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Super glue.
Cyanocrylate adhesives were accidently discovered in WW2 while trying to develop a clear plastic. Later Eastman-Kodak held the patent and then sold it to Loctite on the 1960s.
Loctite 404 is so much better than anything else available on the market. It bonds better, it's stronger, it lasts longer and the bottle applicator is more controlled and easier to use. If you want it to last years, you can actually store in in the refrigerator when not being used.
Ok, I know Lemmy doesn't have a spying algorithm like pretty much any other company's site, but it is a bit amazing that you brought that here just when I needed that product to glue a ceramic handle of a mug that I broke because of stupidity.
As you seem to know about the subject, may I ask if it is prudent to still use the mug in the microwave? (Usually I heat my coffee or water there), the handle looks very well attached and I have used it once to drink... With fear.
I'm just some guy who can maybe read minds?
I don't know about the microwave. Heat actually breaks the bond for these kinds of adhesives, so if it isn't poisonous, it probably wouldn't work well for that anyway.
I buy nearly everything generic but generic Band-Aids have terrible adhesive so I always buy name brand.
Edit: Oh, and frozen pizza. I’ve had too many generics with crusts that might as well have been made of cardboard.
My local grocery store just made one that slaps actually. But most others suck
edit: I am talking about pizza. I don't eat band-aids
Band-Aids are a great call out!
I'm both active and clumsy with DIY stuff. Nothing else sticks "right" like Band-Aid brand. Yes, the off-brand shit is cheaper, better than nothing, but it's shit. And you're not saving any money by using twice as many.
And serious y'all, let me preach the gospel of Hydro Seal Band Aids. Game changing. No clue how they work, but they stick, puff up around the wound (infected bit) and come off when, and only when, you want them to. And taking them off don't hurt a tiny bit. Got a few in every med kit.
Any more than a paper cut, Hydro Seal. And even then, if I want it healed fast? Hydro Seal. They're also great for capping torn fingernails when you fucked it up too far down.
Tried the generic Amazon version. Meh, they're OK for half the price, "healing" tech seems the same. Doesn't stick quite right so you'll use twice as many. Worth it if you want that painful finger wound done with in 24-48 hours.
Caveat: They work a little too well on puncture wounds, seals the infection in, only treats the top. If you got poked deep, and congrats if that's your thing, it seals off the wound and makes it worse. Surface wounds like slices and scratches, go for it. Punched a drill bit 1/4" deep? Nope. Clean that one up and let it breathe a bit.
tl;dr $.70 for a band aid sounds crazy. I know. Just try it for me. Try it for yourself.
It's pretty weird to be basically shilling for brands in here but Nexcare bandages are superior to band-aids in pretty much every way; i agree that band-aids beat generic though
I think Dawn dish soap gets mentioned in these often.
I use an Aldi version of Dawn. There is no difference.
Choice Australia did a test of different washing liquid recently and found the Aldi stuff to be one of the best and a bunch of expensive brands to be no better than plain hot water.
SD cards, SSD, USB drives, any form of computer memory really and replacement batteries too eg for cameras. I suck up the cost and buy directly from a reputable manufacturer.
Mine is Q-tips…. Let’s just say you shouldn’t put a flimsy cotton stick in your ear unless you trust it’ll come out in one piece
Let’s just say you shouldn’t put a flimsy cotton stick in your ear ~~unless you trust it’ll come out in one piece~~. Just don't.
WHAT? I CANT HEAR YOU!
Huy Fong Sriracha. As the shortage has made painfully clear. When I dream at night, I'm eating food covered in sriracha and tinkering with my roomful of Raspberry Pi projects.
And don't talk to me about disgruntled pepper farmer rivalries or whatever bullshit. Just please give me back my sriracha. :(
Irish butter, in particularly Kerrygold, are so much better than american butter.
in Australia you can get store brand butter that is every bit as good because it comes from NewZeland where every cow is grassfed.
Such a massive money saver that Woolworths now tells you where it's produced, for a long time it was an open secret.
Garbage bags. I don't particularly care WHICH brand, but I won't do generic. The consequences if the bag rips open are horrifying.
Victorinox Swiss Army knives. If you want a tiny, multipurpose pocketknife, they cannot be beat.
And they're cheap enough from TSA eBay sales, why would you accept a crappy knockoff?!
Pretty much every signature soda drink. Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew... none of the knock-offs taste right and some are just nasty. Oddly, root beer seems to be the one flavor everyone can do well, maybe because it's a more common flavor with no patents on the general idea? I dunno but I don't think I've ever had a 'bad' root beer.
Q-Tips. Paper shafts, plenty of fuzz on the ends.
Nutella,
I only buy it once or twice a year but no other chocolate spread tastes nearly as good.
I honestly can't think of anything. I own many "name brand" products but it's usually a pay-once-cry-once situation. It's not like I keep buying more of the same product after I already have one.
For consumables pretty much every product I use is the generic version of some well known one. I'm not paying double the price for something that's 20% better. For example the generic version of my favourite cookies is 95 cents and the name brand is 3.4€. It's not that much better.
My dad always bought the no-name cookies for us, according to him every major brand had a deal with discount supermarkets to sell their brand name product under a cheaper no-name alias.
That might be true in some cases but the stuff he bought was mostly just cheap knock-offs that didn't even come close to the original.
You're absolutely wrong about Advil. Advil has a tasty candy coating.
Spam, off brand spam just isn’t worth it
Certain skin products for me. It makes such a big difference to get some well recommended brands rather than risk it with a random one.
Cetaphil and Cerave are usually solid, and otherwise I refer to the CDA when unsure:
https://dermatology.ca/recognized-products/skincare/ (note that you can scroll within the list to see everything)
The list is for stuff that is
- Low potential for irritation
- Fragrance free or unscented
- Do not contain the most common allergens
- Non-comedogenic
But I specifically look for non-comedogenic and fragrance free. The latter because my old workplace had this as a requirement, and now I prefer it
Coffee. I found a coffee shop I loved 20 years ago and have been buying beans from them ever since. Sure, it's 2x-3x times more expensive, but it's worth it to me.
Toothpaste. I have sensitive teeth and the off brands just don't cut it. Heck, some of the name brands don't.
3d printing filament. Printed Solid named their line after their dog, so I have to. I will still branch out for stuff on sale, but the majority of my stock is Printed Solid.
Kraft mac and cheese, all the store brands are superficially similar but taste bland and or have weird textures.
Netherlands represent!
Coca Cola
Hela curry ketchup
Albert Heijn frikadelbroodje
Ben & Jerry's ice cream
Trader Joe's stuff is hard to find emulated else where.
Which is kinda ironic since most TJs brand stuff is a knockoff of something else. But I get it, because TJs quality is awesome.
Most foods. Store brands are (nearly) always lacking in something. Be it tiny sized canned beans, or jam whose only flavour is ‘sweet’. That shit is cheap for a reason.
Doesn’t apply to everything (depending on where you live), some things you can’t cut corners on without advertising it. 2% Milk is 2% milk.
But largely, low cost food has been made low cost via haircuts and shortcuts.
Or just bulk purchasing.
Knew a fellow that worked for a food company - juices, nectars, preserved fruits, jams and compotes, baked goods with fruit, etc - that has a name brand. Most of the production is exported for so called "premium markets".
The largest supermarket chain here aproaches the company to have a few products made under their label. Not waterdowned versions of their recipes but completely new recipes or variations on the producers recipes.
Final product is as expensive or more to produce than name brand, which implies lower margins but still good money.
Supermarket product is not a waterdowned version but a completely separate product. If the end product is garbage, the supermarket gets the bad record.
