REI does its super clearance twice a year, every February and August. They will take an additional 50% off on items that have prices ending in .83, so the savings can be crazy sometimes. Expect minimum discounts off retail to be 60% on super clearance items, usually more.
The store sale starts on Friday, and runs for 10 days. The vast majority of the items will be clearanced the first day, but they will add items throughout the week, so additional visits can be worth the drive sometimes. If you want the really good stuff, be there when the store opens on the first day and go straight to what you really want. Expect to see assholes with 15 sleeping bags being dragged behind them. Feel free to kick these guys in the nuts, unless it is me, in which case you should help me carry the bags.
Online is a completely different matter. Sometimes it starts on Friday, sometimes it starts a day or two earlier. Expect things to sell out fast. REI does not update its inventory real time, so sometimes you still might have items that are out of stock. Even if you have stuff on your order you end up not wanting, you can always call and cancel after you place the order or just return it in store.
If you want me to be your best friend ever, and more importantly keep my poor ass doing giveaways and passarounds, use these links to shop and add things to your cart:
REI
REI Outlet
If you want to see the clearance items, use the menu up top, hover over a category, then click on the “sale and clearance” link. Look for items ending in .83. Your cart is the same for REI and REI Outlet, so feel free to jump back and forth between the sites. Place small orders for in store pick up instead of spending a lot of time shopping, because everything good will be gone by the time you are done.
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Well, here is some relatively definitive proof that someone at Backcountry reads Going Prepared. OK, maybe he did a google search, but I can hope!
Rocky and anyone else, join the board and make yourself known. We love BC and you might even receive some marriage offers from the womenz (possibly some of the more gear hungry men as well) in exchange for gear or employee discounts. If BC has a policy against posting on forums, tell us you work for a secret government agency or something. Womenz like mysterious men too!
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I received some samples of butane lighters along with the recent bottle lighter order. Butane lighters are nice to have thanks to their high flame temperature and ease of use, so they make a nice complement to a bottle lighter or other flame source. I was looking for something small, simple, and high quality, so I asked for about 10 different lighter samples to see what kind of butane lighter would be best. The company makes some surprisingly high quality products, especially considering how cheap they are compared to most metal refillable butane lighters.
Here is what came in, along with a AA battery for size comparison:
Some are all metal, some are mostly plastic, and some are a mix between metal and plastic. All of them have great finish quality and work well in my tests. The ones I am thinking about ordering are the second from the right in the top row and the middle three on the bottom row.
The two slim ones are about as slim and sleek of a butane lighter as I have seen, and are made out of a good looking metal. The black and silver one is the lightest out of the bunch, and the other one is a nice little compact lighter. I wish I could order more than two or three, but the minimum order quantities are 500 for each lighter or 1000 each if I want a logo on there. What do you guys think?
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The bottle capsule lighters I ordered last month finally made it here from China! I have them in chrome and green. The butane lighter samples came in with the bottle lighters, but I’ll talk about those in a separate post.
I picked up some 1/2 lb bags of Fatwood as well. I have the dealer information for Fatwood (the brand), so I should have fatwood in several different package sizes in the next couple of weeks. I am thinking 4 piece poly bags, 1.5 lb boxes, 3 lb boxes, and 10 lb boxes for now. The minimum order is 500 lbs, so I am going to have an awful lot of fatwood! 
I’ll have some fire starting kits up as soon as I can find a good container for the kit. There is also a HUGE (~8000 pieces) order coming from China in the next month, with aluminum carabiners, waterproof capsules, tent stakes, whistles, and match cases, all priced dirt cheap. I am working on an order with Ultimate Survival (Blastmatch, StrikeForce, WetFire, etc.) and will be a dealer for their products in the next couple of weeks. More is on the way, so I’ll let you know when stuff starts coming in!
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One of my favorite flashlight sources, Battery Junction, has a new product called the Titanium Innovations 12V Spotlight Vehicle Flashlight. Flashlights that charge off of a 12V outlet are not new, but one that looks like it is decent quality and actually fits itself into the outlet is pretty novel. This looks like the perfect option for a low output car flashlight when you need to root around in the car in the dark or change a tire at night. I haven’t gotten my grubby hands on one yet, but you can find a review here. It’s available in 10 colors, including the stereotypical womenz color, pink.
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I have another great blog link for you today, Deb’s SAR Stories. Not only does Deb have some amazing stories from her SAR missions, but she can also write in a way that makes you feel like you were along with her on the missions. Go read about what NOT to do when you go outside so Deb doesn’t have to rescue you.
Sarman in the forums pointed us to a new blog today, Hiker’s Hell. Here is what the site is about, in the author’s words:
Over four years ago, I read “Touching the Void” and I was always intrigued by situation hikers find themselves in and the incredible things they do to stay alive.
This blog is about learning from other people’s mistakes, so you don’t make the same ones.
“Better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat”
Great concept for a site and some good stories, so go check it out!
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It’s too bad fire was last month’s forum photo assignment, or the Canadians would have whooped us all with shots of this.
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Per Sanyo, Eneloop C and D sizes are coming soon. The capacities are pretty wonderful, at 5700 mAh for D and 3000 mAh for C. AA Eneloops are 2000 mAh, just for reference. Sure, other companies have released low self discharge batteries in this size, but none have had that Eneloop goodness. Low self discharge batteries are ones that do not lose their charge rapidly after being charged, like most NiMh or NiCad batteries. Eneloops are widely regarded as some of the best LSD batteries on the market, with their ability to handle high currents, super high quality, accurate capacity ratings, and small size (some rechargeable batteries are larger than regular AA alkalines and will not fit in certain gadgets). The press release only mentions Japan for now, but they are being released on my birthday, which would be an awfully convenient time for them to start selling them in the US as well.
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REI Outlet’s deal of the day is the Keen Catalina Sandals (women’s, if the name wasn’t enough of a clue) for $24.93. Combine this with the current 20% off they have going, and you have a pretty sweet deal for some nice sandals. Two colors and lots of sizes available.
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