My $15 bluetooth earbuds died after 2 weeks, but the $40 pair I got at a flea market in Austin are still going strong 8 months later

I picked up a set of no-name earbuds from a booth at the Austin Flea Market for $40. They sound fine and last about 5 hours on a charge. Meanwhile my friend spent $15 on a pair from a gas station and they stopped working in 14 days. Anyone else find cheap tech that actually holds up better than expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wade18d ago

I get what you're saying about rolling the dice, but I actually think it's way more predictable than people give it credit for. That gas station earbud you mentioned? Nobody should be surprised when a $15 pair from a random convenience store craps out in two weeks. Same for that charger smoking, a five dollar charger is a five dollar charger. Cheap stuff from places that specialize in cheap stuff is a gamble. But a $40 pair from a flea market where the seller probably tests them before selling? That's a different story. You're paying a little more and getting a slightly better product that someone actually put some thought into selling. The real lesson isn't that pricing is random, it's that the absolute bottom dollar price point is almost always designed to fail.

grant47823d ago

It's weird how pricing has almost nothing to do with quality anymore. Cheap stuff from random places can last forever while name brand stuff falls apart in two weeks. Feels like you're just rolling the dice every time you buy something now.

mark_ward23d ago

You feel like you're just rolling the dice every time" - that hit me. I used to be the guy who swore by brands, thought you got what you paid for. Then I bought a no-name phone charger for five bucks three years ago and it still works fine, while the expensive "heavy duty" one from a big box store started smoking after two months. Actually had to throw that one out before it set something on fire. Really changed how I look at things.