Maybe? I feel like the most in group of people who do have the discretionary income to toss $100 at a Geiger counter for fun also have enough to toss $250 at it and would rather given the extra utility. I might be wrong though. And it certainly depends as the $100 line drops. If it's $50 for a Geiger, that's a lot closer to "I don't care money"

I had someone tell me a while back $100 is an adult $20. As in, what you saw as a kid as $20 of fun but factoring in how long it took you to get the $20, it's about the same. I know that math will be massively variable, but I like the idea of equating kid brain money to adult money for "toys" like this. A $5 toy vs a $40 toy, as a kid, is a big deal. A $40 toy vs a $70 toy almost isn't, because they're both already "expensive".

I suspect for most on HN, their toy-money equivalence leans to the Radiacode or equivalent being the better buy.

I agree, I'm not the most representative of HN users, so I can't gauge how willing one of them might be to pay the higher price. Maybe someone making six figures in the US (the average user on here?) wouldn't mind it, but I imagine that if we look at all techy people and not just HN, things would be closer to the mean.

For me, a $100 purchase is something I can probably justify if I think I'll enjoy it a lot. $250 is still a 2.5x upcharge, and I consider these expenditures for a long time, making sure that I really actually need it.

And then, the $100 is just an example reference. It's sold by Adafruit, whose selling point is trading some value in exchange for reliability, convenience and compatibility. When you look at the market in general, I can find countless cheap pre-built Geiger counters at prices that are a lot closer to $50. I can't vouch for their accuracy, but there are so many unique options that I imagine that at least a few will be pretty decent.