UKC

Seen some muira vs in decathlon for 85 quid, going to get some bought but just wondered what there like for returns etc? Assuming they cant sell bad la sportiva gear but not bought from big companies for a while

In reply to littlejon86:
Very good. I've had to return a few items, due to getting used to their euro sizing, and not had any problems at all. Returns stuff in with delivery note, and if I recall its 60 days. I've ended up swapping an item right at the end of the 60 days without issue.


Their online ordering used to be fiddly, but I check out now with Paypal and its straightforward.

In reply to littlejon86:

Other places were selling off the Miuras cheap too, but to answer your qu., they're very good. I and others here have bought loads of stuff from them over the years. Their own brand kit is also excellent value.

In reply to littlejon86:

What I like about Decathlon is you can run up and down trying on running shoes for ages. There's lots of space (at least in the Edinburgh store) and generally no-one comes up and bothers you. Mind you the range is limited.

In reply to littlejon86:

As good as it gets in my experience. I've only ever had to take one thing back there - and a charming young French lady said something along these lines 'Zat is not good, let me go and get you anozzer straight away. Would you like ze same size?'

The item in question was some knee length cycling bib shorts and the silicon grippers were separating. Unfortunately, there had been disagreements in the washing machine and the once-white shoulder straps had taken up the dye from other cycling stuff. Some parts showed a fondness for Castelli fluo yellow and were a nasty yellowy colour. Other parts has picked up some black from somewhere and were grey. The overall appearance was not pleasing. They were freshly washed though. She didn't bat an eye or question it at all.

In reply to littlejon86:

Decathlon is great.

The one in Stockport has a life sized plastic horse in the horseriding section with a sign around it's neck saying "Do not sit on the horse, it is not stable"

In reply to ThunderCat:

Yeah agreed decathalon is great. Most my newer soft shells are now decathalon own brand(s).

In reply to littlejon86:

I got Muira VS and Katana VS for £80 and £55 respectively in the Canada Water store a couple of months back. I was worried they might be the climbing equivalent of a fake Rolex but they buy in such quantity they still make money. They even had a giant traffic cone with footholds on to test them out so I made up a little problem at V0+ .

No experience with returns.

I've heard their own brand shoes aren't worth buying.

In reply to littlejon86:

if you know what your after and have a bit of time to wander round the store to find things then decathlon is the shiz! no experience of their returns cos iv never had to return anything! but I imagine being a massive chain store makes it even easier to return stuff as they have to worry less about their margins.

In reply to Fishmate:




I know someone who swears by them. Says they are the best all day shoes he's ever owned at any price.

In reply to Bellie:


The same. Very impressed by their Forclaz 500 warm walking trousers - seem to have stopped listing them now.

Also have a long sleeve running top, but I find the sleeves a bit short for me.

In reply to littlejon86:

How come France gets a major own-brand retailer who sells good quality, cheap kit without endless and misleading sales, while we get Sports Direct and Mountain Warehouse?

(I don't count Go Outdoors in this because they probably sell as much branded gear - Rab, Montane etc - as they do their own-brand stuff)

In reply to andrewmcleod:
I would imagine it has a lot to do with sizeable proportion of young french people not shopping at a sports store for everyday wear rather than for actual sports.

In reply to GrahamD:


I brought a pair of their slippers (dirt cheap on ebay, didn't realise they were decathlon until I got them), and they were good. Couldn't fault them as a cheap pair of functional rock shoes.

In reply to Fishmate:


The basic model rock shoe used to be rubbish, but I think the newer one looks better. I have had a pair of the (now discontinued) Vuarde Tech (green, velcro) for nine months now, and use them for indoor bouldering; they are great, and if I could find another pair I'd buy them again.

In reply to Fishmate:


The bottom of the line shoes had awful (but hard wearing) rubber. This shoe is in the range to be so bad as to encourage us to spend a bit more on the next model up.

The next model up is a proper rock shoe with decent rubber. A comfortable training or starter shoe. All suede so it stretches a lot.

I hear good reports of the more technical shoes.

In reply to andrewmcleod:

Decathlon are a proper massive multi national with 1038 stores in 30 countries (according to their website) I guess if GO and MH were that big, they could have their own R&D etc

In reply to Andy Hardy:

Unfortunately, outside of Chamonix, they have also put virtually every single French independent climbing shop out of business meaning they have almost a total monopoly of the French market and so can really hammer suppliers down over price, which means, long term, less money available for R & D. Every silver lining has a cloud (as they should say).

In reply to GrahamD:
Interesting, the guy I spoke to had worn black shoes with a small amount of green trim. He wasn't impressed and thought you may as well carpet slippers. As Nikkormat and Flaneur said below, other models sound more promising.