c/camping-gear-reviews

Serious question, has anyone else tried using a cheap shower curtain as a footprint?

I was tired of paying $40 for a branded tent footprint that always seemed to rip. I bought a $5 vinyl shower liner from the dollar store and cut it to size. It's held up for two seasons now, no punctures. What other cheap swaps have you guys found that actually work?

I finally gave up on my old sleeping bag after a freezing night in Yosemite

I was camping near Tuolumne Meadows last October and my 15-year-old down bag just stopped holding heat around 3 AM when it hit 28 degrees. I spent the rest of the night wearing every piece of clothing I had in my pack. That trip convinced me to buy a new 15-degree synthetic bag, and I haven't been cold since. What's a piece of gear you held onto for way too long?

Shoutout to the Coleman 1-burner stove I found at a yard sale

I cleaned it up and took it on a quick trip to the Pine Barrens last month, and it boiled a liter of water in under three minutes, way faster than my old one. I guess sometimes the older gear just works better if you give it a chance. Has anyone else had a surprise win with a piece of used equipment?

Tried a solar lantern my friend swore by after years of using headlamps

I always figured a lantern was extra weight for no reason, but she lent me her LuminAid for a trip to the Red River Gorge. After hanging it in the tent for a night, I realized it gave off a softer, wider light that didn't strain my eyes like a focused headlamp beam. It charged fully in about 6 hours of sun and lasted the whole weekend. Anyone have a favorite lantern that packs down really small?

My tent zipper broke in a downpour at Lake Tahoe

I was camping at Fallen Leaf Lake last October when a big storm rolled in. The main door zipper on my three person tent just gave out halfway up. I had to use a carabiner and some paracord to hold the flap shut for two nights. It was a real mess. Anyone have a good fix for a busted coil zipper in the field?

My old canvas tent finally gave out, had to pick between a modern dome or a new canvas one.

That old tent was a hand-me-down from my dad, a heavy green canvas thing that smelled like a basement. It lasted through a lot of rain in the Oregon coast range. When a pole snapped for good last fall, I looked at a new canvas model, the kind that costs over $800. The other choice was a basic 3-person dome tent for about $150. I went with the cheap dome. It sets up in five minutes, not thirty, and packs down small. But the first time a real wind kicked up, the noise was crazy, like sleeping inside a plastic bag someone was shaking. I miss the solid quiet of the old canvas. Has anyone else made the switch and found a good middle ground, something sturdy but not a bank breaker?

Question about choosing between a 2-person and 3-person tent for solo use

I picked the 3-person Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL3 for my solo trips (after a miserable, rainy weekend in the Adirondacks where my old 2-person felt like a coffin), and the extra space for my pack and to just move around has been totally worth the 8-ounce weight penalty, so has anyone else gone bigger for comfort and been happy with it?

I went with a cheap 40-degree bag over a fancy down one for my trip to the Smokies

Everyone said I'd regret it, but after a damp week, I'm glad I had the synthetic fill that still kept me warm when it got wet. Has anyone else picked the 'wrong' gear on purpose and had it work out?

Serious question, are those cheap solar lanterns from the big box store actually worth it?

I grabbed a two pack of those generic solar lanterns for $35 at a store in Boise before a trip last month. They looked fine in the box, but one barely held a charge for an hour after a full day in the sun, and the other just stopped working completely on night two. My buddy says all budget solar gear is junk and you need to spend at least $80 on a known brand. I think maybe I just got a bad batch and some cheaper options are fine if you get lucky. Has anyone found a reliable budget solar light, or is this just a case of you get what you pay for?

Appreciation post: My buddy told me to skip the fancy sleeping pad and just use a closed-cell foam one

He said the inflatable one I wanted would just get a leak and leave me cold. I didn't listen and bought a $120 inflatable pad for a trip to the Sawtooths. Sure enough, it got a tiny puncture on night two and I spent the rest of the trip on the hard ground. I mean, it was so cold. I switched to a basic $40 foam pad after that and it's been solid for over a year now. Has anyone else had a piece of gear fail that made you go back to something simpler?

A guy at the trailhead said his $300 ultralight tent is a waste of money

I was packing up at the Mount Hood trailhead last Saturday and overheard a guy telling his buddy he regrets buying his fancy Dyneema tent. He said it's too fragile for real brush and the cost isn't worth the few ounces saved. His friend argued that for serious mileage on clean trails, the weight savings are everything. It got me thinking about where that line really is between smart weight cutting and just buying hype. For those who do multi-day trips, when does ultralight gear stop being worth the trade-off?

A bear in Yosemite taught me to stop trusting cheap coolers

I was camping at Upper Pines last fall with what I thought was a decent budget cooler. It was one of those $40 ones from a big box store, and I figured it was fine for a weekend. We put all our food in it, locked the latches, and went to bed. Around 2 AM, we heard this awful scraping and banging. A black bear had gotten the lid open in maybe two minutes flat. It wasn't even trying hard, just kind of popped it with its claws. We yelled and it ran off, but it ate all our bacon and crushed the lid. The ranger came by the next morning, took one look at the busted plastic, and said, 'Yeah, those don't count as bear-resistant. You got lucky.' Now I'm saving up for a proper rotomolded one. Has anyone else had a cooler fail on them in a big way?

I've been using the wrong fuel for my stove for a year and only figured it out in the Wind River Range

I was boiling water for coffee at 10,000 feet and my Jetboil kept sputtering out. A guy at the next campsite asked if I was using the cold weather mix, and I had no idea what he meant. Turns out my regular canister fuel loses pressure way faster in the cold, and I've been blaming the stove this whole time. Anyone have a good cold weather stove they like better than a Jetboil for high altitude?

My new $200 sleeping bag got me into a weird talk with a park ranger

Honestly, I was testing a fancy new zero-degree bag at Crater Lake last month, and a ranger named Dave saw me setting up. He walked over, looked at it, and said, 'You know, my grandpa just used three wool blankets and a tarp for 40 years.' It wasn't a dig, he was just so amazed by the gear. Has anyone else had a moment where your new stuff just seemed totally over the top to someone else?

My nephew asked why I still use my old canvas tent from the 90s

He was helping me pack for a trip to the Adirondacks and said my gear looked like it was from a museum... I told him it's never leaked once, but his comment about weight and setup time got me thinking. Do you think we focus too much on new features and forget about gear that just plain works?

Hot take: I bought a $30 'solar-powered' lantern that needs 8 hours of sun for 20 minutes of dim light

Spent a whole afternoon charging it on a rock, only for it to die before I finished making dinner. Has anyone found a decent light that actually works off-grid?

PSA: I tried that 'universal' stove windshield hack with a car sunshade and it melted onto my Jetboil in under 5 minutes.

Everyone online said it was a perfect cheap fix, but the reflective coating basically welded itself to the pot, so now I'm looking for a real windscreen that can actually handle the heat, any solid suggestions under $30?

A ranger in Yosemite told me my tent was set up for a bad time

I was camping at Upper Pines last fall, feeling pretty good about my new 3-person dome tent. A park ranger walked by on her rounds, stopped, and said 'You know, with that fly angle, the first real rain is going to send water right down the side and into your vestibule.' She showed me how to re-stake the guylines to create a tighter pitch and a bigger gap. It took maybe ten minutes to fix. I never would have caught that from the manual. Has anyone else had a ranger or another camper give you a simple tip that saved a trip?

Spent 45 minutes trying to get a new camp stove to light in the rain

I mean, it was just a simple backpacking trip up near Lake Tahoe last month, and I bought this new little canister stove that had great reviews for being reliable. First night out, a drizzle starts, no big deal, right? I set it up under my tarp, follow the instructions exactly, and nothing. No click, no hiss, just wet metal. I checked the seal, wiped everything down, even tried a different fuel canister. My friend kept saying 'maybe it's just the altitude' but we were only at 7,000 feet. I finally gave up and ate a cold dinner, feeling pretty dumb. The next morning, in full sunlight, I looked closer and realized the tiny little safety pin on the valve connection was still pushed in from the packaging. I flicked it with my thumb and it lit first try. Has anyone else been totally defeated by a piece of plastic smaller than a pea?

Shoutout to the guy who told me to pack my sleeping bag liner inside my pillowcase

Honestly, I always struggled with my liner getting tangled at the bottom of my pack. Tried it on a trip to the Sawtooths last month and it saved so much space and kept everything together. Anyone else have a weird little packing trick that actually works?

Switched from a big tent to a bivy sack for solo trips

I always thought you needed a full tent for any overnight, but a guide in Moab last fall convinced me to try a simple bivy. It cut my pack weight by over 5 pounds and setup takes about 30 seconds. Anyone else made a switch to minimalist shelter that actually worked out?

My old canvas tent from 3 years ago finally gave up on me during a storm in the Smokies

The wind ripped a huge hole in the side, and I spent the night in my car. What's a good tough tent that can handle real weather?

I finally caved and bought a $90 'ultra-light' camp stove last spring.

Took it on a three-day hike in the Smokies and the pot support legs bent completely out of shape the first time I boiled water. I mean, it was basically useless after that. Has anyone else had a stove fail that fast, and what did you replace it with?

Serious question, why does everyone keep saying a 20 degree bag is fine for summer in the Rockies? My kid froze in a brand new one at 9,000 feet last July.

Just found out my cheap sleeping bag was rated all wrong

So I bought this sleeping bag online for about 60 bucks last fall, thinking it was a good deal. The listing said it was rated for 20 degrees and perfect for three-season camping. Took it out to the Blue Ridge Mountains in early October, and man, I froze. The temperature only dropped to about 35, but I was shivering all night in my long underwear. The fill was clumped and thin in spots right out of the stuff sack. I basically wasted that money and had a miserable trip. I should have just saved up for a known brand from a real outdoor store. Has anyone else been tricked by a fake temperature rating online? How do you even check if a bag's rating is real?