Shoutout to the guy at Rocky River Hardware who talked me out of the $80 rain barrel
He said the cheap plastic one would crack by February here, and sure enough my neighbor's fancy drum split right after that cold snap in January. I went with his $35 pick and it's still holding up after three months of storms, plus he threw in a free hose adapter. Anybody else got a local store employee who actually knows their stuff better than the internet?