Kind of a flipped version of this thread, I guess, but from another angle
What have you learned from personal experience to never buy cheap?
The first thing that comes to mind for me is hard drives. Made that mistake once. Within 6 months I’d ended up buying a more expensive one anyway because the first one was making odd noises and I didn’t trust it to not lose all my files.
Tattoos is another obvious one. I’m sure there are some decent artists who don’t charge much out there, but I’ve seen enough bad tattoos in my life to know that you really do get what you pay for in that respect.
Outdoor kit (well for that matter almost anything that’s there to keep you safe). Something costing twice as much lasts at least thrice as long and keeps you more comfortable too.
iPhone charging cables. Sure you can get one in poundland, which I thought wouldn’t make a difference, but a little bit of research shows they charge your phone much slower. You don’t need to go all out and get an official Apple one, but if you’re getting one under a fiver it’s likely crap.
Sure it’ll be fine if you only charge over night, but awful if you need to get a decent charge in a shortish amount of time. A few videos on YouTube of people buying poundland and other cheap cables and testing them with volt meters, many are way below half the volts. Like I say, you’ll only notice it if you ever need to charge during the day, or you’re short on time.
On a similar note, when you are going on holiday, pay the extra £100 for a better room.
For flights, BA domestic and (almost all) European are no different than Ryanair or Easyjet - with more seats being crammed in through densification programmes, having to pay for food and drink, and the headline prices being hand baggage only. But for long haul always book the best cabin you can afford for sure.
Slow cables will be find if they’re good quality from a recognised brand.
Poundland cables I wouldn’t touch with a bargepole because as well as being slow, they’re likely to also be dangerous, being made cheaply and not to the proper spec. If there’s one thing I don’t want to risk getting, it’s a knock-off phone charger and/or cable.
Its not just the slow charging. They are just poor quality and have a shorter lifespan, especially if you’re charging multiple times a day and having to travel with it.
As you said, there is a middle ground between the cheap/nasty and the genuine £65 Apple cable though.
If you fly from City, BA still provides complimentary food and drink. However, for me the main advantage of BA or Swiss, for example, is that they fly from City and from Heathrow - which are convenient for me (and allow me to save on the cost of a train to Gatwick or Stanstead)
I’m sure any expensive purchase could be justified in some way.
It’s probably the accountant in me but I’d say the general rule is look at some sort of usage metric over its useful life.
E.g what does your phone cost you per day or your mattress cost you per night.
I’m a sucker for spending more than I probably should on things but I have found that you generally do get what you pay for and some things are expensive for a reason.
