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Re:Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch r... by JKCalhoun on Friday December 17, 2021 @07:07AM (#29591099)
I suspect "middle ground" had a race to the bottom on price. I'm thinking for example of Sears "Craftsman" brand. Now that there are all these other big-box stores like Blowe's, Home Despot, they each have to have their own "house brand" that should have been the "middle ground" as well but, as I see it, have moved to lower and lower priced Chinese products.

I think what we're seeing is a nice metaphor for manufacturing in the 1st world in general.

Re:Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch r... by xxs on Friday December 17, 2021 @07:31AM (#29591280)
Given the infamous bathtub curve and my personal desire to fix and maintain my tools, getting a cheaper one might be proper annoying. Saying that off-shore T15 soldering irons were a top notch quality often times.

However, for certain types of tools/devices - e.g. multimeter, SMPS (even wall charges) I'd not touch totally no brand. An example of middle ground multimeters: brymen - they are more expensive than UNI-T, better than Fluke price/feature wise and very solidly built. SMPS - meanwell: proper capacitors, creep distance, real copper transformers. Hand tools - (screwdrivers, spanners) - Wera.

It gets harder with heavier duty tools that have to do the metal (like really) - that leaves prosumer+ stuff only - Makita, DeWalt - or straight to the pro: Hilti, Fein.