The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Share your advice and personal experiences, post a gear review or ask any questions you may have pertaining to outdoor gear and equipment.
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JWreno
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by JWreno »

My wife has a SpongeBob Squarepants bandana we call SpongeBob PeePants. She just gives it a bear can wash out each day. I appreciate the great savings in use of tissue.
Jeff
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austex
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by austex »

JWreno wrote:My wife has a SpongeBob Squarepants bandana we call SpongeBob PeePants. She just gives it a bear can wash out each day. I appreciate the great savings in use of tissue.
I guess we just missed national "Talk like a pirate day" :unibrow:
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oldranger
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

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Supai pack raft. I honestly believe that it does not add to the number of fish I catch but it adds to the enjoyment of fishing by eliminating the need to climb over cliffs and negotiate talus while fishing from shore. For the first time I was able to fish Edna Lake in Yosemite without wearing myself out. The raft adds about 2 lbs to my load (including paddles but I have managed to loose a little weight from other items so the net gain is about 1 lb. The paddle/hiking pole combo from Alpaca nicely complements the raft. Managed to land 18 inch rb from Edna and 19 1/2 " cut from Edna (Sawtooths in Idaho) from the raft this year--two of the 4 largest fish I have caught in the backcountry.

Mike

for russ
IMG_0395.jpg
IMG_0396.jpg
Edna can be kind of fickle so we kept first two fish we caught and placed in snow while we caught and released the rest of the day.

No pic of the cut because I released it and I don't take a camera on the raft.
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Mike

Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!
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AlmostThere
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by AlmostThere »

Best purchase of the year award goes to my Hammock Gear 0 degree Burrow top quilt. Four inches of lofty Dri down - come on, snowy winter!
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longri
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by longri »

I didn't buy much this year. But I did get one of those little coin battery keychain type LED lights. The technology has improved with LEDs so much that this tiny thing (12g) puts out as much light as my old-school Tikka headlamp. For typical summer trips where I rarely need a light this is perfect.

An effortless and inexpensive way to shave a couple of ounces from my pack.
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Bluewater
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by Bluewater »

I finally surrendered to a full size inflatable pad this year; TAR Xlite size L. It seems like I've tried almost everything else to save weight but this pad always delivers a good nights sleep.


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maverick
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by maverick »

Bluewater wrote:
TAR Xlite
TAR?
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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TahoeJeff
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by TahoeJeff »

Therm A Rest
"A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both."

Milton Friedman
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maverick
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by maverick »

That's what I thought, but Bluewater gets a lot of gear from small companies
that are off the grid. :)
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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RichardCullip
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Re: The best piece of gear I've bought this year

Post by RichardCullip »

Just gave my new purchase (ZPacks Solplex tent) a try this weekend. It passed with flying colors. Love it's light weight. At 16oz, counting the 8 stakes it takes, it is an amazing light fully enclosed and waterproof tent for one. It replaced my Gossamer Gear The One tent which was pretty nice but very noisy in any sort of wind.
Life is good. Eternal Life is better!

Richard
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