291–300 of 471 posts
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I use the cheapest washing machine with A+++ rating that I could buy about ten years ago and it shows no signs of aging so far.
Same for me, until it broke.
So many useless anecdotes in this thread.
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I'm curious. My previous soft was from Ikea. Of course Ikea makes cheap disposable furniture but this sofa, IMO, was not one of those. It was made of real wood, not particle board. It was super well designed. It assembled into 4 parts using slots and a few very large steal bolts and was also easy to disassemble for moving. It's entire cover was easy to remove so you could clean stains or easily replace it. Same for t…
Let me also add, in many other categories, I've rarely found a correlation between price, brand, and quality. Worst luggage I ever owned was Rimowa. It was the most expensive I've bought and broke several times. They'd fix it, but who wants to spend their vacation taking their luggage to the repair shop (and lugging it full from the airport to the hotel while it's broke) Worst and most expensive jacket I ever bought,…
Isn't that supposed to be a feature on that brand?
So this article implies that a number of things that we buy previously were built to last longer, and indeed did last longer. The first few examples are kitchen appliances. In this case I don't really know, but I'm at least willing to listen. Ultimately the evidence is people responding to a thread on Twitter where he solicited complaints. Not so compelling. But then he mentions a "hybrid sedan". Here I'm aware of th…
> Modern cars are much, much more reliable and durable than ones built at any time in the past. I continue to buy older cars because this has been false for me everywhere I've experienced new cars (borrowed, friends, my own). Pointing out lack of data to support an argument that relies on anecdotal evidence is good practice. However: - The anecdotal evidence is strong amongst older people - Data not existing doesn't…
Make products last long and make them repairable should be priority for all manufacturers. But... It's not make profit I guess.
So this article implies that a number of things that we buy previously were built to last longer, and indeed did last longer. The first few examples are kitchen appliances. In this case I don't really know, but I'm at least willing to listen. Ultimately the evidence is people responding to a thread on Twitter where he solicited complaints. Not so compelling. But then he mentions a "hybrid sedan". Here I'm aware of th…
> Modern cars are much, much more reliable and durable than ones built at any time in the past. I continue to buy older cars because this has been false for me everywhere I've experienced new cars (borrowed, friends, my own). Pointing out lack of data to support an argument that relies on anecdotal evidence is good practice. However: - The anecdotal evidence is strong amongst older people - Data not existing doesn't…
My dad's cars from the same era didn't fare so well and all required heavier repairs; none still work.
Also, since we're talking anecdotes, my parents have thrown out all their CRT TVs and monitors because they've all failed in some way (I've personally never had any). And I'm typing this on a Dell LCD monitor from 2015 or so that still kicks ass and has great picture, even by today's standards. My 2013 MBP still has a working, good-looking screen, and it's been on the road a lot.
> Forget that, is there anything you've bought new in the last _ten_ years that you still have?
Yup, almost everything [0] still works like new, even my 2013 MBP which I've carted around a lot. It's not powerful enough anymore, so I have a new daily driver, but it still works. Hell, my gaming PC was bought circa 2013, and only had a new GPU 3 years ago (was bought for server work initially, so only had the cheapest GPU I could find). Still rocking the original SSDs, PSU, everything. Ditto for my wireless headphones I bought around 2018. The battery life is still good, the sound hasn't changed.
I've mostly lived in rental apartments, so I don't have any anecdotes about household appliances.
So not really sure what can be concluded from our anecdotes.
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[0] The only thing that broke was an MS Sculpt keyboard, which broke down after 4 years of daily use.
I’ve had to buy a lot of furniture and other things for my new house this year, and one of the things that really sticks out to me is that practically every category of product seems to be split into a bimodal distribution: cheap crap & luxury boutique. There are practically no entries occupying the middle of the market that are on the basic end regarding features & frills but also high-quality. It’s incredibly annoy…
The same goes for bicycles. Except that the "junk" are mostly functional (if not durable) and might be less attractive to thieves.
Author neglects selection bias: antiques that stopped working after 1 or 5 or 10 years have been in landfills for a long time. My grandfather (1922-2006) opined: "Some folks say things aren't made like they used to be. But I remember those junky old cars that would break down every 50 or 100 miles. I remember that unreliable crap. I'd far rather have a modern car, even if I can't fix it." (He was more of a carpenter…
I'm guessing a fair part of the population here on HN is too young to remember the Japanese takeover of the US market in the 70s and 80s. I remember my grandfather buying one and people still had the post WWII 'everything Japanese is junk' mentality going on. It was his first car to last 300k miles without an engine rebuild. Nothing US built was getting close to it at that time.
Yup. Even into the 70s, "Made in Japan" was a putdown. That's just about when Japanese hi-fi equipment led the charge by quality products, soon followed by automobiles.
So this article implies that a number of things that we buy previously were built to last longer, and indeed did last longer. The first few examples are kitchen appliances. In this case I don't really know, but I'm at least willing to listen. Ultimately the evidence is people responding to a thread on Twitter where he solicited complaints. Not so compelling. But then he mentions a "hybrid sedan". Here I'm aware of th…
> Modern cars are much, much more reliable and durable than ones built at any time in the past. I continue to buy older cars because this has been false for me everywhere I've experienced new cars (borrowed, friends, my own). Pointing out lack of data to support an argument that relies on anecdotal evidence is good practice. However: - The anecdotal evidence is strong amongst older people - Data not existing doesn't…
My flatscreen TV and the sound bar that came with it. My daily-driver computer. My Samsung Galaxy S3 which I still use daily for some tasks, works fine. My washing machine. My Kenwood stand mixer.
All around 10 years, all working fine still without repairs.
That's just the things I could think of on the spot. There's very few things I've had to replace that were broken. Most things I've replaced because I wanted newer features, and have sold or given away the old item.
I'll concede that my previous lawn mower falls in your category. It had a plastic bushing on the main shaft, which got torn up over time, and destroyed some other parts when it held a retirement party.
So this article implies that a number of things that we buy previously were built to last longer, and indeed did last longer. The first few examples are kitchen appliances. In this case I don't really know, but I'm at least willing to listen. Ultimately the evidence is people responding to a thread on Twitter where he solicited complaints. Not so compelling. But then he mentions a "hybrid sedan". Here I'm aware of th…
> So this article implies that a number of things that we buy previously were built to last longer, and indeed did last longer Anecdotally, I've lost count of modern kitchen appliances such as blenders, coffee makers, cooking "processors", that have died on me. And not cheap either, basically mid-tier stuff. Any such device with extra digital "smarts" and a monitor in particular is a huge red flag. Whereas I still ha…
They often only buy long lasting equipment, and the market shows it. It's hella expensive, but that's what you pay for.
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There's also a survival bias in that we don't consider the appliances from yesteryear that packed up back when disco was king.
Yeah this article would be a lot more interesting if there were a conspiracy to buy up all of the indestructible appliances made more than x decades ago. If they really were that much better then more of them would be around today.