4 ms·

Thank God. Let's just be honest here brands like the North face and others are horrifically overpriced for their typical gear. yeah I remember when Patagonia

• bduerst 6y ago
  L.L. Bean isn't quite as bad as Patagonia wrgt price point. Have you tried them?
• gumby 6y ago
  I agree (see my comment about gear heads elsewhere in this thread), but a lot of the time you don’t need a lot of specialized gear, though weight can be a factor. Though TBF I have a 30 yo Patagonia raincoat that’s sailed across the Atlantic twice, been above the arctic circle, the Australian outback, northern Canada, and along the PCT. it’s utterly faded but the zippers work fine, it has no tears, and it’s still waterproof. I ski in it and camp with it year round. I think I got my money’s worth on that one. Relatedly: the current state of boots is horrific.
  • technics256 6y ago
    Have any recommendations on boots?
    • gumby 6y ago
      I have given up on the off the shelf boots. Best off the shelf boots I’ve found are some heavy leather Asolos you can get at REI (I hate those soft “hiking shoes” as they don’t provide the support you need with a heavy pack or for fording a river when you can’t see where you are stepping, etc). I had a cobbler disassemble them and put a plastic half-pipe-with-plate in the vertical portion behind my ankle/Achilles which gave greater stability. They were great boots — very comfortable, quite good performance — but after less than thousand miles or so the sole fell apart. Had the cobbler try to repair them but they weren’t the same — they weren’t designed to be resoled. Now I have my boots made by a guy in W.A. who does nothing else. They are solid and fit like a glove. Eminently repairable. You don’t want to spend this kind of money unless you expect to travel more than 750 miles a year in them though. Older boots can be repurposed as jungle boots with a few careful stabs of your knife if you like long canoe trips. Regular hiking boots adjusted like this are better even than the Cabella jungle boots IMHO if you have rigorous portages. I have done short (3-4 day) trips in places like Desolation Wilderness wearing Chaco sandals...but you couldn’t hike Mt Whitney and even in the lower sierras you need feet like leather. No ankle support so ultralight only. For winter backpacking I have some off the shelf Columbia boots for snowshoeing. They are pretty warm. Those conditions are much less demanding on your feet and footgear than summer conditions. Don’t buy the crappy Bass winter boots: those are for standing briefly by your truck, not for long distance travel. OTOH if it’s really cold, and you’ll be on the ice, Traveling with dogs, go for mukluks. My dog wears ruff ware vibram sole boots in summer and winter (they sell snow boots but I’ve not had good luck). Vibram soles, but last only about 5-600 miles. Wear with tennis socks and in winter, gaiters I made for him for the deep snow (he’s a large dog and weighs about the same as me).
• Wingman4l7 6y ago
  Some outdoor gear is still made in the US, like some small ultralight backpacking tent brands (Tarptent); they also tend to have very strong warranties / repair services.
• TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
  The last North Face jacket I bought was utter garbage. It didn’t last two seasons before the main zipper and pocket zippers faded. That put me off all the brands in the similar price range. I’d now rather buy at the next bracket down and have twice, or more, the number of items.
  • masonic 6y ago
    Are you sure you received genuine product?
    • TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
      I purchased it from Anaconda here in Australia. Anaconda is owned by Spotlight Retail Group, Australia's largest privately-owned and operated family business. I have no reason to believe Anaconda would intentionally stock counterfeit items. But you do have a valid point.
      • nl 6y ago
        By "faded" do you just mean the colour changed? I'm amazed that happens in two years - it might be worth contacting them about it because it seems extremely unusual (unless you are wore it in the sun for 2 years or washed it particularly often?) The North Face has a pretty generous repair and replacement policy: https://thenorthface.com.au/content/Warranty_Policy.html https://thenorthface.com.au/content/Warranty_Policy.html. Perhaps not quite as good as the Patagonia warranty (https://www.patagonia.com.au/pages/ironclad-guarantee https://www.patagonia.com.au/pages/ironclad-guarantee) but still good.
        • TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
          I meant to type “failed”, but must have been having a stroke while I typed the previous comment.
          • nl 6y ago
• therealdrag0 6y ago
  REI’s “co-op” brand undercuts the big brand names, though only a bit. Probably same ballpark as Columbia.