Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Group Forum: Scouters :: Alps Mountain Gear for Scouters
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Author | Message Text | ||
Tman |
Switched over the Alps tents 4-5 years ago and have had great luck. Less expensive and they have held up much better. Plus, the Scouts (and adults) like them much better. |
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Corsair |
And you can get some high quality gear at good discounts from ALPS. You have to pay by check for most stuff, a lot of salesman samples. Got a killer headlamp on clearance for $20 bucks. 60% off. Don't really have to do much to register either. |
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mirth |
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billconner |
Our troop switched to the Timberline Outfitters maybe 25 years ago - before me at least - and bought the first order direct. They asked if they could use up some fabric from a DOD order. Yup. Some of those are still in use, while other replacements have come and gone. |
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TomP |
Outfitter Meramac 4 List $319. Through Hikerdirect we paid around $180. Free shipping. |
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WindChill |
quote dm45244: " We always had zipper problems on the "regular" Timberlines also. Never had problems with the Timberline Outfitter though. On the regulars the problem is not the zipper itself but the slider gets worn. In the field you can often pinch it closed a bit. The fix is to replace the slide. The Eureka site has instructions for replacing the slide (or you can use the search on this site to find my previous explanations). If you phone their customer service they will send you new slides for free. So far we have had no problems with the Alps zippers on either the Taurus 4 Outfitter or the Lynx 2s that we use for backpacking. |
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dm45244 |
quote mirth: "Our troop is considering refreshing our tent stock soon, I've been advocating for Alps or Eurekas with aluminum frames. We currently use Eureka Tetragons with fiberglass poles and seem to get about 3 years out of a tent before it starts to have zipper or frame issues." Our troop had Eureka TImberlines and had zipper problems. We switched to Alps Lynx and have zipper problems. Our experience is that the scouts aren't paying attention and let the surrounding fabric get caught or, when the scouts get impatient, forcing their way through a partially open door. Nice thing about Lynx is that the tent has only two identical poles. I would recommend stocking up on the pole splints (if that's the term). We've bent or broken a couple, including one the first night at BWCA. We would like to have Alps tents with the heavier outfitter zippers but wanted vestibules and more ventilation than their current outfitter choices. Vestibules on the Lynx are handy - no muddy boots in the tent. Alps isn't the best absolute quality but good for the price, especially sales and hikerdirect. |
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mirth |
I will say that Alps' customer service has been on par with my experiences at other large well known brands or vendors. They've replaced pack components that became broken with little more than an email with the problem description and a photo of the issue. |
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mirth |
Couple other packs suffered from fraying of the lycra water bottle holders. Most of the packs whose wearers were careful with them made it thru the trek just fine. The integrated rain covers aren't that great, or so I've been told. Our troop is considering refreshing our tent stock soon, I've been advocating for Alps or Eurekas with aluminum frames. We currently use Eureka Tetragons with fiberglass poles and seem to get about 3 years out of a tent before it starts to have zipper or frame issues. |
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WindChill |
In fact, I have 5 Taurus 4 Outfitter tents on back order right now (come on September!). We are slowly replacing all of our Eureka Timberline 4 tents with the T4 Outfitter. It has about the same floor size but 2 doors, 2 vestibules and full-coverage rain fly for about half the price. |