What did you NOT buy today?

[balzaccom]

This is a companion thread to all the threads on gear on these boards. It is increasingly clear that consumerism is a driving force in the issue of global climate change. With that in mind, I am not suggesting that we avoid ever buying anything again, or even avoid buying anything that comes in plastic packaging, but I am suggesting that we should also have a thread here to celebrate NOT buying new gear.

The full article, including examples of scavenged, salvaged, and very long-lived gear is here:

What did you NOT buy today?

It seems that every backpacking site and community has a thread about what new gear people have bought, and why it is an improvement for the ages. So we got to thinking. It is increasingly clear that consumerism is a driving force in the issue of global climate change...

www.backpackthesierra.com

So what you have re-purposed for your backpacking gear? What solutions have you found for gear that is low-impact/no impact on our environment. What gear do you have that has served its purposed well for more than ten years…and doesn’t need to be replaced, perhaps ever? What practices have you adopted that are a significant step in the right direction?

Yes, this thread may offend some advertisers who want us to buy their gear. But I would hope that most of them would also see the long-term benefits of the discussion.

 

[Jackson]

Most of my backpacking gear has never been replaced. I've also only been backpacking for 7ish years, so that makes it less impressive. And example is my stove. Primus Yellowstone, which I think is manufactured as the "Classic Trail Stove" now. I've been tempted just about every year to replace it with something lighter or that boils water faster, but I always decide it's unnecessary because it's light enough, it packs small, it's durable, and it works just fine. Same goes for most of my gear. It's good enough for me. There's lighter stuff out there, but a) I'm not rich, and b) my stuff works well for me, so there's no need for me to always be trying to have the latest and greatest.



I know a picture of my stained and darkened stove would be cooler but I've never actually taken a photo of it, and I'm not at home.

 

[Bob]

I buy nothing from Patagonia, rei, North face, Arc'teryx, pretty much any major company. I look for the little guy.

 

[OldBill]

I don't buy anything to replace what already works well enough or doesn't add significant value. Getting older, have Raynauds so been replacing some clothes with warmer versions - biting the bullet on down. My Deuter ActZero 50+15 pack is 3.3 lbs but still going strong after 10 years and rather not spend $350-400 for a 1 lb reduction in weight.

 

[Rockskipper]

I didn't get another camera, even though Canon sent me a refund for the R6 I bought for my birthday. I decided to just keep using my old ones. And through all this, I managed to sell my Canon 6DMII to the Fedex guy who brought me the new camera I ended up returning. He saw the box was from Canon and we got to talking. So I'm actually even more minimal than before, which is a good thing.

There's an old bluegrass song:

I like to travel around with less and less,
I've found the simple way is the way that's best.

At this point, I can fit everything I own into my car and rooftop carrier, including my 2 dogs and 2 cats (but they don't ride in the carrier). When I sold my house in Moab some years ago, I had three storage units full of nice stuff, which I sold or gave away. I couldn't even tell you what most of it was.

 

[swmalone]

I have an Osprey Status 24 that I purchased in 2007. It isn't my oldest piece of equipment that I still use, but it is my most often used. It has a few rub holes that have either been patched with tenacious tape or sewn. I love that thing and am not really a fan of the newer design so I hope it lasts a good long time.

I pick up a lot of items used if I can, unfortunately it seems that anymore people are trying to sell beat up, old stuff for almost the same price as new. They just label it "vintage".

 

[zionsky]

I only buy new stuff if my old stuff breaks. My old columbia backpack started developing holes after 15+ years so I got the stratus 34 to replace it. I still wear the same columbia windbreaker I've had for 12+ years. Even after my 40 foot fall last October, it had nary a scratch. Can't beat that!

 

[Bob]

I don't buy anything to replace what already works well enough or doesn't add significant value. Getting older, have Raynauds so been replacing some clothes with warmer versions - biting the bullet on down. My Deuter ActZero 50+15 pack is 3.3 lbs but still going strong after 10 years and rather not spend $350-400 for a 1 lb reduction in weight.

Lighter pack = more fishing gear

 

[Janice]

Thanks for starting this, @balzaccom. I admit we've bought our fair share of gear recently, as we're gradually replacing heavier, cheaper stuff that we bought when we started backpacking 8 years ago. But I'm excited about the tent repair we recently had done and want to give a shout out to Rainy Pass Repair. In 2014, we bought our tent from REI. (I agree it's great to support smaller companies, @Bob, but I still remember REI from back in the 80s when they were the small company!) We still love the tent, but the zipper was giving us a hard time on last summer's trip. I took it in to REI to see if they could fix it, and they recommended Rainy Pass in Seattle. I contacted them, sent the tent, and was delighted a couple weeks later when our tent came back good as new. I will definitely try them again in the future if things need to be fixed. Hopefully the tent will last another 7 years or longer!

 

[RyanP]

About once or twice a year, I come across an awesome packrafting trip report, and each time I have successfully resisted the urge to immediately buy a packraft (because if I'm honest with myself I know I would almost never use it). Similar with canoes/kayaks for the family. If we lived elsewhere in the country, I would probably invest in these. But I try to limit/consolidate my outdoor gear to the hobbies I actually spend time doing (backpacking and mountain biking), and that's how I justify buying too much stuff for those activities...

 

[TylerB]

Most of my backpacking gear has never been replaced. I've also only been backpacking for 7ish years, so that makes it less impressive. And example is my stove. Primus Yellowstone, which I think is manufactured as the "Classic Trail Stove" now. I've been tempted just about every year to replace it with something lighter or that boils water faster, but I always decide it's unnecessary because it's light enough, it packs small, it's durable, and it works just fine. Same goes for most of my gear. It's good enough for me. There's lighter stuff out there, but a) I'm not rich, and b) my stuff works well for me, so there's no need for me to always be trying to have the latest and greatest.

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I know a picture of my stained and darkened stove would be cooler but I've never actually taken a photo of it, and I'm not at home.

I couldn't agree with you more. I've never understood why people spend a lot on stoves. I am starting to see some value investing in a nice pack or a nice bag....but I will never understand the high cost stove.

Though what do I know?...most of my gear comes from yard sales. I got this $17 stove from amazon years ago and it has served me well ever since. Only problem with it is that it folds too small and so sometimes I can't find it in my pack.

 

[regehr]

Good idea for a thread. The now-closed Kirkhams store in SLC had a display of classic camping stoves that I always enjoyed, though the Optimus 8R looked to me like it was going to try to explode. I find most modern gear to be sort of overkill for my weekend warrior trips and haven't replaced a lot of the items that I bought when getting into hiking and backpacking in the early 2000s. In particular my Cold Cold World daypack has been going strong for 20 years, with only minor wear and repairs. I recently bought (oops) a fleece liner for my pre-2010 down bag, which is losing loft, to try to get some more life out of it. It's rated at 20 degrees but I'm sort of worried about spending an actual 20 degree night in it at this point. As the original post points out, those eggshell foam pads can be repurposed any number of ways once they start to wear out, super useful stuff.

 

[Jackson]

I couldn't agree with you more. I've never understood why people spend a lot on stoves. I am starting to see some value investing in a nice pack or a nice bag....but I will never understand the high cost stove.

Though what do I know?...most of my gear comes from yard sales. I got this $17 stove from amazon years ago and it has served me well ever since. Only problem with it is that it folds too small and so sometimes I can't find it in my pack.

The only reason I can understand spending big for one is if you buy a Jetboil because it's insane how fast those things can boil water. Not worth it to me, but can understand if someone needs to boil a lot of water fast.

 

[Jackson]

Good idea for a thread. The now-closed Kirkhams store in SLC had a display of classic camping stoves that I always enjoyed, though the Optimus 8R looked to me like it was going to try to explode. I find most modern gear to be sort of overkill for my weekend warrior trips and haven't replaced a lot of the items that I bought when getting into hiking and backpacking in the early 2000s. In particular my Cold Cold World daypack has been going strong for 20 years, with only minor wear and repairs. I recently bought (oops) a fleece liner for my pre-2010 down bag, which is losing loft, to try to get some more life out of it. It's rated at 20 degrees but I'm sort of worried about spending an actual 20 degree night in it at this point. As the original post points out, those eggshell foam pads can be repurposed any number of ways once they start to wear out, super useful stuff.

I know we've discussed it on here before but can't recall the answer to this one. Have you tried washing that down bag to restore some loft? Using something like Nikwax or Woolite could be a good move. I recently washed my sleeping bag and my most used down jacket and it was nuts how much more they puffed up after they were dry and had the down evenly distributed around.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

The only reason I can understand spending big for one is if you buy a Jetboil because it's insane how fast those things can boil water.

My Jetboil Sol Titanium is a piece of gear that I've used for a long time and hope to continue using for an even longer time, since they no longer make that version.

 

[balzaccom]

"I know we've discussed it on here before but can't recall the answer to this one. Have you tried washing that down bag to restore some loft? Using something like Nikwax or Woolite could be a good move. I recently washed my sleeping bag and my most used down jacket and it was nuts how much more they puffed up after they were dry and had the down evenly distributed around."

I've washed my REI subkilo twice with Nikwax. Made a huge difference, both in the loft and in the color of the ripstop! Slow dry with very low heat for a long time, with a couple of clean tennis balls thrown inside the machine.

 

[TylerB]

The only reason I can understand spending big for one is if you buy a Jetboil because it's insane how fast those things can boil water. Not worth it to me, but can understand if someone needs to boil a lot of water fast.

I could see that would come in handy if that was your water purification method…assuming you had the fuel to burn…or maybe as the only stove in a larger group

 

[TheMountainRabbit]

I feel personally attacked...

This is an area of improvement of late though - hopefully I can continue that trend. I have found that my most wasteful purchases tend to happen early in a new interest - I try to keep this in mind as I pick up new things nowadays.

 

[Rockskipper]

I feel personally attacked...

This is an area of improvement of late though - hopefully I can continue that trend. I have found that my most wasteful purchases tend to happen early in a new interest - I try to keep this in mind as I pick up new things nowadays.

I tend to want to buy things when I have spring fever and can't get out.

 

[regehr]

I know we've discussed it on here before but can't recall the answer to this one. Have you tried washing that down bag to restore some loft? Using something like Nikwax or Woolite could be a good move. I recently washed my sleeping bag and my most used down jacket and it was nuts how much more they puffed up after they were dry and had the down evenly distributed around.

Ok I need to do this. Have just been sort of worried I'll make things worse instead of better. Thanks!