Total money spent on gear

"I don't own a cell phone, but I'm not shocked that people do. I don't know what the typical cost of a cell phone is, but I imagine that a few years of coverage would cover most of my gear (and I get to keep my gear)."

A lot, at least if you own an iPhone. I've got about the cheapest iPhone plan, and that's a bit over $85 a month.

But I love my iPhone, and it's part of my backpacking gear! Why! Because, since it replaces so many other things, it's actually UL! :-)

I use TomTom on my iPhone to get me to and from the trailhead, I have a couple of field manuals on there that can assist in an emergency situation, a first aid program that shows me how to handle different first aid situations. I've got a program on there that shows me different knots and how to tie them (since I'm still learning knots), I've got a program on there that orients to the sky so I can lean back and gaze at the stars and know what I'm gazing at. The camera has shown itself quite good enough for trail shots (for me, anyway). Games if I want to idle away time waiting for others to catch up to me. Trail maps. Rudimentary GPS. And much more. I love it!

Douglas: Regarding the iPhone, did you see the post a while back about an app that helps identify flowers. Sounds really cool to me (not just flowers, but trees, rocks, etc.). Of course, too much of that and you have trouble making much progress ("hold up guys, I want to identify this bug…").

Posters here are too bashful, hehe. I'd be proud too if I had only spent a thousand bucks on gear. What I've actually spent I'd rather not say (you can't prove it anyway! ha!), but I'll give a quick inventory…

If I look at what's in my closet, the most expensive things I see are two nice down sleeping bags ($300 each), a synthetic bag ($150), two down jackets ($150 and $110), one solo tent($220), one 2-man tent($130), 3 backpacks ($110, $120, $170), a few tarps ($175, $80), some lightweight goretex rain gear ($110, $120) and a lot of smaller things($???). If I add up just the big things, it comes to around $2200.

I know I've spent more than that on gear because of what I'm not counting–all the gear I've sold. A lot of my gear I purchased used as well, so even though I've maybe shelled out XXXX amount, I've been able to recover a good deal of that to "reinvest" in other gear.

On NeoAirs, Sublite and a WM Ultralight… More than my monthly income.

ouch

Now do you want to talk gear "closet" or one kit? If you are talking "closet" – I'm in trouble :) (less trouble than it used to be though)

I'll bite. The closet…

When I started getting serious about backpacking at the age of 13 in 1977, I spent £40 on a 4lb 4oz tent. This was a big sum of money back then, but that tent served me well for 8 years. I froze in an ancient feather sleeping bag that first winter, and saved up to buy a new down bag, which I grew out of two years later.

For each item if my backpacking rig I just put up with using heavy old kit until I could afford the best lightest thing on the market. It used to give me something to think about of an evening camped high in the mountains: Which will save more weight with the next £40 I can spare, ditching the primus stove and buying a good gas stove, or ditching the canvas Karrimor rucksack and pack frame, and buying a Berghaus frameless pack, or ditching the oilskin sou'wester and getting a neoprene lined jacket.

The important thing is to get out there with what you have, and learn more about what you need.

I have been waiting for you to chime in Jonathan
Mike

@Jeff,
not one upmanship, honest answers.
Mike

In the past year, I've spent $0 on gear…unless you count fuel, sunscreen, and other consumables.

However, in that same time, I've logged about 1800 miles, and roughly 40 nights in the backcountry.

Admittedly though, I've got thousands of dollars into gear, especially if you include ski and/or mountaineering stuff. But the good thing about buying good gear is that you really don't need to buy it very often…unless you're a junkie.

I'm not going to compete with Jonathan, even after the latest purge.
My problem (if you can call it that)- I have 8 kids, 4 to 5 still at home and I'm able to outfit all of them and my wife for a hiking trip (without loaning out 1 of my WM bags). I have it in 4 different closets. I can't remember all my gear, just the stuff I currently use. Its hard to put a price tag on all that stuff. Do I add it all up or just the stuff currently in use? Most of it is Lightweight, do you only count the lightweight stuff or all of it?
BTW, I have 3 kelty packs that are almost new and haven't been use in about 4 years- any takers?

My take on gear is- how cheap/inexpensive I can get the stuff for. I don't have the resources to purchase that much equipment for full retail so I am always on the hunt for a good/great deal. Lately with the way the economy has effected my job, I've missed out on some great stuff that has come up on "gear swap". I hope Douglas holds off letting some of his stuff go until I can get things turned around ( I missed Jonathan's purge).

Spruce Goose- your the Man- that is an average of 45 mile per day- super job!

Just backpacking gear is not that bad. But If I count rock climbing, ice climbing, and skiing gear… It is painful.

>>Spruce Goose- your the Man- that is an average of 45 mile per day- super job!<<

Not all the miles were logged while backpacking. There were a "few" day hikes in there, too. ;-)

I'm surprised at how low some of these figures are! I can't actually tally a figure and I just spent a good few minutes trying to guesstimate. The only result? I got sad. Yes, that's the feeling exactly. My guesstimate is that I'm somewhere over $15,000 (that's all gear that I take out backpacking, camping or multiday backcountry snow sports). I've been obsessed with backpacking since I was 6 years old and now 19 years later I've got a lot of gear. I've also bought mainly heavily discounted gear ever since I started working. I've had days out where i've looked down and counted the cost of just my clothing to be well upwards of $1,000.

It's very easy to spend more money on gear. Right now I'm going through the end of summer decision making process. Do I want to get a job so that I can buy more gear for the CDT in 2010, or should I continue to play outdoors for the next 7 months and not buy new gear. I'm leaning heavily towards not working :)

Way too much! Just counting my sleeping bags, packs and tents. Sleeping bags-WM Linelite, Highlite, Megalite, Versalite, Summerlite, Tamarack, Caribou, Iroquois, Apache, Ultralite, Antelope, Dakota, Puma, Bighorn.
Packs-ULA Catalyst, Circuit, Conduit, Ohm, Relay. Gossamer Gear Miniposa and Murmur. Osprey Aether 60, 75, 90, Talon 33, Atmos 35 and 50. Gregory Windriver, Forester, Shakra, Gpack. Tents-Tarptent Squall 2, Rainbow, Contrail, Scarp 1. Gossamer Gear One, Spinnshelter, Spinntwin, Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo and Wild Oasis. MH Airjet, Waypoint 1, Annapurna, Trango 2, PCT 1, Kiva and Stingray. BA SL 1. Golite Hex 3. Etowah Outfitters 6×10, 8×10 and 10×10.

Assorted shell jackets and pants, stoves, down jackets, vests and pants, fleece jackets, synthetic jackets, vests and pants. Shoes, gaiters, poles, gloves, booties, hats, long underwear.

Roger C said: "But hey – we don't smoke and don't drink (apart from a glass of red with dinner), and we don't eat out, so we figure that we probably live more cheaply than many. And we don't live on debt.
So what is money for anyhow? Leaving in the Will?"

And that pretty much sums up our situation too. Even MYOG costs a lot when you are buying high tech and high quality materials, but worth every penny to have so much lighter packs. I personally wouldn't go into debt to upgrade my gear though, as my old stuff works just fine too, just weighs more.

Can't even begin to put a price on it though, as I've been trying to lighten up my pack slowly for decades. I got my first WM Ultralite probably 18 years ago, and a couple of years after that I got (and quickly sold) my first bottomless bag (poor design, poor materials). But it weighed only 850 grams which at the time was unheard of! A few years after that I bought a MacPac Ascent pack (the first year they came out) as it was the first 55 litre pack I'd ever seen under 2kg. AND it was really comfortable and indestructibly tough. The there was the MacPac Minaret tent many moons ago. A two person double-skinned tent that was virtually bombproof for 2.5kg was a revolutionary breakthrough at the time. I had that tent for 12 years of regular use and the only things that went wrong with it were the zipper pulls needed replacing twice.

Oh yes, I've spent a lot :(

Robert C. your list is insane! Are you a collector or something. That looks like every model that WM has!

I don't have that much gear really. A few packs, a tarp, a tent, a bivy, a few stoves… I would say if I had more money that I could easily spend $800 this year alone. However, I don't think I would spend that much every year. Things always get better and more gear will always be there for me to buy, and I love that! Learning about and trying gear is really fun and I love the knowledge it gives me.

Oh, and Douglas, I hope you really will contact me first if you decide to sell it! :-)

Can't wait for the winter gear purges! I got a raise at work! :-D

I like backpacking because it is a cheap hobby. Yeah gear is expensive, but it can last a very long time. My current kit I have probably $800-$1,000. Over my lifetime I have probably not spent over $2,000.

I can drop $1,000 in vegas easy, not including the penicilin prescription a month later haha just kidding.

You want an expensive hobby?

Try desert pre-runner trucks! Even building everything myself is extremely expensive. Over $5,000 Later my truck is 1/4 of the way done….probably more like an 1/8… I am not wealthy by any means either, I am electrician for god sakes!

The money on my backpacking kit is an investment. All I need to come up with to go and have a good time is the cost of food and gas.

> My problem (if you can call it that)- I have 8 kids, 4 to 5 still at home

Which makes the cost of gear seems trivial!

Cheers

Just 2 kids 24 years apart, the only hand me down was the red wagon.
If I didn't get gear doggie disease I would never buy anything. The only pack I "had" to replace was because a porcupine chewed the straps off and I still repaired it and gave it to a scout.
I'm sure glad no one asked how much we've spent on bicycles and parts.
I wouldn't put that number down for fear my spousal unit might inadvertantly read it. I don't want to set a new record for nights spent out for that reason.

"Way too much! Just counting my sleeping bags, packs and tents. Sleeping bags-WM Linelite, Highlite, Megalite, Versalite, Summerlite…"

Hey Robert, with winter coming on you really should sell me your Summerlite..!

Thanks for understanding Roger-
I pay more a month on Healthcare Insurance then most of the people posting here spend a year on gear- I guess I could bring that up on Chaff?

Nah Jack. I just can't seem to pass up a good deal on a great product. I've gotten all my WM bags on sale or at a discount. Of course I don't need that many, but it is nice to have options. As far as packs go, I'm always trying to get "the perfect fit". I've actually sold more packs then I currently have. Same goes for tents. I still have a few packs and tents that I want to get rid of.

What's with all the protestations? Unless you're all feeling guilty from spending someone's college fund, or because you don't use your 18 (!!) tents, gear away, brah.

In my experience it's the little items which add up, I spent $200 on odds and ends for Le Parcour next month, all absolutely vital of course. ;) Then again, some of the items going on that trip are homemade, and some of the clothing pieces are almost ten years old.

I can also gaaar-un-teee that I've got more money in the two mountain bikes than in backpacking gear.