I hope I'm not taken the wrong way - but in certain geographies technologist salaries/total-comp are such that it costs us more money to search for bargains than it does to plonk down $hundreds for brand-name SMB hardware for our SOHO gear.

That is is why we buy new kit instead of used. I could spend 2-3 hours of my time scanning eBay and Craigslist and comparing spreadsheets of compatible equipement and then waiting for USPS mail deliveries (at my $200/hr consulting rate) or I could spent 5-10 minutes on Ubiquiti's online store and be done with it.

It's ugly and I dislike it (the thrill of the chase...). But that's capitalism. Frankly I won't be able to "enjoy" this again until I'm after retirement...

That makes sense (and explains a lot, actually).

But in that case you're not complaining about the cost of hardware, I think.

I was commenting more on people who think it's too expensive but still want new.

Since we're on topic, having been born in the land of no opportunities, I've learned to save on everything.

And I've learned to build/make anything, quite literally. It's not that hard and it's really satisfying, but sadly time consuming.

Do you happen to have a list of hardware which you plan to use? Or some pointers