Buy a $50 lodge. Not as pretty but works nearly as well. I love mine. I have 1 tiny chip on one handle where someone dropped a pan on it. I've had it for 5 years with no other problems. More on reddit.com

PS. Just because you mentioned this was your first piece, I wanted to remind you to never use metal utensils with your Staub. Wood (including bamboo) or silicone/high temp plastics only. Enameled cast iron hates metal utensils. More on reddit.com

I have been waiting for the braiser with domed cast iron lid to go on sale for like 3 years and haven’t seen it happen yet More on reddit.com

Holiday sales the past few years have been pretty hit or miss. Before covid I feel like the sales were better. Interestingly, I noticed Williams Sonoma dropping prices on Staub around Christmas (I mean like, right before Dec 25th and the week between Christmas and New Years) so you have to keep your eyes peeled. Not sure what it will be like this year though. Zwilling used to do the 4 qt cocottes with the iron lids for $99 on black Friday. But I think last year it was glass lids 😑 and they were like $129 or something. As far as 7 quarts go, I'd say if you see a decent deal somewhere, jump on it because they're a popular workhorse size. Like the Amazon deal you saw for $220 would have been what I'd consider a good price for that pot. I paid full price for mine but have no regrets. More on reddit.com