Keep in mind that while i have quite a bit of hiking / camping / outdoor experience, I don't have a lot of experience with finding gear(I inherited a lot of mine).

I have found that when you are on the bleeding edge of anything you are usually paying a premium. You are also usually paying to do the "beta" testing of that product.
You are the one that gets to find, and live with, the flaws that weren't caught in test conditions.

Typically I will buy what I say is "right behind the curve". Products that have proven usability and are finally out of that "premium, shiny new" red zone on cost.

Yea you can buy the latest greatest stuff, but if you buy something 6 months old it typically will work nearly as well at much less the cost.

I assume that this probably doesn't apply nearly as well to backpacking gear as it does to computers, but I have found that the principal more or less stays true.