new forum member

Daniel,  Welcome to the community.  If you are looking to lighten your load, you may want to look at the “gear swap”  section on this site.  You can find alot of nice deals on used equipment and alot of experienced people to get advice from.  John

Welcome, Daniel! As to your point of the cost of some gear, I also have never spent $60 on a T-shirt or $400  for a rain jacket. And many here can’t or won’t as well.

My first piece of advice is to go beyond a particular individual’s experience, read the forums and research online for other sources. Is this miracle X piece really that amazing? Is it going to have a significant performance advantage over the less costly version? Very often, despite the accolades, most of us may not see much of a difference or there’s something else out there we can substitute. No offense to Backpacker magazine, but their beautiful writing often just means something works, and often it is not that amazing compared to anything else.

Plenty of performance, brand name synthetic t-shirts to be had on sale new for about $25 if you watch the sales. TjMaxx and Marshall are often two places you can find them if you have them nearby. Other  sports or outdoors stores nearby? Merino sometimes shows up at the $35 range. Many $250 range raincoats can be found with patience for $100 or less. I personally have given up on them, and prefer a good old poncho. Maybe ponchoes work for you or won’t. Sometimes you need to try to know what works.

Every store has some highly discounted items, particularly if you sign up for their newsletters. Amazon, Massdrop and SteepandCheap are some sources of discounted items. eBay also has new. The issue with sales is that it can take time to hunt down items. Amazon offers free returns on some clothes and shoes if you dislike them.

As John mentioned, used can be a starting point, whether at our gear swap, eBay,  geartrade, or someplace else. Check out https://lwhiker.com

Finally, the MYOG route is a fantastic way to get what you want often at a great price. Check out the forums here, but also else where, and don’t forget YouTube.

If you are looking for advice on a particular item or technology, you can always post here for feedback.