Best straightening iron for creating curls/waves?

I have some old £20 BaByliss straightners which have served me well, however I recently learnt how to create waves using straightners and am now styling this way often and so figure I should upgrade to a better tool.

The issue with the babyliss are: snagging/pulling hair out as I drag the tool down, sometimes the two irons not clamping together properly, and sometimes creating odd kinks rather than lovely curls. Appreciate the latter may be technique as I’m still learning. The other thing is my hair just doesn’t seem to “glide” very nicely and I feel like I meet some resistance and it makes the motion a bit “janky”.

I watched some YouTube tutorials and became quite sold on the GHD chronos which seem perfect but I’m not sure I can justify the price. I read that the revamp straightners are a good dupe but they arrived today and the outer edge is curved however it’s a matte finish so my hair doesn’t glide nicely.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Or alternatively does anyone have the GHD chronos and can vouch for them being worth it?