supply acquisitions

I am at a crossroads.

I have finally found a shop selling 2 items on my wishlist. The Maxpedition Thermite Versipack and the Surefire G2 Nitrolon (Black), both are selling at a lower price (apparently the shop itself is having an inventory sale).

Now, normally the notions of having an "inventory sale" means dropping the prices down and customers will flock to your shop. Despite the "sale" the prices of these products are still above what I expected, 3.4K for the Versipack and 2.4K for the G2 Nitrolon . That's 5.8K for 2 items! A bit more expensive than my newly acquired pistol!

I have just done some research and the price of the G2 Nitrolon locally was 2.5K - 2.7K back in April (the G2 Nitrolon retails for $34 abroad). So I guess the price quoted was pretty ok, given the price increases of late.

Now, I wasn't able to find out how much the Versipack goes locally but it retails at around $45 abroad. That translates to around 2.5K in the local currency, 900 pesos more that its MSRP. You may be able to justify that for the importation and inventory costs of the seller plus his cut and convince me to buy it. But further research shows that there is a locally made Versipack imitation that sells for 2K only. And that is made of Cordura, which makes it highly durable for rugged use.

For 1.5K difference, would you buy it? I am still unsure of the quality of the local version as the pictures kinda suck and from the uninspiring pictures, it doesn't seem to be a good copy. To my specifications that is.

The main argument here is that "you get what you pay for". I have been a victim of this and I definitely don't want to get screwed again. The Surefire is 90% sold. These things are rock solid and definitely worth the money (as compared to those cheapo flashlights everywhere). The Versipack vs the copy is the tough one.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to drop by the store to take a good look at it.

I definitely have to break the bank now and dip in to my cash reserves... hehehe.