$9.99 A40 Gen 1 from Goodwill (thrift store)
This was actually the first time I went diving for cheap tech deals in a Goodwill (I will have you know I make a decent income). I had a huge stroke of luck when I arrived at the shelf primarily loaded with tech. old cameras and camcorders, waffle cookers, a cd walkman which I did buy, and heck, even a logitech flight sim controller old enough to be advertised to “tackle the games of the new century.” But the most useful thing I saw among all this novel technology was a dust-coated, gooch-encrusted Astro headset. I had only seen astros on sale and in pics and never owned or wore one. But I knew they were always high quality, and expensive when bought new. The price on this headset? Not even 10 bucks. Plus, I could tell it was old (as I later found out, the 2013 Gen 1 degree of old). The tiny MLG decal was enough evidence. Sure, it stank from a short distance and its grime looked like a unique element on the periodic table, plus whoever donated it lost the mic. But what the heck, man, IT’S AN ASTRO. Mom thought I was crazy for wanting it anyways. I went to the cashier, asked “does your computer have an aux port?” He plugged it in and told me both speakers worked great. And so I arrived home with this headset and spent the next hour scrubbing away with alcohol and cotton swabs, hand washing the ear pads and wiping the speaker tags until they shined better than an iPhone’s Apple logo. Replace the mic for a 15 buck one off Amazon and the thing is completely refurbished (I use a dedicated Razer Siren mic so this isn’t even necessary). Oh, I’m not saying that I’m selling it. I’m curious to see how well it competes with my Razer Blackshark V2X. Really happy I found this.