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[nenjin]

I spent money on a Razer and a year later I don't regret it. Heard some things about the scroll wheel getting squirrel but I haven't noticed it.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

*snip*

This is why I'm thinking of 1 of 2 things:

1. Buying a Kuerig. While that's a little too much tech in my coffee, everyone I've talked to says they're bulletproof and last years.

2. Buying an electric kettle and an Aero Press. I already used these for work and in truth vastly prefer it to drip coffee.

Ironically though the electric kettle just died after only a year of use.........

How about a manual coffee grinder, a stovetop kettle, and a French press? You could make the same coffee you get every day even if all you have is water, coffee beans, and a campfire. Each press-full is about two big coffee mugs' worth of liquid.

What I have found is that with daily use, the foil screen on the press can fray at the edges and become unusable after perhaps 400 to 700 uses. These screens cost $6 to $10 to replace. Consider that cost compared to paper filters or some kind of cloth arrangement.

Teapots tend to last forever in my experience. You could go a decade at least.

The grinder will last longer than the teapot.

But the non-electronic teapot assumes you have an oven. If you don't, it's probably better to just use an electric kettle than trying to use a hot plate and kettle rig. Although you may find that the hot plate is more durable and multi-purpose than the electric kettle.

[nenjin]

Funny enough, I asked my dad for an electric kettle for Christmas. And boy did I ever get one....

From the late 60s, early 70s. Apparently it was my grandparents. It's one whole unit, and the "kettle" part of it is that wonderfully dingy looking thick plastic from the 70s, with the hotplate inside of it. I've used it once and it works alright, and it's about as simple as you can get while still being electrical.......but I have the lingering suspicion boiling old plastic like that is probably not healthy.

As for the French Press, I prefer an Aero Press. Don't really need to leave my coffee steeping in a big thing, I usually know exactly how much I want. I can also just refill the Aero Press with water when I'm ready. I'm not like, requiring log cabin levels here of anti-technology here but the bigger and fancier a coffee maker looks, the more I think "Gee, what tiny piece of shit in this thing will break after 6 months when a seal gives or something gets wet?"

[mastahcheese]

While I'm in here, does anybody have any good recommendations on a durable mouse? Mine keep developing problems with unintentional double-clicking, usually right around the time I play Skyrim for any length of time at all (holding down the button causes these problems, is my current guess).

I don't really know of any good ones to recommend, but don't get the one I've got.
It's a... hmm. Having trouble finding the name on it.
Oh, it says "Gear Head" and it's made in China.
Anyway, I really hate this thing. The sensitivity is totally garbage, it doesn't even register sometimes when I try to move it slightly, such as when trying to click small links on the forum (and I checked the mouse option that increases sensitivity the faster you move it, to see if that was what caused it, and it's off) and for some stupid reason the mouse wheel is supposed to be able to be pushed to the left or the right, and the two times I actually attempted this it didn't work, and it will randomly do so for no reason, sometimes when I'm literally not even touching it. And don't even get me started on the thumb buttons that some idiot wired to the buttons to go back and forward pages in a browser.
Because, yes, I totally want a very easy to press button that will make me lose all of my progress in a split second.
I think it was 5-10 dollars at Rose's. Can't say I'm surprised, all that store sells is garbage that will fall apart on the third use.

[wierd]

Sorry.

The only "really durable" mice I can recommend have the nasty downside of being ball-type.
(But in that case, I would suggest a genuine first generation white microsoft PS2 mouse.)

As a companion, I would suggest a genuine IBM model-M PS2 keyboard, or a genuine IBM PS2 terminal keyboard. (How many function keys do you want? terminal keyboard has 24 of them. How many does yours have?)

I am 32 years old. Those keyboards are almost as old as I am. They still work. PERFECTLY.
Those things are bullet proof.

There's some caution on the terminal boards though. While the are basically indestructable, they also are often somewhat touchy to get working on PCs, depending on the model. The german one works perfectly though.

I could see such a board being very nice to assign special macros and functions to when playing multiplayer online games with, given they are on the left, near the wasd keys.

Linux kernel's ps2 driver can support the more cranky ones, with a kernel init option.

[Alastar]

Despite plentiful function keys, those are still better for work than play: Gaming favours a smoother key actuation, and requires that multiple keypresses are registered without artifacts.

*

Generally, I look for products not aimed at consumers: clothing originally made for work or for the military, tableware popular with restaurants and so on. And well-made low tech whenever applicable - straight razor over disposable blades , a set of good knives and mortar&pestle over electrical kitchen appliances etc.

[wierd]

That may be a matter of preference--

I've played countless hours of classic starcraft and diablo on a model M.

They do 3 button mashes just fine. (many 4 button mashes too.)

[Funk]

id just like to point out that if your granddad got a crap tool it probably broke long ago and was binned,  Survival of the Fittest happen to tools.

Cars are  made to last about 15 years, mostly due to rust and knowing that by that time the car is on its 5th owner there not going to do much preventative maintenance, let along fix any thing big.

[Bouchart]

Garage sales and thrift stores.  They carry stuff that has been around a long time and will probably survive a lot longer.