Cheap Crap!

One would think that after over 35 years of fishing in the Pacific Northwest I would learn. Hell no! After all these years I have not learned the lesson of not buying cheap fishing/outdoor gear.
The latest cheap crap I bought was a boot dryer. I was in Harbor Freight, the mecca of cheap crap, and found this boot dryer for $10. I was so excited at finding a cheap boot dryer that I didn't bother to check and see that it ran four "D" cell batteries and in order to run it on household current I had to buy a six volt adapter. So after determining that I had no six volt adapter I ventured out to the Dollar Tree to find come cheap "D" batteries.

I don't know if they have Dollar Tree stores in other parts of the country but I have three of them within two miles of me. You could probably buy the entire store's inventory for less than $1000.
See the pattern here? In order to know that the Dollar Tree had cheap batteries meant that I had been in there before...I'm hopeless! So I got the $1 batteries and of course browsed the cheap Christmas tinsel to see if they had any new colors that I hadn't already bought for use in fly tying.
Well needless to say the crappy boot dryer did what cheap and crappy things do. Yes it crapped out and now resides in the plastic recycle container out in the drive way.
I have a long history of cheapness and it seems like some sort of evolutionary process with me. I'm evidentily still evolving when it comes to cheap crap.
It started with fishing line back in my gear days. I would buy this blue stuff that was about $1.79 for a thousand yards. After losing a huge steelhead I learned my lesson.
Then it was hip boots. I found some for $19.95 and of course in the middle of winter when the water is 38 degrees they leaked and I learned my lesson well at least until the introduction of cheap neoprene waders and cheap breathables.
It went on into rain coats. I found a really nice and cheap one at the local Bi-Mart and when I got wetter than I would have without a raincoat I learned my lesson.
Oh I could go on but I think you get the idea. Cheap rods, reels, line, rifles, sunglasses etc. will fail you at the most critical moments...take it from someone who knows.
So the moral of this story is to buy the best fishing/outdoor gear you can afford! You'll will save yourself from frozen toes, fingers and lost elk hunting opportunities(don't ask) when you purchase quality gear.