Survival/camping gear 1 stop shopping?

E

E.W.

Joined
Sep 28, 2010
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Anyone want to share were they go to get most of their gear. I'm kinda new to this, so I ve been doing a lot of reading and little posting. Would like to know of any places you would recommend for me to go shopping. I would love to find a site were I can get most anything I need. Right now its pretty much Cabella's for me, but I'm sure there are some less known mom & pop type places that have fair pricing and good customer relations.
Thanks.
 
E.W. said:
Anyone want to share were they go to get most of their gear. I'm kinda new to this, so I ve been doing a lot of reading and little posting. Would like to know of any places you would recommend for me to go shopping. I would love to find a site were I can get most anything I need. Right now its pretty much Cabella's for me, but I'm sure there are some less known mom & pop type places that have fair pricing and good customer relations.
Thanks.
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Nope, I generally never shop in the same spot twice, except for knives. The internet makes it too easy to find the best deals. If your search fu is strong, you can save some serious greenbacks. I do have a local store where I am freinds with the folks there, and if I wanna play with some gear, I can, but I rarely ever buy from there unless I have to have it then, or they got a good sale going on.

I buy my knives at 3 different spots, Tomar's, New Graham's, and SMKW. I know and trust all 3. Not to say there are not others out there that are just awesome, because there are.

Army Surplus stores are good for some simple robust gear, Cabela's, CTD, Sportsmansguide, are just a few, and depending on sales, and pricing, I buy from all of them, as well as Amazon, Bid, and Steep n Cheap. Used to, back in the day, you had local outdoors stores, now, around here, they are all gone, but 1.

Good luck, and good hunting, brother, I hope you find the gear and the store you are looking for.

Moose
 
E.W. said:
Anyone want to share were they go to get most of their gear. I'm kinda new to this, so I ve been doing a lot of reading and little posting. Would like to know of any places you would recommend for me to go shopping. I would love to find a site were I can get most anything I need. Right now its pretty much Cabella's for me, but I'm sure there are some less known mom & pop type places that have fair pricing and good customer relations.
Thanks.
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EW, I have 5 places I have had good luck with & great customer service.
Be Prepared To Survive (John & Denise) have a great selection of items geared for the outdoors. I have also ordered items from Base Gear, Going Gear, Camping/Survival, & Optics Planet. All have websites, good selection of various products, competitive pricing, & great customer service. My knives come from Howe's Knife Shop In Michigan (yeah, I know, a Buckeye buying from "That State up North" :)), but he has excellent, excellent customer service & prices are pretty good.
Just listen to the veterans on here & you will learn. I have only been on here for about 3 weeks & have garnered a ton of information from them, along with some "interesting" photos. Hope this helps a little.
Be safe.
 
I used to buy most of my stuff through REI but my girlfriend can get me into the columbia employee store so that's where most of my shopping is done now. Mostly for clothes though, I've found I don't really need gear beyond a tent, pack, and sleeping system. All that stuff I bought a while back at rei.
 
ben's backwoods
campmor
optics planet
the knife connection

these are the places I get my gear at!!!!
 
All over. Cheapest price from a reputable seller. Depends what you are buying. I have bought most of my blades from The Knife Connection lately because most of them have been ESEE products. My dad is a big fan of Knives Ship Free. They are great as well.

I guess one advantage (or disadvantage?) of a small town is that I'm not hurting local business because no one carries and of the stuff I buy. When you're talking a knife ranging in price from $60 to $120 it would kill me not to shop around.

Depending on what it is, military surplus stores are generally a ripoff in my experience. I've bought quite a bit of stuff from them over the years but you have to pick and choose what you buy.

Oh, paracord I buy from Supply Captain. Most colors, best quality and decent prices.
 
I am newly returning to a lot of this stuff too. If I could offer one bit of advice it would be to not rush out and try to buy everything in one stop.

Once you have yourself a sharp edge and a length of para cord, you are ready to do a lot of things. If you simply read and study up on techniques you can enjoy a lot of time among nature with these two things (and the cloths on your back). Once your start spending more than an afternoon in the woods, this will change, but my point is to take it slow and build your skills before you build a pile of gear...it will save you a lot of money, and you will likely enjoy your experience more.

I know some guys that run out and buy a bunch of stuff...and after a few trips to the woods they realize that their preferences are not aligned with the gear their sources suggested. Some of this is unavoidable, but a healthy does of learning can save some false starts.

It is free advice, so hopefully it is at least worth the price;)
 
I buy from wherever has the goods I want at a good price. GoingGear is a good source for paracord, firesteels and a few other useful items - definitely worth checking there. I've learnt to check with Amazon because they often have a good price + free shipping - they don't have everything but if I check with them and they have what I am looking for then I know that anyone else that is cheaper is definitely offering a good deal. I often buy knives from knifecenter because they are well priced and good to deal with (very quick & efficient). I buy Mora knives from ragweed forge - good prices and cheap shipping. I bought my BK-7 & BK-9 from New Graham Knives and found them to also be good to deal with. I have bought from knivesshipfree a couple of times and they are good too.

Probably anyone that is recommended in this thread is good to deal with - certainly giving positive experiences if guys here are recommending them.
 
adaman04 said:
All over. Cheapest price from a reputable seller. Depends what you are buying.

...........snip............

Depending on what it is, military surplus stores are generally a ripoff in my experience. I've bought quite a bit of stuff from them over the years but you have to pick and choose what you buy.
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I agree.

I love shopping at my local surplus store, but the prices are seldom competitive with the internet shops. I usually buy from there when I "have to have it right now", or the price is low enough that shipping and handling is a price factor. Otherwise, I look a lot, and buy a little, mainly to support a local business. And at my local store, the staff isn't particularly friendly or helpful, so I don't feel a big need to be loyal.

I don't think it's been mentioned, but I have had some luck finding deals at Sierra Trading Post. Check the closeouts. And they almost always have some type of sale going on.
 
bens backwoods,,,try it,,awesome service,good prices,fast shipping:thumbup::thumbup:
 
This:
Nope, I generally never shop in the same spot twice, except for knives. The internet makes it too easy to find the best deals. If your search fu is strong, you can save some serious greenbacks.
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REI is a decent spot to play with gear. So are local Army-Navy Surplus stores. Find a few spots you like and keep an eye peeled for sales and or coupon codes. The internet is your friend. :D
 
Ive bought from going gear, campingsurvival, knifecenter, supply caption, and batterysplus. All good experiences, cept for one order from camping survival when I was not told my maxped bag was going to be drop shipped, so It came like 2 weeks later then expected. They gave me a discount though, so it is all good.
 
I have had good luck with ebay (I will now go put on my Nomex fire suit). I have been on there for soon to be 10 years. I frequently save 50% on many items, and sometimes more.
 
when i was in palm harbor there was a great place down 501 past clearwater... cant remember the name but they have a great selection. it's on the left if your headin south
 
I'm just getting back into this but so far I have bought off of ebay and goinggear.com.

Going gear has a 10% off coupon code for bladeforums members: ggbf10

I got the 10% off, AND free shipping for orders over $49 so that's nice too.
 
cabelas and ll bean (probably others too) are clearancing their camping stuff this time of year. Not camo (that's IN season now) but camping gear.

surplus stores - still awesome on lots of levels! :)
 
I am seeing a lot of familiar names and I shop with almost all of them, depending on what I want/need.

There are others out there that will do good by you but READ REVIEWS on the vendor before committing too much of your hard-earned cash. A friend and I both had bad experiences with TCG and when I recently read some reviews on the outfit - others had even worse experiences than we did.

I have not had any problems with any of those I saw mentioned in this post so far and most of them are great people, regular folks and willing to help in any way they can. If something goes wrong, just remember they are not all huge companies and make a mistake now and then (a polite mention of the problem gets results) but, boy do they jump to make it right.:thumbup:
 
Give bestglide.com a gander, they outfit pilot survival kits.

Also take a look at countycomm.com.
 
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