My dd uses reusables, and she has been using the same set for near on 8 years now. So they have more than paid for themselves over the years and she will not use a disposable by choice now. She didn't change for flow reasons, rather that every disposable pad she tried brought her out in the most awful rash. She started her period at age 10, so she was young and adding painful rashes into the mix was not great.
Period pants were not a thing then, but now she uses a mix of both. I do remember at the time she said she had less period pains in the first few days, which I always thought was quite interesting, as perhaps some of the chemicals do have other negative affects.
As a pp mentioned, you may need to buy a good amount, she started out with a 'starter set' which we found was not quite enough, bearing in mind she needed different size pads (in the set there was only one for night etc). So I bought enough for her for 4/5 days of use, she has a bucket in her bathroom, which she fills with cold water and just pops the used pads into. Changes the water every day and then puts the whole lot in the machine at the end of her period.
If you can a decent spin on your machine, they will dry overnight inside the house. What she does it (as hers have the poppers on that clip under her undies) she clips them together and hangs the lot up (top one clipped onto a hanger) in the bathroom and they are usually always dry in the morning.
Remember to not use fabric conditioner when you wash them, just put vinegar into the rinse. The fabric conditioner will affect the absorbency.