FURIDEN Professional Salon Quality Hair Straightener

This is much much cheaper than the ghd 1" classic, but it doesn't work as well, and takes longer. I have thick, Indian, dry, wiry, frizzy, naturally curly (very unruly not-sure-which-direction-they-want-to-curl) curls down to the middle of my back. I had a babyliss with steam and retractable comb which straightened my hair in 45 mins. Then I discovered ghd about 5 years ago. I've had that 1" classic ghd since then. It straightens my hair in 10 mins and there's no need to even section my hair. The 1inch round barrel creates gorgeous healthy curls too. I need a new straightener so decided to see what new technology is out there, maybe for cheaper, so got this Furiden since the new ghd platinum is so ridiculously expensive. The Furiden doesn't compare. I tested by straightening the right side of my head with the furiden and the left side with the old ghd. Furiden took 3 seconds more to reach the 355degree heat setting. The ghd doesn't need a heat setting since it has sensors. The 3 seconds more weren't a big deal, but having the temp set at 355 meant I wasn't sure if the furiden was actually able to keep the heat constant, or if my hair needed hotter or cooler at any point- which the ghd supposedly automatically adjusts for you. I straightened the right side with furiden for 5mins and 15 secs (about the time I estimated the ghd would take- I wasn't satisfied with it but I was tired so I stopped and decided to see what the left side looked like after 5.15 with the ghd). My right side hair was mostly straight, but still very voluminous, with some wiry shallow waves, and not as straight as I would normally do it. It also wasn't as shiny as I thought it normally would be with the ghd. It was a very dry kind of straight. Then I switched to left side with ghd. After 4mins 15secs, hair was perfectly straight, shiny, sleek, and I was done. I then went back over the right side of my hair with the ghd. It took another 2mins 30 seconds getting the furiden straightened hair to look as smooth, sleek and shiny as the left ghd side. That extra ~6 mins (3 mins per side).... is it worth the extra ~$85? well after 5 years of using this ghd every other day I can't tell you how many times I've been rushing to get my hair done because I'm late or tired or whatever... and those extra minutes mattered. I'd rather spend the money. Then I curled a small section on both sides. Right side with furiden- curled just fine, but the barrel is larger than the ghd so the curl wasn't as tight and therefore fell out twice as fast. The ghd curl of course lasted my usual day and half. I also noticed that the furiden plug is a simple 2-prong while the ghd has a fuse and a reset button - which seems safer? So the ghd is a clear winner. The GHD's shinier sleeker result that gets done faster (which also means less time standing in front the mirror with a fan on full blast to keep me cool, less time with my arms up in the air working, and just less overall effort) is worth the money for me. Furiden doesn't cut it.