I hear you. All that mixing gets old fast! And unless you're exact with your measurements, the results are hardly consistent. When I compared the hassle of mixing 3-4 products and sitting under a dryer for a chunk of time or walking around the house with conditioner in my hair waiting for it work... that stuff got old so fast.
Good conditioners may be more expensive but they have their advantages: The results are pretty consistent (as this thread shows), less time and steps to deal with.
It's like when I ditched the Aphogee 2-step for Joico's Kpak Reconstructor. A world of difference! Both are pretty awesome products but the process is just more streamlined and less messy with the Joico product. One way or the other we pay for these things: you spend the money for a good but relatively expensive product and save a lot of time and steps OR you get the more affordable products but spend time and energy mixing and sitting around trying to DC for one hour... not me