Testing Your Salesperson

by Matt Johnston

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Don't you just hate it when you walk into a store hoping to find a knowledgeable salesperson with outdoor experience, but instead find a high school kid who is working there so he can get the store discount? I’ve worked at an outdoors specialty store, so I know that most salespeople are very active in their outdoor pursuits and know their stuff inside and out. If you are new to backpacking, you often rely on the knowledge of the sales staff to lead you in the right direction. Without the proper recommendations, you can end up spending a lot of money on inappropriate gear. I thought that I would come up with a little way to "test" your salespeople to see how valuable their advice is.

When you go into a store and ask for help in choosing gear, the salesperson should always ask you how you intend to use the gear. Day hiking is totally different than multi-week backpacking trips and each require different types of gear. Also remember your budget. If you are an infrequent weekend warrior and don’t want to speed a ton a money, your salesperson should not be trying to sell you the most expensive item in the store.

An important area of expertise is hiking boots. If you buy the wrong size or type of boots, they can cause you plenty of trouble. A few years ago I led a summer camp trip and one of my campers had the wrong type of boots. After one week, his feet were totally blistered, and I blame the boots. I also blame the salesperson, because they advised him to buy the wrong boots and then did not size them properly.

Ask the salesperson about the boot's shank. The shank is a metal or heavy plastic strip in the sole. It provides support for the bottom of the boot. A full shank goes to the toe while a 3/4 shank goes to the ball of your foot. The only time that you will need a full shank is when you are doing serious mountaineering, and will be wearing crampons. Many new boots have even moved away from a shank and now use a molded footbed.

After you have chosen a particular style of boot and begin to try them on, there are a few things the salesperson should know. First of all, in order to get a proper fit you should have boot socks on. Also, the salesperson should tell you to kick something to see if your toes touch the end of the boot; this simulates walking downhill. Many stores now have simulated rock inclines that you can stand on to test the boot fit. Walk around in the boots; they will feel stiff since they are not yet broken in, but see if they feel comfortable.

Selection of a backpack depends on personal preference, that is, what style and size you want. There are many factors that go into this decision, but I won't discuss them here. When you try on your backpack, the salesperson should put some weight into the pack for you. Many stores use coils of climbing rope or weight bags to make the pack sit a little more like it would when all your equipment is inside it. If you are buying an internal frame pack, a good salesperson will shape the stays to your back.

Once you are in a camping store you are bombarded with Gore-Tex signs. A great way to test your salesperson's knowledge is by asking "how warm is Gore-Tex?" Gore-Tex is not warm. This is because it is not a fabric; it is a thin membrane that is laminated to the fabric. Jackets made with Gore-Tex are not usually very warm. Most Gore-Tex jackets are intended as rain jackets and are not made for warmth.

Another trick question is "will my down sleeping bag still keep me warm if it gets wet?” The answer is, by all means, no. Wet down clumps together and loses all of its insulating properties. The one catch to this is that many down sleeping bags now use water repellant fabrics. These types of fabrics are intended to shield the down fill, never allowing the water to get inside the bag.

The simplest advice to give for testing your salesperson is to use common sense. Get a good understanding of what experience they have with the equipment and judge their advice accordingly. If you feel the person helping you doesn't know what he or she is talking about, then get someone else to help you or go somewhere else. The worst thing to do is buy equipment that is the wrong size or wrong type. Buying the wrong equipment or the wrong size is a bad and expensive mistake. Local outdoors stores are a great source of information about gear, just be sure you trust the person who is selling it to you.

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