The Archive

57 guides · page 1 of 5

Comparison

Jetboil Flash vs MSR PocketRocket 2: Which Stove?

A 13.1 oz integrated system that boils 16 oz in about two minutes against a 2.6 oz burner that boils a liter in 3.5 and simmers. Same fuel, opposite philosophies, $67 apart. If you boil water for freeze-dried meals, buy the Flash. If you cook, or count ounces, buy the PocketRocket and a pot.

Read the guide →~9 min read

Comparison

Black Diamond vs LEKI Trekking Poles: Which Brand to Buy

The two brands every pole conversation ends at, compared through the models most hikers actually buy: the Black Diamond Trail Cork (about $102) and the LEKI Legacy Lite (about $110). Cork grip and FlickLock against foam grip and Speed Lock, 140 cm against 135 cm, 486 g against 17.8 oz. Neither is wrong; one is right for you.

Read the guide →~10 min read

Comparison

Big Agnes Copper Spur vs NEMO Dagger OSMO: Which 2P Tent?

Same price, about $600. Same freestanding two-door layout. The Copper Spur HV UL2 is 10 oz lighter on trail weight; the Dagger OSMO 2P has 2.3 more square feet of rectangular floor, 2 more inches of headroom, and 27 percent bigger vestibules. This is a weight-versus-room decision, and we can tell you which side you are on.

Read the guide →~10 min read

Comparison

Platypus GravityWorks vs Katadyn BeFree Gravity: Which to Buy

Two hang-and-wait filters, one built for a group of four and one built for a pair. The GravityWorks 6.0L (about $155) is a complete two-reservoir system at 1.75 L/min; the BeFree Gravity 3L (about $80) is half the price and half the weight with no clean bag. The group size decides it.

Read the guide →~9 min read

Comparison

Sawyer Squeeze vs Katadyn BeFree: Which Filter Wins?

Same listed 0.1 micron pore size, same price bracket, opposite personalities. The BeFree is faster and lighter out of the box; the Squeeze lasts longer, backflushes back to full flow, and fits more bottles. The verdict depends on one question: how many days a year do you filter?

Read the guide →~9 min read

Comparison

Osprey Talon 22 vs Deuter Speed Lite 21: Which Daypack?

Two 20-liter-class daypacks, one with a load-bearing hipbelt and an adjustable torso at about $175, the other at 1 lb 2 oz listed for about $64. The Talon is the better pack; the Speed Lite is the better buy for roughly half of day hikers. Here is the line between them.

Read the guide →~9 min read

Explainer

Bear Bag vs Bear Canister: Which Should You Carry?

A hard canister weighs 2 lb 1 oz to 2 lb 9 oz and is required in Yosemite, SEKI, the Adirondack High Peaks, and much of the JMT. A Kevlar Ursack weighs about 7.6 oz and is accepted in most of the rest of the country. A PCT-hang bag weighs 2 oz and works where trees and skill allow. The permit decides first; the weight math decides second.

Read the guide →~12 min read

Buyer's Guide

The Best Bear Spray (2026)

Three EPA-registered sprays at the 2.0 percent capsaicinoid maximum, ranked on the only specs that matter: listed range, seconds of spray, and ounces on your hip. The Counter Assault 10.2 oz (44 ft, 10 seconds) is our pick for grizzly country; the SABRE Frontiersman MAX 7.9 oz (up to 40 ft, 6 to 7 seconds) is the lighter can at $40.

Read the guide →~11 min read

Buyer's Guide

Best 2-Person Backpacking Tents Under $300 (2026)

Five two-person tents from $150 to $229 that still behave like backpacking tents: listed weights from about 3.5 lb to 5 lb 14 oz, floors from 29 to 32 sq ft, aluminum poles on every one. The Kelty Grand Mesa 2 is our pick at about $150; the Marmot Crane Creek 2P is the one to buy if two doors matter more than a pound.

Read the guide →~14 min read

Buyer's Guide

The Best Backpacking Sleeping Pads (2026)

Six pads ranked on the two numbers that matter, R-value per ounce and R-value per dollar: the 13 oz, R 4.5 Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT is our pick at about $209; the NEMO Tensor All-Season is the quiet one; the $60 Z Lite Sol is the pad that cannot pop. Temperature cutoffs for every R-value are in the decision table.

Read the guide →~15 min read

Explainer

The Backpacking Gear Weight and Price Index (2026): What an Ounce Costs

We pulled the live Amazon price and the manufacturer-reported item weight for 33 verified listings across the 8 core backpacking categories on August 7, 2026, then did the math nobody publishes: median price and weight per category, dollars per ounce of gear, and the real cost of cutting an ounce off your base weight. The short version: the cheapest workable big-8 kit is $534 and 18.8 pounds, the lightest kit in the index is $1,332 and 10.6 pounds, and buying your way from one to the other costs about $6.08 for every ounce you shed.

Read the guide →~9 min read

Buyer's Guide

The Best GPS Watches for Hiking (2026)

The best GPS watch for hiking is the Garmin fenix 8: the full-map, weeks-of-battery flagship the rest of the category is measured against. Around it we ranked the field by what each tier of money actually buys, from the $199 COROS Pace 3 to the $1,300 fenix 8 Pro, through the value-play epix Pro, the rugged Instinct 3 Solar, and the flagships from Suunto and COROS.

Read the guide →~17 min read