Worst piece of gear you ever bought?

[Skeeterbait]

What's the worst piece of gear you've ever purchased? Mine was an overly-large tent I bought when I was new and didn't know what I was doing. It never occurred to me that large tent = too big to keep warm with two people in it.

[wvbreamfisherman]

15 foot Coleman Ram-X canoe, circa 1982. It was cheap ($169 as I remember), and damn well should have been. Hull was too flexible, huge keel made it nearly impossible to turn, the transition from hull to side was too sharp, and it was too fat for its length and was a bear to paddle.

Taught me a LOT about canoes, tho LOL.


Oddly enough I sold it to a guy that absolutely fell in love with it! I guess there's something for everyone.

[Grandpa]

When the Forest Service first came out with the rule that every forest visitor would be required to carry a bucket, shovel and axe, someone made a light weight shovel with a sharp edge to emulate an axe. I suckered and bought one for my truck. First visit to the forest and a firepit was full of ashes. The very first shovel full of ashes and the shovel developed a 90 degree elbow. I didn't bother trying to cut anything with the axe part. I think a tool made out of rubber would have been stronger.

[Dusty]

I bought this ridiculous battery operated plastic lantern that collapsed down, thinking it would be better than a kerosene lantern. It wouldn't open when you needed it, and it wouldn't stay shut when you wanted it closed.

[Lamebeaver]

A pair of Itaska "breathable waterproof" boots. Worst pair of hiking boots I ever owned.

[hippieP]

I have never had much luck with anything breathable before, I think its a product curse. I think our worst buy was a tent we got years ago and it said something like 'indestructible" and within 3 months it died.

[oldsarge]

After the first Rambo, and before Jim Lile released the Knife he made for the movie. I picked up a knock off of the infamous survival knife John J used. Every body thought that this was the knife of all knives and wanted one. Big mistake! What a piece of garbage this knife turned out to be (the knock off) I would have rather used a dull butter knife. It was a few years later that Mr Lile released the knife he made for the movie for sale. I bought one and even though it was a made of quality material and the workmanship was better it was totaly useless in the field. I did try a few other "Rambo" styled survival knives, still a waste of my money, couldn't sell them off quick enough!

[charley]

A tent that was near impossible to set up. It was so hard to put up, I lent it to a friend once and he came back that night cause he couldn't get it set up.

[Judy Ann]

Originally Posted by charley

A tent that was near impossible to set up. It was so hard to put up, I lent it to a friend once and he came back that night cause he couldn't get it set up.

LOL!!!

My brilliant idea for hauling my 68 pound canvas tent 1/4 mile using a handcart meant for fishing gear and coolers on the docks didn't hold up on 10" steps. Broke on the fifth step! Don't buy a hand truck/cart with plastic wheels even if the rest is made of metal. Someone here told me that I would get what I paid for, but I didn't expect steps on a walk in site where mainly boat folks camp.

[omegapd]

Originally Posted by Dusty

I bought this ridiculous battery operated plastic lantern that collapsed down, thinking it would be better than a kerosene lantern. It wouldn't open when you needed it, and it wouldn't stay shut when you wanted it closed.

I fell for it too. The plastic "glass" part broke when I shut mine too hard.