Battle of the Backpackers: Which Pro Has the Best Gear?

this is a momentous day I am backpacking with for the first time ever Devin hey AKA Backcountry exposure we've just been backpacking through the Escalante area we just made it to the Escalante River and I thought it was time for battle of the Backpackers with Devon who's going to win so here here's what happens here I'm going to go through and have you show me some of your top pieces of gear okay anything that stands out to you and uh I will provide commentary we'll discuss and then you will basically look at my gear and uh critique bash make fun of whatever you will all right I like it let's the games begin what do we got welcome to my Lair I'm actually stepping into something that I said that I would never well that's not true I'm using a quilt and I said that I was done with quilts to a point so this is the ugq Bandit top quilt in a 20° rating and I'm pretty stoked about it why what what is it that uh brought you back to the quilt well good question Eric the biggest thing is I've actually been using the zenbivy which is a quilt system for several years at this point and it just dawned on me that a quilt for a ground sleeping needs to be longer and wider than you think it does yeah and so that's what I did I ordered a quilt that is 60 in wide Who and like the long length I don't remember exactly how long this one is but it just allows for actual movement inside of the quilt I'll let you know in the morning how it goes this is the first time in this one I've had one night in a hammock in it so this is my first time ground sleeping with it okay um you feel good about that tempering yeah yeah see it was cold last night ah don't uh don't don't create any any voodoo on oh you're right I'm sorry it's going to be be perfect it's going to be perfect what's it connected to this is the zenbivy flex UL sleeping pad which I think you're using the same pad oh I certainly am so this is cool because it's a it's a different style than I've used from a lot of the other pads that are kind of that quilted pattern but it's awesome cuz they've put the baffles in a diagonal and so it's got two layers of insulation in it it's the first time zenbivy has done barar insulation in their pads so that's enticing because it saves weight and makes for a smaller pack size but when I first saw this I was like I wonder if all of these little dimple points here yeah you've got a cold spot basically at all of these which is not the case because it runs at a diagonal each of these points is underneath here o so it actually like overlaps and makes it so it shouldn't have as much um interesting I did not know that cold loss from where you have the cutouts in the insulation so I'm excited about that okay and then my pillow is the zenbivy oh you got that new thing too I don't remember what they call it uh the Dream Weaver Escape I don't know but it's got It's got the air bladder and then there's a down topper yeah on here so for Sid sleeping this is awesome cuz like look how tall that is oh that is that is nice I used that last night and I was enjoying it yeah it's great I'm a little nervous about it constantly pushing off with not having a hood or the way that the Zen bivy works well that's why you need the Zen bivy bro but I'm really stoked about this ug Cube Bandit so that's cool I have not used ugq so I will I'd be curious how how it goes for you what's the kind of general price point of this ugq um this one's just under 400 okay so I've got several additional features attached to it uh that kind of bump up the price sure there's like a piece of elastic in here that helps cradle it around your body did a fully insulated foot box as opposed to having a zipper yeah and uh I added additional uh fill for it let's stand up here we go whoa coming to the outside world nailed it okay nice so this is also a new tent for me that I'm pretty stoked on um sling fin too light is the 10 is it too light uh it was it is fairly light you don't wish it was heavier cuz the name makes me think it's too light right well it's light and it's two people oh so they they have the one light two light two light did you get that a light bulb just went off for me it's a pretty traditional design but I've had my eye on sling fin for a very long time it's got a really thin like tendine rip stop nylon for the for the fly fabric there's a there's a good amount of space in there it looks spacious easily could put put two people in there wait is this your first night in it first night in it okay yep so I'm breaking breaking backpacking rules of my big three is almost all completely new I've used the backpack before but I've not slept on the pad I've not used the tent I've not used the quilts we have to be bad boys we have to be rule Breakers cuz we'd never go out we're gear testers we that's what we do that's what we do T gear see how it does yeah so yeah my my backpack is new my sleeping bag and sleeping mattress are new nice uh so last night at the trail head was my first night in mine oh that's right that's right yeah so I've got yeah that's it's just the name of the game when you're professionals like you and I are look at us look at this I I just took off my tie earlier I apologize for that I try to be more professional in this environment you should yeah okay so that's your big three uh oh oh oh you are the bad boy he doesn't even know what he brings out in the field don't ever let me get caught with my hat backwards ever what I thought you looked oh reasonably well I have a big forehead and I don't want to have to do the whole like put the sunscreen there kind of thing nice nice anyway okay gear talk gear talk let's get let's get back to it I want to see what's your backpack this uh cs40 yeah so this is like the first proper big trip with it okay I have done a weekend and then a couple like overnight trips with it yeah and so far I like it um anything stand out about how it carries or how how you pack it so I had almost 30 lbs in it today yeah and it carries well the hip belt is pretty dang comfortable I do have some uh hip hickey just some like soreness on my hips which I honestly have yet to find there's like only one backpack that really doesn't do that for me but pretty much like any backpack I don't know yeah your hip bones are there and they exist they exist so but it's it's been nice um I wish the side pockets were a little bit deeper um that I don't know I was worried all day that my water bottles were going to fall out did they they did not oh that's good from all that bushwacking we did there was a lot of bushwacking today pretty impressive and I wish that this part of of the collar was a little bit stiffer so that like two pieces of webbing were on there just make rolling a lot a lot easier for sure um but I think they did a good job with it yeah I'm lightly familiar with it and then my wife actually used that and was a big big fan of it so nice uh but yeah the 40 L for me is just hard to hard to fit everything in a stove and a chair that I want to see and I don't know maybe you have something else maybe you have other goodies hidden in your layer you want to see how special this stove is yeah you ready for this are you ready are you ready let me make get Focus that's your stove that's [Music] [Laughter] tiny is that the grill no it's the BRS oh it looks they're all they're all the same they're all just white label um rebranded probably from BRS would be my guess but whoever the factory is yeah so I thought I'd give it a try nice um I haven't I haven't like really used the BRS um heavily that is it is that your pot too so this is the toes 550 okay this is a a uh Dynam hot saac nice um but it's the 550 ML yep and then this this is something that I ask more questions about when I do gear loadouts yeah is my cup like where do you get the cup I want the cup tell me where you got the cup where did you get the cup where did you get the cup uh it's from the GSI Pinnacle soloist cook set and it just nests perfectly with that it it nests perfectly in on on the outside of the 550 and it nests perfectly on the inside of the 700 whoa it's it's perfect the issue is you can't buy these individually you have to get the set you have to get the set and they do sell a cup like this but it's not the same diameter ah G get on it so I've had people all the time that were like where do you get that I want that but it's awesome cuz I eat my oatmeal out of it I can have a hot drink coffee whatever and it also has better graduation lines yeah to be able to see so sick that's a pretty Nest nice nicely nested little setup you got almost nothing it's great I like it it's almost too light I spy one more little fun thing over here yeah another first time trip get in there first time use uh the Nemo what is this Moonlight Elite yeah the honey Bun's starting starting to to do its magic you're getting stuff back yeah this thing is is pretty cool so it's taking their like how' you do that OG design of being able to like make the chair sit more upright yeah or you can go into Lounge mode oo Lounge mode which is nice um that does look nice this chair is stupid expensive though really like almost $200 and it's like just over a pound so your helinox over there is um a touch lighter yeah but but whoa the case 4 does work as a little uh what what is it called a keeper out of the sander a keeper out of the sander a nons sinker yeah I've already discovered that those little Blue Stakes over there go right all the way down in the sand it's just you want to bounce some more oh that was good yeah um it's pretty comfy I still think the Big Agnes uh Skyline UL is the most comfortable backpacking chair it also sits higher oo but this is this is a close second okay I don't actually I don't really like the helinox so you've already lost points today I don't like the helinox how can you say that I mean you can so I W I win in the chair Department okay well wait you have to tell me why but when when we're talking about my gear okay any other items that you want to talk about um I'm trying all new food on this trip oh any anything you're nervous about all all of it you're nervous about everything all of it so I see one thing you're going to like I've I shouldn't say that I've had Pinnacle uh recently never had ready wise and I'm trying alpen fuel for breakfast those are new to me too and they're new cookies oo so I do have cuz I do love Peak refuel I did split up some uh Berry C cobbler oh to uh to have for some dessert nice but I don't have Peak meals which is the first for me in 5 years are you feeling out of place and lost in the world a little bit I used to be an ambassador and I'm not any more so awkward that is awkward well then hey hey everybody all right we're we're going to keep things moving here so we don't dwell on I'm going to go cry over by the Cottonwood I'll be back no I need you okay you want to swing around that side I'll swing around this side let's do it okay oh but then there's mesh in the way is there mesh in the way oh no I fix it look at how fluffy sorry you are you talking about my stomach again how fluffy I look this is something that I'm very excited about this is like you you have been trying out have you used this this quilt yet I slept in it last night okay and you were pretty comfortable yes I so I have four five nights in this new one okay well last night was the first night that I used this and this is the 10° ultral light and I feel like this was comfortable the but I have paired it now so you had you didn't have this little kind of hood thing and Zen bivy has transferred now from a full sheet to a half sheet that's dangerous that is dangerous uh so yeah so I actually last night was the first night on this mattress it was down you said you had your thing out uh 21 21° and I was kind of cold not like really really cold but I was like on that edge where it was I was I still slept but I was wishing I was a little bit warmer I could tell though that it wasn't the top it felt to me like it was I was losing heat from underneath me so I'm hoping that tonight is a little bit uh warmer and I'm a little bit more comfortable but I am am excited just generally speaking though I think uh because it did get down to 20 and it's the 10 Dee the 10 degree bag and I I think that with the 4.8 mattress that this is I probably would be better off adding in like a Zite or some sort of closed cell foam pad I would just say add add as more air to it than you think you need and I'm going to also try really inflating it tonight like getting it pretty pretty crisp yep uh but yeah I also have the pillow here I'm very excited about it I slept great in that thing last night and I love you call it the p a pillow are you bringing it back the joke from Dan oh man you said pillow a p it's a pillow you can do it try it again pillow yeah uh this is very comfortable I love having this down insulated hood on this zenb sleep system and that to me is one of the biggest ways that I can get away with using a quilt because otherwise I just feel more exposed I miss that feeling of you know having my head enclosed and uh with zenbivy I'm willing to do it and I've yet to really enjoy quilts otherwise so yeah that anyway that's my scoop and I hope that this does better for me tonight but it was see I'm not the only one that doesn't love quilts it is kind of heresy in the ultr Light Community to say that I know it really is but uh but it's true it really yeah and uh anyway back to you back to me and then I I've been using this dur in tent for let's stand up here we both need the knee brakes yeah I've been using this dur in tent it's kind of my go-to now for like lightweight Adventures where I need a onep person tent I do genuinely like this tent it's interesting because it's hard to criticize this tent without a bunch of people coming out of the woodwork to tell you why you're wrong and I think it has a a bit of a cult following and I actually am a big fan of Dan Duron and what he is doing and I'm actually got something else of his uh that we'll talk about here in a minute but generally speaking I think it's a great tent it's super lightweight you know I didn't even touch my trekking poles today so I kind of just brought my trekking poles just to prop this thing up generally speaking I kind of wishing I had something that is like semi freestanding or freestanding for being you know I had to really navigate getting the stakes and uh anchors to stick in the ground but uh yeah I'm still super happy with it it's it's a great tent for anybody who is looking to have a I I know there are lighter options technically but still like it's like 16 17 ounces so anything that's really truly a light light light tent yeah they don't did a good job with this yeah I was I was laughing earlier because that's the one person and look how fluffy that 10 Dee quilt is in there is Fluffy it takes up the entire floor space it might be also because of my poow your poow yeah a p no it's it went from an e to an a it's like a poow a p pillow P pillow pillow okay let's come over here some your backpack okay so this this is a first for me but I am uh using the Duron caka uh the 55 L pack so how's it been this has been good I I have liked it now to me what I have noticed is that right here and right here I noticed some hot spots showing up on kind of that back hip area so so everything thing was comfortable I uh actually really liked the shoulder straps they felt great for me the way that they have this ubar which keeps this flat is is very nice it's it actually for an ultra light backpack I think it's 31 o so it is under 2 lb uh I was pleased with it this is a 55 L pack and I was maxing it out when I have used the 57 liter pack from Mystery Ranch pretty significantly lately and uh for some reason things just seem to fit better in there so I'm not sure if it's counting this space or not um but it it was it was very tight and I didn't have room for uh a couple of things that I was expecting to bring in here but I like the roll toop closure and the the fabric feels great uh I think it's pretty durable we were bushwacking like crazy oh my gosh I I I don't see any signs of it was it was heinous today today was straight up intense it was yeah just walking through some of the worst intense nice it's a backpacking joke nailed it nailed it uh and but obviously I need to get more miles in this type of thing before I can really say a lot about the backpack but I think that this this carry is better than any sort of ultral light backpack that I've used I think that the people that were jumping in my comments were correct that this is a a great pack for carrying heavier I had a 30 I was carrying 30 lbs today and I think it handled it I don't know if I was carrying even like two lounds more I probably would want a different pack interesting yeah really it was it was you were at that cusp well I was reasonably comfortable but I think the difference for me is that I know what I feel like in different packs that are like 3B backpacks three 4B backpacks where when I carry 35 40 lbs it feels the same as carrying 30 in a pack like this I see I see like it's just as comfortable so I like it that's that uh one other little note this is the MSR Guardian this is my water filter which I didn't ask you about your water filter this is the most beastly water filter ever but because all this water is half mud uh this is what I use and this is what I trust for like super sediment water and the the real reason is because there's two tubes and every time that you pump water and filter in it spits out dirty water so it will never clog you can run like 10,000 l through this of like mud water and uh it'll still be cruising so I've used this guy it I mean it is it's gone through the ringer there but it's still cruising still spitting out clean water and yes the chair the chair which uh you don't like but uh I don't hate it you don't hate it I don't hate it for Sandy situations like this I am really jealous of your Moonlight because I definitely am going to be like low ride tonight but uh I've been happy with it this chair kind of got me from being a non-chair user to a chair user hey so I was I would I would be just sitting on that log if this was like two years ago and your back would be unhappy and my back would be very unhappy this is true so that's those are the main things there's a few other odds and ends I guess I like it we're losing light we got to eat dinner give me that camera back I want to hear from you who setup do you prefer if uh leave leave a vote leave a comment and uh you don't get to Hash it out right here we can battle it let me let me put this put this down um I'm really happy with my setup but you've got a lot of things that I'm pretty intrigued in there so we'll see how it goes we'll see how it goes there's this much nervous happening right now that's okay that's that's it was it was cold last night hopefully it doesn't get that cold weather report is supposed to be warmer we will see I'll check in with you in the morning leave a comment below who you think won and if you don't know or follow Devin Back Country exposure make sure you go check out his channel he's been doing this thing for a long time and he is a great resource for anybody who wants especially the technical side of gear thanks for joining me Devon thanks for running through this with me that was awesome yeah yeah and we'll see you later thanks for tuning in see you later

Channel: Eric Hanson

Views: 56,148

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Id: hHnaalJ2vf8

Length: 23min 52sec (1432 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 03 2024