Everyone on r/Ultralight has opinions. Strong ones (don’t ever suggest Sawyer Squeeze alts). A lot of folks also link to their LighterPack gear lists in their “user flair”. This user flair creates a potentially great data source for examining what “seasoned” ultralight backpackers actually buy and use!
In a previous post, I looked at some LighterPack lists that I scraped off r/Ultralight. This post looked at 321 lighter pack lists, largely consisting of folks asking for pack shakedowns , with a handful of folks posting trip reports and other things.
That was a very different data sample than what this post covers! For this post, I’m assuming that people who keep their LighterPack lists in their flair do more backpacking in general, and are therefore more likely to have dialed in their backpacking kits. I scraped 345 lists from 345 users’ flair to get a sense for what might constitute the “standard ultralight kit”.
The middle half of the lists in this sample have baseweights between 3.3 and 5.0 kg (~7.3 to 11 lb). That is a pretty reasonable range to begin thinking about the “typical” ultralight gear list. As you’ll note, it nicely encompasses the often-defined “10 lb baseweight” default.
The Modal Ultralight Backpacking Gear List
What’s a standard kit? Well, one way to define this is to look at the “Modal” kit.
For each “kind” of backpacking item, I took the single most common named product among the lists that carry that kind of item. Because there is limited standardization across lists, I had to use some simplifying assumptions as well as product grouping considerations to try and create slots that reasonably covered the “kind” of gear that at least half of all lists carry. When people name an item on their list generically (e.g. “Backpack,” “Quilt,” “Tarp”), I tried to use the product description field in LighterPack to better identify the brand for that item in order to understand the most common brand featured across lists. The median weight column in the table below is the median weight that hikers entered for that brand or product. Gear spec weight is the manufacturer’s listed weight for the specific product shown (or a typical carried amount, like a 5 ft strip of Leukotape), and Price is the brand’s list price or a typical retail price as of October 2026.
| Item | Most common product | Lists Using this | Median weight | Spec weight | Item Type Carried by | Price (Oct 2026) | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pack | Nashville / vest packs using Ultra 100 fabric | 29 | 417 g (14.7 oz) | 394 g (13.9 oz) (18″) | 98% | $335–$435 | From Nashville Packs |
| Shelter | Zpacks (Duplex / Plex / Hexamid) | 58 | 437 g (15.4 oz) | 348–504 g (12.3–17.8 oz) (Plex–Duplex) | 96% | $599–$749 | From ZPacks |
| Quilt / sleeping bag | Enlightened Equipment | 76 | 557 g (19.6 oz) | 544 g (19.2 oz) (Revelation, default config) | 96% | from $280 | The UL Community tries not to support Enlightened Equipment these days |
| Sleeping pad | Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite | 98 | 360 g (12.7 oz) | 370 g (13.1 oz) (Regular) | 96% | $209.95 | Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite |
| Pillow | Sea to Summit Aeros | 74 | 71 g (2.5 oz) | 57 g (2.0 oz) | 65% | $49.95 | Sea to Summit Aeros pillow |
| Tent stakes | MSR Groundhog | 91 | 44 g (1.5 oz) | 84 g (3.0 oz) (6 × 14 g) | 77% | $38.95 (6) | MSR Groundhog stakes |
| Water bottle | Smartwater 1L | 134 | 57 g (2.0 oz) | 34 g (1.2 oz) | 87% | ~$2 | — |
| Water filter | Sawyer Squeeze / Mini | 144 | 80 g (2.8 oz) | 85 g (3.0 oz) | 86% | $45.99 | Sawyer Squeeze |
| Spoon / spork | Toaks long spoon | 65 | 19 g (0.7 oz) | 19 g (0.7 oz) | 79% | $9.95 | TOAKS long-handle spoon |
| Pot / mug | Toaks titanium | 111 | 80 g (2.8 oz) | 103 g (3.6 oz) (750 ml, with lid) | 66% | $26.00 | TOAKS titanium 750 ml pot |
| Stove | BRS-3000T | 59 | 26 g (0.9 oz) | 25 g (0.9 oz) | 66% | ~$18 | BRS-3000T stove |
| Lighter | Bic mini | 181 | 11 g (0.4 oz) | 12 g (0.4 oz) | 65% | ~$2 | BIC mini lighter |
| Phone | iPhone | 139 | 198 g (7.0 oz) | — | 84% | — | — |
| Power bank | Anker | 84 | 181 g (6.4 oz) | — | 76% | ~$25–$50 | Anker 10,000 mAh bank |
| Headlamp | Nitecore NU25 | 113 | 33 g (1.2 oz) | 47 g (1.7 oz) (NU25 UL) | 70% | $36.95 | Nitecore NU25 |
| Charging cable | USB-C cable | 63 | 21 g (0.7 oz) | — | 64% | ~$12 | Anker 1 ft braided USB-C cables |
| Socks (spare) | Darn Tough | 110 | 62 g (2.2 oz) | 57 g (2.0 oz) | 93% | $25.00 | Darn Tough socks |
| Rain jacket | Frogg Toggs | 58 | 157 g (5.5 oz) | 159 g (5.6 oz) (Ultra-Lite2 jacket) | 70% | $27.99 | Frogg Toggs rain jacket |
| Puffy / insulated jacket | Enlightened Equipment Torrid | 29 | 218 g (7.7 oz) | 252 g (8.9 oz) (M) | 55% | $200 | The UL Community tries not to support Enlightened Equipment these days |
| Gloves / mitts | Montbell Climaplus gloves | 9 | 25 g (0.9 oz) | 44 g (1.6 oz) | 51% | $32 | Montbell Store |
| First-aid kit | Leukotape | 58 | 39 g (1.4 oz) | 12 g (0.4 oz) (~1.5 m / 5 ft of a 15 yd roll) | 83% | ~$15 | Leukotape P |
| Toothbrush / toothpaste | no dominant product | — | 9 g (0.3 oz) | — | 73% | — | — |
| Trowel | Deuce of Spades | 108 | 17 g (0.6 oz) | 17 g (0.6 oz) (#2) | 65% | $20.95 | Deuce of Spades trowel |
| Toilet paper / bidet / wipes | Holey Hiker bidet | 54 | 11 g (0.4 oz) | 4 g (0.1 oz) | 57% | $14.00 | From Holey Hiker |
| Repair kit | Tenacious Tape | 56 | 10 g (0.4 oz) | — | 52% | ~$8 | Gear Aid Tenacious Tape |
| Bug protection | Headnet | 78 | 18 g (0.6 oz) | 30 g (1.1 oz) | 52% | $16.95 | Mosquito head net |
| Knife / multitool / scissors | Victorinox Classic SD | 86 | 21 g (0.7 oz) | 21 g (0.7 oz) | 70% | $24 | Victorinox Classic SD |
| Pack liner | Nylofume / compactor bag | 154 | 26 g (0.9 oz) | 26 g (0.9 oz) (Nylofume) | 70% | ~$10 | Trash compactor bags |
| Stuff sacks / dry bags | Ziploc | 40 | 9 g (0.3 oz) | — | 68% | ~$5 | Ziploc freezer bags |
| Bandana / towel | no dominant product | — | 20 g (0.7 oz) | — | 50% | — | — |
| Total | 7 items with no spec weight use the median | — | 3,236 g (7.1 lb) | 3,193–3,349 g (7.0–7.4 lb) | — | — | — |
The modal kit weighs 3,236 g (7.1 lb) before the items people wear and other odds and ends get added in. Using manufacturer spec weights for the modal item listed, I end up calculating about 3,193–3,349 g (7.0–7.4 lb), depending on whether the shelter is a Plex or a Duplex. The median weight for the real lists scraped is 4,131 g (9.1 lb). The 895 g difference between the modal list above, and the median of all lists, is becuase the modal list is missing all the other odds and ends that get carried. This includes things like food bags, packing items, etc.
Putting on my backpacker hat — rather than my data geek hat — I can’t help but look at the modal list above and think, “Damn. That’s actually really solid!” It looks pretty great for a default backpacking kit! I mean, I’d personally choose not to carry Frogg Toggs and opt for a real rain jacket that’s a bit more durable, but to each their own!
Worn Weight
| Item | Most common product | Median weight | Spec weight | Listed by | Price (Oct 2026) | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hat / buff / headband | Buff | 39 g (1.4 oz) | 40 g (1.4 oz) | 85% | ~$25 | Buff |
| Shoes (trail runners) | Altra Lone Peak | 610 g (21.5 oz) | 655 g (23.1 oz) (pair) | 78% | $160 | Altra Lone Peak |
| Shirt | varies | 159 g (5.6 oz) | — | 59% | — | — |
| Underwear | varies | 72 g (2.5 oz) | — | 57% | — | — |
| Shorts | Patagonia Baggies/Strider | 167 g (5.9 oz) | 116 g (4.1 oz) (Strider Pro 5″) | 51% | $89 | — |
| Sunglasses / glasses | varies | 30 g (1.1 oz) | — | 57% | — | — |
| Trekking poles | Black Diamond poles | 473 g (16.7 oz) | 281 g (9.9 oz) (120 cm pair) | 79% | $219.95 | Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z |
| Total | 3 items with no spec weight use the median | 1,550 g (3.4 lb) | 1,353 g (3.0 lb) | — | — | — |
This is the “modal kit,” and that means it’s not an actual kit that anybody carries. Across the 32 slots where a named product dominates, the “median list” matches the modal pick in 7 of them; the closest real list matches 21 of the 32 slots.
Top 5 Items in Each Category
Below is a list of the main categories selected above to flesh out a modal backpacking kit. For each category, I’ve generated a word cloud of the brands and models named under that list category to provide a sense of the frequency of the items and brands hikers use.
Ultralight Backpacks
I think that it’s interesting to note that Durston gear is significantly less represented in this LighterPack list pull than in the lists of folks asking for shakedowns.
Ultralight Tents and Shelters
Generic “tarp” is the most common single answer for shelter and is not in the chart because it is not a product. I’ve covered information on how to pitch one and various brands to select and consider in another post.
Ultralight Quilts and Sleeping Bags
Ultralight Sleeping Pads
Nemo Tensor36 lists · 10%
Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol23 lists · 7%
Water Treatment and Carry
Katadyn BeFree68 lists · 20%
CNOC Vecto 2L57 lists · 17%
Platypus QuickDraw45 lists · 13%
I will note that I think that the Platypus QuickDraw is a superior filter to the Sawyer Squeeze, and have done some analysis and digging into the manufacturing claims. View my complete review and discussion here.
Cooking
TOAKS titanium 750 ml pot111 lists · 32%
TOAKS long-handle spoon65 lists · 19%
BRS-3000T stove59 lists · 17%
Soto Windmaster54 lists · 16%
Electronics
Anker 10,000 mAh bank84 lists · 24%
Garmin inReach Mini 271 lists · 21%
Anker 1 ft braided USB-C cables63 lists · 18%
Clothing and Footwear
Altra Lone Peak69 lists · 20%
Buff60 lists · 17%
Frogg Toggs rain jacket58 lists · 17%
Dirty Girl gaiters46 lists · 13%
Health, Hygiene and Repair
Mosquito head net78 lists · 23%
Leukotape P58 lists · 17%
Gear Aid Tenacious Tape56 lists · 16%
Holey Hiker bidet54 lists · 16%
Everything Else
Victorinox Classic SD86 lists · 25%
Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z59 lists · 17%
Ziploc freezer bags40 lists · 12%
Sleep and Shelter Extras
Sea to Summit Aeros pillow74 lists · 21%
Frost King window film (polycryo)49 lists · 14%
What the Data Say
Cottage brands are the most dominant gear items in the “Big 4.” This is fricken awesome! Move over REI!
Enlightened Equipment, Nunatak, Katabatic, Hammock Gear and Underground Quilts account for 171 of the 213 quilts that name a brand. For the “small stuff” — so not the Big 4, there are a similar set of mid-sized brands that dominate. This includes Sawyer, Toaks, Nitecore, Darn Tough and a Bic lighter that are on a lot of the lists. It’s interesting that the “small stuff” is very consistent across lists, implying there is pretty good consensus around the “best” smaller items to bring/buy, and limited consensus on the big, expensive items.
For Sleeping Pads, the NeoAir XLite family is the single most common named product in the Big 4, and it is about as far away from “cottage brand” as you can get.
Data Scraping Methods
I crawled r/Ultralight comment threads (top posts, searches for gear lists, shakedowns, and base weight), reading each commenter’s author-flair field. Because reddit makes it very difficult to crawl subreddits these days, I ALSO went and used archived posts since 2023 in a public Reddit archive. Each LighterPack page embeds its data as JSON plus an HTML list carrying the worn and consumable indicators for items that are added.
Base weight is calculated as the total weight minus items that are flagged as worn or consumable on the LighterPack list.
With the help of generative AI, I iterated on a model to help classify and sort data from each list. It’s messy data, with different rules for establishing consistency. Pack, shelter, quilt, and pad were identified by using a rule-based text classifier: the text and model names were parsed first, then the category names that each user defined themselves on their lists, then some logic to eliminate unlikely items within a Big 3/4/5 category. I flagged any list that was missing a pack, shelter, quilt, or pad, and had a large language model read through it to determine if this was an error. This iteration then further helped me refine the classification algorithm.
Everything outside of the “big items” is matched using a function based on its item name and description in LighterPack. For a given slot, s, (e.g. headlamp), the term cs contains the set of lists containing that slot. Each list contributes its heaviest matching non-consumable item in that slot, and a slot is determined to be valid and enters the modal kit if at least 50% of lists contain that type of item (|cs|/N ≥ 0.5).
The anonymized data set and the classifier are on GitHub. You can download the raw data (SQLite: 345 lists, 20,606 items, with usernames and list links removed) or browse the classifier and analysis code.
How do things change over time?
Because I collected a lot of different lists from flair, I can look at flair from users with “old comments” versus those with “newer comments”. It is difficult to untangle true timestamps, as people often update their lighterpack lists. However, for comparison, the 188 “fresh” lists that did not come from the Reddit archive have a median base weight of 4,019 g while the 157 archive lists are at 4,240 g. These were not statistically different weights (cannot reject the null hypothesis that they’re identical).
Caveats
Everyone used in this data sample chose to put a list in their user flair on the r/Ultralight subreddit. As such, this is definitely a VERY biased sample of backpackers and users of the r/Ultralight subreddit. Surprisingly, 18% of the 20,606 items entered across the lists I scraped have no weight entered. Median weights for each slot of items came only from the items that do have weights listed. Additionally, worn items are frequently not listed in the lighterpack lists. Brand shares are also likely inaccurate, as many items are named generically without a brand. I did not hand check the ~3,700 items that had no weight, nor did I attempt to fill gaps in those weights by searching out what the item might actually be.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It had no effect on which products made the lists — they are ranked by how many people carry them.
