Some that come to mind are:
Benchmade - knives Darn Tough - socks Carhartt - good work gear Doc martens - footwear
What are some good reputable brands that you have had for 5 years + with little to no issues or with a lifetime warranty.
I’ve read some recent reviews on doc martens being total garbage now.
My opinion is they were garbage in the 80s/90s too. I would wear the soles down like an eraser in a matter of months. Warranty or not, that’s not bifl to me.
Thank you, I didn’t realise there was a community already.
Miele, but I think they recently got bought out and enshittified. Their vacuums and dishwashers were built insanely well, sometimes you can still find old stock. They last decades.
Pacsafe backpacks too. Mine has lasted well over a decade. Fuck jansport and all those backpacks that fall apart.
My mom still uses a Miele vacuum that she got gifted by my grandma when my mom moved out. That was almost half a century ago. It’s definitely worth it to check second hand marketplaces for old models
At this point, I don’t generally give trust to brands but products. Too many companies that used to be a name to trust have decided to monetize that trust (or get acquired by another company that doesn’t see the value in maintaining that trust), but they might still have good quality products in their lineup along with the cheap ones.
Though I’ve also done well with the “just buy one to see how important it is to have quality in this particular thing”. I just sold my old cordless drill after owning it for about a decade. It was weak but I didn’t even really notice that until I wanted to drill a hole through a stone counter top. A bought another cheap corded drill for that, but have since also bought a quality cordless drill set that might even allow me to sell the corded drill.
And if you need quality, look for stuff marketed to professionals. People who use their drill every single day aren’t going to be using the ones that can’t hold a charge or break after 20 hours of usage. Booster Juice doesn’t have shitty blenders where the connection between the motor and blade wears down with each use such that the motor spins but the blades do not before 3 digit uses, or even 4.
I think it’s good to know the histories of companies that are reputable though, then you can get an idea of what you’re getting when looking at thrift stores
Doc martens are not so great quality now. The general consensus is that Solovair are the spiritual successor (in terms of quality) to what Dr Martens were. This video has more info: https://youtu.be/vkhCcvfVHRs?si=21bH9fSvkNgmjwm1
For laptops O would recommend framework laptops. The idea is that they have upgradable and repairable.modules. You can follow them on mastodon too: @frameworkcomputer@fosstodon.org And we have a Lemmy community too: !framework@lemmy.ml
For hiking and camping gear: Savotta
If you’re not from Finland you’ve probably never heard of them but I’m yet to buy one product from them I’m not satisfied with. They make gear for the Finnish defence forces aswell.
I really like Osprey. High quality and very functional. I used a kid carrier for both my kids and it was great. I also have a day pack from them that I love. My main backpack that I don’t get to use much these days is a snow leopard II by North face from 1992 I think. That’s a pretty good run.
Looking around my immediate environment, I see very few things that aren’t
A. already 30 years old made by companies that are essentially defunct and if the brand does even still exist it’s transitioned to another parent company as a zombie brand that produces identical temporary garbage to the rest of the industry, like my Kenmore 80 series washer and dryer.
B. Modern shit with a single-digit year life expectancy, like any computer hardware I have, my cell phone, my printer, etc.
C. Isn’t from a company that has completely pissed me off glares at my very, very last Dell products
D. I didn’t make myself from scratch, like an increasing amount of my furniture.
The only item that falls in my eye line that I can say “buy it now and your grandchildren will actually want it” is my Revere stainless steel frying pan. It’s not as ragnarok proof as cast iron but it also won’t cave in my glass cooktop. I think my grandmother bought mine in the 80’s, you can still buy them today.
I do want to mention my Kitchenaid mixer. The unit itself is well made, I’ve made at least one pizza a week with it for the past…six years? It’s a quality power tool. I dislike the company and their product range. They have a tendency to discontinue attachments in favor of incompatible and worse ones. For example, I’m aware of three different meat grinder attachments, one metal one and two plastic ones only one of which the food mill attachment is compatible with, and they did their best to prevent people from learning that, because the difference between the plastic one you probably already have, that was possibly packed in with your mixer, and the one that’s compatible with the food mill, is like, a few millimeters in diameter here and there. If I show you their marketing pictures (of white plastic on that White Marketing Void background) you couldn’t tell them apart, and the model numbers are very similar. That has rubbed me the wrong way in a bad place.
For printers, I’d like to suggest picking up a brother laser scanner/copier/printer off Craigslist.
They can usually be had for ~$100 if you just get black and they’ll last for a stupidly long time. Toner is expensive but you’ll easily get 1500+ pages out of one cartridge and it never dries out.
If you want color, look around for an HP laserjet pro. They’re usually commercial grade and while you’ll probably pay a fair bit more, I see them on Craigslist regularly for ~$150-250 depending on the model. I have one in my office and I’ve gotten several thousand pages through it with zero problems.
I just get the toner refill and old cartridge exchange from whatever local print shop. My current area doesn’t have one sadly but I still have 2 left as I normally do 5 at a time. For anyone looking for printers I recommend checking openprinting.org and grabbing one categorized under “perfectly” even if you don’t use Linux. The driverless printers will work with phones and such too.
Solovair are better than doc martens by a mile.
Miele (European) (dish) washing / dryers / fridges
The vacuum repair guy on Reddit also loved their vacuums.
Their vacuums are incredible, as are their ranges.
Source: Rich friend.
I have good luck with Duluth products, I have shirts from 5 years ago that still look new.
I did too but then I adopted some bigger parrots
Winter Jacket - Klim I bought my jacket with the intent of never having to purchase another one. After speaking with many friends and the sales people at my local motorcycle/snowmobile shop, the consensus was a snowmobile jacket would last.
I chose Klim and have had this jacket since 2016 with no tears or rips. I did have an issue with the zipper but they replaced the entire zipper for free within the last few months.
I will recommend Klim brand jackets for a forever jacket. They are expensive though.
Groove Life makes some fucking solid belts. And if you do actually manage to destroy it somehow, they have a lifetime warranty.
If you toke and like resin carts, Eleaf batteries are amazing. I was going through whatever I could find at smoke shops about once or twice a month before I got an Eleaf. I’ve had this thing for 2 or 3 years now… So long I can’t even remember exactly. It lasts for days and charges in like 10 minutes if you have a quick charge capable charger. Plus it’s compact and also has voltage settings.
I haven’t used Eleaf, but I’m very happy with my Vuber. My first one was still going strong after 5+ years until I unfortunately lost it and had to buy a replacement.
Been about 10 years now and my GoRuck gear doesn’t even look used despite being carried any time I take a trip, which is quite often. Multiple continents, planes, trains, hiking, backpacking, etc. I’d say GoRuck (at least the American made stuff) is BIFL. knocks on wood
Iron Lodge Cast Iron Skillets I have purchased a few and have yet to need a replacement.
Dyson vacuum cleaners. I’ve had mine for about 20 years, had to replace a part here and there, but it’s just as strong as the day I got it. Probably the single best purchase I’ve ever made. A close second would be my Sonicare toothbrush.
Dyson is a marketing company that happens to make okay vacuums. Anyone who owns a Miele or SEBO vacuum would never go to a Dyson. Dyson vacuums never hold up to their high quality bagged competitors in almost any regard. Just my 2c. I used my family’s Dyson before moving out and buying a canister SEBO and the difference is remarkable. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/what-we-learned-from-vacuum-enthusiasts/
Surprisingly, yes to both of these. I was just commenting on how long my Dyson vacuum has lasted a couple days ago.
If only they weren’t so fucking ugly
That’s part of their charm! I’ve always thought mine looked pretty badass. 🙂