If my kit had been bought to be a 'status symbol' it would fail miserably - apart from a few friends and family, the only visitors we've had in the last 6 months were a gas engineer doing our annual boiler check and two Jehovah's Witnesses (who to be fair did comment on my set up). Oh and a monthly visit from a Polish chiropodist, and she wouldn't notice if I'd added flashing disco lights.

It's more likely they would be thinking "silly sod, that kind of money would buy me ten years of Benidorm holidays", but like the ladies who go for cosmetic surgery, 'I'm doing it for me, not anyone else'.

Different with cars, watches, designer goods, they are out there in the wider world impressing much larger numbers.