How many of you bought the wrong gear?

[sliverstorm]

I've made plenty of mistakes! You will too.

One thing I will argue is that while quality is worth paying for, you need to temper that with the knowledge that you're in over your head at first.


For example, my first stove was a micro rocket. Great stove! But it turned out I mostly use stoves for melting snow & making freeze dried food, neither of which it excels at.

Not to mention, I learned how to fit packs incorrectly, so my first pack was a great pack, but too big!

(I could go on)


So drag your feet. Try to put off purchases until you have a better idea what you really need.

[Venchka]

If you can, rent first.

Wayne

[JumpMaster Blaster]

First off, go with the Pocket Rocket. Take it for a test drive or ten. Chances are, you'll like it (I have one), but you may wind up using a cat stove (I have one), or a Jetboil may suit you better (I have one).

As for gear, there's a tradeoff between high quality, low weight and low cost. You won't get all three in any one item, so buy what you think hits the sweet spot for you. I'd say starting out don't sweat the high end stuff yet. Get a pack that's fitted properly, pick out one of the "starter" tents, and get a sleeping bag/ mat combo that won't kill you out in the weather. If after a few times out you stil llike backpacking, invest a little more in better gear.

I, like others here who have way more experience doing this, have about 2.5 full sets of gear, all amassed in the last 4 years. It's a process. You'll get there. Keep asking questions, do some research and you'll find your answers.

[tflaris]

Trail Designs for Weight
https://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/...f-stove-system


Jet Boil Flash Lite for Speed
http://www.rei.com/product/791308/je...cooking-system

But that being said all I do is boil water and make coffee and rehydrate food. Short trips 3-5 days alcohol. 3 week trip with altitude - Jetboil


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[bigcranky]

Jet Boil for fuel efficiency, too, as well as blazing fast speed. The Pocket Rocket is fine, but these days there are better stoves out there IMHO.

Do some research, but don't get so bogged down in the details that you go crazy. Buy some gear, get out and hike, take notes on what works well and what doesn't. It takes a few years to really dial in your kit. I think most hikers who've been doing it awhile can point to some really bad gear choices over the years.

That said, these days there are a lot more choices of excellent, lightweight, well designed gear. When I compare my current kit to what I started with twenty five years ago, it's really quite amazing.

[lonehiker]

Ya, you are over-thinking it. Do a reasonable amount of research then make the purchase. So you might end up with a stove that boils a cup of water 15 seconds slower. Will that really matter?

[Vegan Packer]

I do a lot of research, probably way more than most. Even with this, I still ended out ditching a bunch of gear for other pieces. Unfortunately, it is pretty hard to come up with one kit and then keep that without making changes. As you gain experience, you will find that there were things that happened that you never thought about, and you will realize that you made some mistakes with your choices.

One big thing that I have learned is that it is absolutely worth the extra money to buy the lightest and best quality in class. A big mistake that I made at first was to think that a couple of pounds, more or less, don't matter. I hated carrying the extra weight to the point that I ended out ditching the first gear and then buying what I should have bought in the first place, only to end out spending more than if I had just given in and paid full retail for everything, from the outset. Just save until you can buy what you really want, and don't try to talk yourself into anything less.

If you can rent some gear and try it out, that is a great way to find out about some of the pieces you are considering.

Don't skimp on comfort. I am not a youngster anymore, and I am not willing to sleep uncomfortably. Yes, I have the lightest gear out there for what that gear is, but it is also real gear, not sleeping in the dirt without a bug screen. Things like full size pads are night and day better than saving the weight and then getting a bad night's sleep.

Oh, and by the way, since you mentioned stoves, I bought the Micro Rocket, and it worked really well. However, in my never ending quest to lighten the load, I just purchased a BRS 3000T stove for this coming season. It is lighter, and it was very inexpensive. It has great reviews. The quest continues....

Good luck in your search.

[egilbe]

I never purchased the wrong gear. It was the right gealr when I bought it. Sometimes, I found there was different, or better, gear that fitted my hiking style better.

[Heliotrope]

Your hiking style will develop with time and experience and your gear choices will reflect that. Doing lots of research can help you see what's possible. I like to see what very experienced hikers use after multiple thru hikes. Some of the best gear is made by cottage companies. One does not simply walk into REI and find this gear.


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[soilman]

I never purchased the wrong gear. It was the right gealr when I bought it. Sometimes, I found there was different, or better, gear that fitted my hiking style better.

I agree. It an evolutionary process.

[Harrison Bergeron]

Half the fun of hiking is the gear. So what's the fun of guessing right first time?

If your hike is just a check-off item on a bucket list and you never plan to set foot in the woods again after you wash out at Neels Gap, then pick any one of the dozens of gear lists on this site with a 20 pound base weight and don't worry about it -- you're planning to selling it all in a few months, anyway, right? I'd just caution you to stay around 20 pounds because an ultra-light kit could be dangerous for a newbee.

But if you're taking up hiking as a hobby, get used to reveling in the gear swaps! Think of it as the fun part that you get to do when you're not hiking.

[FooFooCuddlyPoops]

My experience with gear...I have bought a lot of it, but I have only wasted money once. For the gear I bought that was too heavy, I use it car camping with friends. I now have two child size sleeping bag mummy's for my nephews. (goodwill find that I didn't realize we're child size)

the he only time I wasted money...I bought a pack that ended up digging into my shoulders. I couldn't return it so I gave it to a Freind as her beginner hiking pack.

honestly, start out with other people's stuff. Experiment from there, lol.

[sliverstorm]

One big thing that I have learned is that it is absolutely worth the extra money to buy the lightest and best quality in class.

Sometimes? Yes. As a rule? Strongly disagree. There are items with such poor price-vs-marginal-improvement ratios that they only make sense if you are wealthy enough to not care, or if you use them hard & constantly, e.g. a working mountain professional.

I especially object given we are in a thread talking to a brand new hiker. They are most prone (I know because I used to be one) to getting completely the wrong item (Tent when he should have gone tarp. 45L pack when all he needs is 25L).

[Mags]

On my first trips, I had a Hollofill 2 sleeping bag, an old Eureka tent with fiberglass poles, an discount store external frame pack and one of those Coleman 1 lb propane burner stoves.

It was the "wrong" gear even 20 years ago.

But I got out there, enjoyed myself and learned some skills that went forward for all my backpacking.

Don't worry about the RIGHT gear. Get some gear that works with some input, but don't stress if one 3oz canister stove is better than another 3 oz canister stove.

[QiWiz]

One strategy (if you have the time) is to buy used things that look like they would fill a need and try them out. If they end up not working for you, I find I can often resell them them for little or no loss of $$. I would be cautious in buying insulation (sleeping bags, puffy jackets, etc) that are used, but even this can work if you are cautious and can check out the reputation of the seller. Venues to look for gear would include WB, eBay, backpackinglight, hammockgear, and other busy online forums. Can you dig it?

[Dogwood]

Don't obsess over gear. No matter how much one knows we can always know more. Happily without undue stress embrace knowing that you don't know everything. RELAX. Perfection is a highway rarely a destination. As my Navy recruiter said "be the BEST that you can be."

[One Half]

Buy your gear where you can return it if you don't like it. Then go USE it. Even if it's just on your back yard. Use it. And if you don't like it in the backyard you will probably hate it on the trail. It's not going to get better when you are tired, cold and wet and it's dark out.

A friend just recently bought a pack from REI and she said she has a year to return it. I loaned her mine to "test out" as it's probably a pound lighter and just a tiny bit bigger than hers. If she likes mine she will likely get the most recent version of it and return the pack she already has.

[Scrum]

What a great thread.

I certainly picked up some stuff I wish I hadn't bothered with now (like the huge water filter - use a Sawyer Mini now), but it is all part of the fun.

Sometimes old stuff that you thought was no good can turn out to be useful years later. 20 years ago I picked up an inexpensive, locally made day pack when I lived in Eastern Europe - really basic. To narrow to even be a book bag, no structure to shift weight to the hips, to small for anything serious. I shoved it in the basement and forgot about it. A couple of years ago I found it again, an it now serves as my "UL" day pack. I love it and the pack is truly one of a kind!

[One Half]

If you can, rent first.

Wayne

This is a great option. It's cheaper to rent something and decide you don't like it then to buy something and not like it.

[msupple]

Oh dear God yes! I'm a sucker for new different gear and talked myself into buying one of the Aarn backpacks with the chest mounted bags. Some people swear by them but I wound up swearing at them. I traded it in for an Osprey at about 300 miles and never looked back.