For example, I’m sure the average joe doesn’t know just how expensive calligraphy pens can be, or how deep the rabbit hole goes on video game speedruns.

  • Platomus@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I feel like a lot of people might think miniature building/painting could be easy - or at least quick.

    It isn’t.

  • figaro@lemdro.id
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Racing drones.

    It turns out when you crash your $500 drone into a brick wall at 50mph, shit breaks and you get to spend more money if you want to fly it into another wall

    • Obi@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      This has both, really. People also have no idea how hard it is to pilot the quick, expensive little bastards. You’re gonna spend a good chunk of time in the simulator before you can do anything with a real one. But hey, at least you can fix them, unlike DJI stuff where at the smallest little thing it’s bricked.

      • figaro@lemdro.id
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Oh definitely. DJI is good for photography and some types of video, but that’s about it. I’d avoid DJI for just about everything else.

  • DoWotJohn@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Aquariums. It’s shocking how much money you can spend on fish and how easily you can kill them all if you don’t know what you’re doing. Even worse, if you’re really into it, you can’t have just one aquarium.

  • nottheengineer@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Keyboards are generally known about, but the ergo part of it is a rabbit hole within the rabbit hole. Some people literally design, 3D print, wire up, solder and program one-off keyboards because they don’t like the ones made by other people.

        • demesisx@infosec.pub
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Not yet but I am seriously considering building a badass ergo keyboard at some point once I see a good enough design to copy.

  • jackoneill@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    3D printing! You can start out cheap but you can get STUPID expensive, and it’s the biggest most meandering rabbit hole I know of

    • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      3D printing really isn’t expensive, especially since you can create a lot of stuff for cents. I’m considering a new extruder for my Ender 3 (Looking at the LDO orbiter v2) and that’s €70, which sounds expensive for the printer, but compared to any other hobby that’s peanuts

      • Aux@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, €70 is not much for an upgrade for a hobby. That’s the price of a mid-range chain for a mountain bike and chains are not upgrades, they’re consumables, which you buy at least once a year, lol.

    • Aux@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      3D printing can be expensive, but I disagree that it is stupid expensive.

  • Poayjay@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Hobby CNC

    You can get a little table top router and some simple software for a couple hundred bucks. You can go deep into it. Building a custom machine, writing your own post processor, dialing in you CNC to insane levels of accuracy and precision, adding a 4th axis, engineering parts and projects, it goes on. It basically combines robotics, design engineering, and manufacturing engineering all in one hobby.

  • Canopyflyer@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    Skydiver here.

    It’s not just money, it’s not just skill that makes you a successful jumper.

    It’s a certain type of attitude and the ability to think when you’ve aimed yourself at a planet. Not everyone can do it. To be blunt, there is a large part of the population that shouldn’t do it, because they have terrible decision making ability.

    As far as money, I went through the student program in the mid 90’s and it cost me about $1200, if I recall correctly. My first rig, used, was $4000. My second rig, new, was just over $8000. I have 4500 jumps most of which I paid ~ $20 each for. I don’t want to do that math.

  • jastyty@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    Modular synths, eurorack is where you find the most accessible modules than the other formats. Sometimes you go and spend 600€ in a module without batting an eye.

    Also you have to count the case, patch cables, etc.

    It gets expensive quickly if you can’t fight the GAS (gear acquisition syndrome)

    Also it is a musical instrument so you need to practice many hours to play it affectively.

    It is really cool, I do enjoy myself playing with my modular, but would love to have more time to spend with it.

    • Obi@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      From what I’ve seen, modulars tend to attract people that love to tinker but aren’t necessarily very musical. They spend 30k and years on their setup but when they actually play something it’s just space soup. There are exceptions of course, some respected producers do use them, but that’s just my casual observation.

      • SpinDrift@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Absolutely. I love audio design, synthesis and making music, but I have rarely released anything. It took a long time for me to realize and accept that I do this for my own entertainment and not to be a successful musician. Its just a hobby.

        • Obi@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          And there’s nothing wrong with that! Music has also always remained something I did for fun, I have a different creative field as my day job and I don’t want to do the same with music nu-hu.