REI Outlet

Full review
My oldest daughter is a Brownie, and this year she had her first camping experience. I realize we are probably in this for the long haul, and decided to start buying camp gear a little bit at a time. Lucky for me, I was already online at the REI Outlet looking for something for one of my other children when I decided to look at sleeping bags!

::: Same Store, Lower Prices :::

For those of you who, like me, aren't lucky enough to have an REI store near you, this is considered the Holy Grail of outdoor gear stores. I have cousins who have backpacked all over Asia, Australia, and New Zealand and who are huge climbers, and if you ask them where the best place to get gear from, it's always REI.

The REI Outlet is, as the name suggests, a clearing house for the larger store. You can find last year's gear and some pretty decent pricing.

The store itself is well-organized, with subcategories that allow you to drill down to the item you are searching for without having to page through pages of the wrong item. Within the subcategories, you can also find links to further narrow your search: the Family Camping Category can be sorted to Tents and Tent Accessories, and then you can further narrow your search by brand.

The selection is about what you'd expect from a clearance site; depending on when you are shopping, you'll find different selections. I was fortunate when I was shopping for a small camp chair for my son (who needed a clear definition of where "his space" was for circle time at pre-K) to find a great selection of sleeping bags. At the time, there was a very limited selection of tents, but when I checked today to write this review, there were six different tents that slept at least four people.

::: Me? An Outdoor Enthusiast? :::

I haven't been camping since my own scouting days, so I needed a bit of education on the latest developments in equipment. I was able to get my hands on two +15 adult-sized mummy bags for $36 each! These weren't no-name branded itemes either; they were Kelty! All the other, more seasoned camping moms were insanely jealous of my shopping fortune.

For shipping such unwieldy items (two sleeping bags and a camp chair), the shipping was reasonable, and quick even at the cheapest "standard" shipping. We had our bags well in advance of the campout, and had a great time. Shipping options include shipping to a REI store if you have one local, and standard, 2-day, and overnight shipping to your home. Payment forms include the standard credit cards, REI Gift Cards, and REI member vouchers (you get money back if you join toward more gear). The REI Outlet is also affiliated with Upromise, so you get money back in your associated 529 accounts if you shop through Upromise.

I'd definitely shop the REI Outlet, and am currently searching for a tent. While our first overnight was in a lodge, we won't be so lucky this summer when we have our first tent camping overnight.