True, but there's another way that I approach cost that's equally important to me: If you spend too little, then you get a piece of garbage that dies after a year, and then you have to spend more money in the long run, so as an example:
Get a Bosch chainsaw (I'm just making this up). Cost: one...million...dollars. This is the buy once, cry once philosophy, and for the most part I practice this.
Or
Get a Mr. Junior Chainsaw. Cost: $50. But then Mr. Junior Chainsaw dies right after the warranty expires, forcing you go and buy that Bosch anyway. Total cost: One million, fifty dollars.
So the trick is to go as cheap as possible without totally screwing myself in the long run.
I know nothing about chain saws, but do often ascribe to purchasing the 'value oriented quality' segment of products. However, to properly ferret those products out requires a lot of effort and dedication.
But crazy as it sounds, I've found Amazon to often be a good research source for a plethora of products; it seems they handle pretty much everything these days.
Research products with a high number of reviews and a high star rating, and sort the reviews by various parameters to assist your search.
I look at 4 star reviews, because those reviewers often sensibly point-out the slight or moderate negatives in an otherwise good product. I then glance at the 1 star reviews, only to see if there's a common critical complaint or caveat. Besides that, I avoid the 1 star reviews as they often are 1 star for skewed reasons, often reasons not even related to the product itself.
And I must say, if an item has either an 'Amazon Best value', 'Amazon Top Seller', or 'Amazon Best Rated' tag, I tend to buy with confidence if the item seems to otherwise meet my needs.
Also, Amazon buyers - by their nature - seem to predominately buy value oriented products. Yes, there may be some high-end products on Amazon; but they invariably are of lower sales volume. But the ones that are high volume sales, those that sell in the many hundreds and thousands, tend to be of good value.
Seriously, if you find a high volume sales Amazon product that has the 'Amazon Best Value' or 'Amazon Top Seller' tag, and it otherwise seems to fit your needs after your perusing the reviews, I'd consider buying it. I don't think I've ever been let down, doing that myself.
(I also might add I've used this Amazon research technique for products I've purchased elsewhere, as well)