BIFL - Buy It for Life

Non-moving part hand tools like a hammer or knives, you would expect to be pretty reliable. No question though, quality is a big factor when you start to consider "lifetime" durability. That changes everything.

Penn Senator fishing reels come to mind for a mechanical device that will last for generations. There is an extensive aftermarket for modification of these reels as well. I've "hotrodded" a few with one-piece aluminum frames, aftermarket steel gears, custom drags, etc. 

Last night I had commented to my kids that someday they will be arguing over who gets my KitchenAid stand mixer.

Fun topic. 

mtn said:

 

I'm going to go on a limb and say that we're in a current state of short-lived vehicles, but in the relatively near future they'll become close to a BIFL item as electric vehicles become the norm. The possible wrench in that is self-driving vehicles and planned obsolescence. 

I'm not sure that people even want a BIFL car. Think about how quickly so many people trade in their cell phone for the latest version that does mostly the same stuff. Once the tech is modestly outdated, it's junk to most people. Tech has become a status symbol, and owning something dated has a stigma to it among many. I get lots of looks and questions for carrying a 6 or 7 year old phone, I can't imagine those same people wouldn't crave the latest and greatest tech-laden car too.

With the current state of my finances, it wouldn't be a bad bet that both the FJ-09 and the Civic are BIFL vehicles 

In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock :

I'm currently driving what was the original owner's BIFL vehicle. It outlasted him anyhow.

1988 C 2500 Silverado with at least three hundred thousand miles on the original engine. Burns a half a quart of oil between changes, and that's only due to the worn valve guides.

Guitars. While I have many guitars, my '84 Les Paul and '90 Strat will be in my possession until I die. 

I purchased my truck with the intention of keeping it basically forever. I maintain and drive it that way as well. So far, I'm 7 years in and we're getting along just fine.

In reply to SVreX :

Mine grew back

Floating Doc said:

In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock :

I'm currently driving what was the original owner's BIFL vehicle. It outlasted him anyhow.

1988 C 2500 Silverado with at least three hundred thousand miles on the original engine. Burns a half a quart of oil between changes, and that's only due to the worn valve guides.

The same here with a 1991 c1500 Silverado with 375K on the odo......waiting for a clutch when funds become available again.......first NEW vehicle I've ever bought. 

A really nice watch will never go out of style or NEED to be replaced with something newer. Nobody has ever said "Finally a watch that I can answer my phone with! I've been waiting for something better to get rid of this vintage Rolex for years."

Keith Tanner said:

The 1965 equivalents of an Elantra are pretty scarce these days. I'm a little more optimistic about the longevity of modern cars, given that gearheads have been proclaiming the end of the repairable car since electronic fuel injection showed up. I do think that all the toys will show a short lifespan - connectivity with phones will prove to be a dead end as the iPhone XXX will not be able to talk to the current level of tech.

Agreed. I'm DD'ing a nearly 20 year old Buick, and the only annoying sign of its age showing is that I need to re-upholster the driver's seat. In 1985, most 20 year old cars would be seriously run down.

crankwalk said:

A really nice watch will never go out of style or NEED to be replaced with something newer. Nobody has ever said "Finally a watch that I can answer my phone with! I've been waiting for something better to get rid of this vintage Rolex for years."

While I completely agree with you, I had the conversation with someone the other day that said exactly that about her Iwatch. She could leave her phone in her purse at work and answer calls/texts with her watch. As a watch geek I have definately seen an increase in watch wearers do to the advent of the smart watch and fitbit. 

While I will always have a nice mechanical watch on my wrist, I don't think that is the norm anymore.

BIFL is a worthwhile goal, but I'm much more set on BIFED (Buy it For Every Day) that is; buy things with the intention of wearing them, multi-use stuff, using them nearly every day. If you don't, then it doesn't need to be BIFL. 

pheller said:

BIFL is a worthwhile goal, but I'm much more set on BIFED (Buy it For Every Day) that is; buy things with the intention of wearing them, multi-use stuff, using them nearly every day. If you don't, then it doesn't need to be BIFL. 

My dad had a... fishing rod? shirt? I honestly have no clue what it was anymore, but a something that he never wore/used. He told me to take it, he never used it! Well, I thought it was really nice, and I should keep it that way, and never used it. He asked me why I wasn't using it, and I said it was nice, it isn't an everyday shirt or fishing rod or whatever the hell it was. He told me that if I use it everyday, it becomes and everyday thing. He didn't use it because he didn't like it; for whatever reason it didn't fit right or he couldn't get used to it. 

That kinda taught me something: Don't be afraid to use something. Don't save something for special occasions. Now my wife and I use our "China" to eat off of everyday. We sit in great-grandma's 110 year old couch, every day. Nothing is too good to use. We don't live in a museum; if it breaks, we fix it; if we can't, we replace it. One of the better lessons I ever had. Obviously it isn't without limit--I don't take my nicest guitars to an open mic at a bar, but I still play them, and will take them to certain jams/open mics. 

EDIT: I just read an article that Jack Nicklaus, best golfer of all time, has had 1 watch since 1967. It is a Rolex, so its high quality, but he's worn it scuba diving, marlin fishing, pretty much everywhere.

D2W said:

crankwalk said:

A really nice watch will never go out of style or NEED to be replaced with something newer. Nobody has ever said "Finally a watch that I can answer my phone with! I've been waiting for something better to get rid of this vintage Rolex for years."

While I completely agree with you, I had the conversation with someone the other day that said exactly that about her Iwatch. She could leave her phone in her purse at work and answer calls/texts with her watch. As a watch geek I have definately seen an increase in watch wearers do to the advent of the smart watch and fitbit. 

While I will always have a nice mechanical watch on my wrist, I don't think that is the norm anymore.

Yeah I guess I'm never in that position that I leave my phone elsewhere so I need to buy another thing to do the thing that the thing I already have does......

I like my watch to do watch things and my IPhone to do IPhone things.

On the topic of watches, I just got a leather NATO strap for my Seiko and got to thinking about Smart Watches.

Basically, until they are solar powered or kinetic, or they last weeks on a single charge, I have little interest. That being said, it would be rad to have a watch display total mileage from GPS tracking or from steps, and being able to have a little calendar alert or message scroll would be cool too. I'd love to have info like "hours till sunset" or "daily weather forcast" but really...a phone works for that and a watch is just jewelry. 

pheller said:

BIFL is a worthwhile goal, but I'm much more set on BIFED (Buy it For Every Day) that is; buy things with the intention of wearing them, multi-use stuff, using them nearly every day. If you don't, then it doesn't need to be BIFL. 

That's the point. Get something high enough quality that it can survive normal use with aplomb. Anything will last forever if it's simply stored properly.

I've got a leather belt that was given to me for my birthday in 1984. It was my only every day belt until a few years ago, now it gets rotated amongst a few others depending on what's already in a pair of pants  You can't really see the embossing on it anymore and either it has shrunk or I have swelled, but it's still as solid as it was 33 years ago. That's BIFL.

But I also have a socket set that's 21 years old. I've never broken a thing in it, and I've used it to build multiple cars, dragged it along on a couple of Targas, wrenched on just about anything that's come into sight - and it's going strong. I don't use it every day, but it does get pretty heavily used for an amateur. That's also BIFL. Buy good tools once, you don't have to buy them again. Buy cheap tools, you get to buy a lot of them.

As for the watches - I have a Garmin Forerunner 35 that I use for running. It'll display alerts from my phone - incoming calls, texts, calendar alerts, whatever the phone alerts me about. Let me tell you, it's a really, really convenient thing to get used to even though it has nothing to do with why I bought the thing. The watch lasts for a couple of weeks on a charge unless you've got it doing something that's more than being a watch, like tracking a long run. This is not a BIFL thing, just a response to the "smartwatches are stupid" line of thinking. Like RFID keys for cars, you find them very useful surprisingly quickly.

Here's a question:  If you are buying something and you wish to BIFL, how do you evaluate what product is going to last that long?

ProDarwin said:

Here's a question:  If you are buying something and you wish to BIFL, how do you evaluate what product is going to last that long?

While not applicable for every situation, auctions and estate sales are pretty good for that. Most of that stuff has already lasted one lifetime, a little maintenance should be good for yours too.

My father is 92. He graduated High School in 1941. His father gave him a watch for his graduation. 

That was 76 years ago. 

He gave it to me. I recently gave it to my eldest son. 

As far as I know, it has never been in the shop, and has always kept perfect time. 

Its not a Rolex.  

Keith Tanner said:

This is not a BIFL thing, just a response to the "smartwatches are stupid" line of thinking. Like RFID keys for cars, you find them very useful surprisingly quickly.

I don't think they are stupid I just think it solves problems that aren't really problems. In my pants at all times = keys, phone, wallet. If I'm jogging or in the shower or doing anything else when I don't have my phone, Ill check it when I do and get right back with you. They just aren't for me.

My comment was more in line of the classic Tag , Omega, Rolex, (Even some Victorinox) etc. Always looks good, always worth something, most work for a LONG time before any repair is needed and for the question of "What time is it?", one watch will time you that for your whole life.

In reply to D2W :

We have to have a watch at work.  The drivers can't check their phones while driving and have to know what time it is.  I hadn't realized how odd that became until about a year ago.  I was in a meeting and with some people from other departments and checked my watch when someone asked the time.  A girl pointed out that she'd seen watches worn as accessories but no one  checks the time on them. We started talking about it and of the younger people wearing them about half still had not changed them to daylight savings time.

ProDarwin said:

Here's a question:  If you are buying something and you wish to BIFL, how do you evaluate what product is going to last that long?

Quality of materials would be a start. Metal gears instead of plastic. Bearings instead of bushings. Leather instead of vinyl. 

Construction. Is the wiring anchored properly? Does it use spring loaded detents instead of relying on flexing plastic? Are the stress points reinforced?

Then servicability. Can you repair it? Is it designed to be opened up or is it welded closed? If there are gaskets, can you buy them?

btw, I have both a smart watch and a vintage Omega, my wife wears either her Garmin or her old Tag and I had my Victorinox on earlier ;) Time to put the Garmin in so I can go for a run. My point about the smart watches is that they do have features that are genuinely useful. If I'm talking to you and I get a phone call, it's a lot more discreet to be able to glance at my wrist and dismiss it than it is to drag my phone out of my pocket. Trust me, it seems useless until you try it.   

I do claim that I legitimately need a watch with a 1/10s chrono, and it's a lot easier to time yourself on a fast lap with a watch instead of a phone. For that, I use the Victorinox. 

But... how do determine these things without actually taking the product apart?  Trying not to rant and rave about our consumer society here, but I feel that urge.  The soap box is right... there...

I work in an industry where while consumers use our products, they aren't responsible for buying & maintaining them.  The owners/operators have great interest in BIFL because it lowers their cost of ownership and lowers risk in the future.

Consumers in general don't care about this, and as a result, its really rare to see stuff made for life.  There are plenty of things all of us buy that are designed to be disposable.  Even in the case that a product is better engineered for a longer lifespan, supported for a longer period, etc. that information is rarely communicated well to the consumer   I'm trying to think of a single store where I can ask "can I repair this item?"  and the answer is "Yes".   Or better yet "How long will the manufacturer support parts/service for this item?" and the answer is not *blank stare*.

I have a few Randall Made Knives that I can assure will last forever, as long as they aren't left exposed to moisture.

In reply to ProDarwin :

If its really heavy,old, dirty and still works... And doesnt have powder coat

Like my drill press 300+lbs, bandsaw 350lbs, c clamps weigh more that the ones from China in the same size and doesn't have powder coat. Oh and most of the stuff says made in USA too