But, if it’s a good product, does it become less functional when it is orphaned? Granted, you won’t be able to replace it with the same product when it wears out, but that’s no different than a company staying in the same range, and discontinuing a product. (There’s a Murphy corollary to the effect that “if it’s good, they’ll stop making it.”)

The bright side is, that when the product does wear out, there will be a fair number of good quality replacements to choose from.