Cheap gear that's better than expensive gear

[Alan]

I got a $25 headlamp from Amazon that's brighter and lasts longer than the $80 name brand one I had before. Sometimes you don't need to spend a fortune. What cheap gear do you use that works better than the expensive stuff?

 

[ProCarryNAustin]

Gerber knives. I have had a 4” and 5” for several years of hard use and carry. I can appreciate the fit and finish on some more expensive things, but these have stood up to some really hard work.

 

[LDB]

Cheap anything is usually not as good as anything else, just cheap. But inexpensive things are often just as good as expensive for 90% of usage. If you don't need to push that last 10% or so go with the inexpensive. Cheap should automatically mean inexpensive but inexpensive definitely does not automatically mean cheap. My (cheap) $0.02.

 

[Wendell Reich]

Since China doesn’t respect IP, you can get off brand stuff that is the same as the name brand, because it’s 100% the same stuff, just a different shell or external design.

We bring them something we invented and they manufacture it for us. The next day, they change tooling a bit, use a different color and manufacture the same thing and sell it on Amazon for 25% less.

I noticed a few chronographs that are exactly the same as the Garmin shortly after the Garmin came out. They didn’t even bother to change the shell or color.

What are we gonna do, sue them? In China? Good luck with that.

 

[BrotherHubb]

I agree with LDB, inexpensive and cheap are synonymous. I have quite a bit of Kuiu hunting clothing and it works really well, but it’s expensive and Magellan or Browning on sale works well and if you know how to layer, it will keep you warm and dry. Same with hunting rifles, a Weatherby Vanguard or Howa will shoot as well as a rifle that costs three times as much and the critters on the other end don’t care what you used to hunt with. I’m more critical when it comes to knives or sunglasses as well as optics. As I’ve aged and my vision has declined, good glass has real value for me. I have a very good pair of European binoculars but if I were buying binoculars today I would buy Tract, same for scopes, I generally consider overall value over price and Tract are very hard to beat, dollar for dollar especially if they have a sale.

 

[BrotherHubb]

Oops, I meant to say that inexpensive and cheap are Not synonymous

 

[Drycreek]

I boughtthis little knife from Amazon and it has performed better than I ever expected. Ittakes and hold an edge as well as any knife costing three times as much. Not everything from China is junk, although it pains me to buy things Chinese.