Cheap Gear

[COtoAK]

Cheap gear?

What is it? Where did you find it? How much did you pay for it?

Here are some of mine:
Bunny Boots. Garage Sale. $5
Columbia waterproof boots. Arc Thirft Store. $5
North Face Extreme snow pants. Arc Thrift Store. $15
Alpine Lowe pack. Garage Sale. $5

How about you? What, where, and how much was it?

[kenairmk]

A few years ago, I picked up a Cabela's Bighorn ll tent, with vestibule and floor liner for $350 from a friends grandfather. This man used this tent 1 time and decided he was too old for tent camping (I can't blame him). It was like brand new, and has treated me well.

[Brian M]

OR gaiters - $5 @ the NOLS swap ($75 regular price)

Salomon S914 bindings - $25 @ West ski swap ($320 regular price)

North Face Denali Fleece jacket - $25 at Value Village ($150 regular price)

[AKFishOn]

Apline Cross Country Ski Boots, size 46 new at REI sale for $17 (couple weeks ago).

By far the best buy, .338 Ruger, wood stock has since shot 7 bear, 3 moose, 1 caribou. Not necessarily my find by my father bought for my birthday before I moved to Alaska (the first time), he got it at an farm auction in MT for $100. Seems the farmers around that spot think a .338 to big for anything as he told me he put low bids in on many guns and only got this one. The auction was bids for guns and smaller stuff and live auction for farm eqpt and big items.

[ak257]

HH Impertech jacket at Salvation Army Thrift Store.....looked like it was hardly worn....$7

[COtoAK]

These are great finds and some great deals. I wished that I could find more, but it definitely takes some time.
I haven't even thought about Value Village. It's hard to find good stuff at our Value Village here in Fairbanks, though.

[wvbowhunterinalaska]

Well here has been my best buys....

All of my good buys have been off of craigslist which include:
Army Modular Sleep System (best used price I seen them for on EBay was $150) got it for $95, Badlands 4500 (normally $365) got it for about $100, and MSR Whisperlite Internationale w/22 oz fuel bottle $60 dollars.
WVBOWAK

[hodgeman]

Some good cheap buys....

North Face pack- free from Lost and Found cleanout.
Maxpedition pack- $40 on Ebay ($100 new)
3 Pendleton Wool Shirts, new with tags- $9 for all at yard sale.
Princeton Tec headlamp- $11 at Dicks Sporting Goods
Woolrich hunting coat- $35 end of season sale at SW ($200 new...)

[AKmud]

My bro-in-law scored a North Face mountain jacket ($350 version...) for $15 at a garage sale. It was fairly well worn, but worked great none the less. After a year or so, one of the seams started leaking so he sent it back to North Face with a sob story about how much he LOVED his jacket. Well....they turned around and sent him a BRAND NEW jacket!! Not bad for a total of $15. :rolleyes:

[AKmud]

My personal best is probably my Para-Ordnance stainless 1911 with Crimson trace grips for $500. Or my stainless/synthetic T/C Encore in .223 topped with a Burris Signature 6-24x scope for $650 shipped.

[COtoAK]

Today my brother and law stopped by tonight as he was headed home and he said that he found this good deal on Mountain Hard Wear.
He said that it was for 71% off and I couldn't figure out what he bought but he was trying to shhhh me so that the daughter couldn't hear that he bought it for her.

He bought her a climbing harness for $12.00 online. I think that it might cost more to ship it to Alaska than what the actual cost is for the harness, but definitely worth it. Because of her small size, it's hard to find a harness for her.

So... now we get to continue having kids climb down the laundry chute but now with multiple harnesses.

[Terry]

Gear Deal

About 5 years ago, was driving down the road and seen a tent at a yard sale. I Stopped in and these two ladies was selling a 2 person Mountain Hardware tent they they found on their property for $40 dollars. Talked them down to $35 and it lasted until this year when my son put it up with out fastening it down out in the back for 2 weeks. After a storm found it in the trees with a ripped fly. Good while it lasted.

Terry

[COtoAK]

Wow! Just 'found' a tent on their property. Perfect purchase!
Good for your for finding that one, Terry! Let me know where you are garage sale shopping at!

[LuJon]

I still stand by the Athletic works T's from Walmart. They are everything that Under Armor is except the price. They usually have some of the tight fitting junk as well but I like the loose poly shirts. $7 each! Everyone I have backpacked with 1 time had these shirts by the time we went out again. Taking a walk through Walmart checking lables is well worth the time! I have found plenty of great gear there for cheap. I have a micro fleece pullover for $25 that has been a fantastic mid layer from them as well. I also picked up a nice Fleece vest from Three bears for $12 and a monster dry bag for $24 that has lasted 7-8 trips with no problems.
Interesting thing about under armor (i don't like most of their gear)... In 05 we were issued the tight fitting shirts to take with us to Iraq, well it turns out that the girls looked a little too good in the shirts and there was no way the commander could single them out so he banned the shirts! I decided to attempt to argue the issue for my troops that worked mostly outside in the heat(all guys). I did a bunch of research into the bennefits of the tight fitting shirts and couldn't find anything scientific. The website refered to the shirts compression as a positive attribut but had no published data to back it up. I finally contacted the company to see what tests they have done to prove the bennefits of the tight fitting shirts. The response I got back was that there was no research showing any bennefit to "compression" at all. I decided not to persue the argument farther as it is aparently just a marketing scheme!

[alaskajag]

Cheap Gear? Not so "cheap", but inexpensive, yes...

Speaking as one who is often on a VERY tight budget for my hunting/fishing/camping/shooting/outdoors supplies, I would have to say that some of the best deals I have found on gear have been some of the inexpensive (but good quality!) firearms that I have picked up. In 2008, after I turned twenty-one, I worked extra hours at my summer job to help pay for some of the firearms that I found at the local gun shops in town (Anchorage). At Boondocks, in Eagle River, I picked up a Davis .32 ACP pistol for $50 with an included box of ammo. I purchased several inexpensive pistols from the Ammo Can surplus shop (now located off of Spenard), including a Jennings J-25 .25 ACP for $75 and a Raven MP-25 .25 ACP for $100. I found several Mosin-Nagant 91/30 rifles at Alaska Shooters Supply off of Boniface for $100-$135, and I also picked up a .357 Magnum Ruger Security Six at a pawn shop for $250. All these guns work great (given just a little TLC for each one, since most of them were used), and I'm glad I had the opportunity to work hard and purchase everything that I did. I like gun collecting, and they are sure fun to shoot, too!

alaskajag:cool: