Random things that have exceeded or fell short of my expectations:

⬆️good surround sound speakers 
⬆️robot vacuums
⬆️sous vide cooking
⬆️AirPod pros
⬆️quality knives 

⬇️iPads 
⬇️unpolarized sunglasses 
⬇️SendGrid
⬇️nonstick pans

cma.xyz. Founder /paragraph, previously at Google and Coinbase

Your list of things that exceeded your expectations deeply resonates with me. Few others for me:

⬆️quality bed
⬆️breathe right strips
⬆️Segway electric scooter 
⬆️Osprey backpacks
⬆️handwritten recipes