Just wondering I purchased a Ultra fire flash light on Amazon about 5 years ago figured it was a cheap version of a Surefire, but for $5. It has been one awesome light. Anyone else ever buy something that you figured would be marginal at best, but end up being surprised at the quality?
I bought a cordless drill about 15 years ago from harbor freight. Came with 2 batteries, charger, and hardcase for $20. Still works great to this day and i swear, one of the batteries hasn't been charged in 5 years but still will run the drill strong.
I bought a 4 pack of 3/8” drive sockets (the kind with the ball end on them, like you put in a drill) from Menards for $3.99, didn’t really need them, but bought em anyway. Earlier this year when we were building our range, I used those drivers every day for 3 months, in a Milwaukee impact driver, I couldn’t even begin to guess how many of the Milwaukee brand sockets broke, usually a couple a day, and I still have 3 of my 4 cheapo branded ones. Can’t beat the Milwaukee impact drivers, but their accessories didn’t hold up well.
I can't think of anytime that I compromised on quality and didn't end up at least a little disappointed. The few times I bought something based on a lower price, I later regretted doing so.
We needed a new TV for the bedroom and bought the cheapest "no name" 24 inch 1080p LED TV at H H Gregg's 2011 Labor Day sale; a Hisense. I expected it would last a year maybe two and it did. When it came time to replace the living room TV and I saw a Hisense 40" 1080p LED Smart TV at WalMart for $350 we bought it. A couple months later it would randomly not turn on, so I emailed them about it. After only needing a model and date of purchase, they sent a guy to our house to inspect and fix it at no cost. We found one of the grounding screws was missing on the main board and after he put one in we've never had another problem from either TV. I would buy another one with no hesitation.
$5.00 float charger ( battery tender) from Harbor Freight. I use them on Boat batteries, motorcycles and garden tractor. I used one on my old Motorcycle, original battery lasted 8 years.
We have a cheap Hisense 32in tv that we bought on black friday at walmart 4 or 5 years ago that still works without an issue. it was worth the $125 or $150 that we paid for it.
I second the praise for Mora Knives. I have two that I got at the 1500, and one of them is my main hunting/camping/garden knife.
I've also gotten several Harbor Freight tools that I've gotten great value from. I always will remember a young family coming into Harbor Freight when I was there, and the young daughter said "Why are we coming in here?" and her dad said "Because this is like Toys-R-Us for daddy".