I saw this post and wanted to ask the opposite. What are some items that really aren’t worth paying the expensive version for? Preferably more extreme or unexpected examples.
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salt
table salt, iodized salt, himalayan… they’re all the same for me. I don’t think my taste buds are adapted to the subtle differences so cheaper ones are better.
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show-off jewelry, wallet, purses
showing off jewelry is an invitation to be mugged (again, imo. ymmv) so the cheaper ones are the better options.
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coffee
if only you’re fine with cheaper ways to wake yourself.
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wax-based lip balm
anything beeswax is good. then again ymmv since people can be allergic
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pure or as-is things like land, electricity, internet, water, oxygen cans, gas/ heating, alcohol (disinfectant)
About salt, afaik there is no difference in taste, only in texture (by grain size) and color.
And density. There’s more salt in a spoonful of table salt than a spoonful of kosher salt
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Medicine in a pharmacy, similar to the pregnancy tests.
Most stuff on a bicycle for the average person unless it’s carbon, plastics or electronics. Including safety stuff. Some caveat if you wanna huck yourself off a mountain or do like 100kph descents on your roadbikes.
But for the most stuff? The cheap shit works absolutely fine because at it’s core it’s bits of formed metal with threads attached connected by steel wires. Very hard to fuck any of that up to the point it becomes dangerous. I keep seeing parts being rated as SAFETY LEVEL 5 E-BIKE READY as if the metal rod that is my handlebar usually disintegrates once I hit the ludicrous speed of [checks notes] 25kph. Your $2 Alibaba Special V-Brakes are, at worst, gonna have garbage springs so it doesn’t return to not-braking great, but you’re not gonna like snap them in half even if you were a gorilla riding a bicycle.
I will go the opposite route here, and tell people to instead make an exception for certain things, and never go for cheap unknown brands.
- highly reputed Oxymeter in medical establishment (do not buy inaccurate smartwatches, Apple is 20x ripoff and still subpar)
- Victorinox for Swiss army knife
- Victorinox or Leatherman for multitool
- reputed branded batteries (Maxell, Duracell, Sanyo, Sony, Eneloop et al)
- reputed battery/device chargers
- PSU/SMPS and UPS for computer (APC, Emerson, Schneider and other brands)
- reputed brand watches (Casio, Citizen, Seiko have affordable BIFL options)
- ThinkPad for laptop (user repairability, third party parts, open schematics)
- Levis for jeans, they are almost BIFL
- a good weighing machine for kitchen/home use
- a good mixer grinder WITH safety lock (atleast 750W)
- quality stationery pen, mechanical pencil, leads, eraser and other items (Uni, Pentel, Sakura, Staedtler et al, refer to JetPens website)
Edit: fuck you GrapheneOS, for almost 2 months now, they are mass downvoting my comments, and doing voting manipulation, also abusing federation
I do not think that the user above you is being brigaded by GrapheneOS.
Look into their history to see if they might’ve said to see if there was anything in their “most controversial” that could elicit a retaliation, and I found nothing.
I did find them often strongly saying unpopular opinions (or sidestepping a question), which people then downvote, and them sometime blaming the downvotes on outside actors.
“I didn’t say something that wasn’t true or not well received, I am clearly being attacked!!!”’
I’ll copy the comment you are replying to so it can’t go away:
I will go the opposite route here, and tell people to instead make an exception for certain things, and never go for cheap unknown brands.
highly reputed Oxymeter in medical establishment (do not buy inaccurate smartwatches, Apple is 20x ripoff and still subpar)
Victorinox for Swiss army knife
Victorinox or Leatherman for multitool
reputed branded batteries (Maxell, Duracell, Sanyo, Sony, Eneloop et al)
reputed battery/device chargers
PSU/SMPS and UPS for computer (APC, Emerson, Schneider and other brands) reputed brand watches (Casio, Citizen, Seiko have affordable BIFL options)
ThinkPad for laptop (user repairability, third party parts, open schematics)
Levis for jeans, they are almost BIFL
a good weighing machine for kitchen/home use
a good mixer grinder WITH safety lock (atleast 750W)
quality stationery pen, mechanical pencil, leads, eraser and other items (Uni, Pentel, Sakura, Staedtler et al, refer to JetPens website)
Edit: fuck you GrapheneOS, for almost 2 months now, they are mass downvoting my comments, and doing voting manipulation, also abusing federationReasons people might downvote:
- They are not answering the question that was asked
- They give lots of brands/products that people may disagree are high-quality.
- They recommend products that are outdated
- They gave a website that people should buy from (which may be seen as spammy)
Reasons people are probably not downvoting:
- They are GrapheneOS
You can check my history for the past month and a half, all with 4-7 downvotes. They habitually downvote when they sleep and wake up according to Canadian timezone. I ruined their non-existent careers by constantly recording and dishing out proof of their brodude asshole attitude, voting manipulation, targeted witch hunting that the “lead dev” told people to do on Matrix, and so on.
Some people will think that may be conspiratorial, but my comment history with consistent downvoting speaks volumes, apart from a very few 4-5 comments people did not generally like. And they want that I look deranged, conspiratorial and get out of their way to do nasty things, which they keep failing at. 😂
I mean, you did do the opposite of what an AskLemmy post asked. And the post itself is a follow-up or response to a previous post that asked the question you wanted to answer…
It would sound plausible but is not, and its more like I told people to just focus on not cheaping out on this small list of goods, rather than all the people trying to list the goods people should cheap out on. Infact, my answer was in line with what’s being proposed as some famous quote, that buy cheap option of any good first until it breaks, and so on.
People can safely cheap out on most goods, its the ones that should not be, that are important. Concise knowledge is far easier to store in head and apply. And I have a tiny brain lol. I missed OP mentioning this is an opposite of that AskLemmy, and I kinda wanted people to know in this easier way.
What is the problem with GrapheneOS?
Sorry I really don’t follow what you wrote in that comment. Can you write something coherent and with references to sources?
Not worth the effort, if you cannot follow instructions simpler than most YouTube tutorials.
I’d say for the oxymeter it depends on what you want it for. If your health depends on it, yes spend more for a good one. If it’s just for general interest the cheaper ones will likely be “good enough”.
For batteries, generally true. Except the Kirkland non-rechargeable packs are very good batteries and good value too. Not that I often need non-rechargable. Just for those few devices that are not happy with the lower voltage of rechargeable batteries.
Otherwise, definitely a good list. I’d also say in general for electronics, be very wary of Chinese brands you’ve totally never heard of selling items for less than half the price a reputable brand sells the same thing for. They are generally putting fake CE/FCC labels onto devices that are definitely not certified and will almost certainly be underrated for the requirement in a best case scenario. I am currently especially suspicious of the 100w+ PD supplies that are ridiculously cheap compared to known brands for the same rating.
An important exception to electronics are Chi-Fi audio IEMs and audio gear/accessories, and most kinds of cables/adapters. A lot of Chinese electronics are good if you know how to look for it, and any type of electronics has an enthusiast community that notes down a lot of good Chinese brands, that simplifies the job for anyone.
Infact, Omron certifies a Chinese medical equipment maker Contec, and their Oximeter is accurate for medical purposes. Just an example.
China has colossal logistics and manufacturing ecosystem, where $1 earbuds are produced and in the next factory, some $5000 headphone or 6 figures car is being built. Its all about being smart.
Yeah it’s why I qualified it with the “too good to be true” prices and names you don’t recognise. The odds are far greater that a brand name you’ve never heard of undercutting at more than half the price of a brand you do recognise is very likely cutting corners somewhere and stamping invalid certifications. With electronics that can end pretty badly.
Not writing off all Chinese companies. Just the ones that have a new name every month and are selling at too good to be true prices. I think they’re suffering the same as Japanese electronics did in the 80s. There were enough bad examples to make people assume it was the same for all (you’ll see it in movies of the era, with people referring to “jap-crap”). But as we know, some very big companies today rose from that situation to be extremely trusted today. I suspect over time the same will be true in China.
The big reason for that kind of bashing for Japanese electronics in 80s and Chinese since a few decades stems from xenophobia in West, and their hatred towards them creating cheaper and/or more resilient, better goods.
Japan became an electronics pioneer back then, and many of us know what USA did to Toshiba in late 80s, crippling them forever. Same story with French company Alstom because they were crapping on GE, and recently, Huawei because they crapped on Apple, Google and Samsung (SK is US vassal). Japan no longer competes in goods territory that USA makes, and Japan is also a US vassal state, so they are left alone, but now China has already surpassed USA economically, and by next year militarily, so I doubt it will ever end. China ensures democratisation of goods and the near-abolition of fat capitalist margins with cheap mass goods.
Huawei has also been found to have back doors in their 5G towers. Now, I’m not saying western companies don’t have back doors, but since I live in a western country (which has also likely suffered from political interference by China) I’d rather not be tracked by yet another nation more than I already am.
Can you source your claims of Huawei 5G tower backdoors? US government has given none in years.
There were numerous articles in 2020 and earlier talking about vulnerabilities in their products, including hard-coded encryption keys. Vehement denial isn’t a good look with such flagrant and obvious failures. I have yet to see any announcements or articles saying this has changed. Until I do, I will assume Huawei doesn’t have anything substantial to add to the discussion.
Maybe the downvotes are because you wrote your post in the opposite route. Of you read OP again, you will see that there is a whole post for that.
Thank you for your quality post anyway!
See https://lemmy.ml/comment/7103845
They want to rely on people’s ignorance so that I start looking like a lunatic, and unreliable for 5 years worth of documentation I have on the shenanigans of “security” cultists in FOSS/privacy community.
Well, you’re doing an admirable job at making it look like that.
Surely not if anyone can look at my comment history from the past month and a half, with a weird downvote pattern. But go on, whatever makes you look cool hipster (with 2 digit IQ) on the internet.
Your last sentence isn’t helping you any.
EDIT: Making it explicit; making derogatory remarks towards others does not make people seem less like a lunatic. And claiming that a group of people are downvoting you to make you look like a lunatic is itself more likely to make you look like a lunatic than if the group actually were downvoting you.
Help yourself first.
Hahaha, I don’t think you understand.
ThinkPad for laptop (user repairability, third party parts, open schematics)
My fully decked out ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 I got for work last year is a piece of shit. Lenovo keeps messing up the BIOS (sometimes it took up to 2 minutes to reach the Windows loading screen), it sometimes has trouble with the Lenovo Monitor (which has a docking station with USB-C), or a colleague who had the same model it refused to charge.
Don’t get me started on thermals, that thing either sounds like a jet engine or throttles down to 1.4 GHz on a damn 6 core CPU. That’s partly Intel’s fault too of course (The AMD counterpart would likely run cooler/faster).
I always thought ThinkPads are awesome, now that I actually use a $3000 one I’d never buy one myself.
You should buy AMD ones, but some of the newer models need to be selected a bit more carefully, as unfortunate as that sounds. ThinkPads were the gold standard, but they are now becoming the least bad one. That is all I can say, with my L470 pretty strong after 6 years, a HDD change, battery change and base cover change.
Unfortunate to hear you got a bit burnt.
Well, my new workplace selected it and paid for it, I just have to use it.
Personally I’d have gone with the AMD CPU, at home I rock a 5800X3D :)
Intel’s power consumption is off the charts unfortunately. Those e-cores didn’t help at all.
Intel is a joke, and it will only stop when they actually use lower nanometre node process, instead of stacking a + every year on top of +++++++ marketing stack.
I buy a lot of generic or store brand stuff. Usually I’m comfortable doing this with things that have been around for a long time like bleach, laundry soap, and basic foods. I assume that it is not difficult to do these things so anyone can make it and there’s little if any difference between brands.
On this topic: I heard once that you should first buy cheap tools. Use them until they break and then decide what you want to improve about those tools and buy better ones. Often those first tools never break. This seems like pretty good advice for most things.
I try not to use a lot of plastic wrap, but sometimes it’s the right tool for the job. I will always spring for the good stuff, generic is basically useless and you waste way more for inferior performance.
The tools is good advice most of the time, but not if the tool would fail dangerously. Don’t skimp on car jacks, table saws, or other things that are likely to injure you if they fail.
Screwdrivers/drills/hammers/crowbars/etc. don’t need to be expensive if you are going to use them rarely as the professional grade is mostly about being used all day every day and being able to survive rough handling by tired workers.
Yup, buy most things at harbor freight the first time, if you break theirs buy whatever name brand fits your color scheme.
Harbor Freight is fucking awesome.
In parts of the Alps, the stuff coming out of the fountains in the town square is cleaner than the stuff that comes out of the tap lol 😂
Fashion accessories. For most fashion (not workwear), the expensive stuff is made from the same material and in the same factories as the cheap stuff, they just market it harder.
Body wash. It’s watered-down soap. Just buy a bar of soap.
Amazon Prime. Amazon used to be space-age Sears. Now it’s just Aliexpress. Fake reviews and bribery are rampant, dangerously nonfunctional products get top recommendations, used and broken products get resold as new while untouched returns get thrown into landfills, Amazon Basics violates IP, and they’re putting ads in Prime Video now.
Microwaves and space heaters. The boxes may try to convince you otherwise, but the amount of heat these devices can deliver is bottlenecked by the power outlet. Every 1100W microwave is just as effective as the others. If you’re paying more, it’s for looks and for features you’ll never use like popcorn mode.
Electronics, for most people. Most people won’t get more use out of a new $1500 phone than a last-gen model from the same manufacturer for $500. Do you really want a $200 smart coffee maker, or a $20 dumb coffee maker with a $10 plug-in timer?
Software. Obligatory FOSS plug. I don’t blame people for sticking to what’s familiar, but if you have the time and energy to spare tinkering, most software out there has a good free or open-source equivalent these days. At least for personal use. In my use case, LibreOffice beats Microsoft Word, Photopea beats Photoshop, and Google Sheets beats Excel.
Google sheets isn’t FOSS, right? Is there something comparable in libre?
Hard disagree on body wash vs soap. Soap always leaves a weird filmy feeling on my skin no matter what brand I use. Plus having to lather up the bar is annoying and I don’t want to deal with wet washcloths in the shower. Give me a poof and a bottle of body wash any day.
The advantages of being hairy. I have out evolved the need for washcloths.
I agree with everything but using Google sheets. It’s neither free nor open source. You don’t pay with money but with your privacy. Libre office is just as good as a desktop application and is actually FOSS. If you absolutely need the cloud storage, get a provider you can trust, buy the space and sync your files online, after editing locally.
Expensive Cars. If you have to have one, buy a cheap one. One of the worst lifetime financial decisions you can make is spending money on cars, all of them get you to A to B. A used Prius is just about the most economical car you can buy for total cost per mile travelled. It would be nice if more cities had good public transportation systems, but unfortunately most don’t. I love long island, getting around on public transportation is so convenient.
Edit: Something like this example prius is the way to go if you are trying to maximize your dollar. Drive it until the wheels fall off:
Speaker wire. Expensive speaker wire will not sound any better. You could use a coat hanger and get great sound. Tip: every few years cut the wire ends and expose fresh wire to use. Over time the wire can oxidize if I recall correctly.
My rule of thumb: Buy the cheap one. If it wears out or breaks, buy the good one.
For me actually the other way Around. There is a saying in Spain that says “el pobre siempre paga dos veces” that translates as “the poor always pays twice”.
It refers to the fact that you buy something cheap that barely covers the need and after it breaks you are forced to buy the good one. This is specially important for hand tools or similar.
In my opinion, for using it a couple times is better renting/asking someone to let you use theirs. For several uses it is almost always better paying more for a better use and higher resell value.
On the other hand, if you are buying cheap it’s usually because you aren’t familiar with the product and it’s characteristics. So you can take it as the price for learning about said product and what you really want from it.
For example, I got a cheap electric scooter for my wife on her birthday. We are new to these things, and didn’t even know if we would use it at all. Fast forward a year and we have used the crap out of it, even the kids can’t stop taking it out for a spin, and we now know what to look for and what sort of power and features we want when it comes time to replace it.
That might be the perfect example for what I said. You have bought a cheap product that you ended up liking and when it tears up you are paying literally twice for the same product.
It is not that tou took a bad decision or that the buying twice applies to everyone everywhere and everything, it just says you are in fact paying twice for the same thing while some research might have saved that.
Don’t take me wrong, this is not criticism, I’ve done it a thousand times but in my experience, for something I consider might REALLY need, get the good (not the best) option first.
There is a saying in Spain that says “el pobre siempre paga dos veces” that translates as “the poor always pays twice”.
Ah, the boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness.
Phones. Cheaper chinese phones already give one everything they need in their day-to-day life. I don’t really see much benefits for most people from buying an expensive phone
Electric toothbrushes. Don’t get the cheapest one either, get a mid range one from a good brand but the top end models of the good brands are just scams, they just look a bit nicer and have some shitty “AI powered” app you’ll never use.
Phones; the latest and greatest is the middle range phone in just 2yrs and half the price.
On phones; while you don’t need a flagship model if you are privacy conscious it is worth seeking out a platform that will work well with degooglified OSes; ironically the Pixel is one of the best thanks to GrapheneOS.
