BPL reviews etc.

“I look at my annual membership as a donation to keep the forums running.”

Amen.

“I suppose I ought to be less flabbergasted than I am. (I certainly couldn’t be more so.) Firstly, how gear is used is more relevant than the bare specs insofar as lightening the load. Second, travel is the point!”

Wow, I actually flabbergasted someone! Lightening my load has been about going to places I would have gone anyway, just with a lighter load. There has only been one member trip review since I’ve joined that covered an area of interest to me (thanks Pedro), and that got buried pretty quickly due to lack of general interest. So it’s not surprising that the trip reviews are not my cuppa tea. I’m glad some folks get value out of them. I already know HOW to use my gear.

My two favourite trip reports, both free on the forums: The first video report is particularly entertaining…

Pedro’s South Island Trip

Mueller Hut, NZ Trip

DAYMN! This topic has got some LEGS!
8 pages and counting…

"This is a guess, but for BPL to keep everything in stock would almost amount to custom order prices for most things."

We already pay custom order prices on most BPL Gear. Stealth Nano Tarp, Hane, BushBuddy… The only stuff here sold at "nominal" value seems to be the Ti pots and other smaller items not "custom manufactured."
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I think if it is part of the vision to see member dues used to create new equipment then it should be stated in the mission statement. After all many members here say they would like to see their dollars go to equipment R&D. Why not oblige them. In every case obfuscation or even the appearance of obfuscation is bad. Then is it any wonder that such "conspiracy theory" threads like this one pop up. Of course people want to know where their money goes.

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I was a bit surprised to see that half of the 'M' tags on the main page had dropped since the last time I was on the forum.
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Zpacks is still backordered and unable to fill any orders till June. I think the demand is there, but who knows I don't have any way to prove my conjecture. Yet its true the store is always out of everything. I was honestly surprised by how much the pulled out for their moving sale as much of it wasn't listed as being in the store yet the product was obviously in someone's warehouse.

I don't want to tell anyone how to run a business, I am just a customer. But I still think it is fairly obvious BPLs vision tries to accommodate too much for too many people for its investment of capital. The store being just one such manifestation. Others have pointed to the lack of the recent reviews of much of the equipment most likely to be purchased by the members here, another manifestation. I know the reviews of "members more likely to buy" equipment are here, just as of late most of them are in the archives (SUL Pack comparisons etc).

Don't take any of this the wrong way. We know things aren't easy for you, things aren't easy for some of us either. And if BPL want to end such "conspiracy theory" threads then they need to connect in peoples' minds just what exactly is payed for when you sign up for membership other then access to another part of the forums, and a few dollars off store purchases. Let me re-iterate, like I've said before I am only a customer and sometime forum contributor.

I also consider my membership fee as going to support the community that has been created here. The information shared here is worth much more than $25/year. Let's say you use this site 100 days/year. Is it worth 25 cents per day? I say that's about the best quarter I spend on a day to day basis; I sure get ALOT for my money!

On top of that, think of this community; how many of us would have ever met? This is the ONLY place I know of where I can interact with kind folks who share my passion for wild places. So many times I've been inspired to go to a new place, learn a new skill, or even shift to a new way of thinking, because of this community. I get to "talk shop" with people who make some of my gear, and learn the motivations behind people who push the boundaries of the outdoor experience. I've been fortunate enough to share in so many victories, and mourn so many losses. I chat with people from every continent everyday, just like we're sitting around a campfire. And nearly to man (or woman!) they are kind, thoughtful, humble and gentle. I've yet to find another place quite like it, though I search everyday.

Thanks BPL. And when I use the term "BPL" it means much more to me than just a shop and an e-magazine.

Scott's post.

+1

The thread has wandered a bit- but I wanted to comment on the BPL Cottage Gear Reviews part since a few folks mentioned about MLD and wanting to see more reviews.

It has been a while since an MLD item was reviewed. That is because we did not send any free gear to be reviewed – for lots of reasons- one was that we were in backorders.

We did send one pack recently and think it may be reviewed closer to mid summer when the reviewer would have appropriate weather to test it properly.

I did find it interesting that no one in these posts (I think) directly noted that sometimes the BPL Store directly competes with the gear being reviewed.

Each business (BPL and any other gear maker) is unique and different. BPl is unique in that it has many parts, editorial, gear sales, education, etc. and that should be admired.

I think that each BPL gear reviewer is independent and is not influenced editorially on a micro level in anyway by the BPL mgt.- These guys are great! That's not an issue.

But there are many other considerations a company would have before sending free gear fro review.

One Example, if a gear review came out at the exact same time as a new launch BPL product of a similar type. The BP product – with all the accompanying prime marketing and push in the same editorial space – may impact the potential sales of even a Highly Recommended reviewed product.

Overall- the small UL/SUL community of BPL + other online editorial contents/forums and the ever more numerous smaller gear companies seem to work together fairly well. I see it as all fairly symbiotic- up till now anyway- I do wonder about the future – it's going to be interesting!

I'm probably just opening a whole new thread and will get skewered a bit- oh well. Just wanted to throw in my 2cents and point folks to another way to looks at the question.

Hi Ron

> if a gear review came out at the exact same time as a new launch BPL product of
> a similar type. The BP product – with all the accompanying prime marketing and
> push in the same editorial space – may impact the potential sales of
> even a Highly Recommended reviewed product.

Yeah, well, I understand the theory here.

But the practice is a bit different. Personally, I would make very sure nothing I wrote was biased in any way whatsoever, and I am pretty darn sure the other Staff would endorse that for themselves. There would be screams of outrage from within BPL if we behaved any other way.

Anyhow, your deliveries might be a bit faster … (a non-corporate viewpoint!).
And your product range is a whole lot bigger too.
The cottage industry is a whole lot bigger than the BPL shop!

Cheers

Hi Roger

From Roger's Post:
"But the practice is a bit different. Personally, I would make very sure nothing I wrote was biased in any way whatsoever, and I am pretty darn sure the other Staff would endorse that for themselves. There would be screams of outrage from within BPL if we behaved any other way."
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To clarify – I tried to say I have no problem with an individual reviewer or review ( heck- I even volunteer as a peer reviewers on some articles)- I feel you all are unbiased on individual reviews. No problem there. I always enjoy the well written articles. I think you and all the BPL reviewers all do a portion of the work as a gratis service to BPL the UL community and I appreciate that too!

Ron,

Feel free to send any new gear to me for pre-review of the gear reviewers 'review.' Or a post-mortem, new concept launch…a gear review of reviewed gear to give an honest opinion of that gear in light of the review given! Either way, I'm in!

couch