I use D'addarios for both electric and acoustic. 9's for the electric and 10's for the acoustic. They have a good sound, warmer than some I've tried. Dean Markleys are too bright for my taste. I did like those ones with the gold coating cos they looked nice and sounded OK (forgotten the name now) but my local shop stopped stocking them, that's when I moved to D'Addario's. String life isn't a real problem as I'm not gigging and haven't for some time. I change strings when I'm bored.