By JULIA SELDEN
The rent for your apartment is so high that you decide to head for the hills. You’ll live off the land, forge your way through the wilderness, eat bark and become a virtual mountain person. You grab your $150 sleeping bag, $170 tent and $200 backpack and begin your journey.
Soon you realize that for what you paid for all your equipment, you could be staying in Lincoln’s bedroom instead of sleeping in the dirt.
Maybe your problem is simply getting the right product for your particular style of camping, said Tim Mooney, specialty shop manager at REI. A question he likes to ask customers is what they see themselves doing with the gear; what environment will they be in, and for what length of time.
Reed Flygare, an owner of Jerry’s Sport Service, said costs of products differ depending on the clientele. Some people are looking for a tent for their Boy Scout for the weekend, while others see themselves as super-adventurers who will settle for nothing but the best. Getting the right picture of what you want to do helps in getting the right product, Mooney said.
Those in the outdoor outfitting business agree that it is hard to put a definite price on a product. They vary depending on such things as quality, style and desired use.
Raymond Poff of BYU Outdoors Unlimited said there is an advantage to renting equipment: you can try out different types of equipment to determine what is right for you. Renting a sleeping bag from Outdoors Unlimited for the weekend will cost $14; a backpack, $16; a tent, $14 to $69, depending on size; and a stove, $11 to $14. Poff noted that sometimes it is cheaper to buy the product if you expect to be renting it frequently.
At Tents 4 Less, a person can be fully outfitted for around $150, said W. Craig Judd, owner. “We’re just a small company,” which means no overhead and lower prices, he said. Being fully outfitted includes a sleeping bag, medium backpack, smaller-sized tent, and utensils, he said.
Tents 4 Less buys the best refurbished tents possible, Judd said.
Emergency Essentials has a 30-day price guarantee on any product. If you buy something there and later find something for a lower price elsewhere, you can get a full refund or keep the product and be paid the differnce in price, said Bill Johnson, store manager.
Emergency Essentials only sells Kelty brand in camping gear, Johnson said. “If you’re looking for value, I think Kelty’s a good way to go,” said Johnson.
Rich Morris, retail sales manager at Out-N-Back, said there are three major items needed when camping: a backpack, sleeping bag and tent. But those aren’t the only things one needs to bring along, and when all the others (including rain gear, first aid kit, compass, stove, etc.) are added together, they are just as expensive as the main items, he said.
“It’s such a huge range” of price to be fully outfitted, he said.
Sleeping bags can be bought for a low of $29 at Tents 4 Less and a high of $695 at REI; a backpack for a low of $50 at Jerry’s Sport Service and a high of $400 at Out-N-Back and Emergency Essentials; and a tent for a low of $34.99 at Tents 4 Less and a high of $565 at REI.
When shopping for camping gear, the customer should remember that even if it costs less money, it is not necessarily a lower-quality product; the products are just designed for different uses, Mooney said.
