this is true about oil filters. many manufactures leave out the pressure check ball..many others use a paper that wouldn't qualify as a filtering media.
stick with the brand names....any store brand i'd at least do a deep search to see who makes the filter for that store brand...
as a former wrencher, i too would tell the customers to come it at 3,000 miles.
yes also true all synthetics today are good for up to 10,000 or 1 years worth of driving.
however, those short trips can be a killer as mentioned earlier, as the moisture in the oil (condensation) does not get burned off with longer trips.
