Where do you buy your tents?

[KoreaScouter]

Our troop committee just authorized our facilities/equipment chair to acquire new troop tents that match and will be large enough to camp the whole troop and leaders with all gear inside. Now, we've got a hodgepodge, and our PLC wanted standardization for reasons of pride and ease of setup & teardown.

 

Here's our problem: Being overseas, the tents we could get on the economy may not meet fire retardant standards, and it's hard to tell if they do. The military exchange here sells Colemans, but we don't know if that's the best way to go. So we can explore the Internet too, but we're talking a significant investment and don't want to take a chance on an unknown e-tailer.

 

Where do you get your tents? Do you get quantity discounts? Any advice is welcome...

 

thanks.

[Mike Long]

I buy almost exclusively online.

 

These are just a few of the highly reputable outdoor equipment companies online. I have shopped with all of them and was so satisified that I will continue to do so in the future.

 

www.rei.com I have heard they offer discounts but I have no experience with that. I have personally bought from them several times and have always been happy.

 

www.campmor.com These guys will give scout groups a 10% discount on purchases with a troop check. You can get the contact information from the website and inquire as to the particulars. Our troop bought our last tents from Campmor and were very happy. (We bought Eureka tents and were satisfied with them)

 

www.ems.com I have heard they offer discounts also but I have no experience with that. I have bought from them and have had a good experience.

 

There is an existing thread that my be of help to you:

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=880

[Bob White]

I'll give you two places we like to use. the first is Campmor http://campmor.com if your troop sends in a leatter aon a troop letterheadwith your tax exempt # you can open a troop account and get anothe 10% off some pretty low prices on a variety of tents.

 

Another excellent way is through Eureka tents. You can go to their main web site at http://www.eurekacampingctr.com/ to select the tent. Then call their factory outlet store at 1-888-6EUREKA, and ask if they have any factory refurbished tents available in the model you selected.

The factory outlet offers A's and B refurbished tents. The A's are tents that had defects discovered during manufacturing such as dye lot differences in fabric panels and cannot be sold at retail as is. The A tents will be reduced 10 or 15%. The B tents were sold before the defect was discovered and returned by the customer. Eureka refurbishes the tent, gives it full warranty protection and then resells it for 20 to 25% off.

 

Hope this helps,

Bob

[Eagle69]

I have been dealing with Campmor for close to 25 years and they are an excellent company. I am on my 2nd set of Eureka tents. The first time we went with Timberlines and now we are using the Tetragon 7 tents. Good quality tents.

[eisely]

The other posters have given you some ideas of where to go. I wouldn't touch a Coleman tent. Coleman should stick to stoves and lanterns.

[Bob White]

I Ditto Eagle69. The Eureka Tetragon 7 is an excellent buy. It is a easy to erect 3-man tent. which means to me it's made for two people plus gear. We teach the scouts to pack everything in ziplocks to weather proof the contents and show them easy ways to keep the packs outdoors. That way there are no frames being dragged across the floors and the tents last a lot longer. don't know the current price but a few months back you could get one for $62.10 plus shipping.

Bob

 

[eagle90]

I also recommend Campmor. We have also dealth with them for a number of years and have been impressed with their selection and timely delivery. We use Timberline Outfitters from Eureka. They cost a little more, but some of our tents are approaching 20 years old, and are still in excellent condition. Of course we run classes with our scouts on proper use and care of the tents.

[KoreaScouter]

You guys are fabulous! This is almost as good as going to a roundtable (if you could squirt brownies through a fiber optic cable, it WOULD be as good as a roundtable).

 

Thanks for the great advice.

[FScouter]

www.sierratradingpost.com is another. They deal in overstocks, closeouts, and 2nd's. My first contact with them was to buy a closeout tent from their catalog. They had run out, but apologized profusely and sent me a $5 off certificate good on any future order.

[NWScouter]

I grew up buying tents from REI. There return policy is just like that other Seattle Company Nordstroms, no questions asked. They have two web sites rei.com - the regular store and rei-outlet.com - their lower price site.

You may join REI, as it is a co-op. Each year you will receive a rebate on your full priced purchases.

My first time I went to REI was back in '60 when I graduated from 'patrol boots' to a real pair of vibrum sole hiking boots. A very knowledge man fit them on my feet. A few weeks later my patrol was down at the store to buy supplies for our fifty miler around Mt Rainer, One of my buddies said "Look over there. That is Jim Whittaker."

It was the guy who sold me my boots. No wonder he knew so much, Must be something to do with the fact he was the first American to climb Everest and a Scout too.

 

[NWScouter]

I tried to edit my last post to correct there to their in the first line. Why would it not allow me to edit? All I got was a notice that I didn't have a vaild account. Anybody know? Thanks.