Spent $85 on a Wahl clipper in 2010 and it outlasted every fancy one after
Honestly my first real clipper was a Wahl Senior I grabbed for $85 back in 2010 when I was cutting hair in my buddy's garage in Fresno. That thing ran for 11 years through walk-ins, fades, and one very questionable mullet for a guy's wedding, and I never once had to swap the blade. Then I got talked into a $260 cordless setup about 3 years ago and the battery died mid cut on a Saturday rush, so I went back to the old workhorse that afternoon. Now it lives in my drawer as a backup and I actually trust it more than the new one. What clippers are you all still running past the 5 year mark?
Cheap corded clippers just don't die, and there's something to that. My old Andis sat in a drawer for years, got pulled out after my cordless ate it halfway through a lineup, and buzzed through the rest of the day like nothing happened. Batteries are the weak link now, the motors themselves are fine.