buying brushes online? W&N series 7 quality?

I like this guy's painting quite a bit and he has a video on buying paint and brushes and just asserts he buys his online without any special qualification, so perhaps it's ok to just do that....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_nogruy5ps

What a great question.

I've always relied on look/touch/feel shopping to buy brushes too. I guess most of us are in the same boat for now, so I'm most interested in what others have to say.

Oddly, I was perusing a brush acquisition a couple of hours ago, interesting timing to see this thread.

Yeah, I have had the same experience (although I have not been using them as long as you have). I have also read the same thing on other forums.

My alternative is to use a good quality synthetic for most painting, such as base coating, blocking, etc. My synthetic of choice are Raphael Kaerells. They are half the price of Series 7s. My Series 7s are reserved for tiniest detail.

You could also try Isabey sable brushes. They seem to hold together pretty well.

By the way, I don't buy brushes online.