Is it better to buy cheap knockoffs or expensive brand names?

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Do you find it more economical to buy the knockoffs from say China at half or one third of the price the legitimate brand would cost.Are the knockoffs as durable or do they get destroyed twice or thrice as quickly so necessitating buying two or three more of the cheaper brands which turns out to be the more expensive option in the long run? Or the only difference between the knockoffs and the expensive brands is price and not quality? What is your experience?