Cheap hall sticks are a coin flip, and you lost. I got a $12 pair off the same kind of listing, one drifted out of the box and the other lasted two weeks. The sensors in those things are bottom of the barrel, no dead zone tuning at all. Paying for a name brand board is the only way to go if you want it to actually last.

Wait, FOUR YEARS and not one person said anything sooner? That shop guy in Vernon must have watched you for like five minutes and figured it out, that's wild. I felt dumb when I realized I had my rebound dialed all the way closed for months because I thought it would make my bike more stable, but it actually made it feel like a pogo stick over braking bumps. Honestly the whole shock tuning thing is so backwards from what you'd expect, you think stiffer just means faster but it's way more about matching the terrain. At least you found out before you blew a seal or something from running it so harsh all the time. Did you go back and redo those rocky descents after you fixed it, or was it already too demoralizing for the season?