Blew a keg line once at 3am because I skipped checking the pressure valve. Cleaning took forever and the floor was sticky for a week. Now that valve gets checked every single batch, no exceptions.

Respect that, real experience always wins out.

Wait, you really think that $7 tape measure is gonna hold up the same way in a year or two? Look, I get the nostalgia factor, but cheap tools are cheap for a reason. The plastic casing gets brittle, the lock slips, and the markings fade after enough use. My digital one has never once lied to me, and when I'm dealing with 500 staircases, I need accuracy down to the 1/8 inch, not a guess from a flimsy ribbon. Sure, it's fun to root for the underdog, but when a job goes sideways because the cheap tape stretched, you'll be kicking yourself. The fancy stuff costs more because it takes the abuse and keeps its calibration, that's the whole point.