As a general comment on the wide availability of really good gear at not-too-unreasonable prices nowadays, I'd say everything I've used worked well for me this year.

As far as some specifics:

Gravity water filters: As a committed pump user, I was a little skeptical about these, until a friend convinced me to try the Sawyer Squeeze; I later toyed with the Platypus Gravityworks. Both worked extremely well, and neither gave me any problems. I think I prefer the Squeeze, because you don't have all the hoses to fiddle with. On the other hand, it's easier to fill the dirty bladder on the Gravityworks. The Squeeze has a smaller pore size, which is theoretically better - though I'm not sure there's any significant difference in the field, at least with US water sources. (Overseas might be a different story.)

Big Agnes Helinox Passport 115cm hiking poles - that's a mouthful! These look a bit flimsy, since they don't have those beefy twist or flick-lock mechanisms along the pole; instead, you just have a nice, smooth pole. In use, they're remarkably sturdy - I've gotten them jammed between rocks, and put a lot of weight on them, and they never threatened to bend or break. At twelve ounces per pair, they're lighter than any other poles I've used (including a set of MSR carbon fiber poles), and they break down into a very compact, stowable bundle. They're not adjustable - but then, I really never changed the length on my adjustable poles during a hike, so, for my purposes, adjustability is a "gee-whiz" factor that simply adds weight but no function. These poles were a very, very pleasant discovery.

Osprey Atmos 50 pack - I tried the original version of this pack, when it first came out, and didn't really like it; it just never fit right, and the somewhat-exposed frame always dug into my shoulder blades. This year, they changed the suspension, making it adjustable, and the difference was astounding. Now that the pack actually fits me, it's turned out to be the most comfortable pack I've ever used. At three and a half pounds, it's arguably a bit overkill for the 15 pounds of gear, food, and water I usually carry - but, for those longer trips I take every year or two, carrying an extra 10 pounds of food and water, plus some warm clothing, it's just right. I really like the external pockets, which remind me of the "sausage" pockets on my old Dana Designs Terraplane and are just as useful. This pack seems to be a hybrid capturing the best features of external and internal frame designs - and maybe just renders meaningless the argument about which style is better.

There is one item that the jury is still out on, because I haven't had it long enough to form an opinion yet: the Big Agnes Fly Creek 2 Platinum tent. This two-person tent, at two pounds, weighs almost three quarters of a pound less than the Copper Spur one-person tent it may replace. The extra room is really nice, almost palatial, and it appears (after a couple of small rainstorms) to be just as weatherproof as any other tent I've used. However, the material is definitely a lighter silnylon than most tents. It's no lighter than some silnylon tarps I've used, so durability of the canopy is not a concern. However, the use of the same light material for the floor is still a big question mark regarding durability. It's light enough that I've usually been carrying a footprint, in case I can't find a completely smooth place to pitch it. (Not a problem so far - I've deliberately chosen trips with designated, groomed backcountry campgrounds for my initial trips with the tent, because of my concerns about the floor.) But, the combination of tent and footprint (which I can use for other things, like a groundcloth for sitting on wet ground) is still nearly half a pound lighter than the one-person Copper Spur without a footprint. I'm also finding that it's taking a bit of adjustment to go from a side-entry tent to an end-entry tent, but it's an easier adjustment than I anticipated. So, I'm still not sure whether this tent will make the final cut, but it's a definite contender.