Trail Mix: Amazon Prime Day Sales
I subscribe to Amazon Prime every so often, usually not for the express shipping (although that is a pretty nice perk) but for the streaming service. I could chat with you for hours on end of how great the TV show “The Expanse” was (and the book series too!) or debate how the recent “Rings of Power” show may or may not be worth your time… neither have a single thing to do with camping or canoeing. However, every year Amazon holds their own “Black Friday” day of deals called “Prime Days” which tries to out-compete all other retailers for your hard earned money by holding the event before any of the holiday deals even show up in your inbox.
So to really, really beat everyone to the punch, this year we have a “Prime Early Access Sale” which vows to offer you even greater deals. I thought I’d sign in and see what camping deals awaited me or even write a summary of this year’s special sales… to no avail.
Searching for the key word of “camping” offers pages and pages of gear, much to the delight of any outdoors fan, however I can’t say that in the 13 pages of results I could find a single thing I’d spend my money on. Not a single name brand to be found, instead page after page of weird knock-off air-mattresses, camping chairs and LED lights. The reviews all seem to be favourable, and maybe I’m being too judgemental, but when it comes to backcountry camping I find the stresses that we place on our camping gear is a little more damaging that what the typical camper might be exerting on them.
Sure, if you’re looking for a great stocking stuffer for a new camper, go ahead and order one of the affordable LED headlamps, but I wouldn’t put much faith that a folding chair will stand up to the brunt of many trips in the outdoors. I feel like it is an example of caveat emptor/buyer beware when browsing “deals” like these. Save your money and put it towards name brand gear sold by your local outdoors store that has already been thoroughly tested.
Trail Mix is an assortment of outdoors related blog posts that can be fun, quirky or just thought provoking.
