Cheap gear that could have saved me hundreds of dollars

[bulgron]

Every now and then you blow it, and you really end up kicking yourself.

I wear pretty expensive prescription sun glasses. I don't usually wear keepers with them around town, but I do wear keepers when I go hiking. Except that last weekend I accidentally dropped my keepers when we were loading up our packs by the truck, so they never got onto my sun glasses.

The next day, I was screwing around with my video camera, and I couldn't see the video camera's screen (polarized lenses on a camera display and in bright sunlight is always problematic). If I'd had the keepers I would have just let the glasses hang from around my neck. But I didn't have them, so I took off my glasses and absentmindedly set them down on the rock next to me. Yep, you guessed it: crunch.

The keepers cost $1.99. The glasses just cost me $405 to replace. sigh Lesson learned: get in the habit of always using the keepers, even around town, so I don't go misplacing them anymore.

So ... what stupidly inexpensive piece of gear have you lost/forgotten for a trip that ended up costing you a bunch of money and/or no end of grief?

 

[crossada]

I lost my Surefire rechargeable commander once because I didn't have any place to keep it other than a jacket pocket. I hunted every where around where I camped but no luck. A few months later I did find it. The light amazingly enough still worked but the battery won't hold a charge for more than 20 minutes now. I'm guessing a good sheath for it would of saved me a headache.

 

[squishware]

Condom.

 

[M. McCord]

I lost my Surefire rechargeable commander once because I didn't have any place to keep it other than a jacket pocket. I hunted every where around where I camped but no luck. A few months later I did find it. I'm guessing a good sheath for it would of saved me a headache.

I lost an E2E that became unclipped. A $1 worth of 550 cord & a hook would have prevented it.

 

[bulgron]

Condom.

lol.

You win.