When will we beat Down?

[George]

If there was the profit potential of say iPhone/ iPad etc - performance wise - it could have happened 10 yrs ago

the market is small, so there is little economy of scale / return on R+D

[4eyedbuzzard]

My bet would be on carbon nanotubes POSSIBLY, with the big caveat being that it would have to be economically viable, which at this point it isn't. ANd that is likely many years out. We are pushing the envelope on weight already (1 oz/yd nylon, 0.5 oz/yd cuben fiber, 900+ fill power down, etc), and the costs go up exponentially to remove the next fraction of an ounce per yard of cloth or per cubic inch of fill power while maintaining R values, etc.

Hiking gear has become a pretty mature technology. It was easy to cut weight when you could get rid of 4 oz/yd pack cloth and replace it with 1 oz ripstop, trade steel pots for Aluminum or Titanium, etc. Nowadays, fabrics are thinned to the extreme, as are pot walls, water bottle weights, etc. Materials and product engineering has reached a point where there isn't a lot left that can be cut as there once was. A 3 lb sleeping bag from 1975 is now a 1 lb bag. To get the same % reduction is not technically possible. We are down to trimming grams and looking at entire systems, not ounces or pounds on sigle components. Hence, gram weenies.

[Alligator]

You sure you want a beat down?

[Another Kevin]

You sure you want a beat down?

Depends on who the drummer is. I know some who have that beat down.