ultralight backpacking gear reviews

Slingfin 2Lite Trek ultralight backpacking tent.

Review: Slingfin 2Lite Trek Ultralight Backpacking Tent

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Ultralight Backpacking TentSlingfin 2Lite Trek$329, 2 lbs. 6 oz.slingfin.com The world of ultralight backpacking tents can sometimes resemble a sort of Galapagos Islands of backcountry shelters, where odd-looking species evolve along a track (that probably defies some basic rules of evolution) toward competing goals of becoming stronger and incrementally larger while becoming lighter. Looked at from that perspective, the 2Lite …

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Big Agnes Insulated AXL Air Mattress

Gear Review: Big Agnes Insulated AXL Air Mattress

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Insulated Air Mattress
Big Agnes Insulated AXL Air Mattress
$180, 20×72 inches rectangular, 13 oz. (including its stuff sack)
Sizes: 20×66, 20×72, 25×72, and 25×78 inches rectangular and 20×72 mummy
moosejaw.com

As air mattresses have continued getting lighter, more compact, and more comfortable, one would think a limit has been reached on how small they can get before sacrificing real comfort. But Big Agnes has raised that bar again—or lowered it, if you will—with the AXL Air. For four nights backpacking the Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop off the Grand Canyon’s North Rim in May, and several spring nights camping at Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve, I slept like a baby on this plush air mattress, while it all but disappeared inside my pack on the trail. I’ve tested and own many air mats, and I don’t think there’s another I’d now carry instead for three-season backpacking. Here’s why.

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The Sierra Designs Nitro 800 20-degree sleeping bag.

Review: Sierra Designs Nitro 20-Degree Sleeping Bag

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Three-Season Sleeping Bag
Sierra Designs Nitro 20-Degree
$320, 1 lb. 15 oz. (regular)
Sizes: men’s regular and long, women’s regular
sierradesigns.com

Choosing between sleeping bags can sometimes feel like getting the names of identical twins right—they look an awful lot alike. With bags, you can compare certain key specs: temperature rating, type and amount of insulation (or fill), total weight, and, of course, the price. Using those metrics, the new Sierra Designs Nitro bags look like a pretty good value, so I slept in the 20-degree Nitro 800 while camping on some cool and windy May nights at Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve, and on a three-night, 39-mile backpacking trip in Wyoming’s Wind River Range in mid-September, to see if its performance matches its impressive numbers.

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The Gregory Optic 58 ultralight backpack in the Grand Canyon.

Review: Gregory Optic 58 and Octal 55 Ultralight Backpacks

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Ultralight Backpack
Gregory Optic 58 (men’s) and Octal 55 (women’s)
$210, 58L/3,539 c.i. (men’s medium), 2 lbs. 7 oz. (men’s small, without the included rain cover, 3 oz.)
Sizes: men’s S-L, women’s XS-M
moosejaw.com

No one loves loading extra water into their pack—especially upwards of 13 pounds of it, as I did as we left our last water source on our final evening backpacking the Grand Canyon’s Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop. We needed to haul enough liquid sustenance to get us through the 2,600-foot climb we were embarking on at 5:30 p.m., plus another 2,000 feet uphill early the next morning. That pushed my total pack weight up toward the limit of the ultralight Optic 58—as good a test as any. And Gregory’s first foray into ultralight packs not only handled that assignment well, it shines for many other reasons, too.

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Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL 2 ultralight backpacking tent.

Review: Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2 Ultralight Backpacking Tent

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Ultralight Backpacking Tent
Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2
$400, 2 lbs. 4 oz.
backcountry.com

I got a little worried when the wind in the Grand Canyon started gusting to about 30 mph one evening—which I assumed would test the limits of the ultralight Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2 tent’s structural strength. When the gusts continued to increase—at times exceeding 40 mph—I seriously thought we might lose one or more of our shelters roughly halfway through our May backpacking trip on the 25-mile Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. But the Tiger Wall stood up to those gusts, giving me yet another reason to like this supremely featherweight backpacking tent.

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