Newbie seeking gear advice/recommendations

[threshold]

Hi everybody,

(Hi Dr Nick)

Long time lurker, first time poster.
I was seeking some general advice about hiking gear. I haven't hiked since I was about 15, I was in the scouts and thoroughly enjoyed going on a few 2+ and 3+ day hikes.

16 years later and I want to get out there again. I have always kept camping, but I miss the solitude of hiking.

So after I asked a mate if he would go, and found out another mate was keen to go and had gear (but has never been), next step is buying gear. I am fairly fortunate to have a good paying job, so I am looking at getting middle of the road in expense gear.

I am after opinions or reviews on (if you or someone you have been hiking with have the following);

I would prefer to keep things light however I cant justify paying $900 for a tent.

- Black wolf mantis UL tent.
- sea to summit UL insulated mat
- thermarest or exped mats
- deuter rucksacks
- black wolf rucksacks
- Any decent light sleeping bag, moderately priced
- Helinox ground chairs.

I think I will go for a trangia 27 with kettle stove. I have used similar gear before and it was excellent.

I live in Adelaide so Snowys is my store. But if you have reccomendations I will get it from wherever haha.



Thanks for looking!!


Glen

[whitefang]

Hi Glen,

I have no experience with the Blackwolf tent, but my recommendation would be to look into tents made by TarpTent - the notch and protrail would be my suggestions.

I prefer the Sea to Summit mats over the thermarest and exped inflatable mats. I have a neo air, but found my friends sea to summit much more comfortable.

For packs, I can recommend the Osprey packs. I use an Exos, but if you're expecting to be carrying 15+kg regularly the Atmos AG range is supposed to be great too.

For a cheap, relatively lightweight sleeping bag the Sea to Summit TK range is good. But if you're wanting to get out there lots and keep pack weight down just order one of Mike's quilts that he's making. You can find them here: http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=21674

I have no experience with a helinox chair apart from finding it comfortable in the shop, but my lighter alternative is to use a thermarest zlite seat and find a tree to lean against. You could probably make something similar for even cheaper by cutting a section from cheap foam mat off.

Rather than get a bulky trangia, I would suggest getting a decent quality, light pot and then just making yourself a cat food can stove. http://andrewskurka.com/2011/how-to-make-a-fancy-feast-alcohol-stove/. Much lighter and just as effective as a trangia if you ask me.

The buggest bit of advice I can give though, is to buy once and buy right. I've made the mistake of buying bits of gear that were heavy and cheap only to replace them with something lighter and more expensive. If you can afford it and you are wanting to use the gear for a long time you're best to get the best you can afford.

[threshold]

Thanks for a detailed reply Whitefang. I will look into those items.

Don't worry mate,'buy once, cry once' is why I am asking these questions.

Cheers

[Gadgetgeek]

What sort of food are you planning on eating? since you have the choice of stove, you could go with either a jetboil, or another butane stove if you wanted to simmer. But a cat-food stove does work well.

Osprey pack, right now I think they are the best for the pricepoint, and the warranty can't be beat, which means they are easy to move on if you decide you want to try something else.

For sleeping, I think it would be worth trying to lay down on a few air mats, comfort-wise I think some are head and shoulders above the old self-inflators, but some really are not. I'd look for one with an R of at least 3. Sleeping bags are another tough one, In your case though, I think shelling out the extra for down is worth while, since I'd guess you won't be dealing with 70-80% humidity all the time. And getting the compress-ability and weight of down means you can take a little extra overnight insulation, better nights and better days as they say. I just got a neo-air and I do enjoy it, but it is a bit different and takes some getting used to I think. Given that snowys is your store, I'd compare everything to an MSR hubba NX. Not saying that is the best tent for you, but I wouldn't pay more than that, and wouldn't want to go heavier than that without a big adjustment in price. Hope that helps a bit.

The small camp chairs are good, I have an alite which I really like. But they are a luxury, so I'd be sure of the pack weight before buying one.

[Moondog55]

For only a tad extra weight the S2S comfort lite is better value comfort and warmth wise, and can always be boosted with a cheaper CCF mat
Otherwise simply buy the best you can afford in the big 4 for the conditions you are likely to encounter, then add a safety margin temperature wise for sleeping
Personally I favour double or combination bags so I suggest going through the many posts on sleeping systems before putting any money down; but this is one area where buying quality really pays in longevity

[Hisham]

S2s UL insulated mat... its thin and not so comfortable for me. My wife (lighter and sleeps differently to me) prefers it funnily enough to our big Agnes ul insulated (which I prefer as it's much fatter). So each to their own, would recommend testing them out in shop as suggested above.

I also carry a light foam mat to put under my main pad for protection (had a few deflating episodes from ground protrusions), as well as extra insulation in colder climes. This arrangement still may not keep you warm enough from below on snow, so consider those r values and your sleeping warmth requirements if you're going winter.

[jdeks]

Go light. Even if the $$ scare you (wont be as bad if sourced in fairer markets). Guarantee that if you get a halfway solution now, youre just gonna wind up spending more later. Do it right the first time.

The Mantis "UL" tent, at 1.8kg, is not. UL, that is. Probably closer to 2kg in reality. It's cheap, sure. But tarp-style tents, for an extra hundred or two, can provide the same floorspace for literally half that weight (Trailstar comes to mind). Unless you're short on cash and sharing it regularly with another person on the trail, look at some of the options from TarpTent, Six Moon Designs, Mountain Laurel designs, BearPaw Designs.....hell, there's dozens out there now. Dont shortchange yourself sticking to generic big-brand stuff.

Borrow whatever sleeping mat youre looking at and sleep on it in your lounge before you buy anything - weight saved doest mean *&%$#! if you can't sleep on it. For anyone not overweight or prone to rolling around heaps in their sleep and under the 6' mark, the Womens Thermarest Neo Air Xlite is worth trying, regardless of gender. Shorter than the Mens regular but still long enough to work fine with a pillow. The weight saved from the reduced length is put into an extra layer of insulation, so for the same total weight you get an R of 3.9 instead of 3.2 . I've got one I can post for you to test if you want (as well as an exped to compare). Alloutdoor.co.uk do them for about $100 GBP ($160- AUD ish) vs ~$380 at Bogong Equipement here in melb. Did I mention look overseas?

Dont get a sleeping bag, get a quilt. More warmth for less weight. undercling_mike here makes brilliant stuff for a damn good price. He should have a thread in the market.

Dont get a chair. Especially a helinox. great way to simultaneously throw away money and undo all the weigh saving you did elsewhere. Put the money towards a decent tent. Sit on your pack.

Get a pack you can sit on. And generally take a bit of a hiding. Those gossamery things with stretch fabric and special webby suspension frames look great but have a habit of not lasting long. Whatever you get, LOAD IT UP AND WEAR IT BEFORE YOU BUY.

Trangias are old tech. Heavy and way too expensive for their slow-ass heating time. I have this: https://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/caldera-sidewinder. Still slow but literally less than 100g. Burns wood too (then its not slow AT ALL).

Dont buy anything with Bear Gryll's name on it.

[Neo]

Hi threshold

I have the Helinox groundchair and it is great, I'd rate it 9/10 for comfort compared to a rock or a sponge. My current 3 season base weight including the chair is 8kg.

Any tent from Blackwolf, Oztrail or Denali will work but be pretty hefty, so better to look in the $4-600 range and get one well under 2kg if you aren't sharing.

I put my kit together a year ago and have since upgraded my tent, got a thicker (short) mattress and for next winter I'll be upgrading my sleeping bag to something that can handle 0°C but weigh under 800g.

They say to spend the money/save the weight on the big three pack/shelter/sleep system.

Enjoy shopping and walking!

[threshold]

Thanks for all these fantastic detailed replies. I will keep you updated with what I buy for my new hiking kit.

[threshold]

For my tent I just grabbed a six moon designs lunar solo, carbon fibre pole, titanium pegs and polycro footprint.

For my cooking I bought a white box alcohol stove, vargo .9l titanium pot and polycarbonate fork and spoon. (And a drinking/measuring cup.)

Super excited and it is all super light weight.


And thanks jdeks, went overseas for it and i think got a pretty good deal for the price for this superlight gear. Lets see if it rocks up hahaha

I am thinkin at the moment I will probably grab one of those quilts made by the guy on this forum and when I have that and a mat I will go bag shopping.

I am thinkin of the osprey packs as from what I can tell it looks like the lightest that a hiking place sells in Adelaide unless anyone else has a suggestion. (I wont buy a pack or a mat without trying it out, so needs to be adelaide)

[kitty]

I notice that Helinox have a Chair Zero which, at 500g is a lot lighter than the Chair One.

[threshold]

Yeah i might look at it after i get my gear

[threshold]

Ok folks.. so far this is the gear I have bought.

Six moons lunar solo 680g
Footprint 34g
Cf tent pole 54g
6 Pegs 34g

-4 Quilt from undercling mike (deposit down ) 520g
Neo air xlite 350gm
Pump for xlite 65gm (I struggle blowing stuff up)

Vargo .9l pot 130gm
White box stove 51gm
Fork n spoon 14gm
Cup 23gm

So far 1985g.

Now I need help for my backpack. Are the zpack arc blasts any good? Seem really light. Has anyone used one before?

[Mickl]

Sounds like you're doing it right first time around! I have a helinox ground chair after doing too many trips and always being uncomfortable at meals etc. I think its worth the weight to be comfortable and I'm happy to carry that weight....

I have an Osprey Aether and would recommend that. Its a good bag and apart from one tear which was my fault its holding up pretty well.

As far as quilt's go, they take a bit of getting used to but once you get the hang of it you'll be glad you got one. Really comfortable and light weight and pack down small.

[threshold]

I ended up getting a 2nd hand gossamer gear g4 for 150 delivered off ebay from the states. It weighs around 450gm or so. Pretty comfy when i have my airmat in as a frame.