Cheapest Lightest Full Backpacking Kit

I saw a dude on YouTube create a cheap and lightweight kit.  Maybe look on there?

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/21443/

https://pmags.com/300-gear-challenge

https://macon.me/shoestring

30 seconds on Google.

The Google knows all!

It can’t be cheapest and lightest. It can be one or the other or it can represent your idea of the best trade-off between the two.

Cheapest and lightest?
Space blanket tarp, Op-Shop jumper (tied around waist), plus 2lb of cheese, empty Coke can as a cup and pot & box of matches inside the rolled up jumper (or in cargo pants pockets).

NO trekking poles, but optionally a sharpened straight stick with a burnt end.

And before you rubbish the hell out of this, ask yourself what did our ancient forebears carry? Note that most of these items are (relatively speaking) quite hi-tech.

Cheers

Cheapest and lightest?  Probably the Hobo Bindle Stick—

What, no DCF?

That Critter guy said he would just rustle up some leaves under a tree for shelter.

He dead*

*prolly

That should be easy enough by keeping it simple and buying used. There’s tons of excellent used gear sold here that can often times be had for approx half the cost of new. For example: Figure out the type of sleeping bag you want, and post a WTB ad here stating that you are looking for specific models or similar.

As far as a backpack…keep it simple. You start out with a simple, light pack that didn’t cost a lot to begin with, then buy it used.

If you can tolerate sleeping on a thin closed cell foam pad, great. They are light and very cheap! If not, use the above advice: Buy used.

You can make your own stove from a cat food can for under $1.

Clothes? Thrift stores are brimming with all manner of synthetic clothes from off brands to Patagonia. $1-$6 per piece is fairly common where I’m at.

Rain: Frogg Toggs makes light and inexpensive suit. Or get a poncho, used.

Cooking pot: Used titanium… or aluminum is much cheaper.

Keep it all simple to save weight and cost.

Is it my imagination or has the prices of outdoor equipment taken a giant leap, ever since the tariff situation? I was browsing the REI website, looking at backpacking tents and it seemed to me that the prices were quite a bit higher than before the tariff situation.

Cheap, assuming the most “backpacking” 3-season-ish applications*, .. may be an Osprey Talon 44 (on sale and can carry a BV500 vertically) with MYOG quilt + tarp, maybe bivy, then a foam pad, UNIQLO baselayers, etc..  (IMHO, off the top of my head, etc.. ).  Add a neck opening to the quilt and you got a “puffy” for around camp.  Trying to whittle that down to the lightest would put one into the “Ray-Way” system. YMMV.

* A black Talon could be used for travel and there’s that guarantee (within limits of course .. read normal wear and tear isn’t covered)

+1 to JR’s comment.

You also need to bound the problem statement by defining the boundary of the kit, I would say limit it to the big three: shelter + backpack + sleep system

This exercise would be more interesting if it were something like:

Lightest kit for < $200 shelter plus backpack plus sleep system

Lightest kit for < $400

Gear available and or accessible  at bricks and mortar retail and/or web outlets including your local Army surplus store as well as Wallmart.

BTW this type of article has appeared before….

Missing: temp/conditions.

has the prices of outdoor equipment taken a giant leap, ever since the tariff situation?

Any excuse to put the prices up of course.

And it can’t be due to the tariffs because Trump said China would be paying them, not America.

Cheers

.. tariff ..

Think most big box packs and many garments are made in Vietnam.  I answered the question imagining being a broke college student with what I know now.

Of course my back is a few decades removed from college years, so when I look at the Talon or any other framed pack, The Rolling Stones’ “Beast of Burden” plays in my head.

$ – wise, I’ve seen a few young section hikers this year using Osprey Stratos and Kestrel type packs in the 36L-ish range.  Read Osprey just uses main compartment for their volume measurement (vs most cottages which add the open pockets as well), so their packs may carry a little more than stated

Osprey just uses main compartment for their volume measurement
Which is a LOT more honest than some well-known cottage companies. In my survey of framed packs
https://backpackinglight.com/lw_internal_frame_packs_part_1a/
https://backpackinglight.com/lw_internal_frame_packs_part_1b/
https://backpackinglight.com/lw_internal_frame_packs_part_1c/
https://backpackinglight.com/lw_internal_frame_packs_part_2/
I found at least one company which measured each pocket in isolation, and fully stuffed, to come up with a quite fraudulent claim for the total.

Cheers

Roger, those articles are badly dated. Many (most) of the packs are not even available anymore. Some brands are not even mentioned and have sprouted up since 2010: HMG, Gossamer Gear, for some examples. It is in need of updating, I think. ‘Corse, I am sure you can find some of the stuff still available used.

There seems a severe dichotomy between cheap, functional type backpacking, and, general lightweight backpacking. Some is both, but for how long? And, how comfortable will you be on a two week hike?

Durability is something that is also factored in to what we do and is not even mentioned. We expect a cheap mylar tarp to fail after 3-4 nights. A cheap 30F synthetic sleeping bag can be had for $29 but only lasts about half a year. With the assumption I can get about 10 years out of my down quilt (a rather low life span,) it is far cheaper to purchase the high quality down quilt at ~$30/yr vs. the $58/yr for the “cheap” synthetic wally-world specials. The mylar tarps were mentioned, but after a couple nights in 40F, rainy, windy weather, I would much rather have a larger tarp and relegate the mylar to ground cloth duty just for comfort. If the mylar lasts only 4 nights and I need to replace it at $1 fifteen times to hit my average 60nights per year, then this is outrageously expensive. My MYOG shaped tarp cost ~$58 and will last for a typical 10 years, or, about $6/yr. Not the $15/yr for a smaller, less durable, less reliable mylar tarp. (This is discounting the constant battle to get a replacement on a 2 week hike.)

Yes, it is often lighter to carry “one trip” items. But, would you realistically say you can survive a night of windy, wet, 30F weather under an emergency blanket and WANT to repeat the experience? We need to be a little more real.

Emylene put an “upset” figure on her pack kit of $500. But it is difficult to say whether any of this gear will hold up after one year. Or through a single winter trip. I have an older Backpackinglight Ti Spoon. It cost me $20 at the time. I still use it with the cost going down each year. I would suggest, rather, to get one high quality item, say a good 20F quilt, then purchase other gear to stick within the $500 limit used. The following year, she can keep only the quilt, and buy a good tent, pack and pad. Something that will last 3-5 years. The third year, she can get a good stove, light, hiking staff, rain gear, down jacket, etc. By the end of the fifth year, she will have a good kit, even if some of the items are getting older.

In essence, and without more info and trail-time parameters from Emylene, she is asking an impossible to answer question. Durability, reliability, functionality, and overall comfort are all ignored. None of these has a good answer for dollars or weight or durability or … indeed we discuss this all the time, here. My vote would be to get as good as you can afford, make do till next year with less durable gear. Quality has a big initial price tag. But, in most cases, it is justified over a ten year life cycle. I don’t think I have purchased anything in the past 3 years. And, my base for three season weather (above 32F) is still less than 10 pounds. I also have a couple items in my kit that are well over 40 years old. And no, you cannot buy them anymore.

I like watching the BPL minds go to work. Basically, I’m looking at a three season kit which has some of the best and brightest solutions for lightweight economy gear to get a beginner started and teach some of us ‘old dogs’ new tricks. Maybe some of the downsides and caveats of gear on a budget from experience (without having my own experience 😂)

Another thought is the SMD Gatewood Cape (poncho tarp) for $135 USD; use as a mid, and probably last longer than a number of rain jackets, meaning that cost only occurs once.

Only thing to wait on is seeing if it gets released in sil-poly.

@James
Roger, those articles are badly dated. Many (most) of the packs are not even available anymore.
Well, yes: it is labelled a ‘State of the Market Report’ after all. And obviously, the ‘market’ of 2010 is different from that of today.

But the packs themselves were NOT the point I was making. Rather, I was making the point that some small manufacturers in that survey had seriously cheated in their volume measurements. They had measured the stuffed-full volume of each pocket separately and then added them all up.

You simply cannot expect to get that much in a pack in reality. Once the main bag is full, there is a real limit to what you can put in a subsidiary pocket. In some cases the subsidiary pockets looked large but owing the way they were cut they could not hold much more than a pair of liner gloves. That was fraud, imho.

On the other hand, buying ‘good gear’ is never a waste. The only remaining problem is deciding just what IS ‘good gear’. The eyes of the beholder? Or maybe the real (practical) needs of the user? There are some gear categories for which I have many items – but I never use any of them. Just bling.

Cheers

Cheers

Roger, I’m curious why that’s cheating. The measurement is “the pack’s volume.” Why should pockets automatically be excluded from that? I’m not saying they necessarily should be included but rather that there isn’t a standard definition, and pockets are part of the pack after all, so it’s open to some interpretation. I do agree with your underlying point that a standard definition, and companies adhering to it, would be helpful.

@JR

It is much worse than you are imagining. When you fill the main bag it will go sort-of round, right? Ditto the back pocket. But you can NOT make both of them round at the same time: that would mean they are occupying the same space twice.

Look at this photo, at the back pocket. (Note: this mfr was NOT guilty of this!)

Clearly there is a limit to what you can get in the back pocket when the main bag is full. But what one mfr was doing was emptying the main bag and then filling the back pocket in isolation. Then adding the two volumes.

Yeah, sounds unreal and unlikely, doesn’t it? But that is what one company was doing. I checked with real measurements. I call that either fraud or cheating.

There IS an ASTM Standard for pack volume, using 20 mm balls. Most mfrs follow it; this mfr did NOT. I did too.

Cheers

One of the first things my father taught me was that cheap stuff is the most expensive stuff. This is just a shorthand way of saying what @jamesdmarco so clearly and eloquently stated, i.e. that buying quality provides greater value over a longer period of time.

Therefore I suggest that the intent of the article be restated as something like “Given that one owns no equipment, what is the least amount of money one must spend up-front in order to go backpacking?”

Of course then we have to address the relationships between age, fitness, stamina and load carrying ability as well as defining the parameters of the trip (# of days, distance traveled, etc).  As it turns out, this is actually a very complicated discussion.

And like most people on this list (I think I can make that generalization) I have spend an enormous amount of money on equipment over the years, but actually very little in the past 5 or so.  Once you get your kit dialed in, and you learn how to care for it, there really isn’t any reason to spend money unless something fails (usually under unusual circumstances).

OK, so you want a good beginners outfit for $500 that will last at least a year and keep the person comfortable down to 20F with minimal field repairs.
1) A used pack (brand is mostly irrelevant when buying used.) It needs at least a 2400ci volume (~40L.) Usually available for about $75. Two side pockets, and, one front pouch.
2) Sleeping System: Well a fair down bag, could be used. I would caution people that used down could have been mistreated: miss-laundered, stored damp, etc. Preferably, regular down, not dry down. https://hammockgear.com/economy-burrow/ at $220 with a couple CCF pads. But, due to budget constraints, a synthetic bag will work at around $40.
3) Shelter: Simple tarp with plastic ground cloth. Around $85 https://www.amazon.com/Sanctuary-SilTarp-Ultralight-Waterproof-Backpacking/dp/B01E6454HO?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1
4) Water Treatment: Sawyer Mini, around $30
5) Cooking: MYOG alky stove, windscreen, grease pot & lid. around $20
6) Clothing: Used at Salvation Army, etc… ~$100, jacket, long johns, shirt, sweater
7) Water bottles are reused wide mouth gatoraid bottles. Coke bottle for fuel. Lights are about $10-$20. Line is $10 para-cord.
8) Maps, compass, dry bags, etc: $30-$50
This comes close, I think.