/modello.asp?id=113

Best way so far to lessen my greenhouse gas footprint, save cash on gas and get around in style. Can't go on the freeway (CA law for "Motor-Driven Cycles") so I'm forced to use backcountry roads (poor me.)

Don

By far the best purchase of the year is the new ThinkPad x60 tablet PC Fast, durable, light... just can't ask for much more.

dave

Nintendo Wii

inkogneeto

Hands down, my best purchase of 2006 was a MacBook Pro. It's way faster than any computer I've owned, it's comfortably portable (not too heavy or too awkward to carry) and its ease of use and bevy of cool apps have changed the way I work and play.

MKIV GLI

Hmm, that's a tough one because I spend so much damn money with this addiction I have. I think the best purchase I have made this year would have to be my Kayak

P&H Capella 166 - Expedition Kayak

I spent a lot of time on the water with it and I can't wait for the weather to get better so I can get out again. Very good upper body exercise too. I wish I was able to kayak to work, but I would look weird on I-95.

[url]http://www.phseakayaks.com/osb/itemdetails.cfm?ID=8[/url]

Kulturalkim

My bed from haikudesigns.com. It's such a comfortable bed that I don't want to get out of it in the morning. The only thing that motivates me to get up is my Wii which is the second best purchase.

zmc

My divx DVD player. Only $30. Goodbye bockbuster. Goodbye Netflix.

db

I love my slimy wallet. It forced me to pick the few cards that I always use and it removes that unsightly bulge that used to plague my pants.

Mason

top 3:

1: One way plane ticket to Tokyo

2: Nikon D40 (two days ago)

3: Nintendo Wii

Warren

by far the best thing I bought this year was a Canon 30d dSLR. My second would probably be my HP dv1650 laptop for dirt cheap!

alex

Macbook Pro

elliott

Garmin Street Pilot i5. Got it for my wife who is terrible with directions. Now she never gets lost.

4reel

2x raptor hard drives that I use in raid 0. Next would be xbox 360 and gears of war.

Chris Y.

That would have to be my PS3 (flame suit on). I've been really impressed with the graphics on my 50" plasma...The downloadble version of GT HD Sony made available on Christmas day is absolutely incredible. Too bad they don't plan to make the game :(

Travis

My Series 3 TiVo had to be one of my favorite purchases of 2006 and my Nintendo Wii

Sheldon Kotyk

It is a toss-up between Madden 07 or this obscure thing called an iPod 5G 30GB.

Adam M.

Western Digital MyBook 500GB Hard Drive.

So cheap for the amount of storage and incredibly quiet. Will purchase the new WD MyBook Pro 1TB hard drive in a second when the time comes that I need it.

Sal Cangeloso

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000

It helps fight off RSI for a couple more years despite spending way too much time on the computer....

matt

I second the joey jeans. I'll thrown in my 42in plasma and tempurpedic bed.

Andrew

The single greatest gift to myself this year has to be my Bose surround system. Amazing sound in such a little package!

John Federico

My MacBook, by far. It delivers the perfect Mac experience for my needs and for the money - much better than my 15" Powerbook G4.

-jf.

chuck

my new Windows Mobile Smartphone - Qtek-8310 a.k.a. HTC Tornado:

http://www.europe.htc.com/products/qtek8310.html

avj

1) macbook pro
2) 42" samsung plasma

Samir

MacBook Pro
Xbox 360
Infrant Readnas NV+

Dan C

difficult to name the best, so heres top 3:

1. 5 day trip to cozumel (leaving next friday)
2. colorado pass (season ski pass to a bunch of CO resorts) - AAAAAAAAAWESOME deal!
3. sony ericsson w810i phone - love it!

best purchase of 2007?
my life back from sallie mae. gonna bite the bullet and pay off my student loan in one chunk. heh

Brian

Blackberry Pearl 8100, sweet.

FataMorgan

Volkswagen Golf GTI.

Adam

My favorite purchase of 2006 was a 2007 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10! That beast is fast and sexy.

tucker

2006 Honda CBR600RR

Fast. Sexy. Good gas mileage. No traffic (lane sharing is legal in CA).

Jon

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner!

It's amazing. I havn't had a need to clean my shower since March -- it's still immaculate!

mark

Word on the Jetta GLI. I have a 2004 but the 2006 packs a lot of cool new features that I wish mine had. Though I'm not digging the new Jetta design so much.

Best purchases: Nintendo DS Lite, Palm Treo 650, Spy LeBaron sunglasses, Smith Serpico sunglasses, Abercrombie underwear that was featured on here

Steve

My wife and I started building a home in http://www.flinthillsresidences.com/ it should be completed in late spring '07, so does this count for '06?

Paul Parker

Mini Cooper JCW GP #GP0650

muyiwa

ok, glad some people did more than one, because...

1) Macbook 13 inch - refurb from apple, under a grand delivered :-)
2) Mac G5 500gigs HD, 7 gigs RAM ($1000 used - the RAM alone is worth that much!)
3) Wacom tablet
4) Photoshop CS2
5) Canon 24-70mm 2.8L lens

Tom Mc

2007 Tahoe
Motorola Q

rm

A BenQ HD Projector and the X360.

Spamouflage

My PSP. I can play games, download and watch video Podcasts, songs and convert my TV shows to my memory sticks. Love my PSP.

Josh

A D40. It was my Christmas present from my wife, but I picked it out and purchased it.

d3velop

Prolly my Sony Ericsson w600i cellie. It's solid reception means I've only had like 3 calls drop (from MY end) all year. Stores about 50 mp3's... and amazing feature set.

Beats my Canon S3 IS by a nose (for sheer USAGE). Maybe Cleveland CG2 iron set and CG10 black pearl wedges? I don't think anything else comes close to those three/four things. That's my short list.

DRE

MacBook Pro (awesome computer- ill never buy a desktop again)... seems to be the winner here also huh?!!! VWs are awesome but do they give you guys a box of replacement bulbs with new car purchase.... hahahaha.... you'll see what im talking about!!!! Good luck though.

S

Lucio Fulci's

"Zombi 2"

George Laquian

Mine would be a military version of the Patagonia Dimension soft shell - I spend a lot of time in the variable weather of the Pacific Northwest, and this jacket has become the anchor of my outdoor clothing system.

It wicks well, dries quickly, has great pocket placement and freedom of movement. Another plus is that the hood is so well designed that it fits over climbing and rescue helmets with ease.

About the only thing that I wish it had was zip-up pockets on both outer sleeves, then it would be perfect.

stefan hartwig

In no particular order...

- Vespa LX50 (now that's gas mileage)
- Leica Digilux 3 (film-like grain quality, very sharp, excellent design)
- Canon L series 80-200 zoom lens (for the wife...super sharp, awesome low light shots)
- Nintendo Wii (great fun, worth the wait in the cold)
- Macbook Pro 17 (still having sleep issues post firmware update, but it's still awesome)

Jason

Nikon D200 w/18-200mm VR lens. An incredibly versatile combination.

Vincent

Logitech Wireless Music System for PC. One of the few purchases that has exceeded my expectations.

Muzz

Panasonic 37" Plasma HDTV, TH-37PX60U

Michael

1. Apple MacBook, no questions about it
2. Apple HiFi (w/airport express)
3. Airplane ticket to NYC

Younghusband

Macbook hands down!

iluha

1)Sony VAIO Premium SZ laptop. Extremely powerful in a stylish, light Carbon fiber case.

2)True Religion Raw denim bobby jeans

Chris

My plane ticket home to see my family and friends; didn't know how much I was missing them until I saw them again.

Motorola A1200 in red, the Ming. It's such a cute practical phone

Macbook

Animals, etc bought at www.heifer.org to help others and sponsoring a couple of kids at www.planusa.org

peter

1] 2004 mini cooper s

2] canon 5d with 24-105mmL lens

3] seraphin leather jacket

4] 2x scanspeak 9" revelator subwoofers

- it's been a big year.

Matt

-MacBook (Black C2D w/ 160G HD & 2G RAM)
I absolutely love this thing. Easily the best purchase I've made this year. :)

Phil

2007 VW GTI

United Grey, 2.0T, DSG

Jack

Hard to choose just one;
My Bentley Arkitekt Fossil Watch w/Diamond
Nintendo Wii
Chrome Mini Messenger Bag
Norcent 20" HDTV LCD
Dension Ice>Link Plus iPod interface
Paper, Denim & Cloth Jeans (first pair of $100+ jeans)
Hollister Jake Cologne

It's gotta be one of those...

Aaron Kirscht

Love my MacBook Pro ... but I have to give props to my reconditioned Scotty Cameron putter. No way it makes me a better putter, but the smile on my face every time I pull it out of my bag makes it worth it.

Garri

Bose headphones (audio bliss)
David Yurman chain
Nike Sneakers.

It's the simple and small things that make me happy.

infinitespecter

The Nokia 770, hands down. It has cut the tether to my desk and fills a need I didn't even know I had. I carry it everywhere I go now. In fact this post is being made on it right now from the local Starbucks.

Kelly

Canon Powershot A630
and
One Click Butter Cutter (not exactly high tech, but very cool)

Jeffrey Coons

1) Sony HD3 High Def cam corder.. simply stunning!
2) 24" iMac and 15" MacBook Pro core2duo
3) Parallels software to run on those machines!

Tom Tom

Hmm.. Lot of good ones this year.
1. Macbook - I've switched sides and I'm absolutely happy I did!
2. 2004 Yukon Denali - Put 24's on it two days after purchase.
3. My new Townhome - Best of both worlds. Home owner but without all the yard work!
3. Weekend trip to Vegas! - Enough said about that.

nihraguk

1. A short holiday in Venice, Italy. Beautiful.
2. AKG K81DJ headphones; cheap and very good. Many rave reviews on head-fi.org, and I'm glad that I believed them.
3. A few other less high tech and relevant things.

Philabeemer

Another list:
1. Sonos - now my 300 CDs sit in the basement
2. MacBook - after 15 years I am never going back to buying a PC
3. iPod 80GB Video - get to download shows off the TIVO and watch them while the wife shops or during flights.
4. BMW K1200S - Not you teenage son's motorcycle
5. Canon Rebel XT - allowed me to rediscover photography after years in the point'n'shoot wasteland

Prospective best purchases of 2007:
1. Panasonic 42" Plasma
2. Nintendo Wii
3. Ducati 1098
4. Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS lens

Claymore

My 20" iMac Core2Duo and my Nikon d80.

Leo R

1. Sonno Prima mattress from Design Within Reach -- truly amazing.
2. Tumi messenger bag in black with red interior (style 5112) -- the perfect bag.
3. Nike "Hammer" wristwatch -- every time I wear it someone comments on it.

Sean

The new Dell UltraSharp 2407FPW 24" wide LCD monitor for my Christmas present. Working at home will look so much better.

Oh, and there were some good bottles of wine as well. :)

Hunter

A Meizu Miniplayer, the "iPod knockoff that could."

Joe Fernandez

A VW GTI United gray, 6 speed. Just got it a week ago and it is by far my best purchase this year.

CraigMack

wurkin stiffs

Aldwin

my core2duo macbook pro

GMDiesel

1. I jumped on the adicolor release early and was able to grab an adicolor "red" track jacket. It's the Dark Horse inspired version. I bought it online from a UK store (Triads)(I'm Canadian)with little hassles and a price I could rationalize later.

2. My Moto Q. Other than a bit of a powering down issue (grrr) and a drop (son of a...)this thing has been an absolute dream. It's my first data device and I'm really wondering what I was doing before I had the Q.

Brendan Thielman

The best purchase I have made this year has to be the logitech harmony 890 remote. No more having to deal with five remotes because it controls every home entertainment device I have with the push of a button, and it evens controls my lights through RF.

John B

I finally broke down and bought an iPod (5th gen 30GB video). Don't know why I waited so long. What a great little piece of technology.

MikeD

1. Canon 5D dSLR camera + 135mm f/2.0L prime lens
2. MacBook Pro 17" + Adobe Creative Suite 2
3. Epson r2400 printer

peayq

olympus om-1

ZooZ

Range Rover Sport Supercharged

MacBook Pro 2

Matt B

Grado SR225 headphones. Wow! Truly rich sound.
iPod 5G 30 gig. Resisted for so long.
TaylorMade r7 driver (oh how it's changed my game)

Nick

Best purchases of 2006:
1) 1995 Toyota Supra TT
2) Canon SD630

Hopeful for 2007:
1) 2008 Honda CBR600RR

Feras

I got the binary watch. I love it, it's a great conversation opener, and it always grabs people's attention.

John

My best purchase has to be my Cingular 8525 which I'm writing this on. How did I live without this 3G phone.

TRob

An Aeron Chair, with custom leather arms

Will J.

MacBook and then a 1 gig RAM upgrade.

Jack

1. Nintendo Wii
2. black iPod nano 2G

Graydom

PicooZ mini helicopter.
Remote controlled and SO badass.
Best $30.00 a boy could spend.
Once you make the proper adjustments and trial and error, you'll be shocked at how you can get the little sucker to move around your livingroom, garage or backyard.

$30.00 bones was never better spent. This thing is a phenomenon. If you don't have one, you're late to the party, my friend.

SurlyHindu

1. 24"iMac
2. Xbox360
3. PinkFloyd Animals on LP

khoafish

Toyota Camry 07.

Jesse

Best thing I bought in 2006 was a Macbook, which also happened to be my very first Apple computer.

Joel

Golf - TDi 1.9L Comfortline

mblind

Nintendo Wii
Toyota Yaris
Blackberry Pearl

kush

pumas (suede sicily romas) -- awesome shoes.
nike shocks -- not for b-ball but for running, changed the way i run... for the better
v-moda vibe headphones -- awesome earbuds. fit great. look great. saves me battery on my ipod due to the in-ear thing. ive had other in-ear earbuds but this thing is something else.
various shirts from threadless -- cool and funny. threadless.com

Barrett

The best purchase I made was a 20" imac as well as some studio monitors (which also make for really cool stereo speakers) The JBL LSR4300 series...

RENOIR

Mitsubishi HD1000u 720p native DLP front projector. It is an amazing projector with a retail price of only $999.00, Just astounding.

Joachim Klehe

Mac Pro with two 20" Dell UltraSharp monitors. Parallels allows me to run WinXP (ugh!) in one monitor for job related stuff and the top notch Apple apps in the other monitor. As this is already becoming the next supercharged year of the video, Apple's iMovie, Garageband, and QuickTime Pro has enabled me to create my first videos with minimum pain. Happy New Year Y'all!

stupidlongname

iRiver Clix at a 35% discount. I love it.

Paully

VW Golf GTI......

Canon EOS 350......

They Both Rock!!

Michael

Volkswagen 2007 4-door 2.0T GTI

Chris B.

2007 Honda CR-V EX (great mileage/perfect size), Ikea "Jerker" computer desk ($99 - great deal)

Ricky

Sonos Digital Music System!

By far the best purchase of the year! I have three zone players in my condo streaming all my stored CD's and Rhapsody. I had a party on New Years playing old 80's hits to current Pop.

Fatlimey

Hands down, an imported, unlocked Sony Ericsson w810i. The phone is practically promiscuious with it's data sharing and, with a 4GB memory card, is also the MP3 player that never leaves my side.

Joe F.

Just picked up a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD for $899, canadian!!

Aaron

A hard to find Mos Def 12-inch vinyl.(universal Magnetic to be precise.) 5 bucks on ebay! And I was about to pay 40 to get it from England! Ha Ha Ha Hee!

Oliver

My OQO 01+. No doubt it is the most amazing machine I've purchased for a couple of years.
Happy New Year to you all.

Brian

a Playstation 3.

Francois

Salomon FSK 3VSL inline skates:
- Faster around London than ANY car/bus/underground
- More reliable
- Cheaper to run
- Much, much, more fun (especially watching car driver's faces when they sit bored in the traffic)
- And keeps me fit to boot

http://www.salomoninline.com/ch/products/products.asp?id=785679

Brett

1. 46" Sony Bravia XBR2
2. Nintendo Wii
3. Playstation 3

This was a really awesome year for me. I also receive my first child and she is getting bigger and bigger, and getting more and more expensive!!!

Mike

A week at Disney World with my wife and two kids; Especially stunning when you consider that I HATE theme parks.

Ryan

Land Rover LR3 HSE. Navigation! Penn State vs. Tennesse. A few.

oppositionradio

custom made leather laptop bag from the village tannery in the west village (NYC) - sooo much cooler than any laptop bag on the market.

www.villagetannery.com

CMac

I was really hungry one night and got a pizza from Mellow Mushroom........grubbin'.

Martin

1. Logitech Revolution MX Mouse
2. University of Michigan Football Jersey

LittleJoe

MacBook Pro

Tim

Custom shirts. No question. I got mine in NYC at Cego (cego.com). They fit perfectly, are exactly the color/shade/pattern/style I want and they were a steal (~$130per) compared to designer shirts. I used to pay >$200 for Zegna or Etro, which didn't even fit that well.

If you live in the nyc area, you should peep cego.

tito

a 32" samsumg lcd tv,black, its sick because its made for gamers and ipod so i think its just right for the youth for today and me

Olivier

Audi A3 3.2
Roomba robot vacuum
Wine cellar

And most important of all, all the money spent introducing my daughter to more "adventurous" foods

Hybridchemistry

TICKETS TO SHOWDOWN LAN 2K6! HELLZ YES. \m/
can't wait for the next one!
www.showdownlan.com

Lanre

That would have to be my '05 BMW 645ci. It was hardly driven by the previous owner (Only 3800 miles in 7 months!). $12,000 off MSRP made it even better!

Lot's of ideas for `07 on this thread!

Karthik Setty

Definitely my white shiny Macbook

J-Rad

I got a Sachs Madass scooter.

The coolest scooter ever!

lee

I got a really cool bracelet that has healing properties at WWW.LeatherRockBands.com

Brian

A Panasonic VHS/DVD Recorder. My wife no longer has an excuse to keep her 60+ VHS tapes!

LC - Uncrate

Comments closed. Thanks for all the great responses!