Well, realistically, if you subcut the Fat8's, you would get 4 sets of charms, 1/2 a honey bun, and 1/2 a jelly roll. That's a lot of variety for me.

I think for someone starting out and making smaller projects, they are a great idea. Without a whole lot of money, you can get a wide variety of fabric. They are great for smaller projects, or for "scrappy quilts", or for quilts that don't repeat block selections. They are a great way to increase the color options you have without having to mortage your house.

I find the more I quilt, the more I find some of these fabrics that I want more of to do a larger project or more projects with. And, I find some of the fabric that I wouldn't ever want to use again (due to color fade or pulling one direction, whatever) and I'm glad I didn't waste money on a huge batch of it.

I think it really depends on how you quilt.

I bought a pack of 5 inch squares and most of them were just as you said- fabrics that I would never buy. But, when I put them together in a project, I was pleasantly surprised that they actually looked good together. When I posted the picture of the final project, people raved over the color selection. Through that I've learned that pretty by itself doesn't always translate into pretty in the project- you can take an ugly fabric and make a pretty project of it anyway. Sometimes that's a challenge that makes you feel good about yourself.

I have bought a pack of fat quarters once (Moda; soft, romantic pastels) but it was expensive and I only bought it because I had a scrap quilt pattern already in mind when I bought it. I doubt that I would ever buy a package of 8ths because I just wouldn't know what to do with such small pieces of fabric and I'm way too frugal to let it just sit around without ever turning into a quilt.

I don't usually buy precuts as I do mostly large planned quilts. I have a shoe box of fatquarter that I have been given either at quild or shop hops, etc. I bought one charm pack (Elenor Burns design) that I really loved the colors and made a table runner for our quilt auction at guild. I have a layer cake that I will add to and make two twin size quilts out of (It was on sale) and I have a jelly roll, again I really love the colors and love the pattern that went with it.
Most of the time I don't like many of the fabrics in the packages and because I am a perfectionist I don't like charm pack because they really aren't 5" square. Also the price is usually a lot more.

Fat eighths just are too small. With a FQ, you can make something. I'd get more out of scrounging through the remnant barrel.

All I've ever purchased were a few fat quarters. Much prefer buying yardage, even if it's just a yard.

Fat quarters are as small as I'd ever go. Even with them sometimes I regret not going all the way and buying a yard or more of the fabric 'cause whenever I have tried to get more it's always gone. 8-)

I don't like them either because I prefer to wash my fabric. I do like to buy my fabric by the meter so I know that I have plenty for any big project if I want.

I would consider buying fat eighths for projects making small size blocks such as ones in the Dear Jane or Farmer's Wife books.

And I would pre-wash them.

I really don't know what I would do if I was just starting to build a stash - aka hoarding fabric -

As it is, I usually have so many leftovers/scraps from other projects, that deliberately buying small pieces of fabric would be very hard for me to do. Especially when the price per yard would be considerably more than the off-the-bolt price per yard.