All too often when asking someone about a product, the response is "Well, you get what you pay for." Is this really the case? Always?
This assumption that something cost less money means you are getting less quality seems to be much overplayed these days. For instance, my family has built cabinets all my life. A year ago we decided to expand our advertising and bidding into a relatively large city that was nearby. In the first 3 months, we were the lowest bid in ALL of the houses we were asked to quote (Somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 houses). We received only 2 of those 13 bids. I asked the general contractors on most of these houses why we weren't chosen and the answer was frequently you were too cheap (ie. your product wasn't as good as someone else's). The next 3 months the bids were adjusted to be more competitive (make more profit). We received better than half of the quotes, and didn't change anything about how we build cabinets. It was merely the fact that we weren't perceived as offering a "cheap" alternative.
From the standpoint of the person making the money, I didn't mind making a bigger profit. But it bothers me when people assumed our product was less quality just because our prices were lower.
The same scenario I described above can be said for woodworking tools and equipment. Yes, there are cheap versions of high quality tools that aren't worth having. But I ask the question, is that ALWAYS the answer? Just because it is cheap means it is inferior? Is it wrong to be wanting something without mortgaging the home? As a hobbyist, do I need to purchase the highest quality tools?
Just wandering,
JD