What's one brand whose products you can always trust?
What's one brand whose products you can always trust?
(I'm trying to adjust my shopping habits for quality, long-lasting goods from reputable brands. This isn't some hailcorporate thing)
There are tons of great quality brands. Until capitalism kills them and they become the same as the rest.
I remember when Logitech was the stamp of quality in computer accessories.
Now? It's trash!
Have they gone that far downhill in just a few years? I've got a g502 that I bought 5ish years ago and that mouse is solid as a rock. The g5 I had before that lasted over a decade before I got annoyed at the cord sheath trying to kill the mouse.
They still make some good hardware, but I wouldn't trust the company one bit.
When the MBA’s take over, the company is sucked dry.
Take me over next, MBAs
Same happens every time I really take a liking to a restaurant.
Deliver a really good product with quality ingredients and become wildly popular, The shareholders will sell you down the road for a nickel and deliver a piece of crap product under the same name to cash out.
One of my favorite restaurants a couple towns over has been excellent for years, decades. T was always crowded and noisy, well known by everyone I encountered. It became my favorites on road trips from college, continued being my favorite as I dated and eventually married. It was still my favorite as I raised my kids to teenagers.
Then I really hadn’t gone since COViD, so my kids took me for Fathers Day this year. It should have been a red flag that the place apwas empty, quiet. Most of the microbrews were gone, service was horrible, half the menu was missing, they no longer put corn bread on the table. Then we got the food, and instead of home made everything, it all tasted like from a Sysco menu. They. O longer even had real plates or flatware. This all-star bbq place might as well be just dashing ketchup on top of microwaved food and opening a can of beans. What the heck happened?
The most memorable example of this for me was a long time ago. I was newly married and very poor. I was just starting to build my tool collection in the apartment.
I needed a circular saw to repair some craigslist furniture. So I carefully went around to the hardware stores looking at the prices. They were all more than I was willing to spend.
Then in Walmart one day I took a look at what they offered. It was pretty much an exact replica of the top of the line model at 1/4 of the price. The box was a bit dusty and next to another saw with the same name and UPC. It was obviously a newer box of the same item. It was the cheapest looking thing I could imagine. Completely different from the older one. It looked like a great way to lose some fingers and toes.
I grabbed the solid looking one and walked happily out of the store. It's had a lot of use since then, and it's still working flawlessly. I am still the proud owner of all my fingers and toes.
This is the truth.
Not the question.
OP asked for what you like at this point in time. OP never asked if you will still like them in 10 years.Actually OP asked which brands you can always trust trust, and never mentioned anything about "at this point in time". My answers still the same.
I will never always trust a brand, there are some brands that have good trust, but I’ve seen too many brands screw people over for money.
I will say currently, Darn Tough Socks, Keen Shoes, EVGA, Milwaukee Tools, if you are in the cinema / live production world Teradek, and Yamaha.
My only complaint about Darn Tough Socks is that they never seem to wear in. I bought a half dozen pairs several years ago, and all of them are like brand new still, which is great, but they are also stiff and tight like I've never worn them. I wear them predominately for work, and I'm on my feet all day, so that's a testament to their staying power, but damn, I wish they would stretch a little.
Darn
Why they gotta swear haha
Darning is a method of mending socks. It is a nerdy pun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darning
I went through two defective EVGA cards within the original card's warranty period. On the second card, EVGA tried to deny my warranty.
They eventually made it right, after I shamed them on Reddit.
Nah you can't trust Keen anymore as of like 7 years ago. They switched to much cheaper shoe materials on their presidio walking shoe that was super popular, but the price didn't drop at all. At the same time, they started inserting huge globs of rubber in the heel of their hiking shoes so you are forced to use their brand of insert that has a hole to fit said bump.
I’ll be honest, just recently bought new shoes from them haven’t gotten a chance to wear them in yet, the previous pair was pre-covid. But they look and feel exactly like my old pair did when I bought them, so maybe their work line hasn’t suffered yet.
And this is why I’ll never be loyal to a brand, as long as they’re good I’ll keep buying their product, when it’s not good I’ll stop.
I'll start my own thread with OXO for their kitchen goods. After a decade of dealing with subpar containers and utensils, I've slowly started to rebuild my set with OXO stuff and habe yet to be disappointed by anything of theirs.
Seconded with Knipex hand tools. They're far pricier than the competition you'll find on the store shelves, but the quality and engineering is better than anything else you can reasonably find (barring boutique toolmakers).
IIRC OXO measuring cups have raised lettering 1/2c. That’s so clutch, the painted letters seem to come out in the wash.
Le Creuset... but there's a secret... They're SUPER expensive.
So you find your local outlet store and sign up for their mailing list. You'll regularly get 30%, 40%, 50% off deals.
Not everything Le Creuset. They seem to be very similar to other kitchen brands (kitchenaid, Cuisinart, etc) in that they make a few excellent products, but the rest of their line is overpriced stuff that isn't as good as other brands you could buy. Their Dutch ovens are good, for example, but not their French press so much.
OXO quality has tanked over the last 15 or 20 years since Helen of Troy bought them who source all of their products from Mexico and China using shady subcontractors. They had a lot of innovative designs when they started out, but don't really invest in that anymore.
Knipex on the other hand is still pretty solid on quality. They're still family managed and their manufacturing employees are primarily union workers, so they're able to keep the skilled workers around.
The only OXO product I've had issues with is their rotating cheese grater, but it's so nice to use that I just buy a new one every seven years or so.
My OXO kettle's handle fell off during regular use, it's just held on by a tiny clip.
Their conical coffee grinder is as expensive as a bur grinder.
I’ve used my Knipex 5” cobra pliers more than anything else in the toolbox, except maybe a torx set. Solid tools.
They're great. As a line cook, I used to EDC a pair of the 4" minis in my pocket for taking off burner nozzles for cleaning. By the end of my year there, everyone else I worked with had bought a pair because they were so much better than dealing with the garbage Hart brand pliers the restaurant supplied.
A lot of OXO stuff is cheap made in China junk these days.
Why would you trust a brand? The brand that you like wasn't the same people 20 years ago, and that will change again.
there still are brands that make a good quality product and haven't tried to scam customers. Leatherman comes to mind.
You can like the quality the brand embodies and sells.
If you know the quality is a good compromise to the amount of money you spend it's tbh a no-brainer.
Hopefully they haven't gone downhill lately but I've always gotten good quality products from Anker and one time they even sent me an "upgraded" set of headphones for free because I complained about the pair I bought having poor sound.
My history with anchor is varied. At one point they produced the finest of everything at the cheapest possible price.
Then for a couple of years they produced a bunch of garbage that would barely get the job done.
I was buying a lot of anchor products for work. About half the power delivery chargers I purchased over a three or four month period burned out at least one of the ports. I have a bunch of battery banks where the USBC port stopped working.
Now they seem to be back on top again, but I don't just blindly trust them and buy from them anymore I'll get one or two and test things out before I buy a bunch.
anchor
is tupperware
Yeah, i can second the power strip thing. I have three right now, one is completely dead, the usba/c ports don't work on another, third one has been flawless so far.
I might look into the newer options, but I'm a bit skeptical now...
anker has a smart home division called Eufy that has some TERRIBLE software that ruins nice hardware like their doorbells
We had a Eufy baby monitor that was so bad (replaced three times when trying to update firmware, the fourth time it died it was due to a drop) that it has actually made me think less of Anker as a company. If they stick to that being their low quality bargain brand, maybe I'll consider Anker again, but for now I'm out.
They've been my go to for headphones & speakers for a while, but my last few purchases of different models all ended up getting returned due to the same connectivity issues. Sitting at home, the headphones are fine, but when I'm out for a walk, they experience some sort of interference that causes the music to skip/stutter. I still have an old, long discontinued, pair of Anker earbuds, and when I go for the same walk with those, there's zero connectivity issues.
Regarding online services, Proton.
I love Proton’s mission just like all Lemmy users but I wouldn’t say you can trust them in terms of quality. Apart from Proton Mail and Proton VPN, most of their other products unfortunately have a deep lack of features.
Merrell hiking boots.
I’ll second Merrell’s. I’ve worn the shit out of every pair I’ve had and they’ve lasted longer than any other shoe/boot I’ve owned.
Until they replaced gortex with a plastic grocery bag for water proofing. Now it feels like I'm walking in wet dog shit while making a constant crinkly noise.
My keen boots fit me better than Merrill.
I have a pair of Oboz that have held up for quite a while
Yeah. All my shoes are Merrels =)
I was looking in this thread for Brother printers. They are consistently OK, as all other printer brands have gone to shit.
My 15 year old brother color laser printer is still going strong after 78k pages printed. And they still sell replacements parts for it so I can repair it if there is ever a need for it
Arm and Hammer, solid products that aren't overpriced. I use their laundry soap, deodorant, toothpaste, and previously, the cat litter. Seems they're focused on doing a few things very well.
Church & Dwight is the conglomerate that owns Arm & Hammer, and they own some other cleaning product brands like OxiClean and OrangeGlo. They also own Trojan condoms and First Response pregnancy tests.
I use oxiclean to help clean gunky beer kegs. It actually works really well to put a scoop in, fill with hot water and let it sit overnight. By morning it's like a new keg. I then finish sanitizing with StarSan
Man, oxiclean really is a life saver for me. No store brand has really been as good.
I really like Arm and Hammer's scentless laundry soap and their baking soda/peroxide toothpaste.
I've been using both for years and feel no need to change.
None. All brands will sell you out of they thought they could while continuing to be profitable after you realized
Kirkland anything (nearly anyway)
Similarly, nearly everything made by H-E-B / Central Market. Save for maybe one or two things where I’ve been disappointed, I like and even prefer their store brand for many things.
If that's all it takes for you to boycott, you should avoid everything. A few suffering pigs at one of Costcos suppliers is basically nothing compared to their size. It's good it's brought to light. But just like the article says, it's legal to do what they did, and all they need to do is kill them faster.
Breville (Sage in the UK).
They're expensive, but they're good, and they last.
I've owned: espresso machine, coffee grinder, automatic loose leaf tea maker, coffee maker, toaster oven, bigger toaster oven, waffle maker... I think that's everything?
I've never regretted any of these purchases and never had one shit the bed. I did sell the tea maker and the smaller toaster oven, but I still have everything else. The coffee grinder I've had for over 10 years.
Dualit used to be the dog's bollocks of toasters but they sold out, and Breville is the new king.
If you can find a 20 year old steel Dualit on eBay however, it'll last the rest of your life
Can confirm. They're not commercial grade kind of quality, but they are some of the best consumer grade right now, mostly because they use fewer plastic parts than most and good quality steel. Though they still use too much plastic in things that would be better served by lower grade metals or glass.
I also have an espresso machine, coffee grinder, and toaster oven that I've had for ages and never needed new parts. I also have an all stainless french press that is really sturdy, but because the shape isn't perfect, the rod for the press needed to be replaced once since it requires a lot more pressure than it should to use it. But even with that defect, it has lasted nearly 15 years, and I only replaced the rod and filter once.
Darn Tough Socks, made in Vermont USA and guaranteed for life. If you get a hole in one, send it back and they give you a credit to pick any pair you want on their website.
That's amazing. I'm going to look into this. I suppose they make this work because most customers actually find it inconvenient to send their destroyed socks back or the terms to do so make it difficult.
YKK zips. On anything I've ever owned, they don't break. And I find that more durable clothing brands will use YKK zips.
My anecdotal experience, don't get them on tall boots
I have a couple pieces of clothing with riri zippers, they're fantastic
Victorinox has never disappointed me. I own a few kitchen knives, their cutlery and an extensive collection of pocket knives. Everything is solid, dependable, arrives sharp and stays sharp. Plus they have good company ethics, as far as those things go. I like their products so much, I frequently give them as gifts.
I second this recommendation. They're certainly not the best at anything, but they're a good value for the money and good quality.
Opinel is amazing too for knives. Their pocket knives are cheap, sharp and easy to sharpen and durable.
"Always"? None.
Any time I have found a brand like this, they start enshitifying right after I decide to be loyal to them. If you stop shopping around, they have less incentive to make a good product to create loyal customers.
The problem is capitalism, not the individual companies. Enshitification comes for them all eventually.
The only brands I trust are owned and operated by individuals. I do woodworking and I use Japanese tools (their quality is incredible) and good blades are individually forged by masters.
Unfortunately the greatest smiths are always poor, or at least never rich. They all have an extreme devotion to integrity and quality that I highly admire. I wish to make a storefront to support these dedicated craftsmen.
Brother printers. I have 78k pages printed on my 15 year old color laser printer from them, and it's still going strong. They still sell OEM toner and even replacement parts for it, although the only part that ever needed to be replaced so far was the drum.
This needs more upvotes. 6k pages from a single cartridge.
A brother laser printer was the best decision of my college career. I only wish I'd have bought it sooner
Stihl tools. They just fucking work.
Add to this Husqvarna, Bahco and Fiskars
Casio
Seiko
Slackware
Vibram
Shimano
Coen BrothersShimano really should have turned to shit, what with them effectively having a monopoly (in mountain biking certainly) for literally decades. I don’t know whether it’s a Japanese thing or what, but they never did. Just kept quietly putting out decent gear at a variety of price ranges.
I picked up a full set of XTR v-brakes from eBay a few years back. Those things were still as good as the day they were new, despite being old enough that I only paid £20 for the lot.
old casio products are unforgivingly reliable. I've literally never had one fail regardless of the ridiculous amount of abuse I put them trough.
The new ones tho... "it's water tight not water proof" is what support told us when their "water tight" watch died after a minute of rain
Chrome Industries backpacks. They’re marketed to bicyclists, of which I’m not one – but damn they’re perfect.
I've been using one for 6 or 7 years now, and it's amazing. I got one made with Dickies Khaki material and I love the way it looks, and it's super easy to clean.
I think the pack I have is the same fabric. You’re right, it reminds me of Dickies – indestructible.
......are they marketed by Jake from Statefarm?
So far, Gorilla brand stuff has been good.
Have yet to wear out a Honda.
Madewell jeans are actually made well.
Smartwool socks. I replaced mine this year because they were getting holes, the ones I was replacing were purchased in 2014 and I wore them daily, had enough pairs to last a week, washed them weekly, they lasted ten years.
Not a brand but cast iron skillets. Some of mine are over 30, they will last essentially forever. And get a big knife you can sharpen, mine wasn't even a good brand and lasted almost 30 years.
If you think smartwool is good, you should check out darn tough socks. Those things are amazing, and come with a lifetime warranty
Smartwool enshitified by dropping their warranty to two years. Used to be able to take an old pair to my outfitter and pick out a new set, no questions.
Like the other user said, check out DT. EZPZ replacement.
If there's one thing the last couple of decades have taught me, is there is no such thing as a brand you can trust forever: even the privately owned family brands sometimes get bought out by some conglomerate or made public, followed by enshittification as the new management tries to squeeze all the value they can of the brand.
You're better off not going by brand and researching every large ticket item purchase you want to make: if you're going to spend $1000, it's probably worth a couple of hours of your time looking into it beforehand unless your hourly rate is pretty high.
OceanGate, depending on your goals.
"I want to go to the bottom of the ocean"
"Say no more..."
At this point none. Trademark law has been rendered null and void when a holding company can own 3/4 of the brands on the market. Go pick up a power tool off the rack at Lowe's or Home Depot and tell me where it was made. When Stanley Black & Decker source different tools for the same brand from different anonymous manufacturers...
I'm at the point where I'm going to suggest to you learn how to work wood and metal with hand tools.
Most of the shit is made in China now, including Craftsman, Snap-on, and other traditional American tool manufacturing brands. Wera and Wiha are made in Germany, and worth the extra money if you expect your tools to last a lifetime.
i cite from popularmechanics.com:
As this graphic from PressureWashr.com shows, just 18 megabrands control 91 percent of the global power tools market. Of those, four companies control 48 percent.
picture: https://hips.hearstapps.com/pop.h-cdn.co/assets/17/39/1506429411-pressha.jpg?
I got so sad when I picked up some Airwalks a few years ago, only for them to fall apart pretty quickly. Turns out they’d been bought out by some branding firm who had licensed the name out to whoever wanted to make them on the cheap. So yeah, Airwalks used to be one of the big names in skateboarding shoes with Vans and DC, and now they’re dog shit.
Anker. Every time I buy one of their products, I'm impressed by the quality. It's come to the point that I'm seeing knockoff brands inserting the Anker keyword into their product descriptions, hoping a search will put their product up in view.
Anker has been a solid brand since at least the 90's. Always reliable. Never the fanciest, but always reliable.
They were caught spying on their cloud based surveillance camera customers though
Stanley. I have my grandads original Stanley thermos from around the 40's and its in amazing condition. The new Stanley products are still top notch.
I bought two large Stanley thermoses when they were on sale locally. Used them every day for 5 years. Besides a few cosmetic blemishes they're as good as new.
JetBlue, I can always trust that their flights will be delayed an hour minimum.
Deuter backpacks.
In many years of backpacking I never met someone who had trouble or regrets with a deuter bag.
I broke one of the steel rods in mine after years of heavy use and clearly by my own fault and way out of any manufacturer responsibility and they just replaced it for free. I just asked if there is any way to get spare parts and they were like "Here you go, have a good trip."
Besides that, you have put in serious effort or serious stupidity (in my case) to break them at all. Especially normally easily breakable parts like clasps and zippers, are super sturdy.
Mainly I use them as a easy way to recognize German tourists. Never seen them on sale anywhere but I guess they must be sold in Germany because Germans sure love them! French can be recognized by Quechua backpacks BTW tho less reliably. And in the past, Italians by Invicta and Swedes by Fjallraven.
DeWalt (aka default) tools. There's a reason every building contractor is carrying around DeWalt drills and saws - they hold up to daily jobsite use, you don't have to handle them like they're fragile, you can get them dirty and they keep working.
Don't buy Ryobi or Black&Decker unless you know it's something you're going to beat to hell for one job and then dispose of. And don't any buy high speed rotary tools from Harbor Freight.
The second part of your comment is flat out wrong for most homeowners. Ryobi tools are fine for Henry Homeowner. And specialty tools from harbor freight are fine. Buy cheap and if you use it enough to break it, then buy quality.
What's wrong with Black+Decker? I've had many of their appliances and they never let me down.
They have been a shit-tier tool for a long time after being dead solid for decades. I don’t know if they’ve moved up to “ok” recently, but I haven’t bought B&D in 15 years because they were crap.
I'm going to name a few as I do a lot of different hobbies.
For tools (hand\power) Milwaukee brand is hard to beat, and for hand tools I'm a fan of Husky generally. Underrated.
For Music equipment: Boss and Roland are always a safe bet and worth at least comparing to whatever you are looking at. (amps, pedals, drum machines, synths... etc)
For inflatable water craft (rafts, kayaks, fishing boats): Sea Eagle is the shit.
For computer components (motherboards, video cards, etc): ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI. (ASRock is an honorable mention) I've built PC's for over 30 years now. Thousands of systems. I stand by this.
For computer accessories (hard drive docks, adapters, misc) Startech makes great stuff for the price and all kinds of useful equipment.
For 3D Printers - I love Ender's due to the amount of easy upgrades\hacks\upgradability to turn a $200 3d printer into a printer that can rival anything out there for it's type. And a lot of the parts you can just print with the printer you bought. You can do this with many brands but I found Ender to be very accessible with a lot of ready made parts on the web you can get started with immediately. Not to mention upgrading the motherboard\step motors and what not. It's a great hobby if you like to tinker.
Cars (vehicles): I've owned many brands at this point in my life. From high end Volkswagen sports cars (2008 Rabbit modded out) to low end beater 96 Ford Escort, Dodge Dakota pickups and Chevy SUVs. And at this point in my life, with all the money spent, accidents, long road trips and broken parts, I'll never buy anything besides a Honda or Toyota. They are the best value out there. Period.
Seconding Startech - I bought a DP to DVI-D adapter for my MacBook Pro and while it worked flawlessly with my PC, macOS was only showing me 1280x800 resolution instead of the monitor's full 2560x1600 resolution. I found that under Windows on Bootcamp it fully worked on the same hardware so it was clearly a macOS thing.
Emailed their support about it and within a day, got a guy who immediately gave me very technical and specific advice and suggestions, clearly very experienced. We weren't able to solve it (chalked it up to a weird macOS limitation and work gave me a different adapter that worked) but he was still incredibly helpful, and I'll have confidence in buying from them in the future that their support should be excellent.
Didn't Asus start enshittifying recently? Thought I saw some chatter about that on here 😢
They have had some sus stuff very recently yes.. disappointing.
Just stay away from the RoG nonsense and you should be fine.
For 3D printers I think prusa is the bramd that can be trusted with quality.
They are expensive but made in Europe and very reliable out of the box. I've been printing tons of parts for the renovation of my house and tools organization with no issues. I just start the print and come back once it done. Now I even do it remotely from work.
Compared to my brother who had a Ender 3, tinkered quite a lot with it but was constantly baby sitting the prints and eventually just gave up on it.
Garmin. They have been churning out better and better stuff over the years. Its pricey, indeed, but both hardware and software quality is top.
Been using the Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar watch, which has amazing battery life, amazing sensors, top hardware quality overall and software is perfect for the job. Screen too is amazing (MIPS, not Amoled...).
Also using bike computer and radar (Edge+Varia), where battery life could be better, but easy to remediate.
There are competitors, but at the same price point I wouldn't ever give up in Garmin for them.
I goddamn hate their avionics tho.
Aside from their love of rotary knobs garmin is mostly fine. Their GA autopilots are amazing. If only everyone used Collins I would be very happy.
Yeah, it seems like they finally invested in firmware and software programmers. WAY fewer issues than back in the day, still amazing hardware quality.
I have a Garmin Edge 840 bike computer and I do like it (more than the Wahoo ELMNT Bolt v2 I had before), but man some of the design decisions are just baffling to me.
Like why can't I have tones for my notifications (for refuelling), without also having them for navigation? And why do notifications close themselves after 5 seconds? I always miss them because I either have the tones silenced and happen to be looking where I'm going instead of my head unit when they pop up, or I have the tones on I miss them because the navigation tones are so obnoxious I just learn to ignore all the sounds.
And why can't I disable the virtual partner, and why the hell is the arrow on the map for the virtual partner bigger than the one that represents the actual rider?
/rant
I have disabled the virtual partner on my 520, so you should be able to do the same as well.
As tones, you can do some tweaking, and I read somewhere that the sound is a file that you can replace by connecting the unit via USB to PC...
Garmin entire filesystem tree is accessible from PC via USB (mtp)....
Honestly: The LTT merch store. The product was never bad, support was very good as well as the will to fix problems (albeit at a slower pace than one might be used from amazon).
I was complimented from the family for the quality and look.
It's certainly pricey but alright.Bonus: The branding on most is very minimal.
Garmin watches, Carhartt clothing, RTIC cups, Crocs, Yamaha guitars, New Balance shoes, Birkenstocks, Murray’s Hair Dressing,
Klein tools. They're just really good through and through.
None. Unless you are referring to the fact you can trust any to fuck you the second you are not looking
Mazda for cars (pretty much anything after 2013)
Toyota and Honda. I've also had good experiences with Mazda.
As an embedded software engineer, you should never forget the Toyota "unintended acceleration" fiasco. They bent the NHTSA over by only allowing NDA'd engineers to review their software in a SKIF and never directly being able to speak about what they saw. It was millions of lines of spaghetti code scattered across dozens of processors in their cars, and it killed a ton of people.
I know Toyota is praised for their business practices, their introduction of hybrid cars, and their general good treatment of workers. But never forget their managerial practices that let the software degrade to the point that it killed people.
When they started with hybrids they kinda got ahead with the Prius and stopped.
Shout-out to Raritan Engineering. I accidentally cracked the porcelain bowl of the head that was original equipment in my 1974 sailboat, and needed a new one. Not only is the company still in business, the parts from a model they still sell are compatible, 50 years later! Their support techs were able to tell me exactly what parts I needed to buy.
Actually, quite a few marine brands are always reliable. The harsh environment at sea tends to out cheap crap in a hurry.
3M does tape and chemicals better than most anyone.
If it's supposed to be sticky: 3M over anything else.
How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe
https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story
I'll just leave this here without further comment
Yeah, I've read it before. And bayer gave aids to foreign countries, and nestle has done deplorable things, and the banana people have hired mercenaries to kill natives for banana control, and our US government let tons of black people die and spread syphilis because they just wanted to see how it went instead of giving them the cure, cable companies stole billions and never delivered on promised infrastructure....if it's a big entity, they're usually pieces of shit. I'm still getting my tape from 3M.
Continental tires for my bicycles. Definitely the best investment I’ve ever made for my bikes. Always recommend them to friends when they get flats.
If you consider software a product/good then Linux is very good. The kernel still supports systems with security updates that are older than a lot of people here.
You might find this community interesting [email protected]
Peterson pipes are good and IMP meerschaum pipes are good too.
Hello, fellow piper.
I also find Missouri Meerschaum pipes an excellent starter pipe for $20 to get someone into the hobby.
I would love to try one of them but I spent all my pipe money on meerschaums so it's gonna have to wait.
Cactus Outdoor.
I had the original pack now called Vacuole, used it for a long time 10 or so years, lost it one time when moving houses. My boys have one each for school now, I expect them to last for the duration.
I have two pairs of supertrousers and two pairs of hangdog shorts, all have lasted 6 years so far, daily use in summer / winter for the shorts / trousers.
The stuff made in the Christchurch factory is epic.
Kleen Kanteen insulated water bottles is my pick. I have one from 2012 that looks like the Gameboy that survived a bomb blast from a decade of dropping it while walking and biking, and it still holds a vacuum on the insulation walls and doesn't leak.
Look I'm a dad which means cargo shorts are basically required apparel (ok, wore them pre-kids), but Lee Dungarees have always been good to me.
But velcro, dude. As a gen-x I now hate everything velcro. Teva sandals, cargo shorts, seams on jackets; it's just got to go.
Yeaaah velcro isn't usually my speed but I like the flex ones because they dry out so fast and are very lightweight. I have the heavier duty cargo ones they make that are all buttons no velcro.
At least navy blue, righ?
I'll be honest I thought they were but being colorblind turns out they were just dark gray :))
Comet Cleanser.
Cascade Detergent.Bar Keepers friend too
Don't forget BonAmi
I don't trust brands, I trust their customer support.
Any device/product can fail, no matter how excellent it is. To me, what matters is how efficiently the issue is dealt with by the support.
Like, I trust Apple customer support and now, after approx. 40 years being their customer, their customer support is the sole reason I'm still buying Apple stuff (I don't like at all what they became and how they make their device unfixable on purpose, it's a shame for a company that so much pretend to care about being eco-friendly). I'm also a fountain pen user and a collector, but the brands I trust the most are not the most hyped and expensive, far from it, they're TWSBI and Lamy, because of their amazing customer support. Or, say, I mainly wear Merrell shoes for hiking (because they fit me well, obviously) because they have a fine customer support. And so on.
I have zero brand loyalty beyond that, and will not hesitate to change brand if they ever cut on their customer support.
I’ll never forget when the internal speaker went on my first iPhone, a 3GS. I put off getting it repaired because I was so used to having to send my previous Nokias and HTCs back and being without my phone for a couple of weeks. But the warranty was about to expire, so I bit the bullet and booked an appointment to get it sorted.
Walked in to the appointment and walked out ten minutes later with a brand new phone.
That sold me on Apple’s customer support.
I will say though, that the support seems to have tanked over the past few years. That they’ll jump on any blemishes on the device as a reason to not honour the warranty. Like how the screen in my XR had a tiny burn right at the edge (I was a welder at the time and stupidly had it in the top pocket of my overalls), which they used as reason to not work on it when it kept freezing. They demanded I pay £150 for a replacement screen first, which I refused, so they returned it to me. They’d taken off the screen protector, so I then had to argue with them for weeks to get them to replace it.
To be clear, Apple's Support has its fair share of drawbacks and always had — I've been their customer since the mid-80s, there never was a magical period where they were perfect ;) — but what matters (to me, at least) is that while the product is under warranty a customer doesn't have to worry too much on average (because, once again, there will be cases where support will fail the customer).
Outside of warranty, that's an other story but then the real issue is in the way Apple designs its machines to not be upgradable or not easily fixable, if at all. That's the real shame and that should be outlawed.
I have a few Fiskars products I really like. Hatchet, garden trowel, craft cutting board. They use a very durable, lightweight plastic
I abused the shit out of my loppers and cracked the blade. They sent me a new blade without much fuss.
My solar powered casio pro-trek wristwatch has been going for over 15 years now. No battery changes, atomic clock syncing, altimeter, barometer, moon phases, tidal display, compass and a lot more.
Seriously i think it might be the last watch I'll ever own and within the first year I bought a second just to have a a backup if this one ever dies.
Veto pro pac tool bags.
They're meant for tradesmen, but they're tuff AF.
I have a big Veto bag. It was a gift from one of my bosses. I'd never have bought one (though I have occidental bags and am not afraid to spend money on tools) but god damn, it is a fine piece of gear. If it ever wears out, I'd deff buy a new one.
I had ruined so many "heavy" backpacks, it paid for itself in two years.
None.
one example:
i had these hiking pants. they were leightweight, they fit me, they were breathable, thay dryed really quick, they were zip pants, so you could take off the legs and had short trousers. cost like 50 euros.
sold by globetrotter hiking supplies in germany.
first, they were called black bear. then meru grimsey pants. then frilufts.
so, this is what they do: they discover what sells well. they take that, and ratch the price up every three months or so. when one brand is so pricey the sellnumbers drop off, they invent another one as competition, so you have two pants then.
usually there is a huge quality drop then, but also a price drop. but the product is virtually the same, in my case those same pants with different names. if you want pants with certain properties, there is this category.
now, the pants are shite. expensive they dont fit me anymore all features neutered pantlegs are narrow, like, leggins maybe? but thats stupid for the outdoors. you want loose pantlegs, because of sweat bugs, ventilation, insulation, bit of wind draft, and so you can roll them up. my ass doesnt fit as well the fabric is like plastic and not even breathable??? why would i want that?
this ratching up the price of what sells method is a thing these huge stores with great reputation do like, systemattically. i am sure this is like a buisness scholl topic.
what i do, i have alarms so that tell me when somebody is selling a size 48 of these pants. i managed to get two pairs recently.
Costco. And if they suck, never a question returning.
Lands End clothing has gone way downhill in recent years, but it is still generally more durable than typical stuff you'd get at places like Target. I can typically wear their items for five years or more. My experience is with the men's side.
L.L. Bean
Eureka Camping Tents
Durston Backpacking Tents
Cotopaxi travel backpacks & bags
Osprey backpacking backpacks
Asolo boots
Redwing boots
Mountain Hardware down jackets (pretty much anything from them is great)
Wüsthof, Zwilling, and Zero Tolerance knives
DeWalt power tools
Wera, and Wiha hand tools
Decathlon brands are pretty much it with me, quechua and the assorted brands they make themselves or allow in store.
whether shoes, rucksacks, hammocks, running shorts, I'm consistently blown away by their extreme comfort and durability, especially for the price.
Mountain Equipment Coop. They stand behind everything and it's all lasted me decades.
Sadly should no longer be recommended. It's Mountain Equipment company now, and the enshittification is well underway.
Ogio. I have 5 or 6 bags including some luggage. All have held up for 10s of years. Recently the luggage (7 years old) had a zipper break and Ogio just replaced it no questions asked.
Redwing
deLonghi
Toyota
Roland + Yamaha + Steinway (Musical Instruments)
Sennheiser (Headphones)
Roc-N-Soc (Drum Throne)
SmartWool + Darn Tough (Socks)
Khul + Prana (Clothing)
Seasonic (Power Supply)
AsRock (Motherboard)
CloudFlare (DNS Registrar)
PrivateInternetAccess (VPN)
I'm curious if anyone would vouch for a TV manufacturer? Are there any good dumb TVs anymore? I have a Samsung smart TV and it is an absolute pain in the ass to use the remote UI. I have resorted to running KODI on a Linux box instead.
Sennheiser
Just FYI, Sennheiser’s consumer audio department got bought out a few years ago. I can’t say as to whether that has affected the quality of their products, but brands being purchased rarely works in their favour.
I’m a Sony kid these days.
To be fair, Sennheiser's consumer line have always been pretty mediocre. Their pro audio line have always been solid and what their good rep is based on.
Fuckin ASRock, my childhoods nightmares.
Best friend and I got 2 ASRock boards in highschool, both failed for no reason within 10 months and then months of sending it back and forth multiple times for repair.
Never buying anything ASRock since.
I've had two boards from them and both have worked without any issues and my last one was in service for 10 years.
I have had great success with ASRock personally.
Asrock used to be budget boards, did that change? When? I never consider them unless on very tight budgets for that reason.
ASRock is the only mobo I ever used that died on me for no reason at all and I'm hardly the only one.
Same for me. Shutdown the PC at night and went to bed, next morning it won't turn on anymore.
I have an ASRock Mobo rn! their software is kinda shit but the mobo itself is great
I think Philips are pretty decent for smart tvs
Samsonite, I'm on my 3rd backpack of theirs. I've been using them since I was about 11 or so, I'm 26 now.
They're not officially water or wear proof, but they've always been that way in my experience regardless. Even after years of daily use,and I was a weird school going kid that liked his bag heavy.
Their zippers failed on my on both my previous bags, when they got really cold in the winter. I don't know if it's the less cold temperatures of today, or whether they've improved their zippers, but they've not failed on my latest bag. Which is currently about 13 years old I think? It looks as good as new still
YKK zippers have a reputation for holding up though I've had one or two recently that didn't last (you can see YKK on the handle)
YKK dominates zippers from meh quality to the best. It's up to the downstream partner to decide which they want
mine have a little whirlpool logo, I don't know what that is
Agreed. The zipper on My Samsonite roller case has been abused beyond belief and generally tested to breaking point over and over, and yet it resists and basically feels as good as new. Of course, I paid top dollar for that thing. You do get what you pay for.
Wouldn't a general location be important here?
Like if I said that I trust X toilet paper brand that only exists in the US, how would I know that it helped in any way? Maybe you live in Ireland?
The Internet had made location pretty obsolete.
With a quick search, I can find out more info on any of these brands, including if they are available in my area, and we should all be doing our own research anyway; this thread is just a good place to start.
Lush, specifically their shampoo. I would use other stuff of theirs but I live in a country which they do not sell in, so the shampoo (which lasts for ages) is something I buy a lot of when I can get it.
Apple I generally trust (computers, not phones, those are too expensive and limited).
Does it count as reliable if I only have sample size of 1?
Beyerdynamic. Had DT770 pro for 8 years before they "broke" (cable connection failed, I think it's still fixable--making them last for many more years---by someone with skills I don't have, and they could have lasted more if I handled them a tad better.)
Recently I replaced them with DT770 pro X and they sound perfect to me.
Beyers are tanks, my DT770s are old enough to vote. The few parts that do tend to break are trivially cheap to buy replacements for.
Hottest take on this site: Apple.
I use my 2011 MacBook Pro to manage my 80k photos. My phone is six years old. My iPad Pro is five? (Edit: I lied, it’s a 2017 model) Years old.
I don’t use their desktops, I use Linux for my servers and windows for playing games. But my Apple shit for casual use has all lasted me an insane amount of time.
My 13 year old MacBook Pro still gets through 1.75 playthroughs of Beetlejuice on max brightness! Full disclaimer, I originally bought it for games and used Windows 7 always plugged in, and only now it has an SSD and OSX and the battery has 30 cycles. BUT STILL
If you're much of a tech person, you must have been living under a rock if you think all apple products are good. Several of their laptops and desktops have been large misses, some have had critical flaws that burn them out after a few years, one of their iPhones had a battery/processor combo flaw that had the batteries not deliver enough voltage after like a year and instead of doing a recall, they put out an update that undercooked the apu so the phone ran shittier but wouldn't rando restart anymore. Then there was the iPhone that lost reception if "you were holding it wrong".
Also, there's a reason they were about to go bankrupt in the mid 90's. They got saved by Bill Gates and got lucky with the Ipod, that saved their company.
Hottest take on this site: Apple.
That's because there's such a huge and biased fan base, and they drown out the actual objective opinions.
I notice that here as well. I use tech products from all companies, but the frothing hate for everything Apple brings me back to my teens, in 2003, when I also felt that way. I started coming around when Apple started putting Intel processors in their machines and giving them decent specs for the price.
I originally bought my first Apple product, a MacBook Pro in 2008 for playing video games! All the PC laptops at the time were huge and had terrible battery life, while a 2008 MBP was tiny, light, and the battery lasted twice as long as GAMING LAPTOP. All I had to do was install Windows. That died in an unfortunate sticky spill and was replaced with my 2011 MBP, which is still going.
Now I just have that, my original first-Gen Apple Watch, a six year old iPhone, and an old iPad Pro. And they’re all still fast (well, not the watch) and work fantastically.
No it’s because they are so far above and beyond any of their competition Apple ‘s worst is better than any of the trash products trying to compete with it.
I've been using MacBooks for work as a developer for over 15 years. They are ridiculously reliable. Earlier models would have key paint rub off. Mostly cosmetic stuff. But I've literally never had one not work.
I don't like that you can't switch out batteries, ram or hard drive anymore.
Also, they're not cheap so for personal use I don't buy apple products (especially since I don't want to switch from an android to an apple ecosysten) but its to the point where if work tried to make me use a Dell windows laptop for my daily driver id go find another job. That's how much I like the MacBook pro.
Lucky for you, but the truth is, Apple isn't that great or reliable. Here is a list of all the MacBook recalls, and it's a list from 2021. Battery issues of possibly catching fire, screens cracking, logic board failures, etc...
Here is another list that is from 2023 of different Apple devices.
Apple Watch Series 6 – Black Screen Issue iPhone 12 and 12 Pro – No Sound Issues iPhone 11 – Touch Issues AirPods Pro – Sound Issues iPad Air 3rd gen – Blank Screen Issue Smart Battery Case – Charging Issues iPhone 6s and 6s Plus – No Power Issues 15-inch MacBook Pro – Battery Overheating/Fire Risk MacBook lineup – Keyboard Issues 13-inch MacBook Pro – Display Backlight Issues Apple Three-Prong AC Wall Plug Adapter – Electrical Shock Risk iPhone X – Touch Issues iPhone 7 – No Service Issues iPhone 6 Plus – Multi-touch and Display Flickering Issues Apple European AC Wall Plug – Electrical Shock Risk Beats Pill XL – Overheating and Fire Risk Apple 5W European USB Power Adapter – Overheating Risk Apple Ultracompact USB Power Adapter – Electrical Shock Risk
Where’s a list of recalls for non Apple devices for comparison?
I’ve had several devices that should have been recalled and weren’t so good on Apple for recalling anything at all.
Did you read the wiki leaks for chained exploits to achieve privilege escalation on various devices? Apple devices had the smallest attack surface by far and had already patched several vectors before they leaked.
With android, you had several paths to choose from to achieve full control of the device for each and every android version, and the likelihood that a device was patched, if a patch existed at all, was extremely low. Patch releases would lag published exploits for years.
Apple has always used the right hardware for the job, while others add as much power as possible to hide the fact their software / hardware marriage is abysmal.
And now there is Apple silicon, which is even better!
- Hardware: Winner Apple
- Software: Winner Apple
- Security: Winner Apple
- User friendliness: Winner Apple
Until you realize you can't replace ram or batteries...
I replaced my RAM and the battery is easily replaceable… but that’s on my 2011 model.
Patagonia since they also offer repair services in the event of damage and are relatively ethical.
This might sound weird, but Apple. I was NEVER disappointed by any of the products I bought. Sure, they are fucking expensive. Sure, they sometimes release really dumb products that most people probably shouldn't buy (e.g. the 2015 MacBook). But if you make all the right considerations before your purchase, I'm pretty sure you will have a product that won't disappoint you. At least that's been my experience so far. That doesn't mean that I'm perfectly happy with everything, for example I'm trying to switch away from an iPhone (I will definitely keep using macOS laptops/desktops though) for privacy reasons. I wasn't really disappointed here, when I bought this phone, I knew what I was getting myself into, but Google isn't much better.
Proton for secure email/calendar/whatever they offer now. I've been a subscriber to their paid plan for years, really happy so far.
IVPN and Mullvad for a trustworthy, private VPN provider
Washer/Dryer - speed queen
When I needed a new washer, I did a lot of research and strongly considered Speed Queen. But then I read they enshittified in 2018
Flowfold makes great, long-lasting products from recycled materials. I’ve got a few of their products and continue to be impressed.
Carhartt
I've worked with a lot of people who do hard, physical labor outdoors and they are almost always in Carhartt gear. Either that or Duluth Trading Company, which is what I wear.
Carhartt, Dickes, and Wolverine boots were all my go-to when I was a construction laborer. as far as I can tell these brands haven't become enshitified yet
Keeley and MXR guitar pedals
I never had any problem with any Kindle that I had. Paperwhite is a wonderful device
Miele whitewear
Better late than never, but I really like Nokian Tyres. They are fantastic.
None. Do your research and due diligence.
This could help but make sure you take everything with a grain of salt
I don't think you can completely trust any brand. Obviously some are better than others and I assume that's what you're asking.
Bosch tend to make pretty good machines. Mercedes cars are okay. Jura coffee makers are decent. Snap on tools are nice. Petzl outdoor gear is good. Armytek lights are solid. 3M products are good. EDZ and Icebreaker garments are nice.
add Leatherman too
McDonalds. Their burgers and fries have consistent quality no matter where on the planet I eat them.
/s ?
tbf it's consistent, but not necessarily good quality
Fitbit for fitness trackers. I had one of their smartwatches and never found it useful. The trackers are stripped down versions that do everything I need and have a week of battery life.
Cotopaxi
