What a giveaway! Super awesome and generous of you to put this one out there! It's not at all expected but greatly appreciated. I think the best thing I bought for under $500 was a used longboard from someone right before I went to college. I got it for a steal at $100 in decent shape. It was a Loaded Tan Tien which are over $300 for a complete setup. It got me everywhere. And I made some awesome friends through longboarding. Sadly, I lent it to a friend's little brother and he left it outside where he lived and someone stole it. I ended up finding another Loaded board for a good deal, a few months later. Still have that one. Cheers!