Knitting can be quite fun and somewhat low cost if you don't get influenced too much. But ask any knitter about their stash and you'll discover we're all hoarders who will not hesitate to pay ridiculous amounts of money for a single skein of hand died yarn (in the ugliest colours) that most likely will end up in the stash and never get knitted. Tools are the same. Why settle for a very basic and fully functional set of needles when you can get the most expensive one?

If you know a knitter, just know they are most likely sitting on a small fortune worth of yarn and tools.

I have electronically actuated (as opposed to cable actuated) gear shifting on my bike. It's becoming way more common these days, though...but still, it's a pretty expensive piece of kit for quite marginal gains.

For most power-tool woodworkers, it's a heavy cast-iron table saw. Versatile, accurate, stable, repairable, adjustable, and powerful. Hand tool folks may not have one at all, or maybe just a little jobsite thing to rip big boards, and there's a few people who think differently and either use a tracksaw or build up a custom work table with something smaller as its core, but the vast majority of people who are "into" woodworking will have a cast iron table saw in good repair.

CRT monitors: the Intergraph Interview 28HD96, informally known as the "Carmacktron" (see picture)

A true 16:9 aspect ratio PC CRT monitor with a maximum output of 2042x1152 @ 80Hz. Not the highest horizontal frequency out there but an absolute monster in 1995.

Edit: Check out https://kbin.social/m/CRTs if you're into this shit 👍

I'm into 3D printing, so for me right now the piece of kit I'm drooling over is the X1 Carbon by Bambu Lab. It has a lot of fancy features but what I most want is the 16-color mixer. It would be great because it would significantly reduce the painting overhead. I'm hoping to have it before the end of the year, if there's not something fancier out by then.

A really nice laminar flow hood for mycology. It basically provides a clean area so you can work with agar without worrying about introducing contamination or stuff you don't want. You can make a basic version for around $100 (or a still air box if you can't afford one), but a really nice hood is somewhere in the ballpark of $500-1000 for what is essentially a fan with a Very good hepa filter.

For guitarists you have either the 100% analog guys that can spend tens of thousands on a collection of amps, or the ones that went more digital with modelers. The big ones being the Kemper, Fractal, Nueral DSP and Line 6. I have the Quad Cortex and it's a killer, thought I wish the rate of updates was a little faster.

If you like working on old Japanese motorcycles with carburetors, you really really want to have a JIS screwdriver. A Phillips will "work" ... but it'll tend to want to cam out of the bolt head, stripping it, especially if the bolts are corroded in place after 40 years. A proper JIS screwdriver has a different bit profile, designed for use with those bolts.

"So just get one, how hard can that be?" I hear you asking. A real, quality JIS screwdriver is expensive, at least in the States. And the cheap ones are often not actually JIS screwdrivers at all. Another option is replacing JIS bolts with allen head bolts, this is very common. But if you are a stickler for keeping things as original as possible ... it's got to be JIS.

Miniature painter here, if you don't own a Windsor and Newton series 7 sable brush what are you even doing?

oh, I recently got a Vortex mixer and it's a game changer.

A good quality airbrush can get expensive too and is probably the biggest upgrade to the hobby.

as with all art it's subjective, you adjust to the tools you use ... but seriously, get a series 7.

A coffee mug gifted by one of your favorite students.

Followed by a working pencil sharpener and the nice stapler you don't let freshmen hands touch.

A good quality micrometer. Some will go for the classic Starett, others will get a modern digital Mitutoyo. Doesn't matter if it's a lathe or mill guy, CNC or manual. Any decent machinist will have their mic.

In reef aquariums people are currently obsessed with this -

https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/shop/aquatics/pumps/aqua-illumination/ai-nero-5-powerhead

It moves water. Not anywhere in particular, just makes it move within the tank. It does this job quite well. It sounds ridiculous when you try to explain it to anyone that's not part of the hobby.

iPad Pro.

First Apple product I've purchased since the 2005 iPod Video. It does live to its hype for publicists/designers: Ridiculously powerful/optimized device for its form factor, P3 color calibrated 120Hz display covered by laminated glass, and with the support of software like Nomad Sculpt, Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher, Procreate, DaVinci Resolve, Pro Tools and Final Cut Pro.

I think the only thing we're missing is a hard-surface modeling package like Blender, and actually usable IDEs like JetBrains Rider, but this thing which is the size and weight of a magazine is already an amazing professional toolbox.

Been into computer hardware for not very long and got dragged into the Small Form Factor PC space immediately.

The pinnacle for me for a while what getting recent hardware into a PC case as small as a shoebox

I've started with PCs as small as 20L and now have my PC in a case less that 10L. The urge to go smaller while maintaining the same amount of power is hard to resist.

There are others doing full custom watercooling loops in PCs smaller than mine but that is a whole other rabbit hole i don't think i am ready for.

I do gunpla building, and the one thing you see most builders, regardless of level, immediately want to go for, is a pair of good single-bladed nippers. Usually the holy grail are the God Hand japanese brand nippers, as they perform a very clean and close cut to remove the plastic nubs off the parts, but other less expensive options exist. Sure, there are many different ways to deal with the plastic nubs that stay when you cut off a part from the runner, but the one tool almost everyone goes for, are those nippers. Usually, to the point of keeping two pairs, one to clip parts off the runner, and one just to cut off the nubs.

Vintage Canon FD lenses or rare Russian lenses from the 60s

for all the keyboard peeps.....

https://fluxkeyboard.com/

Gimmick or... do you think the hall effect keys might not be as bad as chicklets? I'm intrigued by the ability to clean it easily. (the keyboard frame itself pops off and can be rinsed.) Not sure I want a screen under it, though.

#BobbinLace:

Top equipment: A Christina roller pillow. I can't even find one to show you, they are rare white whales....

Top reference book: Lace, A History.

It's a very weird hobby, with a lot of second-hand sales among the practitioners once you get in, because there's no large-scale production of equipment for the most part.

A good bench scraper is useful for anything you do on a cutting board.

Boots. Good quality boots. Nothing worse than being on a 10+ mile trail and realizing your boots are digging into all the wrong places.

a glovebox

The Sennheiser HD650 is a staple in headphone HiFi. The fact that Amir demos everything with it is evidence enough.

Hm, professionally?

A spectroradiometer for display calibration (Colorimetry Research or equivalent) and Minolta colorimeter

Hobby wise: Not necessarily the pinnacle but a set of Magnepan speakers and an amp good enough to drive them. I just like the sound of them but not necessarily the peak for all enthusiasts.

Also a Stax headphones with a matching high voltage driver. Again, a niche product that isn't at the top of all headphone enthusiasts, but I like them. Alternative, Audeze LCD series. Guess the trend is that I like planars and electrostatics.

Most serious night-time mountain bikers either have, or want, the most serious mountain bike lights:

https://www.outboundlighting.com/collections/mountain-bike-lights/products/evo-downhill-package-best-bike-light

I'd love to get a Unistellar telescope to share my observations and do citizen science.

Magic: the Gathering - Beta basic lands.

Basic lands are a commodity. If you need some for a deck, you can get them for basically free. Often literally free. If you want to baking out your deck, very rare versions of basic lands (functionally identical in gameplay, just unique art or a rare printing) can cost hundreds of dollars.

Beta basic lands are from the first set of magic. When I played more they were still like $10 a piece- a luxury, but quite affordable for this game. Alpha is the very first printing, but they have historically been a little further out of reach price-wise, and Alpha cards are cut slightly differently on the corners than all subsequent sets, so Beta is a little more desirable for actually playing with. It's considered basically the classiest way to pimp your deck- out of hundreds of printings, this set is by far the most common to find the pros running.

Modifying cars. Both hobby and profession.

10mm socket. Those bastards always grow legs.

Honestly, high quality tools. Typically Snap-On. And then it just becomes about the circles you run in.

In the RX7 community, a running car, that still has a rotary in it, is like the 1%

Overall Japanese classic cars it’s about certain name brands.

Snowboarding hasn't been mentioned yet.

Anyone who wants to do it somewhat seriously has their own pair of boots, from a reputable brand. Renting, or buying used boots is for rookies.

Also, there's the high-end boards from brands like Burton, Jones and Capita, which will actively try to kill anyone who doesn't know how to ride well.