Weighing In

As I forge on with my goal of becoming a lightweight backpacker, I ordered my Optimus Terra Solo cookset, Vargo titanium pegs (weighing at 6 grams apiece) and a few other tid bit items I felt would add value to my pack at only a dozen grams apiece. An England based store, Ultralight Outdoor Gear had a free shipping promotion to Australia for the month of January. So even though the AUD($) is trading at practically half the GBP(£), without shipping the costs continued to be a little less than it would have been had I purchased from an Australian store.

Optimus Terra HE Weekend and Terra Solo cooksets either side of a 100 gram canister and Soto Windmaster:

There are two things that particularly frustrate me when it comes to purchasing outdoor gear from Australian stores. Firstly, we are so incredibly overcharged for the same goods compared to America and Britain. This might seem more understandable when the AUD is not particularly strong as it is now, however the same was true when the AUD was greater than the USD. We experienced no saving even though the manufacturer's dollar was weaker.

Fluctuations in the trading dollar or even shipping costs cannot explain differences of a third or even a half extra added to the price of an item. Presumably the local importers and distributers are at least partly responsible for the exorbitant inflation. Perhaps even the manufacturer is selling at an inflated rate, as could be inferred by the restrictions some manufacturers place on their brands being shipped internationally by US based online stores. Whatever the reason, if it continues to be more expensive to purchase outdoor gear in Australia, I will continue to purchase my gear online internationally where the rates are more competitive and a sale is actually a sale. Britain's shipping fees are generally very reasonable and they have no international shipping restrictions (that I am aware of). They also have a better selection than many Australian retailers.

That brings me to my second gripe, and really it is only because I am trying to be so weight conscious, but Australian online outdoor gear specialists need to work on their specialty a little more. I do not classify myself a serious backpacker. I would like to be. I would like to have the funds and time to commit to some really fantastic through hikes in the Americas and Europe in addition to my African and South American aspirations. Irrespective, I look at the weight listed of almost every product that I purchase. I imagine that to be true of more serious backpackers as well. The outdoor gear store clerk is touted as being an avid outdoor gear lover and with experience in the field and yet they sell gear often with little care for the person who will have to lug it around.

If you do not list a weight on an outdoor gear item online, I will not purchase it from you. Advertising yourself as an outdoor gear specialist but not making the effort to meet my needs as an outdoor gear customer will not induce me into ratifying that customer-store relationship with a money purchase. List the weight of your hiking and backpacking gear, it's that simple. Anything less is plain lax and not worth my support.

While I'm on the point of advertising weights, I confess myself pleasantly surprised that the Ultralight Outdoor Gear store not only listed weights within the product description, they made them as easily available as price when scrolling through a page of potential items so that I did not have to navigate each product page to see that one product was more suitable for my weight range requirements than another. They also provided store review of many of the products that they were carrying. The price was not extraordinarily cheaper purchasing from this store, given the recent drop in AUD against GBP, but the whole experience of using this site to select suitable replacement gear was such that I elected to buy from them anyway instead of buying local. I still prefer the quick gratification of buying at a physical store rather than await delivery but not at unnecessary personal expense, as it seems to be these days.

My package arrived from Ultralight Outdoor Gear store this afternoon and I have recalculated my base pack weight as being within 100 grams of 9 kilograms. I await only replacement of the sleeping bag liner and my first big weight cull is compete. Already I am trying to recalculate the numbers to make the most out of them. The biggest weight savings to be made (aside from leaving behind extraneous and unnecessary luxuries) are also the most expensive. Still, I find myself seriously considering the investment.