LL Bean waterproof sling pack.
- This topic has 10 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Sep 30, 2009 at 9:01 am by
.
-
Posts
-
I saw the midcurrent article on the denver show – thanks Zach – and got a bit of buzz after reading about the $99 LL Bean sling pack.
Was wondering if you could shed any more light on it as a lightweight alternative to lugging a pack around ?
Also, any idea when it would be available from Beans ?
Cheers.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Hey David, I haven’t seen it yet, but it looks like it is based off of the hunter’s sling pack design.
David –
That was a Marshall Cutchin pick, I’m afraid, and he’s the one with the review copy. I only recall the product very vaguely, although I believe there’s a picture on the site. Generally speaking, LL Bean products are very high quality for their relative prices, because they do not attempt to support a dealer/fly shop network.
This is how most outdoor gear is priced. You can reverse engineer costs this way, too. Say a product is $100. Retail markup in high end outdoor product sales is usually between 40% and 60%. In fly fishing it’s often about 40%. So, the fly shop paid $60 for that $100 product. (The markup, while high, has obviously barely been enough to keep the shops in business). Now, if the “wholesale” on that product was $60, then that figure reflects the manufacturer’s profit as well. There’s a lot of variation in what profit the manufacturer makes, depending on the complexity of the product and the cost of manufacture, but let’s assume it’s again about 40% (that would be healthy but not exorbitant). Thus, the original equipment manufacturer’s price on that $100 product is about $36 (very loosely).
L.L. Bean uses the same quality controls on bags as everyone else (meaning, like almost everything else, most products are manufactured abroad to tight specs, but designed here in the states.
Hey Zack,
Not exactly apples, but for comparison, you can look at Mystery Ranch bags.
I had never heard of Mystery Ranch until we hiked the divide this summer. All of the guides and base camp staff had Mystery Ranch bags. They are probably the highest quality pack made right now.
The Terraplane was the bag that set the standard when Gleason was running Dana Designs in the mid 90’s.
Thanks guys.
(the Mystery Ranch stuff looks pretty cool)Zach, there’s no LL Bean here except for on-line ordering – so I have no chance of seeing one before buying.
Almost everything I wear now is by Bean because you can get about 99% of what they do in tall sizes including wading jackets and outwear.
Most of their pants also come in 36′ inseams.
And let me tell you, tall sizes in anything is as rare as rocking horse sh*t here in Oz.. 😉I’m real happy with the quality of LL Bean in general.
Generally I get all my fly stuff off the shelf from a couple shops here, and order through them as well, but there’s not much around in waterproof bags, so I might have to take a chance on the new slingpack.
One eye is on the Sage backpack, but it might be a bit big for what I need – they should be in stock here soon to have a look.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Actually, there are 14 stores in addition to the flagship store in Maine, all east of the Mississippi.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.