Budget and Gear?

[wvbreamfisherman]

To each their own, but in my humble opinion, its quite easy to go too far in "generalizing things". One tool/ 26 functions may be a tool that doesn't do anything well (or even acceptably)at all.

 

[Lamebeaver]

You don't need to spend a bunch of money. You probably already have some gear. Grandma Gatewood hiked the AT in Ked sneakers with a bag thrown over her shoulder. What most of us need to start out with is a small inexpensive tent, a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, someting to put these things in, something to eat and something to purify your water. You might also want to add rain gear, but a cheap poncho will work just fine. Everything else is either a luxury or optional.

 

[TroyS]

Hi...


As I've stated, I buy very little stuff in any given year. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to buy more stuff.

I'm rarely in a store. I shop via catalog and 'net. When I see something I would like to have, I print out the info, or rip the page out of the catalog. Then I'll spend some time deciding weather I REALLY want it or not, then I put the info in a pile. (That's right, a PILE).

I forget about it for a few weeks, then review it all again...then toss it out...!!

Didn't need it after all...!

Looks like I need to do that, too. The biggest challenge would have to be trying to forget it for a few weeks. :tinysmile_twink_t2:

 

[Newanderthal]

http://www.outdoorbasecamp.com/forum/f92/how-lighten-load-budget-933/

A whole big post I did to show how to go ultralight without breaking the bank.

 

[briansnat]

When I started backpacking some 30 years ago I bought budget models of nearly everything. Over the years I've slowly replaced nearly everything with better stuff (I'm still using my original cook kit and still have the original sleeping bags I bought, though I rarely use the bags). Now I have everything I need.

If I had to buy everything new tomorrow it would probably run me between 2 and 3 thousand bucks.

Not that I don't still buy stuff. I'm a sucker for the shiny and new and sometimes get a bug in my mind about a new piece of equipment I want (last year it was a large survival type knife).

For example Last year I bought a better backpacking hammock (ENO Single Nest) to replace my old mesh backpacking hammock, a big knife (SOG Seal Team Elite) to replace my Swiss army knife, a Black Diamond Storm headlamp to replace my Petzel Tikka and a Gerber Omnivore flashlight to replace my Princeton Tec Rage and a Black Diamond Orbit lantern.

This year I'd like to replace my Gregory Whitney backpack with something a few lbs lighter to make up for the extra weight of the things I bought last year.

 

[MissyKitty]

I don't spent a lot on gear because i like the challenge of being outside and using what you have. I try to take only the things that are essential and try to manage with what i have got. The only things i did not hold back on were my tent, knife and fire making tools

 

[shaun]

I think spending lots of money on fancy equipment defeats the object of the experience. I buy the bare essentials and nothing more. I want to enjoy the wild, not spend my time messing around with state of the art equipment.

 

[IndianaHiker]

I think spending lots of money on fancy equipment defeats the object of the experience. I buy the bare essentials and nothing more. I want to enjoy the wild, not spend my time messing around with state of the art equipment.

To me the point of the higher end gear that I carry is to enjoy the outdoors more. With higher quality gear I don't have to spend as much time setting up, making field repairs to crappy gear, and with it being lighter and taking up less space I can go longer and further. By all means stay within your budget and don't let that be an excuse for not getting out of you want to. However I can't see where higher quality gear takes anything away from the experience.

 

[mariaandrea]

Very little. I never had much money to spend on vacations so I got the cheapest tent available at Fred Meyer our first year and the next cheapest one a few years later when it broke beyond repair. It's lasted for 7 years now - 9x16 and cost about $50. But, it only gets used 2 weeks out of the year. We only camp in decent weather, so cheap sleeping bags and blankets work fine. Sleeping pads and even air mattresses are cheap on sale. I have some gear from an army surplus store and some even from Goodwill. It would be a different matter if I were backpacking, but we only car camp so just not going to spend the money.