Best Place to Buy Gear at a GOOD Price?

[heyman62]

I'm looking at EMS,REI,Campmor and a bunch of sites for a nice light sleeping bag,tent and pack. Many places like EMS say wait till April when they have a sale. Any ideas??? This will be my first serious year of thru hiking.

:)

[Lone Wolf]

Campmor is the best.

[neo]

i like these places best of all.:cool: neo
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd/default.asp?



http://www.majorsurplusnsurvival.com/



http://www.sportsmansguide.com/


http://www.colemans.com/

[hammock engineer]

Make sure that you do a lot of research before you buy. I bought some gear early on that I don't want, need, or is too heavy. I am now trying to buy nice light weight gear.

Every site runs sales, just keep checking.

[rickb]

Many places like EMS say wait till April when they have a sale. Any ideas???

While I don't generally don't like to give merchants my e-mail and phone number and such, its worth doing at EMS. For example, I just got this today regarding a "Private" 30% off sale.


----- Original Message -----
From: Eastern Mountain Sports <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 8:16 AM
Subject: Happy New Year - Private Sale



Eastern Mountain Sports invites you to a PRIVATE SALE to ring in a HAPPY
NEW YEAR!

From December 30th through January 2nd (Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon), PRINT OUT
THIS EMAIL and bring it to your nearest EMS store to receive 30% OFF one
regularly priced item.*

Store Locator
http://ems.chtah.com/a/tBDtSFMAKPusSAbnSH$AV4YI9c0/hnys24
************************************************** **********************
*Valid on in-store, in-stock items only. Not valid on previously
purchased or returned items. Not valid on gift cards. One coupon per
customer. Offer valid thru January 2, 2006.
************************************************** **********************
Cashier Instructions: Ring item to be discounted. Press F3, F3, 1, select: 30% Happy New Year.
************************************************** **********************

Privacy and Security
http://ems.chtah.com/a/tBDtSFMAKPusSAbnSH$AV4YI9c0/hnys26

To Unsubscribe
http://ems.chtah.com/a/tBDtSFMAKPusSAbnSH$AV4YI9c0/unsub
To Change Your Email Address
http://ems.chtah.com/a/tBDtSFMAKPusSAbnSH$AV4YI9c0/unsub
Forward To A Friend
http://ems.chtah.com/a/tBDtSFMAKPusSAbnSH$AV4YI9c0/hnys21
************************************************** **********************
(c) 2005 Eastern Mountain Sports.
All Rights Reserved.

1 Vose Farm Road, Peterborough, NH 03458

[onicoe]

-thanks neo for the links-

a full size sleeping bag that's rated from 5-15 degrees and only weighs 2.31 pounds. and for $11? yowza! you can color me skeptical, but i with the money i've spent on other gear $11 isn't so bad..

http://www.majorsurplusnsurvival.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=027117&Category_Code=35

[Peaks]

Well, I don't know that one store has a monoploy on good equipment at a good price. I guess if any store is aimed specifically at thru-hikers it would be Mountain Crossings in Neals Gap. That's the only store where I say 3 or 4 different models of alcohol stove for sale.

Realistically, my advice is to look around and shop around. I've got gear from REI, EMS, Campmor, local outfitters, and home made.

Don't forget about our local outfitter as well. Remember, you are buying service as well as the product itself. And service after the sale can be very important.

[ScottP]

Check out Moosejaw. They have price-matching and a rewards programs (you get rewards for using the price-matching program), as well as free shipping. For example, I found a backpack for $30 below the moosejaw price on one website and a leatherman micra (1.5 oz) for $10 below the moosejaw price on a different website. They gave me both prices, the rewards for each product (10% of the value), extra rewards for using the price matching (1000 per time used when product is over $100, 150 rewards points for a review with no gramattical errors. Rewards points are recieved immediately, and there is free shipping for ordering over $100. I saved $40 from thier pricematching, $15 from avoiding two shipping charges, and got $30 to spend in thier store. Quite a deal.
Also, it's a smaller, local company for me (Detroit/Chicago area), and the salespeople are kind and intelligent. They loved me when I went in and said that I hated North Face, and had no problem with me climbinb in sleeping bags, opening up products to play with them, etc.