Good, quality and lightweight gear is not expensive, relatively speaking. Of course it is more than $25 per item, but my point is that you could go to REI and drop $350 on a 3lb MSR Hubba tent-- or you could spend less than $250 and get an even lighter tent (Contrail, Squall 2, Rainbow, Moment). In fact you could even purchase a 13oz tarp for $70 from Campmor or an 8oz Poncho Tarp from Golite for $80 if you do not want four walls! All of these are under 2lbs-- which is 3lbs+ less than your tent.

Next up, sleeping bags. You could drop $500 on a Feathered Friend or Western Mountaineering sleeping bag, but the Campmor +20 for $120 is more than adequate. The Golite Ultra quilt (older model) for $120 is also a good choice. Both of which are going to save you over 4lbs of weight.

Backpacks are the best of all-- sub 3lb, 55-65L backpacks can start off for less than $150-- GG G4, SMD Swift, Gregory Z55, Vapor Trail-- the list is endless. You could pay twice that for a 6lb pack with bells and whistles that you do not need. All of these are at least 3lbs less than your current pack.

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With that said, if you are considering 4-7 day trips then IMHO you should upgrade your big 3 (pack, bag and tent). At the moment, your big three are around 16lbs-- plus 4-7 days worth of food brings your total weight to between 22lbs and 26.5lbs-- add two liters of water and you are now carrying over 30lbs of gear; and that is without your clothes, cook system, sleeping pad, filter, first aid, skin care, toiletries etc-- my guesstimate is that for a 4-7 day trip you could be pushing 40-45lbs.

By upgrading your big three, you could knock a *minimum* of 7lbs pounds out of your pack. 33-38Lbs is much better than 40-45lbs!

If you wanted then you could get your big three down to just three pounds for very little:

- 10x8 tarp: 13oz/$70
- Campmor +20 bag: 19oz/$120
- GG G4: 17oz/$125

Total: $315/49oz-- for minimal cost I have knocked 13Lbs out of your gear.

Before I get a backlash, I would not recommend a tarp or G4 for a beginner-- but I just wanted to show you that you can easily cut your weight for not a lot of money.