Buying Outdoor Gear on a Budget: A Guide to Online Gear Buying
I was first drawn to the University of Wyoming due to its outdoor appeal. Coming from mountain-less Wisconsin, the Snowies looked like a page of out my childhood storybooks. I was hooked. But as a freshman, I quickly learned that the outdoors were only as accessible as the gear you own allowed you to be. After all, you can’t hike around the Snowies in the winter without cross-county skis or snowshoes (unfortunately, maybe this year you can). Very slowly, I began to accumulate gear: a water filter here, a climbing rope there. But with tuition and book bills, expanding my gear took both savvy-ness and patience. And while I have frequented many different websites, daily deals, and REI garage sales, the three websites below are my favorites.
Steep and Cheap is like having Christmas every twenty minutes. However, unlike Christmas, you must have much more patience than a four-year-old. Steep and Cheap motto is “One killer gear deal, one at a time until it’s gone.” True to their motto, every twenty minutes or so, the website posts another great gear deal, often anywhere from 60%-90% off. While the website offers great deals, using Steep and Cheap requires a great deal of patience. It is not the site to use if you need a new harness for this weekend’s climbing trip. However, Steep and Cheap is the most exciting (and tempting) website to watch because you never know what will pop up. From headlamps, to clothing, first aid kits, alpine skis, and -40 degree sleeping bags, Steep and Cheap has it all. But beware, as my roommate likes to joke, “I try not to go there, because I never know how much money I will spend.” But if you have a bit more restraint, or you are looking for that specific piece of gear, just leave Steep and Cheap open in a browser tab so you can experience Christmas every twenty minutes.
More extensive than Steep and Cheap, Gear Trade is like a selective, non-sketchy form of Craigslist. While technically Gear Trade advertises itself as a used gear site, it is more of a trading forum for outdoor enthusiasts and companies. Anyone can post their sellable gear for others to purchase. However, if you are not into used gear (unlike my college-student self), or do not feel comfortable buying certain types of used gear (like climbing gear or high-end, synthetic Patagonia underwear), many large online gear companies, like Backcountry, post returned gear that has little or no use. That is how I snagged my $150 retail price Patagonia Nano Puff coat for $90 (almost) new. Another advantage of Gear Trade is that the site is well laid out with categories and multiple subcategories, so you are not left scrolling through pages trying to find what you are looking for. So next time you are looking for your next piece of gear, or just wanting to tempt yourself by browsing, visit the “gear fanatic’s marketplace.”
Bantler is like Steep and Cheap on steroids. Bantler brings together a plethora of daily deal pages and then lets you choose which pages you want to follow. Bantler is more than just a deal page for outdoor gear because it includes categories such as music, wine and spirits, and tech. However, since Bantler lets you select which categories you want (or which specific pages you want), you can customize your Bantler page to only include sites like Patagonia, Backcountry, and REI. Bantler provides a great in-between for Steep and Cheap and Gear Trade. It has more gear deals than Steep and Cheap (which you can also watch through Bantler), but the prices on sites like Patagonia usually are not as good as Steep and Cheap or Gear Trade. Nevertheless, Bantler is a great site to watch.
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