things you bought that didn't work out for you

[ThinCrappyTone2]

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?

On January 18, 2024, I purchased a Ground Control UwU Virtual Pet Buffer. Possibly the least useful, most ridiculous pedal in existence, and I have no idea what compelled me to pull the trigger on it. Past me... I must ask you; what the heck were you thinking? https://reverb.com/item/78239800-ground-control-uwu-virtual-pet-buffer

 

[Winslow]

Really small 2 stroke engines can be very unforgiving.

The single best 2-stroke engine I've ever had is in a Honda pressure washer. Almost 20 years old now, used only a day or two every other year or so, and fires right up every time. (I never store it with gas in it, and freshen up the oil before waking it back up again.) That motor is [bleep] near bulletproof.

 

[Gorn]

My latest acquisition. Every review says they're too narrow. Three days into wearing them and, lo and behold, they're entirely too narrow.

 

[Chicory Blue]

while since my injury in 2008, most basses caused me pain to play, i mostly don't regret the string of basses that i've owned and returned or sold as they helped me figure out what i could and couldn't play without pain. i do regret that two of them didn't work out - the red hofner violin bass and the aerodyne. but sweetwater took them back, so i didn't lose any money. i was just very disappointed.

I too was burned by a violin bass.
So pretty, but the string spacing was too tight for me.

Granted, mine wasn’t a real Hofner, but rather some cheapo off Rondo, but whadayagonnado.

--^@

 

[FilterFunk]

A leather jacket from eBay.

It's actually an excellent jacket, but it doesn't hang right on me, and I'm very particular about how leather jackets fit me.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

I bought an electric lawnmower that was way too narrow. Felt like I was vacuuming a football field. It's gathering dust in the garage.

 

[Altitude]

Wood chipper.

I have a wooded lot and for 20 years I’ve been trimming trees and piling the scraps until I finally haul them off. I figured a chipper would allow me to cut out the haul away part. So I bought one during the pandemic.

It works as advertised, but:

- It’s loud as hell
- It’s good for anything up to about the width of a broomstick, which represents probably half of what ends up in my pile. I still have to haul off the rest
- The intake isn’t large and it’s actually not easy to guide stuff to it, and I have to trim the little parts of almost every branch before they will go in.

So I haven’t used it past the first two tries and now it’s sitting in my garage.

 

[brianrost]

An EGO battery powered lawn mower. Got at least 5 years out of it, but it died this summer. Being all electrical, full of relays and wiring routed through the handles and no service manual….I gave it away on Craigslist and went back to a gas mower, although I didn't want to.

My Tascam 2488 digital 24-track multitrack recorder. It had a bug in the MIDI implementation where it could only maintain clock synch if started at time 0. When fast forwarding or rewinding, it lost it’s mind and MIDI clock was no longer properly synced to the audio, making punch-ins impossible. The Boss BR900CD 8 track recorder I used before it was flawless in that regard.

Every single digital camera I owned until buying an Olympus E-M10 in 2015. Shutter lag made catching any kind of action impossible, autofocus performance was terrible, auto exposure was unreliable, images were too soft and grainy, blah, blah. Coming from film I was hugely disappointed. Then I got the Olympus and it was actually usable.

I bought a 70s Camaro from my sister in law after my car was totalled (on the way to a gig, no less). After driving Toyotas, Nissans and Subarus, a real US muscle car was fun at first. Then I tried to get my amps in it. Forget about my DB. It was terrible to drive in the winter. The one time I had to change a tire, I learned that the jack could not lift the car without scraping the fenders! I learned why so many people felt US auto quality went in the toilet in the 1970s.

Despite using computers in my day job before PCs even existed, I never could bond with Microsoft Windows. I was involved in designing processors for DEC, Intel and AMD, networking devices for 3Com, etc. Macs, loved them. UNIX/Linux computers, loved them. Windows was just a disaster to use, I could never understand how people who knew nothing about computers could even use it.

My very first bass amp, a Univox UB-250 I got used for $75 when buying my first bass guitar. It made noise, so I was satisfied at first. I soon relaized it was woefully underpowered and really didn’t sound any good. I picked up a 1960 Bassman head for $200 and a late 60s Guild 2-12 Thunderbass cabinet for $35, it changed my bass playing life. I don’t even remember what I did with that Univox, other than it was gone and good riddance.

I bought an old fiberglass sousaphone and started practicing. I could not find anyone who would give me lessons. I was on my own, got a method book and started running scales and arpeggios. I could never get my embouchure right, my lips would start bleeding after a half hour, so I knew I was doing something very wrong. After almost a year of struggling, I ended up donating it to a program that provided instruments to cash-strapped local schools that needed them for their students. At Christmas time that year, I got a card in the mail from the kid who was given the sousaphone. He was so excited to be able to play in the school marching band. That made it worthwhile.

When the CD changer in my car died, I started using an iPod Touch (essentially an iPhone without the phone part) cabled to the aux in on the dashboard. It worked, but was incredibly dangerous to use while driving. Trying to select tracks while you’re behind the wheel is no safer than texting. Even hitting pause or skipping to the next track was life threatening. When I finally sold the car after 15 years I got my wife's old car which still had a working CD player and my life was spared for another day.

I bought a quadraphonic 8-track tape player deck in a blowout sale at Lafayette Radio (a long gone competitor to Radio Shack) to use with the quad system I owned. I found some quad tapes in the cutout bins but in only a few weeks the deck was already eating the tapes.

 

[J Wilson]

Peavey T40. Hell of a price ($349.50, I was around when they came out). But that dense body and that skinny neck always felt weird and I could only get one sound out of it. Heavy.

Like Listerine, I used it, but never really liked it

 

[pcake]

I too was burned by a violin bass.
So pretty, but the string spacing was too tight for me.

Granted, mine wasn’t a real Hofner, but rather some cheapo off Rondo, but whadayagonnado.

--^@

my arm always fell into the waist, which immediately started stabbing me in the wrist LOL btw, as gorgeous as the red violin bass was - surprisingly since i don't find them that compelling usually - it was only an icon / ignition, but it looked great and sounded SO good while stabbing me in the wrist

Wood chipper.

I have a wooded lot and for 20 years I’ve been trimming trees and piling the scraps until I finally haul them off. I figured a chipper would allow me to cut out the haul away part. So I bought one during the pandemic.

It works as advertised, but:

- It’s loud as hell
- It’s good for anything up to about the width of a broomstick, which represents probably half of what ends up in my pile. I still have to haul off the rest
- The intake isn’t large and it’s actually not easy to guide stuff to it, and I have to trim the little parts of almost every branch before they will go in.

So I haven’t used it past the first two tries and now it’s sitting in my garage.

while i've never bought a wood chipper, that's a great story that reminds me of my regret purchases. shoulda worked, sorta did, but somehow didn't work out...

An EGO battery powered lawn mower. Got at least 5 years out of it, but it died this summer. Being all electrical, full of relays and wiring routed through the handles and no service manual….I gave it away on Craigslist and went back to a gas mower, although I didn't want to.

My Tascam 2488 digital 24-track multitrack recorder. It had a bug in the MIDI implementation where it could only maintain clock synch if started at time 0. When fast forwarding or rewinding, it lost it’s mind and MIDI clock was no longer properly synced to the audio, making punch-ins impossible. The Boss BR900CD 8 track recorder I used before it was flawless in that regard.

Every single digital camera I owned until buying an Olympus E-M10 in 2015. Shutter lag made catching any kind of action impossible, autofocus performance was terrible, auto exposure was unreliable, images were too soft and grainy, blah, blah. Coming from film I was hugely disappointed. Then I got the Olympus and it was actually usable.

I bought a 70s Camaro from my sister in law after my car was totalled (on the way to a gig, no less). After driving Toyotas, Nissans and Subarus, a real US muscle car was fun at first. Then I tried to get my amps in it. Forget about my DB. It was terrible to drive in the winter. The one time I had to change a tire, I learned that the jack could not lift the car without scraping the fenders! I learned why so many people felt US auto quality went in the toilet in the 1970s.

Despite using computers in my day job before PCs even existed, I never could bond with Microsoft Windows. I was involved in designing processors for DEC, Intel and AMD, networking devices for 3Com, etc. Macs, loved them. UNIX/Linux computers, loved them. Windows was just a disaster to use, I could never understand how people who knew nothing about computers could even use it.

My very first bass amp, a Univox UB-250 I got used for $75 when buying my first bass guitar. It made noise, so I was satisfied at first. I soon relaized it was woefully underpowered and really didn’t sound any good. I picked up a 1960 Bassman head for $200 and a late 60s Guild 2-12 Thunderbass cabinet for $35, it changed my bass playing life. I don’t even remember what I did with that Univox, other than it was gone and good riddance.

I bought an old fiberglass sousaphone and started practicing. I could not find anyone who would give me lessons. I was on my own, got a method book and started running scales and arpeggios. I could never get my embouchure right, my lips would start bleeding after a half hour, so I knew I was doing something very wrong. After almost a year of struggling, I ended up donating it to a program that provided instruments to cash-strapped local schools that needed them for their students. At Christmas time that year, I got a card in the mail from the kid who was given the sousaphone. He was so excited to be able to play in the school marching band. That made it worthwhile.

When the CD changer in my car died, I started using an iPod Touch (essentially an iPhone without the phone part) cabled to the aux in on the dashboard. It worked, but was incredibly dangerous to use while driving. Trying to select tracks while you’re behind the wheel is no safer than texting. Even hitting pause or skipping to the next track was life threatening. When I finally sold the car after 15 years I got my wife's old car which still had a working CD player and my life was spared for another day.

I bought a quadraphonic 8-track tape player deck in a blowout sale at Lafayette Radio (a long gone competitor to Radio Shack) to use with the quad system I owned. I found some quad tapes in the cutout bins but in only a few weeks the deck was already eating the tapes.

i didn't know anyone but me still remembered lafayette LOL

my ex had a quad system. it was great except for the very few albums available in quad.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

I bought Jeannie one of those industrial-grade wrist-rocket slingshots, to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeder and the neighbors dogs outta' the trash cans. BIG mistake. We ain't got a window left in the sitting room, the trash cans all got dents in 'em... and them durn ice cubes hurt!

 

[roccobass]

Besides several basses and amps, the most spectacular loser buy I did was when I traded my beautiful silver '94 Pontiac Grand Am that I bought brand new for new one two years. A trade in and car payment, to boot.

Man, I loved that car and so I thought the GA model was a good thing and I let an animated salesperson on the GM lot here at local dealership talk me in to "upgrading" to a '96. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!

Things started going wonky after the first year. The interior covers started coming off. It had an issue with the exhaust after two years. I also had to take it for some real call stuff. Quite a bit of other annoying things too. The last straw was all the power windows started crapping out after the 5th year. I did stay on top of its normal maintenance. It died on the way to the dealer when it needed some more work. They were absolutely useless. I was not sad to see Pontiac disappear.

 

[Chicory Blue]

On January 18, 2024, I purchased a Ground Control UwU Virtual Pet Buffer. Possibly the least useful, most ridiculous pedal in existence, and I have no idea what compelled me to pull the trigger on it. Past me... I must ask you; what the heck were you thinking? https://reverb.com/item/78239800-ground-control-uwu-virtual-pet-bufferView attachment 7106314

This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen.

I must have it.

--^@

 

[Mannyinnewyork]

I like to cook. So I bought one of those chicken rotisserie ovens in an attempt to duplicate the store bought chickens that we enjoy. Well, it worked and the chicken was yummy. I just overestimated how often we would use it and the clean up was a pita. Oh yeah, and my harley - I had it for almost 15 years but I knew early on it wasn't for me but I kept because I thought it would be my "last bike" (silly me).

 

[turf3]

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.


--^@

take a small bowl, crack the egg in, stir up, microwave 45 sec. for one egg, 1:30 for two.

You can't leave the yolk intact or you'll get explosions.

But it's fast, easy, and no splattered grease or frying pan to clean up.

 

[ThinCrappyTone2]

This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen.

I must have it.

--^@

Old Me: DO IT, DO IT

Current me: Nooooo

 

[Hurricane Jimmie]

So Anyway, some things that just didn't work out:

• Spector Czech and Hofner Violin Bass. Nice instruments that just didn't 'fit' on me
• Bread maker
• About a dozen pedals
• Several heavy bass cabs that I quickly got tired of lugging around
• Tequila while on leave in Mexico
• My career in healthcare
• Church
• Solder gun to repair cables
• Flavored beer or coffee
• Every girlfriend before I met Mrs. Hurricane

 

[mapleglo]

i didn't know anyone but me still remembered lafayette LOL

Geez, I spent a lot of time and money at Lafayette Electronics. I bought my first guitar there. First Walkie Talkie and first CB radio as well. First stereo receiver. Likely a bunch of other stuff I don't remember.

 

[turf3]

Dress shoes. I wore a pair of Foot Joy dress shoes till they were well and truly worn out. At least 4 pairs of heels, two resoles; finally the uppers just gave way at the creases. Bought a beautiful pair of Allen Edmonds shoes - should have listened to the little voice in my head saying "these are too narrow and pinch your toes" but NOOOO, not me!

Cowboy boots. I have KNOWN since age 10 that shoes with ANY kind of a raised heel DO NOT WORK for me. So on a long trip to the Southwest, we stopped in at a boot shop in Amarillo and I bought a pair of traditional boots. Raised heel, pointy toe. I tried to wear those damn things for a year - no go. Gave them to my dad.

Chuck Taylor Converse - weird sizing (I normally wear a 10 which is a 7 in Converse), incredibly pointy toes, NO padding.

Maybe before I'm dead I'll realize that my wide flat feet, beat up from decades of running, simply need the kinds of shoes they need, and quit trying to stuff 'em into shoes that don't fit.

 

[Chicory Blue]

take a small bowl, crack the egg in, stir up, microwave 45 sec. for one egg, 1:30 for two.

You can't leave the yolk intact or you'll get explosions.

But it's fast, easy, and no splattered grease or frying pan to clean up.

Clever, though what I eventually settled on was softboiling the eggs and then eating them out of the shell with a tiny spoon.

Super min-maxing the clean-up game here.

--^@