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I recently purchased the jetboil genesis basecamp system and I have never used a better car camping stove in my life. Can't recommend enough.
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Aug 20, 2021 03:03
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I can’t think of any reason to get rid of my Coleman dual fuel stove
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Aug 20, 2021 06:13
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Unrelated, thank you thread for the helinox recommendations, I bought two sunset chairs and they’re fantastic
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Aug 20, 2021 06:14
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The Fool posted:Unrelated, thank you thread for the helinox recommendations, I bought two sunset chairs and they’re fantastic I have the Helinox chair one and absolutely love it. So comfortable for its size. The Fool posted:I can’t think of any reason to get rid of my Coleman dual fuel stove Flame control. The Jetboil Genesis has 8 full rotations of heat control. I enjoy cooking on it better than my gas stove at home.
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Aug 20, 2021 06:36
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I don't know why I expected any different but traded in my tent for something with more height and I opted to be lazy and instead of listing on Craigslist I decided to return it to REI for in-store credit. It should be noted that there is a 'if we don't find this equipment acceptable we will not issue credit and won't send the item back'. Anyway after inspecting the tent myself and finding no tears or holes I sent it in and they issued a statement that it had a tear in the fabric. Asked them to cite the tear they issued a correction and instead cited not a tear but a 'delamination', seen here. They cited that it'd be a 'waterproofing issue' though I never had an issue with leaks. Anyway that tent was honestly fine, in good condition and waterproof as hell and while annoyed at this, not sure I'd call it a scam but a pretty lopsided assumption of risk; I'm mainly mad at myself for being so lazy to opt for this route instead of literally anything else. As for what I replaced, I replaced a Marmot Fortress 2 Person for a Luxe Minpeak XL, if anyone cares.
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Aug 20, 2021 18:59
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I think my Campchef Everest 2 stove is brilliant for car camping, but its burners are pretty large and therefore too wide for narrow or small pot/percolator.
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Aug 20, 2021 19:15
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You got hosed over.
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Aug 20, 2021 19:16
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How old was the tent? I return stuff in-store at REI all the time
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Aug 20, 2021 19:17
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The Fool posted:How old was the tent? I return stuff in-store at REI all the time A year old just about. Used 4-5 times. edit: lol I complained and they gave me a canned response and a $20 gift card (vs. the $125-157 estimate). What trash. Gin and Juche fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Aug 20, 2021 |
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Aug 20, 2021 20:12
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I'm confused. Was this process just a straight up return for something you bought from rei? They usually take literally everything back by questions asked for a year. Or was this a garage sale purchase, or an attempt at selling something to their used gear reselling service? If so I always sell my stuff locally because you'll get way more vs using a reseller. I'll take my stuff to a used gear shop if I don't really care about offloading things like 10 bicycle jerseys to people on offer up.
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Aug 20, 2021 22:19
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https://www.rei.com/used/trade-it-in I am a member and thought this was how they did the garage sales but I've never been to a garage sale at REI. But turns out I got this in 2019 looking back on my receipt, I wasn't trying to return the item because it was defective. The tent itself was fine, it was just so low to the ground I wanted something taller. Like I said, I was lazy and I figured I had no issue spending its value in credit at REI and didn't think they would give me...this. The Fool posted:Otherwise you should have sold it locally, but too late now I guess 
Gin and Juche fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Aug 20, 2021 |
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Aug 20, 2021 22:44
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If the item was purchased at REI and is less then a year old you can do a no-question return and they will give you a full refund Most garage sale and attic items come from these returns. Otherwise you should have sold it locally, but too late now I guess
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Aug 20, 2021 22:50
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Sounds like you did a test drive in their “used gear” system for the rest of us and now we all know. Half the battle and all that. If I’m feeling lazy I’ll take poo poo to a local spot (Next Adventure) that has a huge basement of used stuff. They only pay out in store credit and it’s half of what they’re going to price it, which is usually dirt cheap. For example I got a really nice Rapha rain jacket for $18 earlier in the year that was originally ~$3-400 msrp. So I only trade in when I’m in the middle of a big purge, or if it’s fall and I have been buying nice ski boots for $10 at Goodwill that I know they’ll give me $25-30 for so I can stack up some credit if I need gear. Otherwise I’m never in such a rush to sell things that I can’t wait out the perfect fish on CL or OfferUp. Edit: I used to use that store credit to buy vintage snowboards to flip on Facebook to snowboard dorks too caught up “goat chasing” with disposable income. Probably made $1500-2000 doing that before I deleted my Facebook account. highme fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Aug 20, 2021 |
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Aug 20, 2021 23:37
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I am looking for sleeping bag advice. This summer has featured my first backpacking trips, and we're planning several more for next year. I'm currently using a borrowed bag I don't know anything about, and it's been kinda okay but too small for me for sure. I'm 6'6" and I have no ambitions to camp in particularly cold weather - I think the coldest night I'd plan around is, idk, a nice early fall weekend at low altitudes in the north cascades or something - probably in the low 40s/high 30s? A more typical night is going to be July or August in the central cascades or points south. What should I be looking at in terms of temperature ratings? What about long bags vs normal bags - looks like the common length threshold is around 6'6" - should I be erring on the long side?
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Aug 23, 2021 06:28
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You definitely wanna go for a long bag. It's deeply down to personal preference but I find a 2 season sleeping bag fine for stuff above freezing. I don't winter camp but I'm okay sleeping in a jumper and/or a liner on colder nights Don't go too cheap and get a decent down filled bag which fits you, and also a decent inflatable sleeping mat really helps.
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Aug 23, 2021 16:00
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My wife just got a Fjallraven Karla jacket made of their G-1000 fabric. Our goal is for it to be a decent light-rain jacket for Iceland and eventually our move to Seattle. The tag said to use Fjallraven Greenland Wax on it for added water resistance. Can I use Nikwax instead, or do I need to track down this Greenland Wax?
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Aug 23, 2021 17:39
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At 6'6" I think you're probably in custom bag territory. Most long bags seem to have 6'6" as the max height and I myself like an extra inch or two of length to go fetal or to pull up to my face. The good news is that a bag that only goes down to 30F shouldnt be all that much in the scheme of things because it wont need as much down as a heavier winter bag. Have you considered a quilt or used one before? That would be a good way to save some weight as well. Lots of manufacturers out there that will do custom sizing. Loco Libre, Enlightened Equipment, Hammock Gear, UGQ, Gryphon Gear, Nunatuk, Katabatic, Timmermade, and Jacks R Better all come to mind. I personally have quilts from Loco Libre, Timmermade, and Hammock Gear and would recommend any of them.
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Aug 23, 2021 17:51
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Anybody have a good resource for “how to take good photos” while being in nature? Especially interested in how to take good photos of people in nature. Ex/ avoiding things like them getting all washed out, harsh lighting, either the human or the nature is out of focus. Photograph/Instagram 101 basically.
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Aug 23, 2021 19:50
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Ornery and Hornery posted:Anybody have a good resource for “how to take good photos” while being in nature? I don't have a good resource, but all the photography basics apply: - Rule of thirds -- draw two imaginary horizontal and vertical lines across the image. Put the horizon on one of the horizontal lines. Either center the subject, or put the subject on one of the vertical lines if you also want to emphasize the background. - Put the sun at your back -- that way, your subject won't be backlit and the background will be more evenly lit. You can play with this a bit, but generally your photos will look better if the sun is behind you. If you want to include the subject in a photo of a sunrise/sunset, use flash to fill them in. - Wide open apertures give you shallow depth of field (the band of things that are in focus), and you need a wider aperture if you're shooting in low light (all other things being equal). Narrow apertures give you wide depth of field. If your lighting is good, you should be able to get more things in focus. This all kinda goes out the window if you're shooting on a smartphone -- they usually apply a fake focus blur after the photo has been taken. You can try disabling that and see if you like the results.
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Aug 23, 2021 20:35
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Safety Dance posted:My wife just got a Fjallraven Karla jacket made of their G-1000 fabric. Our goal is for it to be a decent light-rain jacket for Iceland and eventually our move to Seattle. The tag said to use Fjallraven Greenland Wax on it for added water resistance. Can I use Nikwax instead, or do I need to track down this Greenland Wax? G1000 fabric is not intrinsically waterproof and needs to be oiled/waxed to be water resistant. You can use Nikwax but be sure to use their cotton proofer and not a DWR product for e.g. goretex or softshells. If you do not wax it, it will not be a good rain jacket at all. FWIW I would not recommend G1000 as a jacket material for Iceland, as it can rain a LOT there, and waxed canvas type materials will eventually wet out and then take forever to dry. It's not really a problem if you have a (warm, dry) place to dry the jacket, but if you're camping outside for several days it's not so great. The main advantage of this type of material is durability. Some people also like it because its quiet when hunting, or because it looks nice.
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Aug 23, 2021 20:51
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Safety Dance posted:I don't have a good resource, but all the photography basics apply: Most modern cameras and smart phones will let you enable the rule of thirds bars in your preview so you can line them up. They also often have the golden ratio bars as another option, which has similar composition rules to the rule of thirds, but you move your focus points around slightly.
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Aug 23, 2021 20:54
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All the rain I experienced in Iceland was a fine mist of needles. It soaked through everything instantly. Well, except the full on raincoat I had brought with me. Bulky as hell but i was happy to have it. I didn't bring rain pants which I really regretted. Edit - as for photos, mornings/evenings will be the best times. Or thin clouds that soften the sun. Pure blue skies are hard to photograph in if you want those dreamy Instagram shots. If the light is good, your pictures will be too.
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Aug 23, 2021 20:55
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Speaking of bags I'm returning mine to get a smaller one. I'm short but I've been using a full-length bag (an REI Magma 15) since it was on sale, and I was feeling colder than I should have been feeling on this last weekend trip I went on, when the air temps went to <40F for once. Right now I have a bunch of room at the bottom of the bag, so my feet were feeling a little cold. When I tried to fill up more of the bottom by sliding down, my head went completely below the draft collar lol. It's nice to have room in a sleeping bag but I think I might have a little too much room.Ornery and Hornery posted:Anybody have a good resource for “how to take good photos” while being in nature? You should probably pop by the Dorkroom as a good resource to get started, but honestly you should just start by taking more photos, in general. For a lot of basic landscape pictures just try taking more shots, tilting the camera either up or down a little and changing how much sky is in the picture, and seeing what looks nicer. That's one of the things I notice a lot with people newer to photography is that they put the horizon straight in the middle of the picture, when you could really tilt your camera down a little and get some more foreground and have a much nicer looking image. Rule of thirds helps a little but sticking to it can be stifling. You can take a million pictures with digital, so why not just try a few different things and revisit it later and see which one looks nicest? That way you can figure out what works for you and go from there. Also, your phone camera's digital zoom sucks, don't use it. Just walk closer if you can.
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Aug 23, 2021 21:00
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Safety Dance posted:My wife just got a Fjallraven Karla jacket made of their G-1000 fabric. Our goal is for it to be a decent light-rain jacket for Iceland and eventually our move to Seattle. The tag said to use Fjallraven Greenland Wax on it for added water resistance. Can I use Nikwax instead, or do I need to track down this Greenland Wax? Any wax meant for cotton or polycotton* will work, Greenland wax is just a mix of beeswax and paraffin wax, as far as I know. I've waxed up stuff with both that and Varusteleka's fabric wax, and they seem to work identically. Note that the jacket will become water resistant, not waterproof. The water will find a way through and eventually soak the fabric, no matter how much wax you apply. * Which is what G-1000 is.
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Aug 24, 2021 06:14
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I'm also looking for sleeping bag recommendations. I currently have a very basic Teton 20 sleeping bag, and it ain't great. Hell, it isn't even that good. My main criteria are a bag in the 15-20 range that compacts to a good size for backpacking and is in the $250ish range. I'm open to backpacking quilt options if those are even available in the price range.
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Aug 24, 2021 06:43
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its all nice on rice posted:I'm also looking for sleeping bag recommendations. I currently have a very basic Teton 20 sleeping bag, and it ain't great. Hell, it isn't even that good. Enlightened Equipment quilts are great, and reasonably affordable as far as high quality quilts/bags go. But in that temp range they are ~$300 new. High fill power down, in a large enough quantity for a 15F rating, is generally going to be slightly above your budget point. Unfortunately it seems that once you move to more cost efficient (but heavier) fill like 650 duck down, most of the offerings are budget tier with poorer baffle construction etc. Marmot has some duck down bags that are cheaper than their 850+ FP goose down counterparts while still being decent quality. I think you could find a ~15F Marmot Sawtooth for about $250. Personally I've had really good luck buying 2nd hand down bags/quilts. You kind of have to browse ebay/geartrade/clumbing & backpacking forums, and wait for whatever pops up, but you can get top quality gear for considerably cheaper than new.
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Aug 24, 2021 07:24
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I recently got a Hammock Gear Economy Burrow quilt: I usually sleep pretty warm and stick to moderate temperature hikes, and got a 40F rated quilt. I like it a lot better than a bag: as a side sleeper it's easier to deal with, and much easier if I'm too warm. Unsurprisingly, it's lighter and packs a lot smaller than my previous synthetic bag. That model (https://hammockgear.com/economy-burrow-custom/) in 20F, sewn footbox, 25" wide is $228 and 26oz, with a 5 week lead time. Bloody, their Tall model claims to fit up to 6'7" and is a $20 upcharge.
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Aug 24, 2021 07:49
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Since you're looking for something out of season, you could always wait until the next big REI sale to see what's discounted.
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Aug 24, 2021 15:22
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Big fan of the spoon shaped bags like the Nemo Disco.
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Aug 24, 2021 17:23
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FCKGW posted:Big fan of the spoon shaped bags like the Nemo Disco. Wife and I just got Disco 30s - the ability to sleep on your side with one or both knees "out" is astounding. My long packs up as small as my summer bag (a 50 degree synthetic Sierra Designs quilt). And they zip together - bonus! Have yet to try it in the field, just looking to stay warm at like 40 for spring/fall trips.
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Aug 25, 2021 00:00
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I like my Disco 15 a lot and don't feel like I'm even sacrificing anything for the extra legroom. It's not UL, but it's not bulky or heavy either.
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Aug 25, 2021 04:19
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REI Labor Day sale catalog is out. Starts 27th. https://catalogs.rei.com/2021-Labor-Day-Sale-and-Clearance/1/
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Aug 25, 2021 17:48
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Tempted to get a summer bag and maybe my first air pad but it looks like the Sierras are getting smoked out for the rest of the summer.
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Aug 25, 2021 19:52
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FCKGW posted:REI Labor Day sale catalog is out. Starts 27th. I’m gonna need a tent for car camping down by the Texas coast in October. Preferably a 2-3 man tent but I’ll get a 4 if that’s the smallest offered. Are either of the tent brands in here solid options? I realize it’s probably gonna depend on what I’m doing, but I dunno what I’ll need to consider. I’m a newbie to this. I’m 6’1, if that’s an issue for cramped tents. Honestly not sure how cool it’s gonna be in late October near the coast. Edit: probably either this tent or this. Could be convinced to downsize to the 2-man. I’d ideally be using this to camp with at least one other person in the future so I want some spare room. Dick Burglar fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Aug 26, 2021 |
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Aug 26, 2021 16:31
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For car camping, you can't go wrong with a kingdom. They are gloriously roomy and being able to stand up is the best luxury ever.
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Aug 26, 2021 16:43
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xzzy posted:For car camping, you can't go wrong with a kingdom. They are gloriously roomy and being able to stand up is the best luxury ever. Seriously, the best bang for the buck car camping tent around. I feel like a broken record but its incredibly well built and roomy. Not hard to setup, holds up to inclement weather just fine.
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Aug 26, 2021 16:52
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Buy your tents one person-size larger than your sleeping group. Two people camping? Buy a three-person tent. There are exceptions when downsizing makes sense (spooning on narrow alpine ledges) but in every case I’ve been grateful for the “extra” room.
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Aug 26, 2021 17:00
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Business of Ferrets posted:Buy your tents one person-size larger than your sleeping group. Two people camping? Buy a three-person tent. There are exceptions when downsizing makes sense (spooning on narrow alpine ledges) but in every case I’ve been grateful for the “extra” room. Yeah, even when your backpacking light it's worth going a size up unless the 1 man tent is seriously spacious. I'd prefer my bivy bag+tarp over a tiny horrible 1 man tent.
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Aug 26, 2021 18:11
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Speaking of bivy+tarp setups, what is the consensus on those? Ive been shopping around for a solo backpacking tent for a while now and havent been able to find one I really like in my price range. A tarp shelter with a bivy under it seems like a really resilient, lightweight setup but its hard to find information on them outside of hardcore ultralight setups that are way more specialized than I need.
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Aug 26, 2021 18:40
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I just noticed the discount to the REI tents is only for buying 2. Welp. The Exped Outer Space III is still 30% off, although even with that discount it's still $336, plus tax. If possible I'd like to spend somewhere in the $200-300 range. The Kelty Sequoia 4 is in that range, but it's also a super-tall tent and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm probably looking at mainly car camping with one other person, so probably a 3- or 4-person tent is what I'd aim for? I'm honestly not sure how I feel about super-tall tents. I imagine they're nice for inclement weather so you can stand up and stretch without having to step out of the tent, but I'm also new to this so the main obstacle to me is that they seem more difficult to set up. I'm also in Texas, so rain is less of a concern than some parts of the country. I've read a few reviews on the Sequoia and they claim it's easy to set up, which I suppose is a relief. Maybe just the idea of a really conspicuous, tall tent makes me feel weird? I dunno. I'm probably being dumb for no reason. Edit: Edit2: looking at the NEMO Switchback sleeping pad. Dick Burglar fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Aug 27, 2021 |
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Aug 27, 2021 18:18
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