Well, you have a very good point. Tygon is the standard because it has all the features of a well designed hose. The other stuff could be lacking in just one area. But if it works good for you in 2 years from now, great!
We also might be seeing a markup for the better stuff, a good name sells for more. I know we as watercoolers probably don't make 10% of Tygons sales. Maybe they sell to distributors in 1000' quantities, and the distributors sell in 200-500' quanitities., but buying 200' at once might be a big price up front for some smaller retail outlets so they buy in 100' batches, more cost to them and us per ft.
An example, I was looking for replacement springs with specifc charecteristics at work. Small, 1/2 inch long with at least 25 million cycle uses. Was a few years ago, but the maker would of had to set up the machines just for this run. I don't remember the exact $$, but it went something like this: 250 springs was $300, 500 springs was $450, 1000 springs was $675. Something like that. And that was straight from the factory. Imagine our tubing with 2-3 distributors........
If Petras or others could afford buying 1000' at once, the price would be lower for sure.
