Favorite brands for different pieces of gear?

Pack: Kifaru Late Season
Sleeping bag: Mountainsmith Vision (15 degrees, 2 lbs. 2 ounces). Good deal.
Tent: Kifaru Supertarp
Folding Knives: N/A
Multitool: Leatherman P4
Hiking Boots: Chaco Beckwith (discontinued but perfect fit for me and non-Gore-tex)
Base layer: Smartwool
Insulating layer: Varies
Lighters: Scripto
Lights: Pocket light - Photon Freedom, Headlamp - Tikka
Hydration: Camelbak
Mattress: Thermarest Prolite 4
Knife: Bark River Forager or Becker Necker
Cookware: GSI Hard Anodized Aluminum
Socks: Smartwool Hiker

These have all worked quite well for me although I'm sure there are other great choices out there. Boots are very personal. Fit is everything and considering that most major boot manufacturers make boots of similar quality with comparable features and construction, I think fit is more important than brand.
 
Pack: long duration: ranger ruck (army issue large alice pack), short duration: camelback motherlode
Sleeping bag: some or all of the modular sleep system were issued. weather dependent. most of the time, its just a poncho and poncho liner.
Tent: I dont use tents. I build a shelter from a brit basha and 550 if it's needed.
Folding Knives: Spyderco and victorinox
Multitool: original gerber.
Hiking Boots: magnum
Base layer: issue poly t shirts, and if needed, sweatpants for the legs.
Insulating layer: north face denali, or my issue army version of the same jacket (spear gear)
Lighters: eddie bauer pencil flame.
Lights: an original inova red led microlight for tac situations, or a 6 AA energizer mag type lite and a little dorcy surefire style led light for camping/utility
Hydration: dcu camelbak.
axe: gerber camp
compass: issue lensatic
mattress: if its shitty outside: issue puss pad. otherwise i dont use em.
cookware: u.s. issue mess kit, with canteen cup and canteen cup stove.
 
Coming from across the pond, I guess some of these brands are a little different, but here's what works for me !

Packs: Karrrimor
Sleeping bag: Vango
Sleeping Mat: Thermarest, Reindeer skins for car-camping.
Backpacking tent: Ultimate Horizon 2-man
Car camping tent: Tentipi Tapp Varrie 7
Boots: Scarpa or Brasher
Base layer: Helly Hansen
Mid Layer: Tiso microfleece, Berghaus thick fleece,
Shell: Slioch Goretex or Berghaus Goretex.
Trousers: Fjallraven
Stove: Coleman multifuel.
Car camping stove: Coleman petrol 2-burner
Pots and pans: cheap no-name alu, or ex-army mess tins,
Water bottle: Sigg
Lights: Petzl or maglite, Tilley for car camping.
Folder: Victorinox SAK, Opinel
Fixed Blade: Helle or Frosts Clipper,
Multitool: Leatherman.
Axe: Gransfors-Brucks
Saw: Bahco Lapplander
Compass: Silva
 
Packs: Lowe, Macpac or Osprey all seem good to me
Sleeping bag: Macpac
Sleeping Mat: Therarest Z-lite - any piece of high density foam really (not a fan of inflatables).
Tent: MSR
Boots: Scarpa (accept no substitute)
Base layer: Icebreaker from New Zealand (accept no...etc)
Stove: MSR
Pots and pans: Snopeak titatium
Water bladder: Camelback
Lights: Petzl.
Folder: Spyderco
Multitool: Victorinox
Compass: Silva
Bush clothes (for Australia): Columbia titanium.
Hat: Frillneck
 
clothing: Patagonia and Arcteryx
footwear: Lowa and Scarpa
large packs: Original Dana Designs or Mystery Ranch
small packs: Osprey or Arcteryx
folders: Chris Reeve/ Strider/Benchmade/Spyderco
fixed : Strider/Busse/ Chris Reeve
compass: Suunto
gps: Garmin
cooking gear: MSR
hats: Watership Trading Co.
Lighting: Black Diamond/Petzl/ Princeton Tec/ Fenix/Surefire
sleeping bags: Marmot/Feathered Friends/Moonstone(synthetic)
multitools: Leatherman/ SAK
 
Large Pack: Gregory
Small Pack: Osprey
Base Layer: Patagonia
Mid Layer: Anything Polartec
Gloves: Outdoor Research
Waterproof/Breathable Layer: Marmot
Folder: Spyderco and Swiss Army
Fixed: Mora 2000
Firesteel: Light My Fire and Epcamps
Lighter: BIC
Cordage: 550 cord
Lights: Petzl MYO XP and Surefire C2 Centurion and ARC-P
Watch: Luminox
Pen: Fisher Space Pen
Paper: Moleskin
Tent: REI
Stove: MSR and Jetboil
Pots and Pans: Snowpeak Ti
Food: Mountain House
Filtration: PUR (Soon to be replaced with something more compact and NEW)
Sunglasses: Native, Smith, Maui Jim, Oakley
First Aid: REI and Adventure Medical Kits
Camera: Nikon and Sony
Comunication: Motorola
GPS: Garmin
Toilet Paper: Charmin Quadruple Ply (Folded) :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

And I'm sure I'm missing others.

Travis
 
Pack:Old Mountainsmith Frostfire II
Sleeping Bag: Snugpak Hawk 9
Tent: Intergral Designs - Bugaboo Bivy
Folding Knives: Benchmade Axis Lock
Multi-tool -Victorinox SAK
Hiking Boots: Raichle
Base layer:Patagonia
Insulating layer: UnderArmor
Lighters: Colibri
Lights: Lupine Systems
Hydration:Nalgene
__________________
 
OK, I'll throw in the po'boy vote:
Packs and LBE, canteens/cups, various pouches, sleeping pad, poncho liner, BDU's: US mil-spec. Cheap and rugged. Don't know if they're "issue" or not, but I'm a big fan of BDU shorts, especially.

Outer layer: British mil-surp DPM temperate jacket, with OD fleece liner. I really love this jacket. Much warmer than I thought it would be without making you sweat to death when it's mild out. The pockets are huge; the 2 "extra" zippered chest pockets are bigger than an M-65's regular pockets. Plus the four cargo pockets are roomy too. It has button-holes around the collar for a hood, wish I had one. I admit I'm not crazy about the velcro storm-flap, but it's secure as heck. Somewhat water-resistant and a steal at $30. Still trying to talk my woman into sewing me a pair of lightweight wool, fleece-lined pants.

Inner layer: polypro all the way. Again, I've been getting good deals on mil-surp stuff. Getting a little bored with brown, but it works great.

Folders: Buck. I EDC an Idaho 501, and my trusty 110 is always tucked in a kit or pack somewhere. My girlfriend swears by her Buck Pilot, but I'm not a big fan of liner locks. Mostly because they always seem to fill up with gunk in my pocket or pack. I have a couple other Bucks but those are the 3 that get the most use, by far.

Fixed blades: Frost Clipper, stainless. Best dang knife for the money by a vast margin. Cold Steel Rifleman's hawk; this thing is a beast, in a good way. Took a good deal of elbow-grease to get it to cut worth a damn, but it has really held up well. Dug a cubic-foot hole in the frozen dirt outside, lots of sparks flying from rocks, NO chipping at all. Becker Necker, Cold Steel Master Hunter and TrailMaster (both CarbonV). Sadly the Necker and CS CarbonV models are no longer in production. Glad I got mine when I did.

Stove: "Commando" folding stove (Esbit style) ... I'm interested in a better alternative to the trioxane tabs I have; they stink. Work fine, they just smell bad.

Camera: Nikon Cool-Pix2500. My girlfriend's Sony Cyber-shot is much nicer but the Nikon has served me well for about 5 years now.

Light: Garrity crank-up model. $15, no batteries, hasn't let me down yet.

As to the rest, I keep my eyes open for deals and get talked into buying stuff here :). Most of my wilderness time involves car-camping, so I'm not as demanding as many of you.
 
Pack: Large: Eberlestock, Small: Camelback
Sleeping bag: Marmot Helium
Tent: Go Lite Hex
Folding Knives: Spyderco, SAK
Multitool: Leatherman
Fixed Blade: Busse
Hiking Boots: Garmont
Base layer: Merino wool
Insulating layer: Fleece or wool
Lighters: Bic
Lights: Surefire, UK, Princeton tec
Hydration: Camelbak
 
those british army jackets are outstanding. the 'field jacket', para smock, or the other 'smock' they have, are such good designs. i have one from the brits i traded, but i wont wear it as its part of my collection, and is sedimental to me. i have to find a surplus one somewhere else though.
 
Pack: Kifaru Scout
Sleeping Bag: Coleman/Swiss Army Wool Blanket
Tent: Coleman/Tarp
Boots: Danner
Socks: Smartwool
Lighting: Surefire G2 w/ Lock Out cap , Inova
Firestarters: Bic, Diamond matches and Misc. Strikers (Jelly Balls)
Hydration: Survival Straw, CamelBack, Long Life Food water paks, MSR Miniworks, Katadyn Micropur
Compass: CAMMENGA and Suunto
Binocs: Bushnell Legend and H2O
Sheaths: Spec-Ops, Okuden, Armoralleather
Belts: Armorallleather and SOE
Raingear: Coleman and Grunden
Edged tools: Busse Combat, Bahco and Leatherman
 
Buddiiee, I got my brit jacket at the local Fleet/Farm for $12 or $14 (without liner). In very-good to excellent condition. If you can't find one closer to you, I could grab one and ship it to ya; it would still cost less than buying one new I bet. BTW I saw the links you posted in the sticky thread for Brit gear, thanks!
 
ya like those? silvermans has all sorts of crap. i love it. though, its too bad their pound is worth more. a simple 25 pound jacket, is like 45 bucks. ahh well. and sure, if i cant find a good smock around here, that would be really cool to have one shipped from your side of town. sound good! thanks for the help. though which one do you have? what does the label say? i keep running into more 'smocks' every day. they have like 5 different issue jackets. I cant keep up lol.
 
Buddiiee, the label inside the collar says: "JACKET, DPM FIELD ...CS8415-99-869-1937" and then the size, washing instructions etc.

I haven't looked thru all the links you posted yet, but I will and if I find the same model I have I'll come back and edit this. I didn't know they had so many variations either!

A couple details I forgot, it has a waist drawstring that you tie off inside, and a shock-cord-type drawstring with spring clips on the bottom hem; and the elbows have a large, soft (cotton batting?) pad sewn into them inside the sleeves.
 
Pack- Gregory
sleeping bag- Slumberjack
sleeping pad- Therm a rest
Stove- MSR
Tent- Eureka
Boots- Irish Setter
Lighter- Zippo
Folding knife- Spyderco
Fixed blade - Fallkniven
GPS- Garmin
Compass- Suunto
Coat and Pants- Sierra Design (has to be Gore Tex)
Cookware- MSR
Axe- Gransfors Bruks
Water Bottle- Nalgene
 
they have soft elbows? wow, thats a great idea, though, that what i have in my collection too. a 'field jacket'. mines basically just a zip up mock turtleneck jacket, made from, what looks to be just like a 60/40 nylon/cotton blend, with big round exposed buttons, and big pockets. its brand new too. but mine dont have padded elbows :( Ahh well. All I know is, when i was searching for one a long time ago, i kept running across para smocks, sniper smocks, sas smocks, arctic smock, soldier 95 ripstop jackets, and "jacket, dpm field"... so i was like uuuhhhhh yea. ive no clue lol. the one i have that says, what yours says, would be perfect for me though. what sort of condition do they come in?
 
Pack: GI ALICE, or GI Molle Ruck
Sleeping bag: Either a GI 3 layer, or a Snugpak Merlin
Sleeping pad: GI Pad
Tent: Poncho
Tarp/poncho: USGI
Folding Knives: EDC: Strider, light: Spyderco delica waved
Multitool: Leatherman, Light: Squirt P4
Fixed blade knives: Busse or F1, Light: Mora Clipper
Axe: GB Forest, Light: HI BAS
Saw: Gerber extendable
Hiking Boots: Danner gortex
Base layer: UnderArmor warm/cold
Insulating layer: Mountain hardwear monkey suit and/or expedition jacket
Lighters: MiniBic with tape around it
Firestarters: Spark-lite, world survival, that 4" big one
Lights: AAA arc, Surfire U2
Hydration: USGI canteen and camelback and pladypus bladders (Arizona)
Water filter: None yet, hopefully PUR Hiker
Purification tablets: MP1
Stove: MSR pocket rocket
Pot: USGI Canteen cup
Cordage: unknown make paracord
Compass: GI
MINI compass: SAS
Watch: Sunto
Pistol: work/edc: 1911, Field: Ruger Security Six .357
 
Pack: Gregory
Sleeping bag: Coleman
Sleeping Mat: Therma Rest
Stove: MSR
Water Purifier: Katadyn
Tent: Eureka
Folding Knives: Benchmade
Fixed Blade: Mora
Multitool: Victorinox
Hiking Boots: Vasque
Base layer: Under-Amour
Insulating layer: "Destination 10K Above Sea Level"
Lighters: Bic
Lights: LED: Fenix Bulb: Surefire
Hydration: Nalgine
 
Buddiiee said:
the one i have that says, what yours says, would be perfect for me though. what sort of condition do they come in?
Click to expand...

Well, they ARE used. I'd call mine "very good" There's usually a bunch to pick through, you just have to watch out the zipper isn't torn out or something. I have seen a couple with small rips that were sewn up nicely, I don't consider that a big deal on a $14 jacket :) The only thing is, I need an XL and they don't have a lot of those, so I had to go back and look a couple times til they had an XL in stock. M and L are plentiful. The sizes seem about like US sizes, unlike the German stuff, which seems to run a lot smaller.

Also try here: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/search/search.asp?r=MainHeader+KW+Box&a=browse&k=DPM

The fleece liner, I got at a new surplus store in town, it seems to be brand new. VERY warm but it breathes nicely.

Feel free to email me about this, the other guys are probably getting sick of us talking about one jacket :D
 
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