This is why I have shifted to buying old, used things rather than new ones whenever possible. New stuff is, in the vast majority of instances, garbage regardless of the price point or how respectable the brand had been in the past.

> To find the better product, you'll have to rely on others who've tested it and can tell you how it holds up to time.

Even this has become inadequate. The product others have used for long enough for them to tell how well it adds up is likely to have been cheapened and made worse in the time that has passed since they bought it.