Where should I buy my gear online?

Chris Plesko wrote:There is a difference and purely saying that you can't go into a local store and check something out and if you buy it elsewhere then it's theft. That is crap.

The reason I say it's theft is because an online only store does not provide you with an opportunity to see the gear before you buy it. If you go and use your local shop to test out gear and then purchase the stuff online you are in a way "stealing" that service from the local shop. I'm not saying don't buy stuff online, I'm just saying it's not cool to use local shops for a service that online shops don't provide.

I'll second Kris' mention of gearexpress....good shop.

Tyson Anderson wrote:If you do buy online make sure it's not gear that you have tried on/recieved beta about from you local gear shop. As far as I'm concerned that's theft.

I agree with your principles as they are honest and well intended, but are you telling me that you only buy a car from the first place you go to?? Or are you saying that only climbing shop's time is valuable?

I don't want to see the local shops go out of business anymore than anyone else. Neptune's is a great shop, but they charge full price and are fully aware of it. We have the right to look around, that's what makes it a market.

But of course if no one comparison shops whatsoever, then that's cool.

(I support Neptune's and all the other local shops...but I'm not a millionaire!)

gearexpress has matched any price I've given them. I've bought most of my stuff from gearexpress.com and mountaingear.com. Those and backcountrgear.com for my some special deals. really the best advice is to figure out what you want/what is cheap, then google that and look at all stores.

Something I have been doing more and more of is doing the online shopping and finding a really good deal and then going over to Bent Gate (~1hour drive for me one way) and asking their opinion on it and asking them to match the price which they always have for me. Except for once I called before hand and asked if they could match the price and they said no because that was below their wholesale price because the price I found was a 'going out of business sale' and they actually told me "If I were you, I'd go buy it there".

The other thing is I am not advocating one way or another, but it doesn't sound like any of the people posting are business owners. There are a lot of "behind the scenes" costs to owning a shop; utilities, employees, shop-front/warehouse rental, etc. and these have to be paid for by higher retail prices or higher shipping costs. Cut overhead, cut prices... I want to spend the least amount while still keeping a company in business, where ever I go.

+1 for Spadout
+1 for Bent Gate
+1 for Wilderness Exchange

IMHO, pay retail if you need retail service. Look for deals online if you know what you need/want. Don't go pick the brain and use a shop's time and buy elsewhere. Just be reasonable.

Places with websites that I would recommend from personal experience:
mountaingear.com
rei.com(especially the outlet)
moosejaw.com
bentgate
Neptunes

"On the other hand, you can return climbing gear to REI, but they are an evil corporate conglomerate."

Uhmm, let me guess. From boulder? Haha.

Sure its a bigger company, but its definately not what I think of when I think evil coporate conglomerate. What do you base that statement on?

IMHO, if I'm going ot buy full price, it'll be from rei beause of the return policy. I don't abuse the policy, but will return stuff if it fails or doesn't perform properly, it gets returned. At other stores, I'd be SOL.

EVS wrote:On the other hand, you can return climbing gear to REI, but they are an evil corporate conglomerate.

You are simply uninformed.

REI is a Co-op. Formed by climbers (in Seattle) to obtain their gear more efficiently. They return dividends to their members (i.e. customers) rather than to stockholders. They have grown and been successful, so they have lots of retail stores. When I joined them, they had exactly TWO stores. But an "evil corporate conglomerate"?? That would be laughable if it weren't so inaccurate and unkind.

BentGate is my local shop go-to shop. If I want it and they stock (or can order) it, that's where I buy it. They've gone the extra mile for me many times including pulling spare laces out of a box of Spantiks when I needed spares for a big trip and couldn't get any help from Sportiva (don't get me started on them!). Good selection, knowledgeable staff, excellent service.

I like Neptunes, as well, though it bugs the crap out of me that I've spent 10s of thousands of dollars there over the years, know and am recognized by most of the staff, have shared conditions beta etc., and I still pay full retail - never even been offered a free water bottle, hat or other trinket, nothing! I *know* they have a "bro" book and they also give a discount to CMC leaders, but I'm pretty darned sure I've spent MUCH more than any of those folks over the years. They also, AFAIK, won't price match like Bent Gate will and have been worse than useless when a friend was trying to get satisfaction from the aforementioned Sportiva. Good selection, knowledgeable staff, poor service IMHO.

WildyX seems to have good staff and good discounts, but it's just not convenient to where I live/work and try as I might over the years, I've just rarely have found anything to buy there. Can't really explain it.

I've always gotten good service from Backcountry.com

MountainGear has provided good service, but they have a tendency to post new gear as available months in advance of when it actually is then serially push back the "ship by" date after you order. Not cool.

Some of Moosejaw's advertising just annoys the crap outta me. Anyone remember the photo of the gal wearing the harness up-side down??? :^D There are plenty of climbers out there who could use the $$ for a photo-shoot and actually know how to use the gear. I just find a lot of it insulting and immature - not something I look for when I want to spend my money. Here's another good one, check out the notation under the C4 listing:

moosejaw.com/moosejaw/shop/…

"More colors available"!!! Yeehaw, I always wanted a #3 Camalot in green rather than the icky blue they normally come in.

Kevin Craig wrote: MountainGear has provided good service, but they have a tendency to post new gear as available months in advance of when it actually is then serially push back the "ship by" date after you order. Not cool.

I have had a similar but different experience with MountainGear.

I order a piece of gear (ice boots one time, ice screws a different time) and they send a model of that gear from 2 years ago. Was it a great sale? Yes. Do they put a picture and dialog box stating that it is the NEW model? Yes. But they sent the older model anyway. When I called to complain, they tried to tell me that there wasn't any difference. Not cool.

I would agree about Moosejaw being annoying. They used to be a cool company, complete with Walter Sobchak quotes, but now, they seem to be selling gear to the bro community and have hot girls in annoying catalogs. Lame.

J. Albers wrote: ...complete with Walter Sobchak quotes...

"Shut the f*** up Donnie" :^DDDDD

-The Dude abides.

Hey all,
Don from WildyX here- thanks for all of the kind words about the shop and for the support through the years!
I was reading this thread with quite a bit of interest, and although I never try to shamelessly plug the Wildy on these type of forums, I wanted to chime in here.
There is of course, no moral imperative to buy your gear from this place or another- whether it's a national chain or a little mom and pop. They say that retail is the purest democracy and that you vote with your wallet. Hopefully we get it right 90% of the time and we earn your vote... It's actually an amazing privledge to be able to have a small shop of climbers making a living off of and talking about what we love to do all day, and we want to keep it going.
So, retailer's perspective:
-you're in the industry or your budy is getting you a form and you just want to try on a shoe. You tell us this, so we can go about our business and not spend an hour with you- Cool!
-you found it at another store cheaper and you want to give us the opprtunity to match the price because you really want to support us, but you're not dumb and you want to spend as little cash as possible because you want to climb more and work less- We get it! We're dirtbags too (and I use this term reverently). We are going to match the price rather than turn you away.
-you spend an hour fitting every shoe in the store, ask us about every route we've ever climbed in Eldo, and then fondle every piece of candy at the climbing counter, then tell us thanks bro - you're going to the "other guy" to get your discount. Lame!
That's it- rant over. Peace !

Always buy from a climbing shop. It just seems to be the thing to do.
Someone is there to help you, why not return the favor.

Since there have been lots of comments about Front Range shops, let me mention Boulder Mountaineering as a cool little store where I've had great customer service
bouldermountaineering.com/
Maybe I just love to see a climbing store in that picturesque location on the Hill!
Also, (just repeating one of the above posts) it's worth asking the local shop if it will match a price before you just buy online or from the megachain: some definitely will.

Yep, Bob Culp who owns Boulder Mountaineering has been around here for a long long time and is a great guy. My only complaint about his store is he is frequently out of stock of stuff or doesn't have the size you need etc... but if he has what you need, I would but it there before anywhere else.