What are some items that really aren't worth paying the expensive version for?
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.
Medicine. The house brands and generics are the exact same, tested the same, made the same.
But real Advil has the candy coating on the outside, and I haven't found a generic that does =(
Otherwise 100% identical yes.
A few years ago, I wondered why that was and googled it. I came to an Advil site with an expandable FAQ, and one of the questions was “why does Advil taste sweet?”
So I expanded it out to reveal this shocking answer (or something similar): “Advil tastes sweet because it is lightly coated in sugar.”
Thanks, I guess. I just closed the tab in mild irritation and moved on with my day.
Problem with the candy coating is you can't enjoy it, unless you want to suddenly learn what pure poison tastes like. It's such a tease. Doesn't help that they look like scrumptious little caramel-y morsels.
Oh I suck on them first. It lasts long enough.
Yep
There may be a difference in things like pill shape, texture, release mechanism / time to absorb (if it's not very important for how the medication works)
So it's ok to have a preference for one brand over the other when one of those points is relevant to your situation. I know some people also prefer the generic brand version over the regular (even if prices were the same)
Not exactly. Just a fun fact and disclaimer that I use generics if at all possible. But my pharmacology class taught that generics can have higher tolerance of error in % of active ingredient. Not usually a big deal unless the drug has a very narrow therapeutic range, meaning too little doesn’t work and too much will harm you. 99.9% of generics is fine. But if you ever wonder if one batch of your med doesn’t seem to work as well this it’s likely that batch was on the lower end of acceptable.
I think this depends where you live, having worked a summer as a trolley runner for blister pack production, we produced thousands of blisters, and at the end of the line half got pharmacy own brand foils and the other half got name brand foils.
Same pills, same packs, same factory same standards and testing, just different ink on the foils. But the pharmacy brands would have shorter contracts so they would only be identical to this name brand for 6 months, then try might get a contract with another factory and be identical to another name brand there.
I know with some drugs (Warfarin is the only one that's instantly coming to mind) it is important to pick a brand and stick with it because the slightest change can effect the therapeutic value.
For myself, I have allergies so sometimes a certain brand or manufacturing company will use a filler, binder or dye I can't have. And frustratingly there are no ingredients lists on pills for fillers and dyes.
That's true but the difference is exceedingly small.
Debunking a Common Pharmacy Myth: The 80-125% Bioequivalence Rule Jun 8, 2016
Depends on the meds. I take concerta for ADHD and as I understand it, the generic doesn't use the same release mechanism.
I'm also on concerta (ADHD highfive) and I've found lower efficacy with the generic... I sure wish it was the same though.
Crunched the numbers years ago for cost per mg of a med in question, and unsurprisingly generics were the best deal, but Costco's generics (Kirkland) specifically blew the competition out of the water. Comparing it to the most expensive options (name brands from places like Walgreens) was pretty comical - no exaggeration, some of them were literally over 100x more expensive per mg than the Kirkland equivilent. Comparing it to other generics, Kirkland still won by a factor of 5 to 10 sometimes.
Between that and gas, a Costco membership pays for itself before you even step foot into the food aisles or other random shit they sell.
Caveat: they do also sell a lot of fancy, stupid expensive shit, so don't let the comment paint the picture that everything in that store is a super good deal - it's not - but the things that are good deals, are crazy good deals, pharmaceuticals in particular.
Often made by the same.
Aspirin and paracetamol I don't think are patented by any one company now. Supermarket brand is super cheap.
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.
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.
Harbor Freight is fucking awesome.
Milwaukee is awesome, but Harbor Freight is more than good enough for the needs of 95% of people
Sometimes, the store brand is exactly the same stuff from the same factory. They literally stop production from a famous brand, change packaging to a store brand and resume producing the same stuff in a different package. The price difference is mostly marketing and that can be a huge part of the budget.
For some other store brands, they do use cheaper ingredients. However, after the inflation we had, many fancy brands also started doing this to keep profits up so a famous brand is no guarantee for a great product.
And some brands just sell the same stuff but add some additional perfumes and whatnot to justify the cost. They give me a rash so I'd rather get the cheap ones.
As a person who has been buying cheap tools all my life... YES! Most of the tools I bought came from thrift stores and the bargain bin. If someone stole my toolset, it'll probably amount to $60 lost.
But they've lasted for 15 years now. Not because of quality. But because my frequency of usage is so low. I've used a hammer what... 20 times in my life?
I did replace my screwdriver kit and Allen wrench set twice, because I use them a lot.
I've used hammers a lot in my life. I came across a really cheap brand of hammer which made me realize it was in fact possible to make a hammer poorly. The head wasn't even hardened. Hitting nails literally left dents in it. I broke the claw trying to pull a nail that was less than 6" long. It's possible that someone in your situation would have found value in this hammer, but I think someone who did something more involved than framing a single wall wouldn't.
Yup, buy most things at harbor freight the first time, if you break theirs buy whatever name brand fits your color scheme.
That the Harbor Freight method. I agree.
Cars. Expensive cars require more frequent and complicated maintenance and repairs than cheaper cars. They over engineer them on purpose in order to make it unreasonable to maintain them in the long run. They don't want their brand sullied by old versions of their cars driven around by poor people.
When I was in college, I admired my boss and his BMW. He then told me that it was a hand-me-down, and he spends a few hours a month maintaining it because there's always something that breaks and he can't afford to bring it into the shop every time.
He joked on a few occasions of just giving me the car after a year, and after a while, it felt like a cry for help rather than a joke.
Hard disagree!
Are you saying that you've owned both cheap and expensive cars, and that your favorites have always been the cheap ones? That they've been more reliable, more comfortable, better-riding, and better-driving? Or, at least, no worse than the expensive ones?
Yes, more expensive cars are more expensive. They often have a higher cost of ownership. And, sometimes, brands really fuck up and cut corners they shouldn't, and result an reputational harm that takes years to recover from, long after they've fixed the production issues (c.f. Audi in the early 00's). But, IME, it's usually worth it, if you can afford it.
Cheap cars definitely are more reliable if you pick the right brands. On all the other points it just doesn't make enough of a difference to me to justify the enormous cost increase.
Our $10k used Camry is still kicking ass over ten years later and hasn't ever needed work more extensive than replacing leaking struts. The reliability truly is astounding.
EDIT: But, let's not talk about my camera-buying habits lol
Ah, that's the perfect hobby if you really hate having money 😅
100% agree here. They all need maintenance, but higher end ones have pricer parts and less common, affordable after market parts. Cars are for the most part a utility and a cost center. You want to minimize your cost and maximize your value gotten out of it.
I despise cars as a status symbol, because again it's just going to turn into a rust bucket like the rest of them at the same or worse rates, but also it just sets people up for failure in the lives just tens of thousands down the drain, literal years of work, for something's that's nearly worthless by the time they pay it off.
Water. At least here in Denmark. Bottled water is less regulated than tap water.
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 😂
In the states, you always filter or boil stream water, because animals shit it it, and you can pick up any number of nasty parisites and diseases. Tap water should at least be treated.
Is there no dysentary in the Alps? No giardiasis? Cryptosporidiosis?
I'd sooner drink tapwater short-term almost anywhere in a developed country than river water. The former may cause issues long term, but the later can make you life-threateningly ill in hours.
Are you talking about streams and rivers, and not ground water wells?
Yah, exclusively. Wells (stagnant water, whether above or under-ground) are problematic because they tend to breed bacteria, but any out-flowing ground-spring is probably fine. Deep wells, such as aquifers, are alse safe, I think, but you're unlively to encounter accessible ones of those in the wild.
I'm suspicious of even mountain springs, although they can be utterly delicious and safe; my issue is nhen you don't know what's upstream. There are lots of farmers in the Alps who let their sheep, goats, and cattle forage in the mountains. Which is perfectly fine, except that they poop, and that gets into running water, often after having sat out and having had plenty of time to build up bacterial populations, hosting parasitic worms and such. People also contribute, but less so. I'm not worried about drinking someone else's diluted pee, which is sterile in any case.
But, yeah, ground springs are fine, and those are far more common in the Alps than most of the ranges in North America.
One of the benefits of living in the Nordics is tap water that can literally be of higher quality than bottled water (assuming you don't have bad pipes.) The only time I'll ever buy bottled water is if I get really thirsty when I'm on the go and don't have a bottle of tap water with me
Dogs, rescues are just as doglike and mostly free compared to the Hapsburg simulator known as breeding
But look at the chin on that dog!
A rare image of a royal being the least inbred subject of the painting
What ... interesting proportions.
Pets are best when you buy the cheap off brand versions. Purebred more often equals inbred and personally I don't want that generic headache as a pet ages.
Cats too! I like to say I get all my animals used.
I own and train hunting dogs for upland and waterfowl hunting. I've also done breeding in my younger days. Bloodlines absolutely matter. A puppy from National Champion bloodlines has a far, far better chance of being very good at his job. This goes for ANY working breed that is actually expected to work at their job in real life. And they cost a LOT of money to buy, train, and maintain. But these aren't foo-foo dogs bred strictly for looks either.
If all you need is a popcorn and movie and sleep on the bed pet, then it doesn't probably matter very much. Find a nice rescue - they need a home and love too.
TBH it depends on the work - up until the surge in demand from the pandemic, Border Collies were super cheap in the UK because it was mostly farmers selling the extra pups they didn't need. I'd imagine other areas have a local working breed that's similar. That said, they are now more expensive than rescues, and require a particularly high energy lifestyle so aren't suitable pets for most people. Most people just need something kinda friend shaped, which rescues have plenty of.
In the UK, baked beans.
In my work we did a blind taste test of 10 different brands of baked beans, with participants ranking them in order from best to worst. The name brand options such as Heinz, HP, and Branstons ended up in the middle, with the cheaper options from Aldi and Asda being the best. The most expensive beans were from Marks and Spencer and were voted the worst ones.
If you're paying more than 50p a can its not worth it.
Got to respect the dedicated UK baked beans eaters.
Does that not just prove which ones have the most salt and sugar in them?
Aldi UK beans aren't as good as they used to be. I think they changed about 6 months ago. That said, they are still decent and my beans of choice.
Every time I eat baked beans I fill my knickers.
Good to know, SatansMaggotyCumFart
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.
Take two minutes and tin the ends with solder and you're good for years... My favorite in ear monitor brand just was sold and they changed the headphone cord to ultra thin shite that is "more pure" I'm an audio engineer....it's horseshit.
Can confirm, I bought my speaker wire second hand and the stuff is probably like at least 30 years old and sounds fine
My rule of thumb: Buy the cheap one. If it wears out or breaks, buy the good one.
Note: this advice should not be applied to condoms.
If you're a climber, you shouldn't follow this rule also.
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.
Ah, the boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness.
The landfill thanks you.
That "if" can apply to the high price brand as well. If you know you won't use the item a lot, going for off brand is a reasonable approach.
the amount of trash generated by food production, the medical industry, and the construction industry trump personal waste by so many orders of magnitude I no longer give a shit about the waste I generate, especially if it's in the pursuit of BIFL.
That's one way to never get the best experience out of something, though.
Buy cheap shoes to go running, and you'll probably quit after a few weeks.
Buy cheap tools, and you'll end up rounding off nuts and stripping screws.
Buy a cheap bike and you'll end up hating cycling.
Etc.
Better would be to buy the best quality for your budget, assuming it's something you'll be using more than once or is something that isn't critical to have as decent quality.
Buying operating systems is not worth it. Just use Linux.
But seriously stop buying Microsoft's shit. Even indirectly, don't buy Windows pre-installed computers unless you have a very specific reason for it.
I personally do not find expensive wine and liquor worth it. That obviously don't mean all cheap wines are good, but I find the percentage of bad wine I had at $50 - $70 range is pretty much the same as wine around or under $20.
I find the best way is to research online before you buy or go for couple known-good brands. Most of the results actually tend to be on the cheaper side (around $20 for wine, around $35 for liquor).
IMHO, there are two price bands for wine: under-$10, and over. I have an unsophisticated palette, but I can tell a cheap wine from a not-cheap one. I can't tell a not-cheap one from an expensive one, though. Some really expensive wines taste like crap to me, worse than the mid-range ones. That's the only time I can pick out on expensive wine: it might taste bad, but it doesn't taste cheap.
I'll agree on the wine front, but I also don't care for wine much. Never developed a palate for it.
But liquor, very much disagree. If you're one to enjoy a scotch on the rocks or something, there's a huge difference in taste once you splurge and get the good $100+/bottle stuff. And the cheap liquor always gives me a bad hangover.
I can't tell the difference between wine at all. Whiskey and beer I can definitely tell the difference between cheap and good stuff, but once you hit the 80$+ range it all blends together.
I'll disagree to a point on liquor.
I like single-malt Scottish whiskey. I like Islays the most, followed by Speysides, Cambelltowns, Highlands, and Lowlands (in that order). I've found that, generally speaking, the longer a whiskey has been aged, the better it's going to be at mellowing out the harsher flavors in a given distillery's offerings. Compared to blended whiskeys--which are usually cheaper--single malt, and single barrel are a better experience in my opinion. I'm usually paying $50-200 for something that I'll really enjoy, with most being in the $100-150 range.
But $5000 for a 40yo bottle of Macallen? Absolutely not.
There were some often-quoted tests in which even professional sommeliers could not tell the difference between super-expensive wines and much cheaper ones. See this article on The Guardian for instance
I am picky but it doesn't correlate directly with price. Wine, no. I don't like wine enough to like bad wine so just saving money by drinking it rarely(maybe 6xa year) but buying the ones I actually do like works better. They are between 30-50 USD but again, maybe 5 or 6 bottles a year at most.
Liquor - I have favorites but they are mostly not high end stuff. Evan Williams bottled-in-bond is fantastic and so cheap. ABK6 cognac and vodka are great. Tequila, I like a few and none are too spendy.
Liqueurs though, and mezcal- paying more does seem to make a huge difference in these. The good ones are better than the cheaper analogues.
For both wine and liquor I find that presentation will impress people way more than price. Get a cool looking decanter and you're basically set as far as the average wine drinker goes - as for liquor, I have a Crystal Head Vodka bottle that I rinse out and pour whatever I'm drinking into, which is a lot cheaper than buying another Crystal Head lmao.
See The Judgment of Paris or Brochet's study.
I'm a classic ____ and coke person myself, and I've settled with Evan Williams White label with RC Cola, almost indistinguishable from Jack and Coke for well under half the price at probably twice the ABV. And the more I drink, the less I care.
Digital cables, like HDMI and USB. If they meet the spec, they should operate identically.
ETA: It's a digital signal: either it works or it doesn't. There's no "higher quality" version of the same image. Sure, if you have a 4K 120hz HDR signal you might need an HDMI 2.1 spec cable, but as long as it meets that spec, it'll either work or need to be returned. The signal won't be washed out, or crackly, or static-y (all the concerns we had with analog video cables back in the day); the signal might not work, or it might drop out from time to time, which means it doesn't meet spec.
Same with USB-C. If it doesn't charge your phone correctly, or have the transfer speeds you want, because you bought it at a Dollar Store and it isn't in spec, the problem isn't USB-C, it's the fact that the manufacturer sold you an out-of-spec cable.
Getting good quality cables can make a difference.
Getting gold-plated cables will not ever. I fucking see you Monster. For $40 a cable that thing better also come with a free handy and an ice cream.
USB -C would like to talk to you. So many bad terrible cables.
"If they meet specs" is the important thing, and unfortunately that's hard to know, though that $0.99 cable at the gas station isn't going to cut it.
Hit the nail on the head there. I still need to find a decent retailer for cables I don't need a tester to confirm are in spec.
Those bad terrible cables don't meet spec, I guarantee it.
HDMI, yes. Not so much for USB cables.
USB cables are (commonly) subject to more stress; they're often moved, plugged, unplugged, and can often have lifespans far longer than the devices they're using to connect. There are other, non-spec-related factors that impact durability, such as nylon wrapping, more robust connectors, and so on. Durability isn't as much a factor for HDMI, ethernet, or optical cables, but for USB, sometimes durability is worth extra money, if only to reduce e-waste.
Not unless you're on the bleeding edge of tech. You need a specific cable to get the full bandwidth of 4K 144Hz in HDR via HDMI, and the ultra cheap ones just won't cut it, even if they claim to meet spec. You still don't have to spend more than ~$15, though.
The same goes for OTC medicine. If it has the active ingredients, you don't need a name brand.
In 99% of cases you'd be correct. There are other considerations you might want to consider when buying a cable other than just meeting spec. For example, if you have a pet, getting a cable with a durable nylon sleeve might be a good idea.
Another thing that might be worth in some unique situations would be getting a more flexible cable so it could squeeze in a tight space, or a 45⁰/90⁰ connector...
Note that it doesn't always means that it will be expensive to get, and I do agree with you that the important thing is to stay away from the snake oil cables who promise better image/sound quality or whatever.
HDMI cables. . The cheap ones and the expensive ones have the same specifications
This used to be true, but unfortunately, like USB-C the game has changed completely.
The downside to standardization is that if you keep the same physical form for multiple iterations, the internals can change. The specs of the source and receiving ends have gone through tons of changes since 2015 and old HDMI 1.4 Cables don't have the same standards to transmit high speed signals from things like PS5, Xbox, Apple TV etc.
Additionally because they require programming and HDCP (a verification handshake between the 2 devices it connects) when companies cheap out they may not properly program them.
That being said, you don't need spend an arm and a leg, but don't get shit either. Generally speaking, buy the cheapest version HDMI 2.1 from a reputable brand or vendor. Definitely not from Amazon anymore, a TON of products labeled 2.1 are actually 2.0 or worse, 1.4.
USB is a nightmare.
I only realized recently that my steam deck wasn't charging as well with any old wire. And that's when I learned that different wires and adapters have power limits.
I'm not a expert at these things though.
The steam deck won't pull past 3A anyway (all usb C cables are rated for 3A), so unless you're using a USB-A to C cable, you should be getting full speed, unless the cable is damaged.
OK, this one is true until it isn't.
HDMI 1.4 and arguably 2.0 specs were straightforward enough that it was rare to encounter a cable, no matter how cheap, that did not support all the features you wanted if it listed the right HDMI spec. That... is no longer a universal truth with HDMI 2.1 if you need something that will do 4K120 with HDR. There are cables that just don't like some ports, particularly on PCs.
Length is also a way this can be wrong. Go above 2.5-3m and you may start losing the ability to hit some of the spec. I have a HDMI setup that requires a longer cable and there are basic cables that work and some that don't for the application. To get a better chance on longer cables you end up having to go for powered cables or HDMI over fiber, which are both more expensive than normal cables and it can be luck of the draw even with expensive cables whether they will like your devices and be compatible with what you're trying to do.
So console plugged directly to your 60Hz TV over 1.5m? Sure, cheap cable will do. Longer distances or higher bandwidth requirements? Be prepared to shop around and try different options, potentially getting very expensive.
It's digital so you need reclocking essentially over long distance. Buy a couple black magic converters, HDMI to SDI run a BNC to the TV and SDI to HDMI and you're fine.
I don't know if you're joking or not here, but yeah, that's a 200 bucks solution, so hardly support for "cheap HDMI cables are fine", and for the distances I needed to cover a working HDMI fiber cable was a fraction of the cost (and it doesn't need to be powered on both ends, either). If you're trying to wire a whole house (or a studio, which is what those are for), then sure. If you just need the one long cable for home use... well, yeah, that's the point of good cables. Still finicky and requires trial and error, but if you buy from a place that allows returns it's more cost effective and it'll do the job once you find the right mix of parts.
To a degree. I once bought HDMI cables at Dollarama thinking the same thing. For $4, it should work good enough, right? It took me a while to realize that the random interference that was pixalating and distorting the image was the cable and not my media PC, but not before swapping the video card to test.
You can buy cheap cables, but beware that not all cables are the same quality.
This was pretty close to being true for 1080p and lower resolutions. If you get a 4k 120hz HDR display then bandwidth and signal integrity start becoming very important. The article you linked is rather old and really only considers media up to 4k 30fps. Cable quality especially matters at lengths above 4 ft for uhd and higher.
There's a lot of snake oil so you can't just trust marketing claims. I've had terrible luck with cables that claim to support high resolutions from amazon and even monoprice. I've resorted to buying cables from actual electronics suppliers like digikey since their speed ratings should be accurate.
Oh, amazon is absolute fucking shit for quality these days. It's embarrassing how shitty their store is at weeding out imposter products.
There can still be a difference in physical quality, even if signal quality is relatively unchanged.
Sure, but not enough to justify monster cable prices.
I think HDMI cables is a rabbit hole subject you can really lose some time with. I don't know how everyone is feeling about Linus these days (I never heard how his independent ethics audit went), but he did a big deep dive on this and found result all over the place. Some cables costing WAY more than they should being total garbage, and some cheap ones being relatively OK and meeting spec, with no real way to know who is safe without either 1) testing them yourself OR 2) finding someone doing a wide batch of testing.
Absolutely not. I finally got a 4K 120hz OLED TV which needs a HDMI 2.1 cable. Ordered a certified one and I couldn't get 120hz to run whatever way I tried. I managed to force it one time and the TV screen black screened every two seconds. After doing everything else (reinstall GPU drivers, messing with settings) I finally ordered a different HDMI cable.
Plugged it in, set 120hz, it worked. Both cables are certified, but one was trash.
Even with the new cable I sometimes get a short black screen now, but I have no clue if it's the cable's fault or the TV. HDMI cables are a total mess when you actually want to use the full bandwidth :-/
I switched to 4K 60hz for now as I don't really game on the TV anyway, it also allows me to use TrueMotion again (which seemingly doesn't run at 120hz). Either way I get anxious about HDMI cables now, lol.
Dish washer soap. Gotta rep technology connections for teaching me that not only is the powdered stuff cheaper, it's also just straight up better. Also store vs name brand shouldn't make a big difference either, at least not from my tests.
When I buy dishwasher soap now I just compare price per gram and grab the cheapest option.
My wife started buying and using name brand pods for some reason and after about a year we started noticing a film build up on the glasses. Clear glasses made it very noticeable but it's not noticeable on solid color dishes. Finally occurred to me maybe it's the pods... we switched back to basic detergent and add rinse agent to the dispenser and now a year later new, identical glasses we bought still show no film.
Wish i could figure out how to get the existing film off our old glasses.
Cheap pregnancy tests work just as well as expensive ones do. Theyre highly regulated either way.
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.
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.
Google Sheets is FOSS?
Two things that have been very relevant to me recently:
Car washes. If you want the best outcome, wash it yourself. If you're just trying to knock some grime off, the cheapest one will do. The finishing sprays don't last a week.
Also beverages when hosting a party. No need to buy name brand when store brand is half the cost and will get drank the same anyway.
People will drink it, but they may also remember. I have a cousin at whose house I turn tea-totaller, because the beer & wine they offer at parties is literally the cheapest stuff available and it's fucking horrible.
I think you may have meant teetotaller
Huh. Cool stuff. Today I tee-totally learned something new.
FWIW I was mainly talking about things like soda. The difference between store brand and name brand drinks is almost unnoticeable in taste but costs half as much. I agree that the cheapest beer is borderline undrinkable though
He can bring his own then
Anything made by Kirkland
Kirkland frozen pizzas are the exception, they may come three to a box but it’s straight cardboard with bland toppings and sauce. Plus they don’t reheat worth a shit, might as well get 10 totinos
Their pepperoni tastes like rejected Lunchables meat.
I'll object to their tequila, but everything else I'm totally on board :)
Phones
You don't really need an 8-core CPU and 12 gigs of RAM for making calls and browsing the web, which is what 95% of people use their phones for. Not even buying such phone for the sake of longevity is worth it since most manufacturers drop support for their phones after 5 years at most.
You also need more than 512 MB of ram on a dual core.
I've seen enough Android Go phones sour many peoples view on Android that their second phone is always iPhone.
Youtube premium
Just out of curiosity, do you avoid YouTube or just deal with the ads? I’ve been on a premium family plan for years and love it - we watch a lot of yt.
Just use an AdBlocker!
Phones.
100% the other way around for me. My phone is the one thing I own, I use the most. To have a more fluid experience is worth a couple of hundred dollars. The hourly price difference is minuscule.
Yeah, it's subjective.
Agreed. I've gotten expensive android phones, and I know plenty of people with expensive apple phones, but they all go to crap. A cheap phone last about as long and does 90% the same stuff and into photography or gaming, both of which have better alternatives at the high-end phone price ranges.
Or get several models previous, bought used. I had a Pixel 3 I bought for very little on ebay.... Now I have a Pixel 7, from a deal with my wireless company (which will of course cost me over time). And at least for my use, I can't say the 7 is any more useful or nice to work with than the 3.
I guess with all things, depends on the financial position of the customer.
If you're stretching yourself to get any phone, then yeah, diminishing returns for forking out $800+ for a flagship.
That being said I've owned multiple phones in each price category, and can say that the best phones are unfortunately among the most expensive.
Why?
Video games, there's thousands for free online at itch.io and even on steam.
You can always buy games discounted if you wait, and paying for microtransation games is a recipe for wasting money.
Okay, and some are really good, like DF or CDDA or OpenTTD... But you're never going to find a free Dark Souls, a free Baldur's Gate 3 or a free Return to the Obra Dinn.
So I think it absolutely makes sense paying for quality games like those.
To be fair, they did say you can buy it discounted if you wait. To me, as far as the original question goes, pre-ordering the game or buying a marked up "deluxe" version isn't worth it when you can get it a year later for 50% or more off. If you're willing to wait a few years, you can easily get them often 80% off or more, and they're often less buggy because they've been patched already. Dark Souls 3 has already gone on sale for 50% off a few times, as has Return of the Obra Dinn(never heard of this, btw), and Baldur's Gate 3 has already gone on sale for 10% off despite having been released August 3rd.
I don't know how my brain skipped over that part, but you're totally correct!
Well, to add to the OP then, don't buy always-online games either.
I love Hitman, but fuck IOI for their business model, honestly. They don't even say they're going to patch the games to fully work offline in the future, so I don't expect that to happen.
Yeah I agree.
At this point you should never be in a situation where you cannot buy games that are in the genres you enjoy that are 1+ years old, as a result patched up, and on a 30%-70% sale if you're willing to wait at most a few weeks for the next sale.
And since there'll be more than 1 such game, you can always have one on backlog while waiting for the next one to go on sale. There's 0 reason to buy the buggy full-price on-release version.
Medicine.
Yes, kinda. That is use a brand that is certified by your country's health service. But use generics not the named brand drugs once available.
kids
Yes always request the store brand when at the hospital
I prefer homemade anyways.
Soap. My mom and sisters always complement my hair and skin, asking what products I use. I just use 2$ Yardley bar soap for skin and hair. I also like them because they smell nicer than other cheap brands that just have a generic detergent smell.
Razors. For all shaving I use a safety razor. The initial investment is somewhat expensive but after that each blade is mere cents. Also much less wasteful. Make sure to store your used blades in an old medicine bottle to dispose of them safely (and for the garbage man's safety). Also find these to be way nicer on skin, 5 blade or whatever cartridge razors don't make a closer shave and remove and irritate skin much more.
Kitchen knives. Most cheap knives (and a lot of expensive ones) suck because of bad design. Most knives today are way too thick and chunky, to make them look more robust etc. what you need is a thin blade and a sharp, long lasting edge. Victorianox fibrox ($35) is excellent for the money and for most people you don't need any more performance. You can also use kiwi knives (10$). They are super cheap, perform well, but dull fast, a good cheap option if you know how to sharpen and hone. If you want more performance than the fibrox you can get a Japanese tojiro basic. These aren't very fancy but have excellent performance, being made of laminated vg-10 steel and having a much longer lasting edge. These are around 50$
If you cook and chop a lot and want a knife to take pride and pinnacle of performance then you'll want a hand forged Japanese knife. DO NOT fall for Japanese knife scams and do lots of research on YouTube. These will be around 200$ to 500$ (more expensive knives are for prettier, or famous blades). They are very thin, highly polished (it'll glide through food) and made of extremely sharp, extremely hard, hand forged laminated steel.
Didn't you just make an argument for buying the more expensive knives and that they are worth it?
Definitely! I used to chase the largest number of blades. Mach 3, then Fusion. And then noticed that it was getting a bit insane paying $30 for a pack of four replacement heads. About ten years ago, I noticed a resurgence in double edged safety razor popularity. Bought a $50 Edwin Jaggar handle (which they replaced with a sturdier version for free when I broke it!), and have been picking up my Dorco blades $10 for 100 since. The shave is just as good, if not better, and getting straight lines is actually much easier. I feel like if more people knew, Gillette would just go out of business.
Yeah it's the early version of enshittification. When the current product is too cheap and effective , make a newer "advanced" one with all of their "technology" and "precision".
I've seen this in knives and tools. For much of woodworking all you need is a bench, saw, hammer and chisels, however today, people are convinced you need a hardware store's worth of power tools to even think about building basic furniture.
Or in cooking, everyone tries to convince you to buy their stupid expensive set of fake Japanese knives with some thermo plastic resin handle and their special unbreakable stainless super steel.
Many modern knives are actually worse than their contemporaries because now they are designed for marketing. Big heavy oversized bolsters and super thick blades to market them as invincible, tough knives that can chop through a cinder block or some goofy shit. In reality you just need a thin knife and a small bolster, of which older chef knives had, because they were built for actual use.
I ALWAYS compare new products vs old, because oftentimes the new version only exists because it's more profitable.
Agree on going with safty razors, but once you are there, you don't want to cheep out. The one option my local grocery store carries is a $20 that is complete junk. I invested $70 in a Henson safty razor and never looked back. They also have a $250 offering for people who want the benefits of a safty razor without the cost savings.
For blades, I actually splurge and buy the $0.20/piece offering from Feather instead of the $0.10/piece ones that Henson sells. Still cheeper than the $0.80 safty blades the grocery store sells, or the checks app $4.50/piece cartridge blades the store sells?!?
Moral of the story: go cheap, but don't be afraid of spending a little money to do so.
A lot of generic foods. Safeway's in-house brand, for example, has better crackers, pasta sauces, a handful of other items than the expensive name brands do. And yes, that includes Rao's. I'll never understand why that brand is so popular when Safeway Select exists and tastes better with perfectly good ingredients at a fraction of the cost.
Safeway has some of the best generics for sure. I've never been let down with any of their stuff, and that doesn't only include food items.
I often see people say to buy the expensive toilet roll but I always go for the low end of the midrange rolls. I don't need 4ply, scented, quilted shit, I just need two pieces of paper stuck together.
There is a balance, you don't want to get the 1ply stuff you'd find in a stingy office. But just look at the label and price-per-sheet
(If you can afford it, buy a year's supply in bulk from the company)
Buy a bidet and suddenly the ply won’t really matter. Plus you’ll spend way less on TP long term.
Our bidet doesn't have an air dryer, so we did have to upgrade our paper from the cheap 1-ply stuff that turned to pulp on contact with any moisture. That said, we go through way less paper post-bidet.
Yeah, I'm sorry, I'll always hard disagree on this. I get where others come from, but I will always shell out for the better tp.
Space heaters
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V-jmSjy2ArM
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.
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.
coffee
if only you're fine with cheaper ways to wake yourself.
wax-based lip balm
anything beeswax is good. then again ymmv since people can be allergic
pure or as-is things like land, electricity, internet, water, oxygen cans, gas/ heating, alcohol (disinfectant)
I mean, I do make coffee myself... But good coffeebeans do come at a premium.
I totally agree and it's within reasonable bounds.
Like all things food related, coffee needs to be somewhat fresh, which increases price.
Salt isn't so much a case of different flavours but of different uses. Like how you'd use rock salt on an icy path, it's better to use maldon salt to garnish a salad and you'd chuck fine sea salt on a soup base. If you think MSG tastes like table salt, though, it's time to hand your tongue in at the front desk. You can also get smoked salt and that kind of carry on.
you have a good point with "use" as a differentiator.
this is similar to buying non-potable water vs potable, with pretty much the potable water being more expensive.
I think it's within reasonable bounds because the extra cost comes from the added iodine or the minute minerals in maldon to add the extra taste.
There certainly is a difference between regular and himalayan salt, with the latter tasting more, like...uhm...cavey? In a good way. The point of iodized salt is not the taste but the actual iodine, which supports your thyroid gland and other parts of the body.
Internet service may vary greatly in quality; also, for all pure and as-us things it's the source that may matter. I'd pay a little extra for more green options (as in solar electricity, properly treated water, etc. etc.).
Thanks for the input on the salt, I'll try it again and see what I am missing on the cavey sensation.
You have a good point with electric sources being a differentiator. This is like with watered bottles saying their water comes from a natural spring in a mountain.
Here's another viewpoint to that, if you will: maybe you are paying a mark up for the source (or the assurance of such source, depending on the marketing) and the pure commodity itself doesn't have to be marked up for it.
As for internet, I think quality happens because businesses tier it to be. And, of course, with pure internet you have to pay for what amount you have used. I still don't think you need to go full bells and whistles as it is more reasonable to just pay what you used. I understand though that some areas don't have much choice on this.
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
I love my speckled ax coffee beans, but if you didn't go down the rabbit hole of a good grinder and coffee machine then expensive coffee is not worth it.
Tools and sports equipment especially if it's something niche.
People shit on harbor freight but if you need a new tool or something for a hobby it's probably not something you're going to use often if youve already soent any significant tiem doing that hobby.
Buy the cheapest version of it and of you use it enough to either break it or figure out what parts of the design you don't like it's a good sign spending a little extra on a better version isn't a waste.
Especially getting into a new hobby avoiding the urge to buy expensive shit right at the beginning because you think it'll make you better at the thing.
Agree'd, albeit with the caveat that if it's about screws, you wanna spend at least some money on the part that actually connects with the screws, so, the bits. Doesn't really matter all that much if your harbour freight e-motor on your drill burns out, if you fuck up all the screws on whatever you're working on with shit bits that's gonna be a hassle.
But even then, that's like "pay more than the $0 free offer on alibaba" territory of spending. After that, the dimensions and tolerances are fine, it's just gonna be longevity.
Good point I'd put hardware like screws and nails themselves in the same category of stuff it's worth not getting the cheapest version of.
I came here to say this too. Lots of people buy expensive tools that they only use a couple of times. I respect the buy it for life mindset, but at that level of usage anything you can get your hands on will last.
Unless its like a jackstand harbor freight is fine for most one off things
Stuff that is used and immediately disposed of like trash bags, paper towels, and toilet paper. You need to be a little more careful with the cheapest trash bags and toilet paper, but it will still get the job done.
I actually disagree a bit on this one, it may be different for you but near me the cheap trash bags have a tendency to rip, the cheap TP is 1ply sandpaper, and the cheap Paper Towels always smell like mildew making my hands, beard, tables etc, smell like mildew. I don't have to go top shelf, but can't go cheapest.
You also have to take a look at the quantity, I have a family member that loves the dollar store but a lot of the stuff they get has much much less than if you just got it at the regular store for a few cents more, especially aluminum foil I can't stand that super thin stuff haha
Don't get cheap toilet paper, buy a bidet. The initial investment seems like a lot but I've had one for 8 years and I go through a roll or 2 a month now. Worth the investment.
I don’t think this is much of an issue for anyone here but… expensive wrist watches. I am a reformed watch guy. My $11 Casio F-91W keeps better time than my FIL’s $6,000 Omega. Quartz and batteries were a real game changer when it comes to watches. I really like having a watch but there is no reason for anyone to spend real money on a watch that doesn’t use quartz.
If you want/need a watch, to me the sweet spot are those Casio G-Shock squares. Totally bullet proof, can last a lifetime, and you can spend as little as $35 or up to about $150 if you want solar and atomic time. But spending any more than that and you’re really just buying jewelry, not something to keep time.
For a lot of people, buying a watch IS buying jewelry. However, I do agree with the rest of your comment.
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'll add the caveat that any bicycle sold at Walmart is complete garbage and will probably break on you
My walmart bike's downtube failed as I was riding it up a small incline. Not even at a weld, just right in the middle.
Didn't even know that was a part that could fail.
Had to replace the tires because the treads wore through once so it probably got more use than walmart bikes are built for.
I've heard them called "bicycle-shaped objects"
I would agree but I once dated a girl who somehow snapped a whole-ass bike in half riding into a street sign.
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.
wrapping paper
This dude hasn’t wrapped with the good shit. Serious creases. No unexpected rips. Scissors glide smoothly for the cut.
Spend a few extra bucks and be a wrap god.
Worth it just for this 🤤
Assuming you followed the other threads advice and bought a decent pair of scissors. I remember one Christmas Eve where I could only find a cheap pair of kids plastic safety scissors.
I worked retail enough to say that there's a skill barrier to both the cheap and expensive stuff, and so to the difference being relevant.
Man, I hated gift wrapping when I worked retail. I sucked at it and as a customer you don't consider that you're just sitting there watching somebody do this thing live until you have to do it while being judged by some random stranger that has nothing better to do than stare at you.
One asterix to this, if you buy wrapping paper for "cheaper" at a dollar store, you are likely paying much more per square foot. So if you have space to store it and intend to wrap things again, probably worth it to buy a proper roll.
Yeah cheap is one thing, dollar store is bottom of the barrel for more cost per unit most of the time. Dollar stores are also just awful in general, awful to their workers, their customers, the communities they are in, etc.
So, uhhh, did you watch that John Oliver bit too then?
Yep lmfao
Costco wrapping paper rolls have years worth of paper on one role and they are reversible with two different print’s. Nearly everywhere else I have purchased wrapping paper it is 90% tube not paper.
I haven't seen Costco wrapping paper, but being a frequent shopper there, I can only assume they sell 2 packs of 20 pound rolls.
Close, a four pack of 10 pound rolls.
Bought a giant 250 meter roll of plain brown butchers paper a few years ago, it was like $45AUD from a wholesale packaging company.
Bought a "celebration" set of rubber stamps, and a few different colours of ink pads.
Now I just cut off the amount of wrapping paper I need, slap it with a relevant stamp a few times, wrap the gift, and voila, "custom" wrapping paper.
It's come in handy for all sorts of things, not just wrapping. Sewing patterns, arts and crafts, emergency table cloths for family BBQ's, grab 10 metres and roll it up to take to work for programs (I work in a community centre).
I buy good brands from China for my professional tools, phones, laptops, and gadgets. The key is knowing which brands in China are good. Nothing else can compete in terms of value for money.
Motorbikes (for commuting). My midrange motorbike cost under 2k USD brand new, and it gets me to work at the same speed as an expensive one (Asian traffic, haha).
I would be careful with gadgets that have software on them like phones and laptops. God knows what kind of Chinese spyware they come with.
Actually, that's super exciting! I would have a fun time taking it apart, analyzing it, and publishing it. Would be great publicity, and would probably make me more money than the laptop/phone/whatever cost me.
That being said, the USA has the most established history of compromising cryptography and security. It's not so much that I trust China or don't trust the USA, it's that I don't trust any superpower, am fairly wary of nations in general, and in fact don't have much trust for organizations of anything over a handful of people.
And the rest of the world will say the same with respect to American spyware.
As a foreign nation, why would you use a core piece of software on all your government computers? I'll never understand why Windows is used in any secure government installation, let alone non-American ones.
Headphones/ear buds. It really comes down to your use case. If you listen to podcasts and audiobooks 90% of the time then you only need good enough which is typically around $40.
I can't go back to cheap headphones, really. It makes a BIG difference.
If you listen in noisy environments, I'd bet active-noise cancellation is good for your hearing though
Ooof, I dunno… You can probably get by with cheap headphones, but they’re probably one of the objects you’ll spend the most time with and a good set can really make a difference. Good noise cancelling is essentially a requirement for me to live.
Hard disagree. I mean yeah, if you're only listening to speech, garbage quality headphones are where it's at.
But if you listen to music, a decent pair makes an absolute world of difference. It's like night and day. Like comparing a tin can to a music concert.
You don't have to spend a zillion dollars, though. A good set can absolutely still be had for cheap, but you just have to do your research first.
Personally I had way too many quality issues at that price range. An earbud would be randomly quieter than the other, the battery of an earbud would die, the Bluetooth would suck, or they would be unusable for phone calls. I bought refurbished $100-something headphones for $70 and haven't needed to buy any more since.
No way. I got a pair of Phillips Fidelio open cans, and they are absolutely incredible.
I have multiple LG HB800 Bluetooth headsets that you wear around your neck. 50 backs a piece, great noise cancelling , great sound, and 5 years on and they're still running for a complete day.
Last year bought a set of Sony Bluetooth earbuds, we're reviewed everywhere as the best at 350 dollars. They have half the volume, half the time I can't hear people on calls, the noise cancellation was shit, and battery life new was about 4-5 hours, and now after a bit over a year, battery life is 5 minutes so I can throw them away.
For podcasts and audiobooks and even incidental music listening $10 panasonic buds go the distance for me.
When I'm sitting down to enjoy music at home, then it's the $80 sony studio monitors. Still excellent value.
Give me my headphone socket back, phone makers :(
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.
I've learned this the hard way. Got two nice, different Panasonics in a row only to have both fail after a relatively short time period ("relatively short" kinda varies for me since I think things that happened five years ago happened "the other day" these days). After the second failure, I just got the cheapest of the Panasonics, and it's outlasted both of the previous ones already and does just as good a job.
There are only a few things, I find, worth shelling out a bit for. British tea brands (British émigré), boots, and ale come to mind. Some other things you're taking your chances a bit if you don't spend a bit more, like bikes, electronics, and musical instruments. Otherwise I'm a stingey aul get and it does me fine.
That doesn't sound like a tea brand we have!
It's a slightly longer process to extract tea from a British émigré.
Mascara.
I have to disagree here. Some brands of mascara (especially the cheap ones but some of the expensive too) have chemicals in that are terrible for your health in the long term. It’s been a long time since I read the research but I remember that it caused local issues like cysts in/on the eye but also global issues like hormone imbalance
Edit: I found a recent link and it looks like there’s less company’s using them than when I first learnt of this. The health issues this article mentions are birth defects, thyroid issues and cancer. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/makeup-urban-decay-cancer-linked-forever-chemicals-b2261555.html
Drugstore makeup is perfectly fine, if not superior. I get my makeup from CVS and Target. Works great every time.
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
Snack foods. Store brand Cheetos taste the same for half the price
If you're Canadian then nothing compares to Hawkins Cheezies, but thankfully they're also dirt cheap
Everything. Just steal.
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:
https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-sale/listing/JTDKB20UX77667158/2007-toyota-prius/?zipcode=80501
rewritable cds.
Back when they were common the single use discs were enough cheaper than rewritable ones that it was cheaper to use WORM* discs
*Write once, read multiple
Cosmetics. Maybe not women cosmetics, but the expensive moisture cremes and so on only add stuff you don't want on your skin. Btw, "natural" marigold cremes are really bad there.
Pet toys
Largely have to disagree with you there. The more expensive toys usually last a lot longer with my dogs.
I can just crinkle up some paper for my cats.
This is mainly true for cats.
Expensive toy = zero interest
The box the expensive toy came in = hours of fun.
cheap rabbit toys use A LOT of glue, which is obviously not good for any animal.
Plus rabbits love cardboard. Toilet rolls and plain boxes get your surprisingly far with two rabbits! The only toys I'll buy are the edible ones - willow tunnels for example. Watching them play with something you make is part of the joy.
Yeah I'd argue this is probably true for bigger pets but the LD50 of stuff on your 2lb guinea pig is hit shockingly fast. Gotta watch out for the small, furry comrades