Two people in Bergen, one letter a month, and everything bought with our own money
Hello —
You are reading this because you asked us to write to you once a month, or because somebody forwarded you the letter and you followed it here. Both are good reasons and neither obliges you to do anything next.
We are a two-person desk on Strandgaten. We buy ordinary things at retail — kettles, notebooks, rain shells, hand balm, a claw hammer — live with them the way anybody would, and then write down whether the money was well spent. Nobody pays us to write about a product and nobody reads an issue before it goes out. What follows is the whole of this month's letter: what is still standing, what we took off the list, the one code that goes with the issue, and the checks a thing has to pass before it appears here at all.
If you only read one part of this page, read the retirement list. It is the part most sites do not publish, and it is the reason the rest of it means anything.
— The BomPicks desk, Strandgaten 14, Bergen
What we are keeping
Each entry carries the date we last looked at it. None of these were given to us, and none of them were bought with anybody else's money. Read down the column, or read the verdicts and stop there — both are honest ways to use this page.
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Fjordkant Kettle, 1.2 litre
Two winters of boiling several times a day and the thermostat still cuts within a degree of where you set it. The spout is the reason it stays on this list: tip the last of the water out in a hurry and nothing runs down the outside of the body.
Verdict: still worth it — checked 15 September 2026
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Sogne Salt and Pepper Mill, beech
Steel grinders pit badly in Bergen air. The ceramic mechanism in this one has not, and it is now into a third year on the counter. The collar moves from powder to coarse without a tool, and the body unscrews at the middle rather than the top, so refilling takes a few seconds instead of a few minutes.
Verdict: still worth it — checked 14 September 2026
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Havn Glass Food Boxes, set of four
Frozen, thawed, washed and dropped, and the clips have not gone slack. One thing did change and it is worth knowing: replacement lids are now sold on their own in packs of four, which turns a cracked lid from a reason to replace the whole set into a small errand.
Verdict: worth it, and cheaper to keep than it was — checked 10 September 2026
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Nordvik Wool Overshirt, unlined
Last year's run dropped to a lighter fabric and we said so at the time instead of letting it pass. What is shipping now is back at the heavier weight that made this worth its price in the first place. The sizing has not moved, and it still runs large, so take a size down.
Verdict: worth it again as of this run — checked 15 September 2026
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Morgendal Chef's Knife, 20 cm
The handle warranty went from five years to ten in September, which is unusual for a kitchen knife and says something about how the maker expects it to age. Ours takes an edge quickly and the bolster has not started to move after two years of being washed by hand and occasionally left wet.
Verdict: still worth it — checked 09 September 2026
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Bergstøl Cast Iron Pan, 26 cm
The pan has not changed at all. The leaflet inside the box has: it now asks for four thin layers of oil rather than one heavy one. That is exactly what we worked out after ruining our first attempt, so the instructions have caught up with the pan rather than the other way round.
Verdict: still worth it, and read the leaflet — checked 12 September 2026
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Stranda Rain Shell, unlined
Three hours of driving rain on a September crossing and the inside stayed dry. This is a heavier shell than the ultralight ones that get written about most, and that extra weight is precisely why it does not turn clammy after the first hour. The maker replaces the model in November; we have asked for one and will say whether the lighter version is still dry.
Verdict: still worth it, with a re-test due in November — checked 07 September 2026
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Voss Trekking Poles, pair
The flip locks grip wet granite and wet mud alike, and the lower section has not crept down once in eighteen months of use. Cork grips rather than foam, which matters more the longer a walk runs, and the tips are a standard fitting you can buy anywhere.
Verdict: still worth it — checked 06 September 2026
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Lofoten Desk Lamp K2
Every part that fails first in a cheap lamp — the module, the joint, the weighted base — is sold separately for this one. Nothing about it is clever; it is simply built so that a repair is possible at all. Ours flickered on one circuit and not another, and the replacement driver took ten minutes to fit.
Verdict: still worth it — checked 05 September 2026
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Hardanger Notebook, A5, dotted
Ninety-gram paper that takes a fountain pen without feathering, and lightly toned rather than bright white, which is easier on the eyes under a desk lamp. It lies flat from the first page instead of the fortieth, and the stitching has held through a year in a bag.
Verdict: still worth it — checked 04 September 2026
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Havn Hand Balm, unscented, 75 ml
Most balms that survive a Norwegian winter stay greasy for a quarter of an hour. This one is absorbed in under a minute and leaves nothing on a keyboard, which is the only reason it lives on the desk rather than in a bathroom cabinet. The tin takes a refill rather than being thrown away.
Verdict: still worth it — checked 03 September 2026
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Morgendal Safety Razor, closed comb
We ran it against the multi-blade cartridges most of our readers tell us they use and found no difference worth reporting in the shave after a fortnight. Blades are a standard pattern and stocked in every pharmacy in Bergen, which is the whole argument for it.
Verdict: worth it if you shave most days; a nuisance if you shave twice a month — checked 02 September 2026
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Fjellheim Claw Hammer, 450 g
The hickory shaft is covered against breakage for twenty years with no receipt required, and we watched a replacement handed across a counter without an argument. The head is forged rather than cast, which is why the edge has not mushroomed despite being used for things a hammer should not be used for.
Verdict: still worth it, and the warranty is real — checked 08 September 2026
Retired, and why
These were recommended here and are not any more. Nothing is deleted quietly: when something stops being worth the money, it stays on the page with a line through it and the reason beside it.
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Tromsø Folding Drying Rack, two-tierDiscontinued in October, and the replacement we were sent uses noticeably thinner wire than the rack that carried three years of wet laundry for us.
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Morgendal Bit Driver Set, 32 bitsSets made after March use a coarser ratchet with far more play in it: it still drives a screw, but it no longer feels like something you would hand down to anybody.
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Stranda Commuter LightThe battery is now rated for 400 charge cycles rather than 600 at the same price, and the maker will not say what changed, which is answer enough for us.
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Havn Whisk, stainlessA reader in Stavanger told us hers rusted at the weld after four months in a dishwasher; we bought a second one and it did the same, so our original entry was wrong and this is the correction.
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Nordvik Wool Socks, three-packThe current knit shrinks about a size after a second warm wash, while two pairs from the older run in our own drawer have not moved at all.
What a product has to pass
There is no scoring system and no panel of judges. We work through the same list every time, and something that fails one line of it does not appear, however good it looks on paper.
- We buy it at retail and keep the receipt. Nothing on this page arrived as a free review unit.
- It gets at least eight weeks of ordinary use before a single word is written about it.
- We use it the way it will actually be used: badly, in a hurry, in Bergen weather.
- We compare it against at least two things you could buy instead, including the cheaper one.
- Both editors live with it. One person's good opinion is not a pick.
- Any claim that matters — a warranty, a battery rating, a fabric weight — we confirm with the maker in writing.
- When a reader reports a fault we buy another one and try to reproduce it before anything on this page changes.
- Every entry carries the date we last checked it, and an entry we have not looked at recently says so.
- When something stops being worth the money it is retired in public, not quietly deleted.
The code that goes with this issue
Every issue carries one featured code, and this page carries the same one. It belongs to the shop named on the page the link below opens, not to us. The shop sets its own terms and its own expiry, it is offered to every reader on identical terms, and we earn nothing at all when it is used.
Type it in on the maker's own page, or copy it and paste it. The code is identical for everybody on the list and it stops working at the end of the month, so there is no advantage in being quick and no penalty for being slow.
Featured pick code, Issue 15
CODE_PLACEHOLDER
Valid until 30 September 2026. If it is refused, write to us and we will ask the shop what happened rather than leave you guessing.
Missed an earlier issue? Write to [email protected] with the issue number and we will send the copy. Back issues are not published here.
How we email
If a message from BomPicks reached your inbox, this is what you should expect from us and how to make it stop if you would rather it did. None of it is complicated, which is rather the point.
What is sent
The Picks Letter: one written issue a month covering what we kept, what we retired and the reason for each. Very occasionally a short correction, if something on this page turned out to be wrong.
How often
Once a month, on the first Wednesday. There is no second list, no reminder sequence, no seasonal campaign and no message sent on anybody else's behalf. No brand has ever paid for a mention.
Stopping it
The unsubscribe link at the foot of any issue works in one click, takes effect immediately and asks you for no confirmation. If you would rather not click anything, write to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the subject and one of us removes you by hand within ten days.
Who is writing to you
BomPicksStrandgaten 14
5013 Bergen, Norway
[email protected]
Our privacy notice sets out exactly what we hold about a reader, which is an email address and the date you asked. Our terms explain what the entries on this page are worth and what they are not.
What we hold about you, and why
The short version is that if you have never written to us and never joined the letter, we hold nothing about you at all. If you did join, we hold an email address and the date you asked. Everything below is the detail behind those two sentences.
Who is responsible
BomPicks is a two-person editorial desk at Strandgaten 14, 5013 Bergen, Norway, and it is the data controller for everything described here. Write to [email protected] or to that postal address and one of the two editors will answer.
Norway applies the General Data Protection Regulation through the European Economic Area agreement, so that is the law we work to. Where we write to readers in the United States we also follow the CAN-SPAM Act.
If you join the letter list
Three things are held about a subscriber, and nothing else:
| What | Why | On what basis |
|---|---|---|
| The email address you asked us to write to | To deliver The Picks Letter | Your consent (GDPR art. 6(1)(a)) |
| The date and the way you joined, for example "wrote in on 4 March 2026" | To show the request was yours, and to answer when you ask how long you have been on the list | Our legitimate interest in being able to demonstrate consent |
| Whether an issue arrived, bounced, was opened or had a link clicked | To drop addresses that no longer work and to see which parts of an issue people actually read | Our legitimate interest in running the list properly |
We do not ask for your name, and if you volunteer one in an email we do not add it to the list. Nobody's address reaches this list unless its owner put it there: we do not buy, rent or collect addresses from other sites, and we have never done either. If you believe somebody else added you, tell us and we will take it off and note where it came from.
Opens and clicks are recorded by the sending service as a matter of course. We read them added up — "four readers in ten opened the retirement section" — and never as a picture of one person. Nothing we see there is ever used to send different readers different letters.
If you only read the site
bompicks.com is a set of static pages. There is no analytics script, no advertising, no tracking pixel and no cookie of ours to accept or refuse.
The page asks Google for its typefaces, which means Google sees that request; their handling of it is described in Google's own privacy policy. If you would rather the request was never made, blocking third-party fonts in your browser stops it and the page falls back to the fonts already on your machine.
Our host keeps ordinary server logs — address, page requested, time, browser string — for security and fault-finding. They rotate on a short cycle and we do not export them or read them for anything else.
If you write to us
Letters to [email protected] stay in the mailbox so that we can answer them and, where somebody reports a fault, so that we can point later to what we were told and when. Anything that leads to a published correction is kept for as long as the correction matters; the rest is cleared after two years.
If we quote your question in a letter we leave your name and every identifying detail out unless you have asked us to credit you.
Who else touches it
- Email delivery. The letter goes out through ElasticEmail, which holds the subscriber list for us, handles unsubscribes made through the link in each issue and records what was delivered and opened. It works under a data processing agreement and may process data inside and outside the European Economic Area under standard contractual clauses.
- Hosting. The site is served by a host in the European Union that keeps the server logs described above.
- Typefaces. Google Fonts, as described above.
Nobody else receives subscriber data — not the brands we write about, not an advertising network, not a list broker. We do not sell it and we do not swap it for anything.
How long we keep it
- Subscriber address and join record: until you unsubscribe, plus thirty days so that the removal can be demonstrated if it is ever questioned, and then it is gone from the sending service and from our own notes.
- Delivery and engagement events: twelve months, then deleted.
- Correspondence: two years, or longer where it supports a published correction.
- Server logs: kept by the host on a rolling basis, typically thirty days.
What you can ask us to do
Under the GDPR you may ask what we hold, have it corrected or deleted, have its use restricted, receive it in a portable form, or object to our processing of it. Withdrawing consent to the letter is simply unsubscribing, and it does not affect anything done before you withdrew.
To do any of that, write from the address in question to [email protected] or use the postal address above. We answer within a month and there is no charge for it.
If you think we have handled your data badly you can complain to the Norwegian supervisory authority, Datatilsynet, Postboks 458 Sentrum, 0105 Oslo, or to the authority in your own country. We would rather have the chance to put it right first, but you are under no obligation to give us one.
Children
The letter is about household goods and is not aimed at anybody under sixteen. We do not knowingly hold the address of anyone under sixteen, and if you tell us we do, it is deleted.
When this notice changes
When it changes we move the version and date at the top of this section and mention it in the next letter. A change that widens what we collect does not apply to existing subscribers unless they agree to it.
Version 4 (September 2026): the sending service and the retention periods were set out in more detail. Version 3 (January 2026): the paragraph on web fonts was added. Version 2 (June 2025): first published under this name.
Contact
BomPicksStrandgaten 14
5013 Bergen, Norway
[email protected]
What this page is worth, and what it is not
We try hard to be right. These terms say what that is worth to you, what it is not worth, and what we ask of you in return. They are short because the arrangement is simple.
Who we are
BomPicks is an editorial desk at Strandgaten 14, 5013 Bergen, Norway. Two editors run it, publishing this website and a monthly email called The Picks Letter. You can reach either of us at [email protected].
By reading this page or the letter you accept these terms. If you would rather not, close the tab; nobody will take it personally.
What this page and the letter are
They are writing about household goods and everyday gear: what a thing is, how it behaved in ordinary use, how long we have owned it and when we last looked at it. They are written for a general reader and are not legal, financial or professional advice of any kind.
A product appears here because we bought it, not because anybody asked us to write about it. Where a maker is very small, or where a detail cannot be confirmed, we describe the product generically rather than name it. If you think something here describes your product and should not, write and tell us.
Accuracy, dates and re-testing
Everything here has passed the checks listed under what a product has to pass. The date beside an entry is the last time we confirmed it, not the last time we wrote about it.
Makers change specifications without telling anybody, sometimes in the same week we publish. An entry therefore means on the date shown, this is what we found, and it is not a promise that nothing has moved since. Before you spend money on something that matters to you, check the maker's current specification yourself. If what you find disagrees with what we wrote, tell us and we will buy one and re-test.
A correction goes into the next letter and is applied here as soon as it is confirmed. We do not quietly edit an entry: a corrected entry says that it was corrected, and a retired one stays on the page with a line through it.
Who pays for what
Nobody. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or paid by any brand written about here. Placement is not for sale, an entry cannot be sponsored, and we earn nothing from a link you click. No one outside the desk reads an issue before it is sent.
We buy our own copies. Where a maker has sent something we did not ask for, the entry says so, and it is written only after the same eight weeks of use that everything else gets.
Featured codes and links that leave this page
An issue may carry one featured code and a link to a shop's own page. The code belongs to that shop, not to us. The shop decides its terms, its expiry and what it can be used for, and we publish it only because we think the product is worth a reader's attention. We receive nothing when it is used.
Any link from this page to another website is there for convenience. Those sites have their own terms and their own privacy practices, and we are not responsible for their content or for anything that happens after you leave bompicks.com.
The letter
The Picks Letter goes only to people who asked for it, once a month, with an unsubscribe link in every issue. The commitments behind that are set out in full in how we email and in the privacy notice. Forwarding an issue to a friend is welcome. Adding somebody else's address to the list is not, and any address whose owner tells us they did not ask for it is removed.
Using this site
Read it, link to it and share it as much as you like. Please do not scrape the entries to republish them as a feed or a dataset, present our writing as your own, probe the server for anything that is not meant for visitors, or use the site in a way that spoils it for other readers.
Quoting us
The text, layout and mark of BomPicks are © BomPicks. Brand and product names belong to their owners. You may quote an entry for review, comment or reporting with a credit and, online, a link back to this page. Reproducing a whole issue needs our written permission, which you can ask for at [email protected] and will almost certainly be given.
What we are not responsible for
This page and the letter are provided as they are and free of charge. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for loss arising from relying on an entry, from a maker changing or withdrawing a product, from a featured code not working, or from the site being unavailable. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited under Norwegian law or under applicable consumer law.
Which law applies
These terms are governed by the law of Norway, and disputes belong to the courts of Bergen, except where consumer law gives you the right to bring a claim where you live. Consumers in the European Economic Area may also use the European Commission's online dispute resolution platform.
When these terms change
We move the version and date at the top of this section when the terms change and mention it in the next letter. Version 3 (September 2026): the sections on featured codes and on corrections were expanded. Version 2 (January 2026): the independence section was rewritten. Version 1 (June 2025): first published.