Scope creep is actually a good thing most of the time, at least in my experience. @henrycooper, that line probably works great for keeping things simple, but I've seen way more projects die from being too rigid than from adding a few extra features along the way. Clients change their minds, and if you shut that down with a scope line, they might just take their business elsewhere. Sometimes you need to let the project breathe a little and see where it goes, you know? Sticking too tight to the original plan can miss the bigger picture.

...and honestly that tracks with my own experience too. I've had cheap plastic tripods take a beating and keep going while the aluminum ones bent or broke on the first real drop. The leg locks on my $15 one are a little wobbly now but they still hold. Your buddy's $80 tripod probably had some fancy quick release mechanism that just wasn't built for crash testing.