What 68 Ford said. HUGE difference in shocks. Kinda like tires, they all roll down the road under your rig but everything about each tire will be different Some drastically different. Same for shocks. Like mentioned above, the poster mentioned the Monroes killed his ride and another posted that the Bilsteins were too soft.
Personal taste for a mall crawler. WHOLE different story for a serious rock crawler, a high speed dirt racer, etc.
Personally, I moved from Rancho's to Bilstein 7100's and never looked back. They are rebuildable, you can valve them for the ride you want and yes, huge difference taking the whoops on the sand dunes or the bumps in the street. I have moved away from shocks and don't miss them at all.
it's your ride! You can probably bet that the cheap shocks will not give you the ride you are looking for. There is so much technology in them now that you really can get a fantastic ride out of some brands and most will give you a totally different ride than the cheaper OE style replacements.
Ride in someone else's EB that has the shocks you are looking at. Really helps.
One of the clubs I wheel with does a cool thing every few years. The members volunteer their rig to be tried out by others at a club meeting out of town. Members can swap drivers (with permission) on different rigs to try other Broncos out that are outfitted different. Shocks, tires, suspension, auto vrs manual, engines, you name it! COOLEST idea I've ever heard of. Yes, you can ride in your rig with another driving it OR you can be the driver so you don't worry
but your passenger still gets an excellent idea what your rig is like.
Coolest idea I've ever heard of by a Bronco club.