Links To Quality Vendors

[Vanraw]

Did you guys go with the coop membership? Is that worthwhile?

It depends how much you spend there. It's nice getting a check from them at the end of the year (they've since switched over to a simply "bonus" program I beleive). I was there the other day and had 5 bucks in rewards to apply to my purchase so I'm guessing that's the new method. Back when I spent a lot more money on camping gear I would get 100 dollar checks at the end of the year. In addition, REI is already cheaper so I think REI is a win win. (Hudson trail does have more of the high end stuff though, like my gore-tex rain gear all comes from there).

Yea what Dustie said. I have the membership. In general its a coop style business. In shopping around Ive always found the best deals to at REI for the stuff Ive been shopping for. The key, like anything else, is to look for the sales and such.

The best part of REI is the staff. Ive yet to run across anyone in the store that doesn't know their shit. And on several occasions I will get interesting advice like "Hey if you wait 2 weeks we have this sale coming and you can get that tent for 40% off".