
Cost Analysis: Trubrain Proprietary Nootropic Blend vs. Generic Equivalent - jbackus
http://johnback.us/blog/2013/08/06/cost-analysis-trubrain-proprietary-nootropic-blend-vs-generic-equivalent/?ref=hn
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javert
Regardless of whether you make it yourself - is there anything to this
truBrain thing? Is this something we should all be doing? I'm looking for
opinions/experiences from the HN community in general.

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leknarf
This was a nice breakdown of the unit costs, but I surprised by the author's
conclusion. Even with a cheap value for his time ($25/hr), he's only saving
about $15 dollars a year.

That said, kudos for explicitly including labor/time costs in the calculation.

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computer
I think you should also consider the risk of getting bored when you do
everything yourself. If the stuff really helps, you might not want to risk
stopping because it's too much work.

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ctide
It's a hassle. I took a full stack of nootropics daily (a larger stack than
what's described here, close to 20 pills / day) for about a year and
ultimately just decided it was too much hassle. There are benefits, but
laziness overruled. I may actually try this since having it all prepackaged
for me is completely worth the difference in cost.

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iknowno_one
It's funny to me that no one has ever claimed to have accomplished anything
globally significant while using nootropics to my knowledge.

Mood elevators or stimulants, sure. Hitler was all into those. But,
nootropics? I mean, I guess it depends on where you draw the line of what is
considered one.

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SapphireSun
Coffee. (Although I'm not totally sure that's considered a nootropic in this
context.)

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freehunter
Nicotine.

Adderall.

Again, probably not nootropics, but they serve the same function: wake your
brain up enough to accomplish something you may not have had the cognitive
ability to do without it.

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iamwhatiam
Concurring with javert, an analysis of Trubrain's effectiveness would be
awesome. e.g. conclusion that Trubrain increased my grades by x%, etc.

Even subjective observations would be interesting albeit not as persuasive.

Thanks for the cost analysis btw, very thorough job.

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yesimahuman
Curious how this compares to something like Modafinil, or other Nootropics?

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gwern
TruBrain gave me a month's supply to try it out
([http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics#trubrain](http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics#trubrain))
and I'd say that, as one would expect since it's not including any heavy-duty
stimulants, the effects are weaker than modafinil or nicotine. I think it's
more effective than just a normal piracetam+choline stack, but it's hard to be
sure. (But on the plus side, it's legal and doesn't come with any concerns
about legality (for modafinil) or addiction/social-disapproval (nicotine).)

