Easy there dude. I'm not trying to mislead anyone.

My point is simply that whether you need to spend a lot on a certain piece of gear depends on how much you will rely on that piece of gear. If you have the ability to get along without it then there's no need to spend the money to get the very best.

Now Francis Tapon is world class, as I said, so he doesn't need much of anything. I'm not even close to that. I skimp on some things and know what that might cost me. But for things that I consider critical I get the best that money can buy.

For myself I don't spend a lot on shelter (no $300 tent for me) and I'm prepared to deal with the possible consequences. In a bad storm I may be under-protected and end up not sleeping. I can deal with staying awake on a cold-stormy night while I wait out the storm. What I can't deal with is getting chilled while I'm waiting and risking hypothermia. So I bring very high quality clothing with lots of extra layers above and beyond what I'm expecting to use so I know that in the worst case I can still maintain my body heat. I spend way more on clothing than on shelter.

Now other people may make the opposite decision: bomb-proof tent and only adequate clothing. I've got nothing to say against that decision. Every hiker needs to choose where to go high quality and where to skimp.

To say that EVERYONE needs an expensive tent to backpack is just not right.