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#271341 - 08/19/14 12:39 AM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: ]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
I have a couple of Gerber LSTs from the 80's. I have used them and survived to tell the tale....They work just fine when space and weight are important, but you need a cutting tool.

I also have a Gerber Ultra Infinity light - small, dependable, reasonably rugged, with good run time. I actually prefer it to the earlier versions made by CMG, mostly because it sports a more advanced LED.

My experience with Gerber stuff is that they work well enough, butt they definitely don't qualify as bling or man jewelry. What that they have made is "crap" and why?
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#271346 - 08/19/14 01:13 PM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078

I went to the Bear Grylls UK Shop and was quite surprised by the premium pricing.

http://www.beargryllsstore.com/uk/

£35 for a 1 ltr Bear Grylss litre Canteen - Osprey 58 Pattern Canteen can be had for £10
£59 for Bear Grylls BearPac20 Day Pack - A Quechua Forclaz 20 can be had for £10

Must be because everything is 'Extreme'

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#271347 - 08/19/14 01:39 PM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: haertig]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078
A UK version of Dual Survival featuring Raymond and Edward may well be on the cards. An Early pre-production publicity photo is shown below... Without any commercial product placements



Edited by Am_Fear_Liath_Mor (08/19/14 03:57 PM)

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#271348 - 08/19/14 01:41 PM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
Mark_F Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 06/24/09
Posts: 714
Loc: Kentucky
Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor

Must be because everything is 'Extreme'


Yup, same reason an item with the word "tactical" in it's name seems to get a similar markup. If it's tactical or extreme it MUST be better ... right?
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#271353 - 08/19/14 03:44 PM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: Mark_F]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078

I have a Goretex Jacket called an Extrem 7000 from Berghaus. Bought it about 20 years ago.. Excellent piece of gear. Says made in the UK, so it now really shows its age. wink

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#271357 - 08/19/14 11:20 PM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: haertig]
Leigh_Ratcliffe Offline
Veteran

Registered: 03/31/06
Posts: 1355
Loc: United Kingdom.
Originally Posted By: haertig
Originally Posted By: Leigh_Ratcliffe
Bear Grylls products are not "marginal" as you put. The quality is as good as, and in many respects superior to other products on the market.

If that is true, they made a fairly poor business decision to market his stuff through Walmart, and have Walmart as a main sponsor of his current TV show. You may not have Walmart stores in the UK, but here in the US they do not have a reputation for selling quality stuff. Yes, you can occasionally find a decent product there, and if you do, it will sell for a price lower than probably anywhere else.

But there is a lot of complete junk in Walmarts. They are well known for striking deals with manufacturers, getting the manufacturers highly dependent on Walmart sales (they are a very big distributer), then turning around and telling those manufactures to make things cheaper and cheaper to hit a Walmart price-point. They've kind of got the manufacturers in their grasp, because those manufacturers have gotten so dependent on sales through Walmart that they don't want to, or can't, give up that revenue stream. You find some manufacturers that have two lines of seemingly identical merchandise, the regular stuff, and the Walmart stuff. The Walmart stuff is much worse quality.

Google "Walmart vs. Vlassic", or "Walmart vs. Snapper" if you want to read up on it. The two links below are samples of the kind of stuff you will find:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bac_1342681195

http://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart

Selling through Walmart, let alone having them be your primary sponser, may be the death knell for your company, or the cause behind your products going from a quality reputation to a trash reputation. Walmart is huge, and very popular for two main demographics: Lower income shoppers, and shoppers in search of a "bargain". That is not necessarily bad, but that is their targeted audience. You don't find folks looking for higher end stuff in a Walmart. No offense intended towards Walmart - I go there occasionally. For example, I like their "bargains" on the K-cups for my Keurig coffee maker. Those things are so horrendously overpriced at normal retail that I'm not overly concerned about Walmart putting those manufacturers in their place, price-wise.


As it happens, us benighted barbarians who have the misfortune not to be from the land of the free and the brave have heard of Walmart. For some reason they do not have stores in the UK. I believe that reason has something to do with their employment practices?
As for the pricepoint thing that's normal practice amongst big box retailers.
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#271359 - 08/20/14 03:33 AM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: Leigh_Ratcliffe]
Deathwind Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 02/01/14
Posts: 310
You two behave yourselves. This is supposed to be a friendly discussion. Lets not get personal, please. Thanks.

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#271525 - 08/31/14 09:10 AM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: haertig]
Leigh_Ratcliffe Offline
Veteran

Registered: 03/31/06
Posts: 1355
Loc: United Kingdom.
Originally Posted By: haertig
I've watched a few episodes of Bear's latest show. The one where he takes celebrities out on a weekend adventure. While the show is fairly stupid and contrived (that pretty much goes for ALL shows on TV nowadays), Bear does appear to be a very friendly and likable guy. The show is entertaining. But it's not a vehicle for learning survival skills, much of what goes on there is more likely to get you killed than rescued. But it's still entertaining to a degree, and Bear does appear to be a nice guy.

I would like to see a "the making of..." episode of one of his shows, an episode that shows the cameramen and other support that is around when he is filming. They did a show like that with Dual Survival, and while I knew there were other people around during the episodes, I guess I never realized just how many folks were right there with them during filming. The chances of getting yourself into a bad situation with no hope for assistance were about zero, despite the shows attempts to portray exactly that.


I believe that is quite clearly stated at the beginning of each episode.
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I don't do dumb & helpless.

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#272113 - 10/08/14 08:52 PM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: Deathwind]
duckear Offline
Addict

Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 478
I like Bear, and would love to hang out with him one weekend.

His TV shows are entertainment, not a DIY series or documentary.

I'll watch it on the DVR if I am bored.

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#272131 - 10/09/14 01:49 PM Re: Bear Gryll's [Re: duckear]
Deathwind Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 02/01/14
Posts: 310
Bear seems likable, but he sure seems to fnd an awful lot of dead anmals laying convently next to trail. And what is it with him and rappelling? The average lost hiker isn't going to have ropes, harnesses, carabiners, descenders etc on them. Though the show certainly allowed him to push his line of products. I just wish it had had more interestng people on there. Tom Arnolds constant whine had my teeth on edge and Deon Sanders had me ashamed to be a male. Also I fnd his constantly jumping of cliffs into water to be bad advice for anyone relying on that show for survival advice. Besides the fact you will be soaked and could becoming hypothermic, how do you know what lurks under the surface? Boulders, ships ribs or other sharp impaling items come to mind. t was mildly entertainng but took very little away from it. JMHO.

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