Ok, might be getting a little too political here, but our modern capitalist society is fueled by hype, particularly these days with the interweb at anyone's disposal to sell whatever can be conjured up. Worthwhile products along with snake oil.
As I get older & wiser myself, more & more I see the wisdom in Jack's take on life, despite the fact that I may offend all the Oprah & Dr. Phil fans out there...
and if you think you didn't get what you paid for, you can always diy or modify it...
However, admittedly, I am still fickle with regard to my spending habits. While I do own Vortech pumps & have no regrets spending the money, I also run an old school air diffuser driven skimmer that came with my used salt water set up. I like to think I did my homework before spending that kind of money on a pump as well as not spending any kind of money on a skimmer.