what would you advise folk not to buy !!!!!!!

[Tartar Horde]

(17 August 2013, 15:30)Skean Dhude Wrote: But not exactly of any use to any of us for prepping though.

Oh I don't know SD, keeping sane is a big survival asset.

[Skean Dhude]

Keeping sane. What exactly is sane nowadays? We are considered nut cases, we consider everyone else nut cases and there are more of them than there is of us.

[Sunna]

aldi , red kidney beans ,price gone up , but the beans have gone down [chrunchy]

[Midnitemo]

(11 August 2013, 13:29)BDG Wrote: A new car. As soon as you drive, you have just thrown thousands of pounds away.

Think about what you plan to buy - do you need it, is it an asset (it will create or save you capital) or a liability (it is just going to cost you capital), is a product that does the same thing available cheaper?

Other than that - cheap tools. Buy cheap, buy twice and you do not want a tool failing when you are using it - you will range from being pissed off to dead.

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And I do thank all of those who do buy a new car or truck, as it means I can buy it at a fraction of its cost but with lots of life left in it 5-10 years later.

Cheers guys, keep up the good work.

Happy to help with the new car thing....like my cars good and reliable not butchered and botched....her indoors is running about in my hand me down vauxhall astra 1.7td with 198000 miles currently showing on the odo , bought new 2004 for the princely sum of £8000 via a massive discount for it being a run out model and 2.5k from my gm card...the car has only ever had consumables(tyres,pads,disc's and bulbs)serviced annually regardless of mileage , burns no oil , still doing 60mpg and only had one failiure...an alternator! . its still got the original clutch/exhaust/turbo....i put this down to simpathetic ownership ,turbo allowed to warm up / spooled down before shut down...sometimes buying new is very cost effective if you by right treat it properley and keep it long enough...i'd still get a grand for it now ....so 7k for nearly 10 years reliable cheap motoring!!!!

[Jonas]

Don't buy "cheap" tools! A $10 knife is a whole lot more likely to fail than a $25 knife. I could list all the times I was suckered into an "unbelievably great deal" on a piece of junk that failed, but SD couldn't afford the band width! :p

[Scythe13]

Don't buy a bear trap (especially the mini ones from your brother in China) if you don't know how to use them. Have a fire poker ready to prize the teeth/jaws open and save 3 of your fingers!!! Oh, and if you happen to be playing around with one, make sure you play around with one that is smooth ended and not sharp and toothed!!! Stupid things!!! Or is that stupid me?

[Waylander]

New BSA air rifles, they're tat.

Waylander

[Timelord]

Don't buy crap from China! (That's most stuff they export).
Don't buy heavy lardy kit if you intend to carry it in your bug out gear.
Don't buy lots of cheap stuff if you intend to bug out. Buy quality instead and watch the bulk & weight.
Don't buy gold if you intend to bug out on foot with it. In that scenario it will be a liability & worthless. Silver possibly the same. You could always bury it for the archaeologists of the future to dig up.
We live in a materialistic society of excess. Why would you need precious metals to barter with PSHTF, when there is material excess everywhere around us. Some of this will be far more valuable than precious metals if it is a bad PSHTF scenario.

Don't put your confidence in buying a big 4x4 vehicle or any vehicle for that matter for a bug out scenario in the UK, especially for PSHTF. It would be handy to have and could be a useful tool, but be aware the myriad of possible SHTF scenarios may rule out travel by vehicle. Have alternative plans.
Don't buy cheap xbows etc, as they are no better than a toy and the build quality is crap - ref first sentence. Bits can break off easily due to flimsy construction. Don't buy plastic bolts other than for training - then again why shoot something different for training than you would for the real thing. Alloy bolts are not that much better anyway.

Don't buy cheap batteries or any of the 98% of ebay listed ones, as they are mostly Chinese fakes - ref first sentence.

Don't buy cheap nylon tents. Check the Hydrostatic head first and the seam construction. Too many cheap tent - you buy mister - tent luv u long time.. no..

Don't buy a backup GPS system for PSHTF. Oh how I laugh!! and it goes on ....

[bigpaul]

I don't know why all this bias towards Chinese stuff? I bought lots from China on Ebay and never had any trouble with any of it, some of it is better build quality than the western stuff.

[BeardyMan]

(5 September 2013, 11:38)bigpaul Wrote: I don't know why all this bias towards Chinese stuff? I bought lots from China on Ebay and never had any trouble with any of it, some of it is better build quality than the western stuff.

When it comes to things like torches / knives they may have a yankee brand on them, but they'll have been made in China. SureFire torches, the expensive one you fit on your glock, pick up something identical for about £10 on fleabay. The smith & wesson knives are made in a factory in China
The Maxpedition gear is made in a factory in China.

It ain't all that bad!!

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BUT, they also make a lot of shit - hence the poor image