The branded ones all seem to be hundreds, but I’m looking at something like this own brand unit. Has anyone any experience of cheap units like this?. also, some of the brands do their cheapy ie Triton Tees for £169, but I’m wondering if they are just the same with Triton sticker = +£69. Any advice? Is there any difference in performance against a £500 Grohe?

Like everything You get what you pay for IME.

Grove etc will have better build quality and you will be able to get spares in 5/10 tears time which will be far cheaper than replacing a crap shower when it inevitably breaks.

IME, especially with plumbing, the mantra ‘ buy cheap, buy twice’ applies.

YMMV

It seems that the major players regularly offer any one particular manufacturer at a fantastic price, presumably in the hope that you’ll order more items from them. Deal of the week or whatever it’s called.

I bought a Mira thermostatic power shower for £330 which was at least £100 less than the other usual suspects were charging.

Don’t rely on Google coming up with the best price, you need to put the effort in!

I’ve fitted quite a few showers, both at my home, rental properties and for customers.

The brand I usually choose is MX. Sensible price, a British company and I’ve never had a problem.

I always use an exposed bar mixer so if there’s ever a problem it’s just a quick non-destructive fix.

cheers bigJohn will have a look at MX

Try and buy from a wholesaler – I saved over £100 by buying from Triton rather than get the same thing from B&Q.

I also fit bar showers as preference, normally Hansgrohe. Do yourself a favour with whatever you buy and spend a tenner on a shower bar fixing kit, makes the whole install much less of a pain in the backside and any water leaks are in front of the tiles that way if there are any.

You can pick up bargains on eBay.

Hansgrohe for £140. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F232562848532

Blazinsaddles can you give me a link to what you are referring to re fixing kit, cheers.

Triton have a clearance section i picked up a bar mixer for £80 that is currently £150. On other company web sites

Something like

https://www.plumbcenter.co.uk/product/aqualisa-bar001-bar-valve-fixing-kit/

But not from there at that price! loads to be found on eBay, you want to get the ones with silver covers for around £7-8… Screwfix also stock them but at a bit more money.

EDIT – these are only required for a new installation as you need to have 15mm copper out of the walls. If you’re replacing an old shower bar with new then just attach it to the old threads that are already there.

We bought a hans grohe exposed unit for about £250 from amazon. Seemed to be about £30 cheaper than the going rate for the same unit (Chroma 160).

Looks good now it’s fitted…

I fitted a screfix shower it cost 50-80 quud but sadly it’s only lasted 11 years so far.
My only though is make sure it uses the same thermostat and the larger brands. We were forced to shell out on descaling our thermostat recently – after a visit from a trained professional.