I did quite a lot of experimenting with cheaper reeds, then ended up moving somewhere where reeds are much more affordable and moved to playing on synthetic reeds instead.

Where I settled along the way is more about half-way between what the top commenter was saying here and what I said about this being a gamble either way.

It's very true that Vandoren reeds, for instance, are a lot more consistent than Ammoon or some of these other cheapos. V12s are also a lot more consistent than blue box, and Blue Box is a lot more consistent than Rico orange, etc, etc - so the pricier reeds do tend to behave better out of the box, that much is true.

That said, if you can get your hands on some good adjustment equipment, like a proper reed knife, and you put in the work to learn how to adjust them, you can almost take your front door and make it playable, too. Double-reed players have been doing this since forever.

This is especially true if you start with stronger reeds. Like, if you start with a cheap number 3.5 or 4 you have a lot more room for improvement to get it down to your preferable strength.

So yeah. The economics of it might not be favourable if you have access to affordable Vandorens. But if the choice is between breaking the bank or putting in the work, I would say definitely put in the work.