171–180 of 327 posts
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I mean, maybe that makes sense if you carry 50+ pages of maps, but carrying a whole book of maps on a single expedition doesn’t.
Paper is very heavy. Even if you just carry a single map, you could likely save much of an ounce by trimming the borders.
You can have a backup paper map inked on your skin.
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The author of tfa refers to r/ultralight, but fails to note the capacity reported there. Then he writes (or generates) an "article" that might be advertisement, making emphasis on price and fleetingly mentioning the brand products. It doesn't feel sincere.
Liz is a lady, and I am confident she did not AI generate this article. Aside from it clearly having her authorial voice, here is another piece she has written: https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/23/24326077/i-asked-chatgpt
LLMs are pretty good at imitating styles, if asked to do so. It's just their default style that's easy to recognise.
(You are probably right in everything you say! I just wanted to point out that style of an article isn't necessarily a giveaway.)
20Ah for 23 bucks? Seems like it's almost too good to be true. Wouldn't surprise me if it was just half that, would explain the price and weight.
I'll find out if this is true. Hiking buddy of mine pointed it out on Friday, so got one on the way. Was $18 when he called it out, $23 by the time I ordered. Apparently they have a bunch of random stuff like this. They must have some outdoorsy folks in marketing.
Perhaps it's just their Germanity shining through?
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For me, a not-particularly-lightweight hiker with a 10kg base weight, that list includes: - a knife - a first-aid kit with some niche stuff like big gauze pads, electrolytes, strapping tape, etc. - quarter of a roll of toilet paper - a compass and whistle - a paper map - spare laces - 3L of water, unless water is guaranteed to be available (2L is more standard) - spare calories in case I'm delayed - emergency beacon…
Are you (overnight) camping or only day hiking with all of this kit?
When people talk about "10 lb base loads" I assume they are talking about overnights? 10 lb base loads for day trips would not be impressive.
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I'm down to around 10 lb base load. And then I hike in the desert where I carry 5 - 7 liters of water (11 - 15 lbs). And food. Saving a pound here and there is totally worth it, but there's a large part of the country where prudent hiking means the majority of your weight is water.
Out of curiosity where in the desert do you hike and where would you recommend? I have a particular attraction to being in the American desert but never have hiked it properly.
In 10-14 days, you can do an exceptional loop from Las Vegas taking in:
Bryce Canyon NP
Byway 12
Capitol Reef NP
Goblin Valley
Dead Horse Point SP
Arches NP
Canyonlands NP
Goosenecks SP
Horseshoe Bend
Antelope Canyon
Zion NP
Valley of Fire SP
Then when you go back, you can do places requiring a bit more planning like Coyote Gulch (amazing), Buckskin Gulch (also amazing), and secondary spots like Natural Bridges, SR 95, etc. Hundreds of great places in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, etc, and all before you get to adding anything more remote or long distance.
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That the purpose of the sleeping pad is characterized as thermal performance and not comfort is proof that I am not capable of the ultralight mindset.
I spent time in India as a kid sleeping on the hard floor of my grandmother's home. Maybe my sense of comfort is different IDK, but I don't consider a pad essential on a warm night
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Man it drives me crazy when people/products use Ah instead of Wh as a way to specify battery "capability". Without knowing more details about the battery, "20Ah" alone does not convey enough information to determine how long the battery could power a given load for. If I need to power a 100 watt lightbulb, will a 20Ah battery power it for an hour? 10 hours? 10 days? No way to know. Wh is the unit of stored energy, Wh…
I think they really just do it because generally everything you will connect to the battery, for the most part, will be using the same voltage, and it’s just easier to do your math and in your head. Remember, most people can’t just calculate a 20% tip in their head without having to think about it for a while or use an app. Also, in this particular instance, phone batteries are measured in miliamp hours, so it makes…
(Though for American hikers it would be somewhat fun to use a unit of 'pound feet'.)
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> Watthours is more important than amp hours I'd go a step further and say that amp hours is meaning less since voltage is not specified. The only valid battery capacity unit of measure is watt hours. While most battery packs use a single 3.7 lithium ion battery, Apple's first gen MagSafe battery pack used two internal batteries in series, throwing off everyone's amp hours only comparison.
> The only valid battery capacity unit of measure is watt hours. I would also accept Joules. But yes, the unit should be a unit of energy.
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https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/1li5rxw/20000ma... Looks like a guy there measured it and it is 14.7 which is more than I thought it would be. > So at a nominal 3.7 volts that’s around 14700mAh, which is around 73-74% efficiency. That’s fairly standard. If you perform the same tests with other batteries rated at 20k mAh, you’ll generally see a similar usable capacity. I was thinking of getting the Haribo…
> 20k mAh Or just write it as 20 Ah (not you, the reddit poster). I suspect people have no concept of SI prefixes. They know that k = one thousand but are unaware that milli is one thousandth.
(I wish batteries were just rated in Joules)
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You put them under your sleeping bag and they make your sleep way warmer than if your sleeping bag is directly on the tent floor. https://www.nemoequipment.com/collections/sleeping-pads
That the purpose of the sleeping pad is characterized as thermal performance and not comfort is proof that I am not capable of the ultralight mindset.
They're just marketed by R-value because better insulation will cost more. Many people don't camp in places that would require a high one.