For me it's working footwear and the mattress. Especially the mattress, since the cheap stuff never lasts and you spend at least 8 hours a day sleeping anyway.
What's yours?
AskOzb: What's something that you used to be a cheaparse on, until you tried high quality and now you can't go back?
scrimshaw on 11/03/2016 - 03:16
Last edited 11/03/2016 - 03:17
Last edited 11/03/2016 - 03:17
Comments
Bargains!!
Once you get a good one/ deal/ bargain you will always be on the lookout for a better one for future purchases…I can't go back to paying full price for any item before searching/ waiting for the better priced one out there! (like here at OZbargain)
Fishing gear.
Way more enjoyable and durable compared to Kmart cheapiesTotally agree with this. K-mart rods feel like sloppy noodles when casting a sinker, whereas getting a high end gloomis glx rod and I feel every nudge or bite transmitted down the rod to my hands. Also fishing reels, middle to high end shimano and daiwa reels are way so smooth that it is a delight to use them.
Milk
Never touching 2 buck chuck again
I think you're right but the frugal/tight OzBargainer in me says I should just persevere with chugging 2 buck chuck.
Front zip wetsuits. Actually this is expensive only on the sense that they are not as cheap as back zip ones; but no need to buy the $600 versions
Couldn't you just buy a back zip wetsuit and wear it backwards?
Clothing, in particular work suits and shoes. You need to dress the part if you want the part. A well cut suit is also very flattering. Shoes that fit well, are comfortable and look good.
Underwear. Comfort, style and fit.
Engagement ring/Wedding ring: You'll wear them for life, why not choose the best?
Handbag/messenger bag: Again for work, part of dressing the part. But also, good ones will last a long time if you choose good leather ones from Bally etc. Same goes for wallets which the others have mentioned.
Bed: Mattress, sheets, doona. Years ago, I went on holiday at a 5 star resort and recreated everything they had at home. It feels like a cloud. Why not have that luxury every day?
Food: Only eat the best that you can afford. I love nothing more than fine dining. Yes, it may seem overpriced, but it's a treat. You cant eat it every day, that amount of butter would make you fat and clog your arteries (same with cheaper takeaway too!)
Car: Safety and comfort is paramount.
Holidays: So many people tell me a hotel is just a hotel. You just sleep in it. But if you have stayed at a true 5 star resort (not 5 star self-rated), you will understand that the level of service, the villa (or room), the restaurants, the facilities,the services, the beaches, the anything are completely worth it. You won't be able to go back. This being said, I won't pay for anything other than economy on a good airline. I'd rather spend the extra money on the hotel or on spending money.
Nails/Pedicures/Waxing: I will only go to somewhere that is clean and hygienic. Getting infections or otherwise from cheap and nasty places would negate any savings.
I agree, not sure why people are down voting you..It's just someone's preference lol
Jealousy is a terrible thing.
wedding ring/engagement ring.
Mrs Altomic has a $14,000 engagement ring - insurance value. our wedding bands are platinum and were ~$300 each.
when we went overseas a few years ago I was worried about losing them somehow. any way, using my free ring sizer from bluenile, I bought a "diamond" engagement ring for $3 and 2 wedding bands for $1.50 each from aliexpress.
The "diamond" engagement ring gets more compliments than the genuine one.
Suits, dress shoes and business clothes.
Electronics, healthcare.
- Footwear (Boots): Would've never spent excessive money on a pair of boots until I was gifted a pair of Comfort Craftsmen RM Williams, instant convert.
- Watch: I have a watch (Tag Heuer) given to me from my father, who received it from his father before him. I've found that, similarly to the boots, the amount of money spent on a really good watch is roughly equivalent to a handful of broken replaced average ones over the years, and there's no measure for the sentimental value of an inherited watch.
There is one noticeable example of something I once bought high quality and now buy cheap.
- Audio: Used to buy $60-$90 earbud headphones. I bought a pair of $16 Xiomis (thanks ozbargain) that have lasted me more than three times longer than previous headphones (with no sign of stopping). I now wouldn't dream of spending that much again. I find the difference between the two to be negligible.Milk and Eggs, once i tried that Farmers Own, WOWZERS and Cage Free Eggs taste so much better
isn't that more psychological though?
dunno, not a health nut, just preferred it where i used to live and had room for chickens, now in the city, and caged free eggs sorta come close
Keyboards, once you go mechanical, can never go back to rubber dome.
Wow im so surprised no one mentioned sunglasses. Pick up a pair of polarized sunnies and you'll never go back to normal sunnies. So much better for your eyes for just a bit more $$.
Oh yes, totally agree. Not necessarily much more $ too, cancer council ones can be had for pretty cheap if brand is not a big deal
If you're with private insurance that covers optical you should also be able to get not only a pair of glasses each year but also an extra pair of prescription polarised sunglasses from most optometrists.
I'm covered for $200 of optical each year and I recently went to SpecSavers, and got a $199 glasses + $199 sunglasses frames. No Gap.
I have been buying polarized sunglasses for years for $30 a pop at one of the little sunglasses shops in Paddys Chinatown, and Cancer Council ones are on sale at Catch all the time, although they are nowhere near as good as my Chinatown specials, with them, I can stare at the sun.
V-power over E10 Petrol.
Why the negs?
many are using e10.
Better fuel efficiency for some cars to go with V-power
Underwear.
The difference between $25 Bonds trunks and $50 Calvin Klein trunks is something to behold.
Never.Going. Back
Have you tried Merino wool trunks?
Internal combustion engine cars. After owning a lithium battery car, ICE cars are such fossils.
Do you have a Tesla? A Nissan Leaf? Or do you have a hybrid?
I agree with engine - in my village i used to have donkey
But now engine!
High five!
Mattress and food
Kleenex tissues. When I was sick with a nose that couldn't stop running, the skin around my nose became raw and it was painful to wipe. Then I discovered Kleenex tissues. Never looked back since.
Agreed, although I prefer hankys (controversial, I know lol)
I know the feeling, been there. I once bought bulk cheap tissues once, they smelt like some sort of chemical. Never again… these days coles brand tissues are serving me well.
Underwear: CK underwear
Belkin cable: spent $24 (cost price) on one of those thread cables(metallic finish) and I can't go back to $1 ebay cables anymore
Dairy.
Milk.
Get Paul's full cream milk and compare to the Woolies/Coles/Aldi generics. Realise your former ignorance and repent.Yoghurt.
Do some experimentation. Find what you like. Profit forevermore.Cheese.
There's such difference between the 'plastic fantastic' processed cheese slices and a decent, creamy, delicate cheese. For mainstream consumer brands, Coon is the best IMO.Butter.
Try Devondale's foil wrapped stuff. Outstrips Western Star, Lurpak and all others. Oh, and don't even get me started on that margarine rubbish…Ice cream.
Nuff said. Everyone can relate.Custard and Cream.
Like cheese, huge differences between generics and proper products. Find one you like and immediately become a brand advocate.I agree with Ice Cream, partial to a Magnum now.
Coca Cola. Can't go back to Coles/Woolies own brand now…what have I become!
For me:
Smartphone - used a crappy htc and other brand models before finally deciding to fork out for an iPhone. 3.5 years later I'm still happy using it
Pillows - decided to upgrade crappy Pillows from big w to latex pillows. Heaven
Shampoo - never believed that salon shampoo is necessarily superior, until I tried for myself and the improvement is significant enough for me to continue using it
I need to look into investing in a better mattress however. And maybe a Dyson stick vacuum, I hate using my barrel one when vacuuming my place which is predominantly carpeted
Smartphone - used a crappy htc and other brand models before finally deciding to fork out for an iPhone. 3.5 years later I'm still happy using it
Not hating on iPhones but they are all flagship quality phones. Have you tried the flagships of the other brands? If you're happy though then there's no worries.
happy with my current phone for now but will keep in mind for the future!
Woolies homebrand vanilla ice cream. You just can't go back to that. You really can't.
It's typically worth spending more on indulgents. (AKA, naughty food).
You only live once, and if you're going to spend money on unhealthy food, at least spend it on the tastier stuff. And the more expensive it is, the less you will eat of it :)
e.g
Homebrand ice cream versus gelato
Cadbury chocolate versus belgian made chocolate
supermarket cake versus bakery-made cakewine however is an exception. There have been cases where cheap wine sometimes surpasses expensive wine.. I love you, Aldi.
+1 for Cadbury chocolate. How they squeeze so much sugar in and so little chocolate out I don't know. I must have some now!!
Fleshlights
LoL
And magic eggs, far better than a folded steak.
Branded bags and wallets, country road and such don't have the same sex appeal and doesn't last long.
Generic Syringes; I've found that the generic brands aren't as sharp as proper brands like Terumo. Consequently, they're even more blunt when shared (passed onto someone else). My mum often complains that they're too blunt after I've passed them to her.
Luckily Health Connexions now stock Terumo so you can get them free of charge.
There should be a rule that people can only neg if they've replied to that person. It's simply not fair that I get negged when I'm trying to give people genuine advice.
You have been negged because your advice is simply wrong - it's not even up for interpretation like taste or value of workmanship.
not coming up for some reason
@tren: please tell me more about the speed of light being faster through your Monster branded cable.
Tren, mate… you've been conned.
You've handed over all of your money because you've listened to a very good sales man.HDMI is a digital signal. There's no degradation… you either get the signal, or you dont.
Don't believe me? Here's just one website that explains it for you. There are MANY more.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385272,00.asp
Oh, but a "true audiophile knows the difference" I hear you saying?
Ok, then…http://www.whathifi.com/products/accessories/hdmi-cables
Some of the best rated cables are nowhere near the most expensive.
Your HDMI Monster Cable is marketing bud. I fell for it about 20 years ago when I bought ridiculously thick full branded Monster Cable for my speakers. Hundreds of dollars worth. No better than any generic speaker cable of the same gauge. "Monster" are marketing machines mate.
@UFO: It's mainly true about digital being all or nothing - however a dodgy signal can still somewhat get through but there will be EXTREMELY noticeable video and audio glitches (actually I'm just assuming here - just as a digital TV signal can be screwy but not entirely lost I imagine it's the same here).
Tests - blind, double blind, whatever are not even required as it is not technically possible for there to be just a slight degradation in quality such as haze/poor colour/fringing on motion/static/etc that you see on analogue signals.
And even after all that, even audio over HDMI is a digital stream. The quality is entirely determined by (other than your source material) the DAC, amp, and analogue components of your setup.
Speaker cables can make a difference - not that I can hear, but at least there is a technical possibility for there to be a difference.
The HDMI system has inbuilt copyright protections. Each device connected to each other 'handshake' in a way where ANY missing data (ie either being siphoned off to another device by splitting the signal, or by interference, or degradation) results in NO SIGNAL being received.
It's a very complicated process to attempt to prevent piracy of a signal being decoded by an otherwise legitimate playback device. Hard to explain, have a read on Google :).
You're drunk Gerry, go home
Don't get so upset mate. Here, use my Homebrand box of tissues to wipe those tears away.
Cheers
There is a neg cap so I cant neg you tren :-(
:-( You can neg this one, otherwise tomorrow.
Stop feeding the troll
Ice cream.
Computer chair
condoms? For safety reasons?
the real question is, what did you use other than condoms beforehand?
Premium subscription to an online video streaming service.
Hahahaha I expected gladwrap but good one
Anyone with intelligence would rather spend the money on a branded cable, like a Monster over some generic 'high quality' crap. If you value picture quality, and low latency than a Monster HDMI cable is the way to go.
I bought a Monster Platinum 9ft cable when it was on special for $160 and I'm glad I got it.
Hope this is sarcasm.
Unfortunately not. This is his second attempt to express his feelings on his monster cable. Look a few lines back on the previous page.
I laughed how he mentioned "intelligence" and then buying a HDMI cable on special for $160! The irony.
Agreed. We need clearer 1s and 0s digital signals flowing through the cable. Hopefully the baddies will be stopped at its tracks with a Monsssteeeer guarding it.
I feel the same way about power extension cords - the power seems to flow much quicker and more powerfully with more expensive ones than,the cheapies from woolies or bunnings
Also rubber bands, staples and paper clips - i always opt for the more expensive ones as they seem to bind/fasten quicker and stronger
Absolutely. I bought a generic eraser from eBay a few years ago and it only lasted about 12 months. Another I bought from officeworks for $8 has lasted me about 2 year so far, and it's gone through multiple uses in that time.
You should try the top shelf rulers at office works - much straighter and the mm markings are way more accurate
Thanks for the tip. I'll check them out. Funny you suggest that as something was odd about the lines I was drawing with my ruler from the $2 shop. Anyway, I inspected them using my electron microscope and realised that the lines were on a slightly off angle, by a few nanometers.
Cheers!
Mobile Phones, gotta go flagship every year because i hate lag
True dat unfortunately the same goes with most other electronics
Just don't update your phone, and it'll work as good as the day you got it!
Bread and milk. After eating quality bread from bakery and drinking organic full cream, you cannot go back to home brand ones
This. Pauls unhomogenised organic is amazing!
But it's damned expensive at $3/lt
Even Farmhouse Gold extra creamy is very nice
Can't go wrong with a nice set of headphones :-)
Beer
Mobile Telco,
Now concentrate purely on service offered, can never go back to choosing only based on cheapest.I can most definitely appreciate a high quality watch. Not to tell the time, but rather to appreciate the workmanship that goes into it. I can't afford to "collect" watches but I can buy myself a nice one every few years whilst funding part of it by selling the old one.
for me it would be 2xu compression pants. it was too good i couldn't bother buying nike pro combat or adidas run tights even though it seems a lot more cheaper. bought the first one in 2011 for 159 and still using it twice a week now. i bought the second one 2 months ago. 2xu products in general are very good quality. it is among a few things i never regret buying/paying too much for.
Phone charging wires
Phones - although this is subjective.
Camera equipment - I only ever buy new.Headphones. I now own 5 pairs of mid tier headphones and recently bought a AMP/DAC.
I am in the market for an AMP/DAC, what did you get?
Fiio Q1. I was after a portable amp and DAC to use at my PC and this seemed like a good option. I can't really compare it to anything as it's my first AMP/DAC but it sounds a lot better on everything I've used, especially my PC. It's an entry level AMP/DAC for $100. I got it from Addicted to Audio and it arrived the next day with free shipping.
ITT: placebo effects everyone and everywhere
I dunno. I do blind tests wherever I buy homebrand stuff and I usually come out wildly preferring the legitimate brand.
Good example of this was a blind taste test with all the various low sugar Coke/Pepsi/Homebrand (woolies and coles)/LA Max Ice.
Did another one with all the different lemonades as well, and the old kirks came out on top.
ITT: everything everything
but, what about the kitchen sink? I splurge on that too…
Winrar