The recommendations aren't bad, they're just overkill. Makita makes great tools, but depending on the tool, cheaper ones are fine for most purposes (cheaper, not cheapest, I've seen too many Ryobi contraptions start smoking for that). Guitars and bicycles are two more I've run into where reddit advice will have you paying much more than you need to. Sometimes it's okay to get the no-brand Amazon version, and sometimes it's very much not. It's a skill to determine which is which.
I do think you're right that average quality has gone down. The MBAs of the world work hard to make their products function till the last day of the warranty and not a second longer, and that's a relatively recent business philosophy.
I do think you're right that average quality has gone down. The MBAs of the world work hard to make their products function till the last day of the warranty and not a second longer, and that's a relatively recent business philosophy.