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That misses a lot of important points. I went to F1 at Silverstone this year. It may be the only time I go to an F1 race, may be the only time that I experience that crowd, the noise of those engines, the actual event with several live and well-known bands, seeing Jackie Stewart drive past, etc. (Also, we had a perfectly good view of the action and didn't pay £150 for stand tickets.) You aren't paying for just an F1 race, you're paying for everything else that is going on as well.
In your world, going to see Joe Bloggs play a £10 gig in your local pub is the same as a ticket for Glastonbury?
Sure. So maybe a better example would be the Silverstone Festival. £150 for 3 days with free roaming grandstand access. Live bands every evening, free access to the museum, funfair, dragster display, car clubs, vintage vehicle displays, a car from every world champion since 1950 (apart from Kimi randomly), free access to pit garages and the paddocks, chatting to drivers, allowed to use a bike to get around the circuit so you don't spend half the day walking. Lots of famous drivers, cars from 1950's through to around 2015. Modern F1 is dull. The cars are too big, too heavy, too dependant on electronics and aero. They look slow especially in the race because they drive to a delta to avoid burning up the tyres. At the Festival I was watching a pair of Maserati 250F's dicing whilst 4 wheel drifting through Club. It was utterly magical. Way, way better value than the Grand Prix.
And I've had much better nights seeing new bands in small venues for a tenner than I have seeing big bands in big venues. Yeah great, lets spend £250 seeing a a band that were great 30 years ago at a venue so big that you can only see tiny dots on the stage and have to watch it on the massive screens to even see who it is on stage. Add in £12 for a burger and £9 for a pint and a two hour queue to get on the bus to get back to the Park and Ride. That's only value for money if you want to show off to your followers on social media.
Expensive luggage...pointless
Bike related, expensive hubs. I have old shimano cup and cones from 20 years ago still going strong. Meanwhile I've had bearings and freehubs fail on stuff costing far more
And don't get me started on expensive cycling glasses. I have 2 pairs, and they are no better than the ones I buy from decathlon and planet x costing a tenth of the price
What are you doing with those photos anyway
I've just shot some video and some official group photographs of medical professionals with mine (I have to admit that we used external lav mics for the sound – but that was more of a technical consideration for syncing sound from the three different iPhones used for the filming).
See this is where I find all this wonderfully individual.
I don't have a £1200 iphone but I do have a premium apple device and for me it does plenty of things better than a £250 android phone would. It runs iOS better for starters. It produces image files I can work with quite well and outputs truly excellent video footage that again I can work with. It also has a battery that will last three days depending on my usage. Oh yea, and it still works if it gets wet.
But I don't go telling people their £250 phone is rubbish and they need a premium device. I just accept there are people who will buy the device that has the features they are looking for.
Yeah I get this. Some people will use their phone camera for high end use, but I have a proper camera for proper photography and I suspect most people who are into photography will use a camera, and if you are not really into photography and just want pics for family/social media then a £250 Android phone camera is more than adequate. Plus my Android has a night vision camera which the iPhone doesn't.
My battery capacity is 10,000mah so I can backpacking for a week without a charge. iPhone 17 is just over 5000mah. I see the iphone is at least waterproof now though so that's something.
Look, it's your money. If you like it, can afford it and it makes you happy then that's great. But don't kid yourself it's 5 times better than a £250 phone.
Look, it's your money. If you like it, can afford it and it makes you happy then that's great. But don't kid yourself it's 5 times better than a £250 phone.
If your £250 phone doesn't do what I need, then the £1250 phone is infinity times better.
My wife would make your teeth itch, it was a revelation to her when I showed her she could 'sort by price' when interweb food shopping and she discovered a whole load of (mostly own brand) products that weren't typically in the first 3 hits. She "saved" £40 that week apparently.
She seldom seems to look at weights or UoM and on several occasions has bought interesting things like a single Mushroom or 150g of Mince (from which I made a single burger)... We currently have 10 boxes of cat food (each containing 20 sachets) due to a misunderstanding of numbers, Cat won't go hungry at least.
There are also the 2 occasions she ordered nothing but Prosecco because she forgot to amend her delivery placeholder order... When I asked why she didn't at least put a handful of useful things on the placeholder order like Bread, Milk or ham she just shrugged...
It's almost as if going into a physical shop and looking would be a better use of her time than trying to buy stuff unseen over the internet...
Your £1200 iPhone doesn't do anything that my £250 Android does
And I bet My £180 Refurb iPhone pisses all over your Android thing... 😉
TBF I used to be a bit of a diehard Android user, but honestly neither option is fantastic VFM when bought new. Having been the only holdout in my family, I can confirm life is easier when you're all using iPhones...
Paracetamol, Ibuprofen etc. Active ingredient is exactly the same in supermarket generic own brands as in the expensive stuff on the next shelf.
Yeah, it boggles my mind that people actually buy Nurofen
Actually you're incorrect.
I was surprised about this too when I found out:
Although yes they do contain exactly the same ingredients, there is a proven placebo effect (for some people) that buying a more expensive brand does in actual fact reduce the perception of pain compared to cheaper own brand stuff.
I buy the own brand stuff!
Expensive luggage...pointless
If you're are talking about "designer" luggage I agree.
However practical stuff like Ogio, Osprey or North Face* is worth the extra money. I used to travel a lot for work and I know that cheap luggage is false economy.
*That's if there duffle bags haven't gone to shit like a lot of their stuff now.
Look, it's your money. If you like it, can afford it and it makes you happy then that's great. But don't kid yourself it's 5 times better than a £250 phone.
No. Because it does things the £250 quid android cannot do, it is way more than five times better for me.
Is it five times better for you, absolutely not. The fact I need to say that suggests you may have missed my point entirely (or I didn't make it well enough).
For proper photography or video work I too use my camera, but there are times when that is not feasible.
Hammers:)
Doesn't matter what they cost, it still does the job.
Incredible how the most (seemingly) innocuous threads can turn tetchy on here.
Doesn't matter what they cost, it still does the job
I'm not aure thats true i have one hammer that honestly if you hit a big nail into hard wood it makes your teeth vibrate! Like its almost come out of my hand! It was a really cheap steel handled job.
I'll never buy and estwing thats for sure though.
I do have a premium apple device and for me it does plenty of things better than a £250 android phone would. It runs iOS better for starters.
Well, that's hardly surprising. 😁
Incredible how the most (seemingly) innocuous threads can turn tetchy on here.
Bog off, fish face.
Sure. So maybe a better example would be the Silverstone Festival. £150 for 3 days with free roaming grandstand access. Live bands every evening, free access to the museum, funfair, dragster display, car clubs, vintage vehicle displays, a car from every world champion since 1950 (apart from Kimi randomly), free access to pit garages and the paddocks, chatting to drivers, allowed to use a bike to get around the circuit so you don't spend half the day walking. Lots of famous drivers, cars from 1950's through to around 2015. Modern F1 is dull. The cars are too big, too heavy, too dependant on electronics and aero. They look slow especially in the race because they drive to a delta to avoid burning up the tyres. At the Festival I was watching a pair of Maserati 250F's dicing whilst 4 wheel drifting through Club. It was utterly magical. Way, way better value than the Grand Prix.
Almost exactly comparable in price and style to an F1 weekend, then? (My ticket was £150, from Thursday to Monday.) And F1 will never look like good value if you don't like F1, to state the obvious.
Doesn't matter what they cost, it still does the job
I'm not aure thats true i have one hammer that honestly if you hit a big nail into hard wood it makes your teeth vibrate! Like its almost come out of my hand! It was a really cheap steel handled job.
There are four tiers of tools:
Cheap rubbish that is barely functional (steel handled hammers are a prime example). Tourney groupsets are a bike equivalent.
Useful amateur stuff that is affordable, fine if you're doing your hobby. Deore is a bike equivalent.
Normal professional stuff: not fancy, but worth it if you're using it every day for your job. XT groupsets are a bike equivalent.
Elite stuff: Not functionally better than regular stuff, but nicer. XTR level stuff.
Lidl do good cheap arborio rice. I use it once a week for what its often our cheapest meal of the week.
I estimate Lidl sells rice for less than half the cost of arborio. Which is the point.
Coke and hookers?
i rent cars regularly for work. I’ve stopped accepting Dacias. There have been 2 or 3 of them where the infotainment system simply wouldn’t work decently with a simple Android Auto app. I even asked the attendants out to the car to see if it was me being stoopid (I accept that it normally is). The Avis employee couldn’t get it working either and swapped me into another brand. When that happens 3 times, it’s time to give up imo.
Also,
Mortgages.
my 5 year fix at 1.6% is coming to an end (yes it’s been a good 5 years).
best offer I can find is 3.7% plus a grand up front.
so that’s £400 a month lining someone else’s pockets and I still have to live in the same ex-council house. 🤷♂️
I estimate Lidl sells rice for less than half the cost of arborio. Which is the point.
You mean the stuff on the left? It's not a cheaper version of the stuff on the right. It's something else. It's great for sticky rice, or to have with chilli... but it's not risotto rice. It's not a cheaper risotto rice... it is not risotto rice at all.
Ah, I see @blokeuptheroad has made this point already.
Bringing it back to bike stuff.
I have a Lidl bike stand which I need to use occasionally. Yes, it’s a bit heavy and the clamps are somewhat agricultural - but for working on my own bikes, my families bike and friends bikes it’s absolutely fine. Having served my time working as a mechanic in a busy bike shop - I’ve used much better stands, but my Lidl one does what it needs to.
Track pump is also good. And their sub £10 torque wrench.
F1 is frustrating. My dad and I went a few times in the early 90s 00s. Got into Donnington for free in 1993 to see the greatest ever first lap in the rain, then we did Silverstone for a few years, but the costs then were steep for a crap view, Donnington is great for spectating. We then realised we could go to the Spanish GP for less than Silverstone and be in Barcelona. That was great. Anyway, fast forward twenty years, my son and dad are still into F1 and I thought let's look how much it would be for a weekend at Silverstone, as it would be great to go with my dad once more... hmmm, its got seriously expensive...
Not sure about a cheaper equivalent, but cripes the sports industry has really learned how to milk its fan base in the last twenty years.
I will not moan about enduro race fees ever again...
Watches.
I was going to suggest watches but then thought it depends on how the owner of said watch views it - as a functional tool for telling the time (in which case, yes, a £10 Casio will be just as good as a £12,000 Rolex with the added advantage you're unlikely to be mugged for it) or is it primarily a status symbol or an investment (in which case, no, the £10 Casio is not better).
You mean the stuff on the left? It's not a cheaper version of the stuff on the right. It's something else. It's great for sticky rice, or to have with chilli... but it's not risotto rice. It's not a cheaper risotto rice... it is not risotto rice at all.
They're both rice. One is more expensive than the other. The cheap one is less good for a particular dish.
If you look at that way, the expensive one is less good for another particular dish.
They are different types of rice, not different price points of the same rice.
Do you just see all beans as "they're all just beans"?
as a functional tool for telling the time (in which case, yes, a £10 Casio will be just as good as a £12,000 Rolex with the added advantage you're unlikely to be mugged for it)
I have a rolex that I inherited and it is actually an inferior tool for telling the time as it gradually loses time and it needs adjusting regularly. It is basically a piece of jewellery as far as I'm concerned.
Have to disagree about bottom brackets, Hope last way longer than cheap Shimano and you can replace the bearings, I can't tell the difference between cheap and expensive porridge.
Dishwasher tablets
Using 2 own brand tablets work out cheaper than the branded ones
And get the plates clean in the same way
From a practical point, my very expensive mechanical calculator is vastly inferior to pretty much any cheap digital one.
Asics trainers, they get holes in the toes sooner than cheapo ones. And Merrell / Salomon GTX boots leak and fall apart as quick as mountin worehouse
and haircuts, Ive never been in a position to understand why a haircut can cost so much.
From a practical point, my very expensive mechanical calculator is vastly inferior to pretty much any cheap digital one.
I was looking at curta on ebay yesterday laughing at how daft an idea it was.
Sometimes with painkillers there’s an own brand one that’s ever so slightly more expensive than the cheapest so I’ll get that one assuming I’m paying for some extra placebo they’re putting in it.
If you look at that way, the expensive one is less good for another particular dish.
So use the cheap rice for everything. Bonus!
Have we got this far in with nobody mentioning premium petrol and diesel?
Bottled still water.
Asics trainers, they get holes in the toes sooner than cheapo ones. And Merrell / Salomon GTX boots leak and fall apart as quick as mountin worehouse
and haircuts, Ive never been in a position to understand why a haircut can cost so much.
disagree with this, I love my merrells and they last me years of daily use, as they get older the get relegated to garden/cycling duty and still don’t fall apart.
However I agree about haircuts
So use the cheap rice for everything. Bonus!
Well, it’s a vegetable, so you could save time and money by boiling a bit of rice to serve in place of all those expensive green things. Food budget sorted !!
Why would I drive for 6 hours got better things to do
One of my favourite things to do is travel places and that often involves driving. Scotland for example is an 8hr drive away at least, could be more. I used to find driving to North Wales on the A470 a right chore, now I have a really nice car I genuinely enjoy it and look forward to it. But you do you. I'm not interested in your driving habits, but objectively if do drive a long way, it's more comfortable and relaxing in a better car.
Your £1200 iPhone doesn't do anything that my £250 Android doesn't
Actually it does - iPhones have a LIDAR sensor for their face recognition that you can use as a 3D scanner with a suitable app. Android phones do not. I happily use Android but this is the one thing I would like.
Are you trolling? Apples and tomatoes are both fruit.
Yes, different fruits. A better analogy would be different varieties of apple or tomato.
had a summer job in a coffee factory - pure hell, hot and everyone wired all the time breathing in coffee dust
anyway container lorry full of 65kg cases boxed of beans from south America is unloaded into hopper, ground up and pumped to top of tower, the grounds are dropped through a giant flame to roast em then pumped into jars . Made them for supermarkets and other big brands.
supermarket value coffee is 95% same as posher brands, maybe 1 slightly more expensive case of beans is mixed in with 20 or 30 of the regular ones and they swap different labels and lids over. The price difference making it is tiny, but the markup in the shop could be 2 or 3 times the price. This was 28 years ago so there was less choice
Kellogs cereal, heinz ketchup, or beans - supermarket stuff is identical
only one that doesn't compare is Coke vs supermarket colas