CHEAP CAMPING GEAR VS. DURABLE (COSTLY)

Spend More Now and Less in the Long Run

There are different ways of looking at camping gear. First, if you are new and don't really know if camping is for you, you should consider renting or borrowing equipment. Ask family and friends if you can use theirs or go with them. If they have nice equipment, they will probably say no and that's understandable. They don't want you to blow up their stove, burn their tent down or puncture their hydrated backpack.

Camping is rugged. Even camping in today's luxury terms, gear gets beat up by nature. No matter how nice the stove or tent, a flame is a flame and a rock is a rock and it does it's job on your equipment.

Most of us will buy our first gear at stores like K-Mart or Wal-mart. My first season out, I bought a relatively cheap sleeping bag, cookware and tent. And all of it was soon replaced with more expensive items after I enjoyed the outdoors experience. If I had disliked camping, this would have been fine. Less money lost. Throw the items in a garage sale and be done with it all. Instead, I threw the items in a garage sale and bought better stuff at places like Campmor, REI, or Galyans among others. Check out Backpacker magazine (find at book stores and maybe even better, back issues at your local library) for more detailed reviews over time. Even the big box discount stores have some better stuff. You can spend $6 on cookware that last one trip or $30 for a stainless steal set with a lifetime warranty and doesn't shed aluminum slivers into your chili.

The slight risk in the buy cheap first method is that poor gear could actually make you dislike camping if things don't go well. Where as, if you sleep comfortably in a down sleeping bag on a rollout air pad inside a two pole, snap-loop tent, you may just find heaven under the stars.

Tents

My second tent pitches three times faster and easier than my first one. It weighs about one-fifth of the first and packs smaller than a loaf of white bread. The cost was roughly three times as much but much less in time and energy. Sometimes I pull into a campsite and another camper is halfway through pitching their tent. I have mine up and zippered and I'm on the hiking trail or cooking dinner while they are still connecting poles and stakes.

Pitch your tent in your yard first. It's best to know how it goes up before you are out there in the wilderness with the sun going down. You may find you needed a bigger mallet for the stakes.

Cookware

My first set of cheap cookware did work but it slowly scorched, didn't cook evenly or clean well. By the end of a week long trip, it was not a pretty site and disposable. The decision to make was to buy another cheap set on a regular basis or spend six times as much and get a nice set that would last and be more camp-friendly. I spent more and am still using it years later. The other bonus is that it actually is more versatile and packs away better than the cheap set.

Sleeping Bags

I bought my first adult sleeping bag at a discount store. It was cheap, comfortable and it kept me warm. The large rectangle size was not ideal in a smaller two person tent however. And the bulky material made it hard to compact. It was nearly impossible to get back into it's original bag. You could do it, if you wanted to spend twenty minutes and work up a sweat in the morning doing it. But that is less time on the trail or road. The replacement was a down-filled mummy type sleeping bag. Packs smaller than a bread loaf and weighs almost nothing. It cost me a little under four times the first sleeping bag (and could cost much more than that depending on brand and specs) but I love it so much more.

In summary, I replaced some of these common camping items with more expensive ones. I spent more than I would have if I just went with the higher quality ones in the first place. But if I didn't like camping, I would have saved money after the first round of gear. With the higher quality gear, I leave my tent, bag and cookware in my vehicle at all times as they don't take much room.  I can also carry everything from the vehicle to the campsite in one easy trip. Sometimes there is more to it than just the cost.