Mountainfitter.com Changes and New Products

Everything is looking sweet Lawson. I got your Email update. Love the tarps.
Best of Luck Dude. Ill be on your list soon I hope for that flat tarp.
p.s.
I got the new ti-stakes and they are super bad! Love the smaller bend radius and diameter.
So much easier to push.

Looking great Lawson, and the name change seems like a good move to me. I'm over all the companies being named "light this or that", or after a random geographic region or mountain, etc. Using your name ties your reputation directly to you, and I think imparts a certain vibe of responsibility and seriousness.

Unfortunately, Javan Gear just doesn't sound as cool or professional as Lawson Equipment. =”,jdempsey”

When do you plan on having hammock models available for order? Those tarps you have posted look nice. Would be interested to see some info on how effective the extra reflective barrier is.

Hi Brent,
Sounds good and I am glad you like the stakes..

Hi Javan,
I think using your name would work just as good as mine. You should go with it.

Hi Corey,
I will have the 3 season hex using the new material on my site by the end of next week. It has an 11' ridgeline, 7' edges and is 9' wide and weighs about 9.25oz. The price will be $275 as well.

The tarps look good Lawson. I've not seen that version of cuben before so I will be interested to see how folks like it. Can think of many times I've sat under the tarp looking for a shady spot only to feel like I was in a sauna. Looking forward to seeing more of the hammock tarps. Is, perhaps, the other hammock tarp a 4 seasoner with doors and a 12' RL? Cuz if it is….

I know the feeling of sweating like a Tijuana street walker under a translucent cuben fiber tarp and thats the main reason I switched to this new material. I would say it blocks about 90% of the suns rays. Think a big shade tree that you can carry.

The last hammock tarp is the 4 season model. It has an 11' ridge line, 9' wide, 14'long edges, with "doors" on each end. The weight is around 14.5oz. I sold quite a few of these in the past and they have been well liked. The weigh about 14.5oz and cost $375.

"I sold quite a few of these in the past and they have been well liked."

Yes, I tried hard to get one of those early tarps commissioned, but unfortunately you were very busy with other projects at the time. That's OK though b/c I moved on to bridge hammocks and I need a little longer RL (ie 12') to get the full suspension (apex to apex) underneath.

Currently using an OES 12', which I like a lot, but would prefer full coverage that is lighter. I will continue to watch with interest…

nice looking hammock roof. dont forget to mention that sleeping under cuben with a full moon is like being inside a lightbulb – well done, amigo.

"Unfortunately, Javan Gear just doesn't sound as cool or professional as Lawson Equipment. ="
the answer to your dilemma lies in your product range. just start roasting your own beans, and selling them for a reasonable cost (say $12 @ 1lb.) and then you can call your business:

Java 'n Gear

;)

I really like the idea of using aluminized cuben fiber. Just last weekend a thru hiker asked me why this didn't exist already. I couldn't come up with a good reason even though it made a lot of sense.

Ah don't tempt me with the simple life Mike.. I'm too much of a masochist. Plus, in my town, there's a local roaster for every 10 families.. ;)

Although my family does still own a cafetal (coffee farm) in Costa Rica.

I have one flatcat in-stock ready to ship and will have four fastpackers built and ready to ship by the middle of the week.

Thanks,
Lawson

Maybe I've been doing too much gear shopping from work, but I get this message whenever I try to go to the new website:

This Websense category is filtered: Potentially Damaging Content. Sites in this category may pose a security threat to network resources or private information, and are blocked by your organization.

I am not sure why it would say that. Maybe someone that knows more about website can give me some feedback.. In the mean time try Mountainfitter.com and it should redirect you.

Thanks for the heads up.

Real quick 30,000 foot overview of Websense (I employ the same at our office) — it is web filtering software that allows a company to define which types of websites they want their employees to view through the company's Internet connection. No one has the time to check out every website, so this is done by categories which are more easily identifiable as business-related (e.g. customer/vendor websites) or personal-related (e.g. outdoor sports shopping websites). Depending on the company, these categories are then blocked or unblocked to manage the employees' productivity. I can check ours to see what category your website is be set as by Websense if you like.

OK, my curiosity got to me. I checked out Websense's categories for your websites and they are classified as follows:

mountainfitter.com — Shopping
lawsonequipment.com — Potentially Damaging Content

Not really sure how you get that last one changed as I am sure more then a few companies block websites classified as 'Potentially Damaging Content'. Websense should eventually change it on their own and re-categorize it appropriately once a live person in their website categorization department reviews you site. You might be able to petition them somehow through http://www.websense.com . We usually just change the category of a website that is mis-categorized locally on our copy of Websense, but that won't help you with the masses. Of course, I am not sure how many people are really going to run into this problem since they should really be accessing your website from their home Internet connection and not at work (get back to work! Sorry, my inner IT coming out). Hope this info helps.

You may submit your new URL to suggest@websense.com and a Websense researcher will analyze the site and change the category.

Thanks for checking for me.. I wonder if it has to do with the site being new???

Your site is new and unknown to websense, so it comes up as "Potentially Damaging Content" as it is not in their database and unknown to them. Send your URL to them Lawson and they should take care of it for you. As mentioned above, no worries. People can just visit your site from home instead of while at work and will get to it just fine.

To boost sales I have decided to offer these tarps for a limited time at $225.00 each. Think of this as an introductory sale. This offer is good on all my new tarps will only last for about a week.

Thanks,
Lawson

Nice work…the tarps are looking really good with that new variant of cuben.

Looks good Lawson, I think making the change was a good call!

Hit me back one of these days…

Jacob.

I am going to extend the sale for a little while longer so I can get more of these tarps in the field. If you have any questions please be sure to ask.

Thanks,
Lawson

Hi, Lawson,

I'm going to answer your (email) question here on the forum (instead of sending you back an email directly) because other folks here might have something to add about which of your tarps they prefer. Of those you are currently offering, I'm most likely to buy the FastPacker.

I'm very intrigued by your reflective material. Do you have any plans to offer a pyramid made with it any time in the near future?

The reason I'm asking is that I already own a bunch of shelters (as many others here also do). My favorites are my pyramids. But mine are relatively heavy for a solo shelter, so I only carry them for kayak expeditions (where weight is not as critical). I love the versatility of a pyramid though, so I'm eventually planning to buy one in cuben.

Lately I find myself packing my GoLite poncho tarp the most often because of how light-weight (it's only 7 oz.), and versatile it is (I just returned from a five-day trip on the WA, Olympic coast, and that's the tarp I took), but it's a little skimpy on coverage.

I love the quality of the cuben drybags I bought from you. They keep my down items bone dry. So I'd definitely be interested in a pyramid made from the reflective cuben material if you decided to offer one.

Thanks for the great customer service!

Diana