Is it me or is the overlanding community slowly killing itself with all the very overpriced gear being pushed as must? It seems everyone is told you have to have a tricked out vehicle with another $50k of "upgrades" to get it out of the driveway. First you must spend $50k for a off road capable vehicle then you are expected to immediately tear off the suspension, tires ( to get larger tires that are so big no normal people can lift or change them when you get a flat) and driveline to "upgrade them" for all the weight you will add with bumpers, winches , tire carriers and mandatory gear made for M1 tanks for another $50K. Then you need a $1k tent to sit on top with $100 each gas cans or bags and water cans. Then its $300+ refrigerators and grills. and don't forget all the lights, batteries and electrical upgrades so the ISS astronauts can see you from space.
Or if you want a little space to stretch out and get a trailer, its $30k for one the size of a fridge box or $50-80K plus for ones with some room that's not much more than a popup! The newest fad is electric vehicles, why anyone who does OLing and goes far from towns would even suggest these is beyond me. Maybe Elon is planning charge stations on mountain peaks and in the middle of the deserts or attached to the side of a pine tree 40 miles from paved roads or will be beaming electricity down from Starlink. I could go on and on but everyone see's it everyday. And god forbid you don't have all the "top of the line" gear or you will be treated like a slow witted stepchild by the community.
OK, I'm not bitching per se and some of this is a little satire (maybe) but we all see it daily. As an example,Tent camping isn't for me so I have looked at a few of the overland campers, my god you would think God came down and made these with his hands at the prices. I ran the numbers and found I can do pretty much as many trips a year as I want on any trail I want to go on. At the end of the day return to a hotel, have a shower and good meal and a good night sleep, gas up and repeat for the rest of my life for less than the camper prices to start with. Or I could just buy a "VERY" nice fully optioned class C RV and a car carrier trailer to haul my OL rig to the trailhead and still be way ahead on cost. I talk to a folks every year who say they have no interest in OLing due to the perceived cost to do it, that's a real shame. I took 2 friends to the Rky Mt OL Expo last August, after seeing the gear and the prices. they said not intereted in going again, couldnt afford it. Hell, t-shirts sold there were $35-45 each...
You see it on pretty much every OL vlogger channel now. Even Micheal , (who I think is GREAT) along with OB does it. His latest vid is for a water catchment box ( with a very small surface area in my opinion) with a few accessories for $319. I could do the same thing and get way more water with a $17 7gal Aqua-tainer from walmart and a plastic tarp rigged with para cord connected to it. I saw recently on a few other OL You Tubers,The lateset and greatest aluminum off road recovery shovels are $130 for 1 piece or $200 for a 2 piece version. I have a short Ace spade for 30 years works good still, it cost $25. The newest European name of course axe was $145, I have another Ace one for 25 years cost was $30, still going strong, god knows how many cords of wood I have cut with it. The point is if you call it a Overlanding tool it now costs 5 times more than any regular tool or item. When you add all this up, it turns regular folks off. If you are independently weathly then good for you, have fun. But for the normal working folks who want fun and relaxation on their off time, they cant afford this hobby at this rate.
The point is we need to keep the mall crawling gear queen requirements to a realistic level or this pursuit will die out. I believe we need to push very hard on more ways to enjoy the outdoors at a realistic cost for folks and find more ways to do things and have gear that's cheaper to entice more folks to join and to support/protect the community long term. Gear should be dual purpose not just for OLing like my spade and axe. I believe the gear makers need to stop trying to bleed us dry just because they can,because when we are dry, they go away also.
So is it me or not? Opinions? Be nice
