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

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don't. And sometimes people are hesitant to admit they did not get a good deal or made a mistake. But no shortage of opinions from people who have never even used a product, and just spew what seems to be popular. Myself, I would rather just hear from people with direct experience, and wish the others would just listen and try to learn something.

And then there are those that blame a product, instead of their own ineptness. What works great for one person might bomb for someone else.

What would be far more useful is people giving their experience along with some facts and explanation of how they were using a product (or method). And let everyone else make up their own minds about what they want to do. Plus we could better assess whether the person knows what they are doing or not.

Reminds me of stock trading. Worst thing people can do is run with the herd, or listen to popular opinion. Then when they lose all their money they blame the banks, brokers, corporations, markets, etc, and say the system is crooked. In reality, it was their own greed that did them in and they got what they deserved.

Nicely put and I totally agree Forums are all about sharing experiences. Suppose someone comes forth and ask "I am buying a bubble magus, will it work" and someone posts "that's a piece of crap, buy a bubble king"...how helpful is that?

Yah I am a victim of that myself....I have been through lots of bashing for buying less expensive stuffs. I have heard "if you cant afford a refractometer, this hobby is not for you"...really??!! There's certain things that scares off many people, and "you pay what you get for" is one of them. I believe I have no less of a success in my tank with moderate end products than tanks with high end product. Isn't this hobby about taking it slowly? Not everyone starts with big pocket and certain people don't need to scare them off. In the end, its about the husbandry and not on how expensive the equipment are. You shouldn't buy an ebay HOB skimmer but you certainly don't have to buy a deltec.