Should You Buy Or Rent Gear

Last Minute Gear started due to an obsession with this very question, because buying gear can seem unfair. If you don't go very often, of course you're going to want to spend less money, but this often means real trade-offs in terms of the experience that you will have. For example, cheaper gear is generally bulky & less warm. And the hard truth that the marketers don't want to actually tell you as they're trying to make money and sell gear, is that the vast majority of people are not going to get outdoors very often. Of course, we would love it if more people were outdoors enthusiasts (even then buying can be difficult because you may not have the upfront funds), but we're also realistic and we know that for most people, there are tons of activities pulling at their attention. Our goal is that everyone has access to gear, whether:

You are going to a once-only event

Renting oudoor gear is easiest (e.g., you're tagging along on a friend's trip, going to a festival or work event)

You are starting to go outdoors more often, but not sure or ready to invest in buying

Rent outdoor gear to try various items or rent-to-buy with us

You are going outdoors frequently already

Buy from us; we don't carry every model in the world but we do curate our selection for what's most value for our customers

You can't afford to rent yet

Borrow outdoor gear for FREE because we're the only shop that has a community-donated camping gear library!

Below we've compiled the top considerations for buying or renting outdoor gear based on our experience with our customers. And definitely play around with our calculator, which uses average costs of gear compared to realistic and average trips per year based on industry data to help you visualize the financial costs of buying versus renting.