My climber buddy in Flagstaff told me to ditch my handsaw lanyard for a 2 dollar hardware store carabiner
Called him crazy for 3 climbs but a snagged lanyard at 40 feet on a ponderosa almost dropped my Silky on a guy's truck, and now the cheap carabiner never leaves my saddle. What's the dumbest cheap fix a veteran handed you that you fought before you tried it?
Keeps the saw from dropping, sure, but a two dollar carabiner from the hardware store is not rated for life support and that matters more than people think. You are right that the lanyard gets snagged, that part is real and it will happen again. But the fix a lot of old timers actually mean is a cheap carabiner on the saw itself, not on you, so the saw hangs free and the pull never reaches your body. If that thing is clipped anywhere near your saddle as part of your climb system, swap it for something rated, because hardware store biners are for keys and dog leashes. A snagged lanyard at 40 feet is a bad day, a failed biner under load is a way worse one. Keep the cheap one for the saw, keep a real one for you.