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.