c/camping-gear-reviews

My $14 rain fly stakes bent in 20 mph wind, so I tried garden nails

Last storm at Lost Maples State Park, every cheap stake pulled out by 2am and my tent floor soaked. Has anyone else switched to 8 inch steel landscape pins instead of buying the fancy ones?

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grace508•3d ago

Rain ruined my tent floor in Yosemite, need a better groundsheet plan

Last Tuesday I camped near the Merced River and woke up to 3 inches of water pooled under my tent floor, my sleeping bag was soaked because I skimped on a footprint. The tent itself was fine, but the cheap tarp I used let water seep through the seams and it took me 4 hours to dry everything out the next day. Has anyone else had luck with those polycryo sheets instead of heavy footprints, or should I just bite the bullet and get a proper Tyvek ground cloth?

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oliver_morgan•5d ago

That old Coleman stove from 1998 outlasted my new $150 one

Honestly, I dragged my dad's beat up Coleman dual burner to a site near Moab last week and it fired up first try, while my fancy new one died after a wind gust. Anyone else holding onto gear that's older than half this sub?

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keith_rodriguez•15d ago

My collapsible camp sink folded in half on day 2 in Moab

I bought this 20 dollar collapsible sink for dish duty, thought it would be the smartest thing since the camp stove. Second morning at the campsite near the Colorado River, I filled it with hot water and the whole side just buckled inward, dumped soapy water all over my boots. The plastic hinge joint was clearly the weak point, and I ended up hand-washing everything in the river with biodegradable soap. Anyone else ditched the fancy gear for a basic plastic tub that actually holds its shape?

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miles72•16d ago

The night my cheap sleeping pad gave out at 2am near Glacier Point

I've been camping for years and always thought any foam pad was fine. Last month I woke up on cold hard granite with my hip screaming. Turns out the R-value on my old pad was basically zero and I never checked. The next morning I tested it with a simple heat lamp trick and the heat went straight through. Has anyone else ignored R-ratings for way too long and paid for it?

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lopez.simon•17d ago

Padded hipbelt or frameless pack for a 40 mile solo hike, I picked wrong

I had to choose between my old 65 liter padded hipbelt pack (which weighs like a small car) and a frameless 35 liter ultralight job for a 4 day trip in the Smokies last month, and I went with the light one because the scale said 2.8 pounds. Three miles in, my shoulders felt like they were carrying bricks and my lower back started screaming, so I spent the whole first night plotting how to strap my hiking poles to redistribute the load. Has anyone else made this mistake and gone back to the heavy, padded setup, or did you just tough it out and get used to it?

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max_ross•18d ago

My 4-season tent poles bent on a calm night in June, any recs for sturdier ones?

Last month I took my 3-year-old mountain tent up to the Uintas for a weekend trip. Forecast said 10 mph winds, nothing crazy, but around 2 AM a gust snapped one of the aluminum poles clean in half. The tent collapsed on my face and I spent an hour rigging it with duct tape and a spare trekking pole. I've used this tent maybe 25 times and never pushed it past its limits, so I'm guessing the metal just got weak over time. My question is, has anyone else had poles fail without obvious damage? And should I be looking at DAC poles or thicker-wall options, or is it smarter to just replace the whole tent in the $250-$400 range?

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emmaallen•18d ago

Guide book told me to bang rocks together, changed my whole fire setup

Last spring in Yosemite, some ranger laughed at my ferro rod and said 'just use a striker and cotton balls, trust me'. Swapped to a $3 flint striker and dry cotton, now I can get a flame in wind in under 2 minutes, has anyone else ditched fancy tools for the dumb simple stuff?

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brown.gavin•21d ago

I finally ditched my heavy tent for a tarp shelter

After 4 rainy nights in the Smokies with a 7 pound tent, I tried a 12 ounce tarp setup a buddy swore by. The tarp leaked at the seam once, but the weight savings made me a convert for solo trips. Anyone else switch and never go back?

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butler.finley•23d ago

That one ranger at Glacier Point changed how I pack my stove

I was mid-setup at a windy site near the ranger station and he just walked over, pointed at my tiny fuel canister, and said 'that's not gonna boil for 20 minutes up here,' so I swapped to a bigger one and now I check altitude before every trip, anyone else ever get saved by a random ranger tip?

1 comments

wright.lisa•25d ago

Cheap headlamp trick saved my night hikes after 2 sketchy trips

I got tired of my headlamp dying at the worst times on dark trails near Boulder. After 2 nights of squinting with a dying beam, I tried wrapping a $6 red lens filter over the light and dropping the brightness to low. It kept my night vision sharp and the battery lasted almost 4 extra hours compared to medium white light. The filter also stopped bugs from swarming my face, which was a huge bonus. Has anyone else tried red mode for evening hikes, or do you just carry spare batteries instead?

1 comments

brian_rivera59•25d ago

Went from paper maps to GPS on trail, then back to paper last month

For like 5 years I was all in on my phone for navigation. I had the apps, the backup battery packs, the whole setup. But last month on the AT near Damascus, I lost signal for 3 hours and my phone died by noon. I had a paper map and compass in my pack as a backup that I hadn't even opened in ages. Felt like an idiot fumbling with it while two guys walked past and pointed me toward the shelter. Now I print out the section maps from the ranger station before every trip and keep them in a ziplock. I still use GPS for tracking distance, but I plan turns with the paper first. Does anyone else carry both and actually use the paper one, or am I just being paranoid now?

2 comments

miam75•26d ago

Reviewer said my camp stove setup was a fire hazard, he was right

Last month I went out to Big Sur and posted a photo of my cooking area, propane tank sitting right next to the fire ring. A guy commented that the heat could crack the valve and cause a blowout. I laughed it off at first, but then I looked up some stories online and yeah, it happens more than you think. I moved the tank about 15 feet away and got a longer hose for my Coleman stove. Also started checking the seal on the regulator before every trip now. Anyone else ever get called out on a safety thing that you totally ignored until someone pointed it out?

1 comments

lauras83•26d ago

That rainy week in Shenandoah tested my old tent beyond its limits

Six days of steady drizzle turned my 2018 REI Half Dome into a leaky mess near Big Meadows, and after drying everything out I finally ordered a new footprint with better bathtub flooring, so has anyone else had a trusty shelter just give up after one brutal trip?

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parkera22•28d ago

Inflatable pad popped at 2am near Big Bend, slept on a pool floatie instead

Last month I was out at Big Bend and my Exped pad blew a seam right under my hip around 2am. I had a patch kit but the glue was dried up solid. The only backup was a $8 pool floatie from the gas station in Terlingua, so I duct taped it to the ground and used it as a mattress. It actually held air fine but made this squeaky noise every time I rolled over. Has anyone else turned junk gear into a workaround that ended up kinda working?

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the_patricia•28d ago

Just realized my $75 camp stove was the weak link all along

Went out near Flagstaff two weeks back, temps dropped to 28 at night. My buddy's cheap $30 butane stove boiled water in 4 minutes, mine took 12 and sputtered the whole time. I bought this fancy multi-fuel unit because the box said altitude rated, but it clearly wasn't. Checked the jet nozzle after I got home, it was partially clogged with old fuel residue from last season. Spent an hour cleaning it with a pin and some solvent, now it fires up like new. Guess I should've maintained the thing instead of blaming the design. Anyone else have a stove that let them down in cold weather, or was it operator error on my part too?

1 comments

the_charlie•29d ago

Bought a $89 sleeping pad off Amazon, woke up on dirt at 3am in Shenandoah

Last month I decided to save some cash and grab this random inflatable pad with like 4,000 reviews. Looked fine in the pictures. Set it up at the campsite near Big Meadows, felt pretty comfy for the first hour. Then around 3am I felt the cold ground creeping through. By 4am I was basically lying on a deflated taco shell. Checked it in the morning, tiny pinhole right near the valve seam. My buddy's $40 foam pad from 2012 worked better than this thing. I get that name brands cost more, but at what point does cheap just mean broken? Has anyone had luck with those off-brand pads or is it worth just dropping the extra cash on something from a real outdoor store? I'm trying to figure out what to do before my next trip in two weeks.

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averywilliams•1mo ago

Serious question about tent floor thickness measurements

I was looking at tent specs on REI's site last night and noticed something weird. The floor denier on my old tent is 70D but a similar priced tent from another brand has 150D. That seems like a huge difference for tents that cost about the same. Does the higher number really mean it will last longer or is there more to it? Has anyone actually tested how these hold up over a few seasons?

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tara_jones94•1mo ago

Hit 50 nights in my tent last year and it totally changed how I pack

I was going through my gear log last week and realized I camped 50 nights in 2024. That's way more than I thought. It made me look back at my first trips where I brought way too much stuff. Now I've got my base weight down to about 18 pounds and I don't even miss the extra gear. The big shift was realizing I used my sleeping pad repair kit exactly zero times over all those nights. Has anyone else had a number like that make them rethink their whole setup?

2 comments

brown.gavin•1mo ago

Overheard a guy at REI swearing by a $12 camp stool over my $150 chair, so I tried it

My back hurt for two days after using that tiny stool on a rocky site in Yosemite last weekend, but honestly it packed down so small I'm torn, has anyone else found a middle ground between comfort and portability?

2 comments

kevin_harris78•1mo ago

Frustrated with a tent pole repair that took 2 hours longer than it should have

Last weekend I went to set up my old 4-person tent and found a shock cord had snapped inside one of the poles. I figured a quick fix with a new cord and some glue would take maybe 30 minutes. Ended up spending over 2 hours wrestling that thing because the sections kept slipping apart and I couldn't get the cord tensioned right. Has anyone found a reliable way to restring tent poles without losing your mind?

2 comments

henderson.wesley•1mo ago

Can we talk about those $50 backpack rain covers

Everyone swears by them but I dropped $60 on a fancy one at a shop near Yosemite and it just slid off my pack after an hour of drizzle. Has anyone found a cover that actually stays put in real weather?

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terry_jones•1mo ago

Appreciation post: that old guy at REI who talked me out of a $400 tent

I was at the REI in Denver last fall getting ready to drop way too much cash on a fancy four-season tent I definitely didn't need for my annual car camping trip. This older dude, probably in his 70s, with a beat-up Patagonia jacket and scratched glasses, just came up and asked what I was planning to do with it. When I told him mostly weekends in Colorado spring through fall, he laughed and said I'd cook myself in that thing and pointed me to a basic half-dome model that cost $180 less. He spent like 20 minutes explaining why mesh and airflow matter way more than some waterproof rating for what I do, and showed me his own tent that had like 30 repair patches on the rainfly. I walked out with a solid setup that's lasted three seasons so far and still feel grateful that someone with real experience stepped in instead of just letting me overspend. Has anyone else had a stranger at a store totally change what you were gonna buy just by being honest?

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daniel_walker•1mo ago

Tried a budget tarp from Amazon as a footprint and it ripped on the second night

I set it up at a site near Mt. Hood last weekend and woke up with a puddle under my tent, so now I'm wondering if the real cheapos are even worth the $12 savings over a proper ground cloth, has anyone else had a tarp fail like that?

2 comments

taylor.amy•1mo ago

Rain caught me off guard on the Blue Ridge Parkway last month

My tent sealant failed at 3am near a creek crossing and I spent 45 minutes digging a trench with a stick to divert water away from my sleeping bag. Anyone else had a seam sealant fail on an older tent mid trip?

2 comments