It had served me well for the last 2 years. I accidentally hit a rock on the backswing and it broke into 3 pieces. It was probably weakened by exposure to the elements, aggressive sharpening, and being low quality to begin with. The new one is much much better
I was very disappointed when I bought a machete and discovered that I could not just slice through hanging vines like a jungle explorer from the movies. (Hitting a loose, thick vine with a machete just pushes it rather than cutting it.)
That’s why they always hack 4-5x in the movies to cut their way through the vines. Or pull on them with the left hand to add tension, then cut with the right.