Cheap gloves have their place, sure, but a month of framing is not a fair test. Gloves fail on the jobs you can't predict, like wire rope, rebar, wet leather, or a guy grabbing a spinning blade. The name brand costs triple because the odds of a blowout are lower when it matters. Three pairs out of a big order sounds fine until one of those blowouts happens on a ladder or next to a saw. You got lucky with the batch and the work. Run that same cheap order for another six months through winter and see if you still feel dumb.

I did the same math and felt like a genius for about five minutes until I remembered I'd been putting those pods in a $200 machine that's now collecting dust on my counter. My grinder journey started rough too, first batch came out like sand and my coffee tasted like a muddy puddle. My wife watched me suffer through three failed cups before she gently asked if I knew what I was doing. The upfront cost did sting a bit but watching that pod money stay in my pocket each month made it easier. Now my only real problem is I've turned into that guy who talks about grind size at parties.