The Most Comfy Backpacking Gear on a Budget

raise your hand if you've been really excited to go backpacking but then once you get out there you've been super uncomfortable the entire trip whether that's getting no sleep all night long or being super sore at the end of the day while all of your friends seem fresh as daisies we've all been there you can spend thousands of dollars trying to chase comfort with your backpacking gear but you don't necessarily have to some of the best Ultra Comfort backpacking gear is pretty darn affordable not Walmart level cheap but I think it's worth investing in Comfort this is here that I've tested extensively and would not hesitate for a second to recommend to both beginner and experienced Backpackers alike we're going to start by talking about gear that's going to keep you comfortable on trail and then we'll move into the gear that's going to keep you comfortable while you're at Camp while on trail I think there's three gear items that are the most important in order to maximize your comfort on trail the first one is making sure you have a comfortable pack there's really only two things that make a pack comfortable the first one being that it fits well so that it's sitting on your body comfortably and then the second thing is that it's able to carry loads comfortably so if you have a lot of gear that ends up weighing 30 or 40 PBS it's important to have a pack that's going to be able to carry that weight comfortably in order to have a pack fit properly you need to make sure that you're getting your torso length measured properly a lot of people think that height is what you use in order to determine the pack size that you need but it's actually torso length and that can vary depending on the person you could have someone who's 6' s and have a really short torso or someone who's a little bit shorter and then has a really long torso because fit is is so important I really like packs that have an adjustable torso so with this pack the REI flash 55 you can buy different sizes but within each of those sizes you can adjust the pack in order to really fine-tune it to your torso length I also really like the flash 55 because it carries weight really effectively REI advertises that it only can carry up to about 35 lbs I think but I've had well over 40 PBS in this pack and it carried it phenomenally that's because the pack has a frame so that allows it to transfer the weight of the pack to your hips and your hips are going to carry weight a lot more effectively once you get down to the hip belt the foam for the hip belt is really stiff which I find is a good thing because it helps carry that weight better if you have a hit with soft foam that's really floppy I find that it just doesn't transfer weight as effectively and you're not going to be as comfortable carrying a lot of weight in the pack the flash 55 is one of my favorite packs of all time and while you get a lot with this pack it's pretty affordable at $200 regular price but I definitely recommend waiting for an REI sale they happen pretty much every 3 months and you can get it for usually 30% off or at a minimum 20% off so that brings it down to about $140 which is phenomenal for a pack like this the other thing I really like about the flash 55 is access to water it has these water bottle pockets in front of the side pockets which makes it really easy to grab water take a sip and then put it back I know there's a lot of people out there who really like water bladders and you like to be able to just take a sip of water out of the tube whenever you want to you just find a lot more convenient and and and I get it I get the appeal of bladders but I don't like them because they inevitably leak and it's really hard to refill them when you have a full pack so what I suggest if you really like water bladders is this one bottle system it weighs very little and is compatible with a standard water bottle so you just have this tube that has an attachment on it that attaches to a standard water bottle and then you can put this into your side pocket and then run it up over your shoulder and then take sips of water whenever you want what I really like about this system is that it's easy to refill the water bottle when it gets empty it's easy to keep track of how much water you have left and then once you get to Camp you can just put a cap onto the water bottle and then use it around Camp instead of having to try and maybe drink out of a bladder or have a separate water bottle for a camp increasing the overall weight of your pack the second thing that's important for Comfort on trail are trekking poles some people don't like using trekking poles but I highly recommend them they're going to take a lot of the load off your body as you're hiking especially when you're going downhill and they also help pull you uphill you're just able to use use a lot more of your body instead of just your legs when you are implementing tracking pools these are the Cascade Mountain Tech carbon fiber cork handle tracking pools you can pick them up at Costco for $40 or on Amazon they're a great pull I've been using these ones for a very long time I have multiple Pairs and is is always my top recommendation when people are looking for trkking pools the third thing for entrail comfort is Footwear having something that fits your foot well and is appropriate for the conditions that you're going to go out in is going to make your trips a whole lot more comfortable I've seen tons of blisters out there people with sore feet and most of the time that's just due to having improper Footwear I personally avoid big heavy clunky hiking boots because they often need a break in time and even if you do break them in they often still don't necessarily accommodate your foot and you can end up getting blisters because of that I like more lightweight Footwear like the Solomon Quest boot if you are looking for a boot or my personal favorite hocus speed Goat Trail Runners I find that trail Runners just allow my foot to move a lot more naturally when I'm out on on trail and are a lot lighter and like they say a pound on the foot is 5 lbs on your back is that the saying I feel like I got the numbers wrong you guys let me know in the comments once you're done hiking for the day and you get to Camp there's going to be four categories of gear that are going to be important in order to maximize your comfort with the first one being a tent with a tent I think there's three things you need to be prioritizing for comfort the first one is the size the second one is ease of use or how easy it is to set up and then the third one is how well it's going to protect you from the elements this tent is the ders X mid to and it ticks the boxes for all three of those things it's a really roomy tent you can fit two 25 in wide slipping pads in there no problem Stephie Pooh and I have shared this tent a bunch and it's been great it was also the tent that I brought on a trip that I did with my parents last year because I really wanted them to have a super comfortable tent it's a really easy tent to set up especially if you have flat ground it is a trekking pole tent and I know that can be intimidating for a lot of people out there but I think it actually makes this tent easier to set up you just stake out the Four Corners it only takes four staks and then you put the treking PS in each of the peak locations raise them up as far as they go and then you're done the xmit is also going to be really good at protecting you from the elements it goes up as an all-in-one pitch so the inside stays protected as you're pitching the tent which is not the case with a lot of traditional tents out there where you pitch the inner and then have to put the fly on top and if it's raining the inner is getting soaked that entire time because it's a double wall tent you have that physical barrier with the mesh walls in order to protect you from condensation that accumulates on the inside of the fly and the Fly is made from a s po material which is awesome because it doesn't hold on to as much moisture and doesn't stretch and sag when it gets a little wet it wouldn't be a comfort gear list without a chair I bring a chair on pretty much all of my trips unless I'm covering a ton of miles and really getting to Camp late and basically going to bed as soon as I finish the day having a chair accomplishes a few different things when you get to Camp it allows you to just kind of get sit back take a load off get some back support so if your back is tired you're not straining it by sitting on a rock or a log and then it just gives you a place to hang out when you're sitting around a campfire or just sitting around camp with friends this REI Flex light air chair is the best bang for the buck that you can get with an ultra light chair it only weighs a pound and then regular price is $100 often going on sale for $70 which is a really good deal for an ultr light chair like this for a cook system to be considered a comfort cook system I think it needs to accomplish two things first of all it needs to be easy to use and just work under basically any conditions the second thing is that it needs to boil water fast cuz when you you want to eat and you're hungry you want you don't want to be waiting five six S 8 minutes for water to boil in order to get your dehydrated meal going you want it to happen within like a couple minutes and that's where this system from fire Maple comes into play it only costs $50 for both the pot and the stove and it boils water in a minute and 30 seconds that's less time than a jet boil at a fraction of the cost and half the weight the reason it's able to do this is because the pot uses the spins on the bottom in order to capture Heat and block the flame of the stove from wind and then the stove has this lip around the edge in order to protect it from wind and then a really powerful burner the pot will work with most three arm stoves out there but I think that the combination with this fire Maple stove is really good it just kind of fits together flawlessly and the stove your canister and even something like a cup will all Nest inside the pot and then the arm folds up in order to keep it all locked in the stove has the added benefit of having a pzo igniter so if you turn the gas on on the stove and then press the button it turns the stove on right away and while a lot of peso igniters aren't that reliable I've tried this one about 50 or 60 times and it's started every single time on the first try another Comfort item that's part of the cook system is a cup this is a collapsible cup from CA Summit and It just fits into the pot really nicely I like this because not only does it Nest but it's great to have if you want a hot drink or even a glass of wine at the end of the day treats are also really nice when you're on a comfort trip and spending a lot of time at Camp I personally like chips and beer Pringles are my chips of choice because of the container that they come in it fits into side pockets that packs really nicely and is nice and sturdy so that the chips don't get crunched as you're hiking throughout the day and lately I've been bringing non-alcoholic beers on my backpacking trips because I get a better night's sleep and then I'm able to hike better the next day while Stephie Pooh has been pregnant we've been trying a lot of different non-alcoholic beers and our favorite so far has been the athletic Brewing run wild IPA it is just a delicious brew and and really really quite nice to have at the end of the day on a backpacking trip having comfortable sleeping gear is probably the most important thing in order to stay comfortable on trips because if you're not getting a good night's sleep you're going to be miserable it's also an area where you can spend an arm and a leg on really high-end expensive gear expensive quilts and sleeping bags sleeping pads and expensive pillows but I have here a really affordable system that's one of the most comfortable systems that I've ever used at around $300 it starts with the REI Helix sleeping pad if you follow the channel this is no surprise it's really affordable at $160 and like all REI products often going on sale for closer to $100 it's the most comfortable pad that I've ever used because it accomplishes two things it keeps you warm it has reflective insulation inside and as long as you're not using it in winter conditions on snow you're going to be plenty warm on this pad and then it does very well at pressure Leaf it's not the thickest pad so if you weigh over 200 lb it might not be quite for you but if you weigh under 200 lb it's going to be phenomenal that's because of all these raised and lower areas these kind of dimpled areas can press as you lay on the pad relieving pressure so that you don't get that dreaded arm falling asleep and going numb or weird pressure points on your hip the pressure relief factor is really mostly important if you're a s sleeper if you're a back sleeper you can probably get away with pretty much any sleeping pad out there but I know a lot of people s sleep when they're on backpacking trips and you can't really go wrong with the REI helix or a sleeping pad with this kind of baffling system a pillow is also very important in order to get a good night's sleep out in the back country and a comtable pillow has two features in my opinion the first one being some way to attach it to the sleeping pad I think the best way is a pad strap because it's just versatile and will work with any sleeping pad the second thing is that it needs to have enough height and that's because if it doesn't have enough height for how broad your shoulders are then your head is either going to be k Ked up or kinked down having a tall enough pillow is going to be an especially important issue for side sleepers because if you have broader shoulders and the pillow isn't tall enough and that's going to create a lot more pressure on your shoulder and arm as you're sleeping I really like this triology pillow because it's really affordable at under $20 and it has a pad strap nice soft cushy top to it and a great baffling system that doesn't feel like you're laying on a balloon the one issue with it is that for a lot of people it isn't tall enough so a hack in order to address that is to bring a sit pad whether that's a z seat which is on the more expensive side or just some random foam pad that you pick up off Amazon you kind of fold in half and then slide it underneath the pillow in order to add some height to it this is a really effective system and what I do on a lot of my trips the added benefit of having this foam pad is that you can put it on the bottom of your chair and then it's going to help keep your butt warm when you're sitting around Camp the next item is your top installation this this was actually difficult for this video because hammock gear Contin the eono burrow which was my top recommendation for an affordable option it used to cost around $200 for a quilt and I find quilts are more comfortable than sleeping bags because you can kind of toss and turn in them a little bit more effectively whereas with sleeping bags you can get kind of Tangled Up in them but these days there's not really a good affordable quilt option if you know of one let me know in the comments because I really want to hear it so I had to go with a sleeping bag and luckily the cathlon makes a super affordable warm sleeping bag this is the mt9 00 it costs $170 and weighs just over a kilogram this one's rated to freezing but it's it's accurate to that temperature or even a little bit below if you sleep warm another Comfort item that doesn't really fit into any category are slippers I love slippers because they accomplish a couple different things first of all allows me to take my feet out of my stinky sometimes wet moist shoes and put them into something comfy let them air out a little bit they also provide me warmth when I'm sitting around camp and the temperature cools off a little bit and they're a lot nicer if you have to go pee in the middle of the night putting on some slippers instead of having to put on stinky wet shoes is is awesome especially if you kind of wash your feet a little bit and put your feet into some clean socks a down jacket is also really important in order to stay warm if if you're cold on a trip you're not going to be comfortable so bring a down jacket keep yourself warm this is the cathlon Trek 100 unfortunately it's gone up in price to $100 but even at $100 it's a great buy and you can often get it on sale part of being comfortable on trail is avoiding injury and training for trips go check out this video where I go over my training routine for backpacking trips and everything that I do in order to avoid injuries

Channel: Justin Outdoors

Views: 1,376

Keywords: Backpacking, Hiking, Camping, ultralight, backpacking gear, backpacking gear list, camping gear, hiking gear, ultralight gear, best backpacking gear, best hiking gear, Appalachian Trail, ultralight backpacking, hiking trails, gear review

Id: addN6Q9Jl24

Length: 14min 7sec (847 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 21 2024