pickles said:
Personally I am a Sony obsessive and will always go for Sony if given the chance. I think this sometimes overides my better judgement
Regarding Sony, I am the opposite!
I have never personally owned any Sony gear, with the exception of my playstation2 (bought on a whim and used, quite literally, no more than a dozen times in the last 2 years).
I have friends who have Sony TVs, and I find the design to be incredibly plain, and the quality to be nothing special. Same goes for Audio equipment - my best friend has a Sony separate system, and in my opinion it sounds
awful in comparison to my Goodmans set-up which cost less than a quarter of the price.
I call it "BMW syndrome" - some people will pay stupid amounts of money because a brand is
perceived to be of better quality.
Brand loyalty isn't something I subscribe to - I read reviews and listen to personal recommendations for each item, and subsequently "mix and match":
My TV, DVD player and my cordless phone are Philips, my VCR is Sharp, my audio gear is Goodmans, except the speakers which are Wharfedale, my fax machine is Samsung and my PC is Dell - all of which I am more than happy with so far.
Same goes with cars, for that matter - I have always had a preference for French manufacturers but there's no ingrained brand loyalty - indeed, when I get my license back I will be acting upon recommendations and seriously looking at Skoda!