Gear Grant Would Actually Buy Again

I have approximately $11,000 worth of gear in the gear room. I am going to tell you what I would actually buy if I were starting from the current knowledge, without the earlier purchases I made before the research was complete.

Definitely Repurchase

Garmin inReach Mini 2: Non-negotiable. The one piece of safety equipment that cannot be substituted. $349 plus the satellite plan is the most important spending in any outdoor kit. I would buy this first regardless of what else I owned.

Osprey Atmos AG 65: The pack that Linda said three words about. "This is the pack." Those three words represent more decisive evaluation than my six-week research process. I would buy it again.

Jetboil Flash: The most efficient per-gram cooking system I evaluated. I have made coffee with it in the backyard seventeen times to verify the boil time. The time is accurate. I would buy it again.

Black Diamond Spot 400 headlamp (See Grant's full review →): The only piece of lighting equipment I need and the only one I actually use on the neighborhood walks that constitute my primary outdoor activity.

Would Not Repurchase

The Arc'teryx Beta AR jacket. The specific performance improvement over the Patagonia Torrentshell does not justify the $420 price difference for my actual use pattern. The Torrentshell would have been sufficient and I own one already.

Two of the five rain jackets. One would have been adequate. The research was valuable. The second and third jacket were research conclusions rather than equipment needs.

The Western Mountaineering UltraLite sleeping bag is genuinely exceptional. I would repurchase it for a version of myself who goes on the trips I am planning. I am not yet that version of myself. The Kelty Cosmic Down 20 at $180 would have served the trips I have actually taken.