flashlight

There is such a thing as "stupid light." Where that line is drawn varies to some extent from person to person, but ye gods forbid you draw it elsewhere than where the hivemind does or you'll be relentlessly attacked.

Even before leaving reddit entirely I had to unsub from /ultralight because those guys had devolved into just being flat-out insane. Plus, it was the same conversation over and over again. Once you have your loadout all dialed in the way you like it there's not much left to talk about other than nitpicking other people's gear choices and generalized circlejerking. I used to enjoy researching and shopping for and, yes, buying new camping gear. But at this point in my life I really don't need yet another tent, sleeping bag, backpack, or inflatable pad. I've learned all the hard lessons and I have everything the way I want it. (Not that this has stopped me from continuing to buy knives and flashlights en masse. That's different, obviously! I mean, duh.) You're better off actually going out and using your stuff versus sitting at home obsessing over the latest headlamp with a battery too small, titanium spork that's too short to reach the bottom of the bowl, or tent made out of the next ephemeral fabric that'll disintegrate on contact with pine needles but is 0.002% lighter per square yard.

Tl;dr: I'm all for lugging less weight around if you don't need to, but not at the expense of my equipment no longer being capable of doing its job.