OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER MARKET 2018: Gear of Interest for Lightweight and Ultralight Backpacking— PART 3

By Will Rietveld and Janet Reichl

We have covered Outdoor Retailer for about 13 years now, and it never fails to impress. Yes, it was earlier this year (July), and will be even earlier next year (June).

Most of the interesting gear we find at OR fits in the Lightweight category, but there are some notable Ultralight gems, and some gear can go either way, depending on your gear preferences.

As always, there are a few standout items, and lots of evolutionary improvements, all making for lighter better gear. What excites us varies a lot, depending on where your interests lie, so we present gear in no particular order; just scroll and read what interests you. Also, so we can get our coverage posted faster, and to avoid an excessively long single article, we will post our coverage as a series of shorter articles containing around a dozen items each.

A few notes: (1) gear introduced at this OR will be available in spring 2019, unless noted otherwise, and (2) weights for clothing are for men’s size Medium and shoes are for men’s size 9 and women’s size 7, unless stated otherwise.

The Mountain Hardwear Kor PreShell is a very breathable wind shirt made of Pertex Quantum Air fabric. More breathability allows a hiker to wear the wind shirt comfortably over a wider range of conditions within the cool/overcast/windy weather category. This windshirt is featured (hood, full-height front zipper, zippered hand pockets), so it weighs a bit more at 4.9 ounces. MSRP is $130. Another version with a ¾-height front zipper will also be available.

Mountain Hardwear has also redesigned their Ghost Whisperer sleeping bags into a new version under their classic Phantom name. The new MH Phantom 0F, 15F, and 30F Sleeping Bags feature 850 fill-power water-resistant down, an UL 10x10 denier nylon shell with DWR, contoured footbox, and an anti-snag zipper (right). The bags have a “performance fit” meaning they are snug for  weight reduction and higher thermal efficiency. Be sure to try out the fit before you buy.

Here’s a bit of winter gear too good to pass up. The new Merrell Thermo Rogue Insulated Boot features Aerogel insulation, Vibram Arctic Grip outsole, lightweight synthetic fabrics, and a Gore-Tex waterproof-breathable membrane. We don’t have the weight. MSRP is about $220; available October 2018.

Another featured breathable wind shirt is the Patagonia Houdini Air. Breathability is rated at 20 cfm. The special fabric has a grid pattern on the back to keep it off the skin and enhance airflow. Features are one chest pocket and attached hood. Weight is 4.3 ounces and MSRP is $149. Is this the best Houdini ever?

The new Luci Outdoor 2.0 Pro Series Inflatable Lantern and Charger is packable when you consider all it does. Its battery can be charged with a micro USB cable or 14 hours in the sun. A full charge will provide one cell phone charge plus about 2 hours of light. 150 lumens on high. Weight is 5.5 ounces and MSRP is $35.

Luci’s competition, LuminAid, also has a new product called the LuminAid PackLite 2-in-1 Phone Charger and Inflatable Lantern. Theirs will come in two battery sizes: 2000 mah (8.5 ounces, $50) and 4000 mah (9.7 ounces, $70), both rechargeable via a micro USB cable or the sun. The first one will provide one phone charge, and the bigger one will provide two charges. 150 lumens on high. Available now.

Soto makes well-designed backpacking stoves and cookwear. Their new Soto ThermoStack Cook Set Combo consists of a nesting 750 ml cookpot, 400 ml pot, double wall drink cup (the 2 parts can be used separately), pot clamp/tong, insulating cozy, and mesh carry sack. The set weighs 11 ounces and nests into a small size. The mesh carry sack has enough extra room to add a 110 gram fuel canister (photo). The Combo will cost $70.

Steripen is now part of Katadyn. The former Steripen Freedom is now the Steripen Ultralight UV Water Purifier. This new version ditches the pesky LED light on the original that comes on when it’s not wanted, reducing the weight to 2.5 ounces. It recharges with a micro USB cord and is good for 40+ 45 second cycles to purify ½-liter of water per cycle. MSRP has decreased from $99 to $80. The nice thing about purifying with UV is you can treat and drink, no wait time.

The Crazy Creek Crazy Pod is a complete hammock system that weighs 2 pounds 14 ounces, including straps and canopy. It’s waterproof, bugproof, and well ventilated with a mesh panel at each end that can be opened/closed from the inside with a pull cord. MSRP is $289; available January 2019.

Aqua-Mira now has an inline or bottle mounted water filter called the Aqua-Mira Frontier Max Multifunction Filter. Three different types of filter cartridges are available for different situations: a green one for bacteria intended for backcountry use, a red one for travel to protect from all sorts of organisms, and a blue one for removing dissolved chemicals. The system allows the filter element to be switched for different uses. Weight for the inline version is 3.5 ounces and cost is $30; a replacement filter is $20. Flow rate is 800 ml/min and a cartridge purifies about 100 gallons. The inline version comes with connectors so it can be taken out of the system, which is a nice touch.

Another great water filtration prospect is the new 2-ounce Sawyer Micro Squeeze Filter, which will screw onto a beverage bottle or one of Sawyer’s new One Liter Squeeze Pouches that weigh just 0.4 ounce each. The Micro will appear around September 2018 for around $29, and a 3-pack of the Pouches will sell for $15. A nice trick is to roll the pouch to force the water into another container so you can drink freely.

The rechargeable Fenix HM50R Headlamp or LD15 Clip Light puts out 500 lumens of light in high mode. That’s a lot of light for a torch weighing just 2.8 ounces (headlamp, left) or 1.95 ounces (clip light, right), including the battery. As you can see, it’s the same torch with two different mountings. The former sells for $80 and the latter is $72; available now.

How about a 4-inch thick packable inflatable sleeping pad? The new Sea To Summit Etherlite XT Sleeping Pads are pretty darn light considering their dimensions. There well be quite a range of sizes, as well as insulated and uninsulated versions. The lightest is the Regular Uninsulated (R 0.8, left)  at 12 ounces and $160, and the Regular Insulated (R 3.8, right) at 15 ounces and $190. They may be overkill for backpacking but great for base camping and car camping, but some people will disagree with the first part about overkill.

At the Vargo Outdoor booth we found the Vargo No-Fly 2P Tent, a really roomy 2-person hybrid single wall freestanding tent that weighs just 2.6 pounds. It has 34 sq ft of floor space, two side entries with large vestibules, one top vent closable from the inside, flush mounted pole sleeves, and Easton carbon fiber poles. The floor dimensions are 57x86 inches, which is significantly more than most 2P tents, and it has headroom to match. MSRP is $500; available October 2018.

At the Black Diamond booth we found more goodies. Their hoodless unisex Deploy Wind Shell is the one with the YKK Superlight zipper, and the fabric is a new Toray 5-denier with DWR. The zipper is extra deep for easier on/off and good ventilation. Weight is 1.69 ounces and MSRP is $159. The weight is very close to the Montbell Tachyon Jacket @ 1.6 ounces, but the Tachyon has a full-height front zipper. Thus, the Deploy is very close to claiming its the lightest wind shirt on the market.

Also from BD is the Rhythm T, a 96-gram merino wool summer top with lots of stretch due to a new yarn technology. BD claims its the lightest technical T on the market. Its weave and thinness allows it to dry very fast. It will sell for $75.

Finally from BD is the Distance Tent, made of waterproof-breathable fabric and supported with two trekking poles. It has an included bridge at the top that connects the trekking poles. A combo package of the tent plus compatible BD trekking poles is $400 and weighs 2 pounds 4 ounces. A version without the trekking poles, including an adapter for other trekking poles, is 1 pound 7 ounces and $250. The tent has one top vent and a foot vent. A disadvantage of this tent design (no vestibule) is rain falls directly into the tent when the door is opened.

Vibram’s new Litebase Shoe Construction will be introduced in 2019 in a number of shoes from different manufacturers. It’s basically a new midsole compound that significantly lowers the weight of trail shoes, combined with Vibram’s popular Megagrip outsole. It’s claimed to be 50% slimmer, 30% lighter, and the same performance. Note the weight difference between the standard midsole (left) and the Litebase midsole (right).