[palmotea]

> Just but either professional (as in practitioners of a trade us it) or military products — those tend to be much better than “consumers” products. They cost more but they will last a lifetime.

Eh, I'm not sure that's such good advice. IIRC, I remember stumbling across tacticool "military grade" USB thumb drives, for instance. I doubt those are any better than your typical name-brand drive. "Professional" seems to be an often used marketing keyword to indicate quality or power (e.g. "Mac Pro").

Some keywords that may work better are "industrial" and "commercial," they don't have the same ring to them as "professional" and "military grade."

[somewhatgoated]

Of course don’t go by marketing buzzwords on trash markets like Amazon. Professional means used by people who rely on the product for their profession. Often these are products or brands that laypeople have never heard about before. For example I have the same heavy duty washing machine for 30+ years. Many of my friends went through at least 5 “consumer” washing machines in the same time.

I wouldn’t know what the equivalent is for USB sticks, don’t really use them. I’m sure you would find a sturdy one with some research. Or you can buy the same trash product many times.

[palmotea]

> Of course don’t go by marketing buzzwords on trash markets like Amazon. Professional means used by people who rely on the product for their profession. Often these are products or brands that laypeople have never heard about before.

That's good advice, but hard to follow. There's a big information deficit there: it's hard to shop for something you've never heard of, perhaps sold in an unusual corner where one of the typical consumer signals apply.

> For example I have the same heavy duty washing machine for 30+ years. Many of my friends went through at least 5 “consumer” washing machines in the same time.

Speed Queen? I think that's an area where the professional grade stuff is a little more accessible. They've got consumer-appropriate models (with the commercial internals) sold in regular appliance shops (though they're not everywhere).

> I wouldn’t know what the equivalent is for USB sticks, don’t really use them. I’m sure you would find a sturdy one with some research. Or you can buy the same trash product many times.

Swissbit is one. They sell industrial-grade memory cards and drives that trade off capacity for reliability. Though a cheap high-capacity one is probably the better trade off for most people.

[lamasery]

The impression I've gotten from ex-military folks is that regarding "military grade" as a marker of quality is a habit they find particularly funny.

[0xffff2]

As a veteran myself, I've never understood people who say this. Yes, military stuff is made by the lowest bidder, but it's made by the lowest bidder to generally much higher standards than a civilian product. The military is much harder on equipment than most people in civilian life ever will be. Military stuff will always be bulkier and heavier, but will generally last much longer in the hands of an 18 year old soldier who didn't have to pay for it in a way that civilian stuff just won't.

That said, "military grade" means fuck all, as does a one-off testing/prototype deal. The only time I would take military use as a sign of quality is when it's verifiably combat tested and approved by the soldiers on the ground, and now that I've been out for 15 years it can be hard to tell the difference.

[palmotea]

Yeah, isn't the joke that "military grade" means made by the lowest bidder?