&gt;when was the last time you bought anything substantial without reading a review of it or checking the customer ratings?<p>But reviews don&#x27;t tend to judge product lifetime that well, because they&#x27;re usually written within the first month a product comes out.<p>I think the only way you can get reliable information on lifetime is by forcing companies to provide it, and guarantee it. (Or put a big sticker on their product saying &quot;0 years guaranteed&quot;)<p>&gt;Depending on the market, those two price points may be in different segments based on (e.g.) disposable income.<p>I feel like I see a lot of reasonable sounding financing in the markets I&#x27;m thinking of, but perhaps I&#x27;m remembering times before 2008.