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Backpacker Magazine – Editors' Choice 2011

Gear Guide 2011: Essentials

Welcome to accessory and apparel heaven: puffy jackets, stoves, windpants, knives, iPad apps, solar panels, GPS, hydration, first aid, socks, camp food, baselayers, and more.

by: Kelly Bastone

Jetboil Crunchit (Courtesy Photo)
Jetboil Crunchit (Courtesy Photo)
APPS

BASELAYERS
Heavyweight: Ibex Shak Lite Half Zip Baselayer
Midweight: WinterSilks Long Sleeve Silk Wool Crewneck and Pant Baselayers
Lightweight: Patagonia L/S Polarized Tee Baselayer
Ultralight: Helly Hansen Pace SS Baselayer

BELAY DEVICE
Gear Review: Mammut Smart Alpine Belay Device

BINOCULARS
All-Purpose: Brunton Eterna Compact 10x25 Binoculars
Killer Deal: Pentax Papilio 8.5x21 Binoculars

BOTTLE
Gear Review: Hydro Flask Stainless Steel Water Bottle

CAMERA CHEST PACK
Gear Review: Clik Elite Access Pack

CAMP CHAIR
Gear Review: Therm-a-Rest Trekker Lounge Chair

CAMP SHOES
Summer: Patagonia Advocate Shoes
Winter: Mountain Hardwear Sub Zero Shoe

COMPASS
Gear Review: Brunton Pioneer 26DNL Compass

CAMERAS
Helmet Cam: ContourHD Camera
Video Camera: Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA102YL Camera
DSLR: Pentax K-5 Camera
Point-and-Shoot: Pentax Optio W90 Camera

CRAMPONS
Gear Review: Black Diamond Contact Crampons

DOG GEAR
Jacket: Ruff Wear Cloud Chaser
Gear Review: Planet Dog Natural Hemp Adjustable Collar and Leash

ESPRESSO
Gear Review: Handpresso Wild

ELECTROLYTES
Gear Review: Nuun U Natural Hydration Tablets

EYEWEAR
Gear Review: Zeal Tenacity Sunglasses
Gear Review: Julbo MonteBianco Sunglasses
Gear Review: Ryders Eyewear Vela Interchangeable Sunglasses
Gear Review: Smith Pivlock V90 Sunglasses

FIRST AID
Gear Review: Adventure Medical Kits' S.O.L. 3 Survival, Medical & Gear Repair Pak

FOOD
Gear Review: Pre-packaged Desserts
Gear Review: Pre-packaged Dinners
Gear Review: Pre-packaged Lunches & Snacks
Gear Review: Pre-packaged Breakfasts

GLOVES
Gear Review: Stoic Welder Gauntlet Mitt
Gear Review: Black Diamond Arc Gloves
Gear Review: Outdoor Research Backstop Gloves

GAITERS
Gear Review: Black Diamond GTX FrontPoint Gaiters

GAME
Gear Review: Apples to Apples

GPS
Gear Review: DeLorme PN-60w with SPOT Communicator

HAMMOCK
Gear Review: ENO ProNest Hammock

HATS
Gear Review: Outdoor Research Echo Cap

Gear Review: Mountain Hardwear Downpour Wide Brim Rain Hat
Gear Review: Chaos Dri-Release Multi-Tasker Pro Balaclava

IDENTIFICATION
Gear Review: RoadID's Wrist ID Sport

JUICE
Gear Review: Callpod Fueltank DUO

KNIVES
Gear Review: Adventure Medical Kits Core Lite Knife
Gear Review: Baladeo 22G Knife

KIDS' GEAR
Socks: Lorpen Kids Light Hikers
Shell: Sierra Designs Hurricane Accelerator Shell
Pack: REI's Tarn 18 Pack
Baselayers: Patagonia Kid's Capilene 3 Midweight Crew Baselayer

KITCHEN GEAR
Kitchen Helper: GSI Crossover Kitchen Set
Cookpot: MSR Alpinist 2 Cookot
Jetboil Upgrade: Jetboil Sumo Cookpot
White Gas Stove: Soto Muka Stove

LIGHTS
Ice Chest: Coghlan's Cooler Light
Headlamp: Pelican HeadsUP Lite 2690 LED Headlamp

Rechargeable/Programmable: Petzl Core Headlamp
Flashlight: Primus PrimeTorch 1010

LIP BALM
Gear Review: Hurraw! Lip Balm

MONOPOD
Gear Review: Leki Aergon Photoadapter Kit

NATIONAL PARKS PASS
Gear Review: America the Beautiful Annual Pass

NIGHT SKY DECODER
Gear Review: Sky Tonight Star Charts

ODOR CONTROL
Gear Review: Loksak's OPSAK bag

PANTS
Gear Review: Kuhl Renegade Pants

PILLOW
Gear Review: Cocoon Ultralight Air-Core Pillow

PUFFY JACKETS
Gear Review: REI ecoSensitive Revelcloud Jacket
Gear Review: Montbell Alpine Light Down Parka

RAIN PANTS
Gear Review: Mountain Hardwear Cohesion Stretch Pant

RECYCLING TOOL
Gear Review: Jetboil Crunchit

SHELLS
Gear Review: The North Face Leonidas Jacket
Gear Review: GoLite Malpais Jacket
Gear Review: Marmot Ether DriClime Jacket
Gear Review: Stoic Welder Lo Jacket
Gear Review: Rab Boreas/Aurora Pull-on Jacket

SCALE
Gear Review: Balanzza Mini Scale

SHORTS
Gear Review: Helly Hansen Muru Short

SOLAR POWER
Fastest: Goal Zero's Nomad 7M
Toughest: Brunton Restore Solar Charger
Lightest: Energizer's Xpal SP2000 Power Pack

STUFFSACK
Gear Review: Granite Gear Uberlight eVent Stuffsack

SOCKS
Loftiest: Dahlgren Backpacking Sock
Friction-free: Bridgedale X-Hale Light Hiker with NanoGLIDE Socks
Seamless: Darn Tough Vermont True-Seamless Socks

SUN SHIRT
Gear Review: Patagonia Tropic Comfort Hoody

TUNES
Portable: Portable Sounds Laboratories iMaingoX Speaker System
Solar: Eton Soulra iPod Dock

UMBRELLA
Gear Review: Davek Traveler Umbrella

TREKKING POLES
Gear Review: Easton CTR-80 Trekking Poles

UNDERWEAR
For Him: Icebreaker Beast 150 Boxer Brief with Fly
Sports Bra: Patagonia Switchback Bra
For Her: Stoic Merino Boy Boxer

VINO
Gear Review: Bandit Wine

WATCH
Gear Review: Tech4o Data Center II Watch

WATER CONTAINER
Gear Review: MSR Dromlite Bag

WATER TREATMENT
Gear Review: Polar Pure Water Disinfectant

WATERPROOF STORAGE
All-purpose: Outdoor Research Lateral Dry Bag
iPhone: Magellan iPhone ToughCase

WHEELED DUFFEL
Gear Review: GoLite TraveLite 30" Wheeled Duffel

WIPES
Gear Review: Grease Monkey Wipes

XC NAVIGATION SKILLS
Gear Review: XC navigation skills

YARNS
Gear Review: Yarns

ZIPPER REPAIR
Gear Review: Flip An Zip Zipper Repair Kit



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