Outdoor gear shopping....

I have ten zillion tons of outdoor gear...... Tons of it. I'm that guy you know who has 20 fleece jackets..... but I kid you not... I've never spent more than $25 for one, and usually $15-20. I have 3 kick ass sleeping bags(never spent over $100), 2 half ass tents(<$50), 1 great tent($50). 3 pairs of fleece pants, cook stoves, lightweight cooking gear(I'm still working on the perfect Titanium set.).... I literally swim in this crap.....

But here is the trick....

Off season buying... Right now, your looking for summer gear. Shorts, base layers, Trail running shoes, Summer Tents... This stuff is being closed out to bring in the fall and winter gear..... This is very hard to do, and to have great gear waiting 9 months to use is tough, the thing is it's 70% off right now. I can spend $50 on summer gear right now and it is the same as spending $200 next summer.

Point being, i've never paid retail, nor have I ever purchased "This Years" model..... I think I learned this when I used to shop for ski's.. This years and last years ski's are just a different paint job usually.... and they would rather sell it to you at cost than have to pull it off the shelves.

I just picked up a killer pair of trail shoes that retail $90 for $20... Heck!!! I pay that for regular shoes....

seems like I'd be waisting a lot of money for 9months, but once that 9 month turn around hits, you realize what a great thing you did, that and you don't waist any time shopping early in the season.