I just treated myself to a Simpson Manchurian badger brush and can say it is the nicest brush I have used both for how it lathers and looks. Is it twice as good as my $100 SOC 2 band badger? No but it is better. Is the SOC 2 band badger 5X better than than my Semogue 1350 boar? No but it is better. All three will do the job of working up a lather nicely. A brush does not have to cost a ton of money to do a good job and if you are happy with it don't let anyone push you into upgrading.

Bob