Where to buy...

Greetings all!

Quick intro:
I'm a mid-forties guy who has been day hiking off and on for about ten years but never really taken extended trips in the wilderness.

I have been paying a lot more attention to gear and what to buy over the last few months as I have been a lot more active during this time period but have an issue with purchasing gear in general.

I have read multiple reviews on multiple products and want to make some improvements to the gear I have but simply do not have the access to anything more than generic stores with limited brands close to home. I just came back from a trip to the Cape Cod area and went to a couple of different places (Eastern Mountain Sports, Dick's, etc.) but even there the brands I was interested in were not carried. I picked up some clothing at the Columbia outlet based on reviews I read with the addition of being able to physically touch the items.

My question is where can I go to find the products I am interested in? For example, I want to buy a new pack but will not purchase one without checking it out in person, but with the limited selection where I live, haven't been able to feel comfortable about making a purchase. And even after going to the stores mentioned above, the selection was underwhelming.

An alternative is to go with an online purchase from a company that's good about doing returns. For example, ULA packs are sold almost entirely online, I believe, so they have to be good about this. I'm personally a fan of ULA packs, and have bought from them that way a couple of times.

This approach can work with other companies/products too, but you do want to have a good idea of what you're looking for in the first place and look for a very good and easy return policy.

EMS has a very good selection of well known "light" gear, ultralight cottage brands they do not. I know of nowhere that does. As Brian said, an online w/return policy is your best bet. Use the search function on this site for some reviews, if you haven't already. Never hiked in New Brunswick, but we've backpacked in the Chic-Chocs and on Cape Breton. Hopefully, you put up some reports.

Most of the "cottage" (small or one-person) gear manufacturing firms will work with you when you order and will allow returns. Just be sure to check their return policies carefully. That's also where you'll find the lightest and most innovative gear. For the most part, you won't find them in the stores.

For a pack, the important thing is to have all the rest of your gear on hand, plus the equivalent of a week's food and a day's water, before you order. That way you can load up the pack when it arrives and take a "hike" around the house for a couple of hours for a good test of the pack while it's still returnable. Of course you're out the shipping cost, but having a lightweight pack that fits you is worth it even if you have to return several paks before finding the right one for you. You should do the same when trying out packs in the store--go at an uncrowded time or make an appointment, taking the rest of your gear with you. Using weights or sandbags is just not the same--another of the many reasons for buying your pack last.

Check out the articles on the home page of this site, left hand column, for lots more tips on gear selection.

Thanks for the tips guys, I had a few packs in mind by way of online reviews and such and will take this into consideration when narrowing it down to a final decision

Brian, if you don't mind my asking, what is it about ULA packs that drew you to them?

A number of years ago now, a friend researched and bought one of their earlier models (A P2, which is no longer sold). I liked his, so bought one for me, and another for my wife. We still have and use those, a good 10 years or so later.

I'm on occasion a long-distance backpacker, and at least on western trails you see a lot of ULA packs. I had switched to a lighter weight (Gossamer Gear) brand pack for doing long distance trips, but found I got about 2500 miles or so out of such a pack before it was getting pretty worn. My hiking partner on the Appalachian trail had been using a ULA Catalyst and replaced his at a store in Virginia, telling me at the time that he had over 5000 miles on the pack and that it was still useable. I ended up buying a ULA Circuit about halfway along on the AT, and the folks at ULA were great to work with, easy to replace my pack by mail mid-trip with them.

Okay, sorry to be so verbose, to cut to the chase --- I find ULA packs to be a pretty good compromise between somewhat conflicting priorities: weight, durability, comfort/features, and price. You can buy a lighter pack, but you might find at times that you need to load it beyond suggested design limits (with food and/or water if nothing else), and that it literally wears out faster, and/or that you just have to be a little more careful with it. You can buy a more "full featured" pack, but such will likely be heavier, and I find that ULA packs have --- for me --- just the right set of features that I really want.

I think I might have 3500 miles or so of backpacking on my Circuit now since I got it in 2010, and it's going strong. I could do another thru-hike with it with no concern about it holding up.

All that said, at least a couple of more mainstream "you can see it in a store" backpack manufacturers have come out with credible alternatives that didn't exist when I bought my first (and maybe even my more recent) ULA. Osprey has a good model or two I believe (where "good" is based on my own very subjective preferences), and I think there might be others now.

If you're going to be shopping for packs online be sure that you know how to measure yourself for a pack (or rather, make sure you know how to have a friend measure you). It'll reduce the likelihood that you have to return a pack due to mis-sizing.

Come to think of it, I currently do not have a single pack that I purchased from a store. I tried on a ULA Circuit in a store (only one I know of with the ULA line on display - Down Works in Santa Cruz, CA) but ordered it from the company. The rest were ordered based on my accurate measurements, which I figured out for myself after being measured incorrectly in stores for two-three years.

I did not need 50 - 70 liter packs, which is generally all stores carry. I ordered a Jade 40 (Gregory) online at a very good discount. Also a Granite Gear pack, same thing, great discount.

If you have accurate sizing you can order a pack online and be successful - if the pack will work for you. I have had far more luck with this than I have with box store purchases, which were all sold on ebay.

I just posted a link to a list of sources related to lightweight backpacking, including gear sources, in the Light Gear Talk section.

Also, some retail stores carry ULA packs; check their website for a list.