Just noticed this the other day: REI.com has added consumer reviews (which backcountry.com was using two years ago, but hey, late progress is still progress). As a sampling, check out this link to the $600 Garmin Colorado 400t GPS unit, whose reviews run the gamut from tepid to terrible. Well, maybe all the grouches have chimed in first.
(I double-checked to see how long the comments have been there — the oldest date to the end of August of last year, which just goes to show how much resolve I’ve shown in avoiding buying new gear, no matter how badly I needed it.)
This post in conjnction with your busy being born post, caused me to think (actually I was already thinking and stressing) about. I TOTALLY respect you for holding out. I have been able to for many things, but for others I give in too much. Some of it is really “needed” for safety, but then I wonder if there isn’t another option to do something that is more inherently safe.
The thought that has caused me to buy things that make my “oh my god I’m going to go broke!” stress levels rise, is the thought that I will probably buy it in the future.
I ask myself if this is true, will I most likely buy it in the future?
If not, I can skip it with only a little pang of longing.
If I decide that *someday* I will end up buying it, I ask myself if it is something that will be obsolite in a year or two, or three or four.
If it will be obsolete, I figure out how much I would use it, and how much it costs to rent that many times. I also figure in the likelyhood of doing the activity if I had to rent the product, rather than having it on-hand. for example, when I lived 500 meters from the coast of a beautiful Swedish archipeligo, it didn’t matter how much I spent to ship my foldable sea kayak. If I would have had to rent one each time, I would have hardly ever gone. But owning my own meant that I used it almost every day.
If it will not be obsolite, and I am certain I will end up buying it, and I am certain that I will use it. I usually buy it. I figure that the lost opportunity costs of not being able to go into the backcountry for the three or four months I debate buying avalanche gear (that I *know* I will eventually buy) outweighs the interest I will earn by keeping that money elsewhere.
Just for the record, I still don’t have a GPS, though I have been tempted. This is something I feel will be obsolite soon (at least any model I buy now), and I don’t *need* it. The only way I will buy one is if I see that it will be good for my business, and so far, no customers have even mentioned the lack thereof.