Ya, the academy brand.

I've got shirts from them that hold up as good or better than serious outdoor brands at a third of the cost. They're basically a Columbia dupe at this point.

Same honestly goes for their coolers, rods, and chairs.

Darn Tough, Duluth Trading, Red Wing, Magellan, Teva, and old-school Columbia gear are the only things I can endorse as part of the 8+ yr club.

I guess Henschel hats and a few Carhartt items have also made.it that long but the hat hardly gets worn and the new Carhartt stuff is shit. Columbia is the same way, old stuff is amazing, then they became a lifestyle brand and it went to hell.

Keep in mind I'm a big ol grizzly bear of a dude who does outdoor and extreme sports and works a blue collar job, so I'm putting this shit through the crucible.

I don't know if you have an actual store in your area but they do a sale about once a year where they drop prices by almost half in mine. I picked mine up for $75 instead of the 300 that usually retail for.

The heels kinda give away they're not just normal dress shoes.

A good clean pair of Iron Rangers will do you for dress. Look a little cowboy but I hear that's in vogue.

I'm on year 3 of daily wear on my Redwing Brnrs

Honestly best boots I've ever owned. If work would pay for em I'd buy another pair in a heartbeat.

These are great as long as the keys are similar sizes. They can really free up space in your pocket.

Oh I dumped the water on him and called him an asshole.

He told a supervisor on me but when I made it clear we could either both walk away or if happily get him fired for destroying my personal property he shut up fast.

Yetis are great but they're not indestructible.

A good enough drop or toss can break the cap or dent the threaded part of the metal and render the seal unreliable.

Yup! Had a jackass at work cut mine with a box cutter as a joke and had to replace it but I don't really count that as anything against the product.

Ya absolutely. I've carried my 48oz at work for almost a.year.now. it's scratched and scuffed and uglied up but no leaks and no holes.

Nalgene.

They're the gold standard for a reason. Been around forever and been good forever.

Ya the yetis weigh a Lot when loaded.

Then you already know they're quality boots haha.

I actually had a super bad experience with Danners personally. Bought some hikers that utterly delaminated after three months which was approximately the same time they finally broke in after wearing my feet raw.

But I've known enough people who had an amazing experience with them to know mine was an isolated incident.

A few years on a pair of hiking boots is a decent lifespan.

That said, super durable boots usually aren't super comfortable for hiking in my experience. Welted Soles tend to be heavy and less reactive than their weaker glued counterparts.

Danner Loggers will last you a few years and can be resolled once they wear out

Seconded. Love my osprey pack.

So as someone else already said, don't buy a set. Buy the specific knives you want and will use.

For most people that's a workhorse 8"-10" chef's knife, a paring knife, and maybe a carver or bread knife.

Victorinox is gonna offer you a reliable durable sharp knife.at.the best price. With that said they're not the prettiest and they're stainless.

High carbon steel requires a lot more maintenance though and if you're not willing to keep up with it you're going to end up losing that BIFL you paid extra for.

That is completely inaccurate . Quite possible to gouge it with metal cookware, scorch it, or warp it with fast temp change.

I mean as far as I'm concerned the Audio quality is good. I'm not gonna claim it'll beat out your bose or anything like that but the noise cancellation certainly will.

Audio filtering on the mic is just okay. It does fine with ambient noise but if you're moving a lot and it's brushing up against your clothes you'll notice.

Pro 2 all the way.

I got the extras originally but I literally went through 3 pairs on warranty because the circuit connection at the base of the earbud kept failing. They'd last 3-4 months but they'd all eventually develop shorts. They worked great and I honestly like the design better, but eventually they got tired of warranting me and upgraded me to the pro 2s. I'm 8 months in of daily wear for 12 hour shifts and they are comfortable, battery is holding up great, and performance is as.good as ever.

Haven't used the Frees or the NoiseAwares. Neither really fits my needs. I work factory so I have to have that noise cancelling power and that 16hr battery life on the Pro 2s is amazing. Music all night with no charging.

I think there's no debate that a $15 cast iron is worth it. It's a.versatile functional pan for life for less than three cups of Starbucks coffee.

Now can you upgrade? Absolutely. Blacklock, Le Crusette, stargazer, etc.. But it's not necessary.

I've never heard of vitamix as buy it for life. Always heard they were a good quality machine, but I've never really heard stories of them lasting forever

The answer to this question is always the same for me. At least, lodge 12-in cast iron skillet. It is no mess, no fuss, just a great quality product that won't let you down, very reasonably priced, and will probably outlive you.

Is it the hunk of fucking cast iron. Be kind of hard for it not to.

After that I can say things like darn tough socks, Leatherman multi-tools, isotunes headphones , and other things would lifetime warranties that they do a great job of honoring.

Spigen seems to be the answer.

That seems to be what I'm coming back to. Thank you for the info.