Ok, I JUST caught the explanation in the loading screen. It said something along the lines of: Triangles indicate the item is better that what you currently have equipped

I assumed it was something to do with Skyrims economy, like those particular items are more expensive at the moment, could be wrong though.

^^ This ^^ I had the same loading screen pop up last night when I had the same question as OP

I noticed that always seems to appear next to what an unintelligent game would assume would have the best stats for my character. Like how it always tells me robe wearing magic character he should put some armor on and get a real job.

Ok. Not sure why it's showing me the steel helm triangles in the 4th screenshot since they are worse than what I'm wearing. Or why it isn't showing up on the iron armor in one of the other screenshots that is better than what I'm wearing. It appears to be a broken feature or using rules to determine what is "better" that are rather insane.

Thanks for asking this question, as it completely baffles me as well...

Okay, this from the Official Prima Game Guide (page 119):

"The small triangle next to items in your inventory signifies that they are better than the ones you currently have equipped."

This is a direct quote.

So the previous posters who said this were correct, in spite of the fact that it appears in game to not always show up correctly. Maybe a bug that will be addressed at some point?


Stannie

Thanks. I submitted it as a bug on https://unofficialskyrimpatch.16bugs.com/projects/7078

I dont think its a bug, its just that the DR is not the only thing you have to think about as price and your level in the assoiciated skill will count towards the game quantiying which is best.

How is this figured because it's usually completely wrong.