K So I own a few Decently Expensive items (Well Expensive for me and in my opinion) Such as say the Quark aa2 Tac light. Now this light was roughly 70-80$ and I personally consider that expensive for a light. Now I am considering to purchase a 14$ Light to use when I know for a fact the lights gonna get abused and may not pull through the ordeal.

Does anyone else do this? I have done it with knives shoes Multitools lists goes on. Is it sensible or is it wasteful?

I own a SureFire E1B, about a $160 light. But in a situation where I don't consider the light to be life and death and very well may get lost, I have a bunch of powerful yet cheap Chinese lights that I'll take. They cost between $7 and $16, and losing one won't sting quite as much.

Of course the danger is valuing a piece of gear over your own life! No matter how expensive it's still just a thing. If it's too expensive to use it's probably too expensive to own.

Equipment is made to be used. Stuff that sits on a shelf because it is too valuable to be placed in regular service represents wasted resources.

What if one applied that reasoning to climbing ropes (and they are not cheap)? I would not use an expensive rope and substitute polypro from Home Depot when my little bod is literally hanging from it?

I do that in regard to knives. Moras and a Becker are in the car. Bark River knives are in the house as are my Ritter knives - only going outside in a backpack, purse or jacket.

Other than those knives I do not buy cheap to protect the expensive. Because I have so much stuff after 20 years of buying camping gear, I can usually substitute old (old JetBoil and sleeping bag, for instance) for new and put those in the car - which is most vulnerable to theft.

I'm not in the habit of losing things so I don't worry about that. I do have to worry about theft in this area (property crime here is up 30% in the past year!).

I do. For many things. I grew up impoverished and old habits are hard to break. My EDC fixed blade is a $20 dollar S&W fighter from Big 5 in a repurposed sheath. The original sheath went to replace the trashed one from my treasured Ka-bar which has seen hard use in a lot of places. It was a gift from a greatful Marine so it has more sentimental value. The S&W takes the place of one of a blade of my own making. I would buy second hand clothing if I could find any that fit. So yes cheap to protect the good is an excellent practice.

I like your philoposy Phadraeus!

+1. I buy good enough quality, but not so expensive that i won't use it.

I am cheap. My stuff mostly is not. I'll wait for a sale to buy, but quality will last longer imo. I love a good bargain.

Flashlights are probably an exception - I carry 3-4 most of the time in different pockets and places in my go-kit, and I don't care which one I pull out and use, its usually only for a few minutes. By the same token I don't care if I hand them out and never get them back, but they always do. The modern Crees etc are just so much better than what I grew up with, they all have tremendous throws and lumens and stuff, I can't imagine that *I* really need a $100 model of anything like that. The Fenix models I've bought have all held up in rain and water so far. Same goes for headlamps, except I own one really good one (that's getting old) and a number of really inexpensive ones.

I have finally transitioned over to Eneloop rechargeables from earlier generation rechargeables and alkaline batteries, in all sizes except 9V and CR2032. More up front cost, but over time these become cheap to maintain. That doesn't stop me from spending $8 once a year on ~32ea AA alkalines and putting them in my emergency stash, on the off chance that I won't have electricity to recharge the Eneloops. I'll rotate those out every year or two and give them to my nephews, who still run on AAs.

I do buy inexpensive for potential giveaways - I bought a small stash of stocking caps the other day for $1 each, mostly to put on kids' heads at fire scenes. And I lose a lot of bandanas handing them out to folks who have been burned out of their homes.

If you do buy higher quality you sometimes have an advantage over cheap stuff. That comes in the form of a good warranty.

I have broken off my leatherman multi-tools more than once, sent them in and got brand new tools no questions asked(I even admitted it was my own fault once)25 years from time of purchase. Accidently ran over a pelican light, same thing. They never even asked how I managed to run over a flashlight they just sent me a new one. Other brands with excellent service have been surefire, eberlestock and badlands.

You are less inclined to leave expensive stuff at home if you are no longer afraid to break it.

Stuff that's owned but not used will get old and go obsolete in pristine condition. I do that with a few collectibles, but flashlights are all users.

The Quark AA2 is a good light and may do better than you think. If it fails remember that 120 month warranty.

+1 Buy sufficient quality to satisfy the requirement, and not theoretical quality enhancements. This is the idea behind the quote I use in my signature. For example, you can easily spend 10 times as much on a knife that will do nothing more than a Mora will do. Use the saved $$ to satisfy another requirement.

I also distinguish between "cheap" which can imply low quality and "inexpensive" which does not. I think we are all talking about what I would call "inexpensive."

this may be a bit off the topic but you guys will get some humor out of it.
my hobby is wilderness canoe tripping so over the years i picked up some really nice,expensive gear with the idea that when i retired,like five years ago,i would go out with some class.
the hand made cherry wood paddle went out once,the Mora Raven knife never,the old classic Primus 71 stove with its kit never.i could go on but you get the idea,i still take the beat Coleman,SAK and a paddle that has been refinished several times to protect the expensive in my den at home-----

I'm not an outdoorsman like many of you, but shoot a lot of pistol, shotgun, and 3 gun competition.... the multi gun sports especially are pretty hard on equipment, as you abandon the empty firearms when you transition to another...over the years, I've tried to upgrade to the most reliable that I can afford...at my age, I really don't want a piece of equipment to go down at a big match as I may not be able to get there next year... its bad enough when I screw up...so I guess I tend to buy the best quality I can, but being retired and single, have a little more expendable income for toys....

occasionally, though, the switch do to reliability is a little cheaper... shot a series of 1911 pistols for 25years, and a link break at Ft Benning caused a switch to a plastic gun...

Adding yet another vote to the "Decent and appropriate, but not excessive" strategy. The only drawback to this is the stuff purchased years ago is still giving yeoman service, and I have no reason to buy new toys.

One particular pitfal of the most expensive gear lineup is that it may not be designed for durability, but for maximum performance at the lightest possible weight. One example is bicycle gear systems. The optimum durability option isn't the top notch competition system, which is ultra-lightweight but also much more fragile and maintenance-intensive than the budget "regular user" models.

Look at ultra-light models for virtually any aspect of outdoor equipment and you'll find the same: The lightest, most compact version is typically not what you'd like to "wear out" on a three-days-a-week,9-months-a-year schedule. Ultra-light may be functional, but very often it'll have a durability penalty.

Me? I'm too cheap to buy stuff I don't plan to use.

I bought a really good drill, lifetime warranty on the batteries even. Spent $100 on sale. Great deal. Yeppers - cept they don't make the drill or the batteries anymore. To get any warranty work done you jump through 3 hoops, juggle 4 cars, while hopping on one foot and reciting the Constitution from memory.

Now I buy cheaper stuff that will last about as long, and when it dies, I'm out $20,

As to field gear, I look at what's around, pick stuff that fits my needs and won't break the budget, and if it breaks, I can replace it. I use what I buy, not abuse, use.

I guess I do this inadvertently. For example, I carry a nice Fenix with fresh batteries, but I also carry a little fauxton on my key chain. The fauxton is good enough for most activity in the dark. Also, I'll freely allow somebody to have my fauxton. I pull out the Fenix when I need to see across a field, up a tree, etc. It would have to be a real emergency to hand over my Fenix to somebody.

Definitely guilty of this, I have $200 knives but my most used fixed blade is a $9 Mora carbon clipper.

I of course am concerned with cost of items. However, I will try different makes/models of things like fire starters, lights, etc and my decision is based on ease of use, wear, dependability, not ultimately on price. And I will use it hard.

I have no real expectation that a more expensive item is inherently better than cheaper. Factors like "Made in America", batch size, company size, demand, all play into cost, rather than simply the sum of its parts.

What I carry is what I want, price aside. And yes if its expensive I will not baby it. I will put it through the ringer in every way possible. How else do you become competent using it and knowing its limitations.

I don't understand people who invest in an expensive item for EDC and never use it, instead going to search for cheaper items, just in case it might break.

I do buy some cheap to preserve the good stuff- my EDC folder for example is a WM Ozark Trail $1 knife. I abuse it at work. I carry a good SAK which is rarely used, but more trustworthy.

Daily granola bars vs the better made for my PSK or evac ruck.

Constant wear at low cost is a trade-off. Yeah, I trust the cheap stuff to sustain me until I can access my better equipment.

I have an old 3D Maglite (upgraded to LED) that I use for situations of imminent major abuse. It hasn't failed me yet, no matter how many times I drop it into the sump pit.

For most things, I try to find the "Quark" or "RSK" of it's type. The RSK knives perform brilliantly -- way better than some more expensive knives I've owned -- but aren't so expensive that I'm afraid to use them. Same with Quark flashlights.