Absent is any ground between cheap garbage and expensive shit that actually works. Some products are in that middle-ground price range, but they're actually cheap garbage that's been marked up to rip you off.
This seems to have increased over time, especially as factories became better able to produce goods that use barely enough material to work at all, without a too-high defect rate. I wonder sometimes how much inflation this is masking—goods stay the same price or even get somewhat cheaper, but are significantly worse than before.
I've wondered this too. So many electronics or appliances from the 1970s are still working (I own some). Good luck finding that quality today. In effect, companies were smart enough to realize they don't have to bring costs down, they can just screw you on longevity and you'll have to come crawling back in a year or two. In effect, things are "cheaper" on the surface but more expensive over time. Not to mention the effect this has on landfills and pollution. It takes just as much gas to ship a 1970s stove as a 2020 one, but the 1970s one is still working and the 2020 one is replaced in three years.
My dad was in the trades and he bought "good stuff" for his actual trade, but also bought 'affordable' stuff he needed around the house.
The idea is that if you are using a tool every day, and they break on the job it is time, money, embarrassment. How do you tell a customer the cheap saw just broke and you need to get a new one?
The "pro" stuff costs a LOT more, it will outlast if used on a regular basis, but most home owners will not reach those limits.
Tools/electronics can easily be bought from reputable providers: eu.mouser.com, tme.eu, uk.farnell.com, digikey.com, etc.. You can get a decent ratchet rj-45 crimp tool at around 40€ - like "Knipex 975110".
I think what we're seeing is a nice metaphor for manufacturing in the 1st world in general.
However, for certain types of tools/devices - e.g. multimeter, SMPS (even wall charges) I'd not touch totally no brand. An example of middle ground multimeters: brymen - they are more expensive than UNI-T, better than Fluke price/feature wise and very solidly built. SMPS - meanwell: proper capacitors, creep distance, real copper transformers. Hand tools - (screwdrivers, spanners) - Wera.
It gets harder with heavier duty tools that have to do the metal (like really) - that leaves prosumer+ stuff only - Makita, DeWalt - or straight to the pro: Hilti, Fein.
I am noticing it everywhere: clothing, furniture, cooking equipment, dishes & cutlery, even houseplant pots.
I wonder if this is a phenomenon similar to "shrinkflation", or if it's just the long-term corporate master plan.
What gets measured gets optimized. And price is the easiest to measure.
Everything else is murky to measure, and often delayed as well (like how long a tool lasts, or what that food will do to your health, or what the company will do with your data once you’ve used their app for a year or two).
The “evil” here truly is Amazon, for they, in their walled garden, really do control what gets measured. They could prevent or penalize fake reviews. But they chose not to do so.
Bizarrely if you search by price from highest to lowest looking for quality all you get is cheap looking products with no reviews that cost 150x the price of products with actual reviews for no discernible reason.
The whole marketplace is a cesspool.
The Amazon bullshit tools I bought just made a mess.
Now, all the cheap Amazon wrenches and stuff? I leave em all over!
I personally go straight to B2B for anything safety-related like my PPE.
And I keep stumbling upon the same issue when I want to buy tools, electronics and sports equipments: You only have a choice between very cheap stuff that will clearly not do the job or won't do it for long, or very expensive (sometimes overpriced) high-end equipment. There is almost no middle ground, no places for product who are not top notch quality with the latest technology, but will do a solid job if you don't need the latest and greatest. There is the second hand market, but it is a hit a miss, and not a reliable supplier either.
And if there is those "middle-ground" product, you often only find them in limited quantity in specialized store, often only on the internet.