In reply to Ridge:
> Not £9.99 cheap but, despite price hikes, much cheaper than the big brands for well designed, functional kit.
I'd argue that they're actually not much cheaper than the big brands anymore. I was recently searching for a jacket in the "affordable" category, looked at Alpkit initially but ended up with a Mountain Equipment offering as it was cheaper (admittedly on sale, but the cost you can actually by things for seems a more pertinent comparision than RRP).
> I know a couple of people with decathlon kit, seems ok to me.
People do seem to rave about it, but I'm (clearly) not a convert personally.
Is this really a good thing though? Disposable society is hardly an ideal.
> It's always a trade off, but out of the above Alpkit have the best combination.
Of course, and I'd agree that Alpkit don't really compare with Decathlon and MW - their a tier above in both quality and price. Obviously all just my opinion!