Advice sought re quality of camping gear now on sale

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Hello Everyone!

I am now in the market for camping gear. I note that a number of places are advertising gear on sale.

If money were no object, I would buy everything from LL Bean. But money is an object, so I don't plan to do much shopping there.

Although circumstances dictate that I cannot afford the best, I want to avoid cheap junk that falls apart quickly. I imagine that many of you have experience with various brands, and can report the good and the bad news. I guess the primary concept here is value - quality for the price.

Sears had tents on sale last week. When I was a boy, Sears was known for its quality camping gear, especially the items endorsed by Ted Williams. Is this still true today?

Target and K-Mart are both dumping their camping items onto the market. Target's house brand is called Greatland. Is any Greatland product worthwhile?

Many of K-Mart's items are Coleman. I have always trusted the Coleman brand. I note that they have put their name on itmes unrelated to lanterns, stoves and coolers. Is a Coleman item on sale a good bet to be a good buy?

I would appreciate any brand or retailer recommendation for value. As I say, if the item is not less expensive than LL Bean, I'm going to give it a pass in favor of the Bean product.

By the way, congratulations to all who have made this forum so valuable. I have contributed very little because I just don't have much to add to what has already been said. But I lurk almost every day.

-- GA Russell (ga.russell@usa.net), July 20, 1999

Answers

Hey GA, Backpacker magazine this month ran an article on cut-rate gear. Forget the cheap tents, on tests they fell apart. I've also tried some cut-rate Bean gear. Some was great, some wasn't. What exactly are you buying? The problem with the cheap tents is that they don't seam seal even if they say so, and water pours in the tent. I have a Moss (expensive), and one reason I like it is that the fly is a neutral, dull, brown color. Ask Bean who makes their gear, often it is a well-known company like Moss or Sierra Designs. Any serious use and the tent that's cheap will fall apart.

I had a Coleman sleeping bag and first trip the zipper jammed hopelessly. For stoves go with an MSR. They have a multi-fuel that burns ANYTHING, but buy the spare parts kit with it. Expensive, but they have lower priced models in line with Colrman costs. I hate to disparage anything with cut rate prices but I've been backpacking for years and also tried surplus military ALICE packs which were junk (also very poorly designed, you would think that 5 billion for wrenches could be spent to make the average infantryman comfortable)

Look in the back of Backpacker magazine (we just moved, can't find my copy) you will find a number for Sierra Trading Post. Please note that there is another company by the same name that sells military surplus. The one I'm referring to sells closeout top manufacturer's gear. I bought a Marmot down bag 40% off for $189. A spring loaded walking staff for 70% off. Many of the tents in there are North Face and Kelty with 30-40% off. In some cases the gear will have a seam out of place and is a factory reject, but they have a guarantee like Bean, and most of the equipment is simply discontinued. The company is in CO or UT, I think. The buys are pretty incredible with great service.

-- Retroman (retro50@agapeis.net), July 20, 1999.


My wife just found the magazine. Sierra is in WY, 800 713-4534, Have fun.

-- Retroman (retro50@agapeis.net), July 20, 1999.

If you don't have to have "new" equipment you might want to try yard sales. I can't believe all the stuff people "should" be keeping. They just don't get it. I saw a two man tent for $10.00. I should have bought it. We did buy a propane lamp (minus the disposable propane tank) for $1.00, the original "Back to Basics" by Reader's Digest (the number one selling Y2K book) for 25 cents! I also found several other helpful books on do-it-yourself home repairs. We found a Beta video player with about 100 tapes in three drawers for $5.00. I bought 5 gal. plastic water jug for $1.00.

In a month or two there should be more yard sales where people will be getting rid of more camping equipment because the season is over. I love Saturday Mornings! Penda Zone

-- Penda Zone (PendaZ@excite.com), July 21, 1999.


We have two Eureka tents- one a backpacking one we've had for almost 20 years and a standard 5 person tent. They've both held up quite well- and the prices are fairly reasonable when you can find them on sale. They are both freestanding which can be a real plus depending on where you have to set up. We've been picking up Greatland odds and ends this year- so far they're holding up fairly well- the fleece sleeping bag liners are pilling- but they've also been drug all over by our daughters. BTW the back to school sales have started ( at least in our area) if you're in the market for backpacks, etc.

-- Cindy (billmcbill@worldnet.att.net), July 21, 1999.

GA,

You might want to try an organization called REI. This is a co-op out of Seattle with locations nation wide. They carry everything from top of the line gear to their own name brand (often manufactured by top of line gear manufacturers. You get a rebate on items that you purchase from them and they have many of the name brand items mentioned in the above posts.

-- Tom (nomail@nomail.com), July 21, 1999.



Campmor is a mailorder oufit that carries all sorts of camping gear, in all price ranges. I've never been disappointed in anything I've bought from them. The link accesses their online catalog.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), July 22, 1999.

Many thanks for all of your suggestions.

Retroman, I found Sierra Trading Post on the internet! Unfortunately, I've had computer problems today and half of my bookmarks were lost, including that one. But it will be easy to find again. Blems of quality items are right up my alley.

Tom, we have an REI thirty miles from here. I love the place, but it's expensive! I'll ask them what the deal is about rebates.

I take it from your silence that Target and K-Mart items are not the way to go. I didn't mention Costco or Sam's. Does anyone recommend anything they sell there for camping purposes? The one good item I've seen at Sam's is the Leatherman.

-- GA Russell (ga.russell@usa.net), July 22, 1999.


I'd guess that the money you wish to invest also depends on the use you intend to get out of it...we bought a 5 man cabin tent at KMart 3 yrs ago-it stood up very well to 2 young boys, a dozen or more camping trips each summer, and then being left up in the backyard under the trees for all winter for occassional use as their "getaway". It pretty much died at the end of the second winter. A tarp over it probably would have extended its life significantly. It was fairly comfortable for 2 adults and 2 older kids including several plastic containers with gear and clothes. Last year we gota 4 man dome tent at Walmart on sale which survived a similar summers use, but died midwinter-but was much easier to lug around and put up.This spring I got acheap cabin tent at Walmart-wasnt planning on buying there again, but ran into a return on sale for $40 bucks so I grabbed it for the kids to use in the yard. Its one of the dual screen room ones, and seems to be tolerating the weather-very wet, very hot and steamy-extremely well. All of these tents were sprayed with water repellant before initial use-one of the inexpensive $4 cans that are sold at Walmart-a good prep item to get and keep a few extra cans of, even if you plan on staying put, IMHO-works real well on outer clothing, but does need to be reapplied occasionally. The american Camper propane stove lasted 2 yrs of camping use. The next one I buy will be a COleman-have seen too many last a long time- lots of fellow campers were using Colemans that were older than they were, so I'd say they were more likely to survive, and thus make the cost differential worthwhile. Although I havent ever bought the more expensive gear to compare, I am sure if you can afford it, it would be better, especially if you are planning to depend on it or plan on having it last along time. For just occasional or fallback use, an "In case I have to bug out" kind of scenario, I'd think the less expensive stuff would be a good compromise. Especially if you can run into yard-sale or flea market bargains and get more than one of each for far less than what you'd pay new retail for the good stuff. Or you might want to put some big bucks into say, a really good sleeping bag, and then compromise with some mid grade items for the less critical gear. Your anticipaed use and needs and how critical each item is to you- as well as the climate and conditions, might help you make that decision. HTH

-- LauraA (Laadedah@aol.com), July 22, 1999.

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