3 ms·

an alternative approach to "always buy quality tools" that has worked for me: 1. start with a cheap tool 2. use it until it breaks or until you can't tolerate

by mef 5y ago

an alternative approach to "always buy quality tools" that has worked for me: 1. start with a cheap tool 2. use it until it breaks or until you can't tolerate its shortcomings anymore 3. use what you learned from #2 to research and purchase a high quality tool if you never get to #2, then you didn't really need anything more than the cheap tool for this particular use case

tarr11 5y ago
I used to do this but life is too short and there is no joy. Some products take years to get to #2, they just are really poor at what they do and you don't even realize that they are terrible until you see someone with a better version. Examples: Toasters, Knives, Cars, Chairs, Mobile Devices
- grandmczeb 5y ago
  I’m curious about your example - I have a cheap toaster and it seems OK (I think it was $40 new on Amazon?) What am I missing out on?
  - Arelius 5y ago
    Well, the Cadillac of that category might be the Breville Smart Oven Air. In which case you might be missing out on a lot. Having said that, there are sometimes cases where the cheap item does the job perfectly well, and for you, the cheap toaster might be that.
  - stjohnswarts 5y ago
    I have a cheap $12 toaster from walmart that I've used for at least 10 years making toast several times a week, it's still kicking and works fine. Also love my toaster oven that I got for $100 around the same time, I use it way more than my regular oven. I didn't need to buy a $300 "20 mode" toaster oven, just a timer, temperature, and convection works fine.
- vbezhenar 5y ago
  That's good when your money is unlimited. But when I have $2000 to spend and I can buy one Festool tool or five Bosch tools, I'd think twice, especially if I have no idea what I really need.
tristor 5y ago
My method is more like the following, which I believe is the better way to go: 1. Do research to understand your options 2. Purchase a mid-grade but not garbage quality version of whatever tool you need. 3. If you find out you use it often or that it has any annoying shortcomings, go back and buy the highest quality version you can afford and gift the mid-grade one to a friend who might need an upgrade from their average/low quality option from the box store. This is how I ended up with a lot of Tekton hand tools and after I got more serious about racing cars and doing work on cars I upgraded to Hazet, Wiha, Wera, Nepros, Mitutoyo, Engineer, and Asahi tools. But at no point did I just go to Harbor Freight and fill up my trunk with random quality junk made in China ready for the landfill. I was then able to pass on the Tekton stuff to friends in need as I replaced it with higher end German/Japanese made tools and it's still more than capable of getting the job done even if it's not the utmost design in terms of speed or ergonomics for doing that particular work. All of the mid-grade stuff I've owned along the way has been reliable enough to last until I gifted it onward, or to stay in use up until now (and beyond). There's WAY WAY WAY too much disposable quality drek on the market at bottom barrel scraping prices that people buy and then just throw away and buy another cheap one, thinking that the lifespan of a pan should be 2 years, that you should just buy a new set of cheap knives when the old ones don't cut well anymore, or that it's normal for an adjustable wrench or ratchet to eventually have the gears strip their teeth out. I'm fortunate to be able to afford to buy twice and I'm nice enough to pass along my tools to others, but if you can learn anything from me, it's that it's worth not buying the absolute bottom barrel stuff in the first place. It's all garbage and in so many little ways adds to cognitive load and stress in your life, especially when trying to do hobbies you're supposed to enjoy, and it's just not worth it. It's actively bad for your life and it's catastrophically bad for the environment. If you can, buy it once and buy it for life. If you can't, buy it twice, and make sure the first option was at least good enough you could pass it along instead of throwing it away.

by mef 5y ago

tarr11 5y ago

I used to do this but life is too short and there is no joy. Some products take years to get to #2, they just are really poor at what they do and you don't even realize that they are terrible until you see someone with a better version. Examples: Toasters, Knives, Cars, Chairs, Mobile Devices

grandmczeb 5y ago
I’m curious about your example - I have a cheap toaster and it seems OK (I think it was $40 new on Amazon?) What am I missing out on?
- Arelius 5y ago
  Well, the Cadillac of that category might be the Breville Smart Oven Air. In which case you might be missing out on a lot. Having said that, there are sometimes cases where the cheap item does the job perfectly well, and for you, the cheap toaster might be that.
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  I have a cheap $12 toaster from walmart that I've used for at least 10 years making toast several times a week, it's still kicking and works fine. Also love my toaster oven that I got for $100 around the same time, I use it way more than my regular oven. I didn't need to buy a $300 "20 mode" toaster oven, just a timer, temperature, and convection works fine.
vbezhenar 5y ago
That's good when your money is unlimited. But when I have $2000 to spend and I can buy one Festool tool or five Bosch tools, I'd think twice, especially if I have no idea what I really need.

tristor 5y ago

My method is more like the following, which I believe is the better way to go: 1. Do research to understand your options 2. Purchase a mid-grade but not garbage quality version of whatever tool you need. 3. If you find out you use it often or that it has any annoying shortcomings, go back and buy the highest quality version you can afford and gift the mid-grade one to a friend who might need an upgrade from their average/low quality option from the box store. This is how I ended up with a lot of Tekton hand tools and after I got more serious about racing cars and doing work on cars I upgraded to Hazet, Wiha, Wera, Nepros, Mitutoyo, Engineer, and Asahi tools. But at no point did I just go to Harbor Freight and fill up my trunk with random quality junk made in China ready for the landfill. I was then able to pass on the Tekton stuff to friends in need as I replaced it with higher end German/Japanese made tools and it's still more than capable of getting the job done even if it's not the utmost design in terms of speed or ergonomics for doing that particular work. All of the mid-grade stuff I've owned along the way has been reliable enough to last until I gifted it onward, or to stay in use up until now (and beyond). There's WAY WAY WAY too much disposable quality drek on the market at bottom barrel scraping prices that people buy and then just throw away and buy another cheap one, thinking that the lifespan of a pan should be 2 years, that you should just buy a new set of cheap knives when the old ones don't cut well anymore, or that it's normal for an adjustable wrench or ratchet to eventually have the gears strip their teeth out. I'm fortunate to be able to afford to buy twice and I'm nice enough to pass along my tools to others, but if you can learn anything from me, it's that it's worth not buying the absolute bottom barrel stuff in the first place. It's all garbage and in so many little ways adds to cognitive load and stress in your life, especially when trying to do hobbies you're supposed to enjoy, and it's just not worth it. It's actively bad for your life and it's catastrophically bad for the environment. If you can, buy it once and buy it for life. If you can't, buy it twice, and make sure the first option was at least good enough you could pass it along instead of throwing it away.