To be fair, we rarely bring the price of products into our assessment of them in reviews. One person’s view of value is going to be different to another’s. We try to review products based on their intended use and how well they rate on that. If it’s an expensive way of going about it, we’ll mention it, but won’t necessarily slam something because it’s expensive.
It’s up to the buyer to decide if they want to spend that money on that product to make them that much happier/better. We could spend ages looking for the AliExpress versions of every product we’re sent, but that’s for someone else to do. We still work in the bike industry biosphere, where people add a margin for their efforts for importing/distributing and retailing a product and we’ll present things as such. The STW-appropriate example would be watches, where a £5 Casio will tell better time than a £5000 (£10K now, surely?) Rolex.
Sometimes you’re not just paying for the function, you’re paying for the R&D, the marketing, the sponsored riders, the flagship store and the nice keyring you get in the box. Other times, you’re just paying for the minimum fuss, don’t even get a box and can wear them right now and go out riding. You’re only being ripped off if you buy something that you think is going to be more awesome, life-fulfilling than it actually is. I’ve got some 10 year old Camelbak Podium bottles that are still going strong. They cost £16 a go. If you don’t lose it, that’s £1.60 a year and dropping.