Tents and Sleeping bags

REI products have their iron clad warranty to boot (if it leaks, get your money back or get a new one).  Hardcore tents like this cost more up front, but cheaper than buying a new one every few years. I still have a Sierra Designs purchased in 1994 that works great (though I have seam gripped the seams several times).

That warranty applies to all that they sell. Not just the *hinese crap they sell under their own brand names. I worked there for over 3 years.

My experience with REI has been good, love their return policy (just save those receipts). But, I've learned my lesson over the years to pay the extra money and get the brand name gear, the REI brand product often seem like a good deal at the time, but they are not as well made, cheaper zippers, lower quality materials, poor stiching etc. For some things this doesn't matter (water bottles etc) but for gear you count on I now just save my pennies a little longer and buy the good stuff.

It's kind of like kayaks.

You CAN multi-day kayak camp in a Sevylor Tahiti.  It'll work just fine, until something goes wrong (high winds, sharp rocks, rain, etc...)  Just like I wouldn't want to troll for springers in a Sevylor, I wouldn't want to do a remote multi-day camping trip in a cheap tent.

I think that remote, multi-day trip camping works itself out as far as gear goes.  Cheaply made tents are simply too heavy for it.  Price doesn't always reflect quality though, I've had great experiences with Coleman (newer ones), Wenzel, and Eureka (made by the same parent company as Ocean Kayak btw) while having horrible experiences with Sierra Designs and one particular North Face tent.  It really comes down to the vendor producing the tent.  Some of the expensive tents have lower priced twins with only the color and minor details differing (fiberglass vs aluminum poles, pockets, plastic vs aluminum stakes).  Other ones are made in the exact same factory using the same materials but in different floor patterns.  Actually, I prefer the plastic tarp bottom found on cheaper tents to the semi-permeable mebranes found on mid-level models when the weather calls for liquid sunshine.  No amount of waterproofing liquid will hold up to it on the mid-grade floors and the tarp bottoms are easier to repair.  The canopy material is usually the zinger, some breathe while others don't.  Each price point has it's trade-offs.  Bottom line- don't buy it unless you've seen it in person and actually felt the materials.  Keep in mind that tents by TNF, Kelty (higher grade), Mountian Hardware, Sierra Designs, etc... that don't specify "family" or "base camp" use assume that the user is inside a mummy bag not a regular sleeping bag and requires only enough room to store a hiking pack vertically so subtract one person when considering how many people it will hold.