this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2025
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Buy it for Life

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A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!

Guidelines:

Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!

Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.

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A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:

  1. The item must be made with sustainable or recycled materials.
  2. If electronic in some way, the item must be open-source.
  3. The item must be user-serviceable (if applicable).
  4. You cannot be a large corporation.
  5. The post must be clearly marked with a [Self Promotion] tag in your title.

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Yes, apparently it was made in China, but I've had this thing for at least 15 years, and it still works just fine 👍

And yes I do still have the test leads LOL!

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[–] BertramDitore@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 week ago

There was one in the town I grew up in, and I used to go and just browse for hours. I’d sometimes buy a few cheap little bits and bobs so I didn’t piss off the clerk.

Believe it or not, I used to go to RadioShack to check out the latest cell phone technology when phones were just starting to catch on. I distinctly remember marveling over this super super thin bar-style phone and being completely amazed they made it so thin. It was one of those candybar phones with a 1 inch dot matrix screen (and an extendable antenna, of course). And it was silver, which I remember thinking was awesome. They were still selling Motorola StarTacs, to give you a sense of the time, and I thought “wow, tech is going to get awesome if they can make something like this.”