My neighbor's 20 year old tent made me question my gear spending

Last weekend at Green Mountain State Forest, my neighbor showed up with this beat up tent from the 90s that weighed a ton but handled a crazy thunderstorm no problem. Meanwhile my ultralight $400 shelter leaked at the seams after just 8 trips. Has anyone else gone back to older, heavier gear after seeing it work better in real conditions?

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rowan66622d ago

and honestly the thing people miss about that old gear is the fabric itself, not just the weight. Those 90s tents used a thicker ripstop nylon that actually held its waterproof coating way longer, whereas some of these new ultralight materials are so thin that even the factory seam tape starts peeling after a few seasons of real use. I had the same wakeup call with a $300 sleeping pad that delaminated while my buddy's 20 year old foam pad is still going strong. Maybe the real lesson is that we're paying for grams while the industry quietly changed the materials in ways that make gear less repairable and less durable, you know? Sometimes the old stuff just has that "built to last" mindset baked into the fabric itself.