The Gear List: A Columbia coat and other major discounts on outdoor gear essentials

Price: was $160.00, now $75.00
Seller: Amazon

Allow us to let you in on a dirty little secret about premium brands. A lot of their best customers strongly dislike being seen in last year’s clothes. That seems pretty silly, but it can work to your benefit if you let it. Brands like Columbia have to produce enough goods to last all season, and whatever is left gets marked down big time.

All winter, this awesome Buck Butte jacket was $160. Now that the weather has turned warmer, sales have fallen off a cliff and retailers need to unload this stuff to make room for summer clothes and next winter’s jackets. The result? This bad boy is now just $75. Most of us expect our gear to last several years anyway, so it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference if it got released last year. Saving more than 50 percent is cool year-round.

Price: was $59.99, now $23.79
Seller: Amazon

Quick question: do you need more boot socks? The answer is yes. It’s always yes. There is no such thing as an excess of boot socks in the military. If you aren’t blowing through three pairs a day in the field and wearing holes in the crap Uncle Sam issued you in boot camp, someone is probably tactically acquiring yours while you’re not looking.

These Onke socks are a steal at about $6 per pair. Merino is one of the best materials for wicking moisture await from your skin, and it’s also a quality, natural fiber that’s soft and durable. These socks are reinforced in high-wear areas and use smooth-seam toes to reduce hot spots. They come in light brown and green, so you should be able to fly under the radar without any nosey SNCOs realizing you aren’t abusing your feet with the sandpaper socks you were issued.

Price: was $59.95, now $44.96
Seller: Amazon

We’re big fans of LifeStraw. The same company that built the original drink-through water filter now offers a range of water bottles with built-in water filters to remove nature’s nastiness from your drinking water in the field. This one is stainless steel instead of plastic, and–best of all–it’s on sale.

The LifeStraw Go holds 24 ounces of water and filters it as you drink. The dual-layer stainless steel walls aren’t just durable, they provide vacuum insulation to keep cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot. If you spend any amount of time in the field or traveling in foreign countries, having quality water filtration this accessible is a huge advantage. Besides, we’re willing to guess that the water buffalo trailers in the field have a cleaning schedule of “never.” Please, filter your water.