The Gear I Choose Over EVERYTHING Else

I actually got to bring all the gear that I wanted to bring on this hike okay look I have a lot of gear because I'm constantly testing new gear for this channel but that also means I hardly ever get to take what I want to take I didn't exactly get to pick the stuff myself there's always a new tent or a backpack or Sleep System you name it and they all need Trail time but this time this trip I actually got to choose everything from a fairly extensive selection so I thought I might show you exactly what I choose to take when I can take basically anything let's check it out starting with my current favorite backpack the Z packs are call first of all this pack is super lightweight it's just 21 ounces but it still has a frame most frame ultralight packs are closer to two pounds than they are to one and you don't typically see packs this light unless they are frameless I don't really like frameless packs but I also don't like carrying weight that I don't have to which is why this is my go-to pack right now it's light it's got a really decent back ventilation generous volume and it's comfortable the only thing about it is the frame has these cross members that are somewhat flimsy feeling in fact I I broke one on a previous pack when I tried to lift it by this crossbar don't try to lift it by the crossbar other than that I really like this pack now I like to go as light as I can but it doesn't mean I want to be uncomfortable and that mostly shows up in my sleep system you probably know that I like quilts because I tend to toss around when I sleep and quilts are less restrictive they are also typically lighter because they don't have bad insulation they are more versatile in a wide range of temperatures when it's cold you can button them right up tight and when it's warm you can easily vent an arm or a leg all that said my favorite quilt is the Zen bivvy light bed despite its name it's not the lightest quilt that I've ever used it's at just over two pounds but what I like about it is the sheet that helps hold the quilt in place and puts a softer material layer between me and the pad the sheet also has a built-in hood that helps in colder temperatures and it keeps your pillow from sliding off the end of your pad it's got a lot of features the regular quilts just don't have which makes it one of the most unique sleep systems on the market speaking of pillows I use the Nemo fillow this is an inflatable pillow with a good inch of memory foam on top that gives it really good Comfort without the weight of a fully foam pillow and without collapsing under the weight of your head like most down pillows I've used now if you want to use the zimbivi you need a 25 inch wide rectangular pad and my new favorite pad is the Big Agnes Zoom ultralight pad Big Agnes has some of the most comfortable pads that I have ever used but until this they were all pretty heavy or they slept too cold the zoom uses reflective material to keep it light without sacrificing too much warmth now I have had issues with this pad sleeping colder than what I think a 4.3 certified R value should sleep but for most trips I do it's adequately warm basically I I wouldn't take it below freezing so if that's you and you're only going to buy one pad you might go with something a little bit warmer now I said that I got to choose everything I wanted on this trip and that's technically still true because I wanted to bring the new zpax duplex zip on this trip to try it out but this is my first time using this tent and just being honest I probably wouldn't have brought it on a solo trip because I just don't need as much room as the duplex offers but I know a lot of people prefer the extra space of a two-person tent and this tent is light enough that most people wouldn't hesitate to bring it solo and they have introduced some really neat features like the zippered fly the magnetic door tie backs and the peak fence that make this tent a lot more competitive against tents like the x-mid pro I'll have more information about the duplex zip in an upcoming video Until Then know that if I hadn't brought this I would have brought the zpax Plex solo which is a very similar but much lighter and unfortunately much smaller tent for my cook kit I got the toke 650 milliliter titanium pot and the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe I find the toke 650 milliliter is the perfect size for most boil in a bag meals which is what I prefer to eat just because of how easy they are and the pocket rocket Deluxe is good reliable and has a small igniter on it which means that I really don't have to even bring a lighter if I don't want to though I don't know that I can really recommend that on this hike a bear canisters required which is why I have the bear Vault 450 with me though I can't say this is what I would have chose if it wasn't required instead I would have brought the hilltop packs custom food bag with some bare line to hang it with something you might notice about a lot of these items are how light they are yet I've still got some luxury Comfort items like my sleep system and my chair that I'll talk about here in a minute if you want to go light and comfortable like this you really need to check out garage grown gear now before you skip ahead let me just say that I hesitated to put a sponsor on this video at all because this is after all the gear that I would choose to bring from my own self and I didn't want you to think that someone was paying me to say that I like this or I like that but a lot of this gear the gear that I would choose for my own self you can only get places like garage grown gear and I thought what better endorsement is there than that this is probably a good time to mention that none of my sponsors tell me to say anything that I don't want to say think or believe about the products that I endorse and especially garage grown gear they give me complete freedom to talk about the things that I want to talk about and say what I want to say about it and if you want things like the bogler trial which is the best trial that I've ever used you won't find it at traditional retailers bogler trout is the only trial I've ever found that doesn't dig in your hand thanks to these small little plastic Clips on the end other trouts tried to do this with rounded edges or they don't even try at all and quite literally are a pain to use but the booger trout is super lighted just a handful of grams and has a serrated edge that helps it dig past sticks and Roots now I get a lot of comments asking about my farpoint Alpha Cruiser hoodie I absolutely love this thing you probably have noticed that I wear it a lot in a lot of my videos and it's another item that you won't find at other retailers this thing is amazingly comfortable it's amazingly light it's less than four ounces and it's amazingly breathable because it's got all these holes in it one of the things that this Alpha fleece is perfect for is when you start going early in the morning and it's still too cold to really take off a layer but you know that you're going to get warm once you start moving this Alpha fleece works great for that I actually find this to be the perfect compromise of a good mid layer that has good Loft to keep you warm but is not too warm layered under a down jacket but gets really cold and you have a great combination for most three season hiking trips now if I want something to break the wind I bring the z-pax rain jacket this is one of the lighter rain jackets on the market at just six ounces about half what a more traditional jacket weighs it's great around camp or to break the wind like I mentioned it has pit Zips to dump excess heat but it will still get steamy if you're hiking uphill in which case I like to use the zpax umbrella I recently became convinced that an umbrella is the best way to keep from getting drenched with sweat while hiking in the rain maybe you saw my recent video about it I was amazed at how many comments ruled it out because you have to hold it yet I'm seen several times in the video not holding it thanks to the simple hands-free kit from six Moon designs that lets me strap it to my backpack this umbrella is just five ounces which means it's light enough that I've started carrying it on a lot of my hikes including a recent hike to Big Bend National Park where it was the only shade I had for miles oh and it's blown away needless to say I'm falling in love with umbrellas for a headlamp I like to bring the nu-25 ultralight I don't see a big difference between the regular nu-25 and the ultralight version they feel the same in my head so I bring the ultralight to trick myself into thinking that I'm saving a bunch of weight I also bring the nitecore NB 10 000 power bank to charge my phone and the occasional camera battery is by far the lightest and smallest battery bank that I've seen now last but certainly not least is my helinox chair zero I think there's only been one hike in the last 10 years or more that I didn't bring a chair on and I can only think of one good reason not to bring a chair that's if you hike sun up to sundown and you immediately crash when you get to Camp sure if that's you then don't bring a chair but that's not me and I love my chair I don't talk about it much but I do have these t-shirts for sale that say take a seat check those out through the links in the description in fact everything I'm talking about today will be linked in the description along with the items that I take that I didn't have time to mention in this video thank you to garage grown gear for sponsoring this video please like subscribe and do all those other things and as always thanks for watching

Channel: MyLifeOutdoors

Views: 83,873

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Id: B1GRbEBRPv8

Length: 8min 48sec (528 seconds)

Published: Wed May 17 2023