Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

yep go into a REI, get fitted for what you think you want, go from there. I would also tell you that Backpacker Magazine does a entire issue called Editor Choice. The best of the best so to speak. The Gregory Baltoro has won multiple awards.

http://www.backpacker.com/gear/editors-choice/2015-editors-choice-awards/#bp=0/img1

 

Backpacker Magazine = fire starter.

That's about all that rag is good for. (Manufacturers pay for placement)

Baltoro. No one really needs a pack like that anymore...

 

Don't you think we should the editorial comments out of this, I just gave him the tools. No ads

 

That Editor's Choice stuff is next to useless IMO.

Good for seeing what's on the market, but none of the reviews are worth wiping your ass on.

 

As an outdoor retail manager and rep, I'm ok with my statements.

 

I don't know ya, and I already like ya!

 

Any recommendations on kitchen gear? I don't need super light titanium backpacking stuff as I'm a car camper. But I want quality stuff too. Everything keeps drawing me back to the GSI stuff for how compact it is. I try to take a minimalist approach to my camping gear so I don't have to dig through and entire truck full of gear at camp to get what I need.

 

Wasn't aware of your qualifications.

 

What do you cook?

Just boiling water or are you actually cooking?

Titanium is only good for water boiling and pretty much sucks for everything else. Anodized aluminum is the best bang for buck, IMO. GSI has some nice kits, but watch the weight - a lot of that plastic fluff really adds up the weight compared to what you really need, or alternative choices.

 

I have the GSI dualist set. My snowpeak stove packs in a bowl.

 

I like GSI and have a few of their things. They have a few kits packed for 1-2 or 4-6 people, but I found that they are always missing something depending on what you're looking for, so you'd end up supplementing.

 

I don't have any GSI but I love the way their sets nest together and keep things neat!

 

Venturing out of the backpacking world and into car camping :O

Stoves. Looking at the Coleman 2-burner types. Nothing large or fancy. Just a hot place to make coffee, eggs, a burger...

Suggestions?

 

I'll actually be cooking. Weight isn't an issue as much as space is. I'm more worried about packing gear into as small of a space as possible rather than saving weight. I have extremely limited storage for my gear.

That's what keeps drawing me to it! It plays well with my OCD. At least in the pictures.

 

Coleman Triton series. Super simple and lasts a long time- rebuildable too. The bigger ones with the electric start is just one more thing to break down IMO.

 

How many in your group?

 

Only dings I have on GSI kits are the weight and some times the optimism they have with some of their pieces.

The bowls and cups are almost across the board too small to be good examples of either, and if you end up supplementing parts of the kit out for other items, then you're really paying a fairly premium price for stuff that isn't being used or isn't efficiently used.

I have 4 or 5 cooksets now, and finally found one I like for actual cooking. It's the Optimus Terra shown here (mine is the older model without the heatsink), but otherwise the same.

 

I have a Camp Chef Rainier. It has one stove burner and the other side is interchangeable between a griddle and a grill. I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet but I'm liking looking at it so far lol!

 

Stick with hard anodized aluminum. It'll cook way better than titanium and be a lot cheaper also. Both clean up just as easy, if anything, HA gets the edge.