The number one complaint that even serious campers and hikers have is weighty gear. Everything adds up, and if you’re not smart and strategic about packing, you can end up totally exhausted just a few hours in. A normal pack can weigh around 15kg – sometimes more depending on seasonal differences like sleeping bag and food. However, if you choose light weight hiking gear, you can carry as little as 5-6kg – less than the average backpack or large handbag. At Top Gear, we stock a massive range of light weight hiking gear online, so you can go further and explore more on your tramping trips than ever before.
Putting together a light kit starts with the backpack. With today’s highly engineered fabrics, it’s possible to have high capacity packs that are light but also highly damage resistant. If you’re going framed, select an aluminium frame instead of steel; we’ve got a few to choose from. Cooking units are usually one of the heaviest single pieces of equipment, but with handy designs like the Jetboil Joule cooking system, you can keep the cooker + fuel canister under a kilo. You can also minimise the weight of your camping gear by selecting sleeping bags and tents that suit your needs and the terrain you’re tackling. Bivvy bags (short for bivouac bags, known as swags in Australia) and/or waterproof covers can negate the need for a tent in some conditions.
You can buy your camping gear in Auckland from our brick and mortar store, or you can get great deals online right here. We ship all our light hiking gear NZ wide, as well as to other Australasian destinations. Check out our customer service pages for details.