Grabbed a bubble level at a yard sale in Dayton for 6 bucks, thought it looked fine, but it was so far off that every shelf I hung for two weeks was crooked and I had to redo them all. Have you ever had a cheap tool waste more of your time than it saved money?
Last month I took a $140 camp stove on a 4 day trip and it crapped out the second night when the wind picked up. I got it from a big outdoor store, so I brought it back and told them the regulator froze up in the drizzle. The clerk said they see it all the time with that model, and pointed me to a plain $45 single burner that runs on the green propane cans. I've used it twice since and it boils water in the same time, plus less parts to break. Now I tell people to skip the fancy multi-fuel stuff unless you're doing real winter mountaineering. Has anyone else traded down to a simpler stove and found it works better for car camping?
I almost dropped $200 on a cordless impact wrench at Home Depot last week, then saw the return policy had a 30 day limit and I'd be stuck if it broke at month 5. Turns out their 90 day window only applies to certain brands, found that on the fine print behind the register. Has anyone else gotten burned by an assumed return window?