Twenty covers at probably a buck fifty each is like another thirty bucks down the drain on top of the tool, that hurts. I made the same mistake with a no name rounder last year and the die was so far off center it looked like a toddler chewed the corners. The blade gap on those cheap ones is the real problem, they stamp instead of shear so 2mm board just cracks and fuzzes. Best bet under a hundred is watching for a used Lassco on the auction site, I got a C30 for $70 shipped and it cuts 2mm like butter. New ones in your budget are all gonna be the same Chinese unit with a different sticker on it. Save your money and hunt the used market instead.

I used to stand there rolling my eyes too, until a guy named Marcus working the counter told me to come back on a weekday morning around 7. Turns out the tossing is mostly for the crowd, but the actual selling happens at the back counter where locals call in orders and the guys are weighing and wrapping real fish. Watched a restaurant buyer pick up 40 pounds of salmon while tourists filmed the same cod flying around out front. So yeah the show is real, but there is a whole other market behind it if you skip the front row.