What do you refuse to get generic versions of?
This I agree with.
I once heard someone say: «never skimp out on what seperates you from the ground».
For bed and tires I really agree, but with shoes I’m not as strict.
I had this exact stance until I won a pair of $200 running shoes in a raffle. My occasional backpains and joint problems disappeared almost immediately. I started buying the best footwear I could afford and my quality of life went measurable up after that decision.
The BIGGEST changes were going to a reputable podiatrist and getting shoe recommendations based off of my arch shape, weight and gait. They put me on a treadmill with highspead cameras at the sides and rear to record how my stride landed both walking and running. That and custom molded insoles.
Now Shoes are a part of our yearly budget to make sure we have good condition, supportive shoes at all times. Also re-soleing if applicable.
Side note: Dress shoes can die in a fire.
Ok fine, my running shoes I got the same way you did.
I still skimp on the everyday shoes though, and like you avoid flat soles like fire.
Cheers for sharing though. I know what you’re doing would benefit me in the long run.
I agree from the opposite direction:
20 years ago I switched to zero drop minimalist footwear for running, hiking, and almost all everyday activities (everything except weddings and funerals). I only wear footwear that has no relation at all to my foot's arch, my weight, or my gait.
Best decision for my knees, ankles, and hips I think I ever made.
That's actually pretty interesting. I started with minimalist footwear once I was old enough to start making shoe decisions myself and apparently that was partially causing some of the problems I was experiencing.
Five Fingers were my go to's (once they came out) for most days and Vivobarefoot's / Nike Free's for when the social side of five fingers was in questionable taste.
It's always fascinating to me how wildly different solutions are the exact remedy needed for different individuals. It's why I always get a little irritated when you read someone saying "Use this thing AND THIS THING ONLY! everything else is junk and dumb and you will be a worse person for using it." such a close minded approach to the world.
I've been out of the minimal shoe worlds for a bit minute, anything cool to come about recently?
Same same, although VFFs only came out in the 2005, so it hasn't been quite 20 years. The only shoes I wear that have support are my motorcycle boots and cycling shoes.
I'd go barefoot everywhere if I could.
Same can be said about the power supply unit of your homemade PC. Cheaping out on that is a good way to fry your PC or burn your house down.
Like Bronzie said, never skimp on what separates you from the ground. Or on this case, what separates your computer from the ground.
Changed my tires for the first time last year. Bought the cheapest tires acailable to me and now my car feel a bit wobbly. I'm definitely buying better tires next time.
Stop recommending bidets to me, I'm already convinced. It's just that from the three toilets I've owned in my life, all of them were for one reason or another incapable of being retrofitting with one. I envy your guy's clean assholes
I have a vagina and bidets can fuck up your vaginal microflora, so no bidet for me. If I didn't I'd probably use one, though.
Interesting I just had surgery in my vagina and the doctors recommended using bidet to make sure that area cleaner then just wiping.
Probably a different consideration for a fresh wound vs normal maintenance, I'd definitely follow your doctor's instructions!
Billions of women in the world east of Europe all the way to Japan would disagree with you. But then again it's the bidet shower variety.
It's not really an opinion, bidets are associated with abnormal vaginal flora and preterm birth.
Your linked study is done with 212 subjects. 212!
With a population that small, you can have any conclusion you'd like. There are billions of people who use bidet showers daily in the world, your study has 212!
If you believe in the scientific method, you should know that a study has to be verified by many independent studies with big enough data samples before it is accepted as fact. You must surely know that there are studies that conclude that the climate change is a hoax. But the overwhelmingly majority makes these handful outliers or flawed studies.
Sigh, I was wondering if this particular misunderstanding of statistics had migrated from reddit to here.
No, you cannot dismiss a study because it "only" has 212 people. 200 people is enough to get an 85% confidence level.
On top of that, it is hardly the only study showing vaginal microflora alteration in bidet users:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21058441/
Normal microflora (Lactobacillus species) was not present in 42.86% of bidet toilet users, compared to 8.77% of non-users. Fecal bacteria were detected in 50 of the 268 cases (18.66%), 46 cases in users (92%) and only 4 cases in non-users (8%). Contamination by other pathogens was 4 to 6 times higher in users than in non-users.
I get there is a cult of bidet users who will hear no slander of them, but it's not going to make me spray water from my toilet seat and around my vulva and potentially into my vagina. You are not changing my mind on this and I invite you to read more about sample sizes if you want to do something productive: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6970301/
Your first study has even used women who had admitted to the hospital and therefore used the shared hospital toilet bidets. I think this fact alone would make it enough to disqualify it.
Apart from hospital bidet being a one extra germ filled surface the patient touches, it raises the following questions. Was there a problem with the brand of bidet used in the hospital that might cause more of an uncontrolled spray? Did the particular toilet bowl shape contribute to the result? Non of these stays the same within the general population and any outliers would be cancelled out in a huge dataset.
I find Charmin tends to shred too easily, even the ‘strong’ kind. Angel Soft is at the right level between firm and soft for me. Might be less of a problem if I had less ass hair.
It's not, its actually wonderful. It's one of the few brands that doesn't shed bits off, and whatever chemicals/softeners they use doesn't irritate my skin like other big-name brands.
This one is interesting, because I've heard certain generic brands are actually just repackaged Duracells
I've also been thinking about getting some rechargeable Ikea ones, heard those are decent
I wonder if they're repackaged due to not meeting certain quality control thresholds, but still technically useable
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Rechargeables are definitely a good upgrade for most applications where people use alkalines. They have better performance under high load, are much less likely to leak corrosive electrolyte, and you can use them again after you drain them. I'm a little surprised they aren't more popular.
The Panasonic Eneloop is the gold standard for rechargeables, particularly the white ones which are more shelf-stable and have a longer service life than the higher-capacity black Eneloop Pro. Made-in-Japan Ikea rechargeables are suspected of being rebranded Eneloop Pros, but I don't think that's been conclusively proven.
A few years back a guy did agood dive into this on (other website name redacted). He said for things like digital camersand other high draw items, Duracell is still the champ - however, $/hour of use, some cgeaper bands came out ahead. I still have half a giant pack of AC Delco AA / AAAs that have been quite solid.
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Here's a comparison site that graphs the voltage during discharge of a bunch of AA and AAA batteries with various loads using a high-end battery tester.
NiMH rechargeable AAs trounce every alkaline under heavy load. It's not even close at 0.5A and above. Disposable lithium is better still up to 2A, but extremely expensive. Few devices will draw more than 2A from an AA battery, but I can think of a couple of flashlights that do; disposable lithium is unsuitable for those.
I've heard certain generic brands are actually just repackaged Duracells
Might depend where you live, I live in Nothern Europe and the cheap generic brand batteries from a popular electronics store chain, rechargeable, are quite shit when I compare them to my 5+ year old Eneloops. Haven't tried IKEA ones though.
The Ikea Lada rechargables are rebranded Eneloops. Panasonic is the only manufacturer making rechargable batteries in Japan.
I’m pretty sure ikea just spent a bunch on R&D and tooling to set up their own battery manufacturing plant in Japan.
I've got eneloops that are 10 years old and still kicking. I tried Amazon's as well and those are shit. 100% are dead and I got them over the years after I got the eneloops as I needed more.
Definitely! For electronics, Eneloop batteries are worth every penny. I think I have ~10 AA and AAA, and I haven't bought disposable batteries in years. I try to make sure I have 4 of each available at all times so I don't have to wait for them to recharge. I've tried cheaper (Amazon) batteries, and they fail much more quickly, and sometimes swell to the point where I have a hard time removing them.
Some people say IKEA's batteries are just rebranded Eneloops, but I haven't had a chance to try them
Video game controllers.
I know the divide is not quite what it was with stick drift affecting almost all of the 1st party offerings, but there's just something that feels so cheap about using any generic controller, even ones that are marketed as higher end.
Have they changed the joystick material yet? The joysticks off my ol' 8bitdo pro (the original) kept shedding with use, so I stopped using it in lieu of the switch and steamdeck controllers. Gods, the controller was way more comfortable and sized just right than any other 3rd party controller for me. My google fu is weak, so I never found fitting thumbpad covers for it.
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Not sure tbh, I have a couple of SF30 Pros for about 3 years and they've been solid, never had any shedding.
I didn't have to open your username to know what instance your account is on...
because I agree.
Kraft isn't even remotely better that every other shitty brand of that "stuff".
Go buy real pastas, real cheese and seasoning and learn to make real fucking food.
I sometimes make my mac and cheese with real pasta and Kraft singles. Tastes almost as good as the real thing.
Running shoes. Antipronation shoes are fucking expensive, but having bad support will eventually hurt my feet, ankles or knees. I would get hurt very fast if I started running in cheap sneakers or something.
My rule has always been "don't skimp on the things that separate you from the ground." Shoes, tires, chairs, beds, etc, get the best you can afford to and don't pinch pennies.
We ran trials in my middle school home economics class on various popular dish soap brands, and at the time (23 years ago) Palmolive absolutely blasted the shit out of every other brand, Dawn included. So my wife and kid now ride or die with that brand. It's green, too..
That's what Consumer Reports concluded as well, when they independently bought and tested all the brands.
Dawn doesn’t seem to dry out my hands like Palmolive or every other dish soap. I think they all work good enough but I hate the way they make my hands feel.
Interesting. I have a huge jug of Palmolive at home because it was the cheapest dish soap. Didn't expect it to also be the best. I'm curious, what did you measure to determine that it was the best one?
I don't remember precisely what properties we scored it on, but we had cooked a very messy/crusty/greasy meal of some sort, and afterward we washed the pans with two or three leading dish soaps. I think Joy was the third. Anyway, Palmolive seemed to perform the best overall at cutting through grease and grime in fewer passes. I know there were other aspects to it, but it was just too long ago to recall. I never forgot how impressed I was with Palmolive, though. And it's green!
... Siracha.
At least before the debacle with Underwood Ranch. I unknowingly bought extra before it happened and am close to running out. I'm not sure what to do afterwards but I'm not inclined to support Huy Fong.
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I hear Underwood ranch sells siracha made from the same peppers Huy Fong used to buy from them. Might be worth checking out
I want to support them, but I hear it's just not the same. Maybe that could be a good thing, though!
Fix Sriracha is pretty damn good, less sweet, more heat, a touch more fermented funkiness. Downside is it is thinner and more expensive.
Liqueurs, because usually generics don't exist
And Ziploc bags. The quality is worth the extra dollar over the store brand. I might start doing the same for trash bags as well
They are, and we still have some in circulation, but these ones are designed for it. They have rounded corners that won't wear or hide dirt, and they're made out of pretty thick, rubbery plastic sheets.
There are dozens of vodkas and gins, fake and slightly different whiskeys, rum and so on but I totally agree on buying the brands (not just the top 1 or 2)
Liqueurs, not liquors. I don't buy big name brand liquor (unless you count Plantation rum, or stuff that happens to be owned by Campari).
Fisherman's friend cough drops. They're not the tastiest cough drops out there, but they fucking work.
These and "Sucrets" - for when you throat hurts and you want novacaine in tablet form.
Source: professional singer. These two have saved me many times.
"The name Fisherman's Friend" makes me think the cough drops are going to taste like fish oil or Powerbait.
Nothing quite so disgusting, they're the usual sorts of flavors you would expect to find in a cough drop. I taste mostly menthol and a bit of licorice, but they are definitely something that was made to be an effective cough drop first and foremost and tasting good was not a major consideration
They are kind of ugly brown tablets that don't look too dissimilar from maybe a pellet fish food for a koi pond or something. I have a hunch that I haven't tested that you could probably get carp to bite on them if you tried to use them as bait, carp will go for some weird stuff
Mooncakes for mid-autumn festival. Như Lan bakery or skip. The other brands (even the 'fancy' ones) have too much sugar. In HK there are other good brands too, but in VN Như Lan is the best.
I guess also expensive tools like oscilloscopes (Siglent, Uni-T). It's a big enough investment that I need it to work well, but I'm not rich enough for the fancy brands.
Oh, and motorcycles -- Honda please (yes, we have unbranded motorcycles here, we call them 'ghost bikes'). There's always a repairshop that can fix a Honda within walking distance, but I've never actually needed to go to one. When I had a Yamaha it broke once in a while, and that meant a long walk in tropical heat.
Tires. Every time I've tried to save money by purchasing some PrimeWell or Sentury or other no-name tire I've worn them out in no time flat or they burst when I hit any bump that stands more than 1cm above the road surface. If they are that weak then they aren't safe.
I work in the rim and tire industry so I find this really interesting. Haven't seen either of those two brands before where I am, but most cheaper brands nowadays are all made at the same two or three locations and just get a different name stamped into the sidewall.
It's been a while but I think primewell is Firestones bargain brand. They're shit but compared to anything wal-mart was selling they were tolerable. I never saw as many broken belts as when I was working there starting out.
My information may also be out of date, it's been years since I was so broke that I had to just buy whatever cheap tires I could afford.
I had a set of "Sentury" tires I put on a Mitsubishi Mirage, and they were worn to the wear bars in 9,000 miles. They were carrying a 1,900 pound/860 kilogram car, and that was heavy enough to wear all four tires down in less than 1/4 the tread warranty period.
That's really bad, sounds like a winter compound tire was sold as an all-season or something. That sounds like the typical treadwear for a winter tire that gets run in the wrong season.
Also for anyone reading this, If you ever need cheap tires try your local independent mechanics or to a lesser extent franchise mechanics shop, lots of people swap tires when they have 35%+ tread life left. Lots of shops will let these tires go for cheap if you get them put on at their shop. I would gladly take a good quality tire at 40% tread life vs a cheapo crap set at 100%
Ballpoint pens. Bic, Papermate, and Zebra are pretty much all I would consider buying.
Edit: there are lots of other brands that I forgot to consider. I'm mainly talking about inexpensive plastic tubes, but included Zebra (a metal tube) which I'm a fan of.
Had a generic refill in one of my zebras and holy crap was that crap. I could not reliably get it to write off a cold start. And it was fresh, just constantly getting stuck.
The Pilot 30000 unchanged for millenia because it's the perfect writing utensil. Well, unchanged other than them adding blue and red ink versions.
Game console controllers. Miss me with that flimsy shit.
Except the Xbox Series X controller. That thing’s a nightmare. I use my old One controller for that.
Interesting. I still use the 360 controller on my PC because that thing is a tank. Basically indestructible. But my One controllers are garbage. The plastic was so badly formed I got aftermarket grips because it was constantly pinching my hands. It also feels like I could twist it in to pieces with by hand. The Series X controller fails to live up to the 360 but it feels significantly more solid and the pieces at least fit together.
I do feel I could break my xbox controller easily if I twisted it. It's got some heft but not much. The 360 controller did feel a bit more solid.
The series x controller is also nice. Disturbingly light but I appreciate that it's good for long sessions to have a light controller. It's just the damn button sound. It makes a nasally little twing-click sound each time the button is pressed. Drives me nuts.
What's wrong with the series x controller? I bought one for my pc when my xbox one controller died. I haven't really used it loads yet to be fair, but it seems fine to me. I preferred the +style dpad on xbox one but other than that it feels basically the same to me.
It’s extremely loud. Once someone tells you about the loud click that every button press makes, you can’t unhear it.
Sorry.
I take vitamins because of malabsorption related to celiac disease, and I've read that a lot of cheap vitamin brands are total scams.
Fortunately, I've been finding some major brands at the dollar store, of all places, for $1.25USD
You probably already know all this, but in case it would be helpful to others: Your doctor should also be able to write you a prescription for whatever vitamins you're taking, from what I understand the ones you get from behind the pharmacy counter are actually what they say they are.
I have low vitamin D, and when it was atrociously low (#1 lowest my dr had ever seen! 🥴) I got an actual prescription for it.
YMMV on whether insurance puts up a fight about paying for it, if applicable. If not and you have to stick to OTC I try to get stuff with the USP verified label on it.
Yeah true, but last time I went to the doctor they charged me $200 for just the office visit, so it's not really sustainable for me
Soda, chips, candy, etc. If I'm gonna buy it, I'm buying the good one. I've tried many different off/store brand peanut butter cups, and they're always fucking horrendous.
Surprisingly, frozen pizza is the opposite. The store brand ones are really good (at least the ones I get at Shaw's and Market Basket). Meanwhile, I've payed much more in order to try out the big name brands. They are usually smaller, lower quality, and taste worse than the store brand ones that cost nearly half as much.
I only like fresh orange juice. Buy oranges & squeeze them. My kids like the Evolution one but I really only like fresh.
Yeah, you can’t really get “name brand” orange juice that’s that fresh, so I think you’ve found a good exception.