91–100 of 119 posts
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I have a Traverse day pack that is > 8 years old that has been used almost everyday. I don't remember it being too expensive, and the quality has been nothing short of amazing. I wish every zipper I own worked as well as they have on this pack.
Are the zippers YKK?
What a great company, always feel like they have good products, good sales, and helpful employees. Never regretted buying something from REI.
Except for the insane prices for everything, sure. It's great for people with money to burn, but it's definitely not a good place to shop if you're into outdoor activities and not rich.
If you do a lot of backpacking, you find you don't really need much specialized gear anyway -- in fact you probably have a lot of what you need lying around the house already. So the overall cost isn't that high. So it was worth buying a very expensive winter sleeping bag for sub-zero conditions, but for the summer I don't even need a bag at all. I wear the same hiking boots for any long walk.
When I say REI is "midrange": they are a great place to get basic stuff (I found the outdoors stuff at Dick's or Bass Pro to me cheap but mostly worthless crap). After the rebate, prices aren't bad and stuff tends to last a long time. They don't sell the super high end stuff (custom boots or sleeping bags) but the market for that is vanishingly small anyway, and like I said, typically you only need one or two pieces of expensive gear.
My locally-owned discount camping place (Redwood Trading Post in Redwood City) is my go-to just because it's locally owned, but they have some clunkers (e.g. their ropes).
One thing I've noticed is that REI do stock a lot of gimmicks (outdoor themed playing cards, heavy stoves for car camping, cheap knives) which I assume are the bulk of their profits. I haven't seen that stuff crowd out the "real" gear. Cabellas used to have really good gear too, but they couldn't make a go of it and the crud-laden Bass Pro bought them so we'll see what happens.
Oh, and another note on "midrange": I am referring specifically to backpacking, cycling and skiing (though I don't buy ski/snowshoe gear there). I am intimidated by the rock climbing gear and have no way of knowing if it is crap or ultra-high end.
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A lot of mountaineering gear costs a lot , but lasts for a really long time. It's like buying a car in some ways. So your go-to solution should be to buy used. There's no shortage of people who bought an $800 backpack along with $2000 of other gear, who thought they'd be using them regularly, who later find out that they made a significant investment in a hobby they don't care much about. Unless you're swimming in mo…
> So your go-to solution should be to buy used. Unless you are talking about mountaineering gear like anything climbing related: ropes, cams etc. How in the heck can you trust that used gear will work 100%? I would rather spend more $$ to reduce risk.
Why aren't more businesses run as coops owned by either the workers or the customers?
Because that means less money for the people on top. Most people don't start a business out of altruism.
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They changed the return policy on climbing gear to be much shorter. The gear coop has pretty good climbing deals and a good selection and a lifetime return policy(iirc) just don't abuse it. Edit not lifetime anymore. Both places are one year.
But most other places don't offer return on climbing gear. Even REI said they wouldn't take back my approach shoes if I didn't like them.
Certainly no load-bearing climbing gear is ever returnable. Harnesses, ropes, draws, and pro aren't (and shouldn't be) returnable or resalable ever. I assume helmets can't be either.
But non-safety gear like chalk bags can be returned, and I'm surprised they won't take back approach shoes since they aren't even used on a wall.
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> Although REI also eliminated their lifetime guarantee. IIRC, that was due to blatant abuse (e.g. people scrounging up worn-out stuff from garage sales to trade in for new). http://www.dailyemerald.com/2013/06/04/rei-changes-infamous-...
People abuse these sorts of guarantees. Always have. Always will. But it hasn't made LL Bean get rid of theirs. And, especially for many of the sort of goods REI sells, I may not use them much and if they blow a seam or something after a couple of years after they've been used a couple dozen times, I don't think I'm abusing anything by asking them to repair or replace. So, yes, I understand why they cut the guarantee…
I suspect it's mostly a matter of REI employees having more discretion than most retail workers - they're usually quite outdoorsy and have a decent eye for what's an unreasonable failure.
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But most other places don't offer return on climbing gear. Even REI said they wouldn't take back my approach shoes if I didn't like them.
That's a bit odd - I wonder if it's just a sanitation issue? Certainly no load-bearing climbing gear is ever returnable. Harnesses, ropes, draws, and pro aren't (and shouldn't be) returnable or resalable ever. I assume helmets can't be either. But non-safety gear like chalk bags can be returned, and I'm surprised they won't take back approach shoes since they aren't even used on a wall.
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State Park passes are cheap enough in MN. If you enjoy them consider an annual pass to support the DNR and enjoy the parks year round! I wish they would just wrap a state park pass up with the conservation plates...
You're in luck, MN State Park Plates came out a few months ago! http://dnr.state.mn.us/parksplate/index.html
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That's a bit odd - I wonder if it's just a sanitation issue? Certainly no load-bearing climbing gear is ever returnable. Harnesses, ropes, draws, and pro aren't (and shouldn't be) returnable or resalable ever. I assume helmets can't be either. But non-safety gear like chalk bags can be returned, and I'm surprised they won't take back approach shoes since they aren't even used on a wall.
They used to take all gear back. They would be obligated to destroy it in the back if it was safety critical equipment though.