Re: Your favorite "low life cycle cost" brands:
The most reliable products I've had:
Mitsubishi 26" stereo console TV: Got it at a discount from Dayton's in Minneapolis in 1987 thru my sister who worked there at the time. Was our main TV thru our son's 7th thru 24th years until we had to give it away when we moved in Jan. Never had a problem & still had a great picture.
Honda snowblower: Had it about 17 years, sold it to the folks who bought our house. 0 problems.
Toro lawnmower: close to 20 years old, brought it with us to FL. Repaired once, due I'm pretty sure to my son mistreating it.
Kenmore gas dryer: 21 years old, may have been repaired once, still works (in the home we just sold). BTW, some early posts made it sound like Sears/Kenmore made its own appliances. Did they once? They make none of their own now - see
http://www.applianceadvisor.com/brandadvisor.htm.
Sero & Enro dress shirts: I don't know if these are still made, but I bought a few back in the 70s, 7 ended up getting rid of them only due to style changes, with the last one going to Salvation Army last year. They NEVER seemed to show wear, not even from "whisker burn" around the neck.
Bill (my 1st post in months - I retired & moved from MN to FL, so been a little busy).