Used to think burying them that deep would rot the stems... but tried it last year after seeing my neighbor's monster plants and yeah, total game changer.

That part about "batteries died in the heat" hit close to home... I was out on the South Kaibab once and my headlamp just gave up around sunset. Had to scramble back by moonlight, which was actually pretty nice but my heart was pounding the whole time. That washout problem sounds rough though, catclaw is no joke... I still find little scars on my arms from getting snagged in that stuff years ago.

@the_rose you're not wrong about the hoodie analogy, that's exactly what it felt like. I actually touched the back of it after it kept crashing and nearly burned my finger, it was that hot. The thing was basically suffocating in that cabinet with zero airflow. Moved it to an open shelf and it's been working fine ever since. Funny how the simplest fixes are the ones you overlook at first.

Dude @jessicaw54 you hit the nail on the head with that box of glass line. I had a similar shock last year when I bought a used 24-70mm and found a tiny dead ant stuck to the inner glass. No shadow in the viewfinder but it showed up as a weird blur on every shot at f/16. I tried air first but that ant was not going anywhere. Ended up having to take the whole front off with one of those rubber lens wrenches just to get at it. Its wild how much junk gets in there even with the caps on. Makes you wonder how many other people are walking around with spiders living in their lenses lol.

Is it really that serious? I've been storing tapes flat for 30 years without issue.