Expensive Hobbies

[doodab]

Whatever happened to simple pleasures? It seems that whatever I want to do these days I end up having to deal with an onslaught of marketing for expensive equipment I don't really need. If you take the plunge you invariably end up slightly underwhelmed.

Does spending thousands on a new doodah actually increase your pleasure and improve your results?

[mudskipper]

I think it gives you a temporary high. If you know what you're doing and use the stuff then it might be worth it.

I spent £1400 on a bike last year (actually myCo did!) and I do love the bike and ride along with a smile on my face (except when I get another puncture )

Mr ms spends a fortune on camera stuff which he almost never uses. He gets the pleasure out of the research and purchase rather than the actual usage.

[MicrosoftBob]

No.

Made that mistake back in the 70s with hifi*.

Never again.

Avoided it like the plague with photography 15 years ago or another £10k would have been down the tubes.

*£2.5k of relatively uninflated quidlets.

Ah but money spent on good glass is never wasted, as it will hold it's value

High end DSLRs on the other hand, drop faster than my missus knickers

[MyUserName]

One of the jousters fights in a suit of armour which set him back 25k. I am not sure whether he enjoys it anymore than I do and my suit cost an awful lot less than that!

[original PM]

indeed - it is all now a marketing ploy.

if you do not have a hobby which requires you to spend x per year you are a loser and have no friends.

[doodab]

Mr ms spends a fortune on camera stuff which he almost never uses. He gets the pleasure out of the research and purchase rather than the actual usage.

I'm a bit like that, although I do use my stuff I've got nothing like the talent I need to justify my little recording studio for example. I sort of mitigate it buy buying high quality stuff second hand so it tends to hold it's value. Of course then I can justify spending the "savings" on something else

Ah but money spent on good glass is never wasted, as it will hold it's value

High end DSLRs on the other hand, drop faster than my missus knickers

That's why I bought a previous generation body 2nd hand. More money for lenses

[doodab]

indeed - it is all now a marketing ploy.

Well it does seem like that. Even good magazines are mostly adverts and reviews, the bad ones are little more than brochures these days and they have the cheek to charge you a fiver for them.

[Ticktock]

I'm generally pretty bad at most hobbies I try, but would rather pay a bit more and get half-decent equipment, just so that I can't complain that the only reason I'm bad is my bad tool (phnar).

This way, I know it's all me.

[expat]

I think it gives you a temporary high. If you know what you're doing and use the stuff then it might be worth it.

I spent £1400 on a bike last year (actually myCo did!) and I do love the bike and ride along with a smile on my face (except when I get another puncture )

Mr ms spends a fortune on camera stuff which he almost never uses. He gets the pleasure out of the research and purchase rather than the actual usage.

I did that for many years. Then last year I assessed the pleasure it was actually giving me: then I sold the lot on ebay, 2 MF cameras, 2 35mm SLRs, 1 DSLR, etc etc.

That has funded a number of trips last year, 2 of them outside Europe. Which gave me great pleasure (and a number of happy snaps on my Canon Ixus).

[doodab]

Aye.

I can remember when Wireless World was 3/6d*.

And it was worth reading, unlike the glorified trade mag that it eventually became.

It was all green fields around here then.



*17.5p for the uninitiated. Yer average paperback might have reached the heights of 4/-, or 20p. squared.

You can't even park near the newsagents for 20p anymore.