c/camping-gear-reviews

That $90 camp chair from 2009 keeps beating everything new I try

Picked up a beat up old chair at a garage sale in Boise for 5 bucks. It's got torn mesh and a bent frame but it sits perfect. Last summer I dropped 90 on a fancy new one with a cooler pouch and cup holder. That new chair sagged after two weekends. The old one is still going strong after 15 years. Anyone else find that old worn gear just hits different than the shiny stuff?

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paul_ramirez93•5d ago

My old coleman stove outshined my new one three days straight

Took my $200 dual burner propane stove to the Ozarks last week and it sputtered every time I turned it up past medium. Swapped back to my 15 year old coleman single burner my dad gave me and it boiled water in half the time, no issues at all. Anyone else have gear that just works better the older it gets?

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viola171•5d ago

The old ranger who fixed my tent pole in Shenandoah

Back in 2019, I snapped a pole at Big Meadows campground. A ranger named Dale patched it with a splint and some zip ties, took maybe 10 minutes. He said, 'A tent is just a story you sleep in, kid.' Still use that same pole every season, no issues since.

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jade_hunt48•9d ago

Just realized my tent stakes were the weak link after that gusty night in Denton

I heard a guy at the campsite next to us say he replaces every stock stake with 9 inch aluminum ones before first use, and after watching my cheap plastic ones bend sideways at 2 AM while the neighbor's tent barely moved, I'm wondering if anyone else swears by upgrading stakes before anything else in their kit?

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ellis.jennifer•10d ago

My $90 camp stove outshined the $300 jetboil someone loaned me

A buddy swore by his Jetboil for years, so I tested it against my old $90 Coleman burner from 2019 at a site outside Asheville. The Jetboil boiled faster by maybe 2 minutes, but mine simmered actual food without scorching, and the fuel canister lasted 3 extra dinners. Idk, I think the hype is mostly about weight, not cooking quality. Anyone else stick with clunkier gear and feel fine about it?

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andrew_nguyen64•14d ago

My sleeping bag liner was backwards for 5 years until a ranger laughed at me

I always had cold feet no matter the rating, then a ranger at Yosemite pointed out I was sliding in head-first with the foot box at my shoulders. Has anyone else missed something this obvious in their gear for way too long?

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milesp38•14d ago

My inflatable pad failed at 2am near Big Bend and I was too stubborn to fix it

Last month I took a 3 night trip out to the Chisos Basin and my Klymit pad sprung a slow leak on night two. Woke up at 2am with my hip basically on the dirt and the pad half flat. I didn't bring a patch kit because I figured the ground was clear enough, which was dumb since juniper needles get everywhere. I ended up rolling around with my sleeping bag bunched under me for the rest of the night, which worked okay but I was sore the next day. The fix was simple once I got home, just some rubber cement and a square of patch material, took about 20 minutes. But now I'm wondering if I should just switch back to foam pads for trips where I'm not car camping. Has anyone else had a pad fail on them mid trip and what did you do for the rest of the nights?

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the_alex•15d ago

Learned the hard way that my 4-season tent is a 3-season tent in Michigan

Took my new 4-season tent up to the Huron National Forest in January and the fly kept frosting up inside at 8 degrees. My old cheap summer tent with double-wall design handled condensation way better after I propped a vent with a stick. Has anyone else found that '4-season' ratings are mostly marketing?

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viola171•17d ago

Park ranger showed me a bear bag trick after 12 years of ruined food

At Rocky Mountain National Park last summer, a ranger caught me tying my bag to a low branch and said "you're just feeding them dessert," then showed me the PCT method with two trees. Has anyone else learned a basic skill way late from a stranger at a campsite?

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sean_perry•17d ago

That river crossing near Glacier taught me a hard lesson about my sleeping pad

Woke up at 2am on the Highline Trail last August, my NeoAir had a pinhole from a sharp rock under the tent floor, and I was basically lying on wet dirt. I patched it with tenacious tape in the dark while shivering, and it held just barely, but has anyone else dealt with a pad failing mid-trip on a multi-day hike?

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holly_brown•18d ago

The bear bag fail at Glacier that sent me back to a hard case

Last October I was up in Glacier National Park, and I hung my food bag about 12 feet up on this thin branch, thought I was being clever. Around 2 AM something that had to be a black bear clawed through the bottom of my pack to get at a granola bar wrapper I missed. I woke up to the whole bag torn apart and my camp smelling like a dumpster. Park ranger told me the next morning that the bears there are so used to scent bags they just rip them down, and she suggested I switch to a bear canister over 20 years of hanging. Ngl, I fought it for years because of the weight, but after that night I spent $85 on a hard case and tested it at home with bacon grease smeared on the outside. The thing sat outside my garage for 3 days and never got opened. Has anyone else ditched the hang method after a close call, or am I way too paranoid now?

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drew_chen•19d ago

That REI clerk who judged my 20 year old sleeping bag

Stopped in for a new camp pillow last month and the kid at the counter asked what I was carrying. I told him my old Coleman bag from high school, still works fine down to maybe 40 degrees. He got this look and said 'you know that thing is basically a coffin liner, right?' Then he showed me a $380 down bag that weighed nothing. I laughed and said my truck weighs 2 tons, I can handle an extra 3 pounds. But honestly he got me thinking about how much gear we upgrade just because someone says so. Has anyone else run into a sales person who made you question gear that was still doing its job?

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angela_kelly•19d ago

A park ranger told me my tent stakes were a joke, he was right

Was up at Lost Lake campground last month and this ranger watching me hammer in these skinny stakes just shook his head. Said, "Those are for fair weather and flat ground, this is neither." He lent me his 8 inch shepherd hooks and showed me the 45 degree angle trick. Next morning the wind hit hard around 4am and every tent around me was flapping except mine. I switched to those heavier stakes plus a proper mallet, total cost maybe 25 bucks. What kind of stakes do you all use for rocky or windy sites? Has anyone else had a gear setup get called out by someone who clearly spends way more nights outside than you do?

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river_fox18•20d ago

My rain fly failed at 2 AM near Glacier, duct tape saved the trip

The seam tape on my tent peeled off during a downpour and water started dripping on my sleeping bag. I used gorilla tape to patch the seam from inside and hung a trash bag over that corner for the night. Has anyone found a seam sealer that actually lasts more than a couple seasons?

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drew_thomas9•21d ago

Split on the trail: ditch the heavy tent or tough it out?

Last month in the Smokies, my tent pole snapped at 2 AM during a thunderstorm, and I had to decide between wrapping myself in the rain fly or hiking 4 miles back to the car in the dark. I chose the fly and got soaked, but it made me wonder if ultralight shelters are actually worth the risk. Has anyone else had a gear failure force a quick call like that, and did you stick with your setup or switch?

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leo_lopez•21d ago

Silicone spatula melted into my camp stew, back to wood now

Took my favorite silicone spatula on a 4 day trip to Big Bend last month and left it resting on the pot edge while stirring... it drooped right into the boiling chili, now everything tastes like burnt plastic. I ended up scraping the whole batch and eating cold beans that night. Has anyone found a heat-proof utensil that actually holds up over a fire, or should I just stick with the cheap wooden ones?

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sean_perry•21d ago

Bought a $12 tarp from the bargain bin, outlasted my $180 tent footprint

I've been team 'you get what you pay for' for like a decade. Spent $180 on a brand name tent footprint three summers ago because the reviews swore it would last forever. It tore at the corner seam after maybe 12 trips. Meanwhile, I grabbed a random blue poly tarp from the Walmart clearance rack in Missoula for $12 as a ground cloth for a rainy weekend. That tarp has been through two years of rocky sites, dog claws, and a dropped cast iron skillet. Zero rips. Tonight I'm looking at both side by side and I honestly can't explain it. Was the footprint just badly made, or am I missing something about cheap tarps? Anyone else have a budget item that straight up embarrassed the expensive gear?

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jana_lewis16•22d ago

Took my ultra-light stove to Rocky Mountain NP, now I miss my old heavy one

I had a conversation with a guy at the Bear Lake trailhead last month. He was boiling water on this beat up 20 year old Coleman stove while I was fiddling with my 2.2 ounce titanium canister setup. He said 'gear that makes you wait for your coffee is gear that hates you.' I laughed it off but then my stove took 9 minutes to boil a cup at 9,000 feet. My old 3 pound propane stove would have done it in 3. We both watched the sunset and he offered me a cup of his instant. That hit different because he wasn't trying to sell me anything, just pointing out that ultralight isn't always the win. Has anyone else gone back to heavier gear after a real trip convinced you otherwise?

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umamurphy•23d ago

That $140 'ultralight' tent from the internet fell apart after 3 nights in Utah

I saw a deal online for a brand I'd never heard of and jumped on it. The poles bent like spaghetti the second night in Moab, and the zipper split right before a storm. I could've gotten a decent used tent from REI for that money. Has anyone else had luck with budget tents, or should I just save up for a known brand?

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hart.reese•24d ago

My camp stove regulator died at 11pm in a downpour, what a night

I was up near Lake Wenatchee last month, second night of a three day trip, and the temperature dropped hard. I went to fire up my old two burner stove to make some ramen and hot coffee, but the flame just sputtered and went out. Turns out the regulator had a hairline crack in the plastic housing, probably from years of bouncing around in my truck bed. I spent an hour fiddling with it in the rain, using my headlamp and a roll of duct tape, but no luck. Ended up eating cold tortillas with peanut butter and sleeping without my usual hot water bottle. The next morning I hiked out to the ranger station and borrowed a camp stove from a friendly couple in the parking lot. Has anyone else had a regulator fail suddenly like that, or do you carry a backup part in your kit now?

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the_alex•25d ago

Vent: my sleeping pad hit 50 nights and then just gave out

I bought a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir in March for a thru-hike attempt near Asheville. 50 nights in, right at the Blue Ridge Parkway campsite, it started deflating every two hours. The patch kit didn't help because the seam split, not a puncture. Has anyone else had a pad fail that fast, or did I just get a dud off the line?

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the_nathan•25d ago

Inflatable pad exploded at 2am near Big Sur, woke up on gravel

I was camped off the coast highway last summer and my cheap inflatable pad blew a seam right under my hips. The hiss sounded like a snake and I hit the tent floor so fast I thought a bear was in the vestibule. I spent the rest of the night on my jacket pile with my pack as a pillow, back screaming by dawn. Grabbed a self-inflating foam pad from a general store in Carmel the next morning for like $40 and it's still going strong. Anyone else trust those air-only pads for rocky ground or am I just paranoid now?

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dixon.felix•26d ago

One ranger's comment made me ditch my camp pillow for good

Last summer at Glacier National Park, a ranger walked by my site and said 'you're gonna wake up with a crick carrying that inflatable.' He was right, I woke up sore every morning. I switched to stuffing my puffy jacket into a stuff sack, and honestly it supports my neck way better. It also frees up a pound of pack weight, which I noticed on day three of a 4 day hike. Anyone else given up on pillows after a similar tip?

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wilson.jana•26d ago

The $9 tarp trick that saved my soggy tent setup

I got tired of waking up with a damp floor every time it rained on my trips in the PNW. I tried footprint sheets and fancy ground cloths, but they all cost way too much for what they did. Then a buddy at a campsite near Mount Rainier showed me his trick: buy a plain blue tarp from a hardware store, cut it to fit your tent footprint, and fold the edges under so water runs off instead of pooling. I spent $9 on a 6x8 tarp and trimmed it down to match my 2-person tent exactly. Last weekend we got a solid four hours of rain and my sleeping bag stayed bone dry all night. It's not glamorous gear, but it does the job better than the $40 branded footprint I used for two seasons. Has anyone else found a cheap alternative that outperforms the big name version of something?

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tessa_rivera•26d ago

Got schooled by a random guy at Lost Dutchman about my tent stakes

Last month I was setting up camp at Lost Dutchman and this older dude walked over while I was fighting with my cheap aluminum stakes. He just watched for a minute and said "those are for lawns, not desert." Then he showed me these thick steel ones he had and hammered his in with a rock in like 30 seconds. Mine kept bending. I always thought stakes were stakes. Now I carry 8 inch MSR groundhogs and honestly its night and day. Has anyone else had a stranger casually fix a gear problem you didnt even know you had?

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