things you bought that didn't work out for you

[dwm74]

ah, home treadmills... every one i've owned a treadmill,. they made my knees hurt a lot, while none at the gym ever bothered my knees at all. i sold each one, several to people who later reported how happy they are with them. ironically, perhaps, i have a $150 walking pad with a permanent 8 degree incline that doesn't hurt my knees after all those pricier treadmills.

Funny you should mention a walking pad. I'd been using my big NordicTrack treadmill for the past six years, and appreciated the cushioned platform. But my wife was always lamenting that it took up way too much space in our living room, even though we're rarely in that room. After my doctor recommended walking instead of jogging, I went ahead and bought one of those much smaller walking pads.

Although I knew I wasn't getting anywhere near the same cardio benefits as jogging, I still plugged away, walking 2-3 miles every day. But about six weeks after buying it, it started cutting out on me in mid-stride. If you've ever been on a treadmill that suddenly crashes on you while using it, let's just say it isn't the nicest feeling in the world. Then it started doing it semi-regularly, and a few months later it died completely. Too late to send it back, but too expensive to replace the circuit board. Basically $400 for about six months worth of use. That's my latest thing that "I bought and didn't work out for me".

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I guess I could add the three elliptical machines we went through between 2000 and 2014. Two were from Sears, and the third I don’t even remember. We wore them all out in a year or two each to the point where the resistance mechanism was trashed, and they were more expensive to repair than they had been to buy.

In 2014 after my major knee surgery, we splurged on an Octane Fitness elliptical with magnetic resistance, and it is still in use today 6 days a week. Highly recommended.

 

[Old Blastard]

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.

I finally gave up and took the advice of another 65-year-old runner and bought Hokas. I know of several sins that are better looking, but they do work for my gnarled, running- wrecked feet.

 

[pcake]

Funny you should mention a walking pad. I'd been using my big NordicTrack treadmill for the past six years, and appreciated the cushioned platform. But my wife was always lamenting that it took up way too much space in our living room, even though we're rarely in that room. After my doctor recommended walking instead of jogging, I went ahead and bought one of those much smaller walking pads.

Although I knew I wasn't getting anywhere near the same cardio benefits as jogging, I still plugged away, walking 2-3 miles every day. But about six weeks after buying it, it started cutting out on me in mid-stride. If you've ever been on a treadmill that suddenly crashes on you while using it, let's just say it isn't the nicest feeling in the world. Then it started doing it semi-regularly, and a few months later it died completely. Too late to send it back, but too expensive to replace the circuit board. Basically $400 for about six months worth of use. That's my latest thing that "I bought and didn't work out for me".

i guess it's the luck of the draw with these things. mine is still going strong, although it gradually stops every 15 minutes, but i just start it again. those sudden stops i had on another treadmill are treacherous, and it's worse if you're running.

I guess I could add the three elliptical machines we went through between 2000 and 2014. Two were from Sears, and the third I don’t even remember. We wore them all out in a year or two each to the point where the resistance mechanism was trashed, and they were more expensive to repair than they had been to buy.

In 2014 after my major knee surgery, we splurged on an Octane Fitness elliptical with magnetic resistance, and it is still in use today 6 days a week. Highly recommended.

magnetic resistance is the best for stuff like this. it's smoother, it wears out much more slowly. glad to hear you went that way, and it's still working!

 

[Hurricane Jimmie]

You didn't "buy" all those former girlfriends...did you?

A few years after we broke up, I heard that my first 'real' girlfriend had moved to Nevada and 'turned pro'.
Not sure if it was true or someone just starting a rumor.

Years later she called my parents trying to find me. She told my mom that she was married and had a little girl, so I guess things turned out alright for her.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Fender jazz, just can’t dig the “not big” sound and the goofy shaped body. Bought and sold 2. Found myself looking at another one. Nothing is learned from a second kick of a mule.

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

I finally gave up and took the advice of another 65-year-old runner and bought Hokas. I know of several sins that are better looking, but they do work for my gnarled, running- wrecked feet.

How long has it been since your last confession?

 

[Jon Draffan]

Fender jazz, just can’t dig the “not big” sound and the goofy shaped body. Bought and sold 2. Found myself looking at another one. Nothing is learned from a second kick of

Five strings, and Fretless’. For some reason every five years, I forget that I don’t like them and then buy another.

Gotta say, the most recent changes that fender has made to their professional line may have been the educational “second mule kick” that I needed. In 35 years I’ve never owned or wanted to offender, until the professional II series came out.

 

[Jon Draffan]

Progressive lenses. A committee approach to what happens to your eyes after the age of 40. Guarantees you wind up taking them off and putting them back on a hundred times a day. Also a new pair of Adidas shoes. Insoles came out the first time i took my feet out of them, and they smell like a litter box. $165 for what used to be a nice product.

Progressive lenses! Yes! I ended up often for a reading pair of glasses and then everything else pair of glasses! I still have to change glasses a lot but for some reason, it’s less annoying

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Five strings, and Fretless’. For some reason every five years, I forget that I don’t like them and then buy another.

Gotta say, the most recent changes that fender has made to their professional line may have been the educational “second mule kick” that I needed. In 35 years I’ve never owned or wanted to offender, until the professional II series came out.

My gigs are really low key now, I have moved back to playing 4 string. But I have kept my 5 string to keep from selling and buying another! Like golf clubs. I have bought& sold sets, I finally wised up and keep a yard sale set that I will never sell to keep avoiding of the buying/ selling more

 

[Jon Draffan]

I've bought maybe 30 basses over the years and currently have one and I barely play. It was compulsive shopping, not the joy of music. Now my problem is expensive boots.

+1 on this, fortunately I have settled on two, the only two I didn’t buy in 35 years… 1 precision, and 1 jazz from fender. Feels like about 27 other basses didn’t need to be purchased.

 

[nonohmic]

Yup. I've owned a couple of fretless basses and discovered that I do not have the patience or passion to play one. Flat wound strings. I'll play them for a while and then go back to rounds. I have stopped bothering with either...

I hoped you tried rounds on a fretless before you gave up on them. That's where the magic is.

 

[WG Plum]

I hoped you tried rounds on a fretless before you gave up on them. That's where the magic is.

Not for me, I prefer tapes, but horses for courses.

Fivers. Had a few, sold them all.

Marriage license.

 

[spiritbass]

I hoped you tried rounds on a fretless before you gave up on them. That's where the magic is.

I did, thank you for the suggestion!

 

[pcake]

Fear is a heck of a drug.

Five strings, and Fretless’. For some reason every five years, I forget that I don’t like them and then buy another.

Gotta say, the most recent changes that fender has made to their professional line may have been the educational “second mule kick” that I needed. In 35 years I’ve never owned or wanted to offender, until the professional II series came out.

i buy a five string about every five years, too LOLOL

 

[Passinwind]

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?

I've owned four fretted basses over 52 years of playing, only the lone fiver of that bunch made it much over a year and that one is gone too now.

 

[TOOL460002]

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

My grandpa was a huge fan of popcorn and is the only person I've ever seen with one of those. Completely forgot how cool that thing was. Now I'm tempted to buy one... There is something so easy about an air popper of microwave stuff though.

I don't really buy much that isn't music/tech stuff, so anything that doesn't work is easy enough to sell or swap. That said, I bought the top of the line Windows Pad thing years ago, barely used it, and then stepped on the screen and tossed it. Total waste of money.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Progressive lenses! Yes! I ended up often for a reading pair of glasses and then everything else pair of glasses! I still have to change glasses a lot but for some reason, it’s less annoying

Same here. First pair gave me vertigo. Took 'em back the same day and went with lined bifocals. I had NO trouble acclimating to those. The optician cuts-in the reading lens (bottom) a mm or so lower to compensate for my height.

Riis

 

[Brian Patterson]

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?

Funny you mention a Manfrotto monopod - I still have mine from many years ago and in the right circumstances it is invaluable - recently at car races and wherever a tripod isn't allowed it is the solution when hauling my 200-600 tele zoom. Don't get rid of it yet!

 

[pcake]

Funny you mention a Manfrotto monopod - I still have mine from many years ago and in the right circumstances it is invaluable - recently at car races and wherever a tripod isn't allowed it is the solution when hauling my 200-600 tele zoom. Don't get rid of it yet!

i can't get if of it as i have no idea where it is LOLOL

i have a nice quality tripod that i have used every so often with a super smooth video head, which i prefer to a ball head for photography.