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I only use handmade artisanal networking equipment.

Hand-beaten from Tibetan silver by buddhist monks who live in a cave in the Himalayas. You just have to make sure the chakras are aligned correctly when you've installed it.

There are plenty of things where mil spec is extremely strict and high quality. They wont be sold to consumers as they are priced accordingly

A company can not sell a product to consumers cheaper than it can sell to the federal government, and the federal government contract normally comes first. A lot of the stuff you can buy (minus restricted items), it'll just cost you.

They can't sell the same thing but they can sell something slightly different. put a different type of paint on it and you can sell for different prices.

Untrue, otherwise vendors would be doing this instead of leaving tons of money on the table.

Well, not mass produced enough.

Common mass produced products manufacturers have incentives to not mess-up too badly: recalls or warranties on such scales are a nightmare.

With military contracts, its a paid maintenance opportunity.

> Military grade: mass produced by the lowest bidder

This

In the military, military grade is a synonym for crap