What are your 'name brand only' items?

Tires. Never cheap out on tires.

Toilet paper. My asshole deserves Angel Soft.

batteries.

Video game controllers.

I know the divide is not quite what it was with stick drift affecting almost all of the 1st party offerings, but there's just something that feels so cheap about using any generic controller, even ones that are marketed as higher end.

Computer hardware

Q-Tips (cotton swabs.) Generics seem universally worse.

... Siracha.

At least before the debacle with Underwood Ranch. I unknowingly bought extra before it happened and am close to running out. I'm not sure what to do afterwards but I'm not inclined to support Huy Fong.

Mac&cheese

It's Kraft Dinner or nothing.

Dawn dish soap is simply unbeatable

Liqueurs, because usually generics don't exist

And Ziploc bags. The quality is worth the extra dollar over the store brand. I might start doing the same for trash bags as well

Toothpaste. Generics are awful.

Mooncakes for mid-autumn festival. Như Lan bakery or skip. The other brands (even the 'fancy' ones) have too much sugar. In HK there are other good brands too, but in VN Như Lan is the best.

I guess also expensive tools like oscilloscopes (Siglent, Uni-T). It's a big enough investment that I need it to work well, but I'm not rich enough for the fancy brands.

Oh, and motorcycles -- Honda please (yes, we have unbranded motorcycles here, we call them 'ghost bikes'). There's always a repairshop that can fix a Honda within walking distance, but I've never actually needed to go to one. When I had a Yamaha it broke once in a while, and that meant a long walk in tropical heat.

Fisherman's friend cough drops. They're not the tastiest cough drops out there, but they fucking work.

Tires. Every time I've tried to save money by purchasing some PrimeWell or Sentury or other no-name tire I've worn them out in no time flat or they burst when I hit any bump that stands more than 1cm above the road surface. If they are that weak then they aren't safe.

Ballpoint pens. Bic, Papermate, and Zebra are pretty much all I would consider buying.

Edit: there are lots of other brands that I forgot to consider. I'm mainly talking about inexpensive plastic tubes, but included Zebra (a metal tube) which I'm a fan of.

I take vitamins because of malabsorption related to celiac disease, and I've read that a lot of cheap vitamin brands are total scams.

Fortunately, I've been finding some major brands at the dollar store, of all places, for $1.25USD

Game console controllers. Miss me with that flimsy shit.

Except the Xbox Series X controller. That thing’s a nightmare. I use my old One controller for that.

Soda, chips, candy, etc. If I'm gonna buy it, I'm buying the good one. I've tried many different off/store brand peanut butter cups, and they're always fucking horrendous.

Surprisingly, frozen pizza is the opposite. The store brand ones are really good (at least the ones I get at Shaw's and Market Basket). Meanwhile, I've payed much more in order to try out the big name brands. They are usually smaller, lower quality, and taste worse than the store brand ones that cost nearly half as much.

Mobiles, laptops, SIM card, Wifi provider

Butter. Kerrygold is simply the best.

Puffs tissues. They hold together better than Scottie and aren't dusty and awful like Kleenex or most of the knockoffs.

Windex for cleaning mirrors and glass. All the other knockoffs feel like watered down blue food coloring.

Stuff a certain company or organization can simply do that others cant

• Fedora
• GrapheneOS + stupid Pixel phones
• Coreboot laptop, whatever brand
• actually sustainable products
• some Bike components but if I find something better here I go!

This is a weird one, but Astepro nasal spray for allergies. The name brand is a little unpleasant to blast up my nose because of the smell/taste. But the off brand stuff is absolutely foul and bitter. I would get random whifs and drips of the nastiness in the back of my throat for an hour.

Frozen pizza. Most all pizzas are basically just crackers with tomatoe sauce and cheese, but then there is Dr Oetkers Ofenfrische. I find myself eating 14 euro wood-fired takeout pizzas, only to realize that it stinks compared to an Ofenfrische

Ketchup for sure. There is a hierarchy of quality, and store-brand is the bottom rung.

I'm an absolute whore of a human for Mitsubishi 'Uni' Pens. I don't even like writing, but their Jetstream line are cheap and should be the ubiquitous goto pen. Everytime I have to pick up a bic, I die a little inside.

Levis. Cheap pants are never worth it, the 501 is always in style and perfect.

Household appliance and in general everything where support and assistance may have a big impact

Cheerios. Just the plain toasted oat variety.

For some reason the other brands of toasted oats do not taste right. Other cereal generics are fine.

Most food items, minus vegetables.

Permanently Deleted

Socks, I don’t think I’ll buy any socks besides darn tough socks long as we both shall live.

bandaids and Nexcare medical tape

SOS Pads and Oreos.

Most food. I generally try the generics/store brands but a lot of time they're way worse.

i got a bootleg version of vans slip-on (aka vans asher) and in less than a year they've got destroyed already, it looks like the sole is about to come off the shoes themselves

Fishing lures. Off brand ones don't have the same action. Some of them work, but most knock off meps don't

Nutella

Edit: I am FLABERGASTED at how many people disagree, I genuinely thought this was obvious, pls recommend anything you prefer to nutella (and whether it's more or less expensive)

Marmite

Antidepressants.

Victorinox.