Sales Job
September 30, 2006
The Elf and I have decided to take up backpacking and camping because we need a more active hobby, which means we are spending a fair amount of time visiting camping stores. The variety of camping equipment is astounding, and since neither of us have much experience we’re relying on book advice and … this makes me nervous … the _salespeople_.
We just came back from one store where we had a unique experience; two salespeople tried to help us out on a sleeping bag purchase. One was a very helpful woman who explained sleeping bags to us, informed us of the options generally available but not currently stocked, helped us reach a decision on what we needed, and then left us alone to look at the options.
Then a second guy came along, and _he_ tried to tell us that what we decided we wanted (a poly-fill rectangular mateable sleeping bag rated to 20°) didn’t exist. It’s mostly mummy bags, he said. “I don’t suppose any of those are mateable,” said the Elf, and he said “no, they’re not.”
We skipped the sleeping bags to look in the internets and not only are there plenty of rectangular poly-fill sleeping bags rated to 20°, there’s also a good variety of mateable mummy bags. We might end up ordering these online.
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September 30th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
I was a backpacker and my advice about sleeping bags is to buy bags that fit each of you and don’t worry so much about mate-ability. If you want to snuggle use one on top and one on the bottom and then when the snuggling moves toward sleeping…crawl into your own bags. It’s warmer and two mummy bags zipped together is not so great for two to sleep in…especially after a long day of hiking with a 35-50 pound pack on your back.
Check around and see if there is some outdoor place where you can rent gear like sleeping bags and packs, etc. You’ll quickly discover what works for you and what doesn’t.
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:53 am
I’ve had good customer experience with Campmor in both the ordering-online department and the getting-recommendation-in-the-store department.
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:21 pm
If you’re in the NoVA area, which IIRC you are, have you been to HTO? It’s been since long-ago Boy Scout days that I used their physical stores, but I remember them as being pretty useful. I bought a new Therm-a-rest for the SO last year from their online outpost.
I would tend to agree with Karan about the desireability of sleeping solo after a long day of backpacking. Though my last long day of backpacking may have been in 1989, long before the SO, I remember making the crossing to Slumberland as soon as I lay down.
However, I don’t agree so much about the renting sleeping bags. To me, it’s a bit like renting bowling shoes just to wear; who knows who’s been in the sleeping bag before you. Tents are another matter. Borrow from camping friends, perhaps.
My hunch and experience is that you probably intuitively know what you want. How much of the year will you be camping? How far are your hikes going to be? How rugged is the terrain on your hikes and at your campsites? How comfortable do you want to be when camping? What are you going to do on the hikes? (Burn through as many miles as possible? Leisurely make 5 miles and then make camp? In the latter case, what are you going to do for the rest of the day?) Buy for the most extreme conditions you want to face and for the least $$ you can (trying to stick with major brands, though).