I have finally found a Walsco little pal tape that I was willing to buy.
I had to pony up almost $16 for it, but when every other one that popped up was either worse for more money or much much worse for a bit less this one seemed reasonable.
I see little to no rust and the seller tells ma it retracts great with no help, all the others were described as needing a little help.
Maybe that just means a thorough flush with WD40 and compressed air which this one will probably get just to be safe because there's clearly a bunch of lint in that hole, but I'm not going to gamble on one that's not currently working well.