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Comment by bmarquez | Hacker News Reader

The first thing that came to my mind was Walmart's existing "Ozark Trail" brand of tents and outdoor equipment. I have a few of their insulated cups and water bottles and they're good value for the price.

I wonder why they decided to use new Lithic branding?

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OT looks a bit different and I suspect being phased out for Lithic. Here's the OT 1-person backpacking tent, which is on clearance: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-1-Person-Backpacking-...

Here's the Lithic version: https://www.walmart.com/ip/LITHIC-One-Person-Backpacking-Ten...

Lithic overall has a geometry similar to high-end tents like MSR, Big Agnes. It has better waterproofing and probably better poles than the OT. It actually comes with a footprint which is unusual. Reflective guylines are a really nice touch if you actually plan to backpack with it. It has a larger floor area and interior height than the OT, probably causing the added weight.

Presumably for segment differentiating. You can buy an inexpensive car camping bag or a more expensive, lighter one for a little backcountry camping.

There’s some negative sentiment toward Ozark Trail among the set of people who have seen abandoned tents as far as the eye can see at the end of music festivals. Not sure if that’s common enough to lower the value of the brand.

That’s really disappointing to me. Does money just grow on trees for these people? What are their parents teaching them about respecting hard earned money? And respecting the environment. Are people raised to waste resources these days?

Arent we all? We have learned to think of ourselves as consumers, haven't we?

I’m specifically talking about a waste of a resource, in this case, the tent that was discarded after one use.

Bigger question is why did Outside not pickup on the fact that this is just a rebranding of Ozark and call it for what it is. Disappointed as I have been a huge fan of Outside for a very long time

Looking quickly at the items, I confess I'm not sure why you would think this is merely a rebrand. The items do seem genuinely different. What have I missed?

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