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I saw this posted elsewhere and the best one I saw was “Buyhard”
Well there it is.
Those people create the second hand market. Celebrate them.
I Scuba dive. Whenever I need a piece of gear, I buy used. Many times I have bought brand new gear for less than half retail. I like these people.
Yes and no. Coin collecting went through the roof during the pandemic. The result is that we’re now paying 2-3x the amount for the same coins as before covid. I welcome anyone to the hobby but I’ve had to cut back severely due to this.
I wouldn’t call collecting “buying gear”, what is and what isn’t gear depends on the hobby of course, but I don’t think coins can be gear
We have one in Finnish “välineurheilija”. “Väline” is “sports equipment” and “urheilija” is athlete, so it’s literally just “equipmentathlete” and used derogatorily towarsd people who — instead of actually practicing — just show up in very expensive gear.
Has “couch expert”/“couch warrior” vibe.
Correct
If it was only easier to pronounce…
Wah-leh-neh (silent h’s and the first a is like in can and ant)
Oor-hey-leh-yuh
Okey that might not have helped at all, tbh.
It’s really common advice to not start with the cheapest gear. Yes a lot of us learned to play on dime store guitars but would have suffered less with a quality instrument. The same is true for just about everything.
Exactly. I started learning harmonica on those $20 pack of 8 and struggled for weeks to get anything to sound close to what I wanted. When I spent $60 on a decent instrument, I could suddenly do what I’d been practicing. There’s a sweet spot for getting good enough equipment to actually learn without blowing the budget on something you may not continue doing
Right and top end is several hundreds or thousands. So $60 is cheap just not cheapest.
Woodworking planes.
You can go to Home Depot and get a plane for $15-20, and it will - mostly - cut wood. Spend $50-60 and get a decent name brand tool that gives a lot less grief. Spend $500 and get a Lie Nielsen that’s just on another level.
Here’s the thing, though: you have to be pretty competent to appreciate the difference between the $50 and $500 tools; and if you know what you’re doing, you can easily tune the $15 so it works almost as well as the $500. Buy cheap to get started; upgrade if it turns out you stick with the hobby. I’ll never know if I could have learned easier/faster starting with a $50 plane, but my guess is that I’d still have been gouging the shit out of everything.
Another thing that works really well is buying old when it comes to some tools.
I have a handful of 80 year old Stanley planes that are all the same quality as the expensive Lie Nielsen options, but I got them for about 50 bucks each.
on another level
Ohhh youuu
I don’t disagree with what you’re saying. But learning to tune a plane takes skill and time. People get into woodworking because they want to build things out of wood. The love of adjusting tools comes later.
Absolutely agree with you, it’s about finding that value curve, where quality scales well with price. Say the cheapest ‘something’ is $10, the $20 one is twice as good, the $40 is maybe 70% better again but the $80 might only be 10% better than that.
As a beginner, I’d go for maybe the $20 option or the $40 if I were confident I’d stick with it. But yeah, it’s a pain when your ability to enjoy or succeed at a hobby is hampered by buying the cheapest option off AliExpress, haha.
I teach guitar. I have lost more students to a crappy beginner instrument than to any lack of desire, ambition, or ability.
Yeah fuck this guys (OP, not the person I’m replying under) take. Hobbies need less gatekeepers and if I want to do research about gear, make nice purchases as a way to deepen my investment into the hobby so be it.
Example: I just got into fitness. I have almost no need for some of the products ive been buying, however through the research ive stumbled across some excellent articles and a few YouTube channels that inspire me. Even if the gear / gadgets do nothing more than inspire you to show up and try them out, its worked.
I think with many hobbies there’s a two-sided trap:
If you buy the absolute cheapest, you can end up hamstrung and unable to progress. On the other end, you can get caught up in having the very best, and miss out on actually progressing because you’re convinced you just need to buy a better one.
eh, i think in photography you actually learn better habits and skills on older, more limited gear. it’s easy to nail exposure when your camera can handle work at 3,000 iso, but then when you’re at the edge of what your camera is capable of you’ll be less able to tease out the performance you need. it’s why i will keep my old canon rebel t2i. whenever someone wants to learn a little i toss them that thing. it can still take great pictures , you just have to work within its limitations. it’s why my broadcast school made me learn to do reel to reel tape editing. when you know how much tape you have and how much of a pain it is to edit you will be way way better about getting your shot right the first time and every time.
these days, instead of using these tools as a crutch to shoot sloppier knowing that the gear can handle it now, i use them as a booster to do when more than i would have been able to before. i still shoot at the minimum viable iso every time on my a7siii, the difference is now i can keep shooting until the stars are plainly visible without needing a tripod.
ironically, this doesn’t seem to hold quite as true for video now that i think about it. video is so tech and tool based. often it’s newer guys that embrace the new tech and techniques that the old heads snub their noses at that end up doing the best. maybe not in Hollywood, but Hollywood is a totally different animal from what 99% of videographers do. I’m talking about video outside of Hollywood. often these newer tools will be lower quality less professional tools for quick turnaround. the kind of thing that corporate America is all about these days. quantity over quality is the name of the game in today’s video world more often than not.
a video camera from 15 years ago is likely almost useless today for any real work, a stills camera from 25 years ago could be used to make a billboard ad right now.
No not to start with cheapest gear, but get the cheapest one that makes sense, then upgrade it to the best you can afford once you like it.
Makes sense as in the recommended entry level equipment, not the cheap waste from aliexpress/amazon.
This way you can get the feel of the hobby before you plunge a huge load of money on it.
I don’t typically see people advocate for the cheapest gear, just not to go all-in. There is something to be said for how much you can learn from stuff that requires a bit more tuning or customization.
In airsoft we had people who didn’t even know there were other options show up with $40 clear plastic guns from Walmart (they’re awful) and guys with $2000 air-powered guns from the best brands show up all the time, and both of these people sucked. Typically, they both also had a bad time, because neither could realistically learn anything from their guns considering they were already as good as they were ever going to be.
My advice was always to start with a low-mid range electric rifle that can take a high-capacity magazine. Having like 400+ shots in a match is more than enough. Pick a design that is easy to get parts and accessories for so you can build on it. Someday you grow out of it and then you drop the real money on an airsoft rifle, but you can run a good starter rifle for a long time. I only replaced mine because it catastrophically broke after years of rough play: I learned a lot from modifying it and it made my next gun choice much more educated that I ever could have managed as a newbie.
Eh. I’ve been playing an $80 no name bass for five years. No one has any idea, because it sounds fine.
You don’t need to go all out. Ability is more important than name brand.
It must have some decent machine heads to hold tune. Did you buy it used?
It’s pretty great actually. It rarely goes off tune. Takes about 20 seconds with a snark.
It was brand new, off Amazon of all places. I did have to buy a new strap though, the one that came with it broke immediately.
To be honest it does have a “trumpet” sound that I’m not fond of.
I’ve got everything from an American G&L to a shitty $80 acoustic bass off Amazon. My favorite that I purchased instead of built is currently a mid level Alvarez, followed very closely by a butterscotch Squier 51 that I’ve had since they first came out (for under $100).
The biggest problem with low end guitars and bass guitars these days is mostly QC. Sharp frets, super high action, and bad tuners are fixable as long as your neck isn’t complete garbage. The problem comes in when new folks really have no idea what it should feel like and they don’t want to take it down and pay half the cost of the instrument to have a good setup done. So they suffer and quit when they could have spent $45 and turned a garbage $80 no name special into a reasonable beginner instrument.
To be fair, QC has also become a problem with much more expensive guitars as well in some cases (looking at you, Gibson).
Skateboards with no pop. Guitars with shit intonation. More broadly: consumables that wear through too quickly and cause people to nope out of the hobby because it is ‘too expensive’, the list goes on.
There is something reassuring about quality gear because beginners don’t always know or properly understand this stuff.
With that said there is a point beyond which those returns begin to diminish.
Same in road and mountainbiking, we have BSOs, bike shaped objects.
In skateboarding the term is “poser”.
As long as you’re not working with a Walmart board it’s probably good enough.
Hey if you’ve got any board that rolls you’re better than someone who doesn’t skate
Oh for sure, but a Walmart board is going to frustrate you so much there’s a real risk you could quit when you’d stick it out with a “real” board. Like, if that’s all you got, that’s all you got. But if your just unwilling (not unable) to spend the extra $40, you’re making things unnecessarily hard on yourself.
Get a load of this poseur dropping the “u”…
gearsluts
beautiful, succinct.
immaculate thank you
What do you mean you didn’t buy a Canon 1 series? That point and shoot is a PoS you loser. 😝
I’ve heard “gear whore,” as well as harsher q-slur that makes it rhyme
Why do you think you’d need to not sensor yourself with whore, but can’t say queer?
On a side note, it rhymes, but it doesn’t really make as much sense as slut or whore.
I used one but not the other because my best interpretation of modern social sensibilities is that “whore” is not considered terribly offensive when it’s directed outside of its more literal sense, whereas “queer” is only acceptable in positive discussion of non-heteronormativity.
The second gear- usage just comes from a time (and communities behind the times) where the slur is used more broadly to mean “anybody I don’t like.”
Eh, slutshaming, misogyny vibes
what about gear guzzler or something, i dunno i wish gear dragon or gear god didnt make the sound cool
also gear geek ig
Men are the biggest gear sluts so I’m fine with turning the misogyny around.
Thats uh, not how it works.
besides itd correlate more with wealth than gender
How about this?
You bought the most expensive gear for a hobby you don’t yet know much about? I’ve met many in this hobby, and have never met anyone this dedicated! Good on you, mate! Can you keep me posted on your progress? I’m genuinely interested! Let me know if you need any help or advice, as I’d be ecstatic to help!
I hate these ~/mike types of gatekeeping bullshitters. People in a hobby being excited about newcomers to the hobby, is the reason we still have hobbies.
In some cases a hobby becoming more “mainstream” can also find it being suddenly overwhelmed by those that make it less fun - or less affordable - for others. Sometimes more people can make it more affordable later on (mass production) but supply and demand is also a thing in the mid-term.
If a kinda niche hobby becomes more popular temporarily, there’s also the chance that waiting it out will score you some good barely-used gear for cheap as those that buy and try decide it’s not for them.
If a kinda niche hobby becomes more popular temporarily, there’s also the chance that waiting it out will score you some good barely-used gear for cheap as those that buy and try decide it’s not for them.
Thats exactly what’s happening in Germany with indoor weed growtents at the moment. We legalized homegrown weed in April, which caused a huge wave of people buying new equipment for double the regular price because of such high demand, and now suddenly people realize how much work it is and that small mistakes can easily ruin your harvest. So now the marked is slowly starting to be overflow with used equipment
But if they get into it, it will make it less likely I’ll be able to buy their equipment from them later for cheap.
Also, the same type of people who go out and buy the most expensive crap in their new hobby are also usually the ones who talk like they know everything about the hobby and want to explain it to you.
I wouldn’t call them names, but there is something to be said about people with $2500 gaming pc who only ever play league of legends or Fortnite
If they’re playing league or fortnite they’re probably already getting called plenty of names.
Hah, the joke is on you as I don’t even play those anymore! My PC has just been gathering dust since my hell raiser spawned last year!!
I play Dome Keeper and World of Warcraft: WotLK instead, but I also program on it, so I guess I don’t count. Newer high-profile games don’t have that je ne sais quoi that games from around 2004 had. Perhaps I’ve just played too many games, which makes them predictable, and those old games are just pure nostalgia for me.
Whatever graphic card you have in your system is probably not required for programming
Unless its ML
Personally I find that the games with the best gameplay work well on my $150 Thinkpad
There’s a trade-off, depending on the hobby, I guess. For some hobbies, very cheap gear won’t even work properly. “Buy once, cry once,” is something I hear often.
My buddies and I used to go paintballing in the woods near us. We’d throw on layers and grab our basic guns and go have fun. We invited this guy we knew from school, and dude went to the store and bought a paintball carbine, and a Gilly suit and just sat there picking everyone off. We didn’t invite him a second time
Too real…I tried getting into paintballing in HS, bought someone’s entry level gun but never got a chance to play. About 10 years later, after graduating college and getting a job, a buddy of mine wanted to start playing again so I dug out my old gun, tank and helmet. We played like 3 times 1on1 or 1v2 and each time I started researching better gear. After the 3rd time I finally got a new Azodin Blitz, new electric hopper, upgraded helmet I camo painted, and a new gear box.
We played 1 times after that when he started dating a new girl and he just kinda fell off the face of the earth.
My buddies and I bought guns at Walmart, used them for the summer and returned them within the 90 days. Especially in those days, Walmart used to take everything back
Depending on the hobby, this is some fucked up gatekeeping.
My first thought was riding a motorcycle as a hobby, and that is one activity that many people severely underestimate how much expensive gear you should be wearing for your safety before you even consider doing it.
Helmet, jeans, and a tank top. Psh, easy.
You forgot flip flops.
Steel toed crocs for the Harley guys
With the caveat that, if you can read my tank top, the bitch fell off.
Helmet? What are you, some kind of weakling who has a brain to protect? Get a Harley, that’s a motorcycle for us big overcompensators, and we don’t do helmets, because there’s nothing up there to protect!
Motorcycle example: buying a brand new 1000cc before you even know if you want to ride
Victims. Of salespeople.
I love them because I can buy greatly discounted gear after they return it or consign it. And I never see them back where I go, they couldn’t make it.
Most hobbies started using what was available. The activity arose from the impetus.
Mountain climbers used sneakers. Gary Fisher used dirtbike parts on his mountain bikes at first.
All the expensive cushions and benches in the world won’t meditate for you. Likewise, worshipping a meditator won’t help you.
At some point, you have to do it.
Could also be victims of advice from people in the hobby. I’m into a couple hobbies where new people ask what they need and get a huge list of shit they absolutely don’t need
I spend a lot of time on resale shop sites for extremely discounted gear. Almost never comes up with what I’m looking for but I’ve scored a few pieces and parts for less than $50 including shipping.
Whale
Think it’s the trap that if you continue with the hobby, all the starter gear is useless and all the money could have been spent on better equipment.
I paint miniatures. Not as often it as much as I would like to because of dividing my time between work, two year old and chores, but I have had the hobby for the last six years. I have yet to purchase an airbrush, and I can get a perfectly decent starter set for lets say 20 USD. But I can also get a better set with high end compressor, better paint gun.for 60 USD. I know that if I keep getting better at using the airbrush I will eventually get the high end stuff, why not “save” money and get it right away.
i think the trick is to start with a smaller investment, instead of starting with airbrushing, start with hand painting, and if you invest a significant enough amount of time into it you have a much better excuse for jumping straight to nicer equipment, personally, i have a rule that i don’t buy the “cheapest” equipment, i buy nice equipment that I need
Just to clarify, I am at the point where I have hand painted for years :) The next step is continue to improve brush control, and perhaps airbrush
seems like a good enough excuse for me. :)
I don’t know how it would apply to painting minies. but there is definitely starter gear, which is better than ‘pro’ stuff - just by being friendly.
i climb and now that i am a bit better i use shoes about 2 sizes too small and have a pretty aggressive arch. bouldering in them is comfortable and i like them. but if i had them as my beginner shoes - i would have quit because that just hurts if you are not used to it. so i do see a benefit in beginner gear, even if you will eventually outgrow it.
No we don’t, we need less gatekeeping
“Yuppie” is already a word.
