Whoo Hoo....new gear!

“I'm excited to get out this weekend and try out my new pack - golite race, and my new trailrunners, assuming they show up before i leave...”

“Man simmer, you're gonna be flying down the trail now! Nothing worse than that time between getting a pack and getting to use it. How many times have you packed it up and worn it around the house?”

“haha - it's been packed for a while now, i take the dog for a walk with it on, my pack weight has dropped in the last year from 35 to 19 lbs (total weight, from 26 to 11 lbs base weight), and my boots dropped from more than 3 lbs to less than 2 lbs. now I'm ready for the weekend.”

“NIgal, I remembered you posting they had tons of stuff as soon as I picked up the fleece pants. =) Thanks for the tip.”

“laqtis,

I haven't hiked with them yet. I've only worn them to work and around the house a couple days. They are pretty much running shoes, so I doubt they need much break in time. Full gear report on the shoes after the Isle Royale trip.”

“hub - thanks a mint!

I wore mine around town yesterday and you are correct. From what I can tell, very little break in needed. They handled the land of cement very well, I suspect the same prediction for the trail.

Thanks! I'm going to use them this weekend. I'll let ya know if I have any problems.”

“Eureka Timberline 2-Person Tent from Campmor.”

“I went to Galyans tonight, and finaly pulled the trigger on the Therma Rest Pro lite 3. It's not as thick as my old piece of crap pad, but much lighter. I know some of you own a pro lite, what to you think of it? I'm a pretty light sleeper on the trail, will I find it comfortable, or did I just pay for the ultralight status and name?”

“I've got one and I love it. I got the 3/4 length version. Seems to provide enough cushion to keep me off the ground and warm. In the winter, when its cold, it might be a little lite and maybe I'll supplement it with a closed cell foam pad. But int eh summer it rocks. 11oz and super small package.”

“I got the full length version and like it alot so far. But, I have been using the stuffsack from my 3/4 ultra lite. The one for the Pro lite is way big. I even went back and checked to make sure it was not miss-labeled.

In the winter I might wish I got the Pro lite 4 that Pennsy got.”

“Woohoo! Just ordered me one of them new fangled Insul Matt Max mattresses from REI! No more tossing and turning on the Trest!



Anyone wanna buy a T-Rest UL full length cheap?”

“Oh now you post it Nigal. I just got one. Oh well such is the luck”

“Damn! We are all out of sinc here. Next time ya go to buy ask me first. LOL!”

“I do have a bunch of little odds and ends typer stuff if you're looking to fill out your gear closet. Most is just small stuff I wouldn't even charge anything for.”

“can you email me a list? You probably have stuff I never new I needed.”

“I'll get down in the gear dungeon first of next week and see what all's there.”

“cool. no hurry. make sure nothing gets you down there. lol”

“How much does that thing weigh, Nigal?”

“LNSTR74, ditto what nigal said about gear. Sass and I have loads of good stuff we are looking to get rid of at some point, much of it is little stuff like stuff sacks, but some is like old stoves (the zip stove) and an anodized aluminum cookset and other stuff.”

“"How much does that thing weigh, Nigal?"

The new one of the TRest UL I know ya just have to buy from me? LOL! The Insul Matt Max is 1 pound 7 ounces which is just a few more than the UL I have now. But the thing is 2 1/2", packs down just as small as the 3/4" UL (about 7"X10") and was only $58. It's got insulation on the inside so it's good for winter here too. The company says it's good for three seasons but Backpacker Mag said they stayed warm on it down to the 20s.

BTW- If anyone is interested in the T-Rest I'm only asking $25 for it.”

“Just got my Princeton Tec Aurora Led head lamp in the mail. Got it for $20 bucks at REI and it came with a little key ring light too.

Nigal don't tell my you had one for sale for $10 either. I don't want to know. LOL”

“No damn it! I paid $30!!! Man I hate that! Thanks for peeing on my parade. Every time I put the thing on all I’ll be able to think of is you getting it for $20. LOL!”

“Woo Hoo Vendication at last. LOL I think they must be replacing them with something new. Everyone had them on clearance. REI was actually cheaper than Campmor too.”

“I am so excited!!!

After stopping at Gander mountain, Thinkbubelz & I decided to make a quick stop at the local Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) by our house....

picked up an EMS "Hydration Flume" women's pack for a mere $5! (it includes a 70 oz platypus as well! :-) ) if nothing else, we now have an extra platy bag and hose for future use! :-)

I was hoping to find one of the mini packs to use for day hiking when I don't want my regular pack with me...

They also had some of the special waterproof map paper for inkjets... got 4 pack for about $30 (normally about $80... am going to pick up the software soon--Gander Mountain's was $20 per per pack, so we really made out like bandits... (at least I hope so!)

We're looking to upgrade our sleeping bags sometime soon--we decided for now just to use a fleece liner inside our 50 degree bags.... hopefully that and wearing layers will help us when it gets colder!”

“Save up and get good bags. That is one place where you will get the most return in satisfaction for your money.

With other gear, you can find stuff cheap and light that works fine. Try finding that with a sleeping bag.”

“We have started our search-- seems like all of the warmer bags in the stores around us are either way out of our price range or insanely heavy.... At least for now, our bags are lightweight, but unfortunately, not very warm! we are trying to read up and keep our eyes and ears open to any good sales or good finds...”

“"Try finding that with a sleeping bag." - that was rhetorical.

It doesn't suprise me that you have had difficulty finding a light, warm, cheap sleeping bag. They can be found, but you will probably need to sacrifice ultra-light for just light. Don't sacrifice warm for sorta warm.”

“makes sense... we haven't ever camped in colder weather-- usually just in the summertime, but we are now starting to try out camping in colder temps. (When we went to Alaska, we were "forced" to adapt-- it got cold enough for frost at least 1 of our stay!)

We then discovered how inadequate our little light (cheap!) sleeping bags were... luckily, I had decided to bring some small fleece blankets (about the width of the bag) to enhance our bag.
We were actually pretty warm on the bottom (ground side) of our bags-- the Thermarest and closed cell pads were good insulation against the cold....

The top of our bags were better with the mini fleece blankets, but we figured out that we also need to fill the gaps on the top of the bag (we zip 2 bags together)... We just picked up some fleece "bags" so that we'll have fleece on 2 sides, but will have to test it out. We are also going to make some kind of "collar" to help "seal in " the air holes....”

“Dang Pinky! What a find. Congrats!”

“Hi Nigal... I am the queen of bargains-- Love it when I get a really good deal! I also scored an extra "cork knob with thermometer & strap for the top of my walking stick... it was


***** drum roll please ****

48¢!!!!”

“"Hi Nigal... I am the queen of bargains-- “

My wife might take exception with your claim! She lost over 100 pound last year and she found a couple thrift stores near us and she is hooked. She comes home with a garbage bag full of Abercromby, Banana Republic and all sorts of stuff and spends about $20 a bag. I gotta teach her to find gear though. I suck at it. As sure as the wolrds round the week after I buy something I find it cheaper.”

“oh.... thrift stores CAN be good places to shop if you have time to look long enough! Designer jeans for pennies on the dollar, and occasionally a nice leather jacket.... :-)

Think & I make a habit of cruising by the clearance racks of our local outfitters every couple of weeks or so....

I hate to buy things at full price unless I really need it.

The other thing I do is to look for "slightly scratch and dented" items...
I got a nice traveller's button-down shirt on sale and got REI to knock down the price by another 10% because there was a miniscule spot on the elbow.... if nothing else, at least that took off the sales tax!

I almost ALWAYS ask about little dings and slight blemishes on books and other things-- even though it's cosmetic and doesn't affect the quality of the items, most stores want your business and will give you a little discount. Otherwise, if I don't need it at that moment, I will just walk away...

Also, I love to look for mis-marked items. In Michigan, it is state law that if something is marked one price and then charged another, you can get up to 10 times ($5 max) the amount of the error in pricing.... I once bought a handful of $7 etch-a-sketch toys to give away at Christmas for only 70¢ a piece because of that (they had to pay me $5 "bounty" on the wrong price, even though they knew the toys were $7 each!) :-) now THAT was a find!”

“I stopped and looked at kayaks today.....woooohoooooo....and racks......I have a Swifty by Perception.......and I am looking for another boat for fun....I liked the OT Rush...and Sparky by Perception......I will decide tonight......any opinions????....LOL.....( surely not from this bunch)”

“Ok...thanks for the imput.......I decided to get the OT Rush...it is soooo perdy!!!!yellow and green...wooohooooo.....I opted for it cause of the seat...the Sparky had just a plastic seat....the Rush is padded......and........I got a Yakima rack......woooohooooo..I have been wanting one for years.......wooohoo..My roomy and I are hitting Flint Creek Sunday.......she has never been in a kayak, so it is gonna be fun!!!”

“

Got it at Galyan's for $150 on clearance!”

“dub..is it the tent or the girl your talkig about?”

“The girl is way more expensive than $150. And no, she's not a hooker.
last edited: 10/10/04 3:36:17 PM”

“Dang! That's almost $100 off! Those look real nice!”

“Yeah, it's sweet. They had two left in Dublin, run over and get ya one Nigal! Probably have a few over at Easton too.”

“I just checked Froogle..the cheapest I could find them was $200 and none on eBay...I might go over and buy all of them to sell for $200 or so.”

“is that the tent you said i should look at?
it's very orange, isn't it”

“wow cool tent. I should get me one. It would match my orange pack, my orangeshoes and my orange sleeping bag! (it just worked out that way...orange things were cheeper! lol)”

“Last year when I went to the big Cabela's tent sale they were selling the 3 man dones ($140) for $20 a piece. I should have snatched a bunch up and Ebayed them. :(”

“Yeah, I'm always on the lookout for eBay opportunities.

Yeah Helinka, that's the tent I said you should look out. It'll sleep 2 + gear easily and hold all of your gear. I love the little canopy thingy.”

“Oh and it weighs only 3lbs.”

“I went to Blue Ridge Mountain Sports today on lunch. I picked up a new PacTech rain jacket. I also bought a MHW Micro Dome for my lid this Fall/Winter, and a stuff sack for my new Pro Lite pad, and...a new compression sack for my sleeping bag. Yahoo... I Love New Gear!”

“Is that Dub's little sister?
She's cute! ;-)”

“Haha! Not my sister!”

“DUB...then exactly who is she?????”

“I just got bought a new fuel cannister, some sealskinz gloves and socks. Also I should be getting my dry bags that I ordered.

Time to start buying paddling clothes now :)”