Guess it's like when you're driving cross-country and hear the end of an audiobook before your buddy does. Ruins the whole shared trip, you know?

Actually, getting declined can be a good thing. It stops you from overspending in a loud place where you might make a bad choice. Robert_hayes, that moment might have saved your budget for something better later.

That's smart, but @blake428, a nut works even better than a washer.

You mentioned the clamp design being flawed, but I've had the opposite experience. My band uses a similar mount and it works fine, even with a bulky case. The trick is to really tighten it down hard, more than you'd think. Sometimes the shaking comes from the tripod legs not being solid, not the phone clamp itself. Maybe check if your tripod is sturdy enough before writing off the mount.

My local hardware store has a whole aisle for deck and patio cleaners now. It feels like every simple task gets turned into a project that needs the right product. Sometimes the old way was just fine.