My Experiences with SOG

I found SOG products in the new workplace. I don't know if you're familiar with the company or not but apparently these are Vietnam War veterans who started this company by making knives, backpacks, flashlight and generally items which is used either during a battle or hiking.

I first bought a dagger and then a small knife and flashlight. There was a sort of promotion for the last two items that I bought them together: If the purchase is more than a certain amount, a patch and a little cheque is sent to the purchaser as long as they receive the original receipt and the bar codes on the item's box.

I did exactly that and mailed everything to their address in Arizona. I then received two envelopes each containing a patch and a cheque for US$ 5! The cheques though were payable through a credit union in Minnesota and for that I thought I would not be able to cash them and decided to send them back. However that means that whatever bank cashes it, would be getting the balance from that credit union, I guess. Even if that is not the case I never knew it would be easy until I went to a branch of my bank and talk to the teller after contacting their customer service.
The bank give me money for that in the matter of few minutes and although this is nothing, I never knew it would be that easy.
I then wanted to purchase a small (1-day hike) backpack from them and realized that they don't have nothing less than US$ 140 and a shipping amount of US$ 29 would be added to that. So I would have to pay almost US$ 170 for a small backpack which is almost $215. Considering I bought my small Columbia back-pack in 2003 and have been using it for the past 15 years(!), I am thinking if it's too much to pay.
(Photo: A SOG Backpack. This one, I think is 20 L. which must be more expensive than what I have in mind but they all have good design and looks like, durable material)