Ok....loaded question.... What do you regret? By that I mean, is there any gear you bought? Did you lose a piece of gear? Did you spend more than you later thought it was worth? Would you have chosen differently?

I'm sure we've all had some regrets about preparation stuff.... let's hear it! LOL.

I've lost several knives. I use to light the ARC flashlight but came to realize the machined aluminum threads were a major weak point and it was TOO pricey for the short life of those threads......

How about you?

That's an open-ended question. Posting a tribute that was perceived as "political."

Jeanette Isabelle

I jumped on the GPS bandwagon back about 1990, purchasing my first receiver then (with company money - your tax dollars at work). It worked quite well, and was accurate enough for the purpose, but units available just a few month's later were better and cheaper.

Same story with digital cameras. It seems to be characteristic of electronics in general these days.

First thing that comes to mind is buying two very large Eureka tents for family camping and - at two different times - breaking poles while trying to put them up by myself. Eureka didn't have replacement poles, and the third party company they recommended made poles that weren't like the originals. So the tents and poles sit in my basement unused since them - likely to end up at Goodwill.

BTW, I carry an ARC single AAA LED light every single day - in pocket - - with keys - for 10+ years and it continues to function flawlessly.

I regret using Windows for far too long before switching to a Linux desktop. All the thousands of dollars spent on software. All the pulling your hair out trying to figure out computer problems. All the reboots and re-installations. All the slowdowns and lockups. All the ever-increasing hardware requirements just to run it.

I don't mean to sound preachy or fanboy. But you asked for regrets, and this is by far my biggest one.

I tried Linux on several different occasions. I gave Mac a try and found what I needed. I wish I switched years earlier.

Jeanette Isabelle

5.11 Rush 24 bag. It's got so much excess weight from all the molle stuff, zippers, dividers, etc, on it that I have gone back to the inner/outer frame pack that I bought off of a disillusioned AT through hiker, in the late 80s--for $20, a hot shower, a bed, and a home-cooked meal...We BOTH got a deal...

Regrets, many little ones but not too many big ones. The regrets are mostly about missed life opportunities than in regards to any equipment.

Loaning my Busse Desert Battle Rat to my friend, who then tried to sharpen it on his Worksharp, only to round off the tip so bad I had to backgrind it to get the tip back.

Selling my two tack-driving Browning A-Bolt Stainless stalkers with BOSS compensators, then finding out Browning doesn't put the Boss compensators on their rifles anymore.

Finding out my daughter had an abortion without consulting me first.

Giving my prize Mazda pickup to my oldest daughter because she whined to my wife about wanting it so bad, then having her total it within 6 months.

Losing contact with so many friends/fellow preppers over the years.

I live by the mantra of: "I may not have made bad decisions in life, but I have not always made the best decisions either."

Helps to take some of the self doubt (gleaned through hindsight) away at times...

Loaned out far to many pieces of kit over the years, but I regret giving out books and articles that I cannot get back or find again.

I regret that I waited until my body was out of warranty before my mind started working reasonably well.

My dear wife tells me that the Frank Sinatra song "My Way" will be played at my funeral so I'll quote the line from that:

Regrets I've had a few
But then again too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption

However, I still really miss that Colt Woodsman I had back in the '70's...

Paul -

It was somewhat fitting that the subject of missed opportunities came up in Torah study this Saturday.

Jeanette Isabelle

I had a Star BM (Spanish 1911 clone). It had the bad habit to go from condition 1 to condition 0 when carried in a holster. It had go.
My Uberti 1873 rifle developed problems and had regular FTEs. The waranty repairs failed to correct that. It was replaced by a Winchester 1873 rifle. The Winchester served well for several hundred rounds so far .
A Glock field knife proved to be not up to par. Due to the short tang it lost the blade when hacking off a branch and I was not able to retrieve it. Luckily noone was in the path of the blade.
A cheap charger ruined a set of rechargeables when a capacitor blew. I should have bought a better one.
Finally not really a regret but a tool that was drastically reduced in usefulness is a Leatherman wave. I can´t carry it legally anymore as the blade can be opened and locked one handed .

> A Glock field knife proved to be not up to par. Due to the
> short tang it lost the blade when hacking off a branch and I >was not able to retrieve it. Luckily noone was in the path of >the blade.


Good idea I saw somewhere (it might have been here). Hold the tip of the blade; not the handle when batoning.

qjs

I was not batoning. I held the knife at the grip and swung it at the branch. The blade steel was not too good either. So I replaced it with a tiny full tang utility knife like the one the character Mountain Phil used to carry in Barquero.