Unlike the above thread, I am not talking about really high quality here…just unexpected quality.
An advertiser here on the Dope called SnorgTees…I bought a couple t-shirts as a ‘joke’ present for a friend and my wife and daughter. I was surprised…I expected cheap crap. I found out they really are decent. This Christmas I ordered several more but as part of the ‘real’ gifts and not as a joke.
I have bought several pair of shoes from a Hong Kong website. I can’t remember why I did it at first - they had something I needed that I couldn’t find. When I received them, I was surprised. While not ‘high quality’ they sure were decent enough…so I ordered more over the years.
Hyundais. I bought an Elantra in 2003 because I was dead-set on getting a new car and it was the cheapest one I could afford with enough space for my needs (college student, moved apartments a lot, needed space for many boxes).
I figured I’d be driving a loaner a bunch because it would always be at the dealer’s service department, but it turned out to be absolutely bulletproof. The only time it broke down was when the cooling system failed because I hadn’t gotten the fluid changed in 60,000 miles.
Publix generic grocery items are every single bit as good as name brand - I don’t buy anything else unless I need something specific anymore. There used to be things I didn’t buy in generic, but Publix is different. (Okay, not the toilet paper. That just seems to be part of life.)
Costco diaper wipes. I wouldn’t expect high quality from something that is a generic store-brand for a warehouse store, but they are the best diaper wipes in the world. Far superior to any of the name-brand ones that you can get at the regular grocery store. Most of the reason I re-upped my Costco membership last year was so I wouldn’t lose access to the diaper wipes.
Some casserole dishes my mom ordered for me from QVC. I consider anything from QVC suspect for some reason.
Proactiv. That stuff works really, really well.
Costco brand diapers and wipes. They’re the best, cheapest diapers & wipes I’ve used. My husband and I will be joining Costco again and leaving Sam’s because of them (the closest Costco used to be an hour away; now there will be one about 5 minutes away).
Stop & Shop brand hot dogs. The all beef ones. A friend did a taste test comparing them to some gourmet dogs, and the S&S ones, while a little salty, come out on top.
Similar to this, the sister brand to Hyundai, Kia. I got a used 2000 Kia Sephia in 2003, a model year at the tail end of Kia’s near-brush with insolvency and not a few quality-control issues. I expected crap, and honestly couldn’t afford much more than crap (I was reduced to rolling pennies to scrape together a few bucks to make a down payment on anything, since I needed a car immediately to continue going to my commuter school…). I had just been through three cars in four weeks (a loyal Oldsmobile Delta 88 kicked the bucket after years of abuse and a t-boning by a semi, then two used Fords fell into my lap and promptly self-destructed due to known issues that the company refused to issue recalls on, souring me on Ford to this day), and had no more time or money to waste.
2009, I’m still driving the Kia. Paint’s faded, the doors are bashed to hell from shopping carts (work at a 24-hour supercenter overnights to pay my way through school… six years in a busy store parking lot, I’m surprised I have doors), and I have put the car through 20 daily miles of stop-and-go city-driving hell for 6 years straight… and it’s still running fine, doing about 35 mpg when I manage to find a highway. A few middling repairs over the years… nothing major, and the few biggies were my own fault. Kia kicked in to cover labor on those, too.
Other stuff… most Great Value/Sam’s Choice Wal-Mart branded food is pretty decent. Cheaper than Kroger’s house brands, and invariably made by the same plants. Similarly, Wal-Mart’s Equate generics in health and beauty are good, cheaper than other chains’ generics, and made by the same plants.
California Pizza Kitchen rising crust five cheese and tomato variety frozen pizza. Holy crap… I had gotten used to frozen pizzas being almost as good as fresh, but CPK’s rising crust pizzas are better than a number of fresh pizza chains. I’d still take a local Aviano’s pizza over CPK, but I would prefer the frozen pizza over nearly every delivery option available to me.
Ikea. I had the uninformed impression it was all cheap crap, and when I furnished my first new place ever a few years ago I swore I wouldn’t do the boring predictable thing and deck it out from there. Boy was I wrong. I ended up getting almost everything from there, except just the sofa I think. It was as cheap or cheaper than anything else, and better than anything less than about 10 times the price.
Here’s the total opposite: store brand “Pantene” shampoo in a nearly identical bottle. It was AWFUL! Don’t be fooled, ‘real’ Pantene is the way to go…Walmart eggrolls, sold in the cold case in front of their deli, any kind, put those tough overfried things from the Chinese restaurant to shame.
Wegmans’s store brand fish sticks, $1.99 for a dozen, are half the price of Gortons or Mrs. Pauls and are just delish! (unless, as mentioned in the fish fingers thread, you find an eye in one of them :p)
Rain-X. As good as they claim it is. “Everyday Living” window cleaner. Damn good stuff. I had another product that I was really surprised by, but forgot…
This flashlight.
I’m sort of a flashlight snob, and I was expecting run-of-the-mill Hong Kong-made junk. Turns out, this is a total kick-ass flashlight. Outperforms a 3-D cell Maglight in 1/5 the size and runs seemingly forever on a charge. I liked it so much, I bought two more for the house, and several for gifts (for friends I really like).
Agreed. While my burger of choice has been the Smashburger (chain out of Denver), the McDs mushroom and swiss angus was really, really good. Nothing at all like a typical McDonald’s hamburger. I would take one any day over something like a Fuddruckers.