Just recalculate the price of the built-to-last appliance from 1980 into 2018 dollars. For the same amount, you'll buy a very decently made device today, too.
By the same token, all the large CFL and LED lamps in my house are expensive high-CRI lamps. I've seen two CFLs go due to a failure in internal electronics, likely as a result of a power glitch. The longest-running CFL I had to date ran for 7 years, for 12+ hours a day.
> For the same amount, you'll buy a very decently made device today, too.
For most products I find this to simply not be the case anymore. What I find is the more you pay, the more "gizmos" and "features" you get that ultimately lead to earlier device failures than the cheap models.
By the same token, all the large CFL and LED lamps in my house are expensive high-CRI lamps. I've seen two CFLs go due to a failure in internal electronics, likely as a result of a power glitch. The longest-running CFL I had to date ran for 7 years, for 12+ hours a day.