A duplicate of this thread can be had on any enthusiast forum. Hi-fi, video, motorcycles, guitars, photography. I mention those because they are the things I am "in to."

When I was learning guitar, being from a moderately well-to-do area, all my musical buddies had nice Epis, Gibson, and Fenders. We had to have such guitars and argued passionately about the advantages of this particular neck, fret size and weight, etc. Yeah. Then I got old enough to start going to the clubs where the Chicago bluesmen played and saw their cheap crap guitars AND to hear what came out of them. But I and my pals stuck with our fancy Gibsons. Why not? Our bragging points had to come from somewhere, didn't they?

Later, as a working scientific imager, I had wealthy PhD and MD students come to me for advice on what cameras and lenses to buy. Didn't matter what I said, they'd always go top pro Nikon or something similar. I'd simply point them to the work of Cartier-Bresson who got masterful images with the equivalent of a "Brownie." Of course that never changed their minds.

For some years I ran the Ducatis Unlimited Connection group and website (wrote for Ducati for a couple as well) and enjoyed that group's carbon fiber fetish immensely. From a distance. In truth the ounces saved were as useful to the average rider as the "sponsor" decals and and patches that festooned their bikes and riding gear.

Such is humanity. Live. Love. Laugh. Learn.

-Don