Comments on: What's the coolest thing I can buy for $200?

Question: What's the coolest thing I can buy for $200?

andreux — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:28:41 -0800

What's the coolest thing I can buy for $200?

I have $200 to blow. What's the coolest gadget, camera, household item, computer accessory, service, software, etc. that I could buy?

I'll consider just about anything. I have an iPhone and an iMac if that helps.

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:34:06 -0800

A tattoo.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:34:59 -0800

Do you like to cook?

If so, you're halfway to a bloody good stand mixer.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:36:04 -0800

Find an after school program in your town for at-risk or disadvantaged kids. Ask the director what things they don't have enough of (calculators? pencils? paint?) and buy it for them.

By: Nelsormensch

Nelsormensch — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:37:19 -0800

A Utilikilt.

By: Cosine

Cosine — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:38:53 -0800

Eye-Fi

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:39:01 -0800

Buy your mother something really luxurious.

By: clearly

clearly — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:40:48 -0800

A Leatherman Skeletool CX.

...and a keg for you and your friends.

By: mdonley

mdonley — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:42:09 -0800

A metric ton of seeds from your local nursery and a subscription to Sunset.

By: ijsbrand

ijsbrand — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:43:40 -0800

A container of liquid nitrogen, to make a lot of extra special ice cream.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:44:04 -0800

A really nice messenger bag for you to throw all your crap in?

A nice jacket with plenty of pockets for you to throw all your crap in?

A Leatherman/Swiss Army knife of some description?

A cool little pair of quality binoculars and a smallish Mag-Lite?

By: caelumluna

caelumluna — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:52:02 -0800

well, going to a casino might fulfill the requirement of blowing.

By: sharkfu

sharkfu — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:59:19 -0800

AAPL.

If you'd bought $399 of apple stock instead of an ipod in 1991, it would be worth $7,000 today.

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:59:41 -0800

Previously.

or two of these things.

or several of these things.

or hundreds of these things.

By: b33j

b33j — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:00:26 -0800

You could help 8 people to see again.

You could probably feed 70 children, give 18 fruit trees, buy a goat for a family, arrange some vaccinations and organise clean water for 40 people.

You could double your money if you invested it and compounded the interest over 10 years.

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:02:49 -0800

All cooking related suggestions!

A magnetic knife rack

Good knives as per the above comment. Link for example - never ever buy a chef knife that you havent held in your hand.

A food processor. Life and the kitchen will never be the same again.

A mandoline - not the instrument. You'll impress the the hell out of everyone by even knowing what it is, and not slicing your fingers off using it.

By: RavinDave

RavinDave — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:08:16 -0800

You can get Barry Dennen's voice on your answering machine.

/Okay ... $225. But you can probably haggle. Barry really hasn't done much lately.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:08:43 -0800

Find a friend to kick in $40.

Then buy pudding.

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:18:33 -0800

A portable hardware-encrypted USB drive with wireless RFID keys? (Lots of manufacturers make these. Unfortunately, the encryption on the first generation of ICs that they all use is weak, which is plain silly in this day and age, but it'll at least keep your kid sister from reading your diary without your keys).

An hardware-encrypted thumbdrive that will SELF-DESTRUCT after 10 incorrect password attempts! The encryption is supposedly strong.

Or a bunch of toys and stuff at ThinkGeek.com

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:20:35 -0800

If you want to blow it on a charitable cause, I'd say check out DonorsChoose.org. I found some local elementary schools in my neighborhood that needed a few bucks here and there to buy art supplies and do science projects so I funded them and a few months later the teacher will mail you a packet and a report (often with photos/artwork) from the class detailing how the money was spent and how the things were used, and what students thought of the lessons.

I did a bunch of this kind of gift giving last xmas and all spring I got the rewards as these thank you notes would roll in. It makes you feel really good knowing some local kids learned how to garden, got to paint in a school district that canceled art years ago, and got to take a field trip somewhere cool.

By: demon666

demon666 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:29:12 -0800

That should be enough to get you about 100 litres of liquid nitrogen.

By: milkrate

milkrate — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:33:04 -0800

Get one hundred $2 bills and use them exclusively for tipping.

By: M.C. Lo-Carb!

M.C. Lo-Carb! — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:43:20 -0800

an old cruiser bike on craigslist.

By: dirtdirt

dirtdirt — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:45:41 -0800

Send it to Dorothy over at Cat and Girl for the Donation Derby. She'll draw a comic that illustrates how she spent the money, and send it to you. You get to feel like patron, and you even get a great piece of original, internety art that will be immortalized online and in the next Donation Derby book (assuming she makes another).

And shit, you're supporting a really excellent comic.

By: notyou

notyou — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:01:04 -0800

Well, it's money and it's valuable and powerful and so on. So you should do something responsible with it -- save it, invest it, give it to someone who needs it more than you obviously do.

But if you're determined to blow it: A Nokia N800 Internet tablet.

By: baphomet

baphomet — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:47:04 -0800

Nintendo DS and a pair of games.

By: mewithoutyou

mewithoutyou — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:50:58 -0800

180 or so cookies for random people, 8 intimate walks, a kiss on a moon tree, 20 photographs of the sky, 1/4 of a balloon ride, 40 memories, and several other things (or a combination of things), all from this guy.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:52:12 -0800

Grand Illusions, the expensive oddball science/magic toy store, has some good stuff.

By: saxamo

saxamo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:57:49 -0800

Nintendo DS and a flashcart.

Fixed.

By: Netzapper

Netzapper — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:00:43 -0800

How about a Hennessy Hammock?

By: Shepherd

Shepherd — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:04:42 -0800

Foster four elephants for a year. Or four rhinos. Or mix and match. Or foster one elephant (or one rhino) for four years. It's awesome -- you get photos and updates and all sorts of cool stuff, and there's a rhino or an elephant out there somewhere and in some small way you are its dad.

By: jbickers

jbickers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:14:54 -0800

The complete run of the greatest comic book ever written.

By: andythebean

andythebean — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:19:48 -0800

You might be able to use it to upgrade your electricity to green sources for a year or so. That would be my recommendation.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:28:21 -0800

art

By: parmanparman

parmanparman — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:29:14 -0800

You can buy me! I'll do some fund raising and I'll record messages on your phone in my deep voice. I can also call lots of religious thinkers, like John Shelby Spong, and convince them to chat to you.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:44:01 -0800

Grand Illusions' mechanical toys section has some of the things I was thinking of; it looks like they have a lot more inexpensive stuff now than a year or two ago.

Wooden construction toys - eg an amazing marble run set. Dexterity games like Bamboleo or sac noir Bausack come with a huge array of weird interesting pieces and are wonderful for parties. Or you could get a really nice set of whatever game you already play - chess, backgammon, etc.

wall gear clock

digital sundial

By: porpoise

porpoise — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:00:57 -0800

10 lbs of silly putty

this is what you can do with 50 pounds...

By: Ekim Neems

Ekim Neems — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:25:10 -0800

A backpack or bag from Booq - I have two and couldn't be happier.

By: no1hatchling

no1hatchling — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:01:03 -0800

The coolest thing you can buy for $200 is a guitar.

By: Camofrog

Camofrog — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:53:31 -0800

Something you'll use a lot--nice sheets.

By: BrnP84

BrnP84 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:25:41 -0800

Two kegs of beer and a few bottles of vodka, it's like you'll be buying friends.

By: divabat

divabat — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:25:15 -0800

A pile of books, or a workshop.

By: captain cosine

captain cosine — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:59:56 -0800

I agree with no1hatchling, $200 is enough for an inexpensive but good quality acoustic guitar...or keyboard. If you push yourself (possibly with caffeine) it will be a fantastic investment (assuming you don't already play something).

One day you could play like this guy.

By: saucy

saucy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:32:55 -0800

A GPS? I never would have thought to buy one for myself, but I received one as a gift, and it's amazing how much the thing comes in handy.

By: dog food sugar

dog food sugar — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:39:50 -0800

Swiss Army Pocket Watch.

By: mippy

mippy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:24:23 -0800

Get your local adult-ed catalogue, pick a course at random (a cocktail stick makes a good temporary dart) and voila! A new hobby!

By: runningwithscissors

runningwithscissors — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:57:19 -0800

Um. My textbooks for the semester? *I* think it would be pretty cool.

But really, art. Try Etsy or Imagekind. Or just give out dollar bills to people on the street. That would make both you and many others happy.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:51:01 -0800

A nice green laser, or a really nice illegally-imported green laser.