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
agreed amen to audio just got beyerdynamic T1 v2 2 days ago :) happiest day of my life.
TV once you watch big screen u cant go back to anything smaller
video quality
Every TV I've ever owned has been bigger than the last. It's great for a while but eventually you just get used to it.
How much is the T1 now?
Ice cream
Connoisseur.
Aldi indulge.
Aldi Indulge Raspberry and White Choc may as well be plain vanilla with some hard bits in it, Connoisseur version is heavenly. Unfortunately i have a strong dislike of paying $10 a liter for ice cream so i only get it when its on sale.
I will still try the cookie dough version of indulge though, hopefully it will be better quality than the R&WC.
Headphones - I used to buy shitty headphones until I bought my first Bose. Now I won't use anything else
Wallet - Used to go through a new wallet every 6 months, my $400 bally wallet has lasted me 5 years now and still look like new.
+1 on wallet. went through about two a year on average but my leather LV one is 3 years in and looks almost like new.
I bought a leather wallet and it went through the wash with my kids girls clothes it's had glitter in it for over a year. Not a small amount either, it's somehow compressed I to the leather.
Why does an ozbargainer need a wallet? It just means they will spend money
my 8-year old LV wallet and briefcase still look new and I've dropped them several times on concrete footpaths, car parks, etc. Their leather ones seem to wear slightly better than the monogram ones (mine are black Epi leather).
Agree with wallet too…used a Burberry one for 6 years before my son started using it as a teether. Which is has survived with a few bite marks
bose are garbage, you should look at getting studio reference headphones.
I choose Bose because I am yet to find another pair of headset that can sit on my ear for 4 hours without causing pain. @189 I though they were fairly priced. I'm not a audio snob so sound quality doesn't matter much for me.
Agree with you. In term of comfort, nothing beats Bose. But if you pick the low end of Bose, the quality of cables and stuff is not really up to the price. QC25 is nice though.
I've had the opposite experience, I have some Bose over ear headphones and can't wear them for more than about an hour. Never had the same issue with the Sony ones I "upgraded" from, unfortunately, not that impressed with sound quality either. Glad I didn't pay for the BOse ones, they are worth $3-400.
Bose are far from garbage. They're not top of the line by a long shot, but they're more than decent if you can get them on sale.
They aren't terrible, but for the price they are comparatively worse than some other brands.
Many SH or AKG cans outperform them in similar price brackets
Definitely not garbage. Commercial pilots use them.
I'm not sure I'd take a pilot's word for what constitutes good headphones… It's like saying such-and-such shoes are awesome because architects love them. I don't see why they should be considered an expert on the products.
@zfa: The pilots are not the experts; they're just the users. It's the technical engineers who are like, okay we're going to equip the fleet with these Bose headsets for the pilots because of their excellence in sound clarity, noise cancellation, sound proofing etc.
One of the most important aspects of the pilot's role is communication between copilots and ground. That'd be really difficult if they didn't have access to top of the range equipment.
@ronnknee: I own a pair of QCs and the Bose headphones are excellent for noise cancellation. The audio quality is pretty ordinary, especially for the price (the bass tends to be muddy, undefined and it overpowers the midrange).
So if you need to fly planes, then I'd think a pilot's opinion is relevant. If you're looking into the headphones to listen to music, then I'm not sure that being a pilot means their opinion carries more weight than anyone else.
I bought a fake leather wallet in Bali in December 2009. Its got a tear in the middle now but functions fine.
It's not all down to price with headphones. I've been through 3 pairs of Sennheiser headphones but they lasted about 18 months each (I use them almost every day). A year ago I bought Xiaomi pistons 3.0s and they still look good as new with similar sound quality for a fraction of the price.
AFAIK Sennies have 2 years warranty on their products.
I have a blazer one from myer, about 50 bucks and going strong after 7 years
My Secret wallet is not only compact and sexy but also had a radio frequency card protector built it.
Plus it's a great conversation starter ;)Wallet - Don't put lose coins in it. last way longer :)
Not going to lie but on many audio forums, Bose stands for Buy Other Sound Equipment.
Never heard that saying before, but i like it :). Always heard it stood for Better Of Sound Elsewhere.
Crumpler wallet with lifetime warranty, 8 years going strong.
I look like I have a child's wallet though…
Insect spray 🐝🐜
when I saw your comment I thought it was a real bug and hit the screen XD
Bushmans yeah?
shoes and jeans
Bedsheets. 250 thread count is hopeless. Couldn't even survive a delicate wash cycle.
Don't be fooled by the thread count. There are cheap 1000 thread counts that are rubbish and don't last at all. And there are really good quality 300 count sheets that feel glorious and stay that way after heaps of cycles in the laundry
It's in the blend. Pure cotton, preferably Egyptian or Pima cotton = decent sheets.
If it's a cotton + polyester blend, these will pretty much start pilling on your first wash.
Condoms. Every since upgrading from Gladwrap my child support bill has remained constant.
can't go back once you find light at the end of the tunnel.
If there's light at the end of the tunnel you are doing it wrong!
use luminous
Did you happen to learn that when glad redesigned their dispenser and people cried out in pain simultaneously as it cut them?
Canned corned beef. Tried the homebrand one and it was crap! and the can opener provided broke halfway too -_-
Eating corned beef, since I got out of the Army I've been eating actual meat, never going back!
Agree with the above posters re knives, kitchenware, shoes, mattress.
Mobile phone. I once had an LG, not an unknown brand mind you. Unfortunately I didn't read the reviews that said that model's call audio wasn't great. I know better now.
Computer tablet. I bought one of those mid-range Chinese tablets. It was laggy as hell due to slow processor and RAM. Never again.
Shampoo and Conditioner, the professional ones recommended by a hairdresser are so much better for my hair, but I still try to buy them cheap from strawberrynet/cod/hairhouse warehouse.
Also haircuts and tinting, a good hairdresser is worth every penny. I won't go to the super cheap or super expensive ones, my hairdresser price is middle of the range and he does such a good job he is worth every dollar.Food items in general. I despise those home brands that give poor quality just to save a dollar or two. We are not big eaters anyway, so rather buy good brand peanut butter, cheese, pasta etc.
I prefer woolies homebrand cheese to ones that cost 15+ a packet
Aldi brand cheese for $6 a kg is not bad in my opinion.
I find the Aldi and Coles $6 block of cheese really nice and good value. Coles were getting their cheese from Bega until last month. I think Devondale are making the coles brand cheese now.
Well if you are being honest with yourself and would pass a Pepsi challenge then fair enough.
Vacuum cleaners. I don't know how I put up with crap suction for so many years.
+1 get a dyson and don't look back. you won't ever regret it.
I hate Dyson. The noise level from them are beyond ridiculous to the point that it aggravates my dogs. I now have a Miele and it is whisper quiet compared to Dyson and still performs just as well if not better
parents in law had a Miele, they now have a dyson and say it cleans a lot better than the Miele did.
@ttc72: cleaning performance is largely a function of motor power and whether a good turbo head is being used.
A miele with turbo head will clean carpet at least as well as a dyson. With the wrong head no vacuum will do much for carpet.
Turbo heads can be purchased separately if not originally included. Buying a new vacuum isn't the only option.
@ttc72: I'm the opposite, had a Dyson, kept breaking down. Bought a Miele and it works better and has been 100% reliable.
Miele master race here too. It just cleans better than a Dyson and runs MUCH quieter. Bought the C3 Complete for $1700 after my Dyson died in a year and have not looked back since. It has rubber sides so it doesn't scratch when bumped against walls which is a nice touch. Dyson is basically the Dr Dre Beats of vacuum cleaners.
Here's the opinion from someone who's an expert on vacuum cleaners, and why he thinks Dyson is just gimmicks
The noise is power.
Much prefer the Mieles over the Dysons. A lot quieter and more reliable with same cleaning power. Good Miele/Dyson + Roomba is the way to go.
I wear my QC20 when I use my Dyson.
There 50 levels between crap and Dyson. I think they're at extreme ends for a reason.
Ditching a $50 vacuum is no reason to buy a $500++ one.
For asthmatics / allergies id suggest get a decent bag vac like a Miele.
Recently got a Sauber and it's amazing!
$1600 for a vacuum. Mixed review in product review, mostly either 1 or 5, do extreme. What do you think? Most commented it was bulky to move around and overheat often.
Have the si-200 purchased from gumtree for $600. 3 months old and with receipt and warranty/service card and so far pretty amazing. Place is pretty much completely carpeted and the the powerhead seems to do a great job (especially with cat hair). The unit was actually smaller than I thought it would be, after reading all the reviews. Love the long power cable and seems easy enough to move around. No experience with overheating yet - I suppose I haven't left it running long enough?
I guess I need to use it longer to get a fair look at it, though from what I've seen so far I like it.
True that. I love my Electrolux :D
Bought a top of the range Bosch from Amazon Germany about 4 years ago when the exchange rate was better. It's amazing. Can't believe I just typed that.
Got a Dyson and as long as you don't mind industrial deafness it's fine. It's a great way to test out you noise cancelling headphones at the same time.
ok chicken or the egg did this topic first come up in reddit or ozb
but seriously, keyboards.
typing heaven——————_________such a good feelinggDefinitely Reddit.
Gotta love mechanical keyboards.
Headphones.
What you like tends to vary and therefore there is no one silver bullet. That said, usually there are better options out there if you increase your budget, not only on how they sound but in many other regards as well. More comfortable, more features (detachable cable, wireless option, DAC, noise cancelling etc etc), better sound isolation etc etc, it's not uncommon for people to start their audiophile hobby with something cheap and end up heading towards $1000. Sometimes why people go, buy the most expensive one that you can afford (or even go above your budget a little to get the best one), since you might save by sticking with the expensive one for a long time.
Also internet. Once you go NBN, you never go back.
I never get how people pay $300+ for headphones. Maybe my ears are stuffed but I cannot appreciate an extra $200 in sound quality
Whether you'd want to in my opinion is whether you think it's worth it. Same logic in my opinion goes with almost everything.
Some people are fine with $200 bike, some people cannot stand them.
Some people are fine with $20 chair, some people cannot stand them.
Some people are fine with instant coffee, some people cannot stand them.The list goes on.
That said, no one is wrong in any situation, in my opinion. It's your cash, you spend it to get the most of out it.
Not everyone appreciate everything the same way.I spend a lot of time listening to music, my investment on what I currently use (which was around $400 just on the headphone) might seem way too high, but I've gotten that much satisfaction from it. I did save up and waited for the best moment to get them, planned it out, researched which one is the best one for me.
I guess all this is my roundabout way of saying, people value things differently.
completely agree. Went from the default apple headphones to a pair of Bowers & Wilkins p5's and the difference is enormous. You hear different parts of the same song with much more clarity and detail.
it's not even about the price of your audio equipment. there are a lot of economic options that are vastly superior to most people's default equipment.
This is very true. There always are ones that perform better than others in their budget range. In under $50, there are ones that perform significantly better than others in that price range (which what I think most bundle earphones fall under?), so on and so forth.
That said, I probably am going slightly tangent but I personally found that increasing your budget allow you to go for better ones in the increased price range. Like when you ask for a recommendation for under $150, the list is different from ones you get when you ask for something that's under $400, for example.
NBN is nothing compared to better internet connections in Australia and across the world. I lived on campus at my uni for a year and the internet there is amazing!! I have since moved out and connected to the NBN. I am getting 90MB/s down and 38 MB/s up, which is really good compared to adsl, but it's nothing compared to what I experience while living on campus.
Oh well… maybe I will get to experience it again in a decade or two when the Australian government upgrades the fibre network again. For now all I can do is dream.
NBN is still better than nothing at current stage though. I am not saying that it's good or anything like that but it's the one that's available to general public that's better than most options right now.
Fast internet really sets your expectation high, hard to go back to slower one, probably is what I should've said.
That is Oversimplified.
Oh. I mean you.Everything is.
Me?
A good set of Tyres. There's just no comparison with the cheapies and it's not worth risking your safety to save what is essentially chump change.
What about the mid range, lower mid range like Kumho. They do me fine, only half the price.
Also depends on what you drive tho, powerful cars need better tires for sure
Even the mid range brands like Kumho have premium tier products. Just like the high end brands have sub par low tier stuff.
Coffee. Going from instant to capsules. I cannot go back now.
Now try capsules to fresh beans.
Which reminds me
Something I used to be a cheaparse on - grinder.
Get a good conical grinder, and the coffee is even better.
Phones- going from big to small, or high end to low end.
Pillow.
Bed sheets
Shoes
Makeup
Headphones
Washing powder
Handbag
Vacuum cleaner
Rice cooker - my tiger brand is far superior than the aldi one
Pasta
Underwear and bras(just curious) Pasta? As in generic brand vs brands like San Remo? What difference did you notice?
San remo is my preferred brand. I've tried the cheaper brands and they don't taste as substantial, if that makes sense?
Sirena Tuna. Totally worth the extra $1.
On special at Coles this week
i definitely agree. you may think it is just tuna after all however sirena tuna is tasting much better.
Even though I check OzB for deals and bargains, I always buy quality goods and don't cheap out on anything.
Experience has shown my that for most things you pay for what you get. I prefer to buy quality and buy once. I used to buy cheaper 'same-same' products, but they almost always never lasted the distance.Bath towels, Sheridan Egyptian cotton. So soft and comfy and absorbent. Replaced all my thin scratchy ones with these.
Belt - similar to someone's wallet comment above, I got a Gucci one as a gift and it has outlasted any other belt I've owned by a long shot and still looks new. When the time comes I will get another one (hopefully from a factory outlet somewhere)
Airlines & Hotel rooms - I always used to do LCCs and pokey little business hotels. Now I'm older and my pockets are deeper I do full service airlines and 4-5 stars. The difference in comfort is incredible especially for a tall person like me
Earphones/Headphones/Speakers/Amps - Anything audio related. Totally worth splashing out on.
Shoes - High quality leather shoes look great and last for ages.
Mobile Phone - Use it every day, so some cheap laggy annoying crap thing will not do.
Shaving products - Sort of… Go for a proper DE or Straight blade with a decent soap and brush. Large initial outlay (easily $200 or more). Way more expensive than cartridges and cream/gel but saves money in the long run (DE blades are 15-30c each)! Wouldn't go back to a crappy cartridge shave (- alright expensive cartridge razors aren't too bad).