Lasting Quality?

[KY Gentleman]

I'm pretty much a creature of habit and generally stick with brands and products I like. I've always figured if a product had a long history it must have passed the test of time. Getting back to the whole Sears store discussion, we always bought Kenmore appliances until just recently. They always were more economical and worked great. However in recent years my confidence in Sears has waned...

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Farberware cookware is another excellent brand that I've used all of my life. A couple of years ago I wanted to replace my Farberware that I had from my mother that we had used when I was growing up. I bought a very expensive set of cookware which required white glove treatment for washing, scratched easily, needed expensive special soaps, was very heavy and the food didn't taste any better. I exchanged it for a new Farberware set that cost about 75% less and can take a beating.

I use plain old Colgate toothpaste which is getting harder to find. Toothpastes these days contain all kinds of added harsh ingredients to address other issues besides cavity prevention which ended up causing tooth sensitivity for me.

My husband buys many of his tools at yard sales from elderly men because vintage tools were built to last.

The challenge with brand loyalty is that many are constantly changing vendors and unless they are very good about oversight it means inconsistency in quality and performance. This is why I'm mostly a vintage product loyalist- even the lower end brands from back in the day can rival top of the line widgets and electronics of today.

 

[IndigoFanatic]

I've found that the quality of many products is inversely proportional to the size of the company. Just from the perspective of jeans, Levi's has some good quality products, but because the company is so huge, they've become very inconsistent. On the other hand, when you look at some of the smaller brands like Atelier La Durance (one of my favorites), the products are consistently top notch and will last a very long time.

I also have to 2nd the comment on AMD processors. I've had both AMD and Intel, and the AMD is consistently faster and more stable.

 

[KeyGrip]

I try to buy quality whenever I can.

 

[Undertow]

RE: Craftsman and Sears - It all started with Kmart going belly-up ... So it's really not the same Sears it was "back in the day," nor even four or five years ago before the buy-out...

I must agree with this assessment, much to my dismay. I also believe megastores like Wal-Mart, Costco and Sam's Club helped this disintegration along. Sears used to be a Wal-Mart of sorts, offering a huge range of services and products. Sears even built houses back in the day and pretty much had their fingers in every pie. When Wal-Mart became the sole provider to most people, even a company like Sears just couldn't compete anymore.

AMD/ATI...ASUS and Logitech...

I have always built my computers with these parts and I must whole heartedly agree with your opinion. Unfortunately, word on the street is that AMD will no longer be making chips. Instead, they will have a sister firm "Foundry Company" building the chips and selling them to AMD. You can read an article here. I'm not sure how, or if, this will affect quality. I certainly hope it does not.