This is not a conversation about guns. This is a conversation about items that have withstood abuse that are near unbreakable.
Some items I have heard referenced as AK47 of:
Gerber MP600: It’s a multi tool
Old Thinkpad Laptops
Mag lights
Toyota Hilux
Straight razor, either the big blade or the razor blade holder
Old Thinkpad Laptops
This.
I’ve been interested in this subject for a while and have a few recommendations.
Stanley Thermos. It could get hit by a fucking train and would still outlive you. Don’t recommend putting cofee/milk products etc in them though because it will make the gasket smell. Excellent water container though.
Double edged straight razor. The handle piece is virtually indestructible. I bought a package of like 500 blades for like 30 dollars and haven’t had to buy new ones for actual years. Fun fact as well, once you learn to use one it’s better for sensitive skin because you’re only dragging one razor across your skin per stroke instead of 5 or 7 or whatever the fuck the “better” ones have. Can confirm the “more blades = better” shit is just pure predatory marketing.
Buck knife. Multi tools are cool but if you tend to use the knife often, invest in a higher quality knife and stones to sharpen it. Sharpening stones (not the crap ceramic stuff they try to sell) will last a lifetime and will also keep all your kitchen knives beautiful for years. While you’re up to it, get a piece of raw leather, like the back of of an old belt, and use it as a strop to polish off the blade when you’re done sharpening, it really does make the cut smoother.
People say Mag light, but I’d personally recommend Olight as well for flashlights. The Olight Baton 4 is a ~600 lumen adjustable brightness flashlight with strobe which will blind you if you aren’t careful and its smaller than a pill bottle and comes with a reversible clip and inset magnet in case you need to stick it somewhere to keep the light steady.
A graphite metal “magic” pencil. Instead of using normal graphite, these metal bodied pencils have end pieces you screw in as a tip, are erasable, and one nib takes forever to run out, something like 5 pencils. They dont draw as dark as a regular pencil due to the hardness but for general usage they are handy.
Mighty plugs ear plugs. Want to know what it’s like to be deaf? Buy these. They aren’t too costly, completely seal the ear, and I only have to get a new package once every few years. They’re so effective I had to purchase an alarm clock built for deaf people which shakes my mattress instead of making a sound because I couldn’t hear any normal alarm clock after I started using these. This combination is unbeatable if you have awful neighbors or live on a busy street with night traffic.
Any self winding watch. Stop fucking around with button cell batteries and evolve. If it’s cheap, that’s probably better, if it gets scratched you don’t have to care. Seiko is a good brand in my experience.
If you’re into camping get a decent mid sized carving hatchet. I have a mid sized Hultafors swedish steel one. People like splitting axes because they do what they’re advertised to do, but theyre huge, heavy, and you cant carve or skin with them. A lighter smaller carving axe will do the same job splitting a log if you baton it with a medium sized stick. If you need something bigger to cut down a tree, go for a curved folding saw to bring with the hatchet. The Silky Saw Big Boy is great for that. Also buy a wool blanket. That shit will keep you warm in -35 C if you use it correctly. Also tents are neat but cumbersome, instead invest in a tarp and learn to make a lean to/other tarp configurations in combination with a ground sheet. If you expect you’ll be facing inclement or extremely wet weather, get an oilskin tarp (or make one yourself its literally just a cotton sheet which you have ran through a few dryer cycles as hot as possible, and then soaked through in a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits and hung outside until completely dry. Don’t put an open flame near it at any point in that process).
I probably have a bunch more, but can’t think of them off the top of my head.
Just bought some earplugs. They better be legit! I use silicone earplugs right now and they’re okay but on nights when my husband is really stuffy, he’s like a chainsaw.
The ones I recommended are similar to some other silicone ones, but are a bit softer. As a result I find they seal better in comparison. I had been using silicone ones prior to discovering these and they are definitely my preference.
Thank you! Fingers crossed that they’re even better than the ones I’m currently using. Which are pretty good (Eargasms) but don’t have a super high decibel rating and I definitely have to toss each pair after about a week and a half of wearing them every night, just because they stop being as…sticky? They’re not really sticky but they do adhere when they’re fresh, and not so much after a few days.
I see. Over a long enough time I do find that these ones harden as well at which point I change them, however that’s usually a month or more instead of a couple weeks. I hope they work out well for you should you buy!
As heads up as well, the little pucks they come as are way too big for my ears, but you don’t want them to be too small either.
These are amorphous like a sort of putty, so I usually tear a puck in half, and then another into quarters, and then mash them together such that I have 75% the size of a puck for each ear. This insures they completely seal my ear, but also cant get stuck or anything.
This also has the benefit of not needing to worry about sizing though!
I’m totally fed up with the usual 5-bladed razor crap from Gillette and especially Wilkinson. But I’ve always been to afraid to use an old school double-edged razor because I only, blindly, shave my head with it and maybe my pubes. Seems more risky. Any advice / recommendations?
I’ve been shaving my head and my balls with safety razors for like 15 years. Get some nice soap like sandalwood, cedar, lavender, frankincense, sasquatch or whatever name they’re calling it these days and make a lather on your body in the shower. A lather from actual soap is critical to avoiding nicks, cuts, and especially razor burn. Use a new blade and gently drag the razor across your skin. Use short strokes, not long passes. Clean the razor. Add more lather when needed. Don’t press hard or move the razor sideways or diagonally. That’s how you cut yourself. Watch out and take care for any bumps and rounded corners, like warts, the back of your jaw, or any sagittal crest you may have. Hold the razor with one hand and use the other to feel for hair and smoothness. Make a pass with the grain and another against the grain. Reapply lather between passes.
Maybe before you begin, shave a little hair off your arm or leg to test the angle you hold the razor. The sensation of individual hairs being cut will be tactile and satisfying. When it’s right, it’ll feel right.
Get a sharps container for used blades. It’ll take a lifetime to fill. Blades only cost like a dime, so just treat yourself and use a new one every time.
It ain’t too difficult. Just be gentle, take short and slow strokes, feel your way around, and don’t shave dry skin. You may be surprised how easy it is. They’re called safety razors for a reason.
Guess I’m getting a safety razor for Christmas then. It really sounds easy enough. I usually combine showering and shaving so lather really shouldn’t be a problem. Thanks!
You won’t regret it. Safety razors, and if you decide to, straight razors are far superior. I used a safety razor for a few years and then decided to get a Dovo straight razor and I love it.
I use a Merkur shaver, and Feather blades. Feathers are possibly the sharpest, but they only stay super sharp like three shaves. It coasts me like 0,03€ a shave, and it’s the best shaving experience. Also, wet shave. Cream or soap nad a brush until thick. A neat trick. Turn the blade upside down every shave. Your skin kind of acts like a strop.
Not all blades are for everyone. Some find Feathers too sharp. When starting get a multibrand pack, with Astra, shark, etc. Youll discover which work best for you.
Its a matter of practice. Just know that as long as you only move the razor in a straight line and dont wobble it side to side, you cant fuck up too bad. You want to learn to hold the razor such that it is always meeting the surface of your skin at a 45 degree angle, use very short strokes, and use your other hand to pull your skin taught.
You also want to remember that, especially when starting out, you dont have to do a great job on the first or even second pass. Do the best you can, and if there is still hair, just re-apply shaving cream and go over those spots again. Eventually you get good enough you can get everything in a single pass most of the time.
There are some good videos on youtube where people have tutorials on learning to use one. Also because it cuts closer to the skin, you may want to invest in a face moisturizer in addition to an aftershave. Really helps to prevent ingrown hairs and makes your face feel amazing after shaving with one. For pubes/longer hair, I would shave with an electric shaver first to shorten the hairs, and then follow up with the razor.
It’s like anything, you get used to it after some practice. Definitely not as daunting as you think.
You can either start with one of the milder razors sold by Edwin Jagger, Muhle or Merkur and pair with a moderate blade such as the Gillette Silver Blue OR get a good adjustable razor such as the Merkur Progress or Merkur Future and again pair with a moderate blade. Do not start with Feather blades.
I’ve been getting the razors from Aldi’s for when I (rarely) clean shave. Can’t tell the difference from the “fancy” brands
I’ve been shaving with a DE razor for about 15 years now, and I haven’t found it any easier or harder to cut yourself with them than the modern “Mach 84 Spike TV Edition” cartridge razors.
Just ordered a Henson razor today. Heard good things about it and it was also recommended here. Also I still had a promo code.
Instead of a curved folding saw I prefer a rope saw. I’ve always been able to take down limbs and trees faster.
For those that don’t know what that is, imagine a chainsaw chain with handles on either end.
Rope saws are neat as fuck as well.
Do you use one that is actual chain, or braided wire? I’ve used the braided wire saws, and I like how tiny/light they are, but I’ve never used one of the chain style saws to see if the weight/volume increase is worth it.
Mine is the chain style. I cannot compare as I have never used the braided wire and I don’t have to think about weight savings that much. I don’t generally hike far to a camping spot.
have ran
have run
While this does appear to be a grammatical error, Wiktionary also lists it as a dialectical, nonstandard past participle of run, so it looks like some people use it depending on where they’re from, including myself it seems.
I suppose I select ran as the past participle because in other cases where I use it in past tense, run does not sound correct to me.
For example where I am from, I would say someone “ran” from the police, instead of that someone “had run” from the police, so I default to this version of the word in these cases.
right?!?
Wait, you’re saying not to use coffee in a Stanley thermos?? Even if I don’t have milk in it too? What’s it for then, only soup?
Yea or water is what I primarily use it for. You CAN put coffee and such in there however, you will want to take off the gasket and clean the hell out of it. It absorbs smells quite strongly. You could also probably get a different gasket which is not as bad for it. Should the gasket begin to smell, I recommend soaking it over night in vinegar, and then another night in water. This really seems to suck the smell out of it.
In that case, it’s probably any gasket that’s susceptible to this, coffee is really strong-smelling. My Zojirushi thermos is only used for coffee, for this reason…
It can probably affect all gaskets, but depending on the type of rubber some might be better or worse. I haven’t played around enough with testing different ones to know for certain though.
Maybe silicone would be a good material for this?
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I feel like I’m being baited to mention Nokia
I’m seriously considering buying a Nokia smart phone to use with LineageOS. I’m a big fan of shitty android phones anyway.
a cheap microsoft phone isn’t a nokia
Who said anything about Microsoft
Pretty sure they’re referring to the sale of Nokia’s phone division to Microsoft in the mid-2010s. It’s since been bought back and is in the process of renaming to HMD.
Didn’t it get resold again to a Chinese firm? Please tell me they’re independent again.
Sort of. HMD licenses the Nokia name from the broader Nokia business and kept a lot of the old c-suite. Manufacturing is owned by a subsidiary of Foxconn.
ok, that’s cool. and their stance on repair ability means if they make a reasonably sized smart phone before I need a new one I’ll be getting one, and one of the stupid tablet sized ones anyway if not.
LineageOS wouldn’t run on a real nokia unless you’re talking about the nokia branded microsoft phones and they’re more like a 3d printed gun than an AK-47.
I think the argument still is, that those aren’t „real“ Nokias. At the very least they’re not the same Nokia that built the 3310, as that Nokia isn’t in the consumer electronics market anymore.
Ah I see. That’s a bummer
Just be aware their newer phones are hot shit. It’s the older phones that got the reputation for durability.
Nokia of now is not the Nokia of yesteryear. Their new phones are just cheap Android smartphones.
if they still ran on the phone network maybe
(Off-Topic) Does anybody have “anti-planned obsolescence” communities?
Maybe where good products are discussed or recommended? Similar to r/buyitforlofe but without the shilling of socks
Edit:
Thanks, subscribed!
Cast iron skillets.
If you season and clean them the right way they will outlive you.
I’m using the same one that my parents owned for 30 years and hope I will get another 30 years of usage out of it.
We have one my great-grandma got before WWI that we use several times a week.
Unless you put them in the dishwasher
If someone puts my cast iron in the dishwasher the cast iron will still outlive them
Thats the beauty of cast iron though. Even putting it through the dishwasher doesnt ruin the pan permanently. You just have to re-season it.
As long as you don’t use a heated dry it’s pretty much fine tbh. If any rusts you just wipe it down or sand it and re season
Same goes for carbon steel. Unless you’re frying sticks of dynamite they are practically indestructible.
I think there’s only 2 ways to actually kill a cast iron pan. Dropping from a height that causes the brittle metal to break, or putting lead in it. Obviously no one puts lead in their cooking vessels, but small pots are/were used to melt lead to pour in bullet molds, so if you find an old used pot, it’s good to check for lead.
Also, ceramic linings can get chipped.
You can mistreat bare cast iron horribly, never seasoning it, washing it in the dishwasher, or whatever, and it won’t get irredeemably damaged.
Game Boys are usually regarded as durable as hell. There’s even one that withstood bombing during the Gulf War (1991)
Me and my cousin went tubing one time and he forgot his gameboy color in his pocket the whole time we were out on the water. There was water behind the screen but it still booted and played with some fresh batteries
Pinecil soldering iron. Cheap (only $26!), open source, portable, usbc powered. Even more powerful than $100 ones. I love that thing
Open source soldering iron? How does that work?
The tip heats up enough to melt solder.
it has software for the temp control and such
specifically: https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS
It has some fancy features to allow for custom heating presets among other things. Also, it means you can easily repair/modify the hardware for whatever reason you might come up with.
Also, it means you can easily repair/modify the hardware for whatever reason you might come up with.
The ironic part is that you’d need a second soldering iron to do that.
It has a display and even bluetooth. The Firmware is open source. The schematics are available.
Imo open source is not that important for an iron unless you want to add a klingon translation. But the iron is pretty good, although it is often rather >50 bucks including shipping.
Open source might be important if we want to run DOOM on it.
Open source is good because it means it can be maintained even if the manufacturer shuts down. One of the biggest issues with keeping older tech alive and in a useful state is proprietary firmware.
Sure there is this one guy who changes the oled to a different one bacause his screen broke and the old one has been difficult to source. Most people won’t fix a 30$ iron. Especially since you need an iron to fix it…
Thanks for the suggestion, I was looking at buying another soldering iron. I’m using a really obscure brand one that I got from my dad and that I have been using since I was around 8 (30 years ago).
I can only get replacement tips in South Africa so was looking for something with more support.
Salt.
- Nearly every recipe uses it
- infinite shelf life (durable)
- cheap as heck.
- Keeps demons away
It’s funny how it used to be expensive. In Danish we have a saying to say someone is poor if “they can’t even afford salt for their egg”, as if an egg is cheaper than salt. Because it actually used to be that way.
Good take on the question
Can confirm with the old thinkpads. They’re not great for gaming, but the keyboard, track pack, and eraser head are solid for writing and other office-like work.
The old part really does a lot of work here. New ThinkPads are utter trash :-/
I got excited to get one for work (having heard about the old ones) and was sorely disappointed. It thermal throttles if you look at it wrong, it keeps having BIOS issues with Lenovo being no help and the USB-C display connection (To a Lenovo monitor with their inbuilt docking station!) is iffy.
Which series? T/P or one of the economy options? The T, X, W, and later on P series have been the only models people really like.
We have a few T series at work and they’re not bad. My T14 Gen. 1 doesn’t thermal throttle at all as long as its thermal paste isn’t toast. It will run at basically its full all core boost speeds all day long. The newer 12th Gen. machines dial their clocks back a smidge under full load, but that’s because they have 2x the cores of my measly 10th Gen. machine.
Also I have a T14s AMD and that thing is a BEAST for such a small machine. 35 watts out of an AMD 6 core is no slouch for something that small. And I easily get 7+ hours of battery life out of my abusive use.
Ah, T15 Gen1 with 48 GB RAM. The Intel CPU throttles hard unfortunately, I’d much rather switch to AMD (or a desktop…).
Fortunately the company has so many issues with Lenovo, they are switching to Dell now.
Change your thermal paste. These machines (as do all modern machines) run hot, and their paste doesn’t last long if you’re a heavy user. Find a thermal paste that’s thick in particular.
The pump out effect is really drastic on these modern CPUs if you’re constantly hitting 100% load.
Dude, I’m not opening up my work laptop. It’s going to be replaced in a year anyway.
The thing has been a piece of shit when it was brand new, it’s not the paste.
Are you on Windows or Linux? On windows 11 go to settings > power and battery > power mode and if you set it to high performance it almost doubles the TDP of the CPU. On windows 10 click the battery and drag the slider to high performance. If what I read online is correct the T14 and the T15 are the exact same heatsink and motherboard so unless the 1" gap from the end of the heatsink to the vent is that much of a problem they should perform exactly the same, just like the later T14 and T16 models. But 4 years is more than enough time for the thermal paste to be toast. My P1 ruined it’s paste in less than 6 months, but that’s also an i9.
But that’s the world of modern Intel CPUs. Turbo boost as far as you possibly can until you can’t turbo anymore. Then in 6 months when the thermal paste is ruined you’re searching for a new machine.
Windows 11, but I already tested out every combination of settings. Windows settings and BIOS CPU settings. Most high performance settings make things just a tiny bit faster, while the laptop blasts the fan at full speed (the fan sucks too, it’s too loud for what it does).
The cooling just sucks, the CPU boosts and then runs straight into thermal throttling and has to cut back. It has been like this since day 1, maybe it got worse in the past 2 years, but it was never good in the first place. Colleagues with the same model had plenty of issues too (and the lead sent it back to the IT department and demanded one model higher up with a beefier CPU, but he’s also not happy with it).
It’s a 3 year lease, the laptop will be gone in a year and then hopefully I can choose my next one. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like Dell is currently offering models with AMD CPUs…
I have two new P1 Gen 7’s coming today, i hope they have fixed that
They didn’t. They did kinda change the goalpost though.
Which model did you get? The i7 or the i9? The i7 models have a minimum guaranteed TDP of 28 watts, while the i9 is at least 35. But 35 watts on such a high end CPU is dire. The Gen. 7 also killed their high end GPU options, but maybe that leaves more power headroom for the CPU.
That’s still better than my P1 Gen. 4 which throttles down to 25 watts. 25 watts on an 11th Gen. i9 is AWFUL performance.
i9 with the 4070 GPU
Let me know how the thermals are on that machine. I ended up paying out the ass for a refurbished gen 6 because it comes with the 4090 and a MUCH bigger heatsink. From what I saw initially in the reviews the performance is worse not just because the 100 series has worse IPC, but the machine doesn’t actually boost as much since it’s more thermally limited.
HOWEVER the machine gets a LOT better battery.
My gen 4 would get anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours of battery life unless I’m doing literally nothing on it. This gen 6 gets like 4 hours unless I’m heavily taxing it. But from people online I saw them say 7 hours is easily doable. And having a GPU that doesn’t use 20 watts sitting idle sure helps.
Anything specific you’d like me to test?
The only thing I’m really curious about is how far back the CPU gets throttled with the dGPU active and busy.
On both of my machines when I render a video using my GPU the CPU is still the limiting factor because of the codec I chose. On my 11th gen machine it took like 5 minutes before it was power throttled down to 25 watts. My gen 6 takes longer to power throttle and only goes down to 35 watts, but either power level that sucks. I already know the gen 7 dials back the clock speeds, but I’m mostly curious how far it goes and how quickly?
The easiest way to test this is just open a video game that’s taxing on the CPU and GPU, I don’t think the CPU throttles with light loads like if you opened furmark. Maybe benchmarking software would cause it to throttle.
I was just blaming the usb-c connection to my monitor and throttling on a combo of windows and corporate bloatware, I guess I feel a bit better that I’m not the only one.
The connection to my monitor is the most frustrating, sometimes won’t even recognise it, sometimes after blanking the display it’ll come back with the wrong resolution but still display like it was the original, it’s super bizarre. Literally never had an issue with my personal Asus zenbook in either Debian or w11.
Hmm, yes, “eraser head”… That’s what I call it too.
I definitely don’t call it the mouse clit. Who would call it that?
Certainly not me.
How old? I want one, but there are a lot of models
I bought a T14 Gen 2 on eBay for about $250. It can play some older games like Morrowind, but I mostly use it for book writing, D&D games, video downloading/ripping/burning, browsing, and such.
I put Linux Mint on mine and it runs like a dream.
Newest you can afford. T and P models, or X if you can.
The newer ones are actually less well-built.
I have a T14 Gen 3 from work to confirm with. It’s definitely not bad, but not as rugged.
Meanwhile, for personal use, I got a X230, and a W530, and they are much more solid. A lot of people said that T480 is the “last great Thinkpad”, but I don’t have one so I cannot confirm this.
I don’t really disagree, but as time goes by, those old ones show their age more and more. I’m using the same one as you for work, and I got a T580 off eBay for personal (replaces my T430s). I don’t know what I’d get if not for used Thinkpads though. One day maybe I can afford/justify one of those boutique Linux laptops.
Edit: I briefly had a T480 and it had problems with the display… apparently widespread.
It does shows signs of aging, but not as bad as the other laptops of the same era.
I haven’t heard of the T480 display problem until now, but then again, I’ve never had it myself.
I bought a T480 coming on a year ago as my first ThinkPad. I’m pretty happy with it, feels rugged and I’ve now fully conditioned myself to using the TrackPoint. Happy with the weight of it for the screen size, I have the 1080p one and it’s not bad at all.
My work device is a L14 Gen 3 with the Ryzen 5 something and it’s okay. I don’t like the flatter TrackPoint buttons but they’re still more than usable. I actually dropped it from about waist height from my car, and apart from some scuffs on the corners it’s still completely functional.
I do miss the media keys and CPU upgradability of my old Latitude E6420 (had that bad boy up to an i7-2760QM, 16GB DDR3, 512GB SSD) but it was just so bulky in comparison and the screen maxed out at only 1600x900 (which yes, I upgraded on it too).
One more thing for me to go on a tangent about, ThinkPad X240 was a poor choice as a secondary. I thought I wouldn’t care about the weird touchpad but it’s barely usable for me, either as a touchpad or TrackPoint. I’m selling that shit on to get either an X220 or X250 onwards, depending on what comes up.
Oh hey! I used to have a Latitude E6430! I’ve seen my college buddy’s E6420 and they’re not too far apart (we’d get these upcycled laptops when we’re lucky from a local e-waste company).
I can vouch for their ruggedness. Definitely not on par with Thinkpads, but they’re pretty up there.
I didn’t get the chance to upgrade much aside from the RAM and SSD, handed it down to a friend in need while upgrading my arsenal to Thinkpads.
One thing that bothered me is how heavy it is for a 14 inch laptop; that bezel is humongous. Also, it stings then I touch the palmrest wrong while charging.
Yeah the E6430, as far as I understand it, was mainly a chipset upgrade to support Ivy Bridge processors, with some additional niceties like USB 3.0 and minor cosmetic differences.
I also had that sting from it too! Usually when it was on charge, I just always thought it was some kind of static electricity or otherwise some poor grounding.
I had one that lasted for 12 years. By the end it was more of a media centre connected to my TV, but still.
Quartz watches: Casio F-91w
Mechanical watches: Seiko 5+1 for the Seiko 5s. Love me a SNZG07J1
I have an old clock in my cottage. I got it years ago from a previous cottage I renovated. When I found it, the glass had broken so I just treated it as a piece of junk. I renovated that first cottage over a winter and left the clock there to freeze. I put in an AA battery and forgot about it. It kept time great and didn’t lose time … for about two years on the same battery!
The dammed thing outlasted every other wall clock I owned. So I kept it, removed the broken glass and just left it like that.
After about 15 years I still have it in my cottage and it freezes and thaws with the northern Canadian weather. And I’ve only ever changed the battery with the same basic energizer alkaline battery maybe four times!
I’ve never found a comparable clock anywhere. Every new clock I’ve ever bought either fail prematurely or I am constantly changing batteries every two or three months.
So far I’ve junked about a dozen new clocks because they stopped working while this old cottage clock just keeps ticking reliably.
I’m never getting rid of my cottage clock.
Any seiko really
I’ve been using the Casio W800 series (W800-H currently) for the past 12+ years. This is my 3rd watch, only because I simply lost the first two. However, it’s about the 6th strap, so it’s like the AK’s strap.
KitchenAid mixers before they got cheap
I inherited a 6" Wilton vise from my dad. He’s still alive but I convinced him to pass it on to me early because I had a couple projects it would be super helpful on. And maybe a little bit to beat my siblings to the punch.
Zippo lighters.
My dad also has a Lincoln Electric welder that will last to pass onto another generation or two. He still uses it though and again, I probably have a sibling or two who would also appreciate having it.
zippo lighters
I’ve never had any luck with zippos, whenever I tried to use it it wouldn’t work and I had to refill it. I hear you have to use them often but I’m not a smoker or arsonist so will only use a lighter maybe once a month. Any tips or recommendations for lighters that you don’t have to use often but will last longer than a cheap disposable one?
Use a butane insert. Still refillable but it’s sealed in well enough to last years of infrequent use.
Get a cheap disposable one. If you really don’t use it often the cost of an unused reusable thing is greater than buying disposable.
You can get butane and arc lighter inserts for zippo shells. I’ve had the arc lighter for going on 3 years, I’ve only had to charge it 5 times, it’s gone through the wash twice now and it’s still working great.
Bought my best friend the butane one the same time. She’s a heavy smoker, not only is it her conversion starter but apparently it’s been cheaper than buying bics.
Swiss army knives. You’ll find at least one in everyone’s bedside drawer or junk drawer.
Ive found them dull all the time, but never broken
The TSA confiscates tens of thousands of these things
Ive found them dull all the time, but never broken
Victorinox uses a steel that favours corrosion resistance over hardness. They’re easy to sharpen though, I’ve even used the underside of a ceramic coffee cup.
I would say that most Ryobi One+ tools fall into this category. Cheap and I’ve never had one fail where I wasn’t using it far beyond it’s design parameters. Others are more comfortable to use for extended periods, but they are also usually more expensive. That said, there are apparently a few stinkers in their mix, a dust buster style vacuum comes to mind, but I’ve not run into many.
For the price point and compatibility, it’s hard to beat them—especially if you’re okay with buying secondhand. I’ve pushed most of my One+ tools to their limits (not to mention a fair share of the even worse built Hart tools) and am always surprised how much they can do.
And before someone comments that they’re not as powerful as other TTI brands or DeWalts—yeah. I know. Most people also aren’t going to need the power that comes with those, either.
That being said, the vacuums are Ryobi’s weak spot. A lot of Ryobi users recommend buying other name-brand cordless vacs, and sticking an adapter on them. Their 40v lawnmowers and snowblowers used to also have a variety of issues, but it seems like the last few models have fixed those.
Hart
My wife bought a Hart brand shop vac and it nearly caught on fire the first time we used it. We swapped it for a DeWalt branded one (which are not actually made by DeWalt) and haven’t had any issues.
Wow—I’ve gotta say, that comes as a surprise. Not doubting that it happened though. Anecdotally, we’ve run all of our Hart shop vacuums through some insane situations. It took one getting completely drenched with water to break it—they’re not easy to disassemble and repair, sadly.
The B&D/DeWalt/Porter Cable vacuums all seem pretty good. I hope it lasts you a long time!
Yeah, Ryobi had a bad reputation for a long time, because they’re old (dark blue) tools were hot garbage. But when they were bought out by TTI (and they changed the color to the bright green) all the tools started getting made on the same production line as Milwaukee (also owned by TTI). The QA is a little looser on the Ryobi stuff, but it’s all sourced from the same place as the (much more expensive) Milwaukee tools that many people swear by. If I remember correctly, TTI also owns Ridgid.
It’s basically the Lexus/Toyota thing, where they’re both owned and manufactured by the same parent company, but the Lexus brand is much more expensive just because it’s marketed as luxury. You can get a Toyota for half the price of a Lexus, and find the same quality as a Lexus. And for the insanely cheap price and wide range of available tools, it’s hard to go wrong with Ryobi. The Ryobi may not stand up to the same level of abuse as other (more expensive) brands. But the average person isn’t a construction worker using and abusing their tools for 9 hours a day. The average person just needs to occasionally drill a hole in the wall, or cut the occasional piece of lumber. And for that, the Ryobi is the way to go. Hell, even if you’re a hobbyist in the garage, Ryobi will likely be fine for what you need.
Just avoid their larger power tools, like the vacuums and lawn mowers. From what I know, those have a range of issues that haven’t been worked out yet.
The tools sure, the batteries, trash.
My Yamaha f310 guitar. It’s supposed to be a beginner model, but I never felt the need for anything else. Took it with me traveling and after some 15000km on the road still sounds as on its first day.
Yes! I bought mine in 2004, it was the only proper steel string guitar that I could afford at the time. And it is a really good guitar. There has been zero need for any adjustments, the only replaced part (excluding strings, of course) is a single tuning peg. I was drunk and slipped while I was playing, the guitar hit the floor first but miraculously there was no other damage.
A friend of mine was a guitar tech/roadie for Dio and Metallica in his youth and when he tried the F310 his opinion was that “This isn’t a bad guitar at all, actually it sounds a lot like my own Martin back home. You really might want to hold on to this one.”
Yamaha makes the best guitar for the money.
The instrument I probably play the most is a nylon string Yamaha with a great dual pickup/mic that I got for $100 at a pawn shop. It has some cosmetic wear, but that’s a bonus in my opinion.