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Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

buyforlife.com

61–70 of 103 posts

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#61
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to post a similar comment, but you summed it up nicely. The landfill reality and the pollution they cause, especially from e-waste, is devastating: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/burning-truth-...

We should charge the disposal cost upfront at the point of purchase. I know it’s political suicide but it would solve quite a few issues.

Tax everything the amount it costs to clean up the pollution it causes, from electricity to food. 2 side effects: people will make things that produce less pollution, and people will make cleaning up pollution cheaper

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#62
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should see how much made in America Levi's cost.

You’ll be buying them used, because they’re no longer made: https://www.heddels.com/2019/09/levis-no-longer-producing-50...

I had a pair of White Oak 501's, and honestly they were inferior to just about every other pair of Levi's I've owned. The denim was rough and coarse, and they ripped fairly quick.

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#63

Instead of BFL, I only buy products that I'm ok with getting destroyed or products I have a laid out upgrade plan for. Example: All of my pants are Levi's 501s. I can get them for 50-60 bucks, which is nothing. They last a really long time, but they're not made in America nor do they have a lifetime warranty. BUT I don't have to worry about spilling stuff on my pants or going through the tedious process of filing war…

It hurts me a little to see “50-60 bucks” for jeans referred to as nothing. I now grudgingly buy similar $50-60 Levis or Eddie Bauers because my wife likes them better than jeans that cost half as much. Looks some common basic jeans at Walmart are still ~$15 which is amazing since that’s what I remember paying for them like 15 years ago.

In my experience, Levi's and other "quality" jeans last long enough to go out of style (5+ years, much to my wife's chagrin), whereas cheap jeans fail in the crotch and/or pockets in under a year. For a few years I switched to cheap jeans and just repaired them when they ripped, but you can only sew up a pocket so many times on really cheap fabric before they are so thin they won't even hold a stitch.

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#64
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One example I'm aware of is headphones. A while back everyone thought Beats are the best because they were expensive and had good marketing but really they were shit and you could get much better quality for less price

At the same time, in keeping with the theme of the article -- spend the $75 for a good (i.e. well-regarded for your use case) pair of headphones if you enjoy music. It is absolutely night and day compared to $10 crap.

I've swung towards the cheap end and am currently wearing some basic Sony over-ears.

I have more expensive gear. The value here is not really in the audio quality - which, apart from the most strenuous audio engineering flat-response-and-detailed-image-needed cases, is fine, really - but in being light and cheap and embracing that quality. It rattles a little when you hold it, but it's made to withstand a few drops, and it won't pressure your skull or force your neck out of posture with hours of use. The cable is soldered in but sturdy.

The $75 ones I've used always tend to end up with issues because they don't have these qualities. The cables are still soldered but of a lower thickness, and the rigidity of the frame makes them disconnect more readily. They pinch your ears and crush your skull. The quality is better but not enough to matter in everyday use - a good DAC and a low-noise environment makes more difference.

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#65
post #25

It's been an interesting evolution as I have aged to observe myself going from one end of the spectrum to the other (mainly, as I've accumulated more wealth). I'm now at the point where I crave quality at just about any cost because it's abundantly clear to me that buying crap is bad value. Many of the few high quality things I bought early on in life are still with me and I love them. But so is a huge amount of the…

There's russian saying for this: greedy man pays twice.

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#66
post #51

no electronics products on that site offer a lifetime warranty. I'd argue there are almost no "buy it for life" electronics. Same with clothing except maybe outerwear.

Interestingly enough, RAM seems to have a lifetime warranty, as discussed on other places on the web [1]. Of course, lifetime warranty does not mean the lifetime of the buyer [2].

[1] https://www.quora.com/Why-does-computer-RAM-have-a-lifetime-...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warranty#Lifetime_warranty

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve bought into the cast iron hype a few years ago, and I have found it a little overhyped. There are several reasons why cast iron is not a common component of the average kitchen today. Here are mine: - The non-stickiness of cast iron has probably been best in class in its age. Today, we have Teflon. Teflon is so non-stick we have trouble having it stick to the pan when making pans. My understanding is that nothin…

Properly seasoned it will be as non-stick as Teflon or better. Especially carbon steel, which is also lighter - the main down side of cast iron is weight. Teflon flakes are much worse for you than a bit of iron ever will be (not really an issue in these amounts).

I've spent an incredible amount of time trying to season my cast iron, and it just never works right. You'll hear various tips. Cook lots of bacon on it. Do this. Do that. "old cast iron is better than the new stuff". Etc. But, so far, that advice hasn't really gotten me anywhere.

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#68
post #54

Some cheapo Harbor Freight tools last a lifetime if you only use them a couple times a year. No sense in buying something very heavy duty when it won't see much duty. I feel like "buy it for life" is just a different kind of (hipster?) snobbery.

And the tools they’re listing, Milwaukee Hammer Drill, for example, offers no warranty at all and wouldn’t be what I would consider to be “high end” either. Just seems like a purposely placed product rather than a legitimate BIFL item.

Re: Buy it for life: Durable, Quality, Practical

#69
post #22

I genuinely dont understand the reason behind hijacking right-click (long press on phone). I'm using a slow internet, and I'm used to open multiple tabs so I can only wait for one and then go through all of them. So I'm eager to understand if this is done to stop people from copying from the site or there's another reason behind it.

I don't think right click is disabled? It's just that a bunch of the "links" aren't semantic tags so you can't open them in a new window. (they're just tags with onclick handlers)

I think this happens often in single-page-apps just because developer don't care or don't think about this use case. It's frustratingly common.

For example, Apple's online store does it too: https://www.apple.com/shop/accessories/all/cases-protection No way to right click the various items and open a bunch of tabs.

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