Bargain Hunting

With the uncertain economic times that are around at the moment with the “Credit Crunch”, rising inflation, falling economic growth, ever increasing fuel prices, increasing food prices (although it was reported of Friday that some food basics are dropping in price in a new price cut war), heating bills just keep going up, and the prospect of higher water bills as well (phew that list is so scary). I thought it might be the right time for those that are looking into getting into walk/backpacking/camping and on a tight budget to point out you don’t need to spend a fortune to get kited out. Hopefully anyone on a tight budget will benefit from this reminder as well.

When first looking at buying outdoor gear you see the big famous brands like RAB, The North Face etc on the shop shelf or on the web and can’t can’t help think that the gear is expensive. Let’s face it £250 for a down sleeping bag is a lot of money to me, and a lot of people out there. Let alone spending that sort of money on a coat or even more on a tent. Before you know it you price up the gear you need to try out backpacking or camping and you have an out lay approaching £1000. That’s alot of cash to lay out just to try something, that you may decide a couple of outings in you may not like. That high price may put you off totally even before you put on a pair of boots, or pitch a tent.

I’m not saying that the expensive gear isn’t worth the price. Very often the gear will last you years, and in the long run work out very cost effective. But that knowledge doesn’t help when the budget available is low.

It is possible to kit yourself out cheaply, and cost effectively. It requires a bit of shopping around, visiting different shops on the high street and online. But you can get reasonable kit at a low price, to allow you to get outdoors.

Once you have decided this outdoors life is for you (welcome to the addiction), then you can save up for that RAB sleeping bag, or that Lowe Alpine fleece. Slowly add the more expensive stuff when you can afford it.

Anyway here are some ideas of where you can find those bargains

Surprisingly on the High Street there are one or two places you can go to get bargains.

Argos do cheapish camping gear, particularly their Pro Action Hike Lite 1 Person Tent at £49.99 (which looks to be back to the original design of inner and an outer).

Aldi once or twice a year have inexpensive outdoors gear available. This includes clothing, trekking poles, boots, compasses etc (They also around Christmas time do low cost ski gear). You have to get to the store early when these items become available because they usually tend to go fast. An easy way to find out when these items become available apart from regularly visiting the store is to sign up for their email that announces the weekly bargains that they have.

Also the other low cost food outlet Lidl also from time to time do similar offers to Aldi on outdoors equipment. Similarly they also allow you to sign up for email alerts to up and coming special offers.

While you are at these stores if you have a trip coming up look at them for getting the food for the trip from them as well. They are usually a lot cheaper than the traditional major UK Supermarkets.

While I’m talking UK Supermarkets, have a look at Tesco. They sell some great Aluminum cook ware at a budget price. Also they do cheapish rucksacks as well. Asda might be worth a look as well. From time to time they have had cheap tents instore.

A great store for gear you can afford is Millets. They usually have a sale on of some sort most of the time. They stock Eurohike tents, which are reasonable as a first time tent. So worth a look to see if they have any bargains (I like the Peter Storm fleeces they sell, less than £20 and work fine for me, and often included in their sales).

Ok so you have your heart set on a down sleeping bag, or down jacket. But we all know down is good but very expensive. You aren’t going to escape the fact that you will end up paying £100 (possibly a little less but not much) for a down sleeping bag and around £60 for a down jacket. But even so this is almost half the price than expected. So how do we get this great reduction? Well first visit Alpkit, they sell down sleeping bags and down jackets at a great price (also have a look at their sleeping mats as well while you are there, and their titanium mug the Myti). The next way to get you hands on some good down kit is from PHD Designs. Twice a year they have a sale (one in the Winter and one in the Summer), it’s these sales that allow those of us on a tight budget to get some top end kit at a bargain price. You can sign up for an email alert from them IIRC, or you can follow this blog as I normally announce when they are on.

Right I’m going to tell you about a specific stove now. The reason I am doing this is because I think that this stove is such a bargain (especially for a gas stove) you can’t lose getting it. It’s the Outdoor Designs Mini Stove and at £12.99 from Backpackinglight.co.uk it would be silly not to get this one if you need a stove for backpacking.

It is also worth looking for second hand kit on the forums of places like Outdoors Magic, or UK Climbing which have active user for sale areas. Plus there is also eBay . But with these forums, and especially eBay you need to make sure that what you buying is not a knock off, and that the seller is genuine.

My final tip for cheap outdoors stuff is Amazon for your guide books, maps, outdoors related books in general.Ok they offer a discount on all the books they sell, and over a certain price it’s free delivery. But what happens when you only want one book? Well you still have to pay postage (£2.75) with the following hint, but often even with that added in, you are getting a better deal than the Amazon price without postage. So my hint is to buy (if available) from the new and used section. Often these books are as good as new or new, delivered faster than Amazon (they can take ages sometimes) and as I said cheaper than the Amazon price.

I hope the above suggestions are useful. It does require a little bit of effort. But I think with the savings that can be made worth that effort.

P.S. If you find yourself at your local Supermarket keep an eye out on their reduced items on the food side, or special offers. It can be a cheap way to stock the larder for the trip or camping holiday.

UPDATE 20/11/2008

There is a way to get 10% off the cost of an item when buying from places like Millets or Blacks. If you belong to a club like the YHA, BMC, Backpackers Club, etc alot of them have deals that give you a discount when buying kit from particular stores. With the YHA it used to be 10% off from Millets or Blacks. So check either the organizations web site or members handbook for a list of places that they have negiotiated a discount. You are entitled to the discount so use it.