I saw the thread about bad gear purchases, and as I'm still building my own collection, I'm curious about what pieces of gear are your favorite purchases? What gear gets you excited every time you use it? What piece of gear would you purchase over and over again if you lost it?

For me, I bought an Osprey Talon 44 backpack last year, and I love it! Light, durable (especially for the thickness of its fabric), and it's bright orange. What about everybody else?

Five-Ten Guide tennies.

Three items:

A Camp Trails external frame backpack I bought about 1980. I've replaced the hipbelt and shoulder straps a few times, patched a few holes in the pack, but its still the most comfortable pack I own and the one I use the most.

A TNF Superlight sleeping bag bought around 1988. Nothing fancy, just a simple ripstop nylon shell insulated with 600-fill down. It's lost a little bit of its insulating power, but I still use it on spring and fall trips.

A SVEA 123 stove. No fuss, very few moving parts, very dependable. Not used that much any more, but still use it for a few backpack trips each year. Its a real conversation starter when I take it out of my pack and light it up.

1: Salmon Trail runners, i've literally had them for 3-5 years, put well over 150 miles on them and they are just now starting to look like they need replacement.

2: REI Half-Dome Tent, although primarily a car camping tent, i've pitched it for atleast 40-50 days, burnt a small hole in it, bent the poles, pitched it on broken glass/jagged rocks, in the shittiest of storms and it still stands strong. Not to mention I got it at the used gear sale for $87 w/o a flaw 4 1/2 years ago...

Salmon Trail runners, i've literally had them for 3-5 years, put well over 150 miles on them and they are just now starting to look like they need replacement.

Have to agree. My Comp3's (or whatever they're called) have been well worn and yet I feel like I could put another few hundred miles on them before the soles start showing any wear.

Also my old school Charlet Moser Super 12's. Heavy, Steel, Leather straps. Love em.

And beer.

Arcteryx Squamish pullover. I have three. Current version is now a jacket.

MH Trango 4 expedition tent. The only regular tent long enough for me. I've gone through three.

Montbell Thermawrap parka. Light, warm, great fit. I have two.

Smartwool expedition socks. The red and grey ones. I have three or four pairs.

Ridgrest foam mat. Light, simple, tough, warm. I've had three or four.

OR Crocodile gaiters. I've had three or four pairs.

Marmot Windshirt. Breathes well, resists wind and light precipitation, inexpensive. A true softshell.

Manzella Silkweight Windstopper gloves. These things fold into nothing, yet are windproof, very water resistant, grippy and incredibly comfortable. I don't know if I would climb with them- I don't know if they are made for all that high stakes friction- but for biking and hiking and throwing snowballs they work great!

And like I said, they are so light and thin you wouldn't believe they are so warm and tough

R1 Hoody. There's lots of gear I love, but it stands out above all else.

Patagonia wool 2 zip. I wear this thing constantly, from -20 F to 70 F. It's easily the most versatile base I've ever used.

Rab Neutrino Endurance. 22oz, packs down to the size of a cantaloupe, stuff sack is perfect for hanging on a harness, and the warmth is just phenomenal. Anything warmer would be overkill for the lower 48.

Osprey Variant 52. Every feature you really need on a mountaineering pack, and zero you don't. Great suspension, tool/gear loops on the hip belt (and ice clipper slot!), best crampon pouch I've seen, narrow bottom doesn't get in the way, nice compression system, 3.5lb, and well under two bills.

Granite Gear Air Bloc Solid compression sack. Super-light, as light as many non-compression sacks. But, it does the job well, and the square shape fits pack bottoms much better than normal sacks.

REI's expedition long underwear. Light, warm and durable. I wear the top all the time as if it were a fleece sweater.

Arc'Teryx Seeker Pants - The perfect softshell pants. They have just the right number of pockets and a nice cut that is never restrictive because the fabric stretches nicely. Very water repellent and always breathable. I've used them on just about every excursion this winter and with the right layering my legs are always comfy.

bryangast wrote:REI's expedition long underwear. Light, warm and durable. I wear the top all the time as if it were a fleece sweater.

The expedition mts is amazing. I wear mine around as well all the time. When I know I'm going to wake up pre-dawn to surf I sleep in them and go right from bed to the car wihtout getting cold. Definitely on my list. Too bad they aren't bringing it back for next winter, have something else that looks good but just not the same.

North Face Apex Aerobic hoody - camouflage print for stealth fly fishing maneuvers and breathes like no other and looks so steezy. I like hiking with it as well, especially in winter because it breathes well even with the hood on, looks good, and keeps the sun off me when I have the hood up.

MSR Denali Ascents - I sit at my desk late into the night with my Ascents in my lap just reading TRs of places I want to take my slowshoes. Way better then the evos by the way in my opinion, wider and can hold 8" tails.

REI Down Booties - These things are un-believable, they're way puffier and warmer than any of the other down booties I tried and they have a nice high cuff. There's nothing like coming down from a summit with damp clammy feet and drying them off int he tent and throwing on the down booties.

Thermos - I have a 1l thermos that has revolutionized alpine starts. I fill it up with coffee the night before and make sure that all my stuff is in order and ready to go. When I wake up I fish my thermos out of my sleeping bag and lay in my bag and drink hot coffee. A few minutes later I'm warmed and energized from the coffee and ready to brave the cold. It makes alpine starts so much easier, enjoyable, and earlier.

Outdoor Research Sun Runner Cap - I think I bought 4 of these. Indispensible whether hiking in Death Valley or climbing Denali, giving both sun and wind protection. All thanks to the chin cord being attached to the sun skirt (so it won't flap in the wind) and not the cap....

Millet Windshell jacket.....got it last year when I was pretty unfamiliar with gear companies other than TNF, Columbia etc. All I knew was I wanted a "softshell" and I found it cheap online so I got it. I've bought other jackets of many kinds since then but the Windshell is my standby for almost everything. It's actually what I'm wearing in my profile pic on here.....it blocks the wind beautifully (I have trouble believing Gore Windstopper could perform better, but I haven't tried WS yet so maybe I'm just unenlightened), and has a high collar that's great for zipping up against the wind. Pit zips are included. I wear it comfortably with a long sleeved layer underneath until it gets down below freezing sometimes as well. It's a great buy.

Salomon XA Pro GTX trail runners. I was born with clubbed feet, and after two surgeries my feet are still as flat as anyone you'll find. Finding a good pair of shoes isn't easy for me as I pronate badly in most from the get-go, and all by the time I've put them to good use. The XA Pro's with Gore-Tex are definitely one of the most supportive shoes I've worn, and remain that way today. Only thing I need to do is find a good shoe cleaner that won't ruin the waterproof of the Gore-Tex. I'd buy another pair any day of the week. If they support my feet you can bet they will yours.

Eddie Bauer First Ascent Downlight sweater. Got this for Christmas and used it as my primary jacket for the rest of what was an unusually bitter winter. It's 800 fill premium european goosedown, fits comfortably and stylishly enough to wear around town without looking like the Michelin Man and pretty water resistant. (I was walking on campus one day in it and some light rain began to fall, making the jacket appear soaked and by the time I had made it 150 yards inside the library it was bone dry) All that for less than $200....probably one of the best deals on a puffy you'll ever find. When I put it on my Christmas list I figured if it's good enough for Ed Viesturs then it's good enough. I don't know for sure how every one of FA's other jacket's measure up to their competitors but one thing is for sure: Eddie Bauer knows how to do down as well as anyone out there (I'd put my downlight against Western Mountaineering's product any day). Only gripe is it would sometimes be nice if it had a hood.

Osprey Talon 33. Like you said with your 44, it's an awesome pack. It's very comfortable loaded up with 30 lbs. of junk, water resistant, and lightweight. I'd pay what I paid for it again if the color I wanted wasn't discontinued and on sale for half the price now!

Stearns waterproof-breathable rain shell. This isn't a flashy Arcteryx Alpha or Beta series, but it works pretty well if you don't want to spend a couple or three or four or five hundred dollars on a rain shell. It's not light, it's more than a bit over built and it's nowhere near as pretty turned inside out as it's more expensive counterparts, but at $40 or $50 no one should expect it to be. I wanted to throw the thing in the trash once I started to become educated about gear and learned of Arcteryx, Mammut, etc. but I'm a college student and I've had the thing for 4 or 5 years and when I started wearing it for the first time in years I was reminded it does the job just fine for what I need currently (and with bigger fish to fry, I have no reason to be buying a new rainshell of any kind). Once I'm out of school and hopefully able to pursue the mountaineering thing a little more fully I'll probably invest in something bearing the dead bird on the chest but for now this little cheap-o quick buy for a Colorado trout fishing trip works probably as well as some jackets costing two or three times as much. I've never been damp from rain or sweat. If you have the means don't even think about it, go get something fancier that will actually fit in a loaded pack, but if you need a good waterproof, breathable hooded jacket that doesn't need to withstand a terrible beating, and your funds are a bit limited this thing isn't a bad choice. (although now I would probably break out the extra $60 and get the Marmot Mica)