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Do I Need a Big Ladder? (1 Viewer)

RobertR

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Meh. I bought a ladder at Home Depot that does essentially the same thing as far as I can see for 1/4 the price.
 

MarkHastings

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would that be the same thinking behind someone who says "I bought a Home Theater in a box, it does the same thing that those expensive Home Theater setups do - I mean, they're just speakers..."

;)

Seriously, I can't say that the Little Giant is or isn't worth the price, but sometimes there are reasons why certain things are more expensive than others, even if we can't see them. Just like the people who buy cheap audio/video equipment and think they perform just as well as the high end stuff. Perhaps they just don't realize (or care) why the expensive stuff is so expensive.

For example: I wanted to buy these cool clip magnets for my fridge. They were the "Good Grips" kind - they were like $5 for one and my mom was like "that's too much money!" so I didn't buy them. A week later, she hands me 5 clips that she got at the dollar store. She goes "See! I got 5 OF THEM for only $1 instead of the one for $5!!!" - she thought she was 'all that', but come to find out, the reason the clips were 5 for $1 was because the magnets were really tiny and BARELY held on to the fridge and clipping anything to the paper, made it worthless.
 

Matt Stryker

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As you mentioned there are few uses for a big ladder except changing this one light bulb and then cleaning your gutters - so - if you're on speaking terms with your neighbors, ask if they already have what you're looking for (hopefully in fiberglas, they don't seem to sway as much) and just borrow it. Pay em back with a six-pack or a plate of cookies, and you'll come out way ahead in your wallet and you won't have to store some stupid 12-16' monstrosity in your backyard that you use once or twice a year. Buy a nice smaller stepladder for those around the house jobs.

You might also consider getting a CFL bulb for the fan (in the nice yellow light of course, instead of the harsh blue), that way you won't have to replace the bulb nearly as much - plus you'll be saving energy.
 

RobertR

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Or observe or measure them in any way...

Of course, I'm sure there are people who might be susceptible to the idea that a "high end" ladder (or hammer) is somehow better than a "regular" one, but the fact is that very often wire is wire, amps are amps, and tools are tools.
 

RobertR

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Or it could be that the Little Giant is just overpriced (companies would NEVER do that, would they?).

I've never once thought my ladder has "cheap construction" or that it seems flimsy.
 

MarkHastings

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I'm not saying it is flimsy...I'm also not saying that the little giant isn't overpriced. I'm just playing Devil's advocate because it seems that whenever you have two similar products people always assume the higher priced one is over-priced...in my experience, that doesn't always seem to be the case. I've seen lots of examples where cheaper may appear to be of similar quality, but sometimes isn't.

Ah yes, I remember the old Gateway systems that were so cheap and people used to think I was crazy for "Overpaying" when I bought a higher priced system. They'd always show me how the two systems had the same amount of ram, HD space, and processors, so why pay more??

Probably because of the low-end (and often noisy) drives Gateway used. Most people don't realize how important RPM's are when it comes to drives, so from their point of view, the two systems were equal in quality. And sure, while they probably performed very similarly right out of the box, in time, I guarantee you that my more expensive/higher RPM HD would kick the crap out of theirs :)
 

RobertR

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I don't assume the higher priced one is overpriced. I make a rational evaluation about what's offered for the money. Some things have features worth paying the extra price for. Others (such as most of what is peddled in High End Audio) don't. The price difference is often used to pay for purely emotional factors (snob appeal, exclusivity, etc.) having nothing to do with objective features. Still other items do have objective differences, but those differences mean nothing to some people (it may be a big deal to you that a hard drive has high rpms, but not to others).
 

RobertR

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I forgot to add appearance (as in the woman who buys Bose because it "fits in with the decor").
 

MarkHastings

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Don't forget about the people who think the generic cereal is "just as good' as the (more expensive) name brand. :crazy:
 

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