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Gear Acquisition Syndrome

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Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#81

Post by Retr0id »

doe_eyes wrote: post #63

It's funny to see it framed in the context of music when it's a pretty universal behavior, essentially limited only by how many cool upgrades exist for a particular hobby. It's a particularly common affliction for photographers (better cameras, better lens, studio lighting, etc), but the same happens in lo-tech fields - say, woodworking (check out my premium chisels!) or even lawn care. In most hobbies, it's just a m…

I've been getting into photography lately, and early on I was able to carry around my whole gear collection at once. It was an interesting new dimension when I started having to make decisions about what to take and what to leave behind.

Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#82

Post by tayo42 »

michaelt wrote: post #53
qup wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a lot of hobbies, and I would say several of them are not fun with shitty gear. Sometimes quality gear makes the entry process far, far less painful.

My rule is that I start off with lower-mid-range equipment, until I know whether I actually like a hobby. If you love cycling and you do it all the time? By all means spend $3000 on a high-end, premium-brand, ultra-light-weight bike, if you've got the disposable income and buying it would bring you joy. But if you're just considering getting into cycling? There are perfectly good $500 bikes out there, and you don't n…

Are there really $500 bikes? New? What brand? I thought entry level was like 1k

Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#83

Post by sandworm101 »

Rock Climbing. Trad/aid climbing. Hundreds of pounds of gear. All manner of little twists of metal on loops of string or webbing. Ropes. Harnesses. Shoes. Bespoke ascender rigs. Bags of various belay devices. Some of it is expensive, costing hundred of dollars a piece. Other stuff is dirt cheap. Once you buy that second rurp, then you are an addict.

Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#84

Post by jajko »

ibejoeb wrote: post #65
doe_eyes wrote: post #63

It's funny to see it framed in the context of music when it's a pretty universal behavior, essentially limited only by how many cool upgrades exist for a particular hobby. It's a particularly common affliction for photographers (better cameras, better lens, studio lighting, etc), but the same happens in lo-tech fields - say, woodworking (check out my premium chisels!) or even lawn care. In most hobbies, it's just a m…

Rock climbers, man. Total gearheads.

Maybe if they do alpinism too, or trad climbing. But it can also be just a neat little pile worth less than 500$

Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#85

Post by Retr0id »

rqtwteye wrote: post #2

It's a big problem for photographers too. Especially with the rapid progress of mirrorless cameras there is always the next camera or lens you need to get. I have bought lenses and never used them. I have also spent more time on looking for accessories for my 3D printer than actually using it. Not sure how to combat GAS. I feel for people with a full time job it somehow compensates for the lack of time working on one…

I (partially) sidestep this by buying gear that's already well behind the curve.

Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#86

Post by tayo42 »

Karellen wrote: post #51

I seem to have anti-GAS. I've got a 5-year old phone (thanks Apple for maintaining OS security support for my model for so long!), a 3-year old laptop I'm not planning on replacing any time soon, and the non-computer based hobbies I've managed to stick with for any length of time are running and bouldering, where the only gear you really need for both are appropriate shoes. And I only have one pair of shoes for each.…

Some of my hobbies I'm like this. I actually think it's been a detriment in one case where I hit a skill wall without realizing until years later. I just convinced my self I suck for to long, and the problem actually was the equipment for to long.

Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#87

Post by Retr0id »

etrautmann wrote: post #16
throwanem wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I avoid GAS pretty easily by the application of a simple method I've developed over years as a hobbyist photographer: Be Aware of Non-Optimality. That is, in bearing in mind there is no benefit to the expenditure of resources to obtain equipment that by itself will not meaningfully improve my practice - and too, that having gear I do not use will make me regret its purchase, further diverging from an optimal state -…

the opposite is also true however. I've been attempting to combat GAS by avoiding a home data server. In reality, I've been needing a NAS for a number of years and have changed my photography practice due to limitations and challenges with dealing with extra data. I just solved this and it's been liberating.

I solve my photography storage needs by treating SD cards as write-once consumables. When a card fills up, I just buy another one.

Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#88

Post by sudosysgen »

twic wrote: post #74

A flip side of GAS is that the market optimises for gear acquirers. A decent square taper bottom bracket is perfectly good for 99% of cyclists, and maintenance free for a decade or more. But gear acquirers are only interested in the latest and greatest ultra-stiff super-light external bearing BBs, so now square taper is dead except at the cheapest, shittiest grades. Which means that i, as someone who just wants my cr…

I agree with you regarding press fit BBs, but aren't externally threaded BBs also better for casual cyclists and more reliable?

I don't care in the slightest about BB stiffness and weight, but I would much rather have a BSA threaded external BB. That way if something happens and I need to change my cranks (or god forbid, bearings) I don't have to worry about needing a specialized crank puller or anything like that, an Allen key is enough, and I never have to worry about stripping my cranks, and I never have to worry about my cranks falling out and marring from the bolt getting loose. Something like an ISIS spline two/three piece crank that's either self extracting or bolted like Shimano MTB cranks is perfect. Simple, cheap, no specialized tools needed, and no risk of catastrophic failure. And I'll never need to repack the bearings ever again. Plus, as someone who lives in a place where they salt the roads, I'd much rather deal with a rusty threaded external bearing BB than a square taper that might never come out of the frame.

Re: Gear Acquisition Syndrome

#90

Post by kelnos »

rqtwteye wrote: post #2

It's a big problem for photographers too. Especially with the rapid progress of mirrorless cameras there is always the next camera or lens you need to get. I have bought lenses and never used them. I have also spent more time on looking for accessories for my 3D printer than actually using it. Not sure how to combat GAS. I feel for people with a full time job it somehow compensates for the lack of time working on one…

> Not sure how to combat GAS

What works decently well for me is to avoid advertising like the plague. Adblock everything: browser, DNS, anywhere I can do it. Disable targeted advertising wherever I can't outright block it, if that's an option.

Avoid visiting websites where there's a lot of advertisement disguised as news or useful content; often enthusiast websites on whatever your hobby is will have a lot of that, so find better sites.

Don't watch regular TV with commercials. Only use streaming services, and always pay for the ad-free versions. "That's so expensive," you say? Not when you consider how much crap you'll buy when you're bombarded with advertising all the time.

You can never eliminate all advertising from your life, but the less you expose yourself to, the better. Adopt a mindset that ads are a form of psychological manipulation (because they are), and make yourself hate them. That alone will make you somewhat less susceptible to it (or at least I like to think so). Be deliberate about purchases. Seek out things that you know you want because you want them; don't buy stuff because you saw it featured somewhere.

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