Favorite Cottage Gear

[Hooch]

There was some talk on the "shiny new ULA Circuit" thread about cottage gear manufacturers. Who are come of your favorite cottage gear makers? For me, it would be:

ULA
Speer Hammocks
Warbonnet Hammocks
Outdoor Equipment Supplier (OES)
Trail Designs
Jacks r Better

[GeneralLee10]

Would Gossamer Gear be considered one to?

[Tinker]

Would Gossamer Gear be considered one to?

Yes, but it would be one too.

I've bought some nice stuff from www.mountainlaureldesigns.com (http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com) (a poncho-tarp and an ul bivy).

[GeneralLee10]

[QUOTE=Tinker;954542]Yes, but it would be one too.

Your kidding me right or should I say correct?:)

[ShelterLeopard]

I was thinking it, but Tinker said it. :D

[Doooglas]

Rivendell mountain works.
Stephenson's Warmlite.
Merrell footlab.
Nunatakusa

[GeneralLee10]

Gezzzzzz:)

That board huh?:rolleyes:

[Hooch]

Gezzzzzz:)

That board huh?:rolleyes:You mean bored. :rolleyes::D

[GeneralLee10]

You mean bored. :rolleyes::D

You know what I Mint:)

[Raul Perez]

I would add minibulldesigns.com to the list

[Deadeye]

Darn Tough Socks

[GeneralLee10]

ULA
Speer Hammocks
Warbonnet Hammocks
Outdoor Equipment Supplier (OES)
Trail Designs
Jacks r Better
Gossamer Gear
MLD
Rivendell mountain works.
Stephenson's Warmlite.
Merrell footlab.
Nunatakusa
minibulldesigns


Anymore?

[Rasputen]

Z-Packs
Six Moon Designs
Tarptents

[lazy river road]

Two of my favorite's are Backwoods Daydreamer by SClittlefield and Perfect Trees by Stormcrow,

[garlic08]

Henry Shires Tarptent
Gossamer Gear
And my friend Pickle who makes pretty good silnylon raingear

[Mags]

A fireplace, a hot drink and a good book.

No cottage is complete w/o this gear...

[springerfever]

Nunatak

Anti-gravity gear

Rivendell Mountain Works (retro jensen packs)

All have great customer service and go the extra mile....

[Pacific Tortuga]

ULA
h.shires tarp tent's

[Connie]

I'd say these belong on that list.

Zelph Stove Works
http://www.bplite.com/index.php

Packa
http://www.thepacka.com/index.html

McHale packs
http://www.mchalepacks.com/ultralight/detail/summit_pack.htm

Titanium Goat
http://www.titaniumgoat.com/index.html

Trail Designs
http://www.traildesigns.com/index.html

Banks Fry-Bake
http://frybake.com/

Ursack
http://www.ursack.com/page15.html

LightHeart Gear
http://www.lightheartgear.com/lighthearttent1.html

I wish Brawny had her store. She inspired me.

Aren't the AntiGravityGear tarps and tarptents Brawny's work?

. . .

[jesse]

ray-way tarp, backpack, and quilt.

[Connie]

Reminds me, I forgot enLIGHTened equipment.
http://enlightenedequipment.webs.com/

I think Nahanny (http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.montangrup.ro/index_engleza.html&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhgDVm8EN1PDiHyczjFbYN8W9dk1Rg) started out little.

How about Western Mountaineering (http://www.westernmountaineering.com/index.cfm?section=About)? They are huge now.

. . .

[Hooch]

ray-way tarp, backpack, and quilt.Those are DIY kits, not cottage gear, IMO. :D

[Kerosene]

Good start to a list! It would be nice to post the links in a common place at some point.

I vote for Six Moon Designs, MLD, Gossamer Gear, Packa and Zelph's Stove Works, TarpTents, and ULA. I've got gear from all of them except the last two.

[Connie]

Great idea! Maybe a list could be a "sticky".

[Mango]

I also endorse Brawny's stuff. She and a guy whose name I have forgotten had DancingLightGear, a great outfit. Stephenson's and SMD also make top-drawer gear.

[Two Speed]

Etowah Outfitters
Oware tarps
'Nother vote for SMD Lunar

[BrianLe]

I think it might depend indeed on what different folks "count" as being a cottage gear company.

For example, at the PCT kickoff event in 2008 I met the owner of bearvault (http://bearvault.com/) in a booth there --- nice guy. I had an older model of bearvault cannister that no longer qualified for use in certain parts of the Sierras. He told me to mail them just the lid on my older can with an explanation and they'd mail me the new model for free. And that's exactly what happened.

For my money (or "no additional cost" in this case), that's cottage gear type behavior, or at least it sure made me think very well of the company.

How about backpackinglight.com (http://www.backpackinglight.com)? They sell some gear that's fairly unique to their site, even if none of it is made by that company. Speaking of them, folks looking at this thread might enjoy the bpl thread about interviews with cottage gear manufacturers (http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=25383).

[moytoy]

I also endorse Brawny's stuff. She and a guy whose name I have forgotten had DancingLightGear, a great outfit. Stephenson's and SMD also make top-drawer gear.
Are you talking about Brawny and Rainmaker at trailquest.net?
They are great people and love to build gear. They are into diving right now but their fisrt love is backpacking.

[Franco]

post 25
I also endorse Brawny's stuff. She and a guy whose name I have forgotten had DancingLightGear, a great outfit.

David "Rainmaker" Mauldin
Franco

[Bearpaw]

Big fan of:

ULA
Outdoor Equipment Supplier
Speer Hammocks
Warbonnet Hammocks

and, yes, even though I am a die hard hammocker these days,

Six Moon Designs - the Lunar Solo (e) is a masterpiece of roomy, lightweight shelter. I'll hang on to mine for adventures in places without many trees.

[Hooch]

More good cottage gear: The Stick Pic (http://www.thestickpic.com). :)

[Wags]

how about sarbar's freezer bag cooking stuff? it pretty much changed the entire way i cook and eat on the trail

[Connie]

Absolutely! http://www.trailcooking.com/ sarbar
AKA "freezer bag" cooking

Here is someone new-to-me http://www.alpinlitegear.com/

Here is the interview http://hikinginfinland.blogspot.com/2010/01/interview-gen-shimizu-from-alpinlite.html

[handlebar]

This outfit makes a neat, adjustable alcohol stove: www.packafeather.com

[skinewmexico]

If there are better people to deal with than Henry at Tarptent, Grant at Gossamer Gear, or Brian (formerly) at ULA, I don't know who they'd be.

[Miner]

I'll just list those companies that I've either bought from or have checked out their stuff first hand and was impressed by it.

Mountain Laurel Designs
Gossamer Gear
ULA Equipement
Oware USA
Six Moon Designs
Titanium Goat
Z-Packs
Tarptent
Backpackinglight.com (they sell some of their own branded stuff).
Minibull Designs
Trail Designs

[Kerosene]

More good cottage gear: The Stick Pic (http://www.thestickpic.com). :)Oh yeah, I forgot about this! Nice, simple product that let's you take self-photos or videos by attaching the camera to your hiking pole.

Here's another one for you dayhikers and fitness walkers: Aqua Clip (http://www.aquaclip.com/).

I also have been quite satisfied with a variety of ultralight gear from Bozeman Mountain Works (http://www.bozemanmountainworks.com/), acquired through BackpackingLight.com.

[Berserker]

I have bought items from the following:

ULA
McHale Packs
Tarptent
Mountain Laurel Designs
All make great products and have fantastic customer service. I hope to try gear from some others in the future.

[Jester2000]

I like Etowah. And I met the Stick Pic guys at the Kickoff in '08, where they were giving them out to hikers to test. Really simple, ingenious device.

I've got to say that I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that only one person on this thread so far has tried to start a debate on what defines "cottage."

[Foyt20]

Zelph
Tarptent

and If I ever get the cajones to sell my osprey Aether 70 (It was a gift from my wife, don't want to mess with that) ULA would be added to the list.

These are just the ones that I use, dont have any encounters with any other cottage manufacturers.

[frisbeefreek]

questoutfitters.com for the make-your-own-gear crowd

[Doooglas]

www.mysteryranch.com
Dana Gleason. Dana designs guy from the seventies.