I thought it would be fun if we all named a few pieces of our favorite gear.

The Opinel knife because it is very light and cute. Also a childhood memory
The TT Contrail because I can use it where others says it can't be used...
My Aarn pack because is the most logical way to carry a load, and it works.
The TiTri Caldera Cone because it works where others say alcohol does not...
Franco

Right now I'd have to say my TarpTent Moment. That tent is so well thought out in design and nice, useful details.

But my WM Megalite sleeping bag runs a close second. Basic design made far better by excellent quality.

Eric

The stuff between my ears definately ranks first.

The most prized gear that I own are my two Feathered Friends sleeping bags. The quality is of the highest.

However my favorite piece of gear is my Suunto M2 compass and applicable map-- I love being able to navigate my own way, this is part of the fun for me.

My top two items are:

Inov-310 Flyroc shoes + Injinji socks = no blisters for me
Gossamer Gear Gorilla pack = just the right size and comfortable

Other favorites on my perfect gear page.

You did say a few

Marmot model 40 deep winter goretex down expedition coat.
REI goose down goretex bibs.
Kelty Whte cloud 6500 pack
Warmlight Down filled air mattress

I am most fond of my homemade cook system. It's light, very compact, and is kind of cool as it turns into a storage container for firestarters, small bottle of fuel (quick trips), etc.

my jetboil i got from my grandfather for my bday. my first trip using the jetboil he died the same day
maxpedition pygmy falcon 2 pack, only one i have ever bought and havent used anything else
hennessy hammock, saved a friend's life and my back

My Western Mountaineering bags.
My Six Moons Designs Starlite pack.
My new Moment tarptent is sweet for a solo tent.
Our SMD Lunar Duo is my fav 2-person tent ever.
Salomon trail runners.
Marmot DriClime Wind shirt.
Every piece of Icebreaker that I own. Mmmmmm, wool.

Some things I just flat out enjoy:

GG Murmur backpack 8oz (mine is made w/ spinnaker)
Pepsi stove 0.3oz
GG Squall 2 man tent 24oz
Neoair 9oz
WM POD30 (17oz) or JacksRBetter Stealth (15oz)
GG LiteTrek 3 poles (2.4oz each)
Montbell Thermawrap Action Jacket (8oz) – lighter, warmer, more compact and-- almost as breathable as fleece. Sadly discontinued.


An item I ALSMOST enjoy is the GG polycro ground cloth. I just wish there was some material that light, water-proof, and tough but dries MUCH quicker.

-Barry

Osprey Atmos 65

I'm sure we've done this before! May have been several years ago, though.

Western Mountaineering Ultralite sleeping bag.
POE Insulmat Max Thermo (now Ether 6 Thermo) insulated air pad.
Tarptent/Gossamer Gear Squall Classic tent (designed by Tarptent, manufactured and sold by GG).
Six Moon Designs Comet Pack (since discontinued)
Old (2007 and prior) Montrail Hardrock trail runners, for which I'm still trying to find a replacement!
Primus Micron stove
Montbell UL Thermawrap jacket

my short titanium spork or my swiss army classic.

Western Mountaineering Megalite bag

Jetboil PCS

Western Mountaineering Highlite sleeping bag

Sea to Summit camp sink/basin - makes filtering water and doing the dishes very convenient

Thinking a bit more about this, provably the only piece of gear that I have not changed are my Black Diamond poles. I bought the cheapest available and they have done the job for years . (before that I though poles were a bit naff)
Recently I purchased a new pair but only because I had a gift voucher to spend, mind you I do like them better.
Franco

Just recently switched to Black Diamond from Leki, on the recommendation of a friend. I really like them so far; flick-lock adjustment is easy, quick, and secure.

#1 all-time favorite, my Hennessy hammock

#2 Gossamer Gear Mariposa backpack

#3 Zipka headlamp

#5 Custom homemade gear

CamperMom

I took an old RidgeRest pad and cut out a piece about 12" x 14" to use as a sit pad. When I eat lunch, or take a short sitting rest, or cook supper, I sit on it and my rear end is much happier. It is especially nice if I need to sit on streamside gravel. When I'm drawing water from a creek or lake, I often kneel on it and save my knees some grief.

While I'm hiking I wrap it around my Platypus 2L to keep the water inside cooler on warm days. And I use it for extra padding under my hip at night, beneath my Thermarest ProLite 3 pad, helping me to sleep better. I like good sleep!

And for all that non-flashy luxury and comfort, it weighs about 50 grams and cost a couple of bucks. I love my sit pad.

Once I got distracted and forgot it while on a side hike; when I got back to camp and realized it was missing, I hiked back 1.5 miles and 400 ft of elevation gain to retrieve it.

That sit pad is even better placed under your feet (inside the bag) on a cold night -- adds an amazing amount of warmth. Plenty of uses for an ounce of closed cell foam -- I won't hike without one.

Thats a great entry, I use the same thing winter BPing to sit and stand on one each (ground pulls the heat right through your boots without it)

Another entry from our website, called things we love to carry:

We don’t really carry many things that we don’t like, but we thought it would be a good idea to point our a few things that really seem to be great. These combine our four key criteria: they were cheap, light, multi-functional, and durable.

P’s 3 ½ inch Buck knife, with one pointy blade for cleaning fish, and a broader blade that we’ve used for everything from coring apples and cutting salami to shaving Romano cheese and spreading peanut butter. A beautiful knife made to last. 2.5 ounces.

Our cutting board—sliced out of a larger thin plastic cutting board we bought at a local supermarket. It’s flexible, fits in our bearbox, and keeps us from mashing the edge of the knife on rocks, logs, and slicing into our thighs. And it’s just big enough to hold two pieces of bread, so that we can assemble sandwiches on it. 0.5 ounces.

Our chairs—two pieces of an old closed-cell foam pad that P cut down to about 6X12 inches. We slide them into the bungies on the back of our packs, and use them both on the trail and in camp to make rocks and logs much softer on our old behinds. 2 ounces each.

Our tiny micro-lights, which put out a ton of light, weigh nothing, and come with both an elastic band for your head and a clip for the tent, shirt collar, etc. Truly light, bright, and clever. 2 ounces each.

Our Crocs—lightweight shoes that also fit in those bungie cords. We slip them on to cross streams, keeping our boot and socks dry. And we slip into them in camp, keeping our feet happy. And P has been known to use them to wade while he is fishing. 11 ounces. Worth it.

Our MSR “Pocket Rocket” stove. M is a chef, and she likes her BTUs. This tiny stove does a great job of heating water…and that’s really all we need when we use backpacking food. And it is really efficient—we use about a canister of gas a week on the trail. Sure, we are miserly with the amount of water we heat, and we don’t cook things that need to simmer…but still. Light, hot, and very cool. 3 ounces or so?

Our plastic Monmessin Beaujolais Nouveau bottle—a lightweight wine bottle that has been re-used many times to take a nice bottle of wine on a short trip. On longer trips, we don’t take wine—it’s too heavy.

#1-Warbonnet Blackbird, hands down the best hammock ever made (thanks, Brandon!!!!!).

#2-My Utilikilt and my old Stillwater synthetic blend kilt (have yet to really use my new Mountain Hardwear ElKomando Kilt).

#3-Two Custom made quilts... 26 oz. 30 degree ClimaShield Combat "Bigfoot" quilt:
http://www.freewebs.com/bigfoot2pictures/thebigfootquilt.htm
And my custom made dog quilt for my best friend (in photo stream):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31164103@N05/show/

#4-An old Open Country aluminum pot that i bought at St. Vinny's for $.99 ten years ago...lighter than any titanium pot at similar capacity and has an awesomely cool fold out handle.

#5-A toss up between my Golite Dome umbrella and my old Mora fixed blade knife (THE perfect survival knife, imho).

#6- Ursack spectra bear bag.

BF

Any lightweight dry sack.

Fresh para cord.

A good spork.

Lots of good stuff above but I really enjoy:

1. Coleman F1 Exponent stove (so elegant, 2.7oz and simmers)

2. Mountainsmith Ghost pack...medium light and indestructible)

3. Exped DownMat 7 - replacement for Stephensons DAM -heavy but dead comfy until the cactus invaded my tent!

4. Pearl Izumi eVent jacket - not the lightest at 12oz but a comfortable fit and really packable

5. OR Sombrero - form and function for the wetcoast in a few oz

Just for fun, that would by my wonderful wife.

wildthing, why did you get a exped downmat instead of another Stephenson DAM?

After about 22 years my Stevenson's DAM air valve started to leak and last night I pulled the valve completely off. They say they can replace it for $22 plus shipping so I hope I can use it in a hammock, its 19" wide at the foot and 28" wide at the shoulders and 80 inches long. I was glad to see some of the old catalog photos on the online catalog.
The DAM is one of my very favorite pieces.
my friend using my DAM for recreation. It makes a great boat because its big enough to get on without filling with cold water and its insulated so its warm even on a ice cold lake.

BPL TiWing esbit stove. (now available to the mass media thanks to light my fire and REI) have used mine for 5 years now and still going strong.

BPL 550 mug with handles

Zpack Zilch pack

And of all the tarps, tents and shelters I have. I love, love my SMD Lunar solo. (mine is the original old school one from 2005) I take it out at half a dozen times a year. It makes a great early spring and late fall shelter or if I just want to take it just because.

End2End trail gram weenie pro alcy stove.
By far the best one out of the couple of hundred I have used. It is a scoach below the BPL TiWing. And for those of you that know me, even to say I like and alcy stove let alone like cooking with one is a feat of itself.

DriDucks jacket. I use that thing all the time when I am out on the trail.

OK I'll stop there

I didn't get another DAM as I was not amused with the design flaws from the original valve to the baffles that allowed the down to slip down to one end. I also felt that it was too slippery compared with the Exped DownMat. It was also pretty heavy but prolly not a lot different than the DownMat. I think the bag and DAM weighed 5lbs with the lightweight top. My current setup weighs 4lbs and is more usable at a variety of temperatures and not as packable...but not more comfortable in the cold!

Like JimShaw, I had it for 20 years and although I used it a lot, its time had come. I phoned up Stephenson once to ask him about the troubles I was having with the WarmLite and the vapour barrier and the DAM and he was quite abusive. Sent him a letter and got a 4 page rant back.

Thanks! A down filled mat is on my long term wish list and I am trying to decided whether a Stephenson, an Exped, or a custom job from Bender would best suit my needs. It would be used for extreme cold winter and for my wife the rest of the year who sleeps really cold. From what you said, it sounds like I should take Stephenson off the list.

I would ask someone who has ordered one recently to give you a review. Stephenson fixed the valve and baffle problems but I don't know about the fabric slipperyness...and you can always drip a line or two of silynyon on it.

The best part of the DAM was it worked very well with the Warmlite bag for use in really cold weather. Used in that context, it might do very well what you're planning to do.

Umm, yeah, that IS kind of important!

Those kind of things, sometimes have the most meaning to a person. Even if you someday find a replacement, to the better, the one from your grandfather is special and can be used for other times than a real trek.

Taking the topic literally . . .
One of my "just for fun" items is a kite.

For fun I bring a frisbee.

Well, if fun is the criteria: my hiking buddy, Mike. He's got a great sense of humor (his working theory: you die, and I get your gear), and a really positive attitude ("you get hurt, I'm carrying your gear out.") He even makes hiking in the rain enjoyable. He likes using a camera (I don't, and he sends me a CD with the ones he takes.)And, as an ex-SEAL, he doesn't even notice my rock collection!

well I ment the topic was just for fun but thats ok

One of my favorite pieces of gear has to be my Ursack.

I got it a couple of years ago and the piece of mind it provides is priceless. What a lot of people don't realize about them is that they are good for keeping out mice, racoons and other critters. I do hike in bear country from time to time, but I use it even on overnights in lower Michigan.

G.Loomis 3wt graphite fly rod - those little mountain trout provide a lot of entertainment.

Patagonia Helium wind-shirt - I've had it six years now and it goes everywhere with me. So much packed into so little.

Canon 17-40mm lens - it pays my mortgage every single month.

+2 on the Exped Downmat 7.

I use it in my hammock and it allows me to get down in the low 20's.

I did have to go to ground last weekend and had my Exped. It made the night tolerable rather than miserable.

Tango61

Hello! new to the forum and psyched to start posting.

Fav gear: North Face Primero 60 backpack, cold steel recon scout knife

Yes, now that I think of it a nice Bush Buddy or Caldera Cone Tri Ti Inferno that burns buffalo chips or dried cow patties would rank high on my list - as opposed to, say an alky stove.

But then almost anything is hotter than alky...

Eric