Daughter wants to spend £160 of her Christmas earnings on Apple airpods. As someone who would still use a Sony Walkman, can anyone offer advice? It seems a huge amount for earphones. Are they worth the money or is it just for posing? Are there any decent quality alternatives? Any deals on airpods? Ultimately it’s her money but I’m cynical about all things Apple.
I’d say Bose and Beats are better quality personally than owt Apple produce, although I’ve not tried the new version of AirPods
Agree with that. They both asked for expensive trainers for Christmas. We gave them cash towards them so they could decide if they wanted to spend their own money on them. My question was more about whether they are the only option or indeed worth all the hype.
bought my son the latest £250 ones for Xmas. daughter used her Xmas money from relatives to buy the 2nd gen £160 ones. Both are very happy with them. I tried to talk both into getting cheaper better rated ones but both were adamant they wanted Apple. someone I work with raves about the Cambridge ones in this list https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/best-wireless-earbuds-2019-budget-and-premium
Just bought the young un some, the new ones with the rechargeable case, she loves them. We added it onto her mobile phone account so were paying monthly, I couldn't justify paying the price in one go. Paying about £30 more now, mind
100% overpriced and paying for the name. If you're able to tell the difference in quality between those and other brands you've either got the volume up way too loud and are going to damage your hearing anyway or you have some kind of super human hearing (or you're falling for some kind of placebo effect). There's also the fact you're paying stupid money for a gimmick which even apple secretly accepts is a failed idea which is why they sell tethers to make the wireless pods wired because everyone including apple knows there's no benefit to having them wireless and a lot of drawbacks. Imo anyone who buys apple air pods does so simply so they can say they own apple air pods whether they say that to other people or privately to themselves.
This is exactly what I don’t like. She’s pretty much admitted it’s for the posing, (although they have a different word for it) !
Does she have the iPhone half hanging out of her back trouser pocket as well? It really bugs me when young uns do that!
There’s a rough bloke who goes in Ardsley Club who sells fakes for 15 quid. My lad bought some and reckons they’re not bad...but will see how long they last.
It's a tough one then because if you allow her to get them you're encouraging her behaviour and telling her it's ok to judge people on what they have (same can be said about a lot of things though to be honest) but at the same time it's her money and stopping her from spending it sort of defeats the point of giving it her in the first place. perhaps tell her if she really wants them she can have them but make it absolutely clear to her that she won't be getting any luxuries bought by you because she's wasted her money to show off to her friends. Obviously I'm not a parent so I have no idea how to bring up a kid so I'm not judging at all. I wouldn't fancy being in your shoes in general having to make decisions every day. Especially with the peer pressure that's on not only kids but their parents too.
We got our eldest 2 these for christmas, just as good, easily paired them to their iphones and reasonably cheap compared to the apple products, and trust me when i say this, if they didnt like them they would let us know https://www.hdtventertainment.co.uk/product/hd-ear-pods-2/
I’m going to go with let her get them. It’s the height of coolness to have then atm and she may get £160s worth of enjoyment out of that, even if the pods themselves aren’t worth it. This comes with a caveat though, as long as she doesn’t have every other ‘in’ thing. If she always has to have every new thing then no, she doesn’t need this fad too, if she never normally joins in but this is one thing she really wants, then go for it this time. She’ll be over the bloody moon with them, probably way happier than with a collection of lesser wanted stuff that adds up to the same amount. If she’s definitely spending £160 and not saving it, then these will be ‘worth’ the money in terms of how happy it makes her, which, as long as necessities are covered then that’s all money is for really anyway isn’t it? If she gets loads of happiness out of it then it’s worth it, if she doesn’t and feels like she’s wasted her money then that’s good too as she’ll learn a vital lesson.
I think you already know the answer to this from others but yep - they are absolutely overpriced and not worth the amount they retail for. I flat out refused with my lad. I told him that whilst it's his money if he chooses to waste it I will tell all family and friends not to give him money for birthdays or Christmas and he'll have to put up with gifts he knows he doesn't like. We had the same thing at school I suppose. Those with Nike trainers sneered at the kids wearing Dunlop - but Apple's "mystique" is usually higher price for inferior product so it's not even a case of you get what you pay for.
Thanks all, she's worked really hard to earn the money, and she is old enough to reason with. She understands all the arguments, but as with any kid at secondary school there is the peer pressure (which we generally don't give in to). @only1kp suggeted alternative has certainly given her food for thought, to the extent that she is not buying anything yet, and is thinking about it. I guess that's as good as I can expect. On another matter, a 50 year old friend of mine sent me a photo of a Christmas gift - a personalised registration plate. I can't think of a bigger waste of money. Hundreds of pounds to be reminded of her initials. I guess we're all guilty of spending un-necessarily at some point.
Isn’t Christmas money for ‘wasting’ on non essential luxuries though? When I give my nieces and nephews money I want then to buy the stuff they want but their parents would never buy for them as it’s not ‘worth’ it. I’d much rather them spend a lot of money on something that they really want than get £160s worth of Lynx Africa sets and selection boxes that they don’t really care about but that makes adults feel better. I’d say the money is less wasted on the pods in terms of happiness per pound spent.