On this page you will find:
Quick links to our gear review categories:
Sleeping
Stuff • Tent / Bivy
• Flashlights
• Batteries
• Stoves •
Food • Water & Filtration • Cutlery • Photography • Footwear • Backpacks • Miscellaneous
"Don't
follow our advice!"
Here's what we
mean by that: use our advice as a guide only!
The reviewing process remains subjective, even when trying to
be objective. Some hikers have 'personal favourites' that might
seem just okay to one person, might be ideal to another, and
completely unnecessary to others. It would be a sad day if on
any given trip, one encounters every hiker with the exact same
equipment. Diversity is what makes us unique people.
|
How far
does the ultralight hiker go? My wedding ring weighs approximately
4.0 grams (0.14 oz). Do I take this extra weight on a hike? Sure
I do! |
So, use the reviews
as a guide, or as supplementary information to make your choices.
And if you think we are correct in our evaluation, that's okay
too.
We're always willing
to listen to your comment on a particular product, and will gladly
correct or modify our reviews if necessary, hey; we might change
our own mind one day and change the rating on a product if we
suddenly feel differently.
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| How to reduce your weight |
If you have an item you
want to carry on a hike, check the weight of it. For example,
you want to take some binoculars. Here's a run down of what we
mean:
Normal weight,
hmm, say 640 gr (22.5 oz) for your average 8 x 32 binoculars.
This would be too heavy for ultralight hiking. But before you
discard the idea of magnificent magnification completely —
do some research!
Before long you will find smaller, lighter models; you will soon
discover there are 8 x 20 binoculars weighing about  200 gr (7 oz). This is
still quite heavy, but it's getting there.
And you might settle for a Zeiss Mini Quick monocular with a
5 x 10, weighing only 22.5 grams (0.8 oz).
So, check the weight for the item, and compare it to your essentials!
If you come to the conclusion that the item now is too small
to be effective, you might want to consider not bringing it at
all. Otherwise, choose a light weight product that still does
the job!
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Ahh, the difference between light
and small!
A lighter item is not necessarily better than a smaller item.
Look at the sleeping pad for instance. A Thermarest ultralight
¾ is heavier than a z-rest ¾, 15 oz vs. 9 oz. But:
the Thermarest is smaller in volume. And, if both units were
to go in the backpack; the backpack with the lighter but larger
z-rest would have to be bigger and therefore heavier. Having
said this, the argument could be even more complex in the example
shown, because one could argue, that the virtually indestructible
z-rest could be strapped on the outside of the pack; but the
relatively puncture prone Thermarest has to be protected inside
the pack. So, as we see, many factors come into play when choosing
the equipment. Weight is one important factor, but not the only
one.
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Your gear should be made up of
(almost) everything you need to take you safely from your starting
point to the ending point in your journey, including some unforeseen
mishaps on the way. For overnight trips, your gear to stay warm
and dry at night will most likely be the heaviest portion of
the gear and take up some 30% to even 50% of total equipment
weight. (Check it out,  ).
The backpack itself is really only a tool to allow you to carry
all of your gear; with the one job to keep it dry and to carry
it comfortably while hiking. Secondary tasks would be to have
an easy access to certain items such as drink, emergency supplies,
etc. Commonly the backpack is way too heavy for the task that
it fulfils. Remember, it serves no other purpose than to carry
your essential equipment. So, –really– the backpack
itself almost digresses to a non-essential item, since one could,
for instance, rap all of the gear in the sleeping bag, and stuff
it into a garbage bag with some straps to carry it. Here the
garbage bag would become the backpack, weighing some 1 oz instead
of the 'normal' 100 oz. To show you how much 'waste-weight' the
backpack is .
(we're working
on this section, especially on a 'basic packlist' with all the
essentials. Estimated completion date: June 2004)
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Click on the menu to the
left to get to the different categories.
The quick ratings are based on:
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4
to 5 points |
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2½
to 3¾ points |
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0
to 2¼ points |
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If you disagree with our ratings,
please give us some feedback and
tell us. Just go ahead. We can take it. Really. We can. Yeah,
sure, we spend hours on this website, trying our best, and then
you come along and disagree just like that! Yep, not a problem!.......Oh,
we got carried away there a bit....
Some pages have detailed
and extensive tables with additional of info, where you can really
compare the items; click on the  image where available.
Quick links to our gear
review categories: Sleeping
Stuff • Tent / Bivy
• Flashlights
• Batteries
• Stoves •
Food • Water & Filtration • Cutlery • Photography • Footwear • Backpacks • Miscellaneous
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