Oh, and as far as this list goes, I don't have experience with everything, but I do have an Instant Pot brand pressure cooker as well as Lodge cast iron skillets. Those to recommendations are genuinely solid, IMO.
I very much feel that Instant Pot brand pressure cookers will start slacking in the years to come and will become shit. But right now they're still in that phase where they build a quality product to build their reputation. Once that reputation is built, they'll probably be bought out by another company who will start cutting costs excessively and rely on that reputation to get them by. And people will continue recommending them because it's what they know and the recommendations get passed down from their parents and so on. Too many cases of this happening.
And the Lodge brand cast iron skillets. Well, they're cast iron skillets. They're a hunk of cast iron, what are you after? They work like you'd expect and are available everywhere.
Finding recommendations is so hard nowadays. There is so much bullshit to wade through. You search for a product recommendation and you first have to sift through the actual advertisements at the top, then the sponsored blog posts, then the obvious sponsored blog posts that they illegally don't disclose, and then the clickbait robot generated articles thrown together with repetitive phrases to trick the search engines.
And, worst of all, once you finally get to actual people's recommendations, you have to sift through the fact that most people don't know how to give a recommendation. People are stupid and don't seem to understand what's good and what isn't. Some people will recommend because the product has a gimmicky feature, even if the product is built like shit. Some people will recommend because the product worked at least once for them. Some people will recommend just because it's what they bought, and they subconsciously want to reaffirm to themselves that they bought the right one, so they tell other people they highly recommend it. It's all shit.
You eventually sometimes maybe can find someone's recommendation who spent the time to thoughtfully explain why exactly they recommend this product, what they use this product for, what similar products they've used in the past to compare it to, how long they've used the product, and what they don't like about the product.
I have best luck with product recommendations found in YouTube videos that I happen to be watching, but only when they meet the above criteria. Not so much videos specifically for the product, but recommendations mid-video in passing. But, obviously, this method doesn't work so great when you need a specific product and are actively looking for recommendations.
Well, I mean, they are all shit these days. No one makes quality anything anymore.
These are rated by people who get the vaccine and wear masks while they get into their cars that have a bumper sticker that says 'you can't fix stupid'
Used to have a friend that would spend hours standing around in the store on her phone comparing reviews telling her what vacuum to buy. No looking at the actual vacuums, no comparing quality, actually standing in the isle looking for an opinion online. Drove me insane.
The same kind of person was going to throw out a belt clipable camera case, after ordering a belt clipable phone case, that were the same size. Though I was insane for asking for the camera case for my phone since it wasn't a "phone" case.
I offer my tips.
After I was taken by too many US brands made in China (Oster, Black and Decker, others) I did the following:
Look up the product owner manual. If you cannot find it on the mfr's site, skip the product.
Once you find the manual, read it over. Look for how or where to get replacement parts, that's a dead giveaway. If you see that parts orders come from China in 3 to 6 weeks, skip it.
Examples: I bought a well-rated (according to fake reviews) toaster oven. Had not done a user manual lookup beforehand. After ruining the inside tray in an accident a few weeks later, I did a search to buy a replacement tray. Not available! Also, no other parts available. Also, phony claim of serving as a convection oven. Controls are marked with a fan labeled 'turbo'. Out of curiosity I opened the chassis. NO FAN.
I noted all this in an online review. They removed the review. I will never again buy Oster made in China crap.
I bought what looked like a decent Black and Decker coffeemaker. Soon found it was a POS to use though the box photos didn't reveal that. I went to find price of a second carafe and second basket -- not available. Same parts problem. All the Chinese garbage is throwaway.
I note that many Japanese appliances are well supported and they make parts available. Panasonic, Toshiba etc much better than Chinese crap.
75% of all product managers lie. Chinese and Indian ones more than others.
Oh, and as far as this list goes, I don't have experience with everything, but I do have an Instant Pot brand pressure cooker as well as Lodge cast iron skillets. Those to recommendations are genuinely solid, IMO.
I very much feel that Instant Pot brand pressure cookers will start slacking in the years to come and will become shit. But right now they're still in that phase where they build a quality product to build their reputation. Once that reputation is built, they'll probably be bought out by another company who will start cutting costs excessively and rely on that reputation to get them by. And people will continue recommending them because it's what they know and the recommendations get passed down from their parents and so on. Too many cases of this happening.
And the Lodge brand cast iron skillets. Well, they're cast iron skillets. They're a hunk of cast iron, what are you after? They work like you'd expect and are available everywhere.
Finding recommendations is so hard nowadays. There is so much bullshit to wade through. You search for a product recommendation and you first have to sift through the actual advertisements at the top, then the sponsored blog posts, then the obvious sponsored blog posts that they illegally don't disclose, and then the clickbait robot generated articles thrown together with repetitive phrases to trick the search engines.
And, worst of all, once you finally get to actual people's recommendations, you have to sift through the fact that most people don't know how to give a recommendation. People are stupid and don't seem to understand what's good and what isn't. Some people will recommend because the product has a gimmicky feature, even if the product is built like shit. Some people will recommend because the product worked at least once for them. Some people will recommend just because it's what they bought, and they subconsciously want to reaffirm to themselves that they bought the right one, so they tell other people they highly recommend it. It's all shit.
You eventually sometimes maybe can find someone's recommendation who spent the time to thoughtfully explain why exactly they recommend this product, what they use this product for, what similar products they've used in the past to compare it to, how long they've used the product, and what they don't like about the product.
I have best luck with product recommendations found in YouTube videos that I happen to be watching, but only when they meet the above criteria. Not so much videos specifically for the product, but recommendations mid-video in passing. But, obviously, this method doesn't work so great when you need a specific product and are actively looking for recommendations.
Well, I mean, they are all shit these days. No one makes quality anything anymore.
Used to have a friend that would spend hours standing around in the store on her phone comparing reviews telling her what vacuum to buy. No looking at the actual vacuums, no comparing quality, actually standing in the isle looking for an opinion online. Drove me insane.
The same kind of person was going to throw out a belt clipable camera case, after ordering a belt clipable phone case, that were the same size. Though I was insane for asking for the camera case for my phone since it wasn't a "phone" case.
So you are saying everyone should have bought Google Glass? :P
I offer my tips. After I was taken by too many US brands made in China (Oster, Black and Decker, others) I did the following:
Examples: I bought a well-rated (according to fake reviews) toaster oven. Had not done a user manual lookup beforehand. After ruining the inside tray in an accident a few weeks later, I did a search to buy a replacement tray. Not available! Also, no other parts available. Also, phony claim of serving as a convection oven. Controls are marked with a fan labeled 'turbo'. Out of curiosity I opened the chassis. NO FAN. I noted all this in an online review. They removed the review. I will never again buy Oster made in China crap.
I bought what looked like a decent Black and Decker coffeemaker. Soon found it was a POS to use though the box photos didn't reveal that. I went to find price of a second carafe and second basket -- not available. Same parts problem. All the Chinese garbage is throwaway.
I note that many Japanese appliances are well supported and they make parts available. Panasonic, Toshiba etc much better than Chinese crap.
Indeed they do... https://www.infamousinspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Albert-Einstein-Tongue-Poster-2.jpg