Backpacking Gear Unboxing Photos

Tyler — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:03:20 +0000

Introduction

It’s a hassle to shop for physical goods online because you don’t have the opportunity to put your hands on the item before making the purchase.

For camping gear this means you can’t…

Yank on a zipper to see if it’s sturdy.
Set up a tent to see if your other gear will fit inside.
Check tags for “Made in the USA”.
Try to fit your camp stove inside your cooking pot for storage.

The next best thing to physical inspection are high-resolution product photos. Since many online retailers don’t provide these, I thought I’d share mine. Below you’ll find some pictures I took of the gear I bought last Spring.

Choosing an online retailer

I ordered most of my equipment from Campsaver.com, MooseJaw.com, and a used gear broker GearTrade.com and was pleased with the service from each. I spent some time searching Craigslist too. Google Product Search was handy for comparing prices.

Be sure to check RetailMeNot.com for coupons and discount codes. A simple Google search like “campsaver coupon” can be surprisingly effective. Campsaver sent me a “10% off your next order” certificate and the MooseJaw catalog contains lots of codes redeemable for store-brand gear.

Of course, nothing beats advice and hand-me-downs from the pros. Thanks Matt and Kenneth!

Cooking

MSR Pocket Rocket

MSR 4oz Isopro Fuel

T-Fal One Egg Wonder Pan

Aquamira Water Treatment Drops

Snow Peak 210g Camp Fuel

Shelter

MSR Hubba Tent

Marmot 40 Rec Sleeping Bag

Therm-A-Rest Z-Lite Sleeping Pad

Clothing

Bridgedale Multisport Socks

Bridgedale Trailhead Socks

Misc.

Adventure Medical Kits Moleskin

MSR Packsoap

Ben’s 30% Deet Bug Spray

Petzel Tikka Plus Headlamp

Sea to Summit 210d 15L Stuff Sack

Hiking near Stid Hill in Bristol NY

Tyler — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:22:12 +0000

Here are some pics from a recent hike I took in Bristol near Stid Hill.

Thanks to Paula for giving me some route advice.

I took a Nokia N770 and GPS reciever with me and logged my return trip. Be sure to view the “Terrain” and “Hybrid” map types.

Big kudos to John Costigan for developing the excellent free software that is Maemo Mapper. It’s one of the best FLOSS options for mapping AFAICT. It kept a “track” which I uploaded to create the above.

Googlers – we want a video export option in the Linux Google Earth client! I would have loved to upload a “fly-over” here but found that’s unsupported in Linux. I considered a Windows XP guest but realized the OpenGL would be a showstopper. Well, I got to enjoy the app at least, so thanks nevertheless for the sofware.

Trivia: Did you know that each GPS satellite has an onboard caesium or rubidium-based atomic clock.

Tyler Oderkirk's Blog » Hiking