One of my favorite little things is when I get a little piece of crap mass-manufactured for things like trade show giveaways or party favors for which all the stars aligned and all the angels in heaven sang and by some cosmic miracle, something way better than what they intended to make popped out of the process. One of the best pens I've ever had came from a trade show, for instance. I also have a big soft spot for the all-plastic slinkies; I've got a rainbow one here on my desk that I like to use as a fiddle tool. (I'm a fiddler, but in this age of fidget spinners and fiddle cubes, I now call myself a free-range fiddler, because I prefer "real" objects for whatever reason. Dunno. I don't question the fiddle neurons in my brain, I merely obey.)
Dunno if it's the "best" things I've ever had, but they have the biggest gap between expectation and reality.
Also a similar situation, there is an astonishing variety of earbud headphones that run the gamut from "absolute shit" to "not quite studio quality but as close as you can get without being there", and remarkably, they all cost about the same overall. I use these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WP67G5Y/ref=oh_aui_sear... (which, again, I want to emphasize don't substitute for studio quality but for what you can stick in your pocket comfortably and just always have on you, are pretty darned good)
Dunno if it's the "best" things I've ever had, but they have the biggest gap between expectation and reality.
Also a similar situation, there is an astonishing variety of earbud headphones that run the gamut from "absolute shit" to "not quite studio quality but as close as you can get without being there", and remarkably, they all cost about the same overall. I use these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WP67G5Y/ref=oh_aui_sear... (which, again, I want to emphasize don't substitute for studio quality but for what you can stick in your pocket comfortably and just always have on you, are pretty darned good)