All good points. What I will say is that the 0.03mm bases that I get from my stylist's supplier are a lot more durable. I'm rough on my systems and I replace them as soon as they look even slightly beaten up - as you say, we're doing this to look good, not save money. The Lord Hair bases must be made of different material as they are noticeably more fragile. I don't have an issue with this as they clearly advertise that they last a month.
Either way, the system arrived patchy. I had only worn it for two days when I first emailed them.