Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

I'm T4RFTMFW, and I'm a gearaholic. I am addicted to tents, sleeping pads and bags, propane stoves, iso stoves, wood and alcohol burners, vintage stoves, cooking gear, titanium spoons and sporks, backpacks, hiking clothes and footwear, axes, saws, knives, general bushcrafty and self reliance info, water filter setups, headlamps and large, super hot campfires surrounded by friends with good food and good drink, maybe some good pooches too

I'm hoping to meet and inspire other gearaholics to share their stories, favorite pieces of gear, worst pieces of gear, and make me feel like I'm not alone. My fiancé doesn't understand my impractical love of camping gear, and I have nowhere else to go.

 

Here is something you might want to look at.its called the bio-lite stove, just throw in some twigs and cook away..best part is the heat generates electricity and there are USB ports to charge your phone, go pro, MP3 player and a laptop,

did a few test runs and works like a champ. I will give you a full review after our trip to rock mountain national park and custer state park

 

Have seen and lusted over, but impractical for my needs. Have you seen the PowerPot? Thermoelectric cookpot that works on any stove. Not sure how they compare as far as electricity generation, but they're both great products. I hope we see more thermoelectric gear, and compatible items like headlamps, tent lanterns, etc. Haven't tried any of the solar chargers either yet, either.

http://www.powerpractical.com/backpacking-phone-charger-powerpot

Look forward to hearing your thoughts with it. Been curious how well that grill works! Have fun in RMNP!

 

We looked at that too but once we saw a live display of the bio lite we were sold. Its portable but the grill is good sized. Only staying in RMNP for 2 days but can't wait the real show is going to be the buffalo round up in custer SD...

 

Great idea for a thread!

I've gotten out of hand with gear purchases. It's truly addictive. Steep and Cheap doesn't help.

 

Sub'd.

 

I never had good luck with SAC, thank god. But I still have half a dozen alky stoves, 3 sleeping pads, 3 headlamps (I want more). I need them lumens, baby. 4 cook kits... I love small toys.

Would love to pick up a 40-45 liter lightweight backpack, a new water filter (might get the Sawyer and go to gravity filtering instead of my Hiker Pro), been lusting over a Montbell #1, and want a new big tent for us and the dog and later us, dog and kids. REI Kingdom 6? Big dollars. We both want kayaks, too... Ah.

My favorite piece of clothing is the Mountain Hardwear El Kommando kilt. Wearing it and lightweight shoes or Vibram FF makes getting up the hills a lot easier.

Had an Osprey Aether 70, great bag but huge and heavy, also is bright orange. Sold it a few years ago for an REI Flash 65, its my current love. Wish I had a 45-50L of same pack.

I also want an inverted iso stove.... And I'm looking hard at this.
http://m.rei.com/product/824171/camp-chef-everest-2-burner-camp-stove

Like the Coleman because I'm.more familiar with it, but this has 2x BTUs.

 

What kind of trip is this? What other gear are you bringing...

 

I've never tried the gravity water filters. They do seem to be growing in popularity, though. I use an MSR MiniWorks (ceramic filter). I've probably run at least 100 gallons through it (mostly river water from kayak trips in Arkansas). Water comes out tasting delicious.

What kind of kayaking are you looking to get into?

 

Wilderness Systems of some flavor SOT. I just noticed they're all on sale on REI.com.

 

cool thread! love camping gear. spend to much time and money at rei and other similar stores.

 

Me too! A kayak would be my biggest purchase there so far seconded by an Arcteryx rain jacket that I loved but returned pretty quickly because the cut was just too short for my torso.

 

I've got a Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 SOT and a Tsunami 125 Sit In Light Touring Kayak.

I prefer the SOT for just about every application except extreme cold weather kayaking. The Tsunami is a little bit faster and about 10 pounds lighter, but the benefits of the SOT are great.

I'm considering getting another sit on top and have been looking at the Jackson Cuda 12, although the new Wilderness Systems boats are being outfitted will better accessories than in the past, which may bring me back to them.

 

Sub'd!
I've been using a soda can penny stove that I built for my past few trips. Super lightweight, everything (including utensils and cleaning stuff) but the cone wind shield fits in the pot set that I have, too. The pots themselves are a bit heavy, though, and quite bulky, so I might look for a different set, but I really like the larger pots for cooking.
The cone makes it super efficient! One of my friends has the same type of stove but no cone, just a cylinder wind shield, and we were melting snow for water and mine did like twice as much as his on the same amount of fuel.

 

ahhh gear....

I went through a lightweight phase. I got to making my own alki stoves. That was a blast...not literally.
One of the best things that I had for that time was my Hennessy Hammock.
Thing kicked ass. Stayed dry in the wettest of wet conditions.

Great idea for a thread!

 

I have been looking at the Tarpon 120, and right now I could get it for just about $700+tax. Might jump on it.

 

That's a slick windscreen. Looks pretty similar to a Caldera Cone setup! Super efficient design, you did great. What's your cooking style? I'm not sure the size of that Blacklite pot, but I've had great experience with both SnowPeak titanium and also Backcountry.com titanium cook kits. I.also have a large Primus hard anodized set with 2 pots and 1 frying pan about 8-10 inches across. That's what I use for cooking for groups 3-4 in size. It is huge but has plenty of space inside for my GigaPower iso burner, pot grabber and a can of fuel. My friend is using it now.

I have a SnowPeak 700 titanium for water boiling and the bc.com kit is a 900 titanium with fry pan lid. Love them both, but I have a sickness....

 

They're fun projects, I have a half dozen aluminum bottle cans waiting to be cut up into Whitebox clones. I love my Trangia, too and polished out years of use last year. Now I prefer the brass to be highly polished instead.

 

just your basic family vacation...noting special just a simple tent...the bio lite I the most high tech item...lol I am a purist and a firm believer in roughing it.

noting better than being on the road seeing America!

 

Truth. One day we want to rent an RV and do a few weeks at various natl parks.