Products aren't what they used to be these days!!

[minux]

more to the point that once a cheap brand has proven its self and got itself a name the quaility seems to take a dive

True that, although still yet to have a complaint about our pioneer plasma

 

[andrewmac]

Its quite simple really.
Most of the items that people buy now that are cheap are designed to be throwaway items.
Technology is moving quite quickly so there is always something better around the corner.
If you have something that you want to last you a while you pay more for it, what the point of getting a high quality top of the range mobile phone when the next generation can do more, do it faster and do it better than the last.
TV's were pretty much the same for the most part for many years and then look what has come out in the last 10 years. LCD & Plasma, Full HD, Bigger screens for less, 3D Tv's and just around the corner is 3D TV's which don't require glasses.
If people bought a TV which lasts them 20 years, they dont get that excuse to upgrade to the next big thing.
Stuff is cheap and does not last cause that's what people want

 

[JAKE-26]

I know whats said about the lower quality brands is true, but i think its still pretty rediculous for products at even a low-mid range level to be so easily broken or fault.
Sometimes you cant afford or dont need to bother buying the highest quality things, but you should still expect a product to at least reach its petty one year warranty before trashing itself.

Also in our house we still have a 25+ year old amplifier and probably similar aged fridge and they still go strong and would have been good quality in their time. you wouldn't see that life out of products today

 

[blacknight]

Well, toys for kids. Growing up in the 70s, I played with matchbox cars that would last a lifetime no matter if they were left in the rain, slammed or tossed. Sure the paint might chip off, but it would still be looking like a die cast model of a real car. nothing broken!

Nowadays, kids toys seem to last as long as their attention span.

 

[JAKE-26]

exactly.
So much stuff is cheap chinese crap. though some of it is good/ok, majority is junk.

 

[Stressball]

We had a 40 year old Black and Decker deep freezer that was still freezing my bottles of scotch when I forgot to take them out No problems at all with it. The only reason we got rid of it is because it wasn't very big, needed more space.

You can find some phones that are alright build quality now, ones that are specifically marketed as being indestructible like that samsung b2600 or whatever it was called. My cousins one survived multiple schooners, at least one toilet, multiple flights of stairs and a lot of 1.5-2m drops onto concrete. Ultimately though his sister broke it, but she has a knack for breaking things if she even gets near them. My last Nokia was the E72; sturdy as, felt very solid in your hand and seemed to be quite good quality, keyboard excepted. That keyboard creaked a lot, and I think that would be the failing point after 2 years or so.

My laptop now was apparently $4500-5500 when it was released 5 years ago. I bought it one year ago for $340 off ebay. Magnesium-alloy chassis and double hinges etc, it's as heavy as an old luggable, but still going strong. The hinges are beginning to get a bit soft though, they probably won't last too much longer. My girlfriend's old LG laptop however, had massive overheating issues. It got brilliant reviews when it was released, and it came standard with a 24 month warranty. After hers began failing in different ways (lines on LCD, sound failed, wifi failed, bluetooth failed, hdd began grinding) she looked up those reviews again. Almost every single person who had posted a massive positive, had followed it up 24-26 months later, with exactly the same symptoms. LG had released a laptop with a definite 24-month failing period, and a warranty to make it look good despite the fact that it was ****.

 

[Calaber]

There are quite a few reasons why consumer goods today are so short-lived. Constant changes in technology means that the working life of an item is now measured in months, because it will be so quickly outdated. Consumers are sucked in by the "need" to have the latest gizmo's on their phones, TV's, Wii's, or whatever that even serviceable items are discarded, simply because they are outdated. The shift to Chinese manufacture of just about everything we buy means that quality is lower to enable the super-cheap prices to lure customers. We expect to be able to buy better, more advanced items, cheaper than the items they replace, so we are a major cause of the low durability and quality. Manufacturers will gladly make a cheaper item and sell it to us, if that is what we want to buy.

Walk into a JB hi-fi store and go to the TV wall. You will see 42" and 50"+ size sets at prices from around $700 to $4000. Honestly, what would you expect to get for $700? But JB sells heaps of them. (At least, that's what my local store claims and I've seen them selling pretty well). Unfortunately, this is now a fact of life and it will never change. You get what you pay for. The only difference is that the cheap items generally perform well for their intended economical working life and the standard of performance is not that far removed from quality items, it's just that they don't last as long, or perform to their peak for their entire working lives, whereas quality items do.

 

[blacknight]

I just had a thought. Maybe theres still hope here. I was just thinking that remote controlled cars (electric or nitro) have actually gotten better for cheaper prices. 20 years ago you probably had to rebuild almost every broken part from 80s engineering plastic. But now we have brushless motors, user friendly engines and more capable radios even packaged with these hobby grade 'toys'. Since most cars are from Japan, Europe and the USA, they effectively copy each other designs so the end user (the consumer) benefits.

 

[MasterOfReality]

Poor man pays twice.

Electronic wise, I try to buy made in Japan stuff. My hifi, cameras, tv's etc are all made in Japan. Some stuff like dvd players and the like you can't avoid.

Washing machine is a maytag, made in the usa. Cost me a shitload but it should be going for at least 25 years. My mum had one for 30 years and all the mines use them to wash work gear.

Most of the house furniture is made in Australia.

Usually, if I want to get something and can't afford it, I go without and wait rather than getting something cheaper.

 

[MasterOfReality]

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