Quality v. Quantity Equipment

[judicatr]

I came across this article the other day and thought I'd pass it on. Worth reading and given five minutes thought on the subject pretty self evident.

http://graywolfsurvival.com/3431/gear-quality-quantity/

However it seems that some "preppers" feel the need, the drive, for whatever reason, to collect stuff, sometimes lots of stuff. But the authors comments on quality vs. quantity arguments made me think of an admonition I give my staff in my professional world. When one of my subordinates comes to me asking to purchase a new item (which might sometimes run into 6 figures or higher). I ask them to apply my three rules of acquisition...

1) Does the item answer an existing need within the organization?
2) Does the item answer that need better than anything already in inventory?
3) Does the item accomplish the above at a reasonable cost?

If the answer to any of the questions is "no", it might be time to rethink the item. This for me was best illustrated by my recent desire for a Cold Steel 1917 Naval Cutlass http://www.coldsteel.com/Product/88CS/1917_CUTLASS.aspx Now this wasn't some costume piece, its the real deal, and God knows would be invaluable in the next zombie apocalypse... But it failed all the above tests and failed them badly. But it was so dang cool! Anyway I never got and really would never use it. Spare change should go, I think, to something that has a better return on investment (ROI).

Am I the only one out there who has this problem? Care to share any money spent on items of limited value? Assuming this effects you, how do you handle the temptation to apply limited resources to items with a limited ROI?

Cheers,
Your American Friend

[Plymtom]

Outside of rules numbers 1-6 You cannot have too many Guitars,knives,projectile firing weapons, ammunition making material/components, etc,etc, I know exactly what you mean We don't have huge resources haven't spent more than £250 on a guitar mostly around half or less of that but not for many years, the other stuff is family fun, I think we could be classed as borderline hoarders, for us the issue is space as well as money, but lets entertain the notion that we wished to stash some stuff for emergency use elsewhere, then quality is not top of the list because it may be discovered, or never needed, it merely needs to be functional for a time, lasting forever is not so important on things which you should consider expendable.
Items that get a lot of use, now they are in the quality rules department, your favorite (whatever) needs to be dependable lets take my swiss army knife probably about £20 worth that's all and it's a victorinox low-mid range double blade-scissors can/bottle opener type I have others lower quality but higher functionality which get to live on a shelf for the most part, yet the basic trusty one is about my person, it saves the day regularly.

[jansman]

Rockin' with the quality. Years ago I went for quantity. Now it is quality. Plymton, I am with you on the Swiss Army knife. I have Leathermans, good, but not my 'go to ' tool. Still damned good quality. I have zippo lighters. Good but need 'managing' for fuel. So I like disposables too. Torches, well... Back on the day it was Maglights. Now it is LED Lenser. Good kit has a habit if not letting you down.