Submitted by LowerSurplus t3_zizelf in BuyItForLife
I bought a $10 bedside alarm clock on Amazon this year. Cheap plastic but all it does is sit by the bed and change numbers every minute. It wouldn't surprise me at all if I was still working a decade from now, or even longer. The fact that an alarm clock is still working 30-40 years down the line seems more incredible from the perspective of how it survived the twists and turns of human life than anything mechanical.
And there is nothing wrong with that, a lot of us prefer items that can be purchased new but are built to last.
I don't particularly want to go buy some 30 year old t shirt that has been worn by 6 people already, but would love to know which brands I can buy new that are built to last.
Buying something brand new and posting it here is bit premature. Might as wel post pics of new cars “I hear it will last really long”.
Proof is in the pudding. Old stuff only. Yuppies posting some belt they purchased is lame af
Posting quality items that are built to last that I can actually buy provides me a lot more value than someone posting an old slab of cast metal that would obviously be BIFL, or posting old alarm clocks that while they may last are obsolete for most people due to smart phones.
I'm okay with the mix of postings on this sub, so those alarm clock posts don't bother me much, but a lot of us get far more value from items you can buy today as opposed to hand me downs from grand parents.
The point of this sub used to be exactly that. Good products to buy for life. Now it’s just pictures of someone’s grandfather’s boots from West Germany. It’s useless.
Todays products are designed for a global market and shipping weight is an absolutely huge concern, which comes at the expensive of longevity. You can argue w me if you want I’m literally a product designer and creating stuff that people buy is literally my career. We can’t use the same materials and methods we could 50 years ago because of shipping costs. Older stuff is in general going to last a lot longer than anything available today.
You can't take a one size fits all approach. Just because you design products that aren't Bifl doesn't mean every designer and company takes the same approach.
Look at modern mechanical watches, the movements in modern watches are literally refined versions of 60 year old movements and require far less maintenance and last longer than old movements due to many iterative changes over the years. A new oris 400 caliber watch is going to be better than an old Rolex at 1/10th the cost.
Look at textiles, modern waterproof materials work sooooo much better then what we had even 20 years ago. You can't compare a coat from the 60's to a modern waterproof jacket from a company like Patagonia or Arc'teryx. Yes lots of fast fashion exists, but there are also items out there where the quality of those items literally can't be matched by old products.
There are lots of older products that work well and will last a lifetime, I agree with that, but there are also lots of modern products that will last a lifetime and be better then some.of those older items. Metallurgy/textiles/technology/electronics/etc have all come a LONG way and if you seek out the quality items (which is what I use this sub to do) you can still find truly generational items that are built better than they were in the past.
For boutique shit like watches, okay.
Textiles are not BIFL unless it’s leather. No real advancements there. Are todays textiles better? Sure. Still not BIFL tho.
I work in utility construction in the mountains and spend a good chunk of my time hiking through tough terrain and brush/forests and I have some Patagonia jackets that have held up remarkably well through snags and tears/etc, add onto that their lifetime warranty and I feel like it meets the spirit of BIFL (in that I only have to buy it once and it will last me for life or get replaced for free).
That being said, I use "buy it for life" as more of a "this is the highest quality product in a given category". Sometimes that really does mean heirloom items (nice knifes/cookware/watches/etc) and sometimes it means that it's a high quality product that will possibly be heirloom quality, but If not the company will take care of you (darn tough/Patagonia/peak design/Popov leather/Mitchell leather/ etc).
As a designer is there brands or items that you admire for they “quality”, sturdiness, or aesthetic+durability?
Yeah, most products are but this sub is exactly here to help people find the few products that aren’t. That’s like saying most restaurants are fairly standard so high quality ones don’t exist.
We seem to have found the problem.
The sub is meant to show off items that have demonstrated the ability to survive for decades, while the audience only cares about things that are available for purchase today.
The intersection on that Venn diagram is extremely small.
Well, mods, guess it's time to shut 'er down.
Negative, The sub is "BUY it for life", not "BOUGHT it for life". the sub is meant to be for items that you can "Buy" for life, Can't exactly easily go buy a 1920's era toaster right now. Also, Look at the sidebar, it's all guides on what new products to buy in various categories, and explicitly states "This is a subreddit emphasizing products that are Durable, Practical, Proven, and Made-to-Last. Products that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last an lifetime) are accepted.".
>The sub is meant to show off
No, it isn't, that's just what some people have tried to turn it into. I've been around here since the beginning, and the sub was never about "showing off" anything, it was about discussing high quality products and where to purchase them. It was years before it became a stream of pictures of random old things. It was at the inception a shopping sub.
Did you just use the word yuppie?
Sure. You know the type. The ones that have lived in apartments theirs whole lives and feel The need to compensate for their lack of masculinity by worshipping overpriced luxury goods.
So... Millennials who can't afford a house but can still possibly afford actually nice things...like a 2-500$ jacket that will last 20+ years instead of 2 washes? What a fucking yuppie. Don't y'all know if you just skip your avocado toast and occasional high end bifl product you can totally afford a $350,000 home in one year??
🏳️🌈
Reporting you for this one, there is no space for hate here.
Not hating anyone bro
Well, Gildan tee’s holds up after many washings, and Hanes are very serviceable. 😎
I have socks over 10 years old :) never posted them though
I have some socks that are 20+ years old that came from Walmart. I wear them often and they keep kicking.
I joined a few months ago and it seems like about 50% of a posts are people who have had something for a week that will "hopefully last a lifetime"
We don’t expect to live long.
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If something lasts for 10 years without losing function then it's probably safe to assume it'll do it again
Not really. Half the posts are like a kitchen mixer that gets used once around the holidays then sits on a shelf for another 11.5 months
It depends on use. My comment assumes that it gets regular use like a pair of shoes or clothing
I agree. Solid state electronics can easily last for decades. It’s not particularly impressive.
It is not, but planned obsolescence is a thing. I had an $8 toaster last me about 20 years, because I got it in the 90s. Begrudgingly got rid of it after wedding registry and have not had one last more than 5 years since, even at 5x the price of that beautiful bitch.
I hear you on that, but toasters aren’t solid state. They’re mechanical.
It’s hard to have planned obsolescence on solid state products. If they don’t fail in the first 3 months they’ll likely last for decades.
Idk couldn’t they design it with less heat sink, less wire insulation, thinner metal etc so it wears out after less use? Perhaps finer machining tolerances allow a flimsier product to be produced
Nope, in fact they are magnitudes less impressive than analog watches with actual moving parts fully exposed on a persons wrist, which are working still today.
You can find alot of more advanced technology, even with moving parts, computers, vcr, gaming consoles and much more, which are still working (and obsolete). Even though people may argue that the alarm clock is not obsolete, it is. The reasons most of us have upgraded or replaced it with our phone are several (lack of settings for weekdays and alarm for events several days ahead, lack of bluetooth and lousy speakers, old design, lack of option to wake you up with light instead of sound, lack of transportability, unreliable as it doesn't work and resets if power goes out). There are many reason why they have been stuck in a box, along with the still working vcr player. Nothing special about them at all.
Old GE alarm clocks made in USA
New alarm clocks made in China
My 1980s GE alarm clock radio survived 6 moves, with 50% of them being across the U.S.
My higher end (supposedly) Chinese-made alarm clock radio bought in the 2010 decade didn't even last 2 years before the clock-readout numbers started disappearing.
Nah get an outlet timer and a lamp, wakeup is much better with light than sound.
Agree I've got smart lights that turn on with my alarm.
I hear sunrise alarm clocks are the shit too
I'd be curious to try this, I sleep like a log so I wouldn't want to try it for work!
If you have to wake up when it’s still dark outside this is a complete game changer.
There really is no right or wrong way to add light to your morning routine. Either look for smart light bulbs (which are surprisingly affordable and you don’t need to have a multi color one) that you can customize with a schedule of when to get brighter or look into a sunrise alarm clock.
Smart lightbulbs are so useful and I will probably never be without them again. I bought a set of 4 Globe brand ones for ~$30 CAD and I use them in my bedroom and my chicken coop. The ones in the coop mimic daylight and brighten/dim with sunrise/sunset, while the ones in my bedroom are just set to a lower brightness when it is dark outside, and I can turn them on independently for even less intense light.
Sounds great for people who have a normal work roster. I do shift work so often sleep during the day/stay awake at night.
When I worked nights, I programmed my lights to wake me up at 7pm, and just disabled that routine on my Google Home when I wasn't working.
My curtains suck too much for lights to be effective, and renting means I can't change them. Glad you found something that worked for you!
I set my smart bulb up so it gradually gets brighter, works like a charm! Especially in the winter.
It’s not perfect—“0%” is still pretty bright so sometimes it’s more abrupt than others but it’s been great.
Mine also go from dim to full.
I'm also disappointed with how bright the dimmest setting is.
I haven't actually used my alarm clock as an alarm in years, I just think it's nice to be able to see the time if I wake up in the middle of the night.
My Teasmade does that, but also has a pot of tea ready when it does. Best £5 I've ever spent!
What gets me is when people post things like decades old cast iron pans. Like what did you expect? You would have to screw up massively to destroy a solid chunk of iron, like i'm sure it could even survive a fall out of a tall building and dent the asphalt.
“Don’t make them like the use to!” “It’s iron.” “Yea but old iron was better.” “It’s iron.” “Come on has your cast iron lasted this long?” “I don’t see why it couldn’t, it’s iron.” “Probably Chinese!” “Nope, it’s literally made in the same factory as your pan made 50 years ago.”
I mean, there is some truth to this though. Compare a new Lodge to a vintage Griswold and the latter is noticeably more refined - lighter weight and smoothed. Not that the older pan is more durable, but the craftsmanship is better. They do still make cast iron pans like the old ones, but Lodge and other department store brands don't; you need to go to one of the expensive boutique makers to find one.
Cast iron is brittle and would shatter from a serious fall or hit
A friends was the only thing to survive a truck fire
Are you the cast iron pan guy?
I'll be impressed when I see an alarm clock with flip numbers.
I bought my Bose Wave Radio 1 (AWR1) new in the mid 1990’s, still works effortlessly today and coming up for 30 years. I think the only thing that is likely to fail with solid state electronics are the analog parts like the speakers, the Bose speakers are still available idk about other makes though so it makes sense to buy a brand that has good primary and secondary market parts suppliers.
As a bonus, if you read the user manual with these, they come with a warning not to have the clock within 3 feet of your head while sleeping, due to radiation exposure or something.
Probably just a legal thing to be sure they cant be sued in extreme situations. like someone making a bed of clocks, and spending decades sleeping on them until they develop cancer...
Unless you drop them, or get them wet, new alarm clocks may not be as burly, but they're much lighter and easier to move around. They also have many more features now, like being able to sync with your phone for reminders and such.
I don't want to know how much energy they use.
This was my thought - someone should put a 1950's-1970s alarm clock on a meter, as well as a current cheapie alarm, and see how the energy draw compares.
Survivor bias
Some BIFL is superior build. Some BIFL is the treatment and consistency of the owner. So many people chuck perfectly good things on a regular basis, these posts are more about the owners commitment to keeping something that still works just fine and replacing it for fun.
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I have a Durabrand alarm clock I bought from walmart 20 years ago for $5. It still works flawlessly.
Oh yes. If you want to slowly descend into madness.
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I have an alarm clock from the 1950s that works/looks great, but now that I live in a quiet neighborhood, the humming is unbearable. Now I use my phone.
I bought several AA/AAA battery powered digital alarm clocks off Amazon in the past 5 years and believe it or not they don't keep time! Some run fast, some run slow, which I didn't think was possible for digital clocks. I wish I had an old school alarm clock as shared recently.
I'm not sure what model you bought but I'm guessing it was more simple than what most people get when they're looking for an alarm clock on Amazon. A few years ago, we were bought alarm clocks for our kids and the average cost was $30-$40. They justify the cost with stuff like dimmable / adjustable color temperature LEDs, bluetooth connectivity, etc.
We bought two different brands/models and both were powered by USB-C cables. Despite that fact that both my kids are pretty gentle with electronics and, as you mentioned, these products mostly just sit on a nightstand, they both started shorting out at the power port within 18 months.
So maybe yours will last a long time, but I learned first-hand that even low-touch, stationary electronics will suffer from poor material and poor build quality.
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I bought a $15 amazon clock that looked really nice, blue numbers, and could make 2 alarms, loved it... but after 3 months it stopped waking me up, starting on an important day where I could've had a good job.
Definitely not a “buy it for life”. Why would you give birth to all that new China fossil fuel plastic? I bet the thrift stores are FULL of them and you could get one for a tenth of the price.
My slave-made modern alarm clock has time drift. It’s 3 minutes fast after only a couple years without being reset. Idk if the old GEs are atomic stable but I assume they’re better
shredsickpow t1_izt2q5e wrote
Dude 90% of the crap posted on this sub is like barely 10 years old.