Borrowed a buddy's beam wrench myself once and now I check mine against it every few months, just hanging a known weight off the handle at a set distance to see if the click matches the math. Figured storing it wound up was no big deal until I saw mine drift about the same as yours. Costs nothing and takes ten minutes.

Stop flagging broke people charges and let us live.

Matched to soil" sounds like a lot of homework for something you shove in the dirt with your foot. I've used the same cheap aluminum stakes for years across all kinds of ground and the only times I bent one was when I hit a rock I couldn't see, which steel would've hated too, honestly. Carrying two sets of stakes just so one set can sit in the bag feels like it adds weight for maybe one trip a year where it saves you. Maybe it's just me but a bent stake bends back with a rock or your boot and you move on.