Alpkit's head torch for £5. cant get better than that!!

Montane Featherlite wind shirt for £20 at sportshoes.com
(also many other bargains there for fleeces, base layers and walking boots)

Plenty of walking boots at TKMaxx. My wife bought some Keen approach shoes for £25 in the summer. Just a case of keeping an eye out. 

if camping is your thing as well -
Tescos Down Sleeping bag £35 - I borrowed one for a night and it performed OK at about 8deg.
Seems to be a good selection of Down-Tec ones on Ebay for cheap as well. 

The outlet centre in Swindon has a Tog 24, Mountain Warehouse and Hi-Tec shop. Don't expect expert advice but they do have a few bargains. Hi-Tec boots can be pretty good (but I think that's meant to be a secret so don't tell anyone).

Good luck

The ukc forums have a good for sale section got some good 2nd hand gear off people there

i know it's mainly for climbing but you can find daysacks, tents, shoes and clothing ect on there.

Sry to sugest another forum but the 2nd hand section on here doesn't seem to get used much, its a real shame. For everthing else though this one is great

I like good quality kit but don't like paying retail prices for it so I buy much of my stuff from outlet stores, in sales or from Ebay. I've had some great bargains that way - new Berghaus Paclite for £80 (outlet shop), OMM 32L pack for about £30 (sale), Keen trail shoes for £30 (TK Maxx), ME Dewline sleeping bag for under £50 (Ebay) etc.

Kit on a budget........finding bargain kit is the favorite pastime of us OM'ers

Drew the king of ebay!!!!!

Decathlon (Quechua) - may be massed produced stuff but there's a good range to choose from and so far I've not had major problems with any of the stuff I've had from there. 

In an 'end of line' sale 18m ago I got a 17 litre daysack with a 2l hydration pouch for under a tenner and I've done over 1000 miles walking / scrambling / running / cycling with it and still no problems.

that pikey chav central sports shop called Sportsworld has some good bargains.

they have cheap Karrimor branded stuff, approach shoes, coats and daysacks.

i bought a karrimor wind jacket and rucksack a while ago. the jacket is fine. the rucksack had some really bad zips and build quality was bad. shame it was a nice design.

I have usually managed to find very good products from leading brands at clearance outlets. It take patience (and I'd rather be out using them, but the other half has other ideas!).

For example... full kitlist collected over the last three years or so

Berghaus Trango XCR shell £100 (rrp £280)

Sprayway Zone 2 Polartec Thermal Pro fleece £19 (rrp £90)

Berghaus Infinity Light Gilet : £10 (rrp £70)

Helly Hansen Lifa baselayer : £10 (rrp £30)

Helly Hansen Lifa briefs : £1.50 (rrp £20)

Helly Hansen Lifa Hat : £4 (rrp £9) 

Nike ACG Schoeller Softshell Trousers : £19 (rrp £100)

Smartwool Adrenaline Socks : £3 (rrp £16)

Garmont Pinnacle boots : £19 (rrp £150) 

Crux AK57 (2007 sample) : £58 (rrp £140)

In other words, I have spent about £240 for £900 of quality kit.

I know it isn't possible for everyone due to access to these shops (when I lived in the UK I was 10 minutes away from the Hatfield Galleria with its monster TKMaxx and outdoor shops), but you can get decent kit without forking out the full price. 

I am not going to argue about the ethics of this regarding the small specialist shops - I go to these too for all my climbing gear and outdoor items, readily paying full price if I think it is a good product. But clothing is subject to the same devaluation of all 'fashion' items as the brands bring in new colours and designs every year. And I for one can't resist.

I much like you have an expensive wife and 4 younge kiddies to support,I started very much with Aldi/millets kit and have gradually progresed onto more expensive high quality gear but always by waiting for the sales,last year I got an Alpine lowe crest jacket at well under half price and this year ive managed to get two icebreaker base layers at 50% off.

So keep youre eyes peeled and concentrate mainly on shell and footwear to start with and then progress from there.

You can still have a great time in preatty average kit,my first ascent of mont blanc was completed in jogging bottoms and hat and gloves from a french market!

I have managed to kit myself out and most of it i find works really well, this is my breakdown as it stands at the moment.

Waterproof - Lidl   £14.99, actually really good bit of kit, surprising as it sounds.

Windproof/waterproof (well showerproof) fleece - Trespass £20 ex-reps stock - v. good

wicking t - shirt (coolmax) - Aldi £4.99

Zip off activity trousers - Primark £8 a pair, very comfy

Hi tec ranger boots - Tiso on sale at £30 - comfy but had a little accident with a sharp rock on schiehallion and no longer waterproof due to small split on side.

Eurohike aqua evolution 25ltr pack - Millets £24.99 waterproof and comfy

Compass - £4.99 from Lidls

Vaarious 2nd hand os maps from amazon and car boot sales from 50p to £4.

Overall without maps have spent £115.99 on my kit, which I think is bloody great. My wife, bless her, spent £20 on gaiters for me, think it was really because of the mud and peat that used to fall off me when I came through the door, lol.

next purchase is poles and I see that tesco do some anti shock ones for £6.99, now how can I convince her with the purse that they are essential?  Huummmhhh.......

My idea when starting this thread was that I do not think that I am the only one out there horrified at the price of some of the kit. For instance John Burley that was a hell of a find for that Berghaus jacket, you could probably find gold dust on a beach by the look of that list, but even at that price I could not afford it. I love the hills and mountains but if this really budget kit was not around I would not be able to enjoy them, After getting caught out in a blizzard on Scafell Pike when I was younger, I could not bring myself to go out without the right gear, once bitten and all that.

Sorry for long post but wanted to get it all in. 

Keep hunting those bargains, G 

Grum,

I totally agree - and as said before, there is some great kit to be had from the less prestigous brands. My sleeping bag is branded HiGear, but made by Pyrenex - lovely 90:10 650 fillpower down and cost me about £30 in TKMaxx. The key is knowing what is worth having and being able to tell if something is well made whatever label is on the front. I am not a brand snob - in fact I quite often take a razor to labels and remove them from my kit! I have no desire to be a walking advertisement for someone else.

I have had some great gear 'finds' but is thanks to my wife really. She's grew up in Eastern Canada where outlet shopping is something of a competitive sport! She doesn't shop all that often, but almost always looks in outlets rather than high-street shops. So I got used to going with her and scouring for things that I could use too! The only down side is that she is much more easily tempted to go shopping than to head for the hills. But she does enjoy the outdoors too... and her kit list reads a bit like mine in terms of value for money (most of which I picked out for her anyway).

But for me it was many many years of not really being able to afford the kit but having plenty of time to get outdoors  (as a kid and then student) followed by the recent years of having some cash at the ready but less time to enjoy my acquisitions!

Grum,

you've got the right idea, having budget kit still gets you up to the tops of munros etc. Appreciate specialist kit is needed for winter/poor weather conditions. But for most days budget items are ok.

Just bought a brand new army gore tex jacket for £25 thats lightweight and will be ideal for wet, windy weather.

Also second the tk max and sportsdivision for great prices

Aye, got a pair of Karrimor shoes for £20 from sports&soccer in dundee

TK Maxx Watch

Bargain Alert

are two good threads to watch.