Next gear purchase?

[Paul_B]

I have a bit of money and was wondering which of the following to get. Struggling to decide which is best to get. Anyone have any experience of these or which would you recommend to get?

Caldera cone for my Vargo Ti-lite pot
Caldera keg
golite jam 2 - not ideal but it is £77 at the climbers shop and sorely tempts me.
Granite Gear Vapor rucksack - very light and still has a decent volume. Plus GG are supposed to make very comfortable sacks.
PHD Minim vest with M1 fabric or drishell - 800 fill qualiity down and ultralightweight warmth. In the sales so £89 or £99 for the drishell option. Well sales from 20th September
PHD sigma synthetic vest - not in sales but perhaps more useful for UK use.
Rodir alcohol stove - not sure how useful I'll find it as it needs a wide pan. I really prefer to use a narrow pot for water boiling for dehysdrated foods and also for a brew which is made in the pot and drunk from it too. Don't think it is any better than my whitebox stove other than better stability because I'd need a separate mug to drink from.

Anyway, sorry for being kind of self indulgent in asking this. I am sooo very close to getting my perfect backpacking kit now and each of these are the bits and bobs I need, sorry want. I have a 1100g sack so perhaps a newer sack is not important. I have soooo many lightweight stoves and stove setups so perhaps that is not important. I have loads of fleeces, windshirts and insulation layers so perhaps this is not important. It is just that i haven't got my gear right yet. The above seem to me to be good options to get closer to what is a perfect kit without it costing too much.

Anyway, has anyone used the above items? If so please let me know what you think of them.

 

[Shewie]

Which do you think you need the most? Looking at that list I'd go for either the pack or the doss bag, start with the big three and then work from there.

 

[sapper1]

I can heartily reccomend the golite Jam.Mine has been abused and over filled and never let me down.It may not look or feel it but it is tougher than a vulcan as it has a dyneema mesh built into the whole pack fabric.

 

[zarkwon]

I'm thinking about a PHD vest this month. Not sure whether to go down or synthetic yet though.

 

[Paul_B]

zarkwon - I've heard that the minim down vest in drishell copes well with drizzle for some time. The fabric, from what I've read on other forums, has a 1500mm hydrostatic head so is greater than the 1000mm HH required to be called waterproof. The only weak point is the stitch through design in that all those holes and stitching transmits water into the garment. Of course down gets ruined by getting wet through.

Their sigma vest uses thermolite IIRC which is slightly beaten by primaloft one in terms of performance. It is generally warm for a givven area weight but doesn't pack as neatly as primaloft. I have heard that it is still pretty good even after a soaking.

I guess that means it depends on what it would be used for. In the UK we mostly get wet and cold conditions so if to be used as overlayering then perhaps the synthetic. If underneath waterproofs it is less of an issue except if wearing while exerting yourself. Not a good idea as you sweat more when working hard and could wet down out from inside if there is a hard shell on the outside. However if you only really wear an insulation piece like a vest when sat in your tent or when around camp or in a bothy then you are more likely to keep it dry. In that case a lighter, warmer and more compressible down vest is perhaps better.

Personally I don't need a down or synthetic vest as I have an ME lightline down smock and a rab generator primaloft smock. I use either of these as needed as over layering pieces for winter lunch stops or around camp. Choosing the best one according to the weather forecast for the trip. I use my generator smock as a lighter, warmer and more compressible fleece when it gets a bit cooler. In those conditions a vest is possibly usefull hence thee reason it is one of my options.

As far as weight goes all my current kit can be lightweight depending how and what I put it together with. I can take out the alloy staves to reduce the weight of my sacks to close to 1kg for a 60 litre or so sack. I have all the light sleeping bags / quilt I need (golite 3 season quilt to -7C more like 0C and a heavier bag to 0C). I have can top gas stoves, white box stove (which I like but isn't right in that it is unstable, only takes wide pots (not the mug/pot types like Tilite or mytimug) and is not as efficient as the caldera cones for meths. TBH with my kit I am at that weight level where I am happy (if I only take what I need not what I think might be needed). It is about making things better. By than I mean the caldera is for stability, efficiency and the fact I can use a narrower pot which is a mug and a pot. The keg version is about a very neat system that is basically 77g for a pot, stove and windshield. Weight with that is not a benefit but it is the complete system that is so well designed. I mean a can for a pot with a caldera cone for it too. It is kind of like a trangia for the lightweight community. A system not just a stove or a pot.