Hot take: the $12 phone tripod from the grocery store beat the $70 one I ordered online
I know that sounds fake but hear me out. I make a little side money shooting listing photos for a realtor friend in Toledo, nothing fancy, just wide shots of empty rooms. My $70 tripod from the big online order had this whole twist-lock leg system and after about 6 months two of the locks quit gripping, so the thing would slowly droop during a shot. Meanwhile I grabbed a $12 little tripod off a rack near the checkout at my grocery store, mostly as a joke, and that thing has been rock solid for almost a year now. The legs are stiff in a good way. It doesn't droop. The phone clamp is ugly but it holds.
The difference wasn't price at all. The cheap one is just simple. Fewer moving parts to fail. The expensive one had bells and whistles I never even used, like a bubble level that was crooked out of the box.
Now I'm second guessing every 'buy the better one, it lasts longer' argument I've made. Has anyone else had a cheap thing just quietly outlast the fancy version? What was it?