My vote for the most useless yuppy gear ever.

This has to be easily in the top ten of the most ridiculous uses of titanium ever. Talk about a status symbol. Why don't you just go to your local chinese restaurant and get bamboo chopsticks for free? Besides that, who beyond a native of Asia would rather not use a spork or spoon when backpacking? If I remember correcty these were even given a gear of the year award by backpacker mag a few years ago.

So what items have you run across in the UL market that is a scam, status symbol, rubbish, or altogether useless. Cast your votes. $30 bucks for chopsticks???? I volunteer to market my Ti tent stakes with duct taped sticks on the ends to all of those suckers that grew up in the people's republic of Boulder. Heck I'll even throw in some North Face stickers for twenty five bucks!

+1 on the titanium chopsticks (I still secretly want a set).

My NorthFace Apex is pretty worthless for anything other than around town. No hood, no inside or sleeve pockets. Despite having a drawstring at the waist, it does not really cinch up.

I bought a Condor (slightly heavier) that addresses all those concerns for half the price ($80). The downside? It doesn't have 2 NorthFace logos on it.

Well, I would have to say any cookware that is titanium and not a pot or spoon/spork.



Actually, maybe any cookware beyond just that pot and spoon/spork and a few other items. Especially when it costs more than $5.

Titanium Cafe Latte by snowpeak

[img]http://www.campsaver.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=snp0012[/img]

[img:center]http://www.campsaver.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=snp0012[/img]

Single cup espresso maker. Made from pewter, no less. Bought at REI, and decided it was a heavy, possibly explosive, trinket.

[quote=Ken the Bear]Titanium Cafe Latte by snowpeak

Wow, thats a good one for sure! Regular price of 95 bucks! Where's the titanium and carbon fiber framed and cuben fiber upholstered lounge chair to go along with it?

Skip
actually a carbon fiber cuben chair sounds sort of nice. My old crazy creek chair weighs 21 ounces, if I could replace it 5 ounce chair it would save a pound, that's worth some $$$s.

I hate sporks.

I have Koa wood chopsticks bought in Hawaii for $6.00, yeh they're a lot heavier than bamboo (like half a gram) but really beautiful. not much use though. I do think ti spoons and forks are a lot more useful than lexan. You never have to worry about them melting...
Jim

My brain knows that the Ti, carbon fiber and cuben chair is not a good idea, but I want one anyhow.

I prefer lexan spoons. On a two night trip I forgot my spoon. I made chopsticks and a wooden paddle. Worked fine.

Skippy
you made me laugh...
As I read the title of your thread I thought "I know, I am going to post about the Ti chop sticks" ...
I spotted those in town the other day in the front window of the MacPac (company owned) shop.
The funny bit is that MacPac make the kind of gear that Canadians like (you know the really heavy no nonsense ....OK durable stuff that works)
Franco

those titanium collapsable chopsticks and a VERY close second are the plastic martini glasses REI sells

Frankly color screen GPS units with highway maps kinda qualify along with PLBs and SPOTS. five finger sport shoes, wind up radios, electronic water bladder monitors, solar electronics chargers, electrically heater clothes, heavy duty assault flashlights, large titanium blade sheath knifes, and finally, just to top it off, ALL bicycle gear especially the totally dippy helmets.

This Table

You're BACKPACKING! What, you're too good to put your stuff on the ground?

Map bandannas.

Freeze-dried beer.

(Yes, I voted twice. If it works in Chicago, it works here. )

wait a minute! My bicycle helmet is also certified for climbing use. Isn't it at least only slightly dippy?

My vote goes to the little LED light that screws onto your Nalgene water bottle. It lights up the water but I don't think it sterilizes anything no matter howlong you leave it on.

But the little led light is so cool! especially in a blue bottle. Not very useful but cool.

My piece of gear that seems less useful the longer I have it is my X Plate ! It looked just so useful. I'm thinking freezer bag tops this by far...

John

Hey Franco, I have a MacPac sleeping bag from the 80's when the Kiwis still owned the company-before they sold out to the Brits. The old MacPac gear is as you describe-no nonsense, heavy duty, the new stuff, not so much from what I've seen on their website. The same for the late, lamented Fairydown. The Fairydown name may still be around, though.

My vote would be for stuff like coffee presses and that clear ball ice cream maker thing I've seen somewhere-REI maybe.

Oh by the way, if you go to my website (www.iamalightweightsucker.com) the CuTi Chair is being offered at a special low introductory price of $799.99. It is made to be multi pupose as it turns into a poncho, a tarp, the carbon fiber rods convert to pack stays, and the cuben fiber along with the titanium turns into a mast and sail for packrafting. The titanium legs are also useable as trekking poles/tarp poles. And it comes with a free set of chopsticks....

I hate to admit it but I own some of the fanciest chopsticks on the planet. My sister lives in China and she sent my whole family some super duper sticks with fancy embroidered silk bags. Definitely nothing to eat with.

Yes the table is outrageous. I have no chair and no table. A chair is sometimes tempting but if the weather is nice I just like sitting on a rock/log, using a boulder for a table, or just enjoy relaxing in a horizontal position on boulders or grass.

Hey Jim, I have to admit that I am a total bike geek but none of that gear goes backpacking with me. I own 3 mountain bikes, two road bikes, a jump bike and there are 6-7 other bikes in my garage for the kids and wife. Although as I tell my wife it's a healthy hobby (except when I crash) and better than going to the bars and pickin' up strange women.

Oh, but wait, this toy is ON SALE for $75.96. I can SAVE 20%. I LOVE sales. Hmm-Maybe I can save 100% and pass this one. I can buy a whole lot of chocolate-coverd expresso beans that would pack much lighter (or chomp whole beans mixed with semi-sweet chipsor M&Ms for summer).

Wow! Such a deal, this plate is! Nearly $20 and close to 1/4 pound in weight. Yeah, eat from your pot or freezer bag!

OK, I cheat and carry a windshield-reflector wrapped Ziploc bowl. My bag of whatever food sits in it so I can't dump it while the bowl catches any possible leaks and protects the rest of my cooking gear.

CM

Shhhhh!!!! My wife will hear. It is great though on Boy Scout car camping trips! I have handy cozies my quilter wife made for freezer bags!

John

Oh... the cutting remark to the Ti spork...
hurts...

so...

bad...

I like the Ti spork, because it is stable, will not melt, can be used as a tent stake, as a shovel for a cat hole, worn on a lanyard as delightful backcountry jewelry. You never know when you'll meet a cute young lady in the woods and fall in love and thus give her your Ti spork necklace as a sign of commitment.

Serisouly though, the commercialization of gear is to be expected. The companies are simply there to make money. If they make it... SOMEONE will buy it, no matter how ridiculous.

"Someone will buy it..."

Hang around with the right Scout troop for about 10 minutes, and you'll realize just how true that is!

Tom
Fairydown is now owned by MacPac, unfortunately by the time they bought the company the tent "blueprints" had disappeared.
MacPac I think is on the way back to the top.
It is using lighter materials but as strong or stronger than before.
For example , the new tent material is silnylon, so the shelters have exactly the same design but are lighter (15-20%) and stronger. However now you need to seam seal them.
Personally I think that the Minaret (for up to 2x 6' ) or the Olympus for taller ones , are great tents for the rougher Canadian weather.
Franco
(sorry about the thread shift...)

You don't think I'm going to lay my Ti chopsticks and my latte maker directly on the ground, do you? It's sooooooo.....dirty.

Lovin' it. Hey I have an idea! Let's all go car camp at the local Chinese Super Buffet Garden restaurant and we could use their tables and eat with our Ti chopsticks.

My daughter has the Ti chopsticks, she got them for Christmas one year. She likes them, and actually uses them on the trail.

I much prefer a long handled Ti spoon over anything else. Yes, I have melted and even broken the unbreakable Lexan tableware.

My personal useless yuppie gear that I won't hike without is my inflatable pink flamingo which fits over a tent stake. It adds the perfect touch of home (and suggests that I'm not taking this hiking thing too seriously....)

There is even yuppy UL gear out there! The BPL Ti folding spoon, since discontinued (I bought it on closeout). While it was great to have a spoon that would fold to fit my 550L pot, the food stuck in the folding mechanism and it was extremely hard to clean. It was also twice as heavy as a much longer-handled lexan spoon. I'm still working out how to protect the latter in my pack, though.

Mouse
just cut the handle off your spoon.
Jim

This is the most useless Yuppie gear i can imagine:

http://www.rei.com/product/768604



BF

Jimshaw just bought one of those.

-Skippy

Yup...that was my point

BF

Bigfoot
I told you I would give you one half hour to light the campfire to cook the steaks on, then I'll stop the smouldering with mt torch. It will boil a cup of cold water in one minute flat.
He only wrote that because he read my post in another group.
Jim

I have one, and it is fun as a night light out at our CABIN in the Maine woods! Or even for truck cap camping in a campground., Not on a trek. I never even thought about it sterilizing/not sterilizing anything.

Again, for our Cabin in the Maine woods` or at a campground, or even here at the house where we heat with wood. Not backpacking. Most places I'd backpack won't allow campfires anyway. I don't own one, by the way.

Topped:

REALLY light chopsticks

Cheers,

You sir, have won a prize. I will find it hard to believe that this can be topped.

-Skippy

I find it hard to believe that anyone would even buy one at $149.95 I assume that the chopsticks are $2 and the tooling to make the first one is $148 so as soon as they sell one they will have recouped their investment. If thy can sell two sets they will have a good profit.

Oh, I don't know...

If the carbon-fiber chopsticks come with a Geisha serving girl to wait on your every need...

CM

I can top that! How about the Alite "Sexy Hotness" sex compatible sleeping bag with Kama Sutra inspired lining? Specifically built for "getting busy in the woods". And yes, they're serious...

http://www.alitedesigns.com/sexy-hotness-sleeping-bag-4/

BF

I dunno - maybe you could drill holes in the handles to make them a bit lighter.

hmm, I misread it, I thought it said sexy hostess.

Hey, maybe there's something here for the D-I-Y gear crowd. Carbon fiber sailcloth?? How about CF packs and tents??

http://www.carbonfibergear.com/direct/ra...bon-fiber-black