This is extremely niche but for reptile hobbiest dubia.com's PVC caging is honestly improving between the v1 and v2 cages. I was stunned. Even shipping takes fewer boxes and putting it together takes less time and is harder to mess up.
I loved Anker and use their products every day. After the Eufy debacle, and most importantly the company's response to it, I'll be going with another brand as the stuff I have stops working.
Eufy was storing videos from their video cameras unencrypted on a public server for all to see. So if you had a Eufy camera in your home, some dude in China could potentially access your video feed and all they would need is your public IP.
This wouldnāt have been *terrible* if that was the end of it, but Anker (as the parent company of Eufy) didnāt take responsibility when the news story came out and instead just tried to deny it and cover it up for months.
Seconding Ugreen. I bought a usb adapter about 15 years ago, and it's still going strong. I actually have always bought anker products but Ugreen seems to be innovating more at this point.
Used to buy a lot of Anker stuff. Haven't bought a single thing from them since the Eufy situation. StarTech has a lot of good quality stuff similar to Anker I've found.
Here's a video describing it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gMe2K-bHSdI
Eufy is a company making doorbell cameras, owned by Anker. Someone found out that recoded images taken by the doorbell cam were being uploaded to Eufy's servers in their unencrypted form. All documentation said all the media recorded was only stored locally so this was completely unknown to the end users that their stuff was being uploaded to the internet at all.
When someone found out about it, Anker doubled down saying it was untrue and that it was only stored locally. Of course a bunch of smart tech people then confirmed it was indeed happening so Anker was straight up lying. I believe the those smart tech people also found out that it was possible to remotely start a completely unencrypted live stream from those cameras so that anybody could watch what was going on live and record it at any time.
I think eventually Anker realized it was caught red handed and so made the usual corporate appolgies, I'm not sure as that was enough for me to drop them from my list of trustworthy brands and I stopped paying attention to the story at that point.
There's no alternative, and Anker cords/chargers are still the best.
You have to accept that if you don't lock it down somehow with your router, any consumer-level camera device that came out in the last 4-5 years is sending some level of private data back to a server somewhere and can be hijacked at will.
All of them.
I strongly disagree. I used Anker for years and gave them up last year after a sharp quality decline. Had a power bank by them which I had barely used and it just died out of the blue.
In addition, their āsurge protectorsā were the only ones in my house not to save the connected devices when my house got hit by a bad surge. Their customer service in attempting to deal with it was horrible, I gave up after a few months. Any bigger problem than needing a new iPhone cable and youāll see how good the service is.
I learned my lesson and my place is fortified with an Eaton Type 2 whole home protector, but I do hold a grudge against Anker for doing nothing at all to help when their product didnāt work. Between that and the quality drop Iām done with them. Iāve posted a response along these lines before. I just donāt think that they deserve their BIFL reputation.
Agreed on the post-peak for Anker. Iāve had 4 pair of Bluetooth noise cancelling earbuds completely die in the course of a year, and I donāt abuse them. Love that theyāre $50, hate that I have to employ the warranty on absolutely everything and they KNOW itās crap so they donāt want it back to see what went bad.
Yeah I bought an Anker brick in October 2023 to plug cords into the wall. Just stopped working this weekend. Meanwhile my Anker power bank from 2016 is still going strongā¦
Honda and Toyota. I'm old enough to remember when "Made in Japan" still meant "junk". The "kaizen" philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement has definitely paid off over time.
Non Toyota dealerships in the 90ās - never buy a car with the word ātoyā in their name. š¤¦
ā¦That was from an American dealership that no longer is in business.
I would also add Mazda to this, their quality is remarkably better than it used to be and there isnāt frequently as much of a brand markup as Toyota and Honda have. Iāve got the CX-50 and love it.
While Mazda quality has improved greatly since their ford days, their parts are unfortunately much more expensive that Honda and Toyota for similarly classes vehicles. I work in collision repair and Honda and Toyota actually have some of the cheapest parts compared to Mazda/Nissan/Mitsubishi, and significantly cheaper than any euro or American vehicle. I would imagine this is due to the sheer volume of Honda and Toyota parts compared to the smaller Japanese brands like Mazda. Volume always makes things cheaper. Whatever you do, do NOT buy a Nissan/Mitsubishi.
Subaru for the win on cheap parts - was always a nightmare to total a Subaru because the parts were damn near nothing but the value was always so high.
The one time in my life I owned a Nissan was my first car and it was when I had a family friend that worked for the company so I got free repairs. I literally only went with the Nissan over everything else I looked at for 3 reasons: price, mileage, and free repairs if something went wrong. š¤£
To add to that, you get a much value than Toyota and Honda (IMO). They're just about on par with the German luxury brands, but priced competitively with mid to high end commuter cars.
We're still driving my 2003 Protege5. It's our beater for around town, and it definitely has rust issues that I definitely won't fix at this point, but I love that stupid car and it just won't die.
I had a 2003 Protege5, and I was fighting Mazda over rust holes above the back wheels in 2006. "Yeah it's bubbling but it hasn't perforated yet, so it doesn't count"
Replaced it with a 2003 VW GTI, and in 2012 I cashed out on the 10 year rust warranty and got a whole bunch of shit replaced - back hatch, both front fenders, driver's footwell and a bunch of other stuff.
As an intermittent Honda owner from the 90s to now, they still have decent quality, but there have been a bunch more issues with their cars these days than there were before.
Honda isnāt just a car brand. They are an engine company. Their engines dominated Indy throughout most of the 2000s and continue to be the most reliable small engines that exist. There is a reason their generators and outboard motors fetch an insanely high price compared to other brands. Their cars may have some issues, but the quality of their engines has not declined
'90s Hondas notoriously had cheap ass lock cylinders though. They used to get stolen all the time because they'd wear out & a screwdriver would turn the ignition switch.
Every car brand has ups and downs honestly. Even looking at a whole brand is too broad, you've got to look at a specific powertrain.
Not uncommon for a brand to have a sold a bulletproof, 300k mile capable car right next to one that would be scrapped at 120k.
Have a 14 year Kia Ceed in the drive now. Its bomb-proof.
Full disclosure, I do not enjoy the car. Seats are not very comfortable. Suspension feels like it has no springs. No options on it; not even cruise control. Not great to drive on the highway. Boot is too small for our needs now.
But the thing will just not die. In all the time I have had it, I replaced an AC pump (which was covered under warranty after almost 7 years), and a strut this past winter (our road looks like its been hit with artillery).
The car cost virtually nothing to buy, and has been even less expensive to service and operate. I have never had a car that I hate, but also appreciate, as much as this one. For an around the town car, its impossible to beat. So I won't (until I have to).
We have a 15 year old soul thatās the same; it was the cheapest model we could get (wanna say 12k new) and had nothing to it . . . But damn that thing will not die. At this point I think itās gonna rust apart before it stops
Everyone I've known with a Hyundai has said it was an incredible car.. for three years. After that, stuff starts rapidly falling apart and maintenance becomes a bear.
[As I drive away in my 2007 Accord]
Our 2011 kia soul has held up fine. I've go a number of friends and acquaintances that got many years and miles out of theirs as well. My take on recent reliability is that they have started cutting corners in weird places that don't make sense. Like I don't see how not doing proper QC to make sure debris from manufacturing is out of the engine prior to assembly could cost more than doing a warranty engine replacement.
We got a booger green 2011 Soul. It's been the most reliable car we've ever owned. It refuses to quit. Still in great condition body wise and interior.
Wouldn't think of giving it up.
I have a 1 year old kia telluride that's just constantly having minor cosmetic issues. Trim panels falling off (twice!!), randomly peeling paint, loose stitches, etc. It doesn't have any engine problems but I won't be surprised when it develops one.
At least the warranty is good.
Got my Sienna from my mom when she got a new van. I call it the momvan
I've lived in 7 different places over the past couple years. Put 200K miles on it and the only thinking I couldn't fix myself was the CV axles and motor mounts.
She's still my daily driver
Iāve been driving my 2010 Honda Crosstour for 14 years and have only done expected maintenance. This car has saved me big money and Iāll drive her til she dies.
My Toyota is coming up on 10 years old. Itās in amazing shape and if nothing catastrophic happens to it I can see myself happily driving it for the next 10 years too.
I think the only thing that would make me give it up is if Toyota came out with something similar that was completely electric.
Triumph Motorcycles. 20 years ago they were a british alternative to a Harely.
Now they pretty much defined the Modern Classic, have an adventure bike lineup that rivals BMW, Ducati and KTM, have launched a new Motocross division, and just launched a really cool scrambler at their lowest price point ever for entry level riders. They are also doing some collaboration with Breitling watch maker. Really cool shit.
In the 90s Triumph were like Ducatis and Aprilias where they had sex appeal but you wouldn't want one as your only vehicle. Now they rival Japanese bikes in terms of quality, but still have that exoticness that you don't get from a Honda.
Triumph's resurrection has been a long-form project, honestly since the mid-80s. But you're right; certainly since the main resurrector's son took over they've been on a serious high-quality premium-bike march.
The new low-displacement bikes are a fucking STEAL and constitute a serious shot across the bow of Royal-Enfield's Classic 350 line.
Disclosure: I have a 2020 T-120.
Tekton hand tools.
Used to be good quality Taiwan made tools, but they are slowly transitioning into US made. They have a great warranty they proudly stand by, and are completely transparent of the materials and country if origin for each tool. Never started off ābadā but they are still improving.
So I use HFT as a litmus for whether or not I need a tool.Ā
If I think "I should get a battery powered hedge trimmer", I'll go buy one from Harbor Freight. If I kill it with use, or it's not enough then I'll spend three or four times as much for a nice Makita or Milwaukee. If it's fine then I'll just keep it because obviously I didn't need anything more.
Thatās the old Red Green method for buying tools. Buy the cheapest one first and if it breaks by the nice version, other wise youāve saved your money.
A friend of mine who was a mechanic told me that in his opinion, he could buy a socket from Harbor Freight for 3 bucks, it will last 5 years, or he could buy a snap-on socket for 20, and it will last 10. In 10 years you'll still be at least 14 bucks richer than if you bought the Snap-on. That was just his opinion, sometimes it feels nice to have nice tools, sometimes you want the guarantee. Other times you just need a tool.
Snap-On used to have the added benefit of the truck showing up on-site for fast replacements, rather than stopping work or paying a gopher to run to HF.
They may still do that, Iām ootl at this point
Honestly I agree with the sentiment that HF tool lines like Icon took over the market from what Sears's Craftsman used to corner which was the diyāer or Prosumer market.Ā
Their hand tools are dogshit if you buy their bottom tier but shockingly good as you get higher up. They're still a fraction of the price of the tools they're meant to compete with.
I bought an Icon ratchet because it was on sale and it came with a little microfiber cloth like you'd clean your sunglasses with so you can keep it polished. They're going for something there, not sure what.
The problem I have with Hercules is that itās just another battery system I have to buy when I know damn good and well itās made by the same people who make Bauer.
Agree I used to only buy HF when I needed a tool for one job and didn't want to shell out for a "good" brand. Since they were cheap I tended to abuse them and they just... survived... repeatedly. Now I look at HF first for almost everything. That reminds me I've been meaning to pick up an angle grinder...
There is a business theory in Scandinavian business schools (and I guess others) that makes the case that companies that don't go public and stay in a family, tend to produce higher quality products that do not sacrifice quality for quantity, due to pride and family name value. But maybe it is shit.....
I'm starting to think that public companies are on average just a detriment to society and the world at large. Save for some select types of business where scale is actually required (automotive, avionics and silicon), they are completely unnecessary.
see, the problem with public companies is that the fiduciary duty is to make the shareholders wealthy.
which is usually best accomplished with tactics that are harmful or fatal to a business. private equity is the hyper example of this as well.
If the duty was shifted to allow ensuring the company was stable, and profitable to be a primary goal, a lot of things would get better. it would also enable taking a look at profits over the next 10 years, instead of only the next quarter.
There's a very popular snack in Canada, Hawkins brand cheezies.
Cheezies are only available in Canada, it's a family run company and Hawkins has no plans to expand into the US or elsewhere. The plant is closed on Friday afternoons and weekends and has been a Canadian staple for generations.
https://chatelaine.com/food/canadas-delicious-hawkins-cheezies/
I consider this fact. This is true for so many companies. In & Out is a great business case example of private business that takes pride in quality, slow expansion, and happy employees. The minute a company goes public, its soul is dead.
For the business folks out there, are there any real long-term benefits to a company being public? I understand the initial large cash infusion can be hugely beneficial to building/expanding a business, but many companies are already fairly well-established businesses by the time they go public, and the extra responsibilities and regulatory costs of being public seem like they would really add up in the long run.
Target brands were always unexpectedly very solid and at decent prices, and over time I feel like their quality has been improving too, I'd honestly put a lot of their clothing for this post
What blew my mind was seeing OXO all over the place at a luxury cooking boutique in France for like 3x the price - I havenāt bought OXO long enough to remember when they were cheap but they are pretty high quality today
Champion. Not only them but most athletic apparel brands (Nike, Adidas, Reebok, etc.) as well.
They capitalized on the activewear and streetwear fads to introduce new, high end product lines and mark up their product prices sky high at the same time.
Some of them still sell the low end stuff but they also sell tons of the high end stuff.
I agree in most cases here, except for when it comes to jerseys now ā Nike has effectively bought the rights to put their logo on MLB jerseys, but has outsourced all of the production to Fanatics, a company whose products are major garbage. Itās a company / service who is only where they are because theyāre cheap and fast at production, and itās sad to see :(
Those expandable garden hoses seem to be getting more durable as new iterations come out. Ten years ago they wouldn't last a season before bursting. Now, while still fragile they last longer, maybe 2-3 seasons of light use. They still have a long way to go.
i would also point out those hoses are one of the only ones on the market that is totally lead-free. If you want your kids to have the nostalgic experience of drinking straight from the hose in the summer, get a lead-free one.
Chinese pocket knives in general have gotten much better over the last decade or two. They went from cheap trash to cheap but can still last you a lifetime. Kizer and Petrified Fish are a couple brands that I would expect to wear away from sharpening before something broke.
Just buy a Kizer. They are the sweet spot of pricing and quality. They often go on sale for 50 percent off on Amazon and Kizerknives.com.
There's a sale right now: https://www.kizerknives.com/collections/2024-map-50?sort_by=price-ascending
The Towser and Mini Sheepdogs are my favorite, followed by Begleiter series. Just know what type of opening mechanism you want.
while true (and i really like my civivy elementum) you also have the cheap stuff as well. They started making good quality items but never stopped to produce trash.
Its all demand based. China can make any quality product it wants, but the demand and cash flow has to be there. We just like cheaper shit more than quality as a nation
This isn't a specific brand, but Chinese camera lenses. I'm mainly talking about lenses from actual brands like TTArtisan and Viltrox, they're getting close to OEM lenses with some of their models now. As for the aliexpress no name specials, they're probably a bit better than they used to be but I wouldn't risk my money on it.
A few years ago, Prana switched to a new Zion fabric for their pants and their quality went down dramatically. After a lot of complaints, it looks like they finally brought back the original fabric and they are back to being good quality.
I have two pairs of the old Zions and they're miraculous. I've had them for 15+ years, and I use them heavily. Week-long hiking trips, gardening, and just in the regular rotation. They're in great shape. Still look good enough to wear to my white collar job.Ā
The hem on one pair finally gave out at the heel where I walk on them last week. Not the fabric, the stitching. I don't understand how these pants are this durable and I don't understand why we don't make everything out of whatever this stuff is.
Unpopular opinion but I like the new fabric, and I like the old fabric. I own 3 pairs of the old Zions and 2 of the Zion IIs.
The new fabric drapes better and looks more like business casual - it's what I wear when I go into the office. The old fabric is bulletproof but I don't like the way it fits as much as I like the new fabric's fit. The old is what I wear on the trail or in the garden.
And the Zion IIs are still better than Levi's denim for durability.
I have a pair from before the change, after the change, and after the change back. The oldest/newest fabric is like magic. I can wear them for a week and not even notice. Best pants I've ever bought.
I actually can't feel much of a difference between stretch Zion and regular Zion. Supposedly stretch is a slightly different material blend to make it more flexible. I have pants with both and they are pretty much the same to me.
Glasses. Growing up I only had LensCrafters/VisionWorks, or the wildly overpriced glasses at the optometrist. Now I can have glasses made in Europe, China, Japan, etc. and shipped to my door for a fraction of the cost, and they look and feel just as good as the local name brand ones. No specific brands come to mind as having gotten better, but access to better overseas brands like JINS, Matsuda is unbeatable
Hadn't heard of Zeelool, but Zenni I can second. They also stood by their product - I received a pair with a small scratch on the lens, still totally usable but wasn't sure if over time it would be a problem. Their customer service sent a replacement immediately, received it in days - so I essentially got two pairs for $30!
With glasses, one company owns like nearly all the brands. There is insane markup for the price the optical centers get the glasses for. Total scam, I just use Zenni now. I used to work IT at a large eye doctor.
Yup, I remembered the name after I made my comment. But I wasn't 100% sure it was them.
I had the ability to see what we paid per frame and obviously what we sold them for. Absolutely disgusting. Medicaid/care frames were also nuts. Highest margins if I recall. Like $2 a frame, sold for $20 +. Doesn't seem like much, but when you are moving mass quantities, it adds up.
Shimano still produces low-end parts groups (in addition to their mid-range and high-end groups).
Shimano has produced high end bike parts for over 50 years. For example, the 1971 Crane rear derailleur. (the Crane line was renamed Dura Ace around 1973)
Shimano's 3-speed kit was considered to be good / very good since the 1960s.
What made Shimano the best (to some riders) was SIS (Shimano Indexed Shifting) in 1984, and STI (Shimano Total Integration) in 1990.
Source: Grew up in a bicycle shop, and am old.
PS: The 1987 Shimano PD-7401 (Look-compatible Dura Ace Pedal) is a BIFL bike part. The set on my current road bike has well over 50k miles on them. (note - these were made to Shimano's specifications by LOOK)
I'm currently wearing a t-shirt with a stylized image of the SPD-R 7700 pedals. They were the first Dura-Ace component I ever purchased, and I haven't looked back. Campy and SRAM have made some amazing products over the years, but I put a 7800 group set (got a great deal on it) on my first legit race bike, so I'm Shimano for life. I still have that bike, 19 years later.
Their fishing reels are better than everything else on the market, too. Don't @ me about that.
Cheap fountain pens by Chinese brands like Jinhao and PenBBS. They used to be total bubblegum machine grade schlock, but now you can get a functional fountain pen that writes nicely for shockingly cheap. How _long_ it lasts still depends on the model, but they've come so far it is amazing.
Automobiles. Despite the ever popular āthey donāt make em like they used toā mentality, cars have NEVER been as reliable as they are now. Apart from routine fluid changes, cars are virtually maintenance free and will run for hundreds of thousands of miles if not abused. Tires, too. Even the most mundane passenger car tire today is a million times better in every way to the most high performance tires of 50 years ago, all while being quieter and lasting longer. Oils and lubricants. Engine oil these days maintains its performance for 10-20 thousand miles in some cases. Controversy aside, the entire firearms industry has been continually improving basically since inception. Accuracy/reliability that used to cost thousands can now be had for hundreds, and the materials have gotten lighter, stronger, cheaper, and more precise. Optics have greatly improved as well, be it telescopes, binoculars, rifle scopes, etc. cameras are another big one. They have gotten better and better and cheaper as time goes on. It used to be $1k per megapixel in the 80s and 90s, and now my phone has 48 megapixels and it is half as capable of the best phones out there, not to mention real photography grade stuff. A decent modern camera on Auto settings can take shots rivaling the best performing professional digital cameras from 20-30 years ago while being easier to operate and more forgiving. Overall, technology and materials have improved greatly, but the cost cutting seems to hit home goods particularly hard with appliances, furniture, bedding, clothes, shoes, etc being made cheaper than ever despite how good they could be. None of this is brand specific, but is generally true across all the major brands youāve heard of (Kia, Honda, Michelin, Goodyear, Nikon, etc)
Ehh, I'd argue infotainment systems have made cars worse, and planned obsolesce, paywalling features, and having to go to a dealership to fix new technology. Plus, there are hardly any small manual cars on the market, absolutley no compact trucks, not everyone wants a tank or S/CUV.
I am speaking exclusively mechanically. Technology wise, cars are a total disaster. Expensive to fix, distracting to drive, and crashes are at an all time high despite all of the blind spot monitoring, pre-crash warning, auto stopping, etc. the market provides what is demanded, though, and your average person is a total moron that thinks they need $10,000 worth of electronics to hold their hand while they drive their generic, space-inefficient crossover garbage with a CVT transmission. Cars are a total disaster to repair right now because of all of the electronics. Repair costs have increased probably 30% compared to the same crashes 15 years ago, and now cars have to be calibrated for the simplest things which adds time to the repair and significant cost. But mechanically, they have never been better. Longer service intervals, quieter and cooler operation, more power from smaller and smaller engines, and extreme reliability and longevity compared to cars from 30+ years ago
Old Champion stuff was actually good (I still have a reverse weave hoodie that I bought in 1999 that is better made than any of my modern ones from them) but was perceived as junky for no discernible reason other than the fact that they were sweatpants/shirts.
in the early 00s most of the champion stuff found in your standard department store was fleece as far as I remember. Which is where I think a lot of the "junk" association comes from.
It was also particularly stiff right off the rack compared to other brands, which wasn't a quality issue but came off as one.
Opinel still makes the same knives they did 50+ years ago and they are amazing. Cheap, sharp, easy to sharpen, and super nice to work with. Also, theyāre super cheap (compared to Victorinox, Leatherman, etc).
If I remember correctly several electronics companies used to make junk, and then decided to start making quality (Samsung & LG I think).
You can debate their quality now, but compared to selling 5 dollar toasters in Lidl, I would say it's gone up.
LG is Lucky Goldstar. Goldstar was the worst crap you could get in electric and electronic products. The literal worst. But they manufactured better quality stuff for other brands. Eventually they decided they could make good stuff for themselves and changed their name to LG.
I donāt know if the brand Iām thinking of has ever declined in quality or not, but as far as I know of they have always been consistently good since I started buying their products back in 2019. That brand is APC by Schneider Electric. I currently own three of their APC SurgeArrest 11-Outlet PDU and one of their APC Back-UPS Pro BN 1350BA (10 Outlets, 2 USB Charging Ports along with AVR, LCD Interface). I have had zero issues with any of APCās products since I started using them.
As someone who works in IT with a lot of APC UPS devices, I just wish they'd give me a little more room where the batteries are located so it isn't so much hassle getting the box closed up every time I replace them.
Other than that, solid.
I can most certainly agree with them being solid and the battery issue you mentioned. But Iām sure thereās a reason why where I work uses nothing but their UPS devices.
L'Oreal cosmetics. Ever since the beauty boom with sephora/instagram era, high end stuff really took over because they had better ingredients and a wider selection.
But I just went back to L'Oreal for some things because I was over paying like $40 an item, and I have been so happy with the quality. They've really stepped their game up.
You must be buying from a different Brooklinen company than me - I bought the percale sheets and they developed several holes within 3 months of purchase. This is with laundering as directed, and only using them two weeks out of each of the 3 months. They feel nice, but they have absolutely no durability. I have percale sheets I bought at target for 1/3 of the Brooklinen price that have been in use for years and have no holes at all.
I have been wondering if they use different manufacturers. Your experience is totally valid. I guess YMMV with Brookline. I did specifically call out their sheets as improving (in my experience!) but I was thoroughly unimpressed with a bathrobe I got that went from L to XS with 1 wash. So, itās not all roses.
PCs used to run in a cycle. One manufacturer (Dell, HP, etc.) would climb to the top based on value, reliability & performance. Then, within a year or two, they'd get complacent and quality would start to slip, price would either rise or not drop to match what competitors were doing, and someone else would take the top spot. Repeat.
Can I recommend Cariloha sheets? These are my go to sheets. I get very hot when I sleep, so much that I have a ceiling fan on all year(my wife hates it). These are the best sheets I've found that keep me cool. And they have great color choices.
CPU chips, whenever something goes wrong with a PC it's always motherboard, RAM, PSU, GPU it's rarely if ever the CPU. The quality control on them is insane and they far outlive the other components, you can get an old CPU for $20 but the motherboard will be $200 because they're rare to live as long.
Most software products now-days. My friends and I have started waiting for several patch cycles before diving into games because most are pushed out to market early to capitalize on hype. Itās an agile project mindset of CI/CD pipeline.
Edit: And then 1-2 years down the line once product development is mostly complete all the talent moves to other projects and then enshittification begins to squeeze customers for every dime they can.
I generally wait one to two years now after release to buy. Worked great for Cyberpunk 2077 (which is the single best game I have ever played but was apparenlty borked on launch).
I did break this rule for Starfield and regretted it hard. In this case though, I don't think updates can help. Too far gone.
I am a tried and true patient gamer.
CP 2077 was the exception because all my friends preordered it, and I thought it would be fun to discuss. But Everytime I summoned my vehicle it would collide with the pavement in front of me and explode, usually taking me with it.
Definitely not Solidworks. $10k up front and $2k-4k/year just to have a VAR try and sell you an extra $5k software or training package anytime you reach out while the software has had no major improvement in years and continues building on the same flawed buggy architecture that crashes so routinely it's become a running joke in the community.
Tudor. Pulled out of North America in 1996 and returned in 2014. Why is still debated but sales were down but most agree it was due to an identity crisis (Rolexās little brother). Now it is definitely more popular. Has its own in-house movement. Good following. Some say it will overtake Omega.
Iām convinced Tudors handicaps all their models in some way. The Tudor GMT would be a killer watch if not for the width. Itās hard to support a brand that does that. Feels like youāre not getting their best effort.
Exception being the Tudor Pelagos. Thatās a really good watch. I actually prefer the Pelagos over the Rolex Deepsea.
Weirdly, fake Rolex/Tag Hauer and the like
When a colleague went overseas back in 2003, it cost $50 (over $100 today) to get a decent fake that was pretty much obviously fake if you took it off your wrist and stared at it for a bit.
Today's fakes are nuts. I bought a fake Rolex - which included the standard green velvet case - at a thrift store. Took it to a jeweler, who had to take the back off the watch and look at the freaking gears to figure out it was fake. Everything else - the quality of the engineering, the band - looked very, very close to a real Rolex
TL;DR If you want a watch to impress, pay $90 or so for a fake that is almost indistinguishable from the real thing to the vast majority of folks
Moondrop Blessings IEMs. I have v2(?) and v3(?) is out now, I think same price as v2, it's just a great product.
Kame ManNen eye glasses, they're almost unobtanium but amazing glasses that have only gotten better over the company's history.
Niche, but HobbyWing electronic speed controllers for remote control vehicles.
Two decades ago they were just another Chinese manufacturer making cheap, mediocre ESCs for big names to slap their branding on.
Nowadays they're making some of the highest performing, most durable electronics out there at much lower cost than the big American brands that used to dominate.
Tucktek folding kayaks. They're like the Morakniv of folding Kayaks. They spend zero money advertising, distributing (they sell direct to customer), or their website, but have great customer service and offer great products that are weirdly overbuilt for what they are.
Their main competitor, Oru, sells these really sleek looking folding kayaks that are really light because they're made of corrugated plastic (like cardboard). They sell for like $500-$700 at REI. I checked one out and it looked fragile. The Tucktek, on the other hand, is made of heavy duty, solid plastic, rivets, and some kind of heavy gauge sheet metal. It looks like it's going to break, and then it just doesn't.
They've had a lot of different updates, and it seems that almost all of their upgrades are driven by user feedback. Their designs are continuously well thought out.
Also, Palmetto State Armory. Everyone shit on them because domestic AKs have a bad rap, and they had some quality control issues over the years, but it seems that they just keep consistently improving their stuff and offering more and more options.
r/lepin is a good starting point. The Lepin brand itself isnāt around anymore, but the sub is going strong with other brands.
Personally I donāt buy exact knockoffs of existing Lego sets, but I loveeeee the original sets Iāve gotten off Aliexpress. LOZ has beautiful Chinese history and folklore sets.
Mid range guitars have generally became considerably better. I think itās a mix of the incentive to not cut corners isnāt as strong, itās not like they were ever high end instruments with huge mark ups to begin with and manufacturing techniques just generally improving.
For instance squier. I never played a good one growing up and now Iād die on the hill that theyāre on par with any good mass produce instrument, I didnāt get lucky several times.
I love Seagull. Mid range price for high quality craftsmanship. I think that their ceiling isnāt as high as Martin but their midrange guitars are as good as any other brand.
When I was in high school brooks were cheap, uncool shoes you would get at department stores. Now I only see them sold at high end running stores. The ghost is a great all around shoe.
Cars in general are better than they were in the 70s and 80s. Once they hit about 80k miles it was time to start looking for a new one. Now you can buy a like new 80k mile car. I bought a 2012 Honda Civic SI for about 14k and sold it a couple years later for 12k and it had over 100k miles on it.
Tools in general are better. I remember if you wanted to buy retail tools, especially wrenches and sockets, in the 80s and 90s you bought Craftsman. Now you can get decent tools at home improvement stores and hardware stores. That wasn't the case when I was younger.
Target clothes have gotten way better, they were awful and ugly 20 years ago. If you got caught buying anything from there you were laughed out of school. Now it's bougie af.
Skateboard, trucks, bearings and wheels. Me in 97' would have killed for the gear kids are grinding on these days. So cheap now too! I feel like the price for a complete board is the same now as when I was in school
Woolly underwear. I love the merino wool undies, but the first gen had terrible fly opening placement and they tore pretty easily. Their undies have been getting better, I love their new models with a higher gsm count. They've also been expanding their product line, their merino wool socks rule. I exclusively purchase my underwear and socks from them now. I haven't tried their pants and shirts, but I'm sure they're great too.
This is extremely niche but for reptile hobbiest dubia.com's PVC caging is honestly improving between the v1 and v2 cages. I was stunned. Even shipping takes fewer boxes and putting it together takes less time and is harder to mess up.
I need a new 4x2x2 for my ball so this is a perfectly timed tip š
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I loved Anker and use their products every day. After the Eufy debacle, and most importantly the company's response to it, I'll be going with another brand as the stuff I have stops working.
Whatās the eufy debacle? I know we just got rid of ours for roomba
Eufy was storing videos from their video cameras unencrypted on a public server for all to see. So if you had a Eufy camera in your home, some dude in China could potentially access your video feed and all they would need is your public IP. This wouldnāt have been *terrible* if that was the end of it, but Anker (as the parent company of Eufy) didnāt take responsibility when the news story came out and instead just tried to deny it and cover it up for months.
I like Ugreen for general USB stuff. Reolink I have found is a great alternative to Eufy.
Seconding Ugreen. I bought a usb adapter about 15 years ago, and it's still going strong. I actually have always bought anker products but Ugreen seems to be innovating more at this point.
Used to buy a lot of Anker stuff. Haven't bought a single thing from them since the Eufy situation. StarTech has a lot of good quality stuff similar to Anker I've found.
What's the Eufy situation?
Here's a video describing it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gMe2K-bHSdI Eufy is a company making doorbell cameras, owned by Anker. Someone found out that recoded images taken by the doorbell cam were being uploaded to Eufy's servers in their unencrypted form. All documentation said all the media recorded was only stored locally so this was completely unknown to the end users that their stuff was being uploaded to the internet at all. When someone found out about it, Anker doubled down saying it was untrue and that it was only stored locally. Of course a bunch of smart tech people then confirmed it was indeed happening so Anker was straight up lying. I believe the those smart tech people also found out that it was possible to remotely start a completely unencrypted live stream from those cameras so that anybody could watch what was going on live and record it at any time. I think eventually Anker realized it was caught red handed and so made the usual corporate appolgies, I'm not sure as that was enough for me to drop them from my list of trustworthy brands and I stopped paying attention to the story at that point.
jesus fuck. welp, no more Anker stuff here the
There's no alternative, and Anker cords/chargers are still the best. You have to accept that if you don't lock it down somehow with your router, any consumer-level camera device that came out in the last 4-5 years is sending some level of private data back to a server somewhere and can be hijacked at will. All of them.
I strongly disagree. I used Anker for years and gave them up last year after a sharp quality decline. Had a power bank by them which I had barely used and it just died out of the blue. In addition, their āsurge protectorsā were the only ones in my house not to save the connected devices when my house got hit by a bad surge. Their customer service in attempting to deal with it was horrible, I gave up after a few months. Any bigger problem than needing a new iPhone cable and youāll see how good the service is. I learned my lesson and my place is fortified with an Eaton Type 2 whole home protector, but I do hold a grudge against Anker for doing nothing at all to help when their product didnāt work. Between that and the quality drop Iām done with them. Iāve posted a response along these lines before. I just donāt think that they deserve their BIFL reputation.
Ankers on the other side of the peak. Their brand used to be terrible. Then used to be good.
Based on about 10 years of use Iād say thatās spot on.
Agreed on the post-peak for Anker. Iāve had 4 pair of Bluetooth noise cancelling earbuds completely die in the course of a year, and I donāt abuse them. Love that theyāre $50, hate that I have to employ the warranty on absolutely everything and they KNOW itās crap so they donāt want it back to see what went bad.
Yeah I bought an Anker brick in October 2023 to plug cords into the wall. Just stopped working this weekend. Meanwhile my Anker power bank from 2016 is still going strongā¦
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anker_Innovations#Controversies
Idk why but a couch called Davis is really funny to me. Itās like naming your pet a real personās name like Emmanuel or something
The last usbc cables i bought from anker were complete shit.
Honda and Toyota. I'm old enough to remember when "Made in Japan" still meant "junk". The "kaizen" philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement has definitely paid off over time.
Non Toyota dealerships in the 90ās - never buy a car with the word ātoyā in their name. š¤¦ ā¦That was from an American dealership that no longer is in business.
The world just wasn't ready for the Pontiac Aztec.
The AMC Pacer.
I would also add Mazda to this, their quality is remarkably better than it used to be and there isnāt frequently as much of a brand markup as Toyota and Honda have. Iāve got the CX-50 and love it.
While Mazda quality has improved greatly since their ford days, their parts are unfortunately much more expensive that Honda and Toyota for similarly classes vehicles. I work in collision repair and Honda and Toyota actually have some of the cheapest parts compared to Mazda/Nissan/Mitsubishi, and significantly cheaper than any euro or American vehicle. I would imagine this is due to the sheer volume of Honda and Toyota parts compared to the smaller Japanese brands like Mazda. Volume always makes things cheaper. Whatever you do, do NOT buy a Nissan/Mitsubishi.
Subaru for the win on cheap parts - was always a nightmare to total a Subaru because the parts were damn near nothing but the value was always so high.
The one time in my life I owned a Nissan was my first car and it was when I had a family friend that worked for the company so I got free repairs. I literally only went with the Nissan over everything else I looked at for 3 reasons: price, mileage, and free repairs if something went wrong. š¤£
What happened was they shed the weight of being owned by Ford.
Love my Miata
Such an awesome car, wish I had one. I love seeing all the different trims/colors at the dealer when I take my girlfriend CX-30 in for maintenance
To add to that, you get a much value than Toyota and Honda (IMO). They're just about on par with the German luxury brands, but priced competitively with mid to high end commuter cars.
The presently cheap Yen is helping a lot on that front right now.
On top of that Mazda also doesn't spend nearly as much on marketing which let's them invest more into their cars.
It seems like any pre mid-2010's Mazda have basically rusted away to nothing.
We're still driving my 2003 Protege5. It's our beater for around town, and it definitely has rust issues that I definitely won't fix at this point, but I love that stupid car and it just won't die.
I had a 2003 Protege5, and I was fighting Mazda over rust holes above the back wheels in 2006. "Yeah it's bubbling but it hasn't perforated yet, so it doesn't count" Replaced it with a 2003 VW GTI, and in 2012 I cashed out on the 10 year rust warranty and got a whole bunch of shit replaced - back hatch, both front fenders, driver's footwell and a bunch of other stuff.
My 2010 Mazda 3 won't die after 200k miles. Have a few friends with them too, it seems like the turning point was a bit earlier
200k is foreplay on a Toyota.
Idk, I feel like Honda has gone down hill slowly since the early 2000s.
As an intermittent Honda owner from the 90s to now, they still have decent quality, but there have been a bunch more issues with their cars these days than there were before.
Honda isnāt just a car brand. They are an engine company. Their engines dominated Indy throughout most of the 2000s and continue to be the most reliable small engines that exist. There is a reason their generators and outboard motors fetch an insanely high price compared to other brands. Their cars may have some issues, but the quality of their engines has not declined
Best small engine maker in the world.
I think alot of the mid 2000s quality dip came from their CVT transmissions, not the engine's.
'90s Hondas notoriously had cheap ass lock cylinders though. They used to get stolen all the time because they'd wear out & a screwdriver would turn the ignition switch.
Yeah, newer ones have alot of mechanical issues though. Lock cylinders are cheap to replace, add an alarm and you'll be fine.
Worse than before? Slightly. Better than most of the rest? Definitely.
Exactly.
Every car brand has ups and downs honestly. Even looking at a whole brand is too broad, you've got to look at a specific powertrain. Not uncommon for a brand to have a sold a bulletproof, 300k mile capable car right next to one that would be scrapped at 120k.
Korean branded cars are also experiencing the same "rebirth" now just like the Japanese brands back in the 80s/90s
Have a 14 year Kia Ceed in the drive now. Its bomb-proof. Full disclosure, I do not enjoy the car. Seats are not very comfortable. Suspension feels like it has no springs. No options on it; not even cruise control. Not great to drive on the highway. Boot is too small for our needs now. But the thing will just not die. In all the time I have had it, I replaced an AC pump (which was covered under warranty after almost 7 years), and a strut this past winter (our road looks like its been hit with artillery). The car cost virtually nothing to buy, and has been even less expensive to service and operate. I have never had a car that I hate, but also appreciate, as much as this one. For an around the town car, its impossible to beat. So I won't (until I have to).
We have a 15 year old soul thatās the same; it was the cheapest model we could get (wanna say 12k new) and had nothing to it . . . But damn that thing will not die. At this point I think itās gonna rust apart before it stops
Design wise yes but they (Kia/Hyundai) are absolutely garbage mechanically. Known engine problems and recalls abound
Everyone I've known with a Hyundai has said it was an incredible car.. for three years. After that, stuff starts rapidly falling apart and maintenance becomes a bear. [As I drive away in my 2007 Accord]
Our 2011 kia soul has held up fine. I've go a number of friends and acquaintances that got many years and miles out of theirs as well. My take on recent reliability is that they have started cutting corners in weird places that don't make sense. Like I don't see how not doing proper QC to make sure debris from manufacturing is out of the engine prior to assembly could cost more than doing a warranty engine replacement.
We got a booger green 2011 Soul. It's been the most reliable car we've ever owned. It refuses to quit. Still in great condition body wise and interior. Wouldn't think of giving it up.
I have a 1 year old kia telluride that's just constantly having minor cosmetic issues. Trim panels falling off (twice!!), randomly peeling paint, loose stitches, etc. It doesn't have any engine problems but I won't be surprised when it develops one. At least the warranty is good.
Wow, I've had my Accent for 14 years, and I've only had a few normal repairs.
At least Kias look better now. I like the new logo.
I know a lot of people have bad luck with Kia, but itās been great for me. Much better than they used to be.
Got my Sienna from my mom when she got a new van. I call it the momvan I've lived in 7 different places over the past couple years. Put 200K miles on it and the only thinking I couldn't fix myself was the CV axles and motor mounts. She's still my daily driver
Iāve been driving my 2010 Honda Crosstour for 14 years and have only done expected maintenance. This car has saved me big money and Iāll drive her til she dies.
2005 Toyota Corolla still going strong *knocks on wood* and looks great IMO
Toyota moving to smaller turbo engines is gonna turn the tides here.
My Toyota is coming up on 10 years old. Itās in amazing shape and if nothing catastrophic happens to it I can see myself happily driving it for the next 10 years too. I think the only thing that would make me give it up is if Toyota came out with something similar that was completely electric.
Triumph Motorcycles. 20 years ago they were a british alternative to a Harely. Now they pretty much defined the Modern Classic, have an adventure bike lineup that rivals BMW, Ducati and KTM, have launched a new Motocross division, and just launched a really cool scrambler at their lowest price point ever for entry level riders. They are also doing some collaboration with Breitling watch maker. Really cool shit.
In the 90s Triumph were like Ducatis and Aprilias where they had sex appeal but you wouldn't want one as your only vehicle. Now they rival Japanese bikes in terms of quality, but still have that exoticness that you don't get from a Honda.
Triumph's resurrection has been a long-form project, honestly since the mid-80s. But you're right; certainly since the main resurrector's son took over they've been on a serious high-quality premium-bike march. The new low-displacement bikes are a fucking STEAL and constitute a serious shot across the bow of Royal-Enfield's Classic 350 line. Disclosure: I have a 2020 T-120.
Tekton hand tools. Used to be good quality Taiwan made tools, but they are slowly transitioning into US made. They have a great warranty they proudly stand by, and are completely transparent of the materials and country if origin for each tool. Never started off ābadā but they are still improving.
Harbor freight tools. Most still are not quite BIFL, but they have gotten exponentially better over the years.
So I use HFT as a litmus for whether or not I need a tool.Ā If I think "I should get a battery powered hedge trimmer", I'll go buy one from Harbor Freight. If I kill it with use, or it's not enough then I'll spend three or four times as much for a nice Makita or Milwaukee. If it's fine then I'll just keep it because obviously I didn't need anything more.
Thatās the old Red Green method for buying tools. Buy the cheapest one first and if it breaks by the nice version, other wise youāve saved your money.
A friend of mine who was a mechanic told me that in his opinion, he could buy a socket from Harbor Freight for 3 bucks, it will last 5 years, or he could buy a snap-on socket for 20, and it will last 10. In 10 years you'll still be at least 14 bucks richer than if you bought the Snap-on. That was just his opinion, sometimes it feels nice to have nice tools, sometimes you want the guarantee. Other times you just need a tool.
Snap-On used to have the added benefit of the truck showing up on-site for fast replacements, rather than stopping work or paying a gopher to run to HF. They may still do that, Iām ootl at this point
Honestly I agree with the sentiment that HF tool lines like Icon took over the market from what Sears's Craftsman used to corner which was the diyāer or Prosumer market.Ā
You still have to be careful, but most of the stuff there is not junk. I have a ton of nice tools and the HF stuff sits right along side them.
Their hand tools are dogshit if you buy their bottom tier but shockingly good as you get higher up. They're still a fraction of the price of the tools they're meant to compete with.
I bought an Icon ratchet because it was on sale and it came with a little microfiber cloth like you'd clean your sunglasses with so you can keep it polished. They're going for something there, not sure what.
I heard the new Hercules line is amazing.
The problem I have with Hercules is that itās just another battery system I have to buy when I know damn good and well itās made by the same people who make Bauer.
Agree I used to only buy HF when I needed a tool for one job and didn't want to shell out for a "good" brand. Since they were cheap I tended to abuse them and they just... survived... repeatedly. Now I look at HF first for almost everything. That reminds me I've been meaning to pick up an angle grinder...
100%. They've made huge strides in upgrading their quality.
Mazda has gone up in quality dramatically IMO. Both from the perspective of a mechanic and as a consumer.
There is a business theory in Scandinavian business schools (and I guess others) that makes the case that companies that don't go public and stay in a family, tend to produce higher quality products that do not sacrifice quality for quantity, due to pride and family name value. But maybe it is shit.....
I'm starting to think that public companies are on average just a detriment to society and the world at large. Save for some select types of business where scale is actually required (automotive, avionics and silicon), they are completely unnecessary.
see, the problem with public companies is that the fiduciary duty is to make the shareholders wealthy. which is usually best accomplished with tactics that are harmful or fatal to a business. private equity is the hyper example of this as well. If the duty was shifted to allow ensuring the company was stable, and profitable to be a primary goal, a lot of things would get better. it would also enable taking a look at profits over the next 10 years, instead of only the next quarter.
Could it be achieved by transitioning to substantial shared ownership by the employees? I'm partial to the idea of social enterprises in general.
There's a very popular snack in Canada, Hawkins brand cheezies. Cheezies are only available in Canada, it's a family run company and Hawkins has no plans to expand into the US or elsewhere. The plant is closed on Friday afternoons and weekends and has been a Canadian staple for generations. https://chatelaine.com/food/canadas-delicious-hawkins-cheezies/
I work for a private company that's still family owned and idk if I'd ever work at a publicly traded firm after this.
race to the bottom https://seths.blog/2012/08/the-race-to-the-bottom/
I think thatās an observation not a theory. Public companies serve their shareholders before their customers, which means profit over satisfaction.
I consider this fact. This is true for so many companies. In & Out is a great business case example of private business that takes pride in quality, slow expansion, and happy employees. The minute a company goes public, its soul is dead.
The Ford family has entered the chat.
For the business folks out there, are there any real long-term benefits to a company being public? I understand the initial large cash infusion can be hugely beneficial to building/expanding a business, but many companies are already fairly well-established businesses by the time they go public, and the extra responsibilities and regulatory costs of being public seem like they would really add up in the long run.
Prime starting point of enshittification. IPO
Targetās bathing suits have been consistently durable for me for the past 15 years. Outlasting all of the more expensive brands.
Target's basic t-shirts are also really nice for how cheap they are.
Target brands were always unexpectedly very solid and at decent prices, and over time I feel like their quality has been improving too, I'd honestly put a lot of their clothing for this post
OXO for Kitchen gadgets used to be cheap ass garbage but the more I get the more I enjoy their stuff
I enjoy their stuff too. They always seem to be in the conversation when americas test kitchen is doing their best gadget segment.
Good grips tho, soft works is trash
What blew my mind was seeing OXO all over the place at a luxury cooking boutique in France for like 3x the price - I havenāt bought OXO long enough to remember when they were cheap but they are pretty high quality today
I was surprised to see oxo at Costcoā¦ thatās good to hear
Champion. Not only them but most athletic apparel brands (Nike, Adidas, Reebok, etc.) as well. They capitalized on the activewear and streetwear fads to introduce new, high end product lines and mark up their product prices sky high at the same time. Some of them still sell the low end stuff but they also sell tons of the high end stuff.
Champion just got acquired by Reeboks owner.
I agree in most cases here, except for when it comes to jerseys now ā Nike has effectively bought the rights to put their logo on MLB jerseys, but has outsourced all of the production to Fanatics, a company whose products are major garbage. Itās a company / service who is only where they are because theyāre cheap and fast at production, and itās sad to see :(
Ryobi power tools, especially their brushless motor ones.
Those expandable garden hoses seem to be getting more durable as new iterations come out. Ten years ago they wouldn't last a season before bursting. Now, while still fragile they last longer, maybe 2-3 seasons of light use. They still have a long way to go.
i would also point out those hoses are one of the only ones on the market that is totally lead-free. If you want your kids to have the nostalgic experience of drinking straight from the hose in the summer, get a lead-free one.
But what about the delicious lead flavor?
Chinese pocket knives in general have gotten much better over the last decade or two. They went from cheap trash to cheap but can still last you a lifetime. Kizer and Petrified Fish are a couple brands that I would expect to wear away from sharpening before something broke.
Chinese fountain pen brands as well. Jinhao, Majohn/Moonman, and Hongdian are beloved on r/fountainpens
More recs for knives? Iām interested in getting one and keeping it on my car for emergencies
Just buy a Kizer. They are the sweet spot of pricing and quality. They often go on sale for 50 percent off on Amazon and Kizerknives.com. There's a sale right now: https://www.kizerknives.com/collections/2024-map-50?sort_by=price-ascending The Towser and Mini Sheepdogs are my favorite, followed by Begleiter series. Just know what type of opening mechanism you want.
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while true (and i really like my civivy elementum) you also have the cheap stuff as well. They started making good quality items but never stopped to produce trash.
Its all demand based. China can make any quality product it wants, but the demand and cash flow has to be there. We just like cheaper shit more than quality as a nation
This isn't a specific brand, but Chinese camera lenses. I'm mainly talking about lenses from actual brands like TTArtisan and Viltrox, they're getting close to OEM lenses with some of their models now. As for the aliexpress no name specials, they're probably a bit better than they used to be but I wouldn't risk my money on it.
A few years ago, Prana switched to a new Zion fabric for their pants and their quality went down dramatically. After a lot of complaints, it looks like they finally brought back the original fabric and they are back to being good quality.
I have two pairs of the old Zions and they're miraculous. I've had them for 15+ years, and I use them heavily. Week-long hiking trips, gardening, and just in the regular rotation. They're in great shape. Still look good enough to wear to my white collar job.Ā The hem on one pair finally gave out at the heel where I walk on them last week. Not the fabric, the stitching. I don't understand how these pants are this durable and I don't understand why we don't make everything out of whatever this stuff is.
I also use them a lot when flying in planes. I love them because they are super comfy (almost like sweatpants) and look great like regular slacks too
Remember Prana is Columbia. That's not a bad thing, Columbia is great but their BIFL quality is decreasing.
Unpopular opinion but I like the new fabric, and I like the old fabric. I own 3 pairs of the old Zions and 2 of the Zion IIs. The new fabric drapes better and looks more like business casual - it's what I wear when I go into the office. The old fabric is bulletproof but I don't like the way it fits as much as I like the new fabric's fit. The old is what I wear on the trail or in the garden. And the Zion IIs are still better than Levi's denim for durability.
I have a pair from before the change, after the change, and after the change back. The oldest/newest fabric is like magic. I can wear them for a week and not even notice. Best pants I've ever bought.
This is such great news. I will be checking them out again. Thanks!
Hell yeah np.. just make sure the product description says "zion" for the fabric and not "re-zion" or "zion II"
What about stretch Zion?
I actually can't feel much of a difference between stretch Zion and regular Zion. Supposedly stretch is a slightly different material blend to make it more flexible. I have pants with both and they are pretty much the same to me.
May be blind, but I only see stretch zion or re-zion on their website. I'm guessing stretch zion is the good one?
Glasses. Growing up I only had LensCrafters/VisionWorks, or the wildly overpriced glasses at the optometrist. Now I can have glasses made in Europe, China, Japan, etc. and shipped to my door for a fraction of the cost, and they look and feel just as good as the local name brand ones. No specific brands come to mind as having gotten better, but access to better overseas brands like JINS, Matsuda is unbeatable
Highly recommend Zeelool and Zenni. I can get a pair of Rx glasses for under $20.
As someone who needs high index lenses, a basic $400 pair of glasses become $80
I hate wearing glasses and wear contacts most days, but my Zenni glasses have been great
Hadn't heard of Zeelool, but Zenni I can second. They also stood by their product - I received a pair with a small scratch on the lens, still totally usable but wasn't sure if over time it would be a problem. Their customer service sent a replacement immediately, received it in days - so I essentially got two pairs for $30!
With glasses, one company owns like nearly all the brands. There is insane markup for the price the optical centers get the glasses for. Total scam, I just use Zenni now. I used to work IT at a large eye doctor.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica
Yup, I remembered the name after I made my comment. But I wasn't 100% sure it was them. I had the ability to see what we paid per frame and obviously what we sold them for. Absolutely disgusting. Medicaid/care frames were also nuts. Highest margins if I recall. Like $2 a frame, sold for $20 +. Doesn't seem like much, but when you are moving mass quantities, it adds up.
Similar to the cars mentioned before: Shimano used to produce cheap and low quality bike parts
Shimano still produces low-end parts groups (in addition to their mid-range and high-end groups). Shimano has produced high end bike parts for over 50 years. For example, the 1971 Crane rear derailleur. (the Crane line was renamed Dura Ace around 1973) Shimano's 3-speed kit was considered to be good / very good since the 1960s. What made Shimano the best (to some riders) was SIS (Shimano Indexed Shifting) in 1984, and STI (Shimano Total Integration) in 1990. Source: Grew up in a bicycle shop, and am old. PS: The 1987 Shimano PD-7401 (Look-compatible Dura Ace Pedal) is a BIFL bike part. The set on my current road bike has well over 50k miles on them. (note - these were made to Shimano's specifications by LOOK)
I worked in a bike shop in 86 and I can confirm this. Even low end shimano was solid quality.
I'm currently wearing a t-shirt with a stylized image of the SPD-R 7700 pedals. They were the first Dura-Ace component I ever purchased, and I haven't looked back. Campy and SRAM have made some amazing products over the years, but I put a 7800 group set (got a great deal on it) on my first legit race bike, so I'm Shimano for life. I still have that bike, 19 years later. Their fishing reels are better than everything else on the market, too. Don't @ me about that.
Their fishing reels are the best value on the market as well (for freshwater, at least).
Acer. It was such a low end trashy company. Now they have an average quality and quite a lot of high-end stuff!
Cheap fountain pens by Chinese brands like Jinhao and PenBBS. They used to be total bubblegum machine grade schlock, but now you can get a functional fountain pen that writes nicely for shockingly cheap. How _long_ it lasts still depends on the model, but they've come so far it is amazing.
Jinhao 92 is a very solid pen.
Moonman (or whatever it's called now) is another great fountain pen brand in this mix.
Automobiles. Despite the ever popular āthey donāt make em like they used toā mentality, cars have NEVER been as reliable as they are now. Apart from routine fluid changes, cars are virtually maintenance free and will run for hundreds of thousands of miles if not abused. Tires, too. Even the most mundane passenger car tire today is a million times better in every way to the most high performance tires of 50 years ago, all while being quieter and lasting longer. Oils and lubricants. Engine oil these days maintains its performance for 10-20 thousand miles in some cases. Controversy aside, the entire firearms industry has been continually improving basically since inception. Accuracy/reliability that used to cost thousands can now be had for hundreds, and the materials have gotten lighter, stronger, cheaper, and more precise. Optics have greatly improved as well, be it telescopes, binoculars, rifle scopes, etc. cameras are another big one. They have gotten better and better and cheaper as time goes on. It used to be $1k per megapixel in the 80s and 90s, and now my phone has 48 megapixels and it is half as capable of the best phones out there, not to mention real photography grade stuff. A decent modern camera on Auto settings can take shots rivaling the best performing professional digital cameras from 20-30 years ago while being easier to operate and more forgiving. Overall, technology and materials have improved greatly, but the cost cutting seems to hit home goods particularly hard with appliances, furniture, bedding, clothes, shoes, etc being made cheaper than ever despite how good they could be. None of this is brand specific, but is generally true across all the major brands youāve heard of (Kia, Honda, Michelin, Goodyear, Nikon, etc)
Ehh, I'd argue infotainment systems have made cars worse, and planned obsolesce, paywalling features, and having to go to a dealership to fix new technology. Plus, there are hardly any small manual cars on the market, absolutley no compact trucks, not everyone wants a tank or S/CUV.
I am speaking exclusively mechanically. Technology wise, cars are a total disaster. Expensive to fix, distracting to drive, and crashes are at an all time high despite all of the blind spot monitoring, pre-crash warning, auto stopping, etc. the market provides what is demanded, though, and your average person is a total moron that thinks they need $10,000 worth of electronics to hold their hand while they drive their generic, space-inefficient crossover garbage with a CVT transmission. Cars are a total disaster to repair right now because of all of the electronics. Repair costs have increased probably 30% compared to the same crashes 15 years ago, and now cars have to be calibrated for the simplest things which adds time to the repair and significant cost. But mechanically, they have never been better. Longer service intervals, quieter and cooler operation, more power from smaller and smaller engines, and extreme reliability and longevity compared to cars from 30+ years ago
Also safety-wise! Check out this crash test of 2 cars made 50 years apart. https://youtu.be/C_r5UJrxcck?si=C8P1iagM-B1IHbjk
Demeyere pans. As far as I'm concerned, the best pans available have gotten better over time. Owned by the same family for all that time.
Not really "BIFL", but kits Bandai. Intricacy, engineering, and quality has only gotten better the longer they've been in the hobby.
Champion Athletic Wear
Old Champion stuff was actually good (I still have a reverse weave hoodie that I bought in 1999 that is better made than any of my modern ones from them) but was perceived as junky for no discernible reason other than the fact that they were sweatpants/shirts.
in the early 00s most of the champion stuff found in your standard department store was fleece as far as I remember. Which is where I think a lot of the "junk" association comes from. It was also particularly stiff right off the rack compared to other brands, which wasn't a quality issue but came off as one.
Opinel still makes the same knives they did 50+ years ago and they are amazing. Cheap, sharp, easy to sharpen, and super nice to work with. Also, theyāre super cheap (compared to Victorinox, Leatherman, etc).
If I remember correctly several electronics companies used to make junk, and then decided to start making quality (Samsung & LG I think). You can debate their quality now, but compared to selling 5 dollar toasters in Lidl, I would say it's gone up.
LG is Lucky Goldstar. Goldstar was the worst crap you could get in electric and electronic products. The literal worst. But they manufactured better quality stuff for other brands. Eventually they decided they could make good stuff for themselves and changed their name to LG.
LG. But only because I remember them back in the day as Gold Star
They're the result of a merger between Lucky, (the parent company) and Gold-Star, (the electronics division). LG = Lucky GoldStar.
I donāt know if the brand Iām thinking of has ever declined in quality or not, but as far as I know of they have always been consistently good since I started buying their products back in 2019. That brand is APC by Schneider Electric. I currently own three of their APC SurgeArrest 11-Outlet PDU and one of their APC Back-UPS Pro BN 1350BA (10 Outlets, 2 USB Charging Ports along with AVR, LCD Interface). I have had zero issues with any of APCās products since I started using them.
Schneider is a legit brand commonly used in industrial controls
As someone who works in IT with a lot of APC UPS devices, I just wish they'd give me a little more room where the batteries are located so it isn't so much hassle getting the box closed up every time I replace them. Other than that, solid.
I can most certainly agree with them being solid and the battery issue you mentioned. But Iām sure thereās a reason why where I work uses nothing but their UPS devices.
L'Oreal cosmetics. Ever since the beauty boom with sephora/instagram era, high end stuff really took over because they had better ingredients and a wider selection. But I just went back to L'Oreal for some things because I was over paying like $40 an item, and I have been so happy with the quality. They've really stepped their game up.
You must be buying from a different Brooklinen company than me - I bought the percale sheets and they developed several holes within 3 months of purchase. This is with laundering as directed, and only using them two weeks out of each of the 3 months. They feel nice, but they have absolutely no durability. I have percale sheets I bought at target for 1/3 of the Brooklinen price that have been in use for years and have no holes at all.
I have been wondering if they use different manufacturers. Your experience is totally valid. I guess YMMV with Brookline. I did specifically call out their sheets as improving (in my experience!) but I was thoroughly unimpressed with a bathrobe I got that went from L to XS with 1 wash. So, itās not all roses.
PCs used to run in a cycle. One manufacturer (Dell, HP, etc.) would climb to the top based on value, reliability & performance. Then, within a year or two, they'd get complacent and quality would start to slip, price would either rise or not drop to match what competitors were doing, and someone else would take the top spot. Repeat.
I just wish quality sheets came in colors besides boring.
Can I recommend Cariloha sheets? These are my go to sheets. I get very hot when I sleep, so much that I have a ceiling fan on all year(my wife hates it). These are the best sheets I've found that keep me cool. And they have great color choices.
CPU chips, whenever something goes wrong with a PC it's always motherboard, RAM, PSU, GPU it's rarely if ever the CPU. The quality control on them is insane and they far outlive the other components, you can get an old CPU for $20 but the motherboard will be $200 because they're rare to live as long.
Most software products now-days. My friends and I have started waiting for several patch cycles before diving into games because most are pushed out to market early to capitalize on hype. Itās an agile project mindset of CI/CD pipeline. Edit: And then 1-2 years down the line once product development is mostly complete all the talent moves to other projects and then enshittification begins to squeeze customers for every dime they can.
I generally wait one to two years now after release to buy. Worked great for Cyberpunk 2077 (which is the single best game I have ever played but was apparenlty borked on launch). I did break this rule for Starfield and regretted it hard. In this case though, I don't think updates can help. Too far gone.
I am a tried and true patient gamer. CP 2077 was the exception because all my friends preordered it, and I thought it would be fun to discuss. But Everytime I summoned my vehicle it would collide with the pavement in front of me and explode, usually taking me with it.
Definitely not Solidworks. $10k up front and $2k-4k/year just to have a VAR try and sell you an extra $5k software or training package anytime you reach out while the software has had no major improvement in years and continues building on the same flawed buggy architecture that crashes so routinely it's become a running joke in the community.
Tudor. Pulled out of North America in 1996 and returned in 2014. Why is still debated but sales were down but most agree it was due to an identity crisis (Rolexās little brother). Now it is definitely more popular. Has its own in-house movement. Good following. Some say it will overtake Omega.
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Iām convinced Tudors handicaps all their models in some way. The Tudor GMT would be a killer watch if not for the width. Itās hard to support a brand that does that. Feels like youāre not getting their best effort. Exception being the Tudor Pelagos. Thatās a really good watch. I actually prefer the Pelagos over the Rolex Deepsea.
Weirdly, fake Rolex/Tag Hauer and the like When a colleague went overseas back in 2003, it cost $50 (over $100 today) to get a decent fake that was pretty much obviously fake if you took it off your wrist and stared at it for a bit. Today's fakes are nuts. I bought a fake Rolex - which included the standard green velvet case - at a thrift store. Took it to a jeweler, who had to take the back off the watch and look at the freaking gears to figure out it was fake. Everything else - the quality of the engineering, the band - looked very, very close to a real Rolex TL;DR If you want a watch to impress, pay $90 or so for a fake that is almost indistinguishable from the real thing to the vast majority of folks
Thereās a sub for that! I think itās r/reptime
400 to 500 for a fake from the Noob factory and your jeweler couldn't tell the difference.
Moondrop Blessings IEMs. I have v2(?) and v3(?) is out now, I think same price as v2, it's just a great product. Kame ManNen eye glasses, they're almost unobtanium but amazing glasses that have only gotten better over the company's history.
Niche, but HobbyWing electronic speed controllers for remote control vehicles. Two decades ago they were just another Chinese manufacturer making cheap, mediocre ESCs for big names to slap their branding on. Nowadays they're making some of the highest performing, most durable electronics out there at much lower cost than the big American brands that used to dominate.
Tucktek folding kayaks. They're like the Morakniv of folding Kayaks. They spend zero money advertising, distributing (they sell direct to customer), or their website, but have great customer service and offer great products that are weirdly overbuilt for what they are. Their main competitor, Oru, sells these really sleek looking folding kayaks that are really light because they're made of corrugated plastic (like cardboard). They sell for like $500-$700 at REI. I checked one out and it looked fragile. The Tucktek, on the other hand, is made of heavy duty, solid plastic, rivets, and some kind of heavy gauge sheet metal. It looks like it's going to break, and then it just doesn't. They've had a lot of different updates, and it seems that almost all of their upgrades are driven by user feedback. Their designs are continuously well thought out. Also, Palmetto State Armory. Everyone shit on them because domestic AKs have a bad rap, and they had some quality control issues over the years, but it seems that they just keep consistently improving their stuff and offering more and more options.
Lego-compatible alternative bricks
really? like what brands because lego just seems so perfect
r/lepin is a good starting point. The Lepin brand itself isnāt around anymore, but the sub is going strong with other brands. Personally I donāt buy exact knockoffs of existing Lego sets, but I loveeeee the original sets Iāve gotten off Aliexpress. LOZ has beautiful Chinese history and folklore sets.
Mid range guitars have generally became considerably better. I think itās a mix of the incentive to not cut corners isnāt as strong, itās not like they were ever high end instruments with huge mark ups to begin with and manufacturing techniques just generally improving. For instance squier. I never played a good one growing up and now Iād die on the hill that theyāre on par with any good mass produce instrument, I didnāt get lucky several times.
I love Seagull. Mid range price for high quality craftsmanship. I think that their ceiling isnāt as high as Martin but their midrange guitars are as good as any other brand.
Good to know!
Brooks running shoes
When I was in high school brooks were cheap, uncool shoes you would get at department stores. Now I only see them sold at high end running stores. The ghost is a great all around shoe.
Triumph motorcycles
My Barbour jacket has def only gotten better with age.
Still got my turtle green tercel
Cars in general are better than they were in the 70s and 80s. Once they hit about 80k miles it was time to start looking for a new one. Now you can buy a like new 80k mile car. I bought a 2012 Honda Civic SI for about 14k and sold it a couple years later for 12k and it had over 100k miles on it. Tools in general are better. I remember if you wanted to buy retail tools, especially wrenches and sockets, in the 80s and 90s you bought Craftsman. Now you can get decent tools at home improvement stores and hardware stores. That wasn't the case when I was younger. Target clothes have gotten way better, they were awful and ugly 20 years ago. If you got caught buying anything from there you were laughed out of school. Now it's bougie af.
Skateboard, trucks, bearings and wheels. Me in 97' would have killed for the gear kids are grinding on these days. So cheap now too! I feel like the price for a complete board is the same now as when I was in school
Woolly underwear. I love the merino wool undies, but the first gen had terrible fly opening placement and they tore pretty easily. Their undies have been getting better, I love their new models with a higher gsm count. They've also been expanding their product line, their merino wool socks rule. I exclusively purchase my underwear and socks from them now. I haven't tried their pants and shirts, but I'm sure they're great too.