Buy it for Life

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A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!

Guidelines:

Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!

Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.

Videos links are not allowed as post titles, but you may use them in a text post.

A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:

The item must be made with sustainable or recycled materials.
If electronic in some way, the item must be open-source.
The item must be user-serviceable (if applicable).
You cannot be a large corporation.
The post must be clearly marked with a [Self Promotion] tag in your title.

founded 1 year ago

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What should I know before buying electrical appliances? A vacuum in particular? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Obviously I like buying things once and for all, but I feel it's extra difficult with anything electrical because I just don't know that much about it personally, and I can't exactly check the insides.

So lately I've been wanting to buy an upright vacuum. I don't know if there are more durable brands, what kind of accessories I should consider to make my life easier, what budget I should consider, or what characterics are more likely to make it shorter lived than others.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Well the minimal bars for electronics is:

0 - The repair manual exists and is readily available with full schematics of the item in question.

1 - Replacement parts are available for purchase.

2 - Compatible replacement parts are made by 2 or more 3rd party companies

3 - Designs for replacement parts are available

4 - Local maker space is able to make the needed replacement parts.

If you can't get level 0, you probably shouldn't buy it if you expect to keep it working for life.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Level 0 is an extremely high bar when buying a new product in 2023.

I mean, I agree with you, but holy hell is it difficult to find products that meet that criteria!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

oh I definitely agree that it has been harder and harder to find products that meet the absolute minimal amount of information required to repair and maintain.

note, I didn't even cover things like requiring specialized tools (which these days with BGAs and the wave solder requirements, limits repair to people with about $15K in capital tool costs)