Aside from electronics; what do you consider the great gear improvements in ......the last 15 years?

Lightweight insulated fairly durable air sleeping pads come to mind offhand for me. How much better can it get with practibility?

Light weight fabrics have done much to reduce pack weight and volume. Composite materials, fiberglass, Kevlar, carbon.

The internet has changed a lot involved with the sport/hobby. Facilitating a large growth in small specialty shop and gear makers/manufacturing. Think Cooke Custom Sewing, Enlightened Equipment, Four Dog Stoves, Big Sky International, and many others.

Communication between and enlargement of the paddling camping community. Consider how we are interacting right now.

The amount of leisure time available to devote to our hobby has enabled a larger more diverse, profitable, gear manufacturing base to cater to specific needs and personal styles. Traditional suppliers now are able to offer larger more use specific gear because more people can afford to use it.

butthead

Any of the cookware made from Titanium. Great stuff but a bit pricy.

I agree with sleeping pads. I have a 2.5-3 inch thick, 25 inches wide down filled/insulated pad that only weighs something like 26 oz. when I first start d camping you would need to bring a 3-4 pound pad that was as big as my tent packed up to get that kind of comfort.

Kevlar canoes I don’t really consider modern in your definition but still are fairly modern...they would out rank my sleeping pad.

T

Is there any gear which hasn't been impacted by technology? From canoes and paddles to tents and clothing.

What I do know is I likely pale in comparison to the strength and toughness of those who inhabitated the era of canvas tents and cast iron pans. You had to be a tough hombre to carry those loads.

As said and adding packable chairs that are comfortable.

Integrating carbon in canoes. Gunnels, thwarts, and even yokes.

Carbon fiber

quote mastertangler: "Is there any gear which hasn't been impacted by technology? From canoes and paddles to tents and clothing. "

Think about how long humans have used down - 400 years or so. Still a premium insulator, light and compact-able. And now technology has improved it with hydrophobic treatments.

Life before small powerful headlamps sucked too.

quote dew042: "

quote mastertangler: "Is there any gear which hasn't been impacted by technology? From canoes and paddles to tents and clothing. "

Think about how long humans have used down - 400 years or so. Still a premium insulator, light and compact-able. And now technology has improved it with hydrophobic treatments."

Some of the earliest cave paintings has shown nomadic hunters lying on what appears to be large geese. Thus goose down may have been utilized much earlier than previously thought.

Camping hammocks

quote dew042: "Life before small powerful headlamps sucked too."

Right, one of the first things that came to mind was LED flashlights and headlamps, huge increase in battery life, and no worry about dropping a light and having the lamp filament break.

I agree with butthead, biggest thing to me is the internet and access to information. First time I went out west 30 years ago there was no internet. The gear I got from REI was really good enough. But all I had was a book. Had no idea what to do. Made lots of mistakes. Really never got far from the car. Now you can plan routes much more carefully, know what to expect and what to bring. I don't think it detracts from the adventure too much - but someday it might.

quote overthehill: " ... what do you consider the great gear improvements in ......the last 15 years?...

The number of available breathable waterproof fabrics has changed outdoors experience tremendously. While GORETEX has been available for at least 30 years, cost was always a barrier. Today, with so many breathable, waterproof fabric offerings available, safety and comfort are far more affordable and easily accessible to the outdoorsman than ever before.

quote MagicPaddler: "Camping hammocks"

+1000000 I love my Hammock. I never good adventuring without it!

quote walleyehunter422: "

quote MagicPaddler: "Camping hammocks"

+1000000 I love my Hammock. I never good adventuring without it!"

The hammock is nothing new, the accessibility of underquilts was the "game changer" for hammock camping.

Check out JacksRBetter story and you get an immeadiate appreciation for this advance in modern gear.
http://www.jacksrbetter.com/our-story/

Without a doubt, LED headlamps. I worked at Petzl during the Tikka launch (okay that was 17 years ago) and saw non LED lights go the way of the dodo in a brief time. Even without the high lumen output, the weight loss combined with battery life changed the headlamp game forever. As I recall, the original Tikka without batteries weighed less than a condom. The outdoor world seemed to agree with me - enough Tikkas were sold in the US within the first few months to completely cover all R&D costs.

Though I have since switched to a high output model, my original still works.

surprised no one has said carbon fiber paddles.

How many of us use the ultra light weight carbon fiber paddles...

1) Insulated mattresses have revolutionized camping. Years ago you expected painful sleepless nights. No more! For 2.5 lbs you can get an Exped that's 4.7" thick and will keep you warm close to zero.

2) Thermoformed plastic has made kayaks 10-15 lbs lighter.

3) Carbon paddles mean that people with shoulder problems may be able to continue their love of paddling instead of being forced to give it up.

5) Helinox has set a higher bar for outdoor comfort with chairs, cots, and tables---things that would never have been on my packing list years ago.

6) I love solar lanterns, especially this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014H4036A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. The Luci lights are useful to.

Yes, all this new stuff costs money, but I find that as products improve my comfort I'm more willing to buy them. I don't want to go back to sleeping on a 1/4" closed-cell foam pad, even if it only cost $10. These innovations will allow people to camp well past the age when they would have given it up in past decades.

Then there are some things that I don't look for innovation in. To me a sleeping bag is just a bag filled with down, no need to get fancy. Some tent designs are, I think, unnecessarily complicated. I WOULD like to see improvement in pillows: something as thick as a regular pillow for side sleepers and not ridiculously expensive like the Sea to Summit. Cots need better designs also.

I agree that the internet has improved my outdoor experience 1000%. I didn't even realize it (was taking it for granted) until it was brought up here. I can research gear in great detail, read professional and consumer reviews. Just think that in the old days you had no way of finding out about other people's experience with a product, except maybe Consumer Reports. Buying things was hit or miss. The Internet has allowed me to discover new paddling and camping places that I would never have known about otherwise. Plus it allows me more travel time because with the internet I can take my work with me.

quote TomT: "Integrating carbon in canoes. Gunnels, thwarts, and even yokes. "

Carbon yoke - as of today, I'm not ready to call that an improvement. Had one fail in Quetico a couple weeks ago. Really detracted from the trip for my son and me.

Well... our three person, double door tent AND 8.5x11 tarp came in at a bit under 2 lbs, including cordage, etc. This is less than just one of the sleeping bags we got from the outfitter last year.

Cuben fiber is really nice, but a bit noisy.

I also remember travel or n-piece fishing rods as being kind of crappy, but the 4 piece travel rods we took this year were outstanding.

I just wished outfitters would get with the times and have a premium carbon fiber canoe offering. e.g. the souris quetico 17 we used is ~49lb, compared to ~36 for a swift carbon, the model with the carbon fiber gunnels.

Some outfitters have started to offer carbon fiber canoes. For instance, Williams & Hall have done so for about 2 years.

Maps and access to camp site locations and ratings is a huge improvement for me. First trip we had no idea where a camp may be or if it was large enough for 4 tents. "Do you think that is a camping area or just a rocky face" were questions asked from a distance back then, but never by me now in the BWCA.

This is all stuff that's made my life far better since my first wilderness camping (ie, not car camping) experiences as a child. Some mentioned previously in the thread, some not:

GPS - no explanation needed... but... I love map and compass, but when you start getting that "where the hell ARE we?" anxiety, firing up your GPS and getting an accurate fix is very comforting.
LED Headlamps - more comfortable brighter, lighter, batteries last longer.
Modern water treatment devices such as steripen, and purifier pumps (remember nasty iodine?) I drink a lot of water in the outdoors, and I haven't gotten the bubble gut mud butt since the early 90s.
Titanium cookware and eating utensils - I liked cooking with my stainless steel pot more than my titanium pot, but titanium saves so much weight. Used to take plastic knife, fork, spoon ... don't you hate it when you break a tine off of your plastic fork and don't have anything else for the rest of the trip?
Waterproofing on down sleeping bags - used to be no point taking a down bag anywhere that it MIGHT rain. Now, I always use down and never worry about it getting wet.
Internal frame packs - so much more comfortable and stable than external frames. I do like the retro look of an external frame, but that's about as far as it goes.
The internet. Period.

I wholeheartedly agree that it's time for gear vendors to start working on a better camp pillow.

I wholeheartedly agree that it's time for gear vendors to start working on a better camp pillow.
"

I'm a side sleeper.

I took a therm-a-rest compressible pillow this year, and it was really nice.

It's not heavy at all, but its a bit bulkier than normal camping pillows (which are kind of crappy). Luckily on canoe trips size is not much of a factor and on backpacking trips, it is worth the extra space after having tested it out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KXU5B5U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1

I'm a side sleeper.


I took a therm-a-rest compressible pillow this year, and it was really nice.


It's not heavy at all, but its a bit bulkier than normal camping pillows (which are kind of crappy). Luckily on canoe trips size is not much of a factor and on backpacking trips, it is worth the extra space after having tested it out.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KXU5B5U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1"

Thanks! I just ordered one.