BIFL - Buy It for Life

KyAllroad said:

Vasectomy.

Nope. 

Had mine undone. 

In reply to SVreX :

I didn't take you for a masochist

Zune mp3 player... As long i can keep finding a replacement battery and hdd for it.

In pocket titanium bill fold, and x1 rechargeable AAA XML $2 flashlight

Cookware, 12 cast iron skillet, large steel wok, titanium spork, stainless tea kettle, 3 Rams forged Chinese cleaver, commercial pizza tray... And mason jars as long as I don't break them.

Mostly rebuilt industrial singer seeing machine.

Shop stuff

Industrial Dayton pedestal fan 

Meco midgetoxy/ace torch with some other rebuildable Harris stuff mixed in.

Shopsmith with a gazillion attachments.

100+ year old Prentice bulldog vise

railroad anvil inverted 

Industrial drill press head, and bandsaw

and a good assortment of pre WWII Cincinnati c clamps

Everything else is very useful but I don't see it lasting , not possibly growing out of it or, outright getting broken

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dculberson said:

In reply to SVreX :

I didn't take you for a masochist

Best thing I ever did. 

Jere said: Mostly rebuilt industrial singer seeing machine.

You'll poke your eye out kid!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

I'll just withhold my opinion on the fact that Bobzilla apparently bought his wife 

I learned my lesson.  In the future I'm sticking to rentals

In reply to Huckleberry :

Ha yeah Google spell check hits me with that one a lot. I can type "sewing" 10 times and it would autocorrect to "seeing" everytime.

(As to what's going on with my font I have no clue)

I thought my Rolleiflex would be something I bought for life, but film is becoming scarcer by the year. Does anything electronic qualify? I doubt it.

For me, I have a nice hat that I'd consider "for life." And a vintage steel bicycle, so long as I can manage to ride.

Hand tools and bicycles. Originally it was the plan with the house but im now planning too sell it and downsize when my kids are adults.

I've been around long enough to recognize there has been a massive shift in this regard. 

There was a time when equipment and machinery was judged on its ability to last forever. Planned obsolescence is now the norm. 

There seems to be a direct correlation with technology. One of the best ways to make a tool not last forever seems to be to introduce computer chips. It's easy to retire a piece of equipment permanently the minute it's OS fails. 

I have 75 year old equipment in my shop that may never die.  But I retire newer stuff regularly because of catastrophic electronic failures  

Car example- we have cars on the road that are 50 years old. Lots of them. Heck, we even have some that are pushing 100. I don't there is any possibility that my 2015 Elantra will be on the road in any form in 50 years (and I don't think a more collectible car is likely either)

Not bought, but inherited for life.  I have a Sears dehumidifier from circa 1924 that my 87 year old father in law inherited from his uncle.  Works like a champ whenever I need to dry out an area, carpet, room, car interior etc. 

One of the few pieces of computer technology that seems to be BIFL is the mighty IBM Model M keyboard.  People will still spend upwards of $50-100 on a vintage one because they're so dang nice compared to most modern keyboards.  I want to go dig at my parents' house to see if there's any stashed away somewhere.

Erich said:

Does anything electronic qualify? I doubt it.

 

Relatively simple electronic items are: Lamps, corded power tools, certain stereo equipment/radios, the Nokia 3310, my Vitamix blender will probably outlive me...

stuart in mn said:

volvoclearinghouse said:

FYI, I bought a pair of Red Wing boots 2 years ago.  They were fantastic boots, sturdy and very comfortable.  Unfortunately, after 2 years they're nearing end of life.  So, I don't think you can expect to buy boots for life.  At least not with Red Wings.  Still, I might buy another pair- considering that $150 per year for decent steel toed work boots may just be the going rate for comfortable footwear.  

If they just need new soles or something like that they should be repairable.

Red Wing does have a warrantee on their boots, but unfortunately in your case it's for 12 months and not 24.

 

Unfortunately the whole boot itself is wearing out.  The soles are actually OK, but the outers are ragged and holes are forming in the toes over the steel.  Amazingly, it's still on it's original laces, but I won't bother spending the $100 or whatever Red Wings wants to resole, when the outers are getting tattered and the insole is worn out.

The orthopedic insoles they sell are fantastically comfortable, but don't expect to get more than a year out of them.  Fortunately they are warranted for a year, so turn them in at 51 weeks old.    They're $60 a set, so that works out to $30 each after you get them replaced under warranty.  

LASIK. Still the best money I've ever spent (divorce is a close 2nd). 

I think some audio equipment can be BIFL.  Or, DIYFL.  

I've got at least one pair of speakers that I built that I intend to own long-term.  And I think that power amps can be more or less BIFL.  It's the inputs and processing in a preamp or receiver that keeps changing.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Out of curiosity, is the pair that's prematurely wearing out on you made in the US or China?  Do you know which model you got?  

I just ordered my 5th set of Redwing boots and I have been wearing a pair every day for over 20 years. The last two pairs had to be special ordered to get the combination of shank and puncture guard insole I wanted, but they ship straight from the U.S. factory to my door.

As far as stuff you buy once, about the only thing with a motor I have that I feel that way about is my Stihl 261 chainsaw. With a minimum of maintenance someone after me is going to inherit probably the only saw they will ever need.

A kitchenaide mixer. Ours was my parents wedding present in 1980, it's been to the shop exactly once for repairs, and it's probably got more miles on it than my cop car does with no signs of slowing down. 

Seriously every winter since 1980, it bakes bread and cookies weekly, I use it to shred cheese, stuff sausage, and when I'm just to lazy to use a whisk. 

SVreX said:

Best thing I ever did. 

Before I had kids, I might have disagreed with you. Now I can't imagine life without them.

SVreX said:

There was a time when equipment and machinery was judged on its ability to last forever. Planned obsolescence is now the norm.

I'm not even sure either mindset is the "right" one. Look at how expensive equipment used to be, as a percentage of an average person's income. You needed the stuff to last a lifetime because nobody could afford to replace it. Now, you can buy a quite usable angle grinder for $20. Will it last you forever? NO! But it will last the average person for many years, and fulfill 100% of the functionality that a more expensive one would have. How much would a "buy it for life" angle grinder nowadays cost? A thousand dollars? A Festool angle grinder is $340 and I'm not sure that qualifies as BIFL. So is it "better" to price tools (and all manufactured durable goods, really) completely out of the price of the average person but have it last forever?

The Navy chair was released in 1944...and all of them are still in use.  They are immune to torpedoes, small arms fire, nuclear blasts and all other forms of wear and tear.  (although I guarantee my five year old could break it in 10 minutes) 

SVreX said:

Car example- we have cars on the road that are 50 years old. Lots of them. Heck, we even have some that are pushing 100. I don't there is any possibility that my 2015 Elantra will be on the road in any form in 50 years (and I don't think a more collectible car is likely either)

The 1965 equivalents of an Elantra are pretty scarce these days. I'm a little more optimistic about the longevity of modern cars, given that gearheads have been proclaiming the end of the repairable car since electronic fuel injection showed up. I do think that all the toys will show a short lifespan - connectivity with phones will prove to be a dead end as the iPhone XXX will not be able to talk to the current level of tech.

Keith Tanner said:

SVreX said:

Car example- we have cars on the road that are 50 years old. Lots of them. Heck, we even have some that are pushing 100. I don't there is any possibility that my 2015 Elantra will be on the road in any form in 50 years (and I don't think a more collectible car is likely either)

The 1965 equivalents of an Elantra are pretty scarce these days. I'm a little more optimistic about the longevity of modern cars, given that gearheads have been proclaiming the end of the repairable car since electronic fuel injection showed up. I do think that all the toys will show a short lifespan - connectivity with phones will prove to be a dead end as the iPhone XXX will not be able to talk to the current level of tech.

I'm going to go on a limb and say that we're in a current state of short-lived vehicles, but in the relatively near future they'll become close to a BIFL item as electric vehicles become the norm. The possible wrench in that is self-driving vehicles and planned obsolescence. 

dculberson said:

SVreX said:

There was a time when equipment and machinery was judged on its ability to last forever. Planned obsolescence is now the norm.

I'm not even sure either mindset is the "right" one. Look at how expensive equipment used to be, as a percentage of an average person's income. You needed the stuff to last a lifetime because nobody could afford to replace it. Now, you can buy a quite usable angle grinder for $20. Will it last you forever? NO! But it will last the average person for many years, and fulfill 100% of the functionality that a more expensive one would have. How much would a "buy it for life" angle grinder nowadays cost? A thousand dollars? A Festool angle grinder is $340 and I'm not sure that qualifies as BIFL. So is it "better" to price tools (and all manufactured durable goods, really) completely out of the price of the average person but have it last forever?

What would you change about that Festool grinder to make it BIFL?

We have a KitchenAid mixer. I love the fact that I can open it up and service it and there are gaskets etc available to do so.