Warranty Issue – Gear Swap

Depends on the manufacturer. Some don't even ask, and others are unwilling to stray from their warranty policy. Many of the products on gear swap are well built and have reputation for quality and durability. A reduced cost for a used item does contain some risk, you just have to weight cost vs. the value of the warranty.

Over the years, the quality items I have purchased new have not needed warranty repairs. Also, defects usually happen during the initial use. Some items that are prone to problems (such as air mats) should be taken into consideration.

Ron Bell at Mountain Laurel Designs honored his stellar warranty policy and repaired my Monk Tarp that I purchased 2 years ago from a member on Gear Swap without a mouses fart of fuss.

Apparently Thermarest has been repairing and replacing leaky NeoAir pads purchased second hand- they just need the serial number on the pad, not the invoice proving purchase.

> Apparently Thermarest has been repairing and replacing leaky NeoAir pads purchased second hand- they just need the serial number on the pad, not the invoice proving purchase.

I just sent in mine because of this policy (popped baffles so it bulges rather than leaks). I bought it off someone here almost a year ago.

while I haven't had any issues with gear second hand from gear swap, I did recently have a warranty experience with an item purchased at an REI garage sale. I got a Petzl headlamp that was described as "not as bright as it used to be" which I took as meaning "i'm too lazy to change the batteries". I took it home and threw some fresh batteries in it and to my surprise (not really) It was broken. Called up Petzl and explained my situation and they were very nice and since the headlamp was less than 3 years old, it was still under warranty. A week and a half after I sent it in, a shiny new replacement lamp arrived in my mailbox, it was even a slightly better version (sent in a Mio XP, got back a Mio RXP) because they didn't have any XP's in stock.

I have also had warranty/repair dealings with Big Agnes and they were very positive as well, so at least for these two companies, they will stand behind their product above and beyond their stated warranties no matter if you are the first owner or 10th