Taking what I use now, my daily effort, replacement frequency, desired control and budget together, should I stay, change format, or look at SOSA?

Budget comes last because it mostly does not decide anything. The reader who wants control will find ₹3,999 worth it, and the reader who does not will resent ₹3,999 however comfortably they can afford it. The control column is the one that changes the answer.

The answer, in full

Take the five in this order and the answer falls out. One, what you use now: read its own published specification for the actions it states, because SOSA publishes nothing about any product it does not make and I will not characterise yours. Two, daily effort: a 12ml hanging bottle is one action and then none, a 10ml spray is a press each time, and Safar is five things of which four recur - switch on, a speed, a timer setting or none, a Type-C charge and a 20ml refill. Three, replacement frequency: the published figures are 4 to 6 weeks, that is 28 to 42 days, per 12ml hanging bottle, and 100 sprays per 10ml, stated as three months and above at one spray a day; for Safar's oil there is no published consumption rate, so no interval exists and you would mark your own bottle to find it. Four, control: the hanging bottle's stopper loosens for stronger and tightens for subtler and holds what you set, a spray has none, and Safar has three speed settings plus a one, two or three hour auto-off timer. Five, budget: Jasmine ₹459 up to Mysore Orange Blossom ₹559, a 50ml spray ₹1,509, Safar ₹3,999 or ₹4,499. Now the outcome. If nothing is wrong, stay. If the daily press is what you want gone, a hanging bottle at ₹459 to ₹519. If you want the strength different on different days, Safar. A portion of every SOSA order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.

The five inputs, and what is published for each

Three of these five are answerable from published figures and two are answerable only by you. I have marked which is which, because a decision built on a figure nobody publishes is a decision you will not trust in April.

Inputs one to three: what you use now, daily effort, replacement frequency

Your current product's figures come off its own published specification, and nowhere else; SOSA publishes nothing about it and no page here can fill that cell honestly. SOSA's effort column: hang a 12ml bottle once and then nothing until you want it stronger or subtler or until it is empty; press a 10ml spray each time you want it; or switch Safar on, choose one of three speeds, set a one, two or three hour timer or leave it running, charge it over Type-C and refill the 20ml bottle. Replacement: 4 to 6 weeks, that is 28 to 42 days, per 12ml hanging bottle; 100 sprays in a 10ml, stated as three months and above at one spray a day and fifty days at two a day; 500 sprays in a 50ml at ₹1,509, stated as about a year and more; and for Safar's oil, no published rate and therefore no interval.

Three inputs. Two are published, and the first one is on somebody else's page.

Input four: the control you actually want

This is the input that decides most rows, so fill it in before the budget. A 12ml hanging bottle gives you one control in two directions: the stopper loosens for stronger and tightens for subtler, set when you like and held until you change it. A spray gives you none, because the press is the whole product. Safar gives you three speed settings chosen on each run, and a one, two or three hour auto-off timer that governs how long a run lasts rather than how strong it is. SOSA publishes no coverage figure, no scent-throw figure and no per-speed duration, so every one of those controls is set by your own nose in your own cabin.

Input five: budget, and why it comes last

The published prices: eight scents as a 10ml spray or a 12ml hanging at the same price per scent, Jasmine ₹459, Lavender and Sandalwood ₹499, Sandalwood ₹509, Icy Mint ₹499, Lemon ₹509, Oud ₹519, Vetiver ₹519, Sea Breeze ₹519, and Mysore Orange Blossom ₹559 as a spray only. A 50ml spray is ₹1,509 on any scent. Three-spray discovery sets ₹709 to ₹909. Safar ₹3,999, or ₹4,499 for the hotel-inspired variant. Then the continuing cost: 15ml hanging refills ₹399 to ₹449 across eight scents, and waterless nebuliser refills ₹1,049 for 100 gm and ₹1,849 for 300 gm. No oil-consumption rate is published, so no monthly figure and no cost per hour can be worked out from those prices.

Prices are published. Running costs are not, in either direction.

The sixth input, which is not on your list

Scent. It is missing from the five and it is the one that decides whether you keep using whatever you buy. SOSA publishes a fragrance pyramid and a scent family for each of the nine car scents, which narrows it, and no strength ranking and no prediction of what anybody will prefer, so it cannot be settled from a page. Eight of the nine come in either format at the same price per scent, which means you can answer it before you answer the format question, and a three-spray discovery set at ₹709 to ₹909 is how.

Settle the missing input first if you can. Three-spray discovery sets are ₹709 to ₹909, and the pack of nine sprays is ₹3,009. See the discovery sets →

The three outcomes, and who each one is for

If you fill in all five rows honestly, most people land on staying or on a ₹459 to ₹519 bottle, and I would rather publish that than pretend the ₹3,999 row is the common one. It is the right row for a specific reader, and that reader knows exactly which control they are missing. SOSA publishes no ranking of the formats by how much work they feel like, so that part of the decision is yours.

“Settle the control column before the budget column. One of them changes the answer and the other mostly does not.”

Filling in the row, in four moves

1. Read your product's own specification for the actions it states. Write them down.
2. Write SOSA's three action lists beside it, from the published figures.
3. Name the control you want: strength on the day, or a run that ends.
4. If the control column is empty, stay. If it is not, the price follows it.

Questions, answered