Gear Reviews
When it comes to safety and comfort in the wilderness your skills and experience level are the most important things. After that, it's all about having the right gear and knowing how to use it.
Being outdoor filmmakers, half our gear is for making movies so these reviews include a lot of photography and editing equipment that perform well in the wilderness.
We also have two dogs who love to come along on all our adventures. We broke our gear reviews into three categories below, hiking, doggos, and camera gear. These videos can also be found in our Youtube playlist.
Hiking Gear
We buy most of our hiking gear for a thru-hiking situation. For long-distance hiking, weight is the first priority. That means that in some cases we are sacrificing comfort or durability for the sake of saving weight. If your hiking style isn't prioritized for long-distance backpacking you may want to prioritize comfort and durability higher than we do. With that being said, we are always looking for gear that can achieve the best balance between weight, comfort, and durability.
Thru-hiking and pro video gear for the CDT - male
We are doing the CDT in 2021 and filming a documentary about the hike. We'll be carrying a lot more camera gear than the average thru hiker so this is for someone who is very dedicated to photography or videography.
Thru-hiking and pro video gear for the CDT - female
We are doing the CDT in 2021 and filming a documentary about the hike. We'll be carrying a lot more camera gear than the average thru hiker so this is for someone who is very dedicated to photography or videography.
Women's Nemo Disco 15 degree sleeping bag
Amy has used this sleeping bag for about 2,000 miles and she's never met a bag she liked more. With a lifetime warranty keeping my reassurance, 15' bag keeping her warm, and 3lb 1oz staying light as possible. Find it here for $299.95
Aegismax sleeping bag
Alex has used the aegismax 20 degree bag for three years including 2 thru-hikes. It's a little known brand but offers a really good value. Find it here for just $165
All the gear Alex carried on the Hayduke Trail
In depth look at the gear Alex was carrying on the 800-mile Hayduke Trail in Utah and Arizona. This is not your average thru-hiker pack breakdown though. Half the reason he was out there was to make movies so a significant portion of his pack weight is dedicated to camera gear. In addition to his 20 pound base weight he'll show you how you can make an entire documentary for 10 pounds of camera gear.
Hyperlite 3400 southwest backpack
Alex's first ultralight backpack for thru-hiking. He has found out that this pack is good for much more than long-distance hikes too. It's versatile, lightweight and durable.
Sea-to-summit sleeping bag liner
Many people want a little extra warmth from their sleeping bag and Sea-to-Summit offers this liner with an advertised 25 degrees of added warmth. Coming in at $70 though we're not sure it's worth the money.
REI air rail sleeping pad
This is a good intermediate sleeping pad. It has plenty of padding and it's very comfortable. It's not quite warm enough for deep winter camping but it's good for colder weather and those who need a really comfy sleeping pad.
Thermarest trail scout sleeping pad
Alex has used this sleeping pad for about 3 years and it has about 1,000 miles on it. For being less than $50 it has outperformed his expectations and it's very lightweight.
Sabot Heat battery powered gloves
Alex takes the brand new 2021 Sabot Heat battery powered gloves out into the mountains on a winter camping and splitboarding trip to test them out and talk about pros and cons. Full disclaimer, these were provided by the company for free but they did not give us guidelines on what to say.
Backpacking snow shoes
Alex has been using these snowshoes for years and he don't have a single complaint about them. They are lightweight, durable and have all the features he wants without any extra bells and whistles.
For the Doggos
At Wilderness Mindset, our dogs Minnow and Echo are an essential part of the crew. They go just about everywhere with us and they probably like being in nature more than we do. Bringing them into the wilderness doesn't require a lot of gear but it does require a few essential items.
Thru-hiking gear for dogs
We brought two dogs with us on the CDT and here's the gear we started out with.
Camera Gear
When it comes to gear, we obsess over camera gear more than anything else. Camera technology is improving so fast. Most importantly for us, it's getting smaller and lighter. It's allowing us to create very high quality content for a fraction of the bulk and weight that it used to require in the past. As outdoor filmmakers, we need our gear to perform in all kinds of weather conditions and it needs to be very portable so our reviews always keep that in mind.
Cheap Camera Slider GVM Motorized (32") Review/Tutorial
I've owned this GVM Professional Video Carbon Fiber Motorized Camera Slider (32") for over 2 years now. Although there are some really cheap functions with this equipment, overall it gets the job done with nice quality photos and videos.
Mindshift camera backpack
Alex has used the Mindshift Ultralight dual 36 liter camera backpack for all his day hikes for the past 4 years. It's a well built pack but there are some flaws.
Mavic air review in 2021, is it still worth it?
A lot has changed since 2021, this drone has been replaced by much better options from DJI since then.
Pro documentary filmmaking gear on a budget
Most of our income has come from documentary filmmaking for about 5 years now. We own all my own camera gear and we've been able to make professional looking documentaries without the super expensive professional camera gear.
Camera gear for day hikes
Alex's day hiking kit is a step up from my long-distance backpacking camera gear. He can carry more because he's not carrying camping gear and not going as far.
M1 Macbook air vs Intel macbook pro
The new M1 Macbook Air vs the 2020 Intel Macbook Pro. It sounds too good to be true but it looks like the M1 macbook air is better than the intel Macbook pro. Ales is a professional videographer and photographer and he'll be testing the performance in Lightroom and Final Cut on both these macs. Just for fun he compares my 2014 iMac to these laptops too. Some of the results were surprising.
Ashanks LED video light
Reviewing his new Ashanks video light after a month of shooting for a documentary in Oregon.