Heading to the US in a month or so. Is bringing bits back still worthwhile?

and if so, any good US mail order outlets that would deliver to relatives place over there…

If you had just been, you would probably have made a pretty penny on a couple of iPad 2’s…

for yourself yes!

mrs rkk01 fancies an ipad, so that had crossed our minds…

Also need some new outdoors type clothing (eg a nice windproof / softshell fleece jacket), which always seems expensive in the UK.

and of course, there is always bike bits – although the recession has dulled the appeal of shiny bits for the bike 🙁

I’ve not paid much attention to UK prices in a while so dont know if its much cheaper here. Here are the mail order sites I use most. Price Point, Bluesky Cycling, Wheelworld, Jenson USA.

For outdoor clothing check out Backcountry.com and Sierra Trading Post.

GoPro HD Hero camera kit is $300 in the US, and £300 here. Using last week’s exchange rate, I reckon you would save over £100 if you got one there. Same with the Contour if you fancy that… Dollars to pounds all the way.

It’s worth it is you can’t get it over here, doubt you will find any huge saving for common stuff like Shimano, but for things made in USA or US brands, there will probably be a saving, would always check out the prices here first.

When I was last over, I tried to get unique stuff, like LBS socks.

remember the warranty issue, or lack of for expensive kit you buy out of the EU

Remember that prices on US websites won’t include the relevant sales tax for the state you’re buying them in

Smartwool socks. If you value your feet, the $ for £ makes them worth getting. There isn’t really anything generic – just get what you want when you see it. Always worth seeing what is on offer at different stores – BestBuy for electronic stiff etc.

jenson usually have Easton for less than it goes for used here, especially carbon stuff. A lot of stuff is £/$ equivalent (ie. £100 item here costs $100 there) so it’s still cheap at the current exchange rate, when it was $2 to the £ a few years ago it was like taking advantage of a developing world economy. REI also a big chain for outdoor kit, weird to see Ellsworth which we consider a bit of a niche brand being sold in their equivalent of Blacks/Milletts!

mrs rkk01 fancies an ipad, so that had crossed our minds…

Apple warranty is (was? better check on iPad) worldwide, and a near dollar pound equivalency means it is a decent saving.

I bought my Macbook Pro off a geezer on t’Ebay who travelled there regularly and bought kit back in hand luggage – it was around £500 cheaper and I have had a warranty repair done with no issues (other than arguing the toss about the fact that it doesn’t include courier collect. Which to their credit in the end they did do).