The Great Big List of Cheap Gear For Outdoors Sports and Travel

The Great Big List of Cheap Outdoors & Travel Gear Websites

(Last updated September March 12, 2018)
**This post includes affiliate links, which means I am paid a small commission of any sales resulting from their use. For more information see my disclosure policies page.

Outdoors sports gear seems to be getting more and more expensive all the time. For those of us who love our adventure sports, but don’t have a ton of money, the Internet does have a solution. There are a number of cheap gear websites selling everything from cheap camping gear, to cheap climbing gear, to cheap ski and snowboarding gear, to cheap hiking gear, and this is my personally compiled list of the best websites for buying every kind of cheap gear you can imagine.

Want to know what I keep in my bag?

[button link=”https://www.amazon.com/shop/xpatmatt” size=”medium” window=”yes”]CHECK OUT MY FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR[/button]

How These Websites Sell Such Cheap Stuff

By buying selloffs and promotions in bulk and avoiding the overhead costs of physical stores (leases, employees, bills, etc.) discount gear websites are able to offer incredibly cheap travel and outdoors gear.  Seriously. You can find good brand-name products for 40-80% off on these websites on any given day.

I shop almost exclusively at these stores these days. More and more of these stores have sprung up in recent years, but some are much better than others, so I’ve kept a list of the best ones. This is it.

There are three general kinds of discount gear websites:

  1. Big stores with a wide variety of cheap gear (think an online department store). These are great for the casual shopper looking for a deal or shopping for gifts.
  2. Sport-specific stores where you can find discounts on those hard to find widgets and knick-knacks specific to your favorite sport.
  3. Stores that offer limited-time sell-offs. These are for the hardcore bargain hunters who are willing to snatch a deal when it comes up. Limited-time offer stores usually require you to sign up and then email you about each new limited-time deal. It’s more work, but also one of the best ways to find the most outstanding deals.

Regardless, you can save a lot of money and still get quality brand-name gear. Check out these shops and the only reason you’ll ever visit a mall again is to try things on for size (before you go home and order them).

The Big Stores With All Kinds of Cheap Gear

These ones are big stores with a huge variety — kind of like the costco of cheap gear.

Backcountry.com

Backcountry.com may be the biggest of all the discount online retailers. They have everything from skis and snowboarding equipment to tents to climbing gear.  I head straight to the clearance bins (the link is in the top navigation bar) for as much as 70% off.

The Best Deals: I always scour the outlet where gear is 60% – 80%  off.

REI

Most of us have heard of REI, so I won’t go into detail about them. This sporting goods behemoth requires no explanation. Most of the website is just their normal store. But, there are lots of deals as well.

The Best Deals: The REI Sale and Clearance page often has gear on sale for up to 50% off

Sierra Trading Post

Sierra Trading Post has a wide variety of gear including that used for most outdoors sports, but they also sell luggage, electronics, and even golf accessories. They advertise 35 – 70% off retail prices.

The Best Deals: For the really good deals I go straight to the Bargain Barn.

Altrec

Altrec is an all-round outdoors retailer selling all manner of clothing and gear for travel, hiking, running, surfing, cycling, kayaking, yoga, climbing, skiing, snowboarding, and snowshoeing. I love this website and often find items I can’t find elsewhere.

The Best Deals: Jump straight to their outlet store for items up to 85% off.

Leftlane Sports

This is another behemoth shop with all manner of outdoors gear. Be careful when you enter. I almost bought a new surfboard 10 minutes ago just browsing.

The Best Deals: The top navigation bar of the site has a ‘Sales’ button on the left. Use at your own peril.


Sport Specific Deals On Outdoors Gear

Skis.com

The name of the site is a bit misleading, because it includes snowboards as well as skis. It’s a great site for, especially in the pre- and post-season when selloffs are rife.

The Best Deals: You’ll find the goods all at 30-60% off in the sale area here.

Snowboards.com

When I feel the need to tease myself with stuff I want, I go here. This site has tons of gear for great prices. I literally almost just bought a new board while writing this.

The Best Deals: The super cheap deals (like a brand-new Flow board for $160 I just saw) are in the sale area.

Evo.com

Evo is a well-branded surf, skate, snow focussed website that keeps a good rolling stock of cheap gear for those of us who love to stand sideways.

The Best Deals: Check out the Outlet section for the bottom of the barrel prices.

Dog Funk

Dog Funk has an indy feel to it and is aimed at boarders (skate, surf, and snow) and even has some super-specialty items like avalanche beacons. Most of the gear on Dog Funk is around 30 – 50% off, though I’ve run across items as much as 85% below retail.

The Best Deals: If you’re looking for the really good deals, you should jump straight to their sale page.

Water Outfitters

Water outfitters is not totally sport specific, but focusses on water sports gear with a bent towards lake-based summer activities like wakeboarding and tubing.. Taking the family camping at the lake? Check these guys out first.

The Best Deals: The sales section can be found here.


Limited-Time Sales For Super Cheap Gear Deals

The Clymb

This Portland-based store is not just for climbers, as the name might imply. They have up to 15 different limited-time sales, generally running for three to seven days, with goods ranging from luggage, to watches, to sport-specific gear usually for 40 – 70% off. And they say that they have Adventures (trips I assume) coming soon.

PlanetGear

Planet Gear has sells products for about one-week at a time and usually have six to eight offers on any given day. Their prices range from about 40 – 70% below retail.

Steep and Cheap

Steep and Cheap has outdoors and snow sport-related gear on sale one item at a time. They sell until the current item is gone, and then post a new one.

Chainlove

Chainlove is like Steep and Cheap–one deal at a time–except they sell bike-related stuff.

Whiskey Militia

With the tagline “Surf, Skate, and Snow. Cheaper Than Your Mom.” how could you not love these guys? Their wares are geared towards a young alternative crowd. They have one deal on at a time for non-members, but if you sign up (free) they usually have another six to ten deals at any given time.

Want to know what I keep in my bag?

[button link=”https://www.amazon.com/shop/xpatmatt” size=”medium” window=”yes”]CHECK OUT MY FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR[/button]

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25 thoughts on “The Great Big List of Cheap Gear For Outdoors Sports and Travel”

  1. These websites do not sell cheap gear unless your someone like Donald Trump who is used to buying his camping gear in Beverly Hills. Amazon.com, Ebay, and Walmart.com are among three websites that truly have inexpensive camping gear from brands like Coleman and CORE.

    Reply
    • You make a fair point Tim. I guess it would be more accurate to say that these websites sell cheap high-quality gear. Most of my blog readers are serious outdoors people and are not interested in Walmart-quality gear.

      Reply
  2. ASO Mammoth, the best mammoth outdoor store for your adventurous trip, we have the largest selections of snowboards, bikes, and ski gear. We are ready to help you race down the mountain, jump over rocks and streams or just make a steady climb up the hill.

    Reply
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