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Is backpackinglight.com worth subscribing to? Many of their free articles leave me with an indifferent feeling and the free reviews on products I've looked at aren't very in-depth.
Additionally, I am very disappointed in their store. I wanted to order about 11 things from them today but 9 of the items are out of stock and they don't appear to have any auto-notifaction by email when they do return in stock like other stores. I would have thought, bases on ordering 11 items that more stuff would have been in stock. It generally isn't worth ordering only one or two items from someplace if you have a bigger shopping list.
If the member content is much better than the freebie stuff then maybe it's worth the price even if you can't take advantage of the discount because nothing is in stock. Heh.
Thanks
_terrapin_
01-03-2008, 14:39
It's a mixed bag. I suscribed for a year and then let it lapse. I had no use for their "store" either. However, Ryan Jordan's book on the subject of UL backpacking is excellent, IMO.
Kerosene
01-03-2008, 14:53
I subscribed for two years, but let it lapse this year. I might renew this summer as I get closer to planning for my section hike this Fall.
They do have e-mail notification when out-of-stock items are received, but I think you have to be a member to turn on the feature.
I found that much of the membership-only articles were worth the initial subscription, especially if you're in the market for new gear. At this point I feel that I'm pretty well set for my gear (although I keep going back and forth between the single-wall tents I use versus an insulated hammock versus a tarp/bivy).
I think WB is a great resource, no need to pay for others :)
But do feel free to donate!
But do feel free to donate!
Yup, I donate once a year.. should do it more often but it's better than nothing.
- T
As far as gear reviews, I find that most people post a positive review. Having bought items and allowing a gear review talk me into it, I have found that several things did not live up to what I thought it should or was represented in the review.
For some reason people are afraid or unwilling to give an honest balanced review of something. They will point out the positive things, but then totally miss the negative things about a piece of gear.
I have learned (at a considerable expense $$$) to dismiss most gear reviews. When I post a review I point out the good along with the bad things about an item. I try to make it a review that useful to others, rather then just an endorsement of a product.
CoyoteWhips
01-03-2008, 15:59
As far as gear reviews, I find that most people post a positive review. Having bought items and allowing a gear review talk me into it, I have found that several things did not live up to what I thought it should or was represented in the review.
Yeah, I think that when people have an investment in gear, they try their best to give it the benefit of the doubt. Something would have to have a serious flaw to get a negative review from a user, like "I threw this in the garbage because..."
_terrapin_
01-03-2008, 16:22
Yeah, I think that when people have an investment in gear, they try their best to give it the benefit of the doubt. Something would have to have a serious flaw to get a negative review from a user, like "I threw this in the garbage because..."
A number of my gear purchases have been less than ideal. I'm generally up-front about that. OTOH, sometimes it's a case of "YMMV" and one's background and expectations.
Case in point: there are some things I love about my Tarptent, and one or two things that aren't so great about it. Having done most of my hiking in dry double-wall tents, condensation isn't something I care to deal with. OTOH, someone without that background might think the Tarptent is darn near perfect.
MSR Stoves come to mind as items that people give overly optimistic reviews on. I’ve had a Whisperlite and it clogged up frequently, and got soot all over everything. (Sold it for $10.00 at a flee market, and I was thinking the guy that bought it was getting screwed) There is a reason that MSR sells those repair kits (field kit and yearly rebuild kits) for their stoves. The reviews all say the stove is great and easy to field strip to clean, and also remind you to have the field repair kit. You have to read between the lines to figure out that the stove is going to give you problems. I don’t want to take a stove apart to clean while out hiking or camping, I want to light it and cook, not play engineer and field strip it and have part flying all over the place.
I did a review of the Thermette stove (it’s like a Kelly Kettle) and I gave an honest opinion of its good and bad points and my intended use for it. I did lots of reading of reviews of the Thermette and every one gives it high praise. My review seems to be the only evaluation of it’s short comings and good points on the net.
Here is the review if you want to read it.
http://www.thebackpacker.com/gear/stoves/thermettte_north_america_thermette.php (http://www.thebackpacker.com/gear/stoves/thermettte_north_america_thermette.php)
_terrapin_
01-03-2008, 16:50
Bob S., your report is a perfect case of "YMMV." Thousands of folks have had great luck with Whisperlites. Up until a 5-10 years ago, they were pretty much the stove of choice among thru-hikers. They've mostly been put aside in favor of lighter alternatives -- alcohol and canister stoves.
_terrapin_
01-03-2008, 16:55
Your mileage may vary.
I don’t want to knock anyone else’s experience with the Whisperlite, but I do know that I had a lot of problems with it and the reviews frequently mention to buy the repair kit for it. They say it’s a great stove, then they say it’s easy to field strip and to have the repair kit with you. I’m not the smartest person on the planet, but I can see between the lines of statements like this. I have a Svea 123, I have never bought any repair kit for it, I have no idea how to field strip it. I have never done anything to it but put gasoline in it and cook with it. I can’t even come close to saying that about the MSR stove.
_terrapin_
01-03-2008, 17:11
Well, Bob S., it just goes to show... gear reviews almost always need to be taken with a grain of salt. What works for you may not work for me, and vice versa.
Dirtygaiters
01-03-2008, 23:36
Think of it like a magazine and the subscription fee doesn't hurt so bad. The plus side is that the MYOG articles are very good and the reviews are actually critical of the gear they review. Some gear they fawn over (the WM Flight jacket is way overhyped in all their reviews), but most of the gear they review goes like this: what's good, what's bad, would they recommend this item, and how does it stack up to comparable gear items.
There are a number of podcasts, which range from "interesting" to "boring" to "unlistenable" and some other premium content that I never read, but the reviews have helped me out of at least one bad gear buying decision which would have cost me more than $25 so in that regard the subscription fee is worth it for me personally.
The store is pretty poorly stocked and hearing the staff at BPL talk about restructuring, it doesn't look like there's light at the end of the tunnel with regards to getting their things in stock more often. The good news is that if you want to buy one of their high dollar items, like a bivy, tarp or quilt, you can get an online membership and the member discount on the gear will make the membership pay for itself. The bad news is that their coolest gear uses Polarguard Delta, not Climashield XP which is the newest and best continuous filament insulation currently available.
The user reviews there are like most user reviews elsewhere. The type of people who post them will be either people who love their gear, or people who abhor their gear. The forums are very above average, though, in my opinion--not a replacement for Whiteblaze, mind you! but the BPL "G Spot" forum has a lot of information and knowledge that you just don't see on the other backpacking forums, Whiteblaze included. Also, the Gear Swap is absolutely great in every way and it's free to get a forum account.
Dirtygaiters
01-03-2008, 23:47
I meant to point out, maybe you know this already, though, the user reviews/reader reviews are posted by the forum posters. The premium reviews are actually funded by the magazine subscriptions and are done by the BPL staff. These are the reviews that are worth reading and the only things that sucks more than the fact that you have to pay for them is that they are worth the money.
Well worth the money if you intend to try to go as light as possible, just to lighten your load, or find out what the absolute best available is out there (and how MAD expensive that stuff can be:eek: ).
When I can afford to, I'm going to resubscribe (subscription ran out just before Christmas).
I meant to point out, maybe you know this already, though, the user reviews/reader reviews are posted by the forum posters. The premium reviews are actually funded by the magazine subscriptions and are done by the BPL staff. These are the reviews that are worth reading and the only things that sucks more than the fact that you have to pay for them is that they are worth the money.
Dirty Gaiters really hit the nail on the head here.
The staff reviews are excellent and point out all elements of the gear they review, both good and bad. The reader reviews you have seen are no more than independent thoughts from forums members, a wikipedia of gear reviews so to speak. The staff reviews are dramatically longer, offer excellent pictures, and give much much more detail.
The biggest issue sometimes is too much detail in many articles. Several of the authors are engineers and they bring this detail to all writing. Many articles I've seen offer professional scientific level publishing in APA format, using baseline data and a host of different samples with graphs, charts, comparisons in text, and so forth. Stoves are amongst the biggest offenders for being overly detailed. I come from an engineering backgrounding and even I sometimes think, "this is TOO much".
But to answer your question, is it worth a subscription? If you want a much more detailed level of examination in your backpacking gear, try it for a year. I really enjoyed the print magazine, but it is now mostly a parrot of the online info, so don't bother.
Or you can ask questions and get VERY detailed info on gear on the forums for free. Check it out. It's worth a try.
I love Ryan's book and listen to the podcast. I went on the website tonight with a list of four items to buy with my Christmas bonus check. ALL FOUR ITEMS WERE OUT OF STOCK! I found this interesting since they did an interview awhile back with Molen from Big Sky products and the focus of the interview was customer service issues and back orders. Hello Kettle- meet Pot...
I planned to subscribe -- but if I can't order from their store due to back orders-- I am some what cautious about subscribing to the on-line magazine.
With that said-- I am VERY interested in going to their Treking Course since I am new to the UL scene...
I've never read or needed an in-depth review in order to by a piece of gear. Either seeing the gear in person or a couple of opinions to buy online usually do just fine.
Dirtygaiters
01-05-2008, 14:14
So when you read a 10 page glowing review about a piece of gear online by someone who has obviously just tested the item out for one or two days, you take it at face value? Interesting...
trlhiker
01-05-2008, 21:38
I use their forum but do not subscribe. For gear reviews I go to thebackpacker.com or trailspace.com. And I contribute to the forums that are the friendliest and most helpful.
As far as gear reviews, I find that most people post a positive review. Having bought items and allowing a gear review talk me into it, I have found that several things did not live up to what I thought it should or was represented in the review.
For some reason people are afraid or unwilling to give an honest balanced review of something. They will point out the positive things, but then totally miss the negative things about a piece of gear.
I have learned (at a considerable expense $$$) to dismiss most gear reviews. When I post a review I point out the good along with the bad things about an item. I try to make it a review that useful to others, rather then just an endorsement of a product.
I've written a negative review or two and others have been very critical of them .... so, take em with a grain of salt
The old articles were worth the price of subscription ... but the newer articles don't have the same quality of info that the old ones did.
CoyoteWhips
01-06-2008, 08:56
Not to knock anybody's grocery money, but I think paid subscription style publishing doesn't thrive on the web nearly as well as ad based. None of the $billion web sites use subscriptions.
Some of their items are great, like their flint & steel fire starter. I no longer even carry a bic for my alcohol stove. Some of their items are less so. Some articles were worth reading but i decided to keep my second year subscription money in my pocket and just rtead the occasional free ones. Now if subscription was a little cheaper....who knows:-?
boarstone
01-06-2008, 11:10
I love Ryan's book and listen to the podcast. I went on the website tonight with a list of four items to buy with my Christmas bonus check. ALL FOUR ITEMS WERE OUT OF STOCK! I found this interesting since they did an interview awhile back with Molen from Big Sky products and the focus of the interview was customer service issues and back orders. Hello Kettle- meet Pot...
I planned to subscribe -- but if I can't order from their store due to back orders-- I am some what cautious about subscribing to the on-line magazine.
With that said-- I am VERY interested in going to their Treking Course since I am new to the UL scene...
...hop on over to sierratradingpost.com, ... campmor.com,...backcountry.com, etc....save the mag money for shipping at these and "other" outfitters on-line who are stocked!;)
_terrapin_
01-06-2008, 11:15
The "store" part is silly. A joke, IMO. Seems strange to think of subscribing simply for acces to their store. Well, maybe that's just me.
Not to knock anybody's grocery money, but I think paid subscription style publishing doesn't thrive on the web nearly as well as ad based. None of the $billion web sites use subscriptions.
In order for paid subscription publishing on the net to work, you have to offer something people can’t get for free. So I agree (in this case) that there is free alternative ways to get essentially the same info on the net. It makes for a tough sale to ask people to pay for something that Google can find for free.
...hop on over to sierratradingpost.com, ... campmor.com,...backcountry.com, etc....save the mag money for shipping at these and "other" outfitters on-line who are stocked!;)
Yeah, I ordered most of the things I needed from AntiGravityGear and Gossamer along with TitaniumGoat. Unfortunately, some of the items I was looking for are only available from BPL.
Dirtygaiters
01-06-2008, 22:59
Yeah, I ordered most of the things I needed from AntiGravityGear and Gossamer along with TitaniumGoat. Unfortunately, some of the items I was looking for are only available from BPL.
Keep an eye on Mountain Laurel Designs' new products. Seems they've been adding new items to their site once or twice a week. I kind of doubt they will start making anything like the Cocoon insulated clothing, but something similar to that is available from Integral Designs (primaloft pants, jacket and vest) and if you can sew, the kits from Thru-hiker.com will get you the same thing too, but for less money--if you have a sewing machine and some patience that is.
Keep an eye on Mountain Laurel Designs' new products.
Yeah, MLD has some nice stuff these days. I have a shopping list ready for them when my play money replenishes next month. :)