Any thoughts on Alps Mountaineering Gear

Rob, I don't want to knock their gear because honestly it is good value if you are getting 40% off. But man, that stuff is really REALLY heavy. A 35* mummy bag weighs 44oz! And the one person tent weighs 4lbs! To me that is crazy and your pack will weigh a ton, but to each their own! If you truly want to pick up some light gear, I think I would recommend browsing the site for a few days and asking a bunch of questions before dropping any money on that stuff. Check out the gear swap aswell…good deals.

thanks for the info. I was wondering about their wieght, even their light weight tents. Thats why I posted the other thread about how much a tent should weigh to be considered light weight.

I'm really impressed with the 4-man tent I did get from them, but its not backpacking tent. And I didn't seem to impressed with thier packs at first look.

but was just wondering because the price were good. I'll probably just use them for car camping

Steven is right, there stuff is very heavy. Our troop purchased 4 of the 4 man tents before I became the scout master. They weigh 10.5 lbs tent, poles and fly. You can't break down the equipment by 4 (2.5 lbs per person) so one of the boys has to carry 4 lbs of tent and another the fly and another the poles.
I switch them to 3 man tarps that weigh 1 lb. each and set up with a trekking pole. They cost the same as the alps tents and are 1/10 the weight.
Now a 80 lb boys doesn't have to carry more then necessary.

At 80 lbs the boys should carry no more then 16 lbs. If he gets a Alps pack at 6 lbs, Alps sleeping bag at 2.75 to 3 lbs, and at least 3 lbs for his share of the the alps 4 man tent that would put the boy at almost 12 lbs for the "big 3," leaving only 4 lbs for 3 season clothing, food, water, kitchen gear, ground cloth and other essentials. There are not to many 11/12 year old boys with "lightweight" clothing and other gear.

But if money is an issue there are ways to make some of the Alps stuff work.