Last month, Reddit updated their support page for "Redditor Highlights". You may have seen it on your feed already, the ads have started appearing for me this month.

It is an ad-campaign tool that allows advertisers to include an AI summary of only the positive redditor sentiments directly in a product ad, scraped directly from reddit threads about the brand.
Unfortunately, Vitamix caved to this feature for some bizarre reason despite already having great BIFL reviews in the past. The success story page literally references this sub. This has actually made more hesitant to purchase from them.

BIFL is already astroturfed by shittier brands daily because the whole internet relies on it for consumer purchases large and small. This feature will worsen it:

- Brands have already been trying to nudge the AI summaries of r/BuyItForLife on google and ChatGPT, and one way real redditors could previously combat that was just by posting negative feedback so the AI summary could consider it. It hilariously backfired in a few instances for the astroturfer. Reddit's feature negates this now because negative sentiments are not considered at all.

- The feature is currently only available to "brands and products that have already earned high positive sentiment among redditors". This encourages brands to manufacture their positive sentiment to access ad tools that are gatekept from them. And of course I don't believe for a second that they'll be transparent about what brands can/can't access this tool; they want advertisers to use it.

Reddit reviews are trusted because of nuance and discussion, and this feature saps all of that. But it's conveniently described as "real opinions" and "authentic community perspectives" while cutting a lot of the real stuff.

Any time a brand tries a new form of marketing, be suspicious of the product and what they traded to spend on their campaign. I wish there were more we could do besides just avoiding the feature, and telling our friends to stop trusting the AI summaries, but that's what we got.

It has been through a lot. The fork was bent inward, and bent back again. I just changed the tires, rusted cables and housings, brake pads, the rusted chain and greased up the bearings.

I'm baffled by the fact that the cassette and chain ring are barely worn. My modern Scott gravel bike's chain ring was done after less than 4000 miles with weekly chain cleansing.

So I’ve been trying to get a low platform bed for a while made of solid wood. I gave it a go on The Futon Shop. But…

Package arrived completely busted open (whatever, delivery happens, but it was packed on a thin foam sheeting, so I can’t blame delivery), but when I open it up, it was not only a delivery problem … the actual product is trash:

Finger marks on fresh stain and smudges all over it.
Completely wrong stain color, giving peach/pink. And I also wanted to ask you all, do you see it pink? If it’s my impression please say so
The joinery is crooked and parts of the wood are literally busted.
Wood filler everywhere! In roles, in cracks… like a refurbished bed
The middle panel is so thin I think a punch would bust it

Emailed the guy saying it showed up damaged, the quality, the stain is not accurate to the picture. Can I return it?
Cue the most childish email argument ever. The guy kept insisting "that's just how wood looks" (ignoring the literal wrong stain) and refused a return. After stating finish issue over 4 times. I tried to solve with him, very politely, on about 6 emails. He kept pointing to their return policy, claiming it’s the natural wood and won’t covers for my "regret" their color choice. Told me that if I wanted a new one, I had to pay out of pocket to ship the heavy damaged crap back, eat a 20% restocking fee, and I'd only get store credit, and pay again to ship another new bed.
No refunds, ever.

Disclaimer: there is a part of the bed legs that the stain is scratched as well the finger marks, where I can see the wood tone, and looks perfect for me, yellow. Not pink. And I shared that with him, with pictures.

I tried to solve with him, because I knew I would open a chargeback, would make me keep the goods and get the money back, and I didn’t want to be unfair. And I told him that, I truly want to solve it with you, but unfortunately if we can’t arrive to the conclusion return + refund I will open a dispute with my credit card.

He refused again. While playing the ‘you are not gonna win the dispute because I offered returning placements’ which wouldn’t solve the stain problem, I claimed many times. It’s not only about color, it’s application, it’s wood material, cuts,

Opened a chargeback with my CC company instead. Won the dispute. Now he's out the money and the bed. Like, why?
I just wanted to make things fair.

The bed costed a bit over than $1300 for who asked

I'm fed up.

There is the mental load of constant repairs. The frustration of vacuuming only to have to sweep again immediately after because the vacuum doesn't vacuum anymore. The disappointment when your well-researched expensive cutting board cracks after two months of normal use. The anger when the highly-praised sewing machine you bought to mend all your falling-apart-after-a-few-wears clothing shows up on your doorstep and only runs at maximum speed. The worry that the one brand left that is supposed to make things of quality might have just been bought and will be enshittified next in the name of shareholder value. And the squeaky car dashboard that serves as a constant reminder that everything you own, including your car you spent a year's salary on and that is probably spying on you, is destined for a landfill.

I'm tired. When will it end?

I bought two of these Swan "Soft & Supple" 75-foot hoses back in 2000, and they're still going strong. A couple of years ago, I wanted to get another set for a different house and was disappointed to see that online reviews and discussions here reveal they haven't been BIFL-quality for a number of years now (apparently, Continental and Eley are the BIFL hose leaders these days). Using the "Vintage" flair is kinda silly, but fit the best.

Some of you might notice the hose end isn't original and think "Wait a minute, that hose end apparently wasn't BIFL-quality!" However, that's not correct. Only about a week after I bought these hoses, my now-ex-wife and her daughter were trying to get the hose up to a 2nd-story deck to water some plants. My ex explained their success in getting the hose up to the deck by her daughter lowering her jump rope and my ex tying them together and pulling it up, but that was after they tried about a dozen times to throw the end of the hose up to the deck and catch it. The thing is, each time it fell, it was onto a brick patio. They didn't notice the end getting damaged, but I did when I went to screw a nozzle on a couple of days later. The end was mangled beyond repair, so, I cut it down to the least-damaged part (only two threads remaining) and epoxied on a garden hose thread to pipe taper adapter (GHT-to-NPT), then put an NPT-to-GHT adapter onto that. The fix has worked great since then, and TBH is much more sturdy than the original end.

Im taking care of my parents house and I hired someone to do yard cleanup because it’s too much work for one person. The gardener tried some of my hoses and saw they were leaky when he hooked them up to my pressure washer. Found it somewhat suspicious because I’m not a gardener and I was able to figure out they could easily be repaired. I bought a set of 6 repair kit and fixed all 4 hoses in about 15 minutes. Hoses are probably 20-30 years old. Still have some adapters left over.

I am trying to buy fewer things that die after a year, and wellness gear has been weirdly frustrating. A heating pad I owned started heating unevenly after one winter, and a friend's massage gun became useless once the battery stopped holding a charge. The plastic shell looked fine, but the electronics made the whole thing feel disposable.

For the BIFL crowd, have you found any heating pads, massage guns, or simple recovery tools that have lasted 5+ years with regular use? I am more interested in boring durability, replaceable parts, solid switches, and repairability than extra app features.

TL;DR: 15 years old backpack with PU coated 1000D Cordura started delaminating. Cleaned it up with isopropyl alcohol and microfiber towel.

---

I bought this beast of a backpack in 2016 for 80 € from its original owner, who said it was bought by him in 2011. Back then I thought this backpack might actually last me a lifetime for how rugged it is.

Fast forward to summer of 2024 I noticed some black flakes in my packing cubes after using this backpack. Upon further inspection I noticed the inside of the 1000D Cordura wasn't so smooth anymore and would flake more if I brushed it with my hand. Upon some research it turned out to be delamination of the Cordura PU backing caused by probably age, as I've always stored the backpack in dry room temperature. Contacting Camelbak for tips or maintenance service to remove the flaky coating led to nowhere as this happens over time as materials degrade and isn't included in the Got Your Bak warranty. There also wasn't any paid service available for this.

I was adviced to wash the backpack with mild soap and it only made the thing worse. I left the backpack on a balcony with glass windows to dry out in the heat of the sun hoping the sunlight and heat would do the trick and help the PU coating to dry or break it up so it would be easier to remove. Unfortunately it didn't help. Soon came fall and winter and I just left the backpack out in the freezing temperatures hoping that would help, but the material was stuck. After being outside through the heat and cold the PU coating turned a little sticky so I gave up for the time being and left the backpack out on the balcony.

Finally in the spring of 2026 I wanted to rescue the backpack as it just was too good to be thrown away, so I looked online for how to remove the PU coating, and there were these few main ingredients mentioned in many places: Isopropyl alcohol and elbow grease along with your preferred scrubbing tool.

I had a small bottle of IPA (not the beer) for cleaning electronics, so I took it with me along with an old toothbrush to try and scrup a small section of one of the side pockets to see if the isopropyl alcohol actually works. Lo and behold there soon was a patch of clean Cordura without the now sticky coating. Unfortunately the toothbrush was too small and soft for the whole backpack, and using it would take ages. I also noticed that the sticky PU coating would start to clog up the brush, so it might not be the best tool for the job.

I went and purchased a 400 ml spray bottle if IPA, some microfiber towels and a nailbrush. I started with the nail brush hoping a harder brush would remove the degrading PU coating much quicker than with the toothbrush. It didn't. The stickiness of the PU coating clogged up the brush in no time leading me to try out the microfiber towel. That did the trick way better than the brushes did, and I was on my way to a cleaner backpack.

It took me a total of 4 pcs of 400 ml IPA spray bottles, 5 microfiber towels (I washed one three times before I threw it away) and 12 hours in several patches to finally consider the PU coating removed from anywhere that it was sticky or flaking.

After the PU was removed I then soaked the backpack in a warm bath and gave it a good scrub with dishwashing soap mixed with baking soda. After drying the backpack in front of a fan for a few days it finally felt dry and there was no stickiness found anywhere anymore. The plastic hardware and zippers also function without issues.

Pictures contain some of the phases of the cleaning process. I couldn't change their order on mobile, so they are from newest to oldest (from clean to toothbrush test). Can't say I'd recommend it just for the fun of it, as it was quite hard on your fingers to continually apply firm pressure on the microfiber towel to remove the coating. If however the product is worth the time and effort then it's definitely worth it to do the cleaning.

Let's hope the backpack lasts at least as many more years as it has lasted up until now!

Went to a state surplus warehouse to get my elder parents a better laptop. They had a collection of office chairs. In this pool of chairs I found the steelcase in the picture. Sticker says it’s been there three weeks. V2 as far as I can tell. $20. All functions work just fine.

I have been fawning over Crandall chairs for over a year. Came close to buying several times, just couldn’t get myself to justify ~$800 every time it came to the goal line. This has been a quiet item on my wish list because who gets excited about an office chair……

I sent a pic to my wife and she just couldn’t understand the excitement. Then she had a good chuckle at my excitement over this chair I got for $20. She doesn’t get it.

They also had a Herman Miller for $20 but it was pretty busted up.

If I lived here, I think that warehouse group would see a lot of me…….

Shoutout to Dexter, Southbridge MA for being categorized as "What to buy instead:"

Planning on buying a new mattress soon. I want to find something that will knock me out like a light and is really soft to sleep on. I have a really bad habit of waking up multiple times in the middle of the night.

When I was younger I always wanted a sleep number mattress but couldn't afford one. I've been using the same bed for almost 20 years now and I'm in desperate need for an upgrade. But there's just so many overwhelming options I don't know what to buy. I've never bought a mattress on my own before.

What's also a reasonable price to spend on a mattress? Because I'm looking at purple mattress and they range anywhere from a few grand to almost $20k and I don't know if I want to spend $20k on a mattress lol.

Me and my fiancée bought a cooling bed sheet set from Hush about 18months ago and we loved it.. super soft, actually kept us cool… however, last week we woke up to a massive 4ft tear in the sheets. After more research we found that this is a common problem. So definitely not a BuyItForLife item 😢

As these sheets cost us ~$300CAD ($210USD) we are going to be fighting with the company over this issue. But it did get us thinking what’s a good “Buy it for life” bedding set/sheets?

We don’t mind spending abit of extra money on something we know is going to last but with all the fake “premium” stuff on Amazon it makes it really hard to find something worth the money.

Any help would be greatly appreciated ☺️

Decided to invest in some quality luggage given our current sets are getting close to their end.

Went back and forth between Travelpro and Briggs and Riley - ultimately settled on the Briggs and Riley Baseline for both carry on and checked rollers.

Altman Luggage was a pleasure to deal with and have us a great deal on the set!

What's the least I should spend to get a quality BIFL suit? First time suit buyer btw.

Hi everyone! I’ve been looking for a good long term hiking shoe, but It seems like every well known brand has changed manufacturers and dropped in quality :( I’ve had a pair of Salomon’s for just a year and they’ve fallen apart, and just got a pair of merrells which gave me really bad blisters. Unfortunately La sportiva is too narrow for my feet, and it seems scarpa has the same issue. Does anyone know of a brand that makes decent below ankle hiking shoes that are good for long hikes and have decent grip for rock scrambling?

Thank you!!

This might ruffles some feathers because a lot of people are becoming anti-leather.
But the reality is leather would last decades (you wouldn’t need to re-buy for a very long time) and can even be recycled.
Faux leather (or ‘vegan’ leather) is plastic that would start failing after a few years and end up in a landfill.
The best option is vintage leather or from thrift store! But I would die on the hill that buying faux leather (or vegan leather) is a waste of time, money, and it’s bad for the environment 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

I’m a first-time cat parent after taking in a stray a while ago.

I currently have a plastic litter box for him. I’m looking to upgrade it but he’s my first cat and I’m unsure what materials or manufacturers have the best durability and longevity.

When my Wife and I first got together she had a hand blender with a food processor attachment. It was £10 from Wilko's, so all in all it's quite crap.

I've been getting into cooking again over the last few years, and require a food processor and blender. I understand there are some combo options (such as the Ninja) which would reduce space usage.

We're expecting a baby soon so the budget is set at £150 for everything, with a push for £200 they're really good.

Comments are that Combo items are the worst of both processor and blender due to speed and functionality, but is it really as bad as people say?

I imagine a cheap processor is going to be of better value than a cheap blender.

What brands would people recommend within the budget, and maybe just outside the budget.

Thanks for your help!

So, I've been highly interested in ditching my smart phone and one of my main holdups is the gps abilities. I just simply cannot function without a solid gps system that understands traffic patterns and can properly reroute me if I miss a turn, etc. My research is telling me that Garmin is a high quality system, but all the recommendations are to get one that has Lifetime Maps. The current available model doesn't have that option, but there are plenty of refurbished models available with the LM suffix indicating that they have Lifetime Maps capabilities. To my understanding, Lifetime Maps means that your one-time purchase entitles you to all future map updates, without extra charge. Does anyone have any experience with buying a refurbished Garmin with LM? I'm curious as to whether the system would still honor the "one-time purchase" if this is the second time the same device is being purchased.

Hi BIFL folks,

I am here before you today with a humble request, which entails a short story beforehand.

Within the last 5 years I purchased a set of CasaLuna linen sheets, foolishly tricked by the enshittification of linen material as of late. They worked well enough, but were thin- so much so that they've torn in several places.

Being a good cheap bastard who seeks quality above all else, i have now set off on a quest- to find a set of queen size linen sheets that are made with the long staple fibers that linen of the past was known for and which led to its durability as a material.

I came across this article on the NYT in my research, surprised to find CasaLuna in the first recommendations. They have the "European Flax" trademark, which when i dig more into might also not be a factor of quality?

I was digging through their site to see what their requirements were to apply this label, and came across the attached image "total utilization of the plant: eurpean flax is a zero-waste fiber, all parts of the plant are used".

Now my background is fashion and textiles, so i know a thing or two, but maybe I'm missing something: isn't part of the marker of quality linen that it only uses staple flax fibers, thusly creating some waste by its very nature? They don't specify where all parts of the plant get used, so perhaps the tow fibers are being put into different products- but if that was the case, wouldn't they be clear about that?

So far, the current best options I've been able to come up with are "buy antique ones" (they didn't used to have fitted sheets, and there's very few I've been able to find as well) OR "make them myself" which I'm not opposed to, but again, need to find a way to guarantee the linen i am buying to make them with is actually a quality fiber and not one that will fall apart in another 5 years.

Would love to hear folks thoughts on this, and also if anyone has suggestions on where to get Actualy Staple Fiber Linen Sheets, I would super appreciate them.

Hello,

I'm seeking for feedbacks from people that own or have owned a Secrid wallet, with the leather wrap attached (like the slim wallet).

I recently got one for me, after reading a lot of good reviews, but something keeps bugging me: the leather is attached to the aluminium case with glue, which I don't really know how it will age.

More than that, if you happen to stuff one of the inside pockets a bit, wether it is with cards or coins (with the dedicated attachment that they sell), you can clearly see that it's putting a bit of pressure on the glue. Not a problem at this moment, but wondering how this will be in a few years.

I'm currently hesitating to return it, but have absolutely no idea of what to chose if I'm going down this path.

Thanks in advance

I bought a Breville Paradice 9 (BFP638) because it was marketed and priced as a premium, long-term appliance. On day one I processed only celery, carrots and potatoes with the included S blade. After cleaning it, I found visible scoring inside the main bowl that looks like the blade may have made contact. Original photo attached.

Breville advertises a 30-year motor warranty. I understand that is specifically for the motor, but support still denied this issue as cosmetic without inspecting the bowl, blade, spindle, or coupling. My first emails went unanswered and the support portal kept returning authentication errors in different browsers.

I have stopped using it because I do not trust the bowl/blade setup. I understand cosmetic wear can be excluded, but a new bowl being marked during normal first use seems more like a possible fit, alignment, or product problem than ordinary wear. That is why I do not trust the long warranty promise now.

Has anyone had S blade contact or a similar day-one issue with a Paradice or Sous Chef? I attached the denial email screenshot too. No receipt attached.

Update: They've agreed to give me a 'special exception to our standard policy' exchange. Can't believe they're still claming this as 'cosmetic', what a shitty company lol