Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

If you listen to podcast "Gritty Podcast" & "KifaruCast" are great for this. They have several gear centric episodes for western hunting.

 

Awesome, I'll add those to the list. I've already listened to the ultralight hunting episode from vortex's podcast and felt a bit outgunned there lol.

 

I hiked 7.5 miles this past Saturday just under 3 months after my stroke. I had 3.75 miles of Black Canyon Trail left to complete the official trail, so I did it as an in-and-out and was wiped when I was done. Glad to see my balance steadily improving and my endurance finally building up enough to be active more than 30 minutes at a time. The hike took me 6.5 hours but I didn't have any falls and I made it. Tested out he new Rylo 360 camera and got some fun new footage to play with for future hikes. There was sill enough snow up off Orme road to build a small ghetto snowman, too. Good day overall.

 

http://www.zebralight.com/Headlamp_c_7.html

Really depends on what batteries you want to use and how much you want to spend. If you go with the newest LED chipsets and rechargeable 18650's you can get some insane output, but there are AA models on older gen LED's too. I would recommend going with a flood beam for a headlamp.

 

I found a petzl that does rechargeable and normal triple a's which I may go with. It's around 300 lumens if I remember correctly. Think it would fit my camping and hiking needs fairly well

 

https://m.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/ACTIVE-headlamps/ACTIK-CORE

 

Pelican elite 30qt cooler came in yesterday. Thing is a tank. Bought it on Amazon used very good condition thing is brand new not a scratch on it. Was $150 instead of $230

 

Went cold-weather camping over the holiday break, picked up a Mr. Heater Little Buddy for the trip. Temps were not bad, in the 20's, but left the front door open on the RTT and stayed toasty most of the night with just a fleece blanket -- until I had to get out to grab another propane canister. A single can will not last through the night, seems to use about 1.5. Best addition to the gear bin I have done in a while!

 

Yep, the Little Buddy (tm) usually needs a Little Help (tm) halfway through the night. Which is a fine time to empty your bladder and also potentially enjoy the stars at the same time if the weather is cooperating. I usually budget two cans a night if using the Little Buddy. It really does an amazing job at taking the edge off the cold even in a large well ventilated tent like the Flip-Pac on my truck. Highly recommended!

 

Selling my Badlands Long & Short Haul duffle bags.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fs-badlands-long-short-haul-duffle-bags.586669/#post-19564797

 

Went for a two day solo (ish) trip this past weekend. Had the dog with me. Finally got to put my REI halfdome 2+ to use. Car camped the final night before driving back to the coast.

 

I finally pulled the trigger yesterday on the Alu-Cab Gen 3 aluminum RTT and their swing-out awning to replace my old Tepui tent and my relatively new ARB awning. Looking forward to a more streamlined tent that is much faster to deploy by myself and to stow away. I chose the bare aluminum finish so I can have my paint guy also color match bedliner coat it to match my truck. Should have it delivered next week and probably take another week for prep and paint. It will be all ready for this summer's camping season. I have a long bed 2nd gen with a slightly taller than cab height tube steel bed rack so it will fit perfectly. I like how the awning mounts right to the side of the tent so I don't have to modify my awning mounts.

 

By far and away my favorite piece of equipment is my Marmot Minimalist Goretex Rain Jacket. It's never left me wet and cold, and it's always in the truck with me (kinda like the glock). I've been up 14,000ft mountains with it and it has protected me from cold rains, sleet and hail with layers underneath. It also serves as a great lightweight shell for hot & humid Houston summer rains. I once had an REI E-Vent jacket and I loved that jacket to death, until I let someone borrow it and they lost it. But this has been a rock solid investment and I'm going on 2 years with it.

 

I like Petzl, though I think their quality has gone down over the last few years, still good just not what they use to be.

 

I have two of these:

Black Diamond Spot Headlamp, Dark Olive, One Size

Black Diamond Spot Headlamp They have some cool features. Lock out function so it doesn't turn on and waste battery in your bag. Side tap, you basically tap the side of the headlamp and it'll go brighter. Hold the top button for two seconds and it goes to red light. If you continue holding you can make it dim or brighten. It's pretty nifty and plenty bright for the price. Battery life is also great.

 

There was some good headlamp discussions beginning on this post: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ing-gear-thread.340757/page-432#post-19318126

 

I personally like the Nitecore NU20 and NU25. I personally own the NU25, which has both the red light and white light. Ultralight and rechargeable. Ive used it for multiday backpacking days. Ive also used it to climb for hours in the evening when I did Whitney.

https://www.litesmith.com/nitecore-nu25-triple-output-usb-rechargeable-headlamp/

 

Cadillac of RTT's and Awnings. I love that Shadow awning!!

I recently purchased the the ARQ4WD 270 awning, def not as nice as the Alucab shadow, but cant wait to put it on and give it a try. Got it for waaaay cheaper.

https://youtu.be/W5uliGijiyU

 

I'll second Zebralight.

I've been running a H31F CR123 for years. It's been replaced by a new version now. I've had the cheap plastic stuff in the past and Zebralights are much higher quality.