124 ms·

Overkill objects for everyday life

• sargun 5y ago
  One of my first forays into this was a proper blowtorch vs a normal kitchen torch. My recipes requires adjusting, but once I fixed them up, they were great.
  • el_benhameen 5y ago
    Same here! Plus, if you need to solder some plumbing, you already have the right tool. A true Alton-esque multitasker.
  • kevinmchugh 5y ago
    If you're using a real blowtorch, get a searzall to go on it.
    • cobalt 5y ago
      roofing torch works better and is cheaper :P
  • klyrs 5y ago
    I briefly lived in a studio apartment. The kitchen was spacious and had tile flooring, so that's where the bandsaw went. I didn't cut food with it, but food packets were fair game. Though -- I'd argue that using a bandsaw for blisterpacks isn't overkill; it's the safest way to get them open.
    • GloriousKoji 5y ago
      I have a pair of cheap (harbor freight) tin snips I keep in the kitchen drawer for opening blister packs.
      • s5300 5y ago
        Hand operated can opener is the secret to clamshell plastic packaging
        • klyrs 5y ago
          That sounds incredibly slow in comparison to a bandsaw (also cheap crap from harbor freight -- but I got mine 20 years ago and it's still ticking along fine)
          • s5300 5y ago
            Bandsaws should only be used to make other larger bandsaws per @MatthiasWandel https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=MatthiasWandel https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=MatthiasWandel
            • klyrs 5y ago
              I'm pretty sure that I established that a bandsaw is a kitchen implement (and, it's not even a stretch -- they're common in butcher shops). Is it Alton Brown who says that single-use kitchen appliances are verboten? I tend to agree. You can also use a bandsaw to cut a sliver off a sheet of 16ga steel and use that to light a cigarette. It's truly all-purpose
              • yarcob 5y ago
                I'd love a bandsaw in the kitchen to cut frozen food. (so I don't need to thaw the whole thing if I need just a bit)
        • fmajid 5y ago
          Offset scissors like the Allex SH-1 are the way to go.
      • javajosh 5y ago
        I mean, I love the idea of finding more uses for tin snips, but I use a standard utility knife on a cutting board and it works great. The key is to cut all the way around, and press hard through the plastic. Don't force yourself to lever up the plastic, because that's how you slice open your hand.
• rsync 5y ago
  I appreciate the link and summary for McMaster-Carr[1]. It is so pleasing to use this site and it is simultaneously full of utility as they stock a wide array of fixtures and hardware that are difficult to search for elsewhere. If you place an order before noon (typically) the box of goods will be in your hands the next day. The user interface is a wonder. It's too good to be true. In fact, using the UI actually saddens me because you know some kid who thinks they are a design genius is going to get hired there and "improve things". It's almost a physical law. [1] https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/
  • deleted 5y ago
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  • Scoundreller 5y ago
    Some electronics vendors have figured it out too. A Parametric search first approach means I can find exactly what I need. Will I ever find the rs-232 transceiver that I need on Amazon? Unlikely.
  • wyager 5y ago
    I’m not surprised to see you evangelizing McMaster - mentally, I bin you and them in the same category of “no bullshit” suppliers. Products for competent people, by competent people, when most suppliers seem to be targeting the lowest common denominator of consumer.
    • rsync 5y ago
      That's a very nice compliment. Thanks!
  • snth 5y ago
    And you can find stuff like "Nuclear Grade Duct Tape": https://www.mcmaster.com/fastening-tape/nuclear-grade-duct-tape/ https://www.mcmaster.com/fastening-tape/nuclear-grade-duct-t...
    • wyager 5y ago
• notatoad 5y ago
  I love to use professional-grade items where i can, but sometimes "overkill" means a worse product. like the professional-grade fan - it's not just designed for a high duty cycle, it's also probably designed to be operated in an environment where people regularly use hearing protection, so quiet operation is not a consideration.
  • tschwimmer 5y ago
    Agreed 1000x. There is rarely a single best in all categories good for something. Instead, you have to pay attention to what you’re optimizing for. The industrial/commercial cookware he lists is definitely durable but also it’s huge, may consume a ton of energy and will not match the decor of the rest of your kitchen.
    • hirsin 5y ago
      Yup. First thought on the shopping bag was "how heavy is that empty?". Designers were not worried about over burdening whatever carried it, necessarily. That mixer likely won't handle a small load (as in, a single family sized loaf). Spot on though about some of the stuff. That knife is nice, although being edged on both sides is a liability.
      • sp332 5y ago
        The mixer paddle goes all the way to the bottom of the bowl, and so does the whisk attachment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYBxEyzqUY0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYBxEyzqUY0
    • 1996 5y ago
      > The industrial/commercial cookware he lists is definitely durable No, it is plain wrong. He recommends borosilicate beakers for beer. I think he never worked in a lab: borosilicate beakers break. Their thermal expansion tolerance is a non feature for cold beer: when did one of your beer mug broke because you served yourself boiling beer? > Does your glassware meet ASTM Specification E960, Type II requirements? Is it manufactured from 33 expansion, low extractable borosilicate glass conforming to USP Type I and ASTM E438, Type I, Class A requirements? I didn't think so. I call that hacker syndrome, when the typical hacker thinks a long line of impressive specs and numbers matter, because he has no idea of the customer requirements. > Used to contain a life raft. Now, my groceries. How easy it is to clean when there is a spill? How easy it is to replace? I have carried BRICKS inside the nylon woven bags some supermarket sell for $1.99. Rinced with water, ready in 5 minutes. > For less than $100, I can buy a short USMC Short KA-BAR or a real M9 from Ontario for $150. This is the real thing, used by the US military. Show off!! If you want something to bring in a fight, get a Mark 1 trench knife: has brass knuckles for punching (and limit the risk of dropping your knife), a long thin blade for more lethality (easier puncture wound regardless of angle than with a wider blade). And in the kitchen it is ideal to break walnuts :) Of course it does not look "nice" - like carrying bricks in a nylon supermarket bag. It is about knowing the needs you optimize for.
• hprotagonist 5y ago
  digikey and mcmaster are wonderful things to know about. at least in 2012 or so, digikey still had call centers in minnesota and the upper peninsula, and still taught all their call center reps the nato alphabet. There is nothing more crisply charming than a call operator who sounds like Bobby’s mom from Bobby’s World reading you back your resistor SKUs in flawless and rapid phonetic alphabet.
  • mrzool 5y ago
    Do you happen to know about a mcmaster equivalent for the EU?
    • wyager 5y ago
      RS components is good - I used them in HK and I think they serve EU as well. Not quite the same but pretty solid.
      • thequux 5y ago
        RS doesn't deign to even talk to people who don't have VAT IDs here :-( It's a shame; as far as I can tell, the only reasonably-priced source for bulk machine screws that I've been able to find was Aliexpress/Alibaba (depending on quantities), and even that has gone to shit with the new import tax rules. (I'm not opposed to paying import taxes. I am opposed to paying a €20 processing fee in addition to €0.30 tax for €1.50 worth of stuff)
        • nbernard 5y ago
          In France, they have a different website for the general public ( https://www.rs-particuliers.com https://www.rs-particuliers.com ). Its search function is terrible: you basically have to look up the RS ID of whatever your are looking for on the pro site first. But you even have free shipping when ordering during the week-end. Don't they have similar sites for other EU countries?
          • 5y ago
• kmfrk 5y ago
  /r/buyitforlife is great for this sort of stuff, if people ever need something specific.
  • smnrchrds 5y ago
    It used to be like that many years ago. Then it got flooded with posts like "I found this unused tool in my garage, it has been sitting there for 40 years in original packaging, it still works". Has it gone back to its root recently?
    • erikpukinskis 5y ago
      I just subbed recently, and it has seemed more in line with the “roots” to me, based on what comes up in my feed.
    • defterGoose 5y ago
      Yeah, every time ive been there half the posts are someone raving about a vacuum flask or how durable cast iron skillets are...
• ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  "I don't think corporations/businesses are to blame... The average consumer is extremely ill-informed." This is very unfair - the average cobsumer is purposefully mislead on a daily basis, for example applle forbids apps from informing consumer that 30% of their donation to a charity is taken. With industrial goods, there is a whole department who's job is proqurement and to know what they are buying. And lets not pretent no funny business ever happens there either. But lastly, some consumer good are better - DSLR's beat any industrial cameras, and commercial dishwashers are a toally different beast, unsuitable and dangerous to a naive user.
  • deleted 5y ago
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  • tracedddd 5y ago
    I agree consumers are misled but Apple is a poor example here. I know the App Store fee is a popular topic right now but they are one of the few companies making a consumer product that is bounds ahead of military or industrial versions.
    • deleted 5y ago
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    • ClumsyPilot 5y ago
      They are a perfect example of a company that purposefully misleads, and forces other companies they work with to mislead, for example on the subject of repairs - to be authorised repair shop for apple, you have to lie to a customer that recovering their data is impossible, and is my view that shoupd be illegal. They products might be good, but their methods are ruthless - they are wanna-be like mexican cartels.
    • cblconfederate 5y ago
      Does the us army or ISS use apple products?
      • cosmojg 5y ago
• vdnkh 5y ago
  Using a ka-bar for hiking is a terrible idea. At 0.7lbs it weighs as much as a quality sleeping bag/tent/pack. Also, you likely don’t need a knife. Scissors are much more useful, and micro scissors weigh less than an ounce. Ultralight hiking adds an interesting forcing function to gear - correctly “built” (as in not overbuilt or under built). Bring the gear which matches the need. In essence, the complete opposite sentiment of this post.
  • tracedddd 5y ago
    I bring a fixed blade knife hiking. Can split wood in a pinch. Not nearly as heavy as a ka-bar, though. Your point still stands, though. I had a military pack and couldn’t believe how heavy it was even when empty. Ultralight hiking gear is pretty amazing and optimized for an entirely different goal. That said, I still feel like specialty gear like this is a different class than the average consumer stuff.. closer to industrial or military in design than Amazon junk.
  • wyager 5y ago
    I use a knife all the time while hiking - good luck cutting a salami with scissors. That said, the ka-bar is not worth the weight. I really like my benchmade hidden canyon.
    • vdnkh 5y ago
      Haha salami is what I worry about. But there are knives for under an ounce. And at any rate, I don’t mind eating the salami log straight up
    • bitexploder 5y ago
      I’ve always got by with a simple folding spyderco knife. Small. Lasts forever. Does 90% of jobs when backpacking or around the house, etc. a ka-bar is a fine car camping knife though. Meant to take abuse and be a multi purpose heavy duty tool. We mostly overland and car camp these days. Different tools for different purposes and all that.
      • 5y ago
• hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
  Like the Hobart mixer from this article, I always find it interesting that many of the best "overkill" objects are simply ones from the early/mid 20th century before manufacturers figured out it makes more economic sense to pump out low quality shit that will break just after the warranty expires. I'm into old school espresso machines, and there is a robust market (and some fascinating refurb videos) for older, lever espresso machines - the quality and design is just much better than any consumer-grade equipment that is sold today.
  • bob1029 5y ago
    I've been considering the economics around a startup company that exclusively produces home appliances & tools that are purely electro-mechanical in design. I know I am not alone in saying that I would happily pay a 2-3x premium for any appliance if it were engineered properly and actually left out all the ridiculous technological bullshit it never needed in the first place. To this day, no one at Best Buy can explain to me how WiFi helps me clean my clothes better or faster. Also consider the current economics around the chip shortage... Relays, A/C induction motors, electromagnets, switches and all other essential macro-scale components required for building a washing machine or clothes dryer can still be built by human hands in any factory on earth. Not only are all of these things available now, they are arguably the superior engineering choice when making something intended to deliver value to the end user.
    • LanceH 5y ago
      Take my idea. Produce the same children's toys which make noises and make the same thing with maximum volume a lot less. That's it. Your marketing is taken care of right there.
    • dale_glass 5y ago
      The technological bullshit often makes the device much better. Let's take an object I'm quite familiar with: an espresso machine. Some like the classic Rancilio Silvia are 100% electromechanical. It's nice and simple, but there are downsides: * Temperature regulation is very coarse, because it's done with thermal relays. * There's no timing. All manual. * There's no water sensor. * There are potential failure modes. It's a machine that'll be happy to try to keep pumping nothing until the pump burns out, and that produces variable results depending on the user's timing and precision. Popular add-ons include a PID controller to fix the temperature regulation, a pressure gauge (analog is fine there, but digital could also be used for safety), and a stopwatch. Once you look into coffee forums frequented by the fans of well made coffee, you see that one really sought after thing is control and precision. Precisely controlling the grind, the amount of coffee, the amount of water, the temperature and the timing. Notice something? It's all stuff that electronics excel at, and humans suck at. Controlling timing, weight and water flow is a perfect task for a machine, which it can do with impeccable precision. And along with that stuff, it can improve safety eg, by noticing things like "The heater has been on for a minute yet temperature doesn't seem rising -- maybe the sensor is broken". Plus quality of life thing like warming up on a timer, and automatically turning off afterwards. The issue isn't with electronics but with electronics being applied in the wrong direction.
• whack 5y ago
  > The average consumer is an idiot, so the bean counters keep milking them... They want pizzaz over functionality and durability. They want shiny stuff in a bigger box... The industrial, military and commercial market doesn't mess around. They want to purchase equipment that works reliably and performs to a specification. It's professional and their livelihood depends on it. It sort of self filters the entire market. Shitty things drop off the radar due to poor sales. This sounds like a cool hobby and conversation starter. But it's hard to take the author seriously when he proselytizes on the practical virtues of buying ejector seats over retail chairs. Industrial goods are often built for very specific use-cases. If those use-cases don't align with your own needs, you're just paying a lot of money for something you don't need. And often, something that fails to deliver on your actual needs.
  • rsuttongee 5y ago
    Haha, pretty sure the author doesn’t expect anyone to take this post entirely seriously.
    • zamalek 5y ago
      I'm considering this very seriously: > The entire consumer market is rotten. TV? It's going to come with smart apps. Get one from NEC that's meant for commercial use. A TV has the potential to be a lifetime purchase, but the software on it can render it obsolete. I can always plug my streaming device of choice into the back of a "dumb TV."
      • Qub3d 5y ago
        I would really love someone to review a commercial display. I effectively only want the panel and some inputs wired to it.
      • shellfishgene 5y ago
        I thought buying a TV was bad, but today I wanted to find a good digital picture frame. What a shit show, it seems that search term has even more fake review sites and SEO spam than other electronics, Amazon is full of Chinese brands with random names selling the same few models, and with even the apparently good ones it's hard to find out what they actually do and what not. And then in the fine print you find you they want to sell you a subscription, too, and presumably the thing will be worthless if the company decides to pull their app or shut down their servers. I just want a frame that I can send pics to, or that pulls from google/dropbox/whatever shares, and maybe turn off when it's dark.
• joan_kode 5y ago
  Love my infrared thermometer for steeping tea at exact temperatures. These things are terrible for medical purposes since they only measure surface temperature, but they're perfect for diagnosing industrial machinery and tea. Also more versatile than those expensive programmable tea-brewing contraptions!
  • bob1029 5y ago
    I do this but for everything in my kitchen. I bought a very expensive HVAC-grade Fluke IR thermometer which can handle temperature ranges from -40C to 550C. Being able to instantly & remotely measure the temperature of anything (with reasonable emissivity characteristics) is like a super power. There is nothing in my kitchen or grill area that can exceed the range of the IR sensor on this unit. There are only a few things that have problems with direct sampling. I cook almost exclusively with cast iron, so IR readings are always dead accurate. The unit runs on a single AA battery, has a backlight, and somehow still hasn't needed a new battery since I bought it 4 years ago (used almost every day). I had to cook in someone else's kitchen not too long ago, and found myself going insane at not being able to tell exactly how hot the oil was in a pot used for frying.
  • fmajid 5y ago
    The problem is the emissivity calibration, as different materials have different IR characteristics. For food, the best by far is the fast contact Thermapen (get the original British version rather than the heavily marked-up US licensee's).
  • evil-olive 5y ago
    As a bonus, those infrared thermometers often have a little laser pointer built-in, which means it can double as a cat toy. Laser pointers marketed as cat toys are often tiny little things that require annoying & expensive button-cell batteries. My infrared thermometer / cat toy has a pistol grip so it's easier to hold, and runs off a 9V battery that lasts much longer.
  • fomine3 5y ago
    To extend, I consider buying thermography device like FLIR. There are dedicated device, smartphone camera adapter, and FLIR integrated smartphone.
• arc-in-space 5y ago
  I'm all for this type of thinking, but like the others point out, you still need to keep yourself in check and put active effort into figuring out when it makes sense. 'Spartan' isn't the only relevant quality. The Hobart mixer is cool, but might it consume too much energy, or is it too heavy to move around when needed? The beakers are sweet, but am I yet wealthy enough to pretend money isn't real? https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/12/02/more-dakka/ https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/12/02/more-dakka/ All things considered, I would love to see more people put together their own lists of ways you can do better than the consumer default. I'm sure there's plenty of opportunities of this kind.
  • swader999 5y ago
    For skiing, if you want to do it for life, always buy decent boots and ask pros where they get them fitted. Most people ski in boots a size or two too big or with poor cuff alignment (even people at a high level). It is much harder to improve and enjoy your time on snow with these things not addressed. The consumer approach would dismiss getting a professional fitting as overkill and unnecessary but they really limit their enjoyment.
• arpa 5y ago
  "Military grade" has very different connotations if you have been in the service. So yeah, great conversation starter, interesting worldview; can't say I share it though.
  • dkdbejwi383 5y ago
    Military grade = the cheapest product that meets the spec.
    • enchiridion 5y ago
      That's always the line. The left out part is how rigorous the spec is.
      • zokier 5y ago
        Well, at least there is a spec, unlike many consumer goods that are just cheapest product no spec.
        • mcguire 5y ago
          This is my periodic comment reminding everyone who has to support more than one computer to not buy the consumer versions from Dell, HP, whatever. They're built from whatever was in the parts bin today. No two of them will be the same.
      • killjoywashere 5y ago
        Problem with the spec is often that the military "needs a car". But the specification process forces them to design all the parameters, and they end up with a very rigorous spec for "Toyota Camry, no A/C, coyote brown, steel wheels" which adds up to 800 pages and a product that even Toyota can't produce for less than $250k/unit. Meanwhile, by the time they've written the spec, the CyberTruck has been designed, marketed, produced, and iterated, and exceeds the spec in every meaningful dimension. The military has required an entirely US-based supply chain that will sustain their vehicle for the next 30 years, but accepts that it's entirely reasonable, in that circumstance, that each washer (Type 304 stainless, O.D. +/- 0.00001 inch) is $47.82/unit.
• dehrmann 5y ago
  > I want a Martin Baker ejection seat as a chair in my living room I get the draw, but comfort in these seats is mixed. You should be able to sit in them for a few hours, but remember that the foam is dense enough to handle 7Gs.
  • LanceH 5y ago
    I heard someone make the comfort argument, saying a toilet seat would be ideal.
• neonological 5y ago
  Consumer grade products are deliberately designed to fail. This is why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5v8D-alAKE&t=833s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5v8D-alAKE&t=833s If you're older, like really old, you can actually remember a time where products were of a much much higher durability before the industry figured out that low durability products were more profitable. So in actuality some of the suggestions on that site aren't necessarily overkill as industrial products aren't deliberately engineered to fail.
  • kube-system 5y ago
    “Engineered to fail” and “planned obsolescence” are both pejorative rephrasings of “consumers prioritize price” Engineering is an exercise in prioritization. If 90% of consumers buy the cheapest blender on the shelf, the blender made with the cheapest materials wins. Hobart still exists, and still makes good blenders. Consumers just started buying new designs that were more cost efficient. If you look at the prices of mid twentieth century appliances in some old periodicals, and adjust for inflation, they’re about the price of commercial appliances today. Before value-engineering, people didn’t have a kitchen full of appliances, they went without. Value engineering is often criticized, but the plain truth is that it is primarily responsible for the high standards of living we enjoy today.
    • convolvatron 5y ago
      the shop vac pro i bought had a one-time current fuse soldered down (not replacable with a holder). over time all of these machines get a little friction in the fan assembly and blow this fuse. yes, you could argue that making this fuse replaceable would add $0.05, but we all know that its not because 99% of the purchasers wont crack it open, figure out whats going on, and short the fuse. you can argue that by keeping the volume up shop vac can lower prices. but i dont think you can argue that efficiency has been gained.
      • kube-system 5y ago
        The 1% of people who try to fix their shop vac are probably the same 1% who are comfortable using a soldering iron. Reducing part count is value engineering 101. The number of consumers who buy a shop vac based on whether it has a socketed fuse is negligible. It’s simply a feature with zero commercial value. It’s all cost with zero benefit.
• ftio 5y ago
  As an espresso enthusiast with a rather robust prosumer setup, I considered 'overkill' commercial options, which are widely available and roughly the same price (sometimes less, with work). The overkill options...well, they're not made for home, which actually makes them worse for home use cases. Sure, a La Marzocco Linea can pull a thousand shots a day with extreme consistency and temperature stability. My Lelit Bianca can't keep up on volume, but it is smaller, reaches operating temperature more quickly, and is temp stable for the number of shots I pull even with a dozen people over for a party. It uses a standard electrical plug, it has a consumer-grade warranty, and it's relatively easy to maintain for a regular Joe like me. So sure, a commercial version of a thing might be more robust, longer-lasting, etc., but what tradeoffs are you making to achieve those characteristics?
  • defterGoose 5y ago
    | regular Joe I see what you did there...
• hyko 5y ago
  Buying an ejector seat for your living room is quite eccentric, but I wouldn’t really consider it overkill. It doesn’t even have arms.
  • swader999 5y ago
    For my office at the company I work at it would be perfect.
    • tailspin2019 5y ago
      Is your “office” an F-16 by any chance?
      • swader999 5y ago
        No it is not. But sometimes I do wish to leave very quickly.
• swader999 5y ago
  I went pro with my chainsaw and never regretted it.
• deleted 5y ago
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• ListeningPie 5y ago
  The recommendation for a commercial panel which avoids built smart TV functions is one I'm taking seriously. We have an Apple TV connected and use nothing else. Does anyone have experience or recommendations? Here is a link to NEC's commercial displays https://www.sharpnecdisplays.us/products/displays#2 https://www.sharpnecdisplays.us/products/displays#2
  • an_opabinia 5y ago
    I don't know. If you don't connect the TV to the Internet, really, what is it going to do.
    • smbv 5y ago
      Perhaps it'll hop onto someone else's WiFi. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/amazon-devices-will-soon-automatically-share-your-internet-with-neighbors/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/amazon-devices-will-...
      • SilverRed 5y ago
        Or include its own built in 4/5g modem.
    • swader999 5y ago
      Connect your media pc to it and fully control your tv software.
    • Sebb767 5y ago
      A nag every 5 minutes to do so, lags and slow startup time due to all the stuff running in the background and, to top it off, horrible settings menus as the actual picture is not the main focus.
      • crooked-v 5y ago
        My Vizio M55-E0 has a noticeably (much, much) slower UI if it's not connected to the internet, though it's probably just poor design rather than an intentional thing. Definitely never buying another Vizio, though.
• fnord77 5y ago
  one drawback of commercial supply houses is very expensive shipping costs. shipping for a small order may be more than what you're buying
• deleted 5y ago
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• monkpit 5y ago
  For certain things this is a good idea, but at some point you step into “mall ninja” territory.
• bonestamp2 5y ago
  I use restaurant glassware at home. It's nice, yet minimalistic looking (to match any style restaurant/home), relatively cheap, very durable: https://shop.libbey.com/collections/beverageware/products/bar-essentials-hi-ball-set-12-ounce-set-of-6 https://shop.libbey.com/collections/beverageware/products/ba...
  • pimlottc 5y ago
    +1 for restaurant supply stores. You can find at least one in any reasonably sized city and they have just about everything you could possibly need, from tableware to cookware to appliances to bulk dry goods to cleaning and safety equipment. No frills and competitively priced.
    • evil-olive 5y ago
      I've ordered from [0] several times and can recommend them as an online option. Only major downside is that shipping is expensive (unless you join their Amazon Prime equivalent, which is $99/month and doesn't really make sense for a household). I think my last order was around $30 s&h on a ~$200 order. My workaround is that I save up a big wishlist and then order from them about once a year, and get friends & family to tack on any items they want as well. 0: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/ https://www.webstaurantstore.com/
• dukeofdoom 5y ago
  On the other end of the spectrum. 4k Prosumer Canon cameras purposely designed to overheat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1u-9YqrIJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1u-9YqrIJc
• msla 5y ago
  A sentence I never thought I'd say: Gee, that ejector seat doesn't look very comfortable. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it feels fine even if you sit in it long periods of time. However, I'm sure that it only comes in one size, that size being the right size to pilot a plane with an ejector seat. Anyone too big or small wasn't considered in its design because they'd never make it into the relevant flight program to begin with. My point is, consumer objects have to be designed a bit more inclusively than that, to be able to sell to a wider range of buyers. That big Hobart mixer is in the same boat: It's designed for people who wouldn't have gotten that bakery job if they couldn't work with a large, heavy piece of kitchen equipment.
  • iab 5y ago
    Positively uncomfortable for long periods. Having sat in a number of MB seats in aircraft museums for short intervals, this is exactly the wrong seat to choose for comfort. They are quite adjustable though, interesting provenance: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/15/08/beyond-average https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/15/08/beyond-average
  • p_l 5y ago
    Heavily depends on model, and well, its designed to sit in some heavy duty clothes. Some ejection seats are supposed to be sat in, continuously, for over 10 hours. While letting you still function. That said, the cockpits tend to enforce certain posture.
• yt-sdb 5y ago
  I do this with clothes. You can buy a good pair of hiking shoes or a lightweight waterproof jacket for the same price as design-oriented goods. Why pay Nike for a logo when I can pay Salomon for durability and tread? Same thing with luggage: I buy cycling oriented backpacks and duffle bags because they’re strong and waterproof.
• FpUser 5y ago
  >"Dough maker... It was built in Ohio when we used to make things in the US" Whenever I see a chance to buy old industrial grade stuff I use it. Nearly everything they used to do lasts forever. If you want to find the same quality now it either not available or you pay through the nose. Granted for many things we probably do not care all that much if they last 3 years or 30.
• abeppu 5y ago
  > The average consumer wants this stuff. It sells. They want pizzaz over functionality and durability. What is functionality though? What is pizzaz? When are they the same and when are they different? E.g. the famous Emeco 1006 chair, which won a contract to supply the US Navy by being thrown out a window and not breaking. It became a design classic, and now sells for $600 each. It gained a kind of following, which is in part based on this history. But is that durability especially functional for your home or restaurant environment which isn't on a warship? Do you think you're going to use your chair as a hammer some days? Or is fetishizing something used by the military and extreme durability its own form of pizzaz? https://www.dwr.com/kitchen-dining-chairs-benches/1006-navy-chair/2122.html?lang=en_US https://www.dwr.com/kitchen-dining-chairs-benches/1006-navy-... https://www.emeco.net/variants/emeco-1006-navy-chair-brushed-us-navy https://www.emeco.net/variants/emeco-1006-navy-chair-brushed... https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/77-steps/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/77-steps/
  • spitfire 5y ago
    It's apparently useful for police departments. Or so says every police show ever...
  • mcguire 5y ago
    I can't speak to the 1006, but my office chair is a mid-century Steelcase because I got tired of others breaking or losing wheels.
  • seoaeu 5y ago
    The functionality is making the owner feel superior to consumer who buy consumer grade products
  • yourapostasy 5y ago
    > But is that durability especially functional for your home or restaurant environment which isn't on a warship? If I knew it would be handed down for generations of my descendants, then I absolutely want that durability. A tremendous amount of economic and environmental harm comes from unnecessary product acquisition churn over generations at the scales of populations we're currently dealing with. If I can equip my descendants (who are likely to at best propagate at barely replacement rate with current socioeconomic trends that seem resource and energy-bound and unlikely to change until fusion or similar energy breakthrough is made) with 50-80% of their material goods throughout the stages of their lives and eliminate their capex, that is a hell of an advantage of confer compared to previous generations' patterns.
• bluedino 5y ago
  I see this all the time. Friend of mine bought a $200 Milwaukee drill to put up a couple picture frames.
  • swader999 5y ago
    One of my buddies is a construction guy. He just buys consumer grade with warranty and has two sets of everything. He says pro is too expensive given how often they still break and get stolen on the job site.
  • p_l 5y ago
    At the same time I accidentally bought Bosch Professional cordless drill long time ago. It's biggest problem is that sometimes I forget I have it, then fix what I was doing in few minutes. Also I sometimes forget to charge it, as it holds a charge for years in my practice.
  • defterGoose 5y ago
    Yeah, but you have to be careful with literally any product available at a big box store. My first foray into the Milwaukee brand was their M12 rotary tool and the speed controller broke after about 2-3 total hours of use. Meanwhile my Grandpa's Dremel from the 70s is still chooching along.
  • kfajdsl 5y ago
    My rule of thumb for tools is to always first buy the cheapo Harbor Freight special (I'll get something a little better for precision tools) and if that tool breaks then that means I use the tool enough to justify getting something better. Spoiler alert: most of my tools are the cheapest I could find.
    • MonaroVXR 5y ago
      That's a good one and this is what I mostly do.
    • snth 5y ago
      I like the idea of this, and I'm sure you save a lot of money, but the downside is this: I want to do some one-off job I haven't done before. It'll be difficult, because I will be trying it for the first time. Do I really want to make it even _more_ difficult by cheaping out on tools? I've done this several times, and I've ended up doing several jobs over again with better tools after I've screwed up the first time. Edit: In other words, cheap tools aren't just less durable, they often do a worse job (or at least make it harder to do a good job).
• blt 5y ago
  Unfortunately this style can be a hard sell for the people you live with. Some people don't want their home to look like a restaurant / workshop / office / warehouse / etc.
• gnarbarian 5y ago
  I purchased a 30-in steel barrel fan from home Depot 3 years ago and I maintain it is the best fan I've ever owned
• gojofika 5y ago
  You might check the link to get unlimited Google Voice Number https://bit.ly/34tc4BI https://bit.ly/34tc4BI (100% trusted & quality service guaranteed)
• stakkur 5y ago
  A note about the 'Ka-Bar' knife, since I've both been in the Marine Corps and am into knives: the military doesn't use it. In the real world, if you want a knife in the service, you typically buy it yourself. Does the USMC still use 'bayonets'? Yes, in certain circumstances they're issued--but it's not common, and it's not the Ka-Bar, it's another brand (I forget which one). TL;DR: Ka-Bar 'USMC knives' are a marketing gimmick.
  • tomcam 5y ago
    Please tell me you have a blog, and if so, its URL.
  • jeffreyrogers 5y ago
    I think this is due to the reliability of rifles now though?
    • Ekaros 5y ago
      Trench warfare and massed charges really aren't much of a thing any more. And if you really end up in close quarter combat it's much better to retreat and do something else.
      • JoeyBananas 5y ago
        As a weapon, the bayonett is absolutely not obsolete. It may be the only weapon available to a soldier after they run out of ammo. There are infinitely many conceivable situations where retreat is not an option.
      • jeffreyrogers 5y ago
        Yes, I know that. But knife kills weren't uncommon in Vietnam. They are now. I think partly because rifles are more reliable.
  • JoeyBananas 5y ago
    A brand new Leatherman multitool costs less than 100$. For that price you get a knife, a serrated blade, a pair of pliers/wire cutters and some other stuff that absolutely comes in handy in the real world. It's not as good for fixing to the end of a rifle and stabbing someone, but for every other real world situation it's better.
• birdyrooster 5y ago
  If this guy doesn’t have sticky-surface mats entering his house I will be upset.
• Gravityloss 5y ago
  A local company, Varusteleka has been extremely successful and grown rapidly from selling military surplus equipment bought from here and there as well as "tactical" looking stuff made cheaply somewhere. I've bought for example some Swiss army surplus towels for a bike trip. They were really good (small, durable, functional, beautiful) but a bit too small so you couldn't wrap one around yourself. They probably get the surplus stuff almost for free, from all around the world. I think it's great, making something desirable out of waste. Having served, I think a lot of military equipment is really bad, especially clothing. It's bought not by the users but by the organization.
  • cblconfederate 5y ago
    They have a fun website buf you can find that stuff on ebay, and usually in bulk
• intricatedetail 5y ago
  I like how domain name is an overkill.
• aledalgrande 5y ago
  Love how extra the choices are XD All OP/level 99 items!
• SavantIdiot 5y ago
  I could get behind some of these. Like that Hobart mixer. Granted, I don't use a mixer 24/7 in a bakery, but my first Kitchen Aid overheated and broke after ~5 years. I'd prefer if commodity things, like computer mice, were made to last, and not $5 pieces of cheap plastic that end up in landfills. But I'm the person who complains about the tons of cheap plastic trash sold in 0.99 stores while able to afford $500 mixers. I wish there was a happy medium, where society didn't demand China produce plastic stuff that turns into trash within a month, destroying the environment exponentially.
  • joezydeco 5y ago
    Commercial kitchen equipment isn't always set up for 120V single phase operation. If you really want to rewire your house to mix 20 gallons of dough at a time...go for it I suppose. But do the homework first.
    • NegativeLatency 5y ago
      Sure some of it is but certainly not all of it. Also there are reasonably sized mixers like GP said
      • joezydeco 5y ago
        Oh, sorry. The point of the article was 'overkill'. It's really 'just heavier duty'.
    • bob1029 5y ago
      > If you really want to rewire your house to mix 20 gallons of dough at a time...go for it I suppose. But do the homework first. You could get a 3 phase commercial standby genset installed and have the remote annunciator for it mounted next to whatever monster 3 phase stand mixer in your kitchen. All in all this would run you ~50K USD. Every day people spend far more money on way stupider bullshit than what I just proposed.
  • scrooched_moose 5y ago
    At least things things like Kitchenaid mixers are easily fixable if you still have it. Ours recently died after about 8 years, and it was a pretty quick turn around from model number > spec sheet > motor number > $80 replacement. The actual swap took less than 15 minutes with nothing more than a phillips screwdriver. I did the same with our microwave when the door close sensors failed. The internet has made fixing things infinitely easier, as spec sheets and part suppliers are available to everyone.
• Arubis 5y ago
  Non-professional customers know this, to an approximation. And marketers know that those customers know that. Hence the both the “prosumer” market and the conflation of premium and luxury product lines: “We Are Professional Grade” for expensive trucks, “AirPods Pro” for a luxury product, the upcoming “Nintendo Switch Pro”, etc.
• dusted 5y ago
  Definitely doing this, if I need something I will look for the industrial option first, we don't have a big military industrial complex in Denmark, so I can't go milspec. Vacuum cleaners is a great place to start,
  • yarcob 5y ago
    Except that commercial vacuum cleaners are huge, loud and cost 3x as much as a good consumer vacuum cleaner. But the bags are bigger.
    • dusted 5y ago
      except louder does not _MATTER_ at all, all vacuums are too loud for comfort, I just put on headphones and over-ear hearing protection, like I also do when mowing the lawn or doing anything else boring and noisy.. Sure, they are 3x as expensive, mine is more like 10x more expensive than a cheapo crap one from the store, but it will outlast 10 of them easily, be servicable, and be 100x nicer to use all of that time.
• crooked-v 5y ago
  To make my own recommendation along these lines, Bluffworks pants: https://shop.bluffworks.com/pages/technical-pants https://shop.bluffworks.com/pages/technical-pants I've found them excellent for travel because they remain wrinkle-resistant and looking like I've just stepped out of an office no matter what conditions I put them through, up to and including a month backpacking with constant wear on hikes and irregular sink-washing.
  • stepanhruda 5y ago
    Looks cool, but is it in the same category as anything in the article? This just seems like a good brand.
    • crooked-v 5y ago
      They may not be 'military grade', but I'd say that clothes designed to look like freshly-pressed office wear after a month spent backpacking broadly count.
      • system2 5y ago
        The secret recipe is "polyester".
• snth 5y ago
  I really like the sentiment, if not some of the specific examples given. An example of my own: I went through several grocery-store-bought hair clippers before getting some "pro" clippers: Oster Classic 76. They work better, they are more repairable and serviceable, and they've lasted me for years.
• nullc 5y ago
  We've used borosilicate lab glass (mostly beakers) at home for over a decade. We're pretty happy with them.
• SkyMarshal 5y ago
  Fyi, I have an industrial fan in my home similar to the one listed at the end of the article [1]. Beware, they're loud as hell and not really suited for indoors use. It sits dormant now. I replaced it with a smaller Vornado [2]. Powerful, nearly silent (can't hear the motor, only the blades), with a durable sealed-bearing motor. Much better. [1]:https://king-electric.com/products/high-velocity-air-circulators/ https://king-electric.com/products/high-velocity-air-circula... [2]:https://www.vornado.com/shop/circulators-fans/293-heavy-duty-large-air-circulator https://www.vornado.com/shop/circulators-fans/293-heavy-duty...
  • m463 5y ago
    I like vornado - with caveats. If it's cold my HVAC would cycle and would get temperature swings. I installed a vornado space heater and it worked wonderfully. It had a continuous air flow and would keep the temperature in the room very stable. And then it wore out and I got a new model with electronic controls, which didn't work so well. The original had mechanical controls and were set and forget. I believe the electronic model would reset after a power failure, and would have a timer that would turn it off after using it for a while, both non-features.
    • SkyMarshal 5y ago
      Interesting. The Vornado fan I linked is pure mechanical. I have three that have been running without problem for years, the oldest since 2017, fwiw (during the warm half of the years).
      • m463 5y ago
        "wore out" ~ 4 years I think, including constant running during colder weather
• elil17 5y ago
  Restaurant supply stores are a great place to get kitchenware. Some of it doesn’t work in a home kitchen (for instance, you probably don’t want your smallest Tupperware to be a quart). Some of it, though, is perfect. My favorite purchase has been a huge cutting board with rubber grip material on one side and rulers printed on the other. It’s thick plastic so it’s never warped despite repeatedly putting it in the dishwasher. If you’re lucky enough to live near one that lets consumers buy food, too, that’s great. 20 pounds of very high quality pasta for like $8 or $10.
  • yumraj 5y ago
    Costco Business center is a good and accessible alternate if you have one near to you.
  • h2odragon 5y ago
    stainless steel serving pans and steam table trays are great roasting pans; abusable, scrub clean easily, stackable, etc. "consumers" get enameled oval pans that served our grandmothers as poorly as they do now. Also caught some lovely cheap "disposable" paring knives that have served in our kitchen for several years and still going strong.
• jlkuester7 5y ago
  I am a huge fan of highly durable equipment, but one thing to watch out for is that comfort/ergonimics are often sacrificed for the sake of simplicity and duribility. Ask anyone who has spent time in a military vehicle. Those things can take a beating and are made to be repaired quickly and sent back out for more. But a quite comfortable ride they are not.... Sometimes that no-compromise toughness is exactly what you want. In other situations there is real value in creature comforts. For example, I have an old '97 F250 that is as basic of a model as you can possibly get. Regular cab, bench seat, manual everything from the windows to the transmission. It is a beast and will take whatever you give it. It is simple and easy to fix when something breaks, but it is also crazy loud, rough, and uncomfortable to be in. Perfect for getting work done, but for a cross-country trip with my wife and kids I would opt for the minivan any day.
  • Grustaf 5y ago
    For me that's one of the selling points. Modern life is so ridiculously over engineered to be comfortable, we can all use some rough edges.
    • jlkuester7 5y ago
      For the most part I totally agree with you. That is why I enjoy leaving the comfort if my home to go backpacking in the mountains or something. Sometimes challenging yourself can make you feel more alive! It is just that from personal experience, a road trip with small children has enough rough edges that road/engine noise so loud that the kids can't sleep does not have to be one of them...
      • jesselawson 5y ago
        The way I describe it to people is like this: some folks like to feel a nicely sanded handle, and other folks like to sand down a handle so that it feels nicely sanded.
    • ketzo 5y ago
      That's one of those things that sounds super fun when you're opting into it on a weekend. Much less so on a Tuesday night after a stressful day and your goddamn window won't close even though it's raining and you can't play music because the stereo only takes cassettes and you're not gonna listen to that one fucking Hall and Oates tape again and there's no heat and your neck is sore because the headrest is made of plastic and.... Creature comforts are most important when you're not thinking about them. I don't ever want to get in my car and think, "ah, this is what it means to be human! this is REAL!"
• fhub 5y ago
  The best shade umbrella's have wind tunnel youtube videos - https://www.bambrellausa.com/wind-tunnel-test-videos https://www.bambrellausa.com/wind-tunnel-test-videos.
• karaterobot 5y ago
  Is that picture the 20-quart Hobart mixer, or just the 12 quart? Both are good for making a few hundred cookies at a time, and very convenient if you also have a commercial oven. Now, that's the countertop model, so it only weights 189 pounds, and it's a steal at $6000. Sounds expensive, but it'll last forever, unlike my shitty Kitchenaid mixer that's only worked flawlessly for 30 years, and that I can store in a cupboard and put on the counter without a forklift. My advice: save a few bucks by learning small appliance repair and buying a banged up mixer from a defunct restaurant a couple towns over! Bring a couple friends and some tie-down straps.
• lucb1e 5y ago
  This started off as a fun article about "what's the most overkill way I can get this?" and then looking for second-hand fighter jet seats just for the shits and giggles. I like that. But then it goes south from there, the author seems to believe that anything that isn't from the USA military must be crap: > Made in the USA from military grade [...] preferably a military supplier [...] This is the real thing, used by the US military. [...] > Consumer goods suck. You keep buying them. [emphasis theirs] > The average consumer is an idiot, so the bean counters keep milking them. So we're idiots for buying a regular knife instead of some military variant that makes you look like, well, someone who would carry a gun as well? Or regular napkins rather than some special cleanroom rated upgrade? I think I'm good, thanks.
  • goatinaboat 5y ago
    “Military grade” means “made by the lowest bidder” in reality
    • mahathu 5y ago
      Like the $7.63 a piece earplugs by 3M that turned out defective: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jury-finds-3ms-earplugs-caused-us-military-vets-hearing-loss-2021-04-30/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jury-finds-3ms-earplugs-cau...
    • nraynaud 5y ago
      French military takes the second lowest as a rule. So much better.
      • ansgri 5y ago
        Very clever, I assume it’s far more difficult to game the system unless you control two bidders.
        • nraynaud 5y ago
          No, they just talk to each other and take turns being the lowest one. I mean how many military equipment companies can you sustain with a country the size of California? Whatever your answer, above a certain pay grade, all employees come from a single engineering school anyways.
• hoelz_ya 5y ago
  You know that guy in movies who weirdly knows waaay too much about the history of every random piece of military screwdriver and seatbelt buckle, and you're always like "that guy doesn't actually exist"? Well, you were wrong. This is that guy.
  • system2 5y ago
    Or he did some google searching before writing this blog post?
• sfeng 5y ago
  Everyone should shop at restaurant supply stores. You can get identical metal mixing bowls for a fraction of the price of the heavy bowls most people have. Plus they clean easily and stack, so you can have a dozen at the ready easily.
  • a9h74j 5y ago
    Need trays to alternately shelve while working on different hobbies or projects? Consider rolled-edge baking sheets and a baking rack. Restaurant supply has solved the problem of trays that do not warp and have no sharp edges or corners, at sheet-metal prices.
• cmckn 5y ago
  I have to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbhcRKsRwFM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbhcRKsRwFM
• Animats 5y ago
  I have a ruggedized phone with Caterpillar Tractor branding. There are other waterproof and rugged phones now, but a few years ago, they were the first to have a smartphone with reasonable toughness. (Of course, before smartphones, there was Nokia.) I have it so that if I get dumped off the horse, I can call for help.
  • samatman 5y ago
    It may not suit you for other reasons, but a cellular Apple Watch will call for help for you if you get dumped off the horse. I think they're a no brainer for riders, be it motorcycle, bicycle, or horses. If it's not a bad spill, you can cancel, but opt-out is far superior to opt-in for this scenario.
• jedberg 5y ago
  One thing I've always wished I had space for was using a seat from a Mercedes or BMW as my desk chair. I saw someone post about it decades ago. You can pick them up from the junkyard for less than a fancy desk chair. You screw it to a piece of plywood and get a car battery to power it, and you've got a 26 way adjustable seat with lumbar support, seat heaters and seat coolers, and all the other fancy features of a car seat. And it's usually made of super durable easy to clean materials. You get a swingarm to hold your keyboard and monitor and you're all set with the ultimate chair. But it takes a ton of space.
• IgorPartola 5y ago
  I will postulate an opposing view to TFA: Quality consumer goods are better in two key areas. First, they are replaceable. I don’t want a military grade mixer in my kitchen if getting a broken whisk or motor on it is going to require me hunting all over eBay for the specific part hoping it’s available. I was very excited at one point about the idea of getting a commercial dishwasher that can run a load of dishes in like 90 seconds. Problem with those is that you can’t go to Lowe’s and get a replacement part when it acts up. You have to call a restaurant equipment servicing company and pay them what a restaurant with a broken dishwasher would pay. Or more because you aren’t a frequent customer. Sure, maybe it’ll break less but here’s the thing: my modern LG dishwasher will be more convenient to use and if I get 10 years out of it rather than 20 I still spent only $1000 on the top of the line one rather than the $4k on a 10 year old used commercial unit that I will struggle with the entire time. Second, consumer goods are replaceable. I am used to my Kershaw knife. I broke it yesterday. I can get it serviced by the manufacturer or get a brand new one, or both. If I buy some special forces surplus knife and chip the blade I am either done with that knife or I’m taking it to a specialist or I’m buying a new one. Knowing that I can replace an item I’m used to when a one-for-one replacement is a comfort. Obviously that doesn’t work for everything but it works for items that are made by high quality manufacturers. Bonus: a military grade mixer is going to suck to make high end pastries because it’s geared towards making mashed potatoes for the troops. I feel like the author is romanticizing ma class of products that in reality aren’t all that amazing except in a couple of key areas that to most consumers aren’t as big of a deal. So while it’s possible that, as the author states, the average consumer is an idiot, I don’t see much evidence that the author is much ahead of the pack here.
  • bayindirh 5y ago
    Moreover, consumer items beyond a price point are both very well made and backed by long term warranties anyway. Paying a bit more for a better item which can be repaired or serviced for a very long time makes it cheaper in the long run in my experience, because you buy it once and for life. I love "overkill items for everyday life" point of view, but it comes with trade-offs for noise, ergonomics, size, replaceability and such. You can get a very good blade from Victorinox or Leatherman. If you fancy good steel, you can get a high end, forged German steel Victorinox chef knife and use something frighteningly sharp and handsome at the same time. If you want a good heater, you can pay twice the price and can get a Fakir Hobby premium space heater and can use for 30+ years (we have two). The list can go on.
• Yajirobe 5y ago
  > The average consumer is an idiot Excuse me?
• cupcake-unicorn 5y ago
  Came to the same realization recently when shopping for kitchen appliances. I couldn't find any blender that wasn't breaking or acting dodgy after a few months. These of course don't come up when you search for them as a consumer but there are for sure industrial blenders used at bars and such. I realized that going forward if I don't want ot have to buy a new one every year or so pretty much for anything I'd have to research and go this route. The beaker glasses is a good example because you sometimes have to get creative to find the industrial version of something.
• cosmodisk 5y ago
  When I was a kid I had a winter tanker helmet form soviet army. It was super cool thing and my dad I used to put it on every now and then to have some fun. Now at some point I'm hoping to have enough money to buy that ejector seat- It'd be an ultimate item at home or in a office!
• spaetzleesser 5y ago
  I would say most cars are complete overkill. You don’t need 300hp cars to drive around in cities.
• Metacelsus 5y ago
  >VWR - This is my kitchen goods store. Usually sells billions of dollars of things to labs around the world. These days they're notorious for shipping backlogs (my lab ordered things 5 months ago and still hasn't got them).
• alexander_gold 5y ago
  https://cannablazeweed.net https://cannablazeweed.net
• soheil 5y ago
  Commercial products are generally better made and more focused. It's because the world of business is more logical and people are not tempted buy garbage just because they like the actor in a TV commercial. It's about the bottom line, if the product sucks in any shape or form the business would not be a savvy one if it did not buy a better product and would go out of business soon. Not the case when you have disposable income and are not responsible to your shareholders. You're also in the same club as shoppers as Home Shopping Network channel. Products all of a sudden don't need to actually be good, they just need to convince enough of its targeted consumers that it is, be it because they're old and confused and watching TV at 3am or because they saw an ad that was pretty convincing.
• a9h74j 5y ago
  Shades of MAD Magazine style exaggeration. Also: > For fun, sort by highest price first. To the general point, I once had a long conversation with an ex-engineer who was selling select European furniture in the US. He was adamant that most American consumers pay no attention to build qualities, and are sold shoddy "night-shift" versions of pieces that have e.g. metal channel reinforcements in Europe, with the shoddy versions certain to show sag etc in a few years. One specific option is to buy a sofa in a showroom in the US, then immediately go in and reinforce it with metal brackets and/or channels. A higher-end version of Ikea-hacking.
• krick 5y ago
  I don't agree with the punchline. This is a nice thing to flex, and I don't have anything bad to say about buying military/professional/etc stuff when you actually need, but taken literally this is just straight-up a terrible advice. In fact, as someone who is way over-meticulous and tends to overthink when buying stuff, I'm advicing myself (and anyone who is like me in that regard) the polar opposite: if you don't 100% know what you need, just buy (reasonably) cheap simple stuff. Both OP and I just love that feeling of "owning the best stuff", but this is sickness. I just need a toaster, for God's sake, I shouldn't spend 2 evening looking for and $200 buying "the best stuff". "$5 Chinese crap" will do just fine, and, no, it won't break. And if it won't do just fine, I can just throw it away and buy a better thing, now knowing what exactly do I need and why the cheapest option wasn't enough. Similarly like if you've just gotten into climbing, it would be stupid of you to buy the most expensive La Sportiva shoes: you don't know how to use them anyway, and it will be horrible experience. You can buy La Sportiva if you want, but just get a fucking model for beginners. But, really, if you buy half as expensive "meh" brand shoes, you'll be just fine for the first 6 months too. And, yeah, having a beaker as your glassware is cool, but many people would appreciate it more if you'd serve them beer in an actual glass or cup, which is way cheaper and easier to get. But, anyway, the punchline isn't why I'm writing this: I'd just ignore that if there would be nothing interesting here. What actually strikes me is "I don't think corporations/businesses are to blame" part. I mean, I don't care whom to blame, this is counter-productive. But I've been thinking about that lately, and I cannot let go of the idea that customers being that horribly misinformed is a real problem. This isn't something given. Customer disinformation is an active pursuit of corporations. And, you know what, if I spend a few weeks on the problem, I think I can get an idea of what do I need from a microwave. But everyday I am "choosing" countless stuff just by selecting the "most trustworthy" package. I have no idea what toilet cleaning products should contain, what actually makes them effective and if there is any difference besides the price. I know that 80% of everything written on toothpaste or shampoo package is a lie, but I have no idea what isn't. And this really shouldn't be that hard, people should have at least somewhat clear idea of what is essential, and what is just their preference. Whole markets exist simply by virtue making it a customers' habit to buy their stuff, without knowing why they do so. This isn't anything new, of course, even though every generation tends to think that nowadays ads are especially horrible and misleading. But given how much some jurisdictions appear to care about fair treatment of customers, I think more money could be spent by governments on countering corporate activity in this area, not helping them. Not necessarily by forbidding stuff, just by sponsoring studies and keeping folks informed.
• zzo38computer 5y ago
  I can comment about the things mentioned at the end. I don't like touch screens, and I don't like "smart" TV sets either (the functions other than the display can be done by the VCR instead; I do have a VCR that can decode captions). (Although, I would want to be able to adjust the picture settings on the TV.)
• killjoywashere 5y ago
  Not sure about some of the other things, but if you're looking for binoculars outside of work, it's probably for hunting, birding, or sailing. Having done those things, generally a decent 8x42 is all you need. And remember, you're taking them into the field, so some exotic Swarovski 10x50 or Steiner 8x32 laser range finder with compass at $9k is going to make you really sad when it fails. But a 8x42 Nikon Monarch is fine. Absolutely fine. And you won't hate yourself when you drop them out of a blind, or in the water, or swing them into a ladder as you shuffle down in the dark. That said, smaller binos are fine in most circumstances. I often carry pocket 8x23s around, or even a small monocular, just in case.
  • teachrdan 5y ago
    Is there a specific monocular you recommend?
• sarak12070 5y ago
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• pram 5y ago
  IDK about that one in the article, but I had an M9 knife in SERE school with a wooden handle and I thought it was absolute crap. Just because it gets issued by the military doesn't mean it's good lol
  • system2 5y ago
    Military stuff is garbage in general (except the heavy duty weapons) because they are provided to millions of soldiers. They have to make them as cheap as possible.
• kwdc 5y ago
  I'd have thought putting a linux kernel, web server, web client all in a power switch just to turn said power on/off is overkill, but hey, people are different. For me, a hammock beats an office chair any day.
• ggm 5y ago
  Basically, 99% of everyone reading this, their laptop is this but wrapped up. Nobody "needs" a solid aluminium billet NMC ground down to high tolerance shape mac). The ThinkPad experience, is defined as a sell-job on "you need this"
• KamiCrit 5y ago
  I work in semi heavy industry. The industrial grade consumer items are great, but usually heavy. The latest example I have is buying bookcases from Uline. Not cheap, not light. But full steel and can hold binders easily. Getting more shelves and another matching one down the road is also easy. Flea markets are also another great source for well built items. Have had great luck buying industrial grade tooling and electrical test/measurement equipment there.
• airhead969 5y ago
  Another marketplace: https://www.govdeals.com https://www.govdeals.com Also, a used Oshkosh M983 as a soccer mom grocery getter. Whenever anyone cuts her off and gives her the finger, she simply shifts into 8x8 mode and drives over them. crunch crunch-crunch /s The mixer is hipster ridiculous but hilarious. In practice, you can get a Kitchen Aid for $200. I have my grandparent's Kirby G3 and found the older real HEPA replacement bags (not the new crap ones that dropped the certifications and may not perform as well). It's not an industrial movie theater vacuum or an ice rink zamboni, but it's more of a tank than a Bose, I mean, Dyson or a Samsung piece of plastic. Speaking of which: if you live in a climate where it snows and freezes, a Zamboni in the garage is essential to making the local kids street ice hockey tournaments happen.
• airhead969 5y ago
  In one job, I used to support just about every size of networkable color and b&w printer from 2 manufacturers. In the cost analysis to operate these things, it became clear: the larger and more expensive printers were not just faster, more reliable, and easier to repair, their supplies were cheaper per page. Their acquisition costs were higher. For anyone needing to churn out flat dead trees more than once a week: I recommend getting a used flagship color laser printer with a low page count and in good condition instead of an inkjet printer. No more running ink, no more calibration pages, no more dried-out ink cartridges, and no more overpriced supplies.
  • ltbarcly3 5y ago
    You don't even have to get them used, if you watch for large color laser printers to come up on clearance when they are a generation or two old you can get a steal. I got my huge dell color laser for about $150 with free shipping. I have two kids who print stuff all day and in 3 years I have replaced the toner maybe one or two times (each color + black is a different cartridge). I haven't had to replace whatever you call the discard toner collector yet. Replacement toner is available in many brands of generic, costs $12 on amazon (less if you buy multipacks, which I don't because I would have to store them for years), and you can print many hundreds of pages before having to replace it. It's a huge monster that has never had a single issue other than a paper jam once or twice. Print quality is as good as you can expect from a laser printer. (It goes without saying I guess that it has a built in duplexer)
    • airhead969 5y ago
      We're clearly not talking about the same class of printer. I was talking about flagship, departmental printers that typically do not sit on a table but have their own wheels and 3+ paper trays. I also avoid rebadged brands because they are less likely to have the breadth of repair parts that top-tier enterprise printers do (advice from the printer repair guy). Sure, you can get smaller enterprise laser printers of many brands for cheap, but the smaller you go, the less repairable they are and the more expensive they are to operate. Some of the cartridges I use go to multiple tens of thousands of pages. I never have had a paper jam on anything other than a printer with bad grabber rollers or cheap desktop models. Some of my printers have auto-stapling and collating. Basically, I never need a FedEx Office store unless I'm out-of-the-area.
• ltbarcly3 5y ago
  "Military grade" is not an especially meaningful term. I served in the military, and generally equipment is required to stand up to water and sand and stuff, but it isn't necessarily higher quality or more durable UNLESS that was part of the specification. Lots of the times the military grade equipment was in every way inferior to what you could buy off the shelf for 1/100th of the cost. In other cases a lack of manufacturing scale and building to the spec whether it made sense or not led to things that failed routinely due to poor design or lack of adapting designs based on learning after a first generation. A good example of being locked into a bogus design is old Humvee turn signals. I have never once had a turn signal on a car fill up with water like a little fishtank, but when PMCSing Humvees I would run into this from time to time. IIRC you had to drill a hole in the bottom to let the water out. Another case is SINCGARS radios. I don't know if they still use them, but god help them if they do. You had to load crypto on them using arcane magic that almost nobody knew how to do, including me, and I took the 2 week class. If you didn't have the crypto set up properly you couldn't talk to people except on the emergency channel in the clear. I can't count how many times we weren't able to talk to each other because the radios were all screwed up, there was a lot of resorting to cell phones when they were available. You would think something as fundamental as radios would be figured out and fool proof, but in my experience off the shelf walkee talkees would have been far more effective, although not as secure in theory. In practice the mujahideen aren't intercepting and exploiting US communications, but they certainly benefited from the radios being dicked up half the time.
• bifftastic 5y ago
  This reminded me of this old post from the late Erik Naggum on comp.lang.lisp: https://www.xach.com/naggum/articles/3147591653434816_-_@naggum.no.html https://www.xach.com/naggum/articles/3147591653434816_-_@nag...
• alexander_gold 5y ago
  https://overnightdrugsales.com https://overnightdrugsales.com
• alephnan 5y ago
  In Japan, Home Depot Gardening Section / Military / Retrofuturistic Chic is turned a relatively high-end design aesthetic. Think Restoration Hardware https://www.dulton.jp/onlineshop/ https://www.dulton.jp/onlineshop/
• xtiansimon 5y ago
  Imagined this would be about people buying construction-grade tools from Home Depot for the house. I also had a brief recall of the generally med to low quality of home goods my great grandparents would buy from Sears or Montgomery Wards for the kitchen. 1950s 60s 70s. Compared to what my parents bought in the 80s, 90s— over the top quality you would get at Macy’s or, if you had one nearby, a restaurant supply store.
• Tucanix 5y ago
  I taught myself how to repair stuff so now I can get a lot of stuff for nearly free and repair what I already own. You can buy spare parts for almost anything online today, or even find an alternative part that is cheaper. People throw out things that are barely broken.
• jerome-jh 5y ago
  When I looked for respiratory masks on a medical supply site, I realized 70°-90° alcohol, single use gloves, liquid soap, tweezers, etc were much cheaper here than on any other website, and especially Amazon which is filled with crap and scams. I now buy from it about twice a year, both for medical stuff and DIY stuff. Delivery is not free (but still fair) and can take about a week since they serve professionals first.
• neop1x 5y ago
  I bought an industrial microwave without the rotating plate many years ago and it still works perfectly to this day and heats evenly enough. :) I would never buy a cheap, retail microwave. Not always but sometimes "I am not wealthy enough to buy cheap things" holds and sometimes industrial-grade equipment designed to be running almost 24/7 is obviously more durable than a retail imitation.
• nrvn 5y ago
  There was a similar, less sarcastic post and relevant duscussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13909365 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13909365