My shop vac survived a 12-foot drop off a ladder - what's your toughest tool story?

OP here. So I was up on a roof yesterday doing some gutter work, had my trusty 6-gallon shop vac (brand X, about 5 years old) with me to clean out debris. Was moving the ladder and somehow the hose got tangled - whole thing went flying off the roof edge and dropped straight onto concrete driveway below. Heard this awful CRACK sound. Climbed down expecting plastic shrapnel everywhere... but aside from a dent in the housing and the handle snapping off, the damn thing still runs! Motor sounds fine, suction is strong. Couldn't believe it. Makes me wonder what other tools out there can take serious abuse.

LOL Paul that's nothing! Last summer I was tiling a pool deck and my wet/dry vac took a dive INTO the pool while it was still plugged in. Sparks everywhere, tripped the GFCI, thought I killed it for sure. Dried it out for 3 days in the sun, crossed my fingers... fired right up! Still using it for mortar dust cleanup. Some of these things are built like tanks. My cordless drill though? Dropped it 4 feet onto carpet once and the chuck never worked right again. Go figure.

Landscape perspective here - we abuse vacuums differently. Mine lives in the truck bed, gets rained on, filled with wet leaves/mud/gravel, gets knocked over constantly on job sites. The switch died after 2 years but the motor's on year 5. Pro tip: the all-metal housing models might dent but they outlast the plastic ones in outdoor conditions. My apprentice once ran over our backpack blower with a skid steer... that didn't end well though 😅

Welding shop story: Had a shop vac that sucked up hot welding slag (dumb, I know). Melted a hole straight through the plastic hose and part of the collection bin. Patched it with aluminum tape and fiberglass mesh, still works for general cleanup 3 years later. But honestly for heavy debris we've switched to stainless steel industrial vacs - cost 4x as much but survive sparks, chemicals, and my guys throwing them around. You get what you pay for in build quality.

Steve - into a POOL?! That's legendary. Greg makes a good point about you get what you pay for. My roof-drop vac was mid-range, not cheap but not pro-grade. Maybe the lesson is buy slightly better than you think you need? Though my $30 Black Friday special in the garage died when it tipped over on grass once... Moral: don't buy Black Friday tools for actual work 😂