SFR "Premium" purchases you found to be "worth it"

Sorta fishing-related
Prescription sunglasses. Had lost so many pairs before spending $ on prescription shades. The Smith frames aren't even that expensive...the lenses though...

Tibor CL reels for trout. Simple. Bullet Proof. Sexy (both look and sound). Also a bit unnecessary, because it's a trout reel.

Mystery Ranch backpacks. After splurging on the first (which was for hiking), turned around and grabbed one for hunting. They're fucking bombproof. Have a few others now as well w/ more specific purposes.

My bow setup. I went ham on the full setup. Absolutely love it. Have had friends have issues w/ their stuff in the field (and that sucks), but knock on wood, haven't had that issue yet. I attribute some of that to buying "premium" components (string, sight, rest, stab, release).

Oh, and bacon. Always buy the good stuff.
 
I splurged on a Shimano Vanford size 2500 when they first came out, $259! I use it for everything! Have caught numerous rockfish and Lings, Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, and Trout. Just a joy to fish! I was so impressed, I went back and got the size 500 and the size 4000. Also found a supplier for spare spools and now have extra spools for all three! If and when they come out with a size 1000 (or 1500), I will immediately take the plunge again!
 
They're not quite in the premium category, but they sure felt like it when I finally put them on my F150. Bilstein 5100s. If you have a F150, especially the FX4, and wince at every bump because of the sucky Ford shocks, get the 5100s. I should've done it right away, even though the truck only had 35k miles on it. Do it! It will feel premium...or like a stock Toyota Tacoma. 😁
 
- My 1978 Alumaweld 16' Driftboat, purchased with Dad in 1981. It seemed like a splurge at the time, and we reconfigured a crappy trailer to tow it around with. Initially just winter steelhead use, then transitioned to all seasons. Dad even used it for spring salmon trollling for a few yrs. Its now used once a year on john day, then summer camping trips on the lower Deschutes.
- Many, many IPA's. Sooo much better than the crap consumed before.
- 2020 Sprinter Van , RV, purchased in 2023. Spent way too much, but it drives incredibly well. Sunk +5k into suspension improvements, and it is the bomb to drive across the state, down to baja and back a few times.
 
I really do not buy premium items, but I do buy high quality items that meet my needs. I do not chase the best of the best or latest of the latest. For me that little bit of 'more' is not worth ir. I do not have the skills to be able to take advantage of them.

With all that said, my first rod, a Loomis IM6 and reel/spools, Lamsom LP2's, were 3% of my annual salary. Not the premium quality of Sage or Winston nor Hardy. I still use them today.
 
No "premium" (price) fishing gear, but a couple of guitars that appreciate in value, and vintage tube amplification that doesn't depreciate.
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
Prescription sunglasses. Had lost so many pairs before spending $ on prescription shades. The Smith frames aren't even that expensive...the lenses though...
Click to expand...

that reminds me...
New eyes 👀, or rather premium "multifocal" interocular lenses (IOLs) with cataract surgery. 20-20 to 20-15, all distances, for life after 55 yrs of prescription everyday eyewear and sunglasses. They'll never pay for themselves, but priceless.

Tom Butler said:
Yeah, good call. My Ray Bans with aftermarket lenses were worth every penny.
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Also 0-0 (plano; no-prescription -"prescription") "Drivewear" sunglasses lenses for my Ray Ban Predators, and another frame similar to Wayfarers. In themselves, "premium" prescription sunglasses lenses. They have very unique (and patented) variable color tint, light transmission, and activation by visible (not UV) light properties. Maybe not the absolute best for (inshore) fishing, but still excellent. Also excellent for deep woods and alpine hiking, skiing, golf, driving... anything under the sun, or clouds! I believe they may be the most versatile sunglasses on the planet.
 
One last thing...
When I research the BEST hearing aids in 2025 & 2026, the Phonak Audéo Infinio Ultra Sphere (best for noise isolation - separation) is going to be near or at the top of the list. I am told Widex is best for music, but the Phonak is right there. They are priced between $5,000 and $8,800 per pair at private audiologist offices, plus the $120 to $200 annual maintenance plan or $30 to $65 per individual check-up/cleaning/upgrades session fees. I get the best, all services free, and replaced with the best every 5 yrs from the VA for service connected hearing loss.

I'd rather have my youthful hearing back but that naturally degrades at varying levels over time due to natural causes.
 
G_Smolt said:
One of my favorite things to do when I'm back in Seattle.
One of these days I want to make the pilgrimage to Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville. Talk about a place to lust and covet...a fella could walk in that door with $50K and walk out with half a guitar.
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One of my high school friends became a luthier. For me this would be impossible work, tedious and ultraprecise in a manner ill-suited for my general "good enough works just fine" attitude. But for him I like to think of it as a kind of religious calling, a monk-like asceticism, contemplative, with limited tools to make unlimited music. Near translucent curls of planed wood, smells of curing varnish, small brush into glue pot and then onto wood, his fine name in calligraphy on an otherwise tiny label deep within the soundbox, where the F-holes just illuminate it if held just right, a number, a date maybe also writ there. Liberal use of clean rags (none with ragged edges), gradations of solvents in various jars, long discussions of humidity and the aging of wood, every numeric of fine sandpaper in well-stocked and color-coded shelves, the consideration of fiddleback grains and their miraged-up plays of light, the chances of fracture, wooden screw clamps, the initial and anxiety-inducing tightening of strings, the creak of the pegs, the smell of the rosin block coming out of its small crown-royal style velvet drawstring pouch, the horse-hair bow twisted tighter, the hairs waxed-up within the rosin's groove, the piney rosin dust falling slow in long afternoon sunlight, the perch of the instrument under the chin, the weight of it held against the collarbone, the pull of the bow across the strings. AEDG. The immediacy- to his ear- as for the quality of his personal labor, maybe a bit of salvage tuning with the small screws on the tailpiece.

His shop, no doubt, scrupulously clean and not remotely like the mess of what I could jokingly refer to as my own "creation station" where a clean rag has basically never been seen, and, like a river runs through it, all solvents merge into one. One filthy and possibly extremely volatile jar that is.

I like to think Hugh, on walking into his shop, is never troubled with "where did I put my....." and I speculate he would be just slightly irritated if someone say moved his chisels, but downright mad if the face of one of those moved chisels was now slightly burred....

It's definitely a "no children and no Wadin' Boot in the shop" scenario. On the other hand, that's why a place like Dusty Strings for me is fun just being in. Knowing that a guy like Hugh spent hundreds of hours turning out that thing before you. Knowing the tree from where the wood came from, itself hundreds of years old, formed its fiddleback with sap and close grain buttressing immense stress. Like somehow that silent fiddleback now can let that stress out, finally, with beautiful sound. I like to think there are, across the world, maybe a hundred people who can make an outstanding instrument from wood, metal and wire, and my friend is one of them, and the peerage of that group is both rich and mostly anonymous.

All of this love has both value and cost, and none of it is cheap...
 
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Wadin' Boot said:
One of my high school friends became a luthier... a monk-like asceticism, contemplative... Near translucent curls of planed wood, smells of curing varnish, small brush into glue pot and then onto wood...
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My Dad worked in SEA violin shops, and the guitar luthier (repair) shop touring pros used in the mid 1950 - mid-1970s. I spent many hours...
 
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Brian said:
that reminds me...
New eyes 👀, or rather premium "multifocal" interocular lenses (IOLs) with cataract surgery. 20-20 to 20-15, all distances, for life after 55 yrs of prescription everyday eyewear and sunglasses. They'll never pay for themselves, but priceless.


Also 0-0 (plano; no-prescription -"prescription") "Drivewear" sunglasses lenses for my Ray Ban Predators, and another frame similar to Wayfarers. In themselves, "premium" prescription sunglasses lenses. They have very unique (and patented) variable color tint, light transmission, and activation by visible (not UV) light properties. Maybe not the absolute best for (inshore) fishing, but still excellent. Also excellent for deep woods and alpine hiking, skiing, golf, driving... anything under the sun, or clouds! I believe they may be the most versatile sunglasses on the planet.
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topical Brian. i am probably going to have cataract surgery this winter. am clueless to this IOL - is this something i can upgrade to, that i need to discuss with the eye doc ?? thx. greg
 
I wore glasses for 55 years. My distance vision had improved over a few years to where I no longer needed glasses required on my driver's license. I had +2 diopters for old man presbyopia closeup, and mild astigmatism. The BEST ophthalmologists will look at your current vision test results, your vision goals, your budget (insurance - Medicare pays for the surgery with possible copay, but NOT the premium lenses), and carefully and compassionately EXPLAIN & recommend one to five lens options that are suitable for YOU to select from.
 
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Brian said:
I wore glasses for 55 years. My distance vision had improved over a few years to where I no longer needed glasses required on my driver's license. I had +2 diopters for old man presbyopia closeup, and mild astigmatism. The BEST ophthalmologists will look at your current vision test results, your vision goals, your budget (insurance - Medicare pays for the surgery with possible copay, but NOT the premium lenses), and carefully and compassionately EXPLAIN & recommend one to five lens options that are suitable for YOU to select from.
Click to expand...
thx brian. i have had glasses forever... will start the conversation with my opthamalogist about the type of lens, as i schedule the cataract procedure.
 
I wish I had the passion and discipline and skills (and budget) to really enjoy a truly high quality acoustic instrument. I've played some nice stuff (Collings, pre-war Martins, and so forth) but I'm honestly more stressed out about handling them and disappointed in what I can't do with them than I am "wow, I need this!"

My Seagull S6+ works just fine for my acoustic needs.
 
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