Looking for A Spreadsheet

[diego dean]

Hi all…

Im looking for a gear spreadsheet. This is my situation. I am heading up a small group, 6-7 people on an upcoming trip to the boundary waters. I already have much of the gear that will be needed, both for personal use and group use.

Im looking for a way to organize what I already have, and what will be needed so that other members of the group can purchase these items. I would like a good way to present this information to the group in the form of a spreadsheet with listed weights and costs. It would be great if there was an easy way to copy and paste images found on the internet next to items on the spreadsheet and maybe a way to link the websites where they can be found.

I know that this would need to be a highly tailored spreadsheet, but I figure if anybody knows where to find it, it would be you guys. I am willing to pay for access if the quality of the spreadsheet is good enough, but free is always welcome too.

Maybe there are already spreadsheets that can be used on this forum, and I will need to renew my subscription to use them, if so, please advise me.

Thanks for any input.

[Jace Mullen]

You may be able to make the geargrams program work fro your needs.

It can now be exported to a pdf. I love that program myself, I have been using it since only a few days after it came out.

[Justin Brennan]

Here is one I made.. Pretty simple/no bells and whistles, but I think it will work for what you want, minus the pictures.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApHmSUFrdzzqdHQzbl82clRGNGdBN2p1X0JQd1JfZlE

[Nick Gatel]

Building a spreadsheet should be pretty simple. My kids learned how to do this in junior high. Keep in mind I am an old fart who likes slide rules but taught myself how to use spreadsheets.

To copy an image from the Internet:
Right Click the image and choose "Copy Image"
Now go to your spreadsheet Right Click and choose "Paste" (CTRL-V works too).

For Links:
Copy the ULR in the bar at the top of your browser by highlighting the address, Right Click and choose "Copy" (CTRL-C works too).
Go to your spreadsheet click on a cell, Right Click and choose "Copy" (CTRL-V works too).

If you want to Edit the Link to show text instead of a long URL, Right Click the hyperlink you just created by pasting the URL, choose "Edit Hyperlink" and in the top box labeled "Text to display" enter the text you want to use.

These instructions work for Excel for Windows. Listing the weights and costs is a pretty simple spreadsheet.

[David Diaz]

Hi, I might have exactly what you're looking for. After many months of work, I released this just yesterday for testing: http://www.weighmygear.com/

As you'll see, it's an online pack-weight calculator based upon a checklist system. On top of that, it's connected to a fairly large database (over 6000 items) of weight values for some of the most popular outdoor gear on the market. So, all you need to do is click on items in the lists, and they'll be added to your virtual pack. Of course, the collective weight gets added automatically. Now, if you have some gear that's not in the database, no problem, you CAN enter your own gear. Just type in its name, size (optional) and weight, click on the arrow button (next to the weight) and it will be added to your pack.

This tool is 100% free, and you do not need to register to use the basic pack-weight calculator. However, if you do choose to register, you'll get some extra features, including the ability to save up to 5 different gear lists, print your gear lists, and share your lists via email.

Please feel free to try it out. I noticed in your original post, though, you're doing a Boundary Waters trip, and this app does not currently have paddling equipment, nor does it have spaces in the checklists for it. So, I'm afraid, for this particular trip of yours, it may not completely meet your needs, but in general, I hope you find it to be helpful.

I'd be very interested in your (and everyone's feedback) if you'd like to provide it.

Many thanks!

Dave D.

[diego dean]

Hey David,

Just checking out your site and it looks like it holds alot of promise, especially if you are willing to take some comments and make changes to your site. Just running through the whole things now, but I like the overall idea and especially the data base. Im guessing that if you add your own item thats not in the data base, it will then be stored for future use for others?

Ill check it out some more and then give you some thoughts. Thanks for putting this together.

[David Diaz]

Diego,

Many thanks for your feedback. Yes, I am very open to suggestions. I really want to make this work. In fact, I've already added several more great features, just over the past few days, based entirely upon suggestions received in this and similar forums, including the "Share via Email" feature.

Regarding adding your own gear, yes, user-submitted gear will ultimately be added to the community database, upon approval/verification of our staff. Our approval process is 2 steps:

Step 1. Our staff quickly scans user-submitted entries, looking for obvious problems or inaccuracies, such as 100lb sleeping bags, profanity, etc. Gear that passes this filter step is added to the community list, but it listed at the very bottom, in yellow. This indicates the item is an unverified user entry.

Step 2. Once our staff has more time to verify the weight with the manufacturer, we'll bump it up into the main list.

Keep the comments (and questions) coming, if you have them. Thanks!

[Colin Parkinson]

overly complex to do simple thing.

Also only carriers recent gear and no cottage industry stuff.

Keep working on it.

[David Diaz]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for your comments. Funny, I've received a lot of other comments saying how surprised folks were to see how many cottage industry products we had in the database, including nearly-full lines by ZPacks, Ultralight Adventure, Light Heart and TarpTent, as well as an increasing number of user-submitted items, like the Esbit wing stove, a Super Cat stove, etc. So, sorry to disagree, but I think the phrase "no cottage industry stuff" is a bit inaccurate.

Please let us know what other cottage manufacturers you'd like to see added, and we'd be happy to do so… really.

As far as the database only containing current products, yes, we're aware it's a current limitation. We know it's just scratching the surface. We just released this test version a few weeks ago, and we figured 6000 items was a decent start for people to begin testing the functionality of the app. We intend to add 5000 – 10000 products each year, including the retro-entry of as many past/older products as we can. Also, the user-submissions have been higher than we expected, and most of those items are older.

Thanks again for your feedback!

[. .]

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing your site – it has a nice interface and is easy to use. I look forward to fiddling with it further.

A couple of key popular companies to add products from:
– Mountain Laurel Designs
– Six Moon Designs

By the way – great, clean, concise terms of service and privacy statement. Please keep it that way.

[David Diaz]

Hi a gould,

Many thanks for your comments. I'm glad you find the interface easy to use.

Also, thanks for the company suggestions. Actually, I received an amazing personal message in response to that earlier today. The message included a fairly long list of cottage industry manufacturers, along with their URLs, and both MLD and SMD were in that list. It's a tremendous help in getting this app up to speed for a greater number of people. We'll be entering those manufacturers just as quickly as we can.

And thanks, again, for your comment on our Terms of Use document. You've been the first to comment on it, but since you did, I'll just say we do intend to keep as simple as possible.

[Author]

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