Do YOU have to have the best equipment for camping/hiking? Opinions...

[dinosaur]

I don't believe there is a consensus on what "the best" equipment is. Does my equipment last a long time? Yes. However, that is because I use the most important piece of equipment to my utmost advantage. I use my brain and take care of my gear utilizing the experience I have gained from many years of outdoor pursuits.

How was that, ppine? Do I get a passing grade?

 

[Grandpa]

Ran into a guy in the High Uintas this week. He started with a 3 liter camelback and had a steripen for treatment. He got about 3 liters away from the TH and the light on the steripen wouldn't stay on so he didn't trust it. He would have made it back....maybe....but he was already showing some disorientation. Functional is still the word here, expensive or not. Steripens are great....but you'd better have a backup.

(This wasn't intended to be a survival post where he should have drank from any of the small fresh springs around and take his chances on a bellyache 4 days down the road rather than become dehydrated and disoriented at 10,500 feet in a dense forest.)

 

[ChadTower]

Yep. That little bottle of iodine, or the chlorine tablet, or a small container of bleach, can save your life just as fast as those 5 firestarters in your backpack.

 

[ghostdog]

Or the old fashioned way I was taught when I was 12. Put some fire under your pot with water you have dipped from a creek or other source and bring it to boil. It is safe to drink immediately and you don't have any chemical crap in it. Plus it tastes better.

 

[ponderosa]

Boiling works, no doubt about it, but I'd argue that it tastes better. I don't like the taste of chemically treated water either, but boiled water to me tastes very flat and stale. Plus, you have to wait for it to cool, which takes as long as the chemicals. I'd use either one if I had to, but I sure like my filter.

 

[ghostdog]

Boiling works, no doubt about it, but I'd argue that it tastes better. I don't like the taste of chemically treated water either, but boiled water to me tastes very flat and stale. Plus, you have to wait for it to cool, which takes as long as the chemicals. I'd use either one if I had to, but I sure like my filter.

Well I will never forget the taste of halazone and we tried putting all kinds of masking agents like koolaid or anything in it to make it palatable. Same with iodine. It never worked. I can't even see a close race in the taste here. LOL

Anyway they say now that you can simply bring the water to a boil and it is good to go, not like the older info of a ten minute boil. We make a pint of tea each both morning and noon as well as soup so there is really no extra wait time at all. I'll skip the chemistry if I have no filter. LOL

Depending on the temperature of the tainted water, it can take a long time for some of the chemicals to be assuredly effective if the water if real cold can't it?

 

[ChadTower]

I'll never understand when people say they can't deal with the taste of bleach or iodine in their water. When used in appropriate amounts you can barely even taste it. Hell, iodine is dark yellow and in the proper amount it barely even discolors the water. Are these same people unable to drink regular tap water? That's full of chlorine, fluoride, and about 10 other agents that are harsher than a few drops of iodine.

 

[Grandpa]

Yep Chad, thats why grandma and I bring our own water when we visit the kids that live in the city. Can't stand to drink that adulterated city water and I'm a heavy water drinker. I'll take my chances with ghiardia before I drink chemically treated water.

 

[ghostdog]

I'll never understand when people say they can't deal with the taste of bleach or iodine in their water. When used in appropriate amounts you can barely even taste it. Hell, iodine is dark yellow and in the proper amount it barely even discolors the water. Are these same people unable to drink regular tap water? That's full of chlorine, fluoride, and about 10 other agents that are harsher than a few drops of iodine.

Careful with your assumptions there Chad. *smiley face*

I live in Tucson. Once upon a time the water here came exclusively from deep wells that tapped an ancient aquifer. It was award winning water and tasted good. Twenty years ago that all changed. The Central Arizona Project came to town and they injected that water into our municipal supply. The water runs from the Colorado River across the desert in a huge open ditch serving Phoenix and eventually terminates near Tucson. ¾ of the water evaporates by the time it reaches us so it is very hard water and they have treated it chemically to the point it is nasty. We have not drunk tap water for 20 years now. We get 12 gallons a week that are purified to the point it tastes like it is snow melt. Nothing is perfect but this water costs us 25 cents a gallon and is much better tasting with a very good quality analysis, absolutely stellar compared to the tap water. We take 20 gallons of that water with us on our backpacking trips since there are no water supply points in many of the places we go. In canyon country we do look for springs and will drink that water untreated and unfiltered. I figure if it is coming out of a high wall it has traveled far enough to purify and pure it is.

Same with our food, we don’t eat processed food, start from raw market vegetables and meats. We try to buy organic. We do take some canned meats if they don’t have a lot bad additives on our backpacks but dry all the rest of our foods for those trips and pick up some fresh as we can. I’m not a farmer so even this is not totally perfect but it is not highly processed with additives. We control what goes into it.

So it is not likely we are going to put some harsh, nasty chemicals in our water supply at any time. Besides it makes the fine tea taste bad. LOL

 

[ChadTower]

Careful with your assumptions there Chad. *smiley face*

I was speaking generally because I have heard that from a lot of people over the years. Most of whom I know for a fact live in cities with municipally treated central water service.

That's why I used the word 'people' and not 'you'.

 

[ponderosa]

Yep, I filter the water at home, which is considerably better than most municipal water I've tasted, but still icky IMO. I grew up with the BEST cold, delicious well water and I'll admit I'm a little picky as a result.
Honestly, one of the joys of hiking for me is drinking deep from icy cold sweet mountain springs and streams, and I'm just not willing to mess that up with any trace of chemical flavor. I also wonder whether some people taste more acutely than others...I've noticed a lot of people (including me) complain about the plastic flavor imparted by water bladders, and others don't notice it at all.

 

[OChunter375]

I started off using/borrowing other people's gear and renting gear as well. Once I decided that I was going to stick with hiking and backpacking I bought the best gear that I could afford. I wanted high quality lightweight gear especially after humping heavy rental gear or using my friends older beat up gear.

 

[NicholasDuMonde]

The specs don't matter to me. Can it do what I need it to do? Is my spoon titanium or plastic? Did I even bring one? Sometimes I use a stick. Stuff like that. I am definitely not a gear person.

Sadly, I am a gear person, and to me the best gear is what makes you happy, suits your needs, and can save your arse if need be. I'm happy with a 5lb tent. A friend of mine isn't and is looking at 2lb tents that cost nearly double of what my tent cost.

When it comes to the toys that I love, they are awesome, but when failure could mean death, I always have a backup. I've got the CamelBak All Clear, but I can also just filter the water through a bandana and then boil it, or worse, stick some iodine or chlorine in it. I have a JetBoil, but also some matches and/or a lighter plus some tinders in case I run out of fuel or if something breaks.

 

[Theosus]

Nope. Some of my gear is DIY. I have a hennessy hammock, not the best evidently, but it serves me well. My pack is too big and heavy (I was a noob when I bought it). Its a good pack, though, and wears great. My knife cost me $20 and is 20 years old. I made my stove from aluminum flashing and a cat food can for $5. My GPS is a delorme pn-60, nice but on the lower end compared to the big touch screens. My poles are cheaper REI models (although I've gone through two retractable sets and I'm tired of them sticking and the locks breaking, my next poles will be those folding ones that dont retract...).
I do have a steripen for water... its just so convenient when water is known. Without it, I use my sawyer inline.
I love my titanium spork and mug. They were my first purchase, and I wouldn't give them up. Expensive, but light, and if you burn food into a titanium mug, sandpaper takes it out. What other cookware lets you do that? Not my wife's pans, I promise you that.

 

[Gunny Webb]

I was one of those "A $500 sleeping bag? Are you crazy?" people until I slept in one. Now my opinion is they sell them too cheap. A 30 degree bag that weighs 12 oz and is the size of a cantelope. A 10 degree bag under 2 lbs and the size of a volley ball. Wow has gear improved in recent years!

Bought a Henry Shrires Double Rainbow Tarptent for my birthday. After putting it up could not help but marvel at the engineering of this thing. About 3 person size, made for 2, and weighs just over 2 lbs. My first Moss single tent weighed close to 5 lbs.

BTW, on the Iodine water treatment. Crush up a pill bottle full of vitamin C tablets. Treat the water, wait a few minutes then sprinkle in some vitamin C, kills the Iodine taste.

 

[ppine]

A few lemonade crystals improves the taste of treated water. I like filters.

Recently on a gearhead forum, I made some comments about the decline of REI in terms of their merchandizing. I am still getting hate mail from two guys. Unbeleivable.

It is great to pay some attention to your equipment. It is a relief that people around here don't go ballistic about something simple like a retail store.

 

[Lorax]

YES!

My gear must be the best I can afford it to be. It has to be proven with multiple reviews and I pour over gear reviews thoroughly. It must be functional for a wide range of outdoor activities as I like to get lots of "bang for the buck". I put a lot of time and effort into my outdoor stuff and need the gear to perform in order for me to have the experience I'm looking for safely. I am one who uses my gear, uses it hard, but also takes very good care of it.
Even my wife is on board with having the best gear we can afford, as she has learned the value of solid gear since meeting me and actually supports it.

 

[Mudslide]

Im starting to notice that with my hammocking there are no low cost shortcuts of "Ahhh, this'll do!" Your rear end will be sweeping the dirt if you're not all in with suspensions and such

 

[Refrigerator]

It has been said before... HIKE YOUR OWN HIKE and slow down and smell the roses.

Many many years ago when I was a youngin starting out camping with whatever I could make, or find was a time when just getting out there was all I wanted to do and what ever I had to camp with (gear) was good enough to give me many a memories of fun pure and innocent. Later in life I started making some good money and started buying the best of the best and the best of the better best gear..... Now that I have a solid collection of gear and look at my life and think about this Question...Do you have to have the best equipment for camping? I have it all and know that having it all is no better or has increased my fun camping. I backpack with many folks and have seen low level gear and extreme costly high level gear on the same trips... Both have the same memories and experience what is at the time pure fun. I have started using my old gear so as to rekindle the past experiences I had when I was innocent and a youngin. It has taken me many years to figure this out but at least I got it. Pricey gear is good for you as is the low budget gear if it works for you. I miss the old days when we had to use ingenuity and imagination to blend into an adventure and end up with experiences that has lasted a lifetime.

My old cheap gear talks to me everytime I look at it and I say thanks... my new gear says to me .....is it paid for or have I gotten my moneys worth yet?

 

[Pathfinder1]

Hi, Fridge...


Where have you been?