Agreed - REI is not bleeding-edge ultralight. But they do carry things like the Sawyer Squeeze filter, and the lighter canister stoves, along with the Neoair pads and a couple of almost-2-pound packs, and a couple of tents like the BA Scout and Fly Creek 1 Platinum.
Not sure if it's a conscious effort by REI to go ultralight, or just the fact that (as good little capitalists) the mainline gear manufacturers have responded to the "cottage" makers taking a chunk of their market, with the result that gear as a whole is generally lighter now than it was 10 or 15 years ago.
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