MY Budget Big 3 (Under $270!) | How Amazon Got Me Started!

hey everyone today we're talking about the gear that started it all for me my budget beginner big three and how I did it all for under $300 one of the things that kept me from backpacking for so many years was quite simply the cost I remember walking into a store and looking at backpacks and I'd see one that I'd like and look at the price tag and realize it was three hundred and fifty dollars I head over to the 10th section and look at the ultralight backpacking tents that are like the hubba bubba and the MSRs and the Marmot tungsten different tents like that and I'd see that there were like 400 or $500 and then I'd go and look at sleeping bags and quickly notice that prices there were two three hundred dollars and frankly where I was at at that time I just decided I couldn't afford backpacking and it was something that I dreamed about and longed to do but I never thought I'd ever be able to afford it that all changed when my friend got me to sign up for Amazon Prime day and as I'm going through all the different prime deals I saw a backpack a backpacking backpack and that's when something went off and I realized what if I got my gear on line so this is the backpack that started it all for me and I'm gonna go over today my budget beginner big three when you first start backpacking you're gonna hear a lot of different terms because there's a lot of different systems you're gonna need to learn about some of which I've covered in a playlist right up here in this video I'm talking about the big three these are what are generally considered your most expensive and heaviest pieces of gear they include your backpack your sleeping bag and your tent I was able to get the big three items for under $300 I believe if you factor in my sleeping pad it comes to exactly 301 dollars and we'll get to all of that the tents my sleeping bag my sleeping pad in just a second but why don't we look at the piece of gear that started it all let's start by talking about the backpack that's started at all my first piece of gear you can get this on Amazon for $65 it's the mountain top adventure six liter backpack I think 60 liters is a great size of backpack to start for beginners 50 liters might be a little bit too small especially because you're likely not getting the lightest and most compact gear when you first get started especially if you're working with a budget but if you go with a 70 liter backpack you might be tempted to bring more than you need meaning a heavier backpack with 60 litres I found it to be just the right size and it was what somebody advised me it meant it tight enough that I had to be choosy about what I brought but big enough that I could fit some of the bigger items that you naturally start off with when you get started with backpacking but let's talk about a few of the features that I think make this backpack a great backpack the first thing I want to talk about is the back this is a versatile size adjustable back so you can go to different sizes depending on your torso height I actually recommended this backpack to two of my cousins she's more on the petite sides he's a muscular guy so he's got a little bit of a broader build and they were able to adjust the back to make it comfortable for them one of the key features that sold me on it were the hip belts look at how much padding there is on your hips to keep this in its place comfortably resting on your hips because that's where you want most of the weight of your backpack to be carried and on those hip belts is another huge selling feature to me hip belt pockets these are perfect for putting in snacks putting in your phone putting in any types of pieces of gear that you would like easy access to while you're on the trail another little thing that I think makes this a good backpack for beginners is on the sternum strap you have a whistle now that might seem like a little small thing but when you're first getting started every little safety feature helps with giving you a little bit more peace of mind if you knew that you were getting lost or something was happening or emergency you got injured you know that you could give three sharp blasts to alert anybody else you're hiking with or anyone in the region that you need help and yeah sure it's a small thing you probably will never use it but I find when you just start backpacking every little piece of peace of mind gets you that mile further so why don't you tell me in the comments below what you started backpacking with that maybe you didn't need but give you a little bit more peace of mind two other quick features that I want to talk about on this backpack are the fact that it has these gear loops on the front you could use this for a large sleeping pad or simply put your tent across which is what I did it also has a separate sleeping bag compartment as well as the main bag interior so lots of packing options all in all I think this backpack is a great beginner backpack so if you'd like more information check it out in the links below now let's talk sleeping bag the first sleeping bag I got was the Teton trailhead rated 220 degrees Fahrenheit extreme there's a lot to be said about temperature ratings for sleeping bags but in a nutshell you just need to know what's extreme rated and what's Comfort rated because those are two very different things for example this is rated to an extreme temperature of 20 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 7 degrees Celsius so that means you wouldn't want to take it down that low trust me I found that out the hard way the other thing that you should notice about backpacking sleeping bags is how small and compact they are backpacking sleeping bags are nice and compact but let's take a quick look at the sleeping bag itself and the Teton trailhead is a mummy sleeping bag which means it comes with a hood and it tapers towards the end so you have a like a little foot box which actually helps save weight and keep you a little bit warmer because there's less material and less area for your body to heat up one of the things that's nice about this sleeping bag is it has a little pocket on the inside for you to keep your phone or any batteries that you need to nice and warm and toasty close to you but let's talk about one of the reasons why it might not be the best for you that is if you go anywhere then it might get kind of cold backpacking this is pretty comfortable down to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit I found now I am a pretty cold sleeper but anything below that getting closer to the freezing mark was a lose quite a bit chilly so for me it wasn't the best option since I do most of my backpacking in the Canadian Rockies and even in the middle of summer it can get down to ease the 32 degrees and lower and this was just a little too cold for me you can get the slightly warmer version of this sleeping bag which is the Teton tracker now this bag weighs in at 3.5 pounds so it's pretty nice and light if you went with a tracker I think it gets a little bit closer to over four pounds 4.3 pounds the other option is the Teton leaf I've heard awesome reviews of that bag and I would recommend that if you know you're going down to those colder temperatures to get the 20 degree Teton leaf which weighs roughly the same as this one does and it's Comfort rated 220 degrees Fahrenheit instead of an extreme weight rating either way t-tell makes great sleeping bags and this is what started it all for me and if you know that you're just staying in warm areas going by lakes in the southern southern US or different places like that then this is probably more than enough for you now it's time to talk tents now let's talk one of the hardest decisions most beginners have to make when they get started which is what tent are you going to bring I know I an eyes Dover this 4-week I took out tape I laid it on the floor to get different sizes I looked at different option read hundreds of reviews and in the end I decided to go with the nature hike cloud up three person tent the reason I got a three person tent was because I knew that me and my buddy Tyler would be sharing a tent for our first backpacking trips the nature hike cloud up three person tent weighs in at five point seven five pounds and you can split that weight between two people so that each person is carrying just under three pounds which was pretty agreeable for me and Tyler when we were just getting started the plus side is that it was really spacious we could both be sleeping in there we could both have our bet our sleeping bags in with us and we had enough room and maneuverability but the downside was what I wanted to start going on some of my own adventures it was way too big and way too heavy so I quickly realized I also needed to get a one-person tent so I went and got the wayna SCID venture one-man tent I really enjoy both of these tents for different reasons and I would still wreck Mendham however if you think that you're only going to be going out with somebody once in a while I'd probably recommend just getting the two-person cloud up 10 if you want to go with the cloud up this is a freestanding tent versus this is not a free standing tent so that's a little bit of a different thing and the biggest difference between these two tents is price at a hundred and forty five dollars for the three person tent and this one is 89 to 90 dollars for the one person lanús tent it really comes down to a budget option of which one you prefer and which one you can afford lighter but can only fit one person bigger could fit more people but you got to carry that extra weight all in all the tent that you choose needs to reflect what is going to be your lifestyle on the trail some people use a tent just for sleeping they crawl in at night get in their sleeping bag and pass out other people like something that they have some livability in for me I like getting dressed in my tent I like getting comfortable I like sitting up looking at my pictures I want something with enough head space and enough moving room that I can live in that space for a little while that's one of the things that I love about this one person tent many one-person tents are very small and feel like cloth feel a little bit more claustrophobic on top of that this tent has a very large vestibule and a little bit of a entranceway mat so you can take your backpack stand it up against the pole and everything is nice and secure and watertight that was a big selling point for me because I didn't need to keep my pack in my small tent with me but without my backpack in my tent I had way more room the nature hike cloud up series is a very popular series you can get it as one man two men or through man tent the downside is they tend to be a little bit more on the heavier side but lots of spacious room on the inside even if you get the one-man tent I think a two-man tent is a great beginner option because you have the option of being able to bring somebody along but you don't have to if you don't want to the thing that you do need to keep in mind though if you bring two Pete in a two-man tent it will be cramped two men means shoulder-to-shoulder two people right beside each other that's not very comfortable but it's doable if you know you're going to be camping with somebody regularly then get a three person tent that extra space will save you your sanity so at sixty-five dollars for the backpack fifty-seven dollars for the sleeping bag and a hundred and forty five dollars for the nature hike cloud up three person tent or $90 for the wayna Swamper sin adventurer tent you can start with your big three items your heaviest and most expensive items for well under three hundred dollars everything else can easily be bought for just a couple hundred dollars that's what I did it worked for me and from there I was able to upgrade there's a lot of different systems when you first start getting backpacking that you need to know about and make some decisions about that's why I put together this playlist of five short videos of the five systems that every beginner backpacker needs to make some decisions about this big three is just part of those systems so I'll see you over in the next one

Channel: Backcountry Forward

Views: 3,839

Rating: 4.9310346 out of 5

Keywords: backcountry forward, backcountry, backpacking, Budget beginner big three, budget beginner big 3, budget backpacking, beginner backpacking, backpacking for beginners, big three, big 3, naturehike cloud up 3, teton trailhead, mountaintop backpack, mountain top backpack, naturehike, cheap backpacking gear, budget backpacking gear, start backpacking, My big 3, my big three, how to backpack, beginner big three, beginner big 3, backpacking tips, 3 person tent, 1 person tent

Id: hPvDe0CWkR8

Length: 12min 0sec (720 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 14 2019