I have not regretted any purchase from wal-mart, in fact I've often been way more than impressed with things i bought assuming they would be ridiculously cheaply made (because they were ridiculously cheaply priced).

Notably: $30 for a salmon rod/reel/17lb monofilament line. I just needed a beater rod while I was visiting the parents. I regularly fish with pretty expensive gear back home because pretty often cheap reels will break down with very little use.

The rod was nothing special, you can make a beefy rod capable of landing big fish for very little money. However, the fact of the matter was that with the very little fishing I have done up there the past two seasons, I have been able to put over 100lbs (estimate) of filleted meat in my parents' freezer with a freaking cheap wal-mart rod and reel. These are late season fresh pacific run silver salmon and even a nice ~30lb king was landed on that rod and reel, they do put a bit of strain on your equipment over time. I'm surprised that it's held up this long, so for $30 of fishing equipment investment I'm very happy.