Comment by zeagle | Hacker News Reader

Comment by zeagle | Hacker News Reader

Bookmarked! That's great and something more folks should be aware of.

I started making my own hiking gear years ago and it has been fun passion of mine. Cost aside, the biggest benefit is developing a comfort in modifying and fixing existing gear and eventually learning to make it look good. I started with the rayway quilt for a prairie wintercamping overbag but have since taken a UL DIY tarp tent + bug shelter, various quilts/bags, ponchos, gaiters, and various bags on longer back country trips. I've replaced a fly for an old but durable tent and adjusted the skin of a folding kayak (was not as happy with the cosmetic result on that one). It's a bit addictive. Zippers are hard to get right but once you've done this it's easy to go to scrubs or dresses. My latest purchase is a speedy stitcher awl for other projects.

If you are into this the other big category to try out is DIY dehydrated meal prep. Last weeklong trip I intentionally overpacked food to share and split and everyone wanted some of my food after a couple days on that mountain house (relative) crap. It ends up being way cheaper, tastier, and probably healthier. Leading up to a trip I just cook extra and try to be more vegeterian for dinner. Those portions of rice, bean/lentil dishes, vegeterian curries all get thrown onto some parchment paper in a rack (previously spiral) dehydrator, ziplocked, and then frozen until the trip. Switch it up with different seasoning and sides, e.g. rehydrate a side of sauerkraut, pickled beets, or some jerkey. Just word to the wise chopped potatos rehydrate slowly & poorly: easier to buy those cartoons of shredded dehydrated potato from costco. I'll buy their cooked canned chicken to dehydrate too. Also dehydrated 1/2cm wide banana slices (no soaking/additives) are my favourite snack now.

I mean sure, you can learn basically anything if you put enough effort into it. Had a friend who refused to let builders build their house and did it all basically himself, took him some 2-3 years. Only hired aid when he needed more muscle than 1 person can muster (or to check if he did OK electricity and plumbing, but otherwise all by himself).

Motivation was 2-fold - obviously save some money, but also to know how to repair stuff once things start degrading, and they for sure will, one after another.

Sounds romantic and the right things, but as somebody who knows exactly what I want to do with my life and how to get there, its just another meh no thank you for me. One has limited free time in this life, the older usually the less, and I really don't mind shelling out few bucks to equipment from ie Decathlon (for US - good quality and cheap outdoor stuff, you really don't need overpriced Arc'teryx things) and spend free time actually using it out there. You only need few items to be proper high quality for not ruining the trip, ie shoes, backpack and maybe jacket for colder times. And of course technical stuff for ie climbing or alpinism but thats another topic.

Saving tons of hours on frustration on understanding how things shouldn't be done. That is coming from person whose mom used sewing machine quite a lot, grandma was making various clothing for all their grandchildren etc.

That food preparation part is actually more interesting since you control how much chemical crap goes into it (well, obviously apart from actual ingredients for it... but I presume since you invest so much time into this you go for ie free range bio meat and similar quality of the rest). But again - I can just pop extra dollar or two per dry meal for bio variant of prepared meals, they taste wonderfully after long hard day anyway, especially if one is properly hungry. Now if somebody would come up with dried usable beer that would be another story...

> Decathlon

Interesting recommendation, I haven't heard of them. I checked out their MTB shorts, and this model[0] is basically identical to a pair I've bought on Amazon from various "Chinese" retailers of different names (like ARSUXEO), which gives me pause due to the massive inconsistency in quality from pair to pair.

Do you know if Decathlon actually takes an active role in the production, or are they just buying bulk e.g. from Alibaba? Their website doesn't really say much and what they do say just feels kind of generic.

[0] https://www.decathlon.com/products/mountain-bike-shorts-900-...

Decathlon is a French company, they are huge in France and many EU countries (basically the first brick-and-mortar go-to place to buy any sporting equipment if you're on budget, or just need to buy many sporting gear in one place), and the quality of everything they sell if remarkably high, given the low prices compared to the brand names, across all kinds of products.

If someone is copying someone else, it's those Chinese companies copying Decathlon IMO.

Would it be accurate to say Decathlon is the French version of Columbia? Seems like a similar price point at least.

I got my first Decathlon piece last year, Forclaz 100 puffy for 80$, and so far so good.

I've always considered it the European REI/MEC, albeit a bit on the cheaper end.

For some reason outdoor gear in the US seems to go from low quality Walmart stuff straight to high end more boutique brands, skipping a "high volume, durable quality, no need for ultra-technical specs" solid affordability zone that Decathlon seems to operate in.

Not really, Decathlon is much more focused on sports gear, for just about any sport you can think of. You could go to decathlon and pick up a tent, hiking clothes, a climbing rope, a kayak, protein powder and running shoes all in the same store.

As mentioned in the other comment, the closest thing I can think of is REI, but with significantly cheaper options.

Their quality is fine. I have a lot of their cycling stuff. Of course those short are not gone give Bioracer run for its money.. but they are good enough. Their jerseys are good, I have their RC550 bike and it is good(not the tires).

They have dirt cheap fishing gear kids love, also just generic kids clothing is pretty ok.

Their winter ski stuff is also good(clothing, never tried actual skis or boots). It is not high end, meaning heavy not as warm etc but for the price it is great, for riding a lift whole day great deal.

Make sure to check sizing. It is kind "interesting" I can wear medium size ski bibs(686, Burton etc), Decathlon large I could not squeeze into. They were super nice bibs too, too bad they did not have XL or I would have bought them

Its Ikea meets REI

Decathlon stuff is generally pretty good. I have one of their down jackets and it is amazing (and amazing values!). Sizing runs small.

They do their own designs - not generic Amazon/Ebay stuff.

There's a hiker on Ebay who showed their design studio which is co-located with one of their major stores in France. That way the designers can go down to the store and ask a customer how a new design would work for them.

Fair points, I certainly don't want to imply that I build everything I use from scratch. I couldn't ever match the quality or waterproof usability of my boots or build a bike frame. Although the latter might be a fun workshop to find...

You touch on time being short as we get older. I completely agree but in a more general sense I think it is important to consider what hobbies one enjoys, who we spend time doing them with, and what refuels us at the end of the day.

I find if I start to put a value on my personal time that equates my professional rate (physician, but not a high end specialty) nothing starts to make economic sense short of working really, really hard to avoid ever getting divorced.

Do I garden with my wife, forage for mushrooms hiking, help out on a buddy's hobby farm for credit, or do I just work more and buy it after. Some stuff really doesn't make sense: I run a zfs nas, vps for encrypted offsite backup, self host services etc at some cost + the evening thing.

A lot of this I started doing when I was a broke student that wanted to get into CS but it stuck as income changed due to enjoying it and a firm belief that the food industry and cloud offerings don't have my interests in mind.

I haven't done the organic meat thing. It is a good thought! I pressure can broth from pork bones and culled laying hens that don't see antibiotics or exogenous hormones. I think next time I'll save the meat for this purpose!

To your last point: our rule of thumb is a bottle of scotch/bourbon per 2 people per 4 nights. :)

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