I’ve read so many mails and views on cheap /expensive whistles.
My local music shop only stocks the usual cheapie’s, and as yet haven’t been lucky enough to find a good one.
Two years ago, i found Dr Guido’s great site on making your own pvc whistle. I’ve since then made many of my own, thanks to Guido.
I was on holiday in England last year and tried many whistles both cheap and exspensive at hobgoblins in Bristol. I couldn’t find one which was better than my home made Guido whistle.
I forgot my whistle today at work and decided to buy a whistle. The only whistles they had in the shop were feadog, and the mouthpiece was covered with plastic, hence i couldn’t try before buying. When i got to work, i found i was the new owner of another squawking disappointment
Am i just unlucky and not found the one in a million? And yes i do know you can tweak them, i just wanted to play it, not play with it ! 
You have to be lucky. They are fabric-make. I have a Generation D, G and Bb. I put them in for 30 seconds in water that just boiled, got off the head and got rid of all the superfluous plastig inside the head and that did a marvelous trick in just a few minutes, and I have 3 very fine tunable Generations now. Especially the Bb is a great whistle.
Whistles have different personalities and requirements. That squawking Feadóg could end up being your favorite whistle in six months.
I believe that Feadógs are considered to be very consistent, and think I remember Jerry Freeman saying this after taking apart hundreds of them.
Jason
Why did Jerry freeman have to take apart hundreds of them?
And as i mentioned, i have owned many cheapies for a lot longer than six months, not one of them has become a favorite.
I realize whistles have their own personalities, but all the personalities i’ve owned haven’t grown on me in over two years, no matter how i play them.
It’s a shame the mouthpieces are covered when buying, you can’t go through the bunch anymore to find that one in a million
Jerry tweaks whistles, so he goes through lots.
Of course there’s no guarantee that cheapies will satisfy everyone. What fun would that be? 
But there have been many players on this forum comment that after playing for a while, they went back to their Feadóg or Generation and liked it much better that they did at first.
Jason
I agree with you there.
There are certainly whistles that i like now, which i didn’t like before. and certain whistles i prefer to play a specific tune on.
I suppose it is fun, finally finding a good one. It’s just annoying to have bought a whistle, to play, maybe your out of town, a spur of the moment thing…and to find it’s not very playable
It’s just that the one’s I’ve owned have had notes that break up no matter how i nurse it, or clean/repair it.
I have had the opposite experience. Most of the inexpensive whistles I have purchased have been fine. Although I often had to clean up some plastic flash inside or adjust the head to bring it in tune, the result was a good player almost every time.
The major exception was a Walton’s D that I bought at a feis for twice the usual price. It has resisted all attempts to make it behave. That was more than a little frustrating.
Maybe I am easy to please. Maybe I am finally learning to adapt to the instrument. Or maybe my hearing is going. 
Most have a similar experience with Feadogs. Feadogs are sensitive to breath pressure and react unkindly to lapses in technique.
Exactly.
To my understanding, Clarkes tend to be pretty reliable. Mine has a very large airway so it requires a fair amount of breath, but it isn’t lible to violently squeek or not play at all or waht not as some cheaper whistles are wont.
I have a Clarke (Sweetone) as well, and I love this little thing. Now, I’m really new to the Tin Whistle, but I find that a little squeek or missed tone here and there is part of the whistle’s charm.
But then again, I may just be making myself feel better about my playing.
Yes, I love my Clarke Original, it’s what I play most. Right behind that (or equal to it) is my Dixon Traditional all the others tend to squeak and squawk a bit - moreso in the past than currently as I’ve learned that much of the squeaking and squawking in my case has to do with subtleties of breath control and not pushing the particular whistle (depending on it’s characteristics) too far.