You get what you pay for?! A marketing hype or a reality?

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

You buy a toyota for $20k while a BMW for $50k; you get the self satisfaction but again, "you get what you pay for" doesn't apply.

Anyway, so what's your opinion?

My opinion is you've never owned a BMW...

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Magickiwi

My opinion is you've never owned a BMW...

Well I did mention the "satisfaction". But for the reliability, you are getting nothing less with a toyota. Basically, you are paying for the satisfaction, brand value and the nice features. No one can say, hey you bought a toyota for $20k....man you get what you pay for...not true. That was my point with that example

And I am an international student; I shouldn't be driving a BMW right now :P

In layman's term: my point would be "do you really need a BMW? if you can afford it; wonderful but if you can't, do you have to starve yourself? Cause of the "you get what you pay for" hype?. Similarly, I see people screaming about "you get what you pay for" when someone buying something more reasonable to them. Do you need a vortec to have a successful tank? Do you need a bubble king to have a successful tank? Do you really need red dragon pumps for closed loop? It would be nice to be able to "afford" them but they are not a necessity.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by Magickiwi

My opinion is you've never owned a BMW...

and not too many toyotas! i wish my tacoma or sienna had been 20k lol.

kessil does do a lot of r&d but they're a special case in that their parent company (dicon) is pretty big and has a pretty varied portfolio (outside our little hobby).

tunze and vortech are both very pricey. i'd group them together in the same tier. both just have different pros and cons for the pile of money you shell out.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by lastlight

and not too many toyotas! i wish my tacoma or sienna had been 20k lol.

kessil does do a lot of r&d but they're a special case in that their parent company (dicon) is pretty big and has a pretty varied portfolio (outside our little hobby).

tunze and vortech are both very pricey. i'd group them together in the same tier. both just have different pros and cons for the pile of money you shell out.

I shouldn't have put the car example

Yah tunzi and vortech are both pricey but even compared to each other, tunzi is less expensive than the overrated vortech. And you don't have to change parts as often as vortech too

[mrhasan]

Another example of "you get what you pay for" hype. I have had better success of keeping sps under odyssea lights than many others with more expensive fixtures.

Lesson: paying for expensive stuffs is not a shortcut to having a nice tank.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

Another example of "you get what you pay for" hype. I have had better success of keeping sps under odyssea lights than many others with more expensive fixtures.

Lesson: paying for expensive stuffs is not a shortcut to having a nice tank.

Lesson: there's a bazillion other factors at play that you're probably getting right or a little more right than those other reefers (myself included @$%)

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Lesson: there's a bazillion other factors at play that you're probably getting right or a little more right than those other reefers (myself included @$%)

Exactly. Hence, getting expensive stuffs won't give you the shortcut to success. Its your responsibility with the "minimum requirement". Powerhead: necessity; vortech: not a necessity. Light fixture: necessity; expensive light fixture: not a necessity. I have seen a lot of thread with "odyssea will never grow anything!!!!!! because you get what you pay for"...blah

Its a very common human behavior that we judge things with the "price tag". Heavier price tag = good stuff.....which is something I can't agree to at all. And for that particular reason, there are lots of brands which set higher price: the mental satisfaction.

[kien]

Part of the problem is that "worth" and "value" are very subjective terms which underscore the phrase, "You get what you pay for." We've already got plenty of examples of this with your car analogy.

In our household we do own a more expensive Audi which in my opinion is over priced for what you get. It has 4 wheels that gets you from point A to Point B. My much cheaper Murano does the same thing and is actually much more comfortable to drive and hauls more junk in the trunk.

And I for one don't think it's expensive to buy a bucket of H2Ocean while everyone who uses IO will think it's ridiculously expensive. Meanwhile, I went to Starbucks rather than Tim Hortons for a coffee today. Did I get what I paid for? Well, I paid $5 for a coffee and I got a $5 coffee, so I guess I got what I paid for

Bottom line, yes, you get what you pay for, and no, you don't get what you pay for.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by kien

Part of the problem is that "worth" and "value" are very subjective terms which underscore the phrase, "You get what you pay for." We've already got plenty of examples of this with your car analogy.

In our household we do own a more expensive Audi which in my opinion is over priced for what you get. It has 4 wheels that gets you from point A to Point B. My much cheaper Murano does the same thing and is actually much more comfortable to drive and hauls more junk in the trunk.

And I for one don't think it's expensive to buy a bucket of H2Ocean while everyone who uses IO will think it's ridiculously expensive. Meanwhile, I went to Starbucks rather than Tim Hortons for a coffee today. Did I get what I paid for? Well, I paid $5 for a coffee and I got a $5 coffee, so I guess I got what I paid for

Bottom line, yes, you get what you pay for, and no, you don't get what you pay for.

Holy grape from the tree! That line just escalated the whole thread

[kien]

..and nevermind the hundreds of thousands of people who will scratch their heads when you tell them how much ANYTHING relating to your tank costs. To you it's totally worth it to buy a $30 bucket of salt, $5 jar of fish food, $10 for a 1" frag. These things may seem inexpensive to you but there are more people who would deem those things EXPENSIVE at any cost. The point here being, even the term "expensive" is relative.