Settling on a piece of gear is an untrivial decision. Dozens of manufacturers of shoes, tents, clothing, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc. sell a mind-numbing array of stuff. In the grand scheme of things it’s pretty cool to know that the human hunger for nature keeps so many companies in business, and that they can sell stuff around the world because of a demand that transcends borders, languages and customs. In your little life, though, it’s a pain making sense of what’s out there, because there’s so damn much of it. <\/p>\n
There area few sites that can help boil it down. Among my favorites:<\/p>\n
If you can’t find it in these sites, you probably don’t need it. <\/p>\n
Review sites have their limits — I hardly consider them final sources. For instance: There are few reviews for the backpacking tent I bought, but when I sat in it at the REI store I knew it was the one I wanted. And there were no reviews at all for the Marmot sleeping bag I ended up getting. It had the features I wanted but is too new to have been reviewed (normally you wouldn’t want the first things off the assembly line, but Marmot stuff is so well-regarded that I figured an exception could be granted.) <\/p>\n
Mostly the reviews end up telling you little details you might miss otherwise, like the fact that tent seams need to be sealed by the owner if they haven’t been sealed in the factory. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Settling on a piece of gear is an untrivial decision. Dozens of manufacturers of shoes, tents, clothing, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc. sell a mind-numbing array of stuff. In the grand scheme of things it’s pretty cool to know that the…<\/p>\n