When has a quality product repaid you in a surprising way?

[TheKman]

I'm all about 'appropriate quality', a term which dictates many decisions in the Engineering professions. I have a personal mantra when it comes to most purchases which goes like this:

"You'll remember the quality of a product, long after you've forgotten the expense."

Read it any number of ways and it essentially says garbage is more expensive than the good stuff.

Anyway, so the family is camping last year with a Scout troop. One of the leaders has forgotten his knife (don't get me started on that) so I lend him mine while he's erecting camp a mile away. In the mean time it's getting towards dinner and I no longer have a knife to prepare food with... bummer. Having only just finished cutting timber for a cooking fire, and having no other sharp tools to hand, I was left with no choice but to prepare dinner with a hatchet.

As it happens I'd only just replaced a second hand hatchet which I wasn't able to sharpen properly (really cheap mild steel) with a new Estwing camping hatchet. Unbelievably it was still more than sharp enough to prepare dinner after cutting about 50kg of Australian Eucalyptus for the fire. Ergonomics aside it works really well.

When has quality repaid you?

 

[Macfrommichigan]

I have All Clad stainless triply skillets (ten and twelve inch) that were not cheap, but perform so darn well. Solid value. They are a joy to use.

 

[kelbro]

I've always held back on purchases until I could afford top quality. I believe that it has repaid me thousands of times over.

As I age, I begin to wonder what 'acceptable quality' is. What do I care if something is going to last 40 more years LOL.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

I've always held back on purchases until I could afford top quality. I believe that it has repaid me thousands of times over.

As I age, I begin to wonder what 'acceptable quality' is. What do I care if something is going to last 40 more years LOL.

I hear ya. The bean counters predict I have 15.5 more years of life expectancy. But I have stopped buying green bananas.

 

[Mr. Bonney]

Growing up in the 70's I had an old car that always needed some jury-rigging to keep it going. But luckily the technology back then was such that a normal Joe could fix his own car.
One day I had to start it by shorting out the starter terminals with a screwdriver I had in my tool box. Made by MALCO. Worked perfectly. I also used that driver as a pry bar, chisel, gasket scraper, etc. as well as drive standard head screws. I think it finally gave out in the late 90's, so, I bought another. Pukey orange handle made of polycarbonate made the thing virtually indestructible. Way more expensive than other drivers at the time but the durability made it worth it to me.
MACO has just recently dropped the line, as they couldn't compete with Chinese imports. (IIRC, they've started outsourcing their drivers to Asia. If you can't beat em join em, eh?) I'm still hoping to grab a NOS one off the bay or an estate sale.

 

[Doc4]

"You'll remember the quality of a product, long after you've forgotten the expense."

Read it any number of ways and it essentially says garbage is more expensive than the good stuff.

I remember someone saying he never bought mid-quality stuff ... either crap or the best. And he'd make sure he bought the best when he needed the best, and otherwise he'd buy crap. (When you buy boots, you don't buy them at Walmart, you buy them from the best bootmaker in the country. When you need toilet paper and toothpaste, you don't buy them from Penhaligon's on Jermyn Street ... you buy them from Walmart as cheap as you can.)

One of the leaders has forgotten his knife (don't get me started on that)

 

[thematthatter]

Furniture...
I have to move a lot and solid wood furniture is the only kind that can survive multiple moves. Price doesn't equate to quality when it comes to furniture. That expensive furniture that you see on show room floors is just vinyl wrapped particle board and it will tear up the more you move it. But the solid wood stuff, even if its thin will survive being picked up and dragged across the country.

 

[Rhody]

In had an old timer tell me something like (not sure if I remember correctly) the first cost is the best cost if its the last cost. Meaning if you buy quality and don't have to replace it. I've used the idea to justify or rationalize many purchases. One example that comes to mind was my first car accident. Truck literally came to a complete and very unexpected stop on the expressways. Right at a moment of my inattentiveness. I had a Porsche at the time and between the brakes and safety systems it saved my Bacon. If it wasn't for the trucks trailer hitch my damage would have been much less. But I was unscathed.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

You know what is expensive? Cheap shoes. Cheap hand tools. Cheap women. Cheap suits.

 

[TheKman]

...either crap or the best.

There are occasions when a single use item just can't justify it's own expense. I have a belt sander which had only one purpose and has sat unused ever since. For that I was happy to pay peanuts. Hand tools, on the other hand, often get used for all sorts of strange and unusual tasks. Sans crow bar I used a 12" flat screw driver as a demolition bar to pry up flooring once... it still works.