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Comment by aynyc | Hacker News Reader

Why does the author equate expensive with fragile? My rule is “buy nice or buy twice”. My 20 year old All-Clad saucepan is still going strong. It costed 3X compare to others. I see no reason why it won’t last another 10 year. My Weber charcoal grill is 15 years old. Store outside all season around, it still works while my neighbor’s 4 year old home cheapo grill is a rust bucket. His grill is 50% cheaper but I wouldn’t eat cooked on that grill.

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>Why does the author equate expensive with fragile?

He doesn't. His last paragraph literally starts "If buying an expensive product makes you a hostage of it"

Also keep in mind he's in Morocco. A $150 smart watch breaking is absolutely devastating when you earn $800 a month[1] and don't have access to the same warranty and support that people in the US do.

[1] This number is based a sample size of 1: a telecoms engineer who I was talking to (in fluent English) back in 2019 about hardware startups. It may not be indicative of the average salary in the region and is almost certainly above average.

You are absolutely right about the situation in the developing countries. Here in India, an Apple product costs around 150% of what it cost in USA. But when it comes about after sale service, they are absolutely horrible. Xiaomi after sale service is miles better and cheaper than Apple. I had an iPhone X which was just shy of 2 years old. I dropped it last year from a 1 ft height and the thing doesn’t turn on after that. When I took it to an Apple’s authorised service centre (they don’t directly provide service in India), they quoted such huge amount for replacement (yeah, they don’t repair here) that it was cheaper for me to simply buy the latest model at that time, an iPhone 11.

Everytime I buy something (usually from Amazon US to Haiti), I had to review several products just to be sure I don't end up with a crap one. You have to buy the expensive one because of the better build quality. I have an two Sennheiser headphones that are still going strong (one is a renewed product) while my friends buying cheaper headphones have already spent more than me.

Huh, I read the article differently. I read it as more of the difference between cheap sunglasses and a nice brand-name pair. With the cheap ones if they get lost/scratched/smashed you don’t end up caring as much and have less worry about it.

But… I could easily have read into the article wrong.

(PS I agree with your “buy nice” sentiment. And Webers are fantastic grills.)

If you haven't tried a nice pair of sunglasses, you should. It's a game changer. I got a pair of Maui Jim at company raffle, it was one of their high-end ones and man, I can't believe how clear I see on sunny days. Like I said, 'buy nice or buy twice". I don't think you need to buy the absolute highest end on everything, but cheapest is almost never the right choice.

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