Originally Posted by
dogontour
I appreciate all the suggestions everyone, but I am not looking to replace any of my gear with lighter versions. I realize that if I had a lot of money I could easily spend it on lighter versions but that's just not in my cards.
Fair enough if now isn't a good time to replace stuff, but for future consideration...
Lots of items are both lighter and cheaper depending on your choices. I personally don't see the attraction to expensive gear that is also heavier than anything else on the market. There are choices where you can pick items that are inexpensive, lightweight, and still serviceable.
For example... I find that I like my inexpensive, thin, lightweight, Sierra Designs rain gear very well. Similarly I prefer my medium weight lower priced racks (Nashbar and Blackburn) to some of the very expensive and very heavy ones. My zip off leg pants (World Wide Sportsman, lightweight soft nylon, from Bass Pro Shops) weigh half as much and cost half as much as most that are on the market and I like them better. My Nashbar Waterproof panniers weight less than half as much and cost way less than half as much as some of the premium stuff. For these items I would choose the cheap stuff even if it cost a lot more than it does.
There are a few items where I am inclined to buy a premium priced product. My Thermarest Neoair sleeping pad comes to mind. It is very light, very comfortable, and very expensive. I find tents in the $100 (or even less) range adequate, but did eventually spring for a lighter much more expensive one. Even so I only did it when it was on sale for half of the original price.
Then there are things like cameras. I really like my DSLR and extra lenses, but it is possible to take really good pictures with a camera that weighs a few ounces instead of a few pounds.
Chargers and batteries can add up. I figured out that I can buy extra batteries for my little Nikon for about $6 a piece rather that the $30 that Nikon charges. These tiny lithium batteries weigh very little so I can take enough pre-charged batteries to take thousands of pictures for less than an ounce vs several ounces for a charger. If taking a charger(s) I found that there are inexpensive 3rd party vendor chargers that are both cheap and much lighter than the oem ones. Also in many cases the same one can be used for several items especially since things seem to be standardizing on mini usb.