Overheard a guy at the trailhead say his $400 tent is 'bombproof' after one trip

I was packing up at the Mount Hood trailhead last weekend and this guy was telling his buddy his new tent was the best thing ever, no issues. He'd only used it once on a clear, dry night. I've had that same model for two seasons now, and after a real storm in the Gifford Pinchot last fall, I found three small leaks. It's a good tent, but calling anything bombproof after a single easy trip is just asking for trouble. How many trips do you all think you need to really trust a piece of gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley8201mo ago

Oh man, that reminds me of my friend who bought a super expensive rain jacket. He bragged about it being totally waterproof after wearing it in a light drizzle. Then he got caught in a full day of cold rain on the Olympic Peninsula and water soaked right through the seams. He learned the hard way that one easy trip doesn't test anything. Gear needs to face real bad weather, more than once, to prove itself.

wyatt_shah851mo ago

Yeah, that's the worst feeling when gear fails at the worst time. I once bought these hiking boots that felt amazing in the store and on a couple dry trails. Convinced myself they were broken in. First real muddy hike, got a blister the size of a quarter on my heel. Spent the whole walk back just thinking about my poor life choices. Sometimes you gotta get humbled by nature to learn, I guess. What's the most a piece of gear has let you down?

jade73821d ago

Oh so his tent is "bombproof" after one calm night, but my buddy's three season old tent that leaked like a sieve in a REAL storm is somehow the defective one? I swear some people think a gear reward is the same as actual experience. Like yeah dude, your tent is bombproof against a light breeze and zero precipitation, congrats. Call me when you've spent a night getting slapped around by sideways rain on a ridgeline, then we'll talk. I've had gear that looked AMAZING on Day 1 and then totally crapped out the second it met actual weather.