Spadout

I am conflicted as to whether the internet is a black hole of mind sucking nonsense or the most amazing thing ever and lately I seem to default to the latter. And how could I not with recent discoveries such as Spadout.com?

I began following Spadout on twitter a little while ago but never really explored the site much. Then it happened, they did what every good outdoor business does they started giving away gear!! Actually there are currently two giveaways. The first being based off of giving a gear review, they ask that you give some piece of gear listed for sale on their site a review and wham bam thank you ma’am they send you a sweet sticker.

The other is a bit more tricky. You actually have to earn this one. Think quatrains…think harder…a little more…nothing ringing a bell?!?! Sheesh! If you are anything like me you undoubtedly spent your high school days more interested in the lovely ladies, the weekend ragers, or the adventures you were missing by sitting in English class. However, if you had paid attention you would have learned this about quatrains. And although up until now it meant nothing you would be more than amply prepared to bust out a few in hope of winning a Mountain Hardwear Lightwedge 2 Tent! You see the kind folks at Moosejaw (another kick ass site in and of itself) have paired up with Spadout and are offering a tent for the best quatrain poem about dads. But don’t think too hard, after a few emotional flowing poems were posted Moosejaw wrote this:

I hope that people add a little madness into their work. These poems are full of sensitivity and love (something that we know nothing about ;).

Which is of great relief to me because other than the “roses are red” poem I am totally lost, and yes if you use roses are red that is considered plagiarism and you will more than likely not win anyways so make up your own you damn freeloader!

In addition to the sweet giveaways Spadout has a huge host of other benefits. They do, or rather, support customer gear reviews, they search the web for the best deals on the gear you want so you dont have to, and they give pretty informative insight such as this great write up on the pros and cons of single walled vs. double walled tents. Another pretty sweet feature that Spadout has adde4d is this fancy barcode scanner, essentially you take a photo of an outdoor products barcode and Spadout shows you the best deal they can find as well as other shops that offer it, it even gives you a direct link to that sites info! Unfortunately this is only for Android phones but I got word that other phones will soon have the ability.

I really have to say that everyday I am more and more amazed at the amount of bogus crap on the internet but finding a great resource like Spadout makes it all seem worthwhile! Here is also another post on a few other great online spots to hunt for killer gear deals.