this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
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This is not a conversation about guns. This is a conversation about items that have withstood abuse that are near unbreakable.

Some items I have heard referenced as AK47 of:

Gerber MP600: It's a multi tool

Old Thinkpad Laptops

Mag lights

Toyota Hilux

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (9 children)

Aeropress coffee maker.

Its like 20$, works really well, very simple design with few things to break.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Gotta be the KitchenAid mixers no? Especially the older ones. I have a friend that has one from his grandma that's over 50 years old. If anything breaks, it's usually a gear or something simple to fix, and the parts are easy to buy and generally cheap.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

SM57s still can get roughed up pretty bad with the plastic covering on the front of the mic (especially if miking a snare drum with a less than precise drummer). SM58 will survive a nuclear war.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Bodum French Press

Dynavap DHV

Buffalo Bicycles

Vitamix Blender

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Concept2 rowing machines. Even if they break, you can still buy spare parts at reasonable rates even for the very first model, which is decades old and only sold a few copies. Fantastic engineering.

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[–] [email protected] 104 points 2 days ago (25 children)

I've been interested in this subject for a while and have a few recommendations.

Stanley Thermos. It could get hit by a fucking train and would still outlive you. Don't recommend putting cofee/milk products etc in them though because it will make the gasket smell. Excellent water container though.

Double edged straight razor. The handle piece is virtually indestructible. I bought a package of like 500 blades for like 30 dollars and haven't had to buy new ones for actual years. Fun fact as well, once you learn to use one it's better for sensitive skin because you're only dragging one razor across your skin per stroke instead of 5 or 7 or whatever the fuck the "better" ones have. Can confirm the "more blades = better" shit is just pure predatory marketing.

Buck knife. Multi tools are cool but if you tend to use the knife often, invest in a higher quality knife and stones to sharpen it. Sharpening stones (not the crap ceramic stuff they try to sell) will last a lifetime and will also keep all your kitchen knives beautiful for years. While you're up to it, get a piece of raw leather, like the back of of an old belt, and use it as a strop to polish off the blade when you're done sharpening, it really does make the cut smoother.

People say Mag light, but I'd personally recommend Olight as well for flashlights. The Olight Baton 4 is a ~600 lumen adjustable brightness flashlight with strobe which will blind you if you aren't careful and its smaller than a pill bottle and comes with a reversible clip and inset magnet in case you need to stick it somewhere to keep the light steady.

A graphite metal "magic" pencil. Instead of using normal graphite, these metal bodied pencils have end pieces you screw in as a tip, are erasable, and one nib takes forever to run out, something like 5 pencils. They dont draw as dark as a regular pencil due to the hardness but for general usage they are handy.

Mighty plugs ear plugs. Want to know what it's like to be deaf? Buy these. They aren't too costly, completely seal the ear, and I only have to get a new package once every few years. They're so effective I had to purchase an alarm clock built for deaf people which shakes my mattress instead of making a sound because I couldn't hear any normal alarm clock after I started using these. This combination is unbeatable if you have awful neighbors or live on a busy street with night traffic.

Any self winding watch. Stop fucking around with button cell batteries and evolve. If it's cheap, that's probably better, if it gets scratched you don't have to care. Seiko is a good brand in my experience.

If you're into camping get a decent mid sized carving hatchet. I have a mid sized Hultafors swedish steel one. People like splitting axes because they do what they're advertised to do, but theyre huge, heavy, and you cant carve or skin with them. A lighter smaller carving axe will do the same job splitting a log if you baton it with a medium sized stick. If you need something bigger to cut down a tree, go for a curved folding saw to bring with the hatchet. The Silky Saw Big Boy is great for that. Also buy a wool blanket. That shit will keep you warm in -35 C if you use it correctly. Also tents are neat but cumbersome, instead invest in a tarp and learn to make a lean to/other tarp configurations in combination with a ground sheet. If you expect you'll be facing inclement or extremely wet weather, get an oilskin tarp (or make one yourself its literally just a cotton sheet which you have ran through a few dryer cycles as hot as possible, and then soaked through in a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits and hung outside until completely dry. Don't put an open flame near it at any point in that process).

I probably have a bunch more, but can't think of them off the top of my head.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Cast iron skillets.

If you season and clean them the right way they will outlive you.

I'm using the same one that my parents owned for 30 years and hope I will get another 30 years of usage out of it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

We have one my great-grandma got before WWI that we use several times a week.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 21 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

Pre GM SAABs. I've personally gotten 2 of my 5 to over 1,000,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. Both manual transmission. A couple hundred of them have made it to 2,000,000 world wide. The lowest milage I killed a SAAB at was 789,000 miles. I hydroplaned into a semi on I-75, and the car still technically ran, but I gave it to my parents as a parts car. Just read the owners manual, and be absolutely religious about basic maintenance.

Oh, and the turbos don't like low octane fuel. It gums them up.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Game Boys are usually regarded as durable as hell. There's even one that withstood bombing during the Gulf War (1991)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Me and my cousin went tubing one time and he forgot his gameboy color in his pocket the whole time we were out on the water. There was water behind the screen but it still booted and played with some fresh batteries

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

The Logitech x3d Xtreme or whatever the hell it's called. it's a $34 flight stick, best one you can get for cheap, and after having and abusing it for years it only had any issues after a rottweiler puppy chewed the cable. Would recommend.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Can confirm with the old thinkpads. They're not great for gaming, but the keyboard, track pack, and eraser head are solid for writing and other office-like work.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

Hmm, yes, "eraser head"... That's what I call it too.

I definitely don't call it the mouse clit. Who would call it that?

Certainly not me.

[–] Vlyn 22 points 1 day ago (8 children)

The old part really does a lot of work here. New ThinkPads are utter trash :-/

I got excited to get one for work (having heard about the old ones) and was sorely disappointed. It thermal throttles if you look at it wrong, it keeps having BIOS issues with Lenovo being no help and the USB-C display connection (To a Lenovo monitor with their inbuilt docking station!) is iffy.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Knipex Tools

Honda Engines.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The wrt54g. They don't make wifi routers like they used to.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Careful now, they are too old to be secure. I'd switch to TL-WDR4300.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Quartz watches: Casio F-91w
Mechanical watches: Seiko 5

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[–] [email protected] 68 points 2 days ago (14 children)

I feel like I'm being baited to mention Nokia

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

(Off-Topic) Does anybody have β€œanti-planned obsolescence” communities?

Maybe where good products are discussed or recommended? Similar to r/buyitforlofe but without the shilling of socks

Edit:

  1. [email protected]
  2. [email protected]
  3. (Ger & Eng) [email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Classic Vitamix blender models. They just work. Long warranty. And even post warranty easily serviceable.

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

And for a buy-it-for-multiple-lifetimes citrus juicer to get juice for the blender, there’s the Nemco 55850.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Japanese-made sewing machines from the 1950s. Most are all-metal and overbuilt, and will work like new with a few drops of oil, maybe a fresh belt. In the US they were imported and had local brand's names put on them; what you're really looking for is the "Made in Japan" on the back or bottom. Granny sewing machines also qualify, but most of the Japanese ones have zigzag

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 days ago (6 children)
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[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (9 children)

Pinecil soldering iron. Cheap (only $26!), open source, portable, usbc powered. Even more powerful than $100 ones. I love that thing

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My Yamaha f310 guitar. It's supposed to be a beginner model, but I never felt the need for anything else. Took it with me traveling and after some 15000km on the road still sounds as on its first day.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Salt.

  • Nearly every recipe uses it
  • infinite shelf life (durable)
  • cheap as heck.
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