I trusted a rando at Big Sur who swore by a walmart tent

Last summer I was at a campground near Pfeiffer Beach and this guy with a beat up old tent saw me struggling with my zipper. He told me to ditch my name brand tent and just buy a $50 Ozark Trail one from Walmart, said it survived 40 nights of rain. I was skeptical but he showed me his tent still standing after a storm the night before, no leaks or broken poles. Then a ranger walked by and mentioned that same guy gets his tent replaced free every year under Walmart's return policy. Dude wasn't a survivalist, he was just gaming the system. Anyone else run into gear advice that sounded legit but turned out to be some sort of hack?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher_singh921d ago

Three trips in and my Ozark Trail poles bent like wet spaghetti. Some people treat return policies like a rental service.

betty_shah1d ago

Hah, that's hilarious. So the guy's pro tip wasn't about gear durability, it was about exploiting a loophole. I guess if you don't mind the moral gray area, you get a new tent every year for free. But honestly, that's just a rental with extra steps and wasted plastic. I'd rather just buy a tent that actually works and not have to plan a trip around a return policy. Plus, that ranger probably hated him for creating that kind of hassle.