In the words of Carly Simon: "THESE are the good old days."

As much as I also miss catalogs, I'll willingly trade them for the easy availability of gear that is so much better than what we carried 30 or 40 years ago.

There is one thing that online "catalogs" have that old print catalogs didn't: user reviews. Granted, 75% are worthless ("This pack rocks!" And other 3 or 4 word "reviews.") However, the rest often contain significant performance and design information that isn't in the product descriptions (which, like catalogs, are mostly marketing hype.) There are also multiple photos of most products, and some 360-degree rotatable pictures that I find very informative.

Excuse me - I need to go chase some crummy kids off my yard. (I became legally empowered to do so two birthdays ago.) smile