things you bought that didn't work out for you

[pcake]

in the past, ariex and i have made some purchases that we weren't just impulse buys, but the items really didn't work out for us.

a manfrotto monopod - i had been handholding my cameras for bird photography, didn't find a tripod flexible enough, so spent several hundred on a monopod. it made sense, but in practice, i really disliked it. i don't think i sold it - i think it's in the back of a closet. maybe.

ariex's nordic track. years ago, i owned a cheap and noisy cross country ski machine, but it was great to use, so ariex decided to go for the real deal. we bought it used from a guy i'll always remember because his entire house and garage was packed with large and expensive fitness gear that he didn't use. we bought the nordic track, took it home, and i immediately discovered that, unlike my knockoff, part of the challenge of the real nordic track was keeping your feet from sliding off the "skis". i hated it. ariex tried to be more forgiving, but after a few months we sold it as it wasn't that useful as a clothes rack LOL

what are some things you bought that just didn't work out, not because they were defective but just because they didn't work for you?

 

[Zooberwerx]

A real popcorn popper....essentially an electric skillet with agitator and huge domed lid. Works but a b**** to clean. Stashed somewhere and reverted back to the microwave stuff.

Riis

 

[Hot Rats]

I bought a really nice Stihl weed whacker, gasoline. What a pain in the arse. I should have bought a battery powered one. What was I thinking?

 

[mapleglo]

I had a food processor for a time which worked great. Chopped up food perfectly. But every time I went to clean it, I cut my fingers on the blades. Every single time. Needless to say, it's long gone.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I bought a really nice Stihl weed whacker, gasoline. What a pain in the arse. I should have bought a battery powered one. What was I thinking?

The Stihl factory is literally a 1/4 mile from my office...but I wouldn't buy one either. I use a B&D with a 100' extension cord...slow going but ALWAYS works with the pull of a trigger.

Riis

 

[Jason Hollar]

We have a nice elliptical style machine in the basement that was bought with excellent intentions but sits idle for long stretches of time. Hopefully a planned beach vacation will inspire some more usage.

On another note, when I did real estate photography I absolutely loved my monopod. I found tripods too big and “busy” when all I needed was a level shot!

 

[Winslow]

a manfrotto monopod - i had been handholding my cameras for bird photography, didn't find a tripod flexible enough, so spent several hundred on a monopod. it made sense, but in practice, i really disliked it.

Several hundred?? I've got a couple of Manfrotto monopods, but I don't recall them being more than a couple of hundred bucks. (Of course, mine date back to when they were mostly metal, as opposed to carbon fiber. The lighter weight is nice, though.)

Monopods work best if what you're going to be shooting is at a fairly consistent height. That (and venue rules against tripods) is why they're all over the sidelines at sporting events, especially football, soccer, and track meets. The humans are running to & fro across a level plane, so all you're doing is zooming to them, seldom ever dealing with elevation changes. The monopod supports the weight of the camera (and often, gargantuan lenses), and lets you pick up and move down field with relative ease.

Not so with birds, on the other hand, since they can take off in any direction, often including up. If your monopod is settled on the ground, you have to either lean it back (and move yourself backward) to look up, or pick up the whole shebang and bodily tilt it. Not the best tool for that application, as you have found.

If handheld isn't an option, putting a good fluid video head on a tripod might be better for birds, since it can be set to balance a camera assembly, fluid-tensioned for preferred stability, but still remain "unlocked," and move in all directions (pan & tilt) at will. I've gone that route both for stills, and for use with small telescopes when I don't want to deal with the motorized or equatorial mounts, and it helps a lot (particularly with the aid of the long handle on the video head).


As for my own "things that didn't work out".... Sacrilege maybe, but in hindsight, there are a couple of basses in my arsenal that - while they fit a certain niche and have unique proerties - I just didn't enjoy playing as much as I thoguht I would. To quote Spock, "...having is not always so pleasing a thing as wanting."

So goes the way of the GAS, I suppose.

 

[pcake]

Several hundred?? I've got a couple of Manfrotto monopods, but I don't recall them being more than a couple of hundred bucks. (Of course, mine date back to when they were mostly metal, as opposed to carbon fiber. The lighter weight is nice, though.)

Monopods work best if what you're going to be shooting is at a fairly consistent height. That (and venue rules against tripods) is why they're all over the sidelines at sporting events, especially football, soccer, and track meets. The humans are running to & fro across a level plane, so all you're doing is zooming to them, seldom ever dealing with elevation changes. The monopod supports the weight of the camera (and often, gargantuan lenses), and lets you pick up an move down field with relative ease.

Not so with birds, on the other hand, since they can take off in any direction, often including up. If your monopod is settled on the ground, you have to either lean it back (and move yourself backward) to look up, or pick up the whole shebang and bodily tilt it. Not the best tool for that application, as you have found.

If handheld isn't an option, putting a good fluid video head on a tripod might be better for birds, since it can be set to balance a camera assembly, fluid-tensioned for preferred stability, but still remain "unlocked," and move in all directions (pan & tilt) at will. I've gone that route both for stills, and for use with small telescopes when I don't want to deal with the motorized or equatorial mounts, and it helps a lot (particularly with the aid of the long handle on the video head).


As for my own "things that didn't work out".... Sacrilege maybe, but in hindsight, there are a couple of basses in my arsenal that - while they fit a certain niche and have unique proerties - I just didn't enjoy playing as much as I thoguht I would. To quote Spock, "...having is not always so pleasing a thing as wanting."

So goes the way of the GAS, I suppose.

when you're hiking around looking for birds to photograph, carbon fiber's lightness is an excellent feature.

i was using a fluid video tripod head and hoping to pivot on the monopod foot to follow birds in flight, the upward trajectories, however, pretty much pulled the monopod off the ground, making everything heavier and awkward and causing me to miss the shots.

mr. spock knew what he was talking about. i just put my short scale fretless up for sale. i wanted one for decades, but once i had one, i discovered i don't really know what to do with it. i've played it 4 times in a year and a half LOL

 

[Winslow]

i was using a fluid video tripod head and hoping to pivot on the monopod foot to follow birds in flight, the upward trajectories, however, pretty much pulled the monopod off the ground, making everything heavier and awkward and causing me to miss the shots.

Heh. You're not alone. The head-on-the-monopod thing seems like it'd be a best of both worlds solution, but I don't run into may people for whom it works for very long. A carbon fiber set of sticks, though... that's money well spent! Better still, if they have the unlock tabs at the leg joints, so they can be quickly adjusted outward for uneven terrain, while not having to fiddle with the sliding leg locks all the time. That bit of flexibility is quite nice.

Curiosity piqued, I just went and looked at B&H, and see Manfrotto now has monopods with tiny little sets of feet that pop out of the ends. I guess those are for folks want a "monopod" that can stand up by itself. The pedant in me calls that "a tripod with a tall stick on top."

 

[James_E]

A real popcorn popper....essentially an electric skillet with agitator and huge domed lid. Works but a b**** to clean. Stashed somewhere and reverted back to the microwave stuff.

Riis

We bought one of these and it’s amazing. If you can find something like this where you live I’d recommend

404 - Lee Valley Tools

www.leevalley.com

 

[Parzival]

We bought one of these and it’s amazing. If you can find something like this where you live I’d recommend

404 - Lee Valley Tools

www.leevalley.com

I absolutely love my popcorn popper. If I get good kernels, which can be a toss up ordering online, I can make my popcorn as good or better than any movie theatre corn.

**The secret is Flavacol and coconut oil. Thank me later those who don't know.**

 

[DirtDog]

I bought a really nice Stihl weed whacker, gasoline. What a pain in the arse. I should have bought a battery powered one. What was I thinking?

I’d say the same thing for any two-stroke machine I’ve owned!

 

[pcake]

Heh. You're not alone. The head-on-the-monopod thing seems like it'd be a best of both worlds solution, but I don't run into may people for whom it works for very long. A carbon fiber set of sticks, though... that's money well spent! Better still, if they have the unlock tabs at the leg joints, so they can be quickly adjusted outward for uneven terrain, while not having to fiddle with the sliding leg locks all the time. That bit of flexibility is quite nice.

Curiosity piqued, I just went and looked at B&H, and see Manfrotto now has monopods with tiny little sets of feet that pop out of the ends. I guess those are for folks want a "monopod" that can stand up by itself. The pedant in me calls that "a tripod with a tall stick on top."

i got a benro with the tiny pop-out feet. not as stable as a tripod but heavier than most monopods. i used the feet when i wanted to put the tripod down while wearing my camera around my neck, which was definitely not what i had in mind when i bought it OL speaking of purchases that didn't work out. i think it was this one Invalid Link Removed

 

[Old Blastard]

Well....

* Bass VI. Tried it but it just didn't work for me. My guitar buddy picked it up and played it like George Harrison. I gave it to him for Christmas.

* 5 String. Bought it for almost nothing, fooled with for a few years, sold it to my banjo buddy for next to nothing

* Ibanez Talman. Loved the looks and it had great sound but it was heavy and had a neck as wide as a 4-lane interstate and I have Smart Car hands. Traded it for a Hartke combo amp

* Ex-wife.

 

[Lenny JG]

Daddario NYXL strings. Those strings were so tense, the G string broke when putting it on before it was to pitch, probably around F somewhere iirc, Daddario sends me a whole other package out of a different batch. I played 2 notes on the D string and then it snapped. I then put a random used string on for the D, and the new NYXLs actually went duller then that D string within 2 weeks. I also ordered a normal tapered XL .145 and they sent me a non-tapered instead, it was pretty much an unusable string because of the action at the bridge, plus even trying to string a .145 over a saddle is not easy haha. They said they would send me another pack of strings and make sure they sent a tapered one this time for my .145 and I just told them forget it, they've lost my business for pretty much life. Unless they have something nobody else offers, I WILL NOT use daddario gear.

 

[Chicory Blue]

While I don’t often make purchases that are large enough to regret south of the occasional dubious Amazon instrument, I have noticed I have a certain problem with lunchboxes.

On several occasions, I’ve seen cute bentos for sale, decided that I want to start packing aesthetic lunches again, and maintaining the effort for just a few weeks until I remember it’s vastly easier just to skip lunch at work altogether rather than bother sitting down, nevermind the daily commitment of sacrificing a few minutes of dedicated prep time each evening that I’d rather spend on essential activities like napping and crying.

Also, on a whim I picked up a cheap egg bite maker this summer, thinking it’d make for a simple and satisfying meal prep tool, but all the silicone molds are less than one egg in capacity and the cleanup is more tedious and involved than frying up my eggs like a normal person.

… Food is frustrating.

--^@

 

[Basslie]

Practically every lawnmower I’ve ever purchased.

 

[meisi]

Anyone say their wife yet?

I kid I kid, hunny. I know you’re reading this.

 

[Killing Floor]

Every Klon and Klone I’ve ever tried.

Fire pit

Blu-ray player

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Helix Stomp. It sounds cool, but I HATE dealing with that tiny little LCD window with all the submenus. It’s still sitting in a drawer…I should sell it before it has no value to anyone else.

Tons of DB string sets, all of which were too floppy. I give those away to students when they don’t work out.