Outdoor gear online shop

[Tony]

While reading the latest edition of 'The Bushwalker' magazine http://www.bushwalking.org.au/mag.html I came across an ad from DE Maritime, Outdoor and marine recreation specialists. This is from their web site

DE Maritime is a leading supplier of quality camping, hiking, and outdoor gear and equipment. For gear reviews, care tips and information: http://www.de-maritime.com/

Some of their gear is very cheap especially their stoves which includes the lightest commercially produced canister stove (48g) that I have seen which cost only $35. http://www.de-maritime.com/titanium-camping-stove

I have posted this for the interest of other bushwalk.com members, I have absolutely NO interests in DE maritime or any other outdoor company and I do not know the owners or anyone who works for DE Maritime.

Tony

[corvus]

Tony,
Thanks for that post and I agree the prices are really good ,do you think I should add another stove to my collection
corvus

[corvus]

Did look at buying even signed up however the old drawback from US suppliers, freight cost $19.95 US for a lightweight item just puts it out of contention at $54.90 US I will just need to troll eBay for a supplier from the country of origin to feed my addiction
corvus

[Jellybean]

Hi,

While their prices seem good they fail to meet one cardinal rule that I have about buying on-line - I can't find anywhere on their site (I may have missed it) where they list their street address; contact phone numbers; email address (there is only one of these on-line contact forms which I've found to be frequently useless).

I wouldn't use them for that reason.

I shop a lot on-line because I don't have time to go to the shops and, often times, much better deals can be had os, but I am cautious in doing so and that is one rule, for me, that must be met if I am to consider purchasing from them.

Cheers,

JB

[Tony]

Hi JB,

Hi,

While their prices seem good they fail to meet one cardinal rule that I have about buying on-line - I can't find anywhere on their site (I may have missed it) where they list their street address; contact phone numbers; email address (there is only one of these on-line contact forms which I've found to be frequently useless).

I wouldn't use them for that reason.

I shop a lot on-line because I don't have time to go to the shops and, often times, much better deals can be had os, but I am cautious in doing so and that is one rule, for me, that must be met if I am to consider purchasing from them.

Cheers,

JB

I have to agree, I am also suspicious of online retail companies that do not have addresses and contact numbers.

You can always contact the editor of the Bushwalker Magazine for more details about DE-Maritime (as I know him I might anyway).

I also do a lot of shopping online as the LW gear that I want is not available in Canberra, I have never had a problem, though my GPS watch which I purchased from a company that had an Australian web site, the watch when it finally turned up after 6 weeks it came from Texas.

Tony

[dancier]

Hi,

While their prices seem good they fail to meet one cardinal rule that I have about buying on-line - I can't find anywhere on their site (I may have missed it) where they list their street address; contact phone numbers; email address (there is only one of these on-line contact forms which I've found to be frequently useless).

I wouldn't use them for that reason.

I shop a lot on-line because I don't have time to go to the shops and, often times, much better deals can be had os, but I am cautious in doing so and that is one rule, for me, that must be met if I am to consider purchasing from them.

Cheers,

JB

I'm much the same but even contact details can lead you astray so if I can pay via PayPal then I'm happy. DE-Maritime are PayPal verified so that's even better.

[Son of a Beach]

Note that the lightweight discussion from this topic has been split off to this new topic.

[rcaffin]

While reading the latest edition of 'The Bushwalker' magazine http://www.bushwalking.org.au/mag.html I came across an ad from DE Maritime, Outdoor and marine recreation specialists. This is from their web site

DE Maritime is a leading supplier of quality camping, hiking, and outdoor gear and equipment. For gear reviews, care tips and information: http://www.de-maritime.com/

I can tell you what I know. The business is located in Shanghai and is owned and run (as far as I know) by an Australian called Greg. We have corresponded. He is trying to act as a middle-man between the Chinese factories who make most of the gear for the Western brand names and bushwalkers in the West. This is why the products look so very much like products sold by the Western brand names: they are essentially the same items. However, they don't have all the marketing costs and profit margins you expect to pay for the Western companies.

Yes, this means the Chinese have little respect for IP, although as far as I know they always vary the original design just slightly to avoid actual conflict. The stove mentioned works fairly well: I have tested one. It is slightly high on CO emission compared to my Snow Peak GST-100, but the rest of it works fine. The pseudo-Whisperlite stove however is a bit dangerous: it can 'flash back'.

My understanding is that the biggest hassle over there is trying to persuade the Chinese that a contract to supply at a price actually means something. Apparently they just don't have any concept of 'a contract'. They will turn up with half the goods and want to renegotiate the price. Labour costs are cheap, but quality management costs are not!

Postage - yeah, a problem. But what do you expect for that distance from China? Solution? Dunno.

Cheers
Roger Caffin

[Jellybean]

The stove mentioned works fairly well: I have tested one. It is slightly high on CO emission compared to my Snow Peak GST-100, but the rest of it works fine. The pseudo-Whisperlite stove however is a bit dangerous: it can 'flash back'.

My understanding is that the biggest hassle over there is trying to persuade the Chinese that a contract to supply at a price actually means something. Apparently they just don't have any concept of 'a contract'. They will turn up with half the goods and want to renegotiate the price. Labour costs are cheap, but quality management costs are not!

Postage - yeah, a problem. But what do you expect for that distance from China? Solution? Dunno.

Wow, based on that information, the solution for me would be to buy elsewhere - especially for something like a stove where safety is an issue and quality assurance paramount.

[Tony]

Hi Roger,

I can tell you what I know. The business is located in Shanghai and is owned and run (as far as I know) by an Australian called Greg. We have corresponded. He is trying to act as a middle-man between the Chinese factories who make most of the gear for the Western brand names and bushwalkers in the West. This is why the products look so very much like products sold by the Western brand names: they are essentially the same items. However, they don't have all the marketing costs and profit margins you expect to pay for the Western companies.

Yes, this means the Chinese have little respect for IP, although as far as I know they always vary the original design just slightly to avoid actual conflict. The stove mentioned works fairly well: I have tested one. It is slightly high on CO emission compared to my Snow Peak GST-100, but the rest of it works fine. The pseudo-Whisperlite stove however is a bit dangerous: it can 'flash back'.

My understanding is that the biggest hassle over there is trying to persuade the Chinese that a contract to supply at a price actually means something. Apparently they just don't have any concept of 'a contract'. They will turn up with half the goods and want to renegotiate the price. Labour costs are cheap, but quality management costs are not!

Postage - yeah, a problem. But what do you expect for that distance from China? Solution? Dunno.

Cheers
Roger Caffin

Thanks for the excellent information, you have convinced me to get one of the little stoves.

Tony

[blacksheep]

regarding stoves- I can (and do) sell stoves in NZ that I currently don't import into Australia. To sell a gas stove in AU (legally) the stove must past a compliance standard and carry the certification mark. This certification literally costs thousands (yes, even for small camping stoves).
I import into NZ as the same saftety testing is only $800.
So if you buy these stoves (our the fairydown stove from Macpac NZ) it is not AU standards approved...that explains part of the cost difference- no huge cost to amortise across cost of goods.
BUT at least you have the assurance of safety if the product has passed NZ or AU testing..