This happened to me a while ago and it resulted with me finally purchasing a Rabbit Air air purifier, which I do not regret to this day. I love it.
Last month, I entered another one of these dilemmas. The item I was questioning? The Wingdow seat. Why was I questioning it? Well Coco (of Coco's blog) had posted a nice long review of the Wingdow seat that she had just recently purchased. One of the things that got me hooked was that she, like me, had initially thought that it was a somewhat expensive item for what it was meant to do - $150-$200 for a piece of plastic that you put on a window? While there was always the appeal for me that the suction cups were on the other side of the plastic, which would prevent the inevitable unhooking of the suction cups that normally occurs on window perches (it's apparently a very fun game for all birds, mine included), it seemed like a frivolous expense. What made it more enticing this time is that Coco mentioned how to get an incredible discount on the Wingdow seat! It turns out that Aleta, owner of Wingdow, was offering a very good discount on models she considered "imperfect" - and this might be as little as a tiny scratch on one of the units, something that in no ways affects the utility of the Wingdow seat. Still, I was debating the idea and decided to talk about it to the Boy, thinking he would discourage me. To my surprise though, he offered to get one as a gift to me and the birds!
So yesterday our Wingdow made it here. The Boy had ordered the medium, which is the perfect size for our current flock and, by looks of it, probably still ok for Léa when she'll be here. The box it came in was huge, so I was expecting it to have some weight to it but was surprised as it was very very light. I also found the very tiny scratch that made this unit imperfect - and given it's in one of the bottom corners, it's not even something the birds could see when they are on the Wingdow seat and looking outside!
Now for a more thorough review, I would suggest visiting Coco's post on her Wingdow unit - as I don't think I'll be able to do any better than what she's done.
Having it for less than one day, it's hard to say how it will be in the long run, but so far I'm impressed. Those suction cups seem very VERY solid and I doubt any will let go without any prying, yet they do come off very easily if you want the unit to come down. I also love how the mess is contained and very easy to clean. The craftsmanship that went into the design and assembly is also very very good. Oh and all the metal pieces are made of stainless steel, which is always a very good thing. In the end, seeing it made it easier to understand why these things are priced like they are and well worth the money in the end.
How did the birds take to it? Well, last night the first introduction wasn't an overwhelming success, but it is to be expected with a new product. Even the normally fearless-with-new-big-items Joey didn't want to go on it. Petey alone didn't seem to have any problem stepping down, and perching quite happily. However, this did trigger interest from Zuri and Pixel. Zuri especially seem to want to go on the Wingdow seat once he saw that Petey was fine on it. So this morning when the birds were brought out of the birdroom, Zuri was placed on the Wingodw and he did stay on it for quite some time.
Once he left, Pixel went on it out of her own accord - the first bird to do so without us having anything to do with it.
And did she explore! Not that there is much to go around, but she did try perching everywhere, beaked everything she could!
Later in the afternoon I added a few toys on the Wingdow seat and when Pixel was back on it, she found them and happily played with the toys for quite some time.
In the end, I do think it'll be a very practical perch and I'm sure every bird, even the ones who are still unwilling to go on it, will appreciate how close it will bring them to looking at the world outside! It does receive Pixel's foot up in approval!
