Labor Day weekend is a common sales weekend for prepping gear because it kicks off September’s National Preparedness Month. Here’s what we know of so far, and please add any more in the comments!
Amazon
We haven’t spotted many good deals on Amazon so far, other than the NESCO VS-02 vacuum sealer for $35, 40% off the regular price. Vacuum sealing is a great way to package food for freezing as described in our guide to preserving food.
Backcountry
The Marmot Tungsten is on sale for $160, 25% off. Backcountry also has a bundle that includes the Marmot Limelight 2-person tent along with a Never Summer 0 sleeping back for around $400 (depending on options), up to 19% off. At around three pounds it’s a little heavier than we’d like, but not too bad.
If you need a sleeping bag for the little ones, they have the Kelty Callisto 30 for $34, 25% off.
Backcountry also has up to 25% off the Osprey Exos 38-liter and 48-liter backpacks.
Headlamp deals:
And up to 25% off Smartwool Merino wool clothing, a great natural fiber for preparedness:
- Smartwool Merino 250 Baselayer Men’s Top
- Smartwool Merino Sport 250 Men’s Zip Top
- Smartwool Merino 250 Baselayer Women’s Bottom
- Smartwool Merino 150 Men’s Long-Sleeve Baselayer
- Smartwool Merino 250 Baselayer Women’s Crew
- Smartwool Merino 150 Men’s Boxer Brief
They have more, but you’ll have to dig around a bit because it’s a grab bag of items.
Berkeyfilters.com
Berkey is one of the best water filters for your home. Retailers have struggled to keep them in stock, so deals are scares, but we found a few Berkey products on sale:
Brownells
Brownells has some coupon codes for big purchases, like if you want to stock up on ammo:
- SRG for $25 off $250
- LSB for $30 off $300 and free shipping
- LSC for $80 off $800 and free shipping
- SRJ for $100 off $1000
They also have hundreds of items on sale. Here are a few picks:
- Sig Sauer ROMEO 5 2 MOA red dot site for $110. I own two. They’re not Gucci, but they’re great red dot sights for the money.
- AR-15 .22LR conversion kit for $200. Replace your bolt carrier group and magazine with this kit and you can practice with cheap .22LR ammo instead of 5.56mm or .223. It could save you a lot of money.
- Magpul 30-round M3 magazines with windows for $14. PMAGs are the gold standard of AR magazines and the little window helps you keep an eye on your ammo.
Home Depot
Don’t forget tools in your prepping. Home Depot has a Milwaukee cordless tool set with six power tools, four batteries, and a charger for $629 — $570 off the retail price, with free shipping. Milwaukee is one of the favorite brands our team uses at home. This set includes:
- ½ inch drill/driver
- ¼ inch impact driver
- Circular saw
- SAWZALL (recommended in our upcoming tornado guide for cutting through wreckage)
- Grinder
- Oscillating tool
You can keep those tools charged with this Jackery 1000-watt power station bundled with a 100-watt solar panel for $100 off. The Jackery power stations are more expensive than DIY options, but are user friendly and durable. 1,000 watts of output gives you enough juice to power most appliances.
If you don’t have a wrench and socket set, now is a good time to fix that with $49 off this Husky 149-piece mechanic tool set. Husky is a Home Depot house brand with a lifetime guarantee.
Here’s a tip about socket sets: be fastidious about keeping them organized and keep them away from children, relatives, and other people who aren’t as anal-retentive as you. There is nothing more aggravating or time-wasting than digging through a loose pile of sockets to find a specific size. Slap a padlock on the case if you have to.
L.A. Police Gear
If you need a go-bag, LAPG has you covered with sales on both their in-house brands and 5.11 Tactical.
- LAPG Atlas 24-hour Backpack for $70 (normally $129.99)
- LAPG 3 Day Backpack for $30 (normally $50)
- LAPG Atlas 72-hour Tactical Backpack for $80 (normally $169.99)
I bought one of the Atlas 72-hour packs last year, and it’s fine for the price, but not as rugged as I’d like. If I had to do it over again I would spend a bit more on a 5.11 Tactical backpack. Right now, LAPG has all 5.11 gear for 20% off and free shipping when you buy $50 or more of 5.11 gear:
- Rush 24 Backpack for $104 (normally $130)
- AMP24 Backpack for $136 (normally $170)
- Rush 72 Backpack for $144 (normally $180)
Mechanix
You can never have enough gloves to protect your hands when working or shooting, and Mechanix makes pretty good ones. They have 20% off site-wide right now. Check prices against Amazon, because some gloves are the same price there (with free shipping), but others are significantly cheaper with the discount, such as the M-PACT Coyote I purchased last year and enjoy quite a bit.
Moosejaw
Moosejaw has many items on sale, but you can take 20% off any full-price item with coupon code APPLECIDER.
Optics Planet
Optics Planet has all kinds of goodies for firearm enthusiasts and if you use coupon code LABR you get 10% off orders of $50 or more.
O’Reilly Auto Parts
It’s important to keep your car in good shape. When’s the last time you changed your battery? Or maybe you could use some gear like a jump-starter, jumper cables, tire tool, fire extinguisher, etc. Through Labor Day you can save on orders of $100 or more at O’Reilly auto parts using coupon code LABORDAY.
Palmetto State Armory
Palmetto State Armory is known for inexpensive but decent AR-15 kits and they have hundreds of items on sale for labor day.
REI
REI is one of our favorites, and their Labor Day sales are always a bonanza. If you’re an REI Member, you can use the coupon code EXTRA 20 to save an additional 20% on an REI Outlet item. It’s $20 for a lifetime membership, and it’s well worth it, especially now, because through 30 September 2021, if you buy a membership along with $50 of stuff, you get $20 of credit applied to your order. It’s basically free!
We recommend Darn Tough socks in our best socks guide, and they’re all 25% right now, including the men’s Darn Tough Hiker Boot and women’s Gatewood Boot Sock.
Klean Kanteen water bottles were one of our top picks for canteens, and they’re 25% off:
While you’re at it, you might as well get some water purification tablets for 25% off. (They’re the top pick in our water purification guide.)
REI has good deals on sleeping bags like the Kelty Cosmic 40 (and the long version, both 35% off) and the Big Agnes North Fork 20 (20% off and you can use EXTRA20 for an extra 20% off). Sadly, none of our top sleeping bag picks are on sale.
They also have a number of backpack deals:
- Osprey Nova Daypack – Women’s
- Osprey Archeon 45 Pack – Women’s
- Osprey Archeon 25 Pack – Men’s
- Osprey Tropos 34 L Pack – Men’s
- REI Co-op Trail 40 Pack – Men’s
The Osprey packs are 35% off except the Archeon 45, which is 25% off. The REI pack is 30% off.
Our pick for the best headlamp, the Black Diamond ReVolt 350 is 25% off, as is the Black Diamond Spot 350 and the Black Diamond Cosmo 300.
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