I will just add one thing to this with regard to lifetime warranties.
I used to travel for a living. One of the many things I learned while living the road warrior's life was that good luggage was not optional; it was a necessity. Your typical consumer-grade luggage does not hold up to the wear and tear imposed on it when you live in hotels all around the world and are in an airport twice a week. You quickly learn good luggage from bad luggage, and good luggage costs money; but it's well worth it in terms of reliability.
Once, I had occasion to look for a replacement rollaboard while I was on the road; this is not really fun, because when you're on the road and your rollaboard fails, you must buy a replacement. Good or bad, cheap or expensive, you're going to buy something right now; no options.
So I find a nearby luggage store and go there. This is not unlike a high-end audio salon in a sense; they have certain brands and models they carry and they push them.
This luggage store sold some minor high-end stuff, but also a lot of house-brand crap. They were pushing the house-brand stuff. One of the things they were trying to sell me on was the LIFETIME WARRANTY.
Let me tell you about lifetime warranties when you're traveling for a living. They don't mean squat. Why? Because when you live in Denver and you're in Frankfurt Germany and the wheels come off your rollaboard, or the zipper breaks and the bag won't close, you are hosed. There won't be a nearby store where you can exchange the bag for another one at no cost and immediately. No. They want you to SEND the bag to the manufacturer, and they will fix it or replace it and send it back to you. In a couple weeks or months. Yeah, that's going to work, I'll just hang around in Frankfurt, lose my job, and wait for my luggage to show up.
So I tell this to the salesperson and she doesn't get it. "But it has a LIFETIME WARRANTY," she insists. Yeah. Look. Warranty is a promise for some future behavior when your crap breaks. I don't want promises, I want luggage that does not break. GET IT? I'll pay 10 times more for a bag that is so well made that the wheels do not come off, the handle doesn't come off, the zipper doesn't jam. Warranty? I could seriously give a crap. Sell me stuff that is well-made instead. Warranty means F#(@ all to me.
I don't travel for a living now, and my income has sharply curtailed my ability to enjoy the finer things in life; but the point remains, and it applies to everything in life. If you buy on warranty, you are buying on a future promise that may or may not be there. Warranties are nice if they're honored, but don't count on it. If that's the reason you're buying, it's the wrong reason and you've been suckered.
Buy it because it is high quality. Buy it because the price is right. Buy it because you like the way it sounds. It's up to you to be a decent judge of build quality, and to manage your expectations based on how much you pay and how well the gear is made. If you get a warranty and your stuff breaks and they honor the warranty, then yay. But don't buy because of warranty, that's a pig in a poke.
Warranty? Pfft. If they are selling on warranty, what they are saying is that their stuff is crap, but they'll fix it free. Yeah, that's a ringing endorsement.
Sell me stuff that won't break instead.
