The Gear I’ll Never Use Again

Joined
Jan 15, 2020
Messages
13
Location
NY
My personal hall of shame:
– Jetboil that froze shut at 10°F.
– Cotton “performance” socks.
– A solar charger that took 9 hours to charge my phone halfway.
If it can fail in the backcountry, it will. What’s your worst offender?
 
Vivo barefoot boots for work or hunting. I love them normally. They are my everyday boot around the property. After a couple of toe-crushing accidents while working, they no longer are used for work boots. After taking them on multiple hunting trips as “secondary” boots, I’ll never wear them any time there are cactus (the soles and leather will absolutely not stop a cactus) or rocks. I tried wearing them with a moderate pack size and rocks on the trail and it was murder. This is coming from someone who only wears barefoot shoes for the last year. Not having any sole support when walking on medium size rocks means your foot just gets hammered. Otherwise, they are great boots for general hiking, scouting, everyday wear.
 
Cheap battery banks - got one for Christmas, great gift idea but bad product. Recently picked up Anker Zolo 10k and 20k to replace an older Anker that's starting to lose life (six years is pretty solid)

Non-Full Leather Boots - Irish Setter Vaprtreks are trash

SFP scopes
 
Vivo barefoot boots for work or hunting. I love them normally. They are my everyday boot around the property. After a couple of toe-crushing accidents while working, they no longer are used for work boots. After taking them on multiple hunting trips as “secondary” boots, I’ll never wear them any time there are cactus (the soles and leather will absolutely not stop a cactus) or rocks. I tried wearing them with a moderate pack size and rocks on the trail and it was murder. This is coming from someone who only wears barefoot shoes for the last year. Not having any sole support when walking on medium size rocks means your foot just gets hammered. Otherwise, they are great boots for general hiking, scouting, everyday wear.
What’s your primary boot? Now that the vivo’s are out
 
Had a Peax tekking pole break. The top section completely pulled out from the 2nd. Luckily had some tape in my pack to reconnect it but was in some decently steep terrain where I needed the poles to work. Also Peax gaiters completely gave up their waterproofness after a year. I'll never buy another thing from Peax.
 
Anything claiming to use solar power or charging in the back country. Most water bladders though there is one I like. Anything cotton as a base or mid layer, waxed cotton outer is fine.
 
I want to say SIG rangefinders. I should have left that piece of shit in the desert but I have to use one for archery hunting because it’s displayed in black and I can actually read it. Rifle hunting I use my Leica and cover it with my hand after ranging.
 
• High-end trekking poles - the Costco ones work just as well for $35
• Polyester (plastic) base layers
• Sawyer filter bags - still use the filter but the bags have failed me for the last time
• Leopold RFs - they had known issues that should’ve constituted a recall but only offered a discount on a replacement
• Cast metal broadheads ( like montecs)
• Tubular frame snowshoes
• Expensive tents - bears and rodents love them and people steal them
• Stabilizers for my hunting bow - thought they helped until I shot without them- no difference
 
You'll be hard pressed to find better powerbanks than Anker. I'm using a 20,000mah that's 7 years old and still giving me about 3.5 phone charges
 
Underarmor Baselayers. "Discovered" Merino Wool, specifically FirstLite Merino and will never go back.

Original LaCross Rubber boots. FROZE my feet off turkey hunting. My FIL just bought some new Alphaburly's, interested to see how he likes em.

Cotton socks and field/brush pants for gun deer hunting late Nov/Dec. As a young kid I didnt know any better! My cousin bought bibs one year and swore by them. Got a pair the following year. Wow! I was warm! I remember my thighs freezing in long johns and field pants! Again, didnt know any better as a young 13 yr old kid!

Any clothing that doesnt breathe while hunting. Staying dry is key no matter what, esp baselayers. Cold and dry is 10x more bearable than cold and wet. I can always find an outer shell to keep warmth in while moisture out.
 
Anker power bank, failed to charge my phone past 80% last year and it was mid thirties or warmer at night.
Sometimes you just get a lemon, but there’s also a few settings in the iPhone that will cause this issue if they’re not turned off.

The default settings make the phone charge to 100% as slow as possible at night, and will pause charging once it hits ~90% and resume at 2-4am. Problem is that most battery banks will shut off if the draw is low, and then the phone stops recognizing that it’s plugged into power so it charges to 80-90% and then stops and just slowly drains all night.
 
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