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Anyone ever used MEC?
I did a search to see if anyone had been talking about this brand in any of the threads. Mountain Equipment Co-op. It appears they have a silnylon tarp that is ALMOST a 10x8 for 69CAD, roughly $67. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this, if it is too good to be true, etc. Here's a link to the tarp itself: http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Tents/...ne-de-mec.jsp?
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If it didn't have grommets, I'd be interested...
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(A little new to all this) Why would the grommets be a bad thing?
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Try this search: http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...archid=6836404 (grommet fail)
The grommets are a point of weakness, a hole in the fabric, and will fail before other kinds of tie outs do.
They're also heavy to a gram weenie. :)
If the grommets are in a grosgrain flap, they'd be OK.
TH
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I looked at MEC a few years ago...shipping and customs were killer, iirc.
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As a Canadian with free access to MEC, most of us choose to buy from HF vendors... Also the scout tarp is a little small. I have a few buddies with the 'guides tarp' which is a good bit bigger.
Dan. :)
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I have friends that have the previous version of the guides tarp but theirs do not have grommets. They like the tarp...not sure why MEC changed the design to use grommets?
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I guess it was just the poor college student inside of me getting my hopes up about finding a good deal! If I'm gonna be spending some money, I'll at least save myself the trouble of having to spend it again sooner than I need to. Thanks for the input fellas!
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I use the guide tarp (silnylon) and I love it. It is bigger than the scout. There is a MEC local to me so that was part of the decision. The grommets are reinforced. MEC stands behind everything they carry so there are no worries. MEC will ship free to any of their stores too.
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The current MEC tarps aren't just grommeted, at each tieout point is a reinforced grommet and a "normal" tab tieout. Hence, you don't need to use the grommets at all.
MEC makes very good gear (it's the usual go-to outdoors supplier for Canadians, kinda like our version of REI) but shipping, etc. would likely make their prices less attractive to those in the States.