I've the BTwin Ultra Compact by Decathlon and I'd recommend it as alternative to the popular Bromptons [1].

It cost less than half of the equivalent Bromptons bike that's featured in the article.

[1] BTwin Ultra Compact 1 Second Light:

https://road.cc/content/review/btwin-ultra-compact-1-second-...

If you don't know if you need a folding bike, you probably don't need a folding bike. It's kind of compromised as a bike, and if the (admittedly huge) utility of it folding isn't painfully necessary, it'd be hard to justify owning one.

Once you get to the point where a folder is unavoidable, you may as well get a good one, be it Bromptom, Dahon, or whoever. At that point it's definitely a buy-once-cry-once kind of purchase. As much as I love mine, I wouldn't recommend anyone buying one who isn't already really into cycling for transportation rather than sport and doesn't really need a folding bike.

And yeah, the low end of the market is pretty crap, much as it is for regular bikes.

> that can be found around 1/20th the price of a brompton

Where in the world are you finding a not-stolen bike for less than a hundred dollars!?

> none of them come with big gears that I'd need to get home, with sections that can reach 22%

Personally I'd recommend getting a bicycle with a motor.

Expensive? I bought mine for 1200 or so in 2006. Still use it daily. It is a steal.

maybe I'm missing something, but just put a smaller chainring on? or do you need something like MTB cassette amount of range?

given the tiny wheels, a chainring that would be "normal" on a 700c 1x gravel bike should be very easy for climbing on a folding bike.