My buddy kept pushing that $8 rain fly for 3 seasons and I finally caved last June at Grayson Highlands
Turns out a cheap separate fly with taped seams and a 2000mm rating kept me drier through two straight nights of sideways rain than the $200 tent I'd sworn by since 2011, so now I want to hear from folks who've gone the other way and had budget tarps soak through on them.