Guy at a Portland REI garage sale told me buying used gear is smarter than new, but my $12 used tent leaked on Mt. Hood | Broke But Hobbying - Topic Shares
Guy at a Portland REI garage sale told me buying used gear is smarter than new, but my $12 used tent leaked on Mt. Hood
He swore the returns rack at the SE Portland store is where the real deals live, but my $12 tent soaked through on Hood last month while my buddy's new $200 one stayed dry. So is used gear a smart hack or a trap, where do you draw the line?
Tent is one thing I won't buy used, and your Hood trip proves why. Got a used sleeping pad once that held air fine on my floor and then went flat at 9,000 feet in the Wallowas. Learned to test anything inflatable in the store, blow it up, sit on it, wait ten minutes. Where used pays off for me is hard goods: cook sets, trekking poles, headlamps. My $8 garage sale stove has run for years without a hiccup. Fabric and seams are where the returns rack gets sketchy, since you can't tell how someone stored it.