View Full Version : backpacker gear guide
HELP!!! I went to buy the march issue of Backpacker mag,the gear guide issue. I found the March issue , but it does'nt have a gear guide. What is up?
Pacific Tortuga
01-17-2010, 14:55
That's good, they have a slanted advertiser's view. Use to live for the issue's too. What does their web say ?
traildust
01-17-2010, 14:55
go to the online site. all the "best of" is there. can't miss it. save the money as well.
Went to the web site. All they had was "reader reviews". Yeah, I know what you mean, They only talk about what's new, and push the big advertisers. However, it has great info. on bags, packs, and tents.
Hosaphone
01-17-2010, 18:06
You'll probably get better advice from the people here or at the backpacker.com forums, honestly. If you need info about a specific item, just ask. There is a wealth of knowledge in the forums.
Mountain Wildman
01-17-2010, 19:27
This is a link to the Fall/Winter Gear Guide:
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/0b45c029#/0b45c029/1
johnnybgood
01-17-2010, 19:38
Backpacker has become too concerned about promoting gear that is overpriced and directed at Yuppies. I am ONLY concerned with the reader reviews on "gear" that doesn't cost big dollars.
Save the money .Reviews here are just as highly informative without the glossiness.
springerfever
01-17-2010, 22:01
mountain wildman.
Thanks for the link. Easy to navigate and enlarge pages and you can skip over the ads. Plus none of those pesky fall out envelopes asking for subscriptions. Some pretty good info on new equipment and i don't feel like I got jipped thirty minutes after reading the magazine. Appreciate it !!
I am ONLY concerned with the reader reviews on "gear" that doesn't cost big dollars.
Save the money .Reviews here are just as highly informative without the glossiness.
I too will simply glance at the manufacturer or advertiser's blurb and say "that's nice, now what does it REALLY do?", and check out user reviews. Always better info that way!
i've never forgiven or forgotten the issue that did NOT include Western Mountaineering bags. at all. that told me all i needed to know about their views on 'best'... your best advice will come from people here who've actually used their gear for weeks at a time.
you can get better info here then in backpacker the mag has got to be nothing but
a yuppies mag not worth the money.
Mountain Wildman
01-19-2010, 13:59
My pleasure to help if I can
Backpacker's "Best Of" is a joke at best. What they consider great gear is probably based on who spends the most advertising dollars with them. I haven't paid for an issue of that useless rag in a few years and I don't intend to start now.
thelowend
01-23-2010, 18:30
HELP!!! I went to buy the march issue of Backpacker mag,the gear guide issue. I found the March issue , but it does'nt have a gear guide. What is up?
i would recommend using this forum for gear reviews and using smaller companies. better service, better prices.. whats not to dig? i plan on purchasing a Moment tent from tarptent here soon and am quite thrilled at the fact that I will be getting a 1lb tent for $215 and the backpacks I am looking at are half the price of name brand packs that are much heavier.. i know this has already been typed but it needs to be reiterated. we need to be reverse brainwashed..this is sad.
JustaTouron
01-23-2010, 18:54
It was a good magizine 25 years ago. Now it is just "official" advertisements mixed with articles that are really just more advertisments.
You can get the same info from the manufatures press releases as you can get from that magizine.
online user gear reviews are much more insightful
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/
http://www.trailspace.com/gear/
and free
sbennett
01-23-2010, 21:28
to answer the question I think they started lumping the Gear Guide in with the Editor's Choice issue, which is usually the April issue
look for it in a month or so
i'd listen to sbennett. he's a gear guide
Wrangler88
01-24-2010, 14:16
I kind of like to read or look at Backpacker every once in a while. I like to read about trails that I'd never heard of and see the pictures.
It's how I first learned of the AT, CDT, & PCT around 2006. So I guess it's good for something.
Its not just gear. Although I agree they do seem to have an agenda on pushing overly expensive gear. Some of which they talk about being ultra light and then the pack alone is three or more lbs.