non-namebrand gear

“This is partly in response to the "namebrand gear" thread. What non-namebrand gear company do you like best? This can be any company that many people don't know about. I hesitate to use Alps as an example because that would cause the board to go crazy ;). Has anyone tried Vortex Backpacks? They supposedly have a lifetime warranty.”

“I have the cutest tent I found for $20......can't remember the name...and never heard of it ...weighs less than 4 lbs....5x7 ...sleeps 2 comfortably....I took it on the AT.....I love it!!”

“I have some gear from this little known company called Mountain Hardware. It may be expensive, but the gear holds up well in the backcountry.

Seroiusly though Matt, I think we had a thread on here a long time ago that pimped some off-brand gear companies. I'll try to find it for ya.”

“I couldn't find it. :(

Lafauma makes some nice gear.”

“Hmmmm, I think all my gear is bigger namebrand stuff.”

“The pack I am currently using is a Peak 1. I thinks this is an off shoot of Coleman, not sure. Very happy with the pack except it lacks a pocket for a water bottle.

I have a little dome tent that I bought at Target years ago but cannnot think of the name. Nice little tent. It survived 3 days of almost constant rain up in the Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin.”

“MacPac

Nebo Gear

Nunatak

Feathered Friends

Tatonka Gear

campingaz

Vango”

“I have some Vaude rucksacks and a Macpac.
Tarptent
Diamond tent
Red Ledge rain pants”

“Rokk

The gear is not expensive or quality but it might make due for weekend warriors.

I have a Rokk internal frame backpack and I like it ... Walkindude has one too.”

“OH yea, almost forgot. About 10 years ago when the store my father in law co-owned went out of business, he brought home 2 gortex rain suits. They were passed around in the family for a few years, but now I am the proud owner of both. (2 sizes small & large) The maker of these is Remington. Anyone hear of this?

Works pretty good. The top has saved my a$$ from getting soaked numerous times.”

“I think I saw that JMitch has one of those too, MDS. Not sure.”

“Remington, as in the gun maker's company.

Let's see... I have a rain jacket and pants by Pacific Trail.

Just yesterday I bought a couple wicking tops at Wal-Mart. Woman's sizes, but get as small as you can (you ultra petite women wouldn't fit, however)

I just got an Ozark Trails car camping tent. LOL! Got it, set it up and took it down. 8x9 means sleeping on the Coleman inflatible queen-size mattress. Ahhhhhhhh... car camping! No hip pointers for me overnight!! (ok, so we will be backpacking one night)”

“me and the misses have the red ledges rain gear..i have 2 old BSA approved Black Bull external packs..good for back then..suck now!”

“Thats right Liz. I do not know if the gun people made the rain gear. Would be funny though.”

“Cabelas is great for parkas/raingear/fleece and boots.

Some of my Scouts have stuff from the Sportsmans Guide (there branded stuff) and it seems OK.”

“Some of the Cabelas clothes are really good. The zip off hiking pants (with custopm inseam) won rave reviews from BP Mag. Cheap too.”

“Most of my bigger ticketed items are name brand for the most part. Tent, sleeping gear, BP, boots and some clothing and stove stuff. I buy off brand fleece and thermal wear. Items you're more likely to find at a sporting goods or discount clothing store. These items work double time on and off the trail and thus wear faster so I try not to waste $$$ on expensive thermal wear, if needed.”

“Some of these "non-name brand brands" are more like elite brand - brand names that have cache among high-end gear heads. I'm thinking of Vortex, Macpac, Nunatuk, and Feathered Friends.

I came close to getting a Vortex STX at one point. I was pretty impressed with what I heard and with a Vortex pack I saw on the trail. I ended up going lighter, smaller with a Mountainsmith Auspex.”

“saw walkindudes and thought I might acquire one...I did, and love it. VERY inexpensive and has lots of features and benefits.”

“The Budha is jerking your chain (bad Bear). I have no personal experience with Nebo, but the other companies are high end, expedition gear manufacturers. The only exception is campinggaz, which make top-quality gear, but a lot of car camping stuff also.

Macpac is McHale of New Zealand, maker of custom packs and among the very, very best.

Vaude, Lafuma and Millet are top-quality French firms. In the same league are Berghaus (German), Exped (Swiss) and Karrimor (www.karrimor.co.uk).

These companies were makinhg high end gear that still holds its own (I used my 1978 Karrimor at this year's FYAO III) at the time when most North Americans were still wearing Camptrail and Kelty frame packs (remember those?).

I use the less expensive name brands such as Camptrails/Eureka! and Slumberjack. Their prices compete with no-names and the companies are both reputable and stand behind their products. I use cut-rate catalogue firms such as Campmor, which offer these products at an excellent price and offer excellent customer service as well.

That being said, Cabela's offers excellent quality and service at very resonable prices. I bought my girlfriend a Cabela's 2 layer Gore-Tex parka in 1995 and it's still going strong - of course Gore doesn't let just anyone use their name or product.

Coleman and their somewhat higher end Peak 1 is quite good, especially for kids and beginners. I have had only good experiences with their customer service people. Some firms, such as LL Bean and Cabela's offer unnamed products, but they stand behind them wonderfully.

Both Campmor (www,campmor.com) and Sierra Trading Post (www.sierratradingpost.com) offer specials on name-brand products that are overrun or of last year's colours or style that compete with the cheapest no-name product. Sierra also sells seconds which often offer unbelievable deals - but they always indicate seconds and their descriptions - and service - are more then fair and generous.

JMHO.”

“Pack: Gearskin by Moonbowgear
Bag: Campmor down bag
Tent: tarptent by dayhiker - it's a selfbuilt shires tarptent
stuffsack: selfbuilt by dayhiker
Stove: selfbuilt by dayhiker


I guess this means that my favorite small gear builder is....me!”

“Now if dayhiker can only invent a light weight tin can.

He carries about a dozen cans of food for a three day hike,,,,,plus beer.”

“These are all good ideas. I just wanted to see if I was missing some jewel in the rough. I just ran across Mary Janes Farm organic food. Now I am nowhere near an organic person, but it does look like a possibility to checkout.”

“Mary Janes Farm organic food and you just ran across it? Did you run across it in the middle of nowwhere in a heavily wooded area? That sounds real organic to me.”

“Matt, for dehydrated goods, look at Walton Feed .

No, it is not a pet food store.”

“chili, that was just for our 2 miles per day trip in the Ozarks. On my high mileage trips I'll go cookless or Enertia and an esbit stove. I won't even carry whiskey on those trips. Now Sipsey in March, that's another sitiation entar(as they say in Alabama).”

“I never heard of MJ's farm, but it looks good. It's nice that she's got bulk options that you could portion out yourself, too.”

“Mary Jane's Farm, eh?

Do they sell pipes and accessories too ?!?”

“I use gear from ALPS Mountaineering and Cabela's. My tent is the Taurus 2AL and my bag is the Silver Springs +20. A very good mummy bag to say the least!

I have to agree with Nigal when it comes to Cabela's. They make some of the best hiking boots and socks. That's all I use. I've been dealing with Cabela's for a very LONG time. They are great people to do business with!”

“Wiggy’s has a lifetime warranty on the loft and everything else on his sleeping bags.

Wiggys.com”

“also makes good gear. Did I mention that? I guess I didn't. Anyhow, I have two Diamond Brand tents, the Free Spirit 2 and the Plateau 2. I also have the Field Pack and the Blue Ridge 5 external-frame backpack. All are very good products.”

“A REI Long Trail Trekker external-frame pack; Campmor self inflating pad; a Peak 1 Algonquin 25 degree mummy bag; a Coleman Cartier 0 degree mummy for winter camping; a Downright 20 degree mummy I purchased for her (as a surprise) through REI-Outlet.com and a ALPS Camp Pillow.”

“I personally feel that SkullcapWear is the top of the line in women's backpacking gear and clothing. That may just be me, though ; ) .”

“I hear they are VERY good! All the reviews I read have been positive.

Personally, I would love to get my hands on one of those Terra-Nova Quasar tents when I get some extra spending money! With a green rainfly of course, not bright guide gold like my TNF VE-25.”

“Precision Mountaineering out of Twin Falls, ID has some of the best technical clothing I have come across at very reasonable prices.”

“Hey Gremlin,

I was in Dundee Michigan at the newest Cabelas store and they had a circus tent set up with everything in it going for 75% off. My wife got a nice wool jacket marked down from $124 for $42. They were selling two man domes for $21! It was hog heaven!

What'd I get you ask? I had an elk sandwich inside and that was it. If I was an E Bayer I should have bought up about 10 tents and put 'em up on E Bay. DAMN!”

“Cabelas does have great deals although I have never bought any of there gear I have seen the stuff that they have and it looks good.


8)”

“i bought an "expedition" pack off of overstock.com for $50 and it was a pretty good pack, just not tall enough to fit me (6'1"...lanky)
made some of my own gear too- homemade stuff is always good, cheap, custom, and very off brand”

“The foods that they sell are awesome. My wife and I have been ordering/buying it (can get it at REI, or MEC in Canada) for over a year. The guy that told me about the foods said that they were providing the food for MSR's Mountain Gourmet line. MaryJanes has a better selection, and the prices are a bit better, if you can do direct from her.

We've ordered from them a couple of times by phone. Each time was during the week before a hike. They managed to get the stuff out to us before the trip. They are really personable on the phone (we've talked with both MaryJane and her husband). In our first order we got a thank you card!”

“Mtn Gal said:

"Wiggy’s has a lifetime warranty on the loft and everything else on his sleeping bags.

Wiggys.com"



Hmmm....I seem to remember during the height of the "wiggy wars" at BPer magazine's site, he was quite adamant that he guarantees his bags loft, but doesn't warrant it.

Regardless, you have to get Wiggy himself to honor the warranty. Good luck there!”

“My own personal take is that if you can’t afford good name brand gear you’re better off sticking to car camping until you can save up enough money for real gear. No sense putting the SAR people at risk because you thought some off-brand or homemade gear would do just as well.”

“Plus, well... the backcountry is crowded enough as it is. If rangers were to inspect gear and turn away people with inferior stuff, it would lessen the impact on the wilderness. Most of those people really belong in family campgrounds anyway.”

“Violin,

non-name brand, off-brand, or even home made gear can be just as good as the biggies. Gear helps, but not having your head up your a$$, figuring your $100,000 of name brand gear will make up for utter lack of intelligence and common sence is what, generally, keeps SAR folks from needlessly risking their necks.

You have to know what you need, now to spot quality when purchasing, and know how TO USE THE FRIGGIN' STUFF APPROPRIATELY!

Signed,
Marmot
(formerly known as SARBoy)”

“I suppose you could try to rationalize it that way.”

“OK...in the few years I did SAR, most missions that were actually Backcountry rescues (throw out the evidence searches) were due to:

1. Lack of knowledge. Case in point, the guy who died on McLellan Butte in WA in '98 training for a climb on Rainier. He carried ice axe, wore crampons, had all the proper gear (name brand too!), but when he slipped, he didn't know how to perform a self-arrest that given the conditions, would have saved his life. He and his party also were not on rope in conditiona/terrain that called for a rope at the time.

2. Unprepared. These are the folks who wander off on a 15 mile day hike at 3 PM in threateneing weather in jeans and t-shirt w/ only a half liter bottle of water from the corner store.

3. Dumb luck. #&%!$ happens, and no amount of preparedness/knowledge would change this.

SAR is often made up of volunteers. Not all of them can afford the high $$ gear, and most who can don't use it becuase it gets TRASHED! We'd use cheap-o synthetic bags, fleece and wool clothing, often from second hand stores. Our shelters? The old blue tarps from the hardware store. By the time one finished training to be field certified, we could make due and survive with any reasonably appropriate gear, name brand or not.”

“...those "big name" brands, I can assure you vIOLiN. Take my Silver Springs mummy bag and compare it to a Sierra Designs bag for example. Let's say both are rated to +20 degrees. Both will keep one warm and comfortable. The only difference is the ALPS bag cost less than the Sierra Designs bag and perhaps have a different insulation. Sometimes more costly gear DOES NOT mean nessesary BETTER gear from my experience.

I had many different brands of gear, which includes Slumberjack, The North Face, Cabela's, Red Ledge, EMS, REI, Diamond Brand, ALPS Mountaineering, LL Bean, Sierra Designs, etc.”

“I'm very partial to Cabela's. Their store & staff are amazing. I like a lot of campmors mail order, but haven't had good experiences in their actual store.”

“pack/ north face

tent/ $20 at yard sale REI 2 man dome

shoes,boots/ Montrail

bag/ Fleece summer %16 bucks at target(gotta get a warmer one for winter now)

YARD SALE YARD SALE YARD SALE...how many people go out and buy all the nice gear only to get to the trail and say oh this isnt what i expected...i have seen a few, the guy i bought it from put it up once and just never went bping again...at $20 bucks how can you go wrong...so what if some peices are missing...make em or buy em...”

“My pack is made by
PackLite
Made in the USA!”

“Years ago I had a bass pro shop 4 man tent.Always felt intimidated by the big brand boys until we got caught in a wicked thunder boomer while at Bon echo.It came down HARD with howling winds....thought this is it ...good bye tent ...My wife will hate camping for ever!!Boy was I wrong....Not a drop ,she was bone dry ...and not a broken pole ...One hour after the storm we saw canoes paddling by one after the other...collapsed tents...washed out tents...Kinda surprised me,we had passed these camp sites earlier and there were some good brand names...I guess it`s not the brand as much as what you do with it...?”