When Does It Make Sense To Import Cheap Camping Gear Online.

There are a lot of sites that are offering cheap camping gear. For example, aliexpress.com a lot is very cool, very affordable, very functional. A lot of it is also just rubbish. Now I’ve bought a bunch of stuff from them, I’ve bought good stuff and bad stuff. What I have learned is that manufacturers when left to their designs, have a different way of thinking compared to us as consumers. Once you understand this, you can generally pick up some equipment cheaper than a branded equivalent.

How many of these overseas sites work is similar to eBay or Amazon marketplace. Overseas, there is a massive amount of manufacturing specifically for export. There are middlemen, that go round these factories buying stock. Who then markets these products by listing them on places like aliexpress. When we buy them online, they then ship them from the factory or their warehouses.

The products themself are generally mass-produced, based on designs of things we might buy from a shop here. However, factories being cost-sensitive organisations. They trim every single ounce of fat from the product. They swap materials to cheaper equivalents, reduce tolerances, reduce the size. They have less restrictive regulations on safety & testing. They skip more expensive manufacturing steps like fancy graphics or multi colours. What remains is a product that only (barely) performs the same function at a fraction of the cost.

Postage is often heavily subsidised for export. Meaning these sellers can ship halfway around the world to you for practically nothing (whereas, for you to send it back will usually cost more than the item is worth). This can could sometimes be a roadblock if you ever have any issues. Don’t let this put you off. Sites like AliExpress do have a dispute process. Similar to how eBay works. These systems make it in the best interest of sellers to compromise with you if you have problems. In my experience, this has normally been in the form of a partial refund. While I have had issues – I’ve never been left out of pocket.

Now you might see all of this as a negative, and don’t get me wrong, it can be. However, it’s also clever and shrewd business on their part, but we can also make it work to our advantage.

Once you understand this, you can have a clue as to what’s going to be a good bet to save some money on. If the usefulness of the product is based on material choice or construction, there might be issues. One example I have been bitten by, a spirit burner. Let us compare the iconic Trangia burner vs a generic unbranded version.

Vs.

On paper, the Generic Unbranded Stove looks perfect. It ticks all the boxes. It’s smaller, lighter, and way cheaper. It doesn’t have a simmer ring, but for £2.50 I’m sold on it. Let’s click the “buy” button, I think to myself.

21+ days later, once it arrived from China, in a generic grey plastic bag. “Sweet! Exactly what I wanted!” I thought as I took it into the garden. Forcing the lid off (it doesn’t quite fit or come off easy), I fill it up and light it. Fire, perfect, does what it should. I put the lid back on and let it cool. Next, as I go to take it back inside, it leaks methylated spirits everywhere.

“No worries, it was £2.50, ill just empty it whenever I finish using it”. Fast-forward a few weeks, and I’m at a campsite making my diner. I’ve got the stove lit, with my pot on to boil. Everyone else around me is doing the same. One by one, they all finish cooking and start eating. My stove and pot are still busy heating away. 10min later, after everyone else is ready – my water is boiling. Finally, I can eat.

Did it work? yes. Was it everything it said it was? yes (nothing more thought). Was it as good as a heavy-duty brass Trangia I was expecting? Not at all!

A small side note here, these types of stoves work by heating the Ethanol/alcohol causing it to vaporise. This then pressurises the inner chamber, forcing the fuel out of the jets around the top. Material choice and construction are important for the efficient functioning of the stove burner.

As you can see in this video that I found on YouTube, someone has (un)helpfully cut a Trangia open for us. Now we can also see that there’s a loop of webbing inside. The webbing will wick up the methylated spirits, increasing the surface area. Meaning the alcohol will evaporate quicker and easier.

Other things to consider, there’s almost double the mass of metal in the Trangia. We also know that brass holds almost 2x the heat that aluminium can. So twice the amount of metal, that metal can absorb twice the amount of heat. That’s about four times more heat able to be absorbed by the Trangia.

Trangia’s design means it can therefore vaporise more alcohol fuel quicker. The Trangia also has a greater surface area due to the missing mantle in the Generic Unbranded Stove. These features allow the Trangia to create more internal pressure, giving it a better, stronger, more efficient burn.

The original Swedish Trangia designers knew their stuff when selecting the materials and designing their product. It has been around in this basic design since the 1950s. It will outperform any cosmetic clone of it.
Is this a bad thing? No, I don’t think so.

As long as you know what your getting and are buying it for the reasons that make sense. For example, you want super lightweight, where every gram counts, or even just on cost) Who cares if you take an extra 10 min to boil water than everyone else, you still eat. You still have hot water, and you saved £10.

Me though, I went for the Trangia and ditched the Unbranded Generic one. I wanted speed. When it comes to cooking after a day of walking, I’m not waiting.

Let’s consider something else, like a spork. You can get a nice, fancy, branded titanium spork. It will come in a very nicely made box with a nice mountain picture on it. Inside the box, your spork will be presented in some plastic packaging (that will all go straight into the bin on arrival). It will be delivered to your door the very next day.

Or, buy a slightly smaller, slightly thinner, lighter metal, non-branded, delivered in a grey plastic bag, through the post within a few weeks, for a fraction of the price.

Both will functionally be the same, i.e You can shovel food into your face with it. Does it make sense then to buy an unbranded one then?

The question is,  ‘Where the construction is important to the functionality, buy branded. Otherwise, buy imports’.  As with any Headline that asks a question, the answer is generally always “no”.

Does that mean I should avoid everything more than tent pegs, pots & pans, or cutlery? If nothing is from a company with a brand, how do I know what I’m going to get? Generally, you don’t. You can use your intuition to make the best guess you can but, it’s still a guess.

I guess this is why brands have become a thing. It forces companies to make to a minimum standard that people expect. If they don’t, they have to deal with the consequences of negative PR / loss of sales, etc.

In the last few years, there have been several overseas brands that have appeared. Nature Hike, Trekology, 3F ul Gear are some examples I have used before.

Their business model is new. It’s to offer this minimum quality that we expect, but with the cut-down prices and build we want. I have ordered several products from these companies.