Sports Direct reducing Karrimor backpacks

[Zammo]

Just to heads up that Sports Direct have a lot of Karrimor backpacks reduced. I was after a daypack and picked up a Karrimor Covert Rucksack for £19!

https://www.sportsdirect.com/karrimor-covert-rucksack-791176?colcode=79117670

They have all the other ones such as the Sabre range and PLCE extension pockets too.

https://www.sportsdirect.com/SearchResults?DescriptionFilter=Karrimor Backpack

 

[Fadcode]

The only reduction Sports Direct make is in the quality

 

[Old Bones]

The only reduction Sports Direct make is in the quality

Agreed. There are very few bargains at Sports Direct, and that RRP is a fiction.

 

[Wander]

I went in to our local Sports Direct yesterday and I had a look at one of those Covert bags.
The best word I can use to describe it is 'flimsy'.
The price tag of £19.99 is a bit showy to be honest. Even at £9.99 it's still over-priced - what's the point if it's just going to come apart?
I just couldn't imagine what use this would have in an outdoors setting. As soon as you pick it up you realise how delicate it is.
Might be useful for a kid's school bag, I suppose.

The lesson is, don't buy online because you really need to see it in the flesh to see just how weak and ephemeral the actual bag is.

 

[SCOMAN]

Remember that Karrimor was sold off and IMO their kit is a poor shadow of its former self. Karrimor SF which makes it military type kit is still a reputable company with good bags at least. I always liked the Sabre 45.

 

[Tony]

Yeah, karrimor SF kit is great. I used to visit the Karimmor company as Bushcraft UK, sit, talk designs, review and test kit, and they had good kit back then, I've always thought it was a shame they got broken up and sold off.

If Sports direct have a bag that suits someone then go for it, it's not great quality but if they're reduced even more the price could be right for a knock around bag, My son destroyed one of my Karrimor SF bags using it as a school bag, it might have been financially viable to get a few bags from Sports direct instead

 

[Broch]

There are some SF bags up there; about a fiver off the lowest prices available elsewhere. So, if you were planning on buying a Sabre or Predator you'll save a little bit.

 

[Paul_B]

A few years after SD got their grubby little hands on the karrimor brand you could still get the odd good karrimor sacks. Well IIRC a few years after the designers at karrimor got the money to design some decent alpine / climbing sacks that were fast and light style of bags with a decent carry fit their weight IIRC.

I'm not sure if it's the same but when I last looked into karrimor you had to be careful but you could still get decent sacks among the cheap dross.

As a kid I used to go with my parents to the karrimor factory shop. Back then they were among the best with Berghaus in the UK. Not many other brands were available that were any good. I used to see their jaguar SA sacks for less money than you could buy 25 litre day sacks for in a normal retailer. The only issue with them was either an unpopular colour, sample colour not taken up or they had a fault. Those faults were like three lines of stitching instead of two. Certainly not a reason to sell at less than half price. Certainly not a weakness. BTW I couldn't afford, could but read brought up tight! It still had the same gold lifetime guarantee as a first quality version of the sack.

BTW if you've got an ancient gold guarantee sack in your possession along with the receipt, keep it. Karrimor still honour that guarantee. A mate can't justify replacing his old backpack because karrimor keep repairing it for the price of sending it to them. It always comes back with all nicks, tears, etc removed. Also cleaned and having done a trip with him after a repair I reckon it got a DWR type of proofing on it too.

He was hoping they'd try and buy him off with money for a new sack though.

BTW it was probably a 20 year old sack. Weighed about 1.5kg, which for an 80 litre extended capacity and the ability to carry 30 kg in comfort, it was light! My sack was a younger, same weight but killed me when I carried 28kg all in.

Sorry for the digression but I am another reminiscing about the karrimor of old. It's a ruined brand IMHO. Shop for something else. I wouldn't want to risk it even for free

 

[Nomad64]

Yeah, karrimor SF kit is great. I used to visit the Karimmor company as Bushcraft UK, sit, talk designs, review and test kit, and they had good kit back then, I've always thought it was a shame they got broken up and sold off.

I’ve still got a Condor rucksack and several items of clothing I bought from the “seconds bin” at the factory shop at Clayton le Moors (?) in the early 1990s - I’d only popped in to get the stitching on another rucksack (IIRC a 30 litre “Hot Ice” - a sort of civilian Sabre in lurid purple) stitched. They just took my old pack out the back to the workshop and fixed it on the spot.

A great company that used to be at the cutting edge of outdoor design before overreaching itself taking on debt and outside investors to fund some ill advised investments in the 1990s. It is really sad to have witnessed Karrimor’s slide from being a company run by innovators, passionate about their work who provided kit for the elite Himalayan and Alpine mountaineers in the 1960s and 1970s to becoming just another “zombie” brand in the inexecrable Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct portfolio.

The SF kit is made by a different company and although now made overseas is decent kit - just a bit sad to see it being sold through SD - personally, I’d prefer to pay a fiver more to a retailer owned by someone else.

 

[Zammo]

I went in to our local Sports Direct yesterday and I had a look at one of those Covert bags.
The best word I can use to describe it is 'flimsy'.
The price tag of £19.99 is a bit showy to be honest. Even at £9.99 it's still over-priced - what's the point if it's just going to come apart?
I just couldn't imagine what use this would have in an outdoors setting. As soon as you pick it up you realise how delicate it is.
Might be useful for a kid's school bag, I suppose.

The lesson is, don't buy online because you really need to see it in the flesh to see just how weak and ephemeral the actual bag is.

That's a bummer. I'm still waiting for mine to be delivered but sounds like it might be an instant return. I have a Sabre 45 so I was hoping it'd be the same rugged construction as that, and a few reviews I read online seemed to endorse it. Oh well you pays your money you take your chance, online.

 

[Old Bones]

We all mourn the loss of Karrimor as a decent brand - I remember when the stock all got sold off at Lillywhites (another find name trashed by Ashley), and the only reason I didn't buy a 45l bag at a stupidly low price was because my wife was about to have a baby (and hence we needed every penny), and there was no way I could smuggle a 45L pack into the house without getting a real talking to!

The rule is that Sports Direct is generally trash (although their rebadged Firemaple stoves were great value), as is Mountain Warehouse. Both plague jobs, and if people get to know the market first, can do much better for about the same amount.

 

[Paul_B]

I'd add the blacks, millets and ultimate outdoor group with them too. But that's just because of my bad dealings with... Well I still don't know what the branch has become. It has sales labels, signs, own branded stuff from all three shop names. It used to be a great ultimate outdoors until the chain got bought up by blacks.

 

[Duggie Bravo]

I tried to get Berghaus Roc Special Patrol Sack repairs under their lifetime guarantee, but they refused. They did send me some buckles to repair it myself though.


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[Old Bones]

I'd add the blacks, millets and ultimate outdoor group with them too. But that's just because of my bad dealings with... Well I still don't know what the branch has become. It has sales labels, signs, own branded stuff from all three shop names. It used to be a great ultimate outdoors until the chain got bought up by blacks.

Blacks is a bit odd - it never knew quite where it should be in the market, actually got some high level kit (which it didn't exactly go out of its way to show off) but dumped Millets crud right next to it.

I got some really good kit when my local branch of Blacks closed down, and some of the staff were really gutted at being rebranded as a Millets - they really know their stuff, and they are two doors down from a Mountain Warehouse! Now the local store is a bit odd - loads of sale offers, some decent stuff from Jack Wolfskin, Columbia, Berghaus, TNF, Montane etc, but alongside Eurohike, etc. Weird.

 

[Paul_B]

Personally I don't see blacks as good in anyway. At best it's sometimes a place to find bargains like GPS or GPS watches at knock down prices. I guess I'm fortunate that I live near enough to some good outdoor retailers like the climbers shop, George Fisher, Gaynors and even cotswold outdoors in Keswick. Cotswold outdoors near Ambleside is in a destination garden centre so it's target is Townes as a result they sell more pedestrian kit for walking around Lake district towns rather than the hills.

PS I'm an outdoors snob. Outdoor kit needs to be good designed kit whether cheap or expensive doesn't matter just good, functional kit.

 

[Old Bones]

Personally I don't see blacks as good in anyway. At best it's sometimes a place to find bargains like GPS or GPS watches at knock down prices. I guess I'm fortunate that I live near enough to some good outdoor retailers like the climbers shop, George Fisher, Gaynors and even cotswold outdoors in Keswick. Cotswold outdoors near Ambleside is in a destination garden centre so it's target is Townes as a result they sell more pedestrian kit for walking around Lake district towns rather than the hills.

PS I'm an outdoors snob. Outdoor kit needs to be good designed kit whether cheap or expensive doesn't matter just good, functional kit.

I've now got a Cotswolds and a Go Outdoors, plus there is the very nice Open Air in Cmabridge, if you want a journey, but until about 3 years ago, Blacks was pretty much the best of not a lot.

And good kit is good kit - you tend to get what you pay for, but one of the best tops I've ever used came from Lidl, and the insulated trousers I use come from Aldi. Frankly, I'd much rather people went there for good solid basics than go to SD and Mountain Warehouse - best kit and better value.

 

[Laurence Milton]

Don't confuse "Blacks" with "Blacks of Greenock"....................... the latter being excellent to deal with for some quality stuff, specifically the Solace Bell tent!

Sports Direct seem to do their utmost to ensure people DON'T buy their stuff.........so I didn't for one!

 

[Zammo]

Got the backpack and yes unfortunately its rubbish. Going to return it, I'm after a cheap daypack to replace it, was either thinking of getting this:

https://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/canvas-stone-washed-back-pack-33555-p.asp

Or maybe an Alice pack, unless anyone has any other suggestions?

I realistically don't want to spend more than £50.

 

[Old Bones]

Got the backpack and yes unfortunately its rubbish. Going to return it, I'm after a cheap daypack to replace it, was either thinking of getting this:

https://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/canvas-stone-washed-back-pack-33555-p.asp

Or maybe an Alice pack, unless anyone has any other suggestions?

I realistically don't want to spend more than £50.

Go on Ebay and search for 'Berghaus pack' - there are other brands but its popular so there are a lot of them around. Do some reading up on their current and past back systems (so if they mention it, you'll know how old it is), and you can do well for less than £50. Used will sort out the chaff, and just look carefully. There is no need to go surplus or military (old Cyclops have no back system to speak of) - you'll often pay over the odds, and they wont always be very comfortable or light.

This one would be an excellent buy - a C7 system used to be their top back system, so was a pretty pricey pack - for £40 its a bargain.

 

[Paul_B]

What capacity? Daypack or backpack for a lot of kit?

At <£50 you can get 30 litre Lowe Alpine and Berghaus 24/7 day packs new and from a good retailer such as Cotswolds outdoors. Expensive shop but if you've got any membership of a club or association then they'll often give you 15% discount.

Look online at Gaynors Sports. They're doing a few montane sacks at any 32 litres for around the £50 mark. Very good sacks I believe. Feature laden but lightweight with a good carry too. Admittedly the slightly better Montanes are £55-59.99.

Larger capacity then the earlier advice about Berghaus is probably the best. BTW don't give up on karrimor. There is a possibility of finding a decent karrimor. When the X-lite range came out (IIRC) they were decent. I think they're still available but could be wrong.