Ultralight Backpacking Gear: Three Picks Worth Knowing

Introduction

Ultralight gear earns its place only when it makes a trip better in a way you actually notice. The three pieces below clear that bar in different ways: one adds comfort at camp for barely any weight, one replaces several garments with a single pair of pants, and one carries a multi-day load more comfortably than the packs it replaced.

Each pick was chosen for a clear use case rather than a spec sheet. The sections below cover what each item does well, where it makes less sense, and who gets the most out of it.

What Separates a Good Ultralight Pick

Three questions decide whether a piece of gear is worth carrying: does it solve a problem you have on most trips, does it pack small enough to disappear into a load, and does it hold up after a season of real use. Weight alone is not the answer. A slightly heavier item that gets used every evening can be the better decision than a lighter one that stays buried in the pack.

The picks below were assessed on weight, comfort, packability, and how much use they get across a full year.

Best Camp Chair: REI Flexlite Air

The REI Flexlite Air weighs around 15 to 16 ounces, which puts it under a pound and squarely in the luxury ultralight category. That label is accurate, because a camp chair is not essential equipment. What it changes is the quality of the hours you spend off your feet, and for many backpackers that trade is worth the small weight penalty.

It packs down small and assembles in seconds, so it disappears into a pack until the moment you need it. It suits most trips, though not every one, and it makes a noticeable difference on slower outings where camp time is long, including trips with young children where much of the day is spent around the tent rather than on the move. The frame design is the part that stands out most, and it is the main reason this chair keeps getting packed.

Best Everyday Pants: Outdoor Vitals Satu Pants

The Outdoor Vitals Satu Pants are built around a stretch fabric that allows a genuinely wide range of motion. That matters less in the shop and more after a few hours of climbing, crouching, and stepping over obstacles, where a stiff pair of trousers starts to feel like a constraint.

They were worn almost daily across a full year of testing, and the use cases kept multiplying: hiking, working at a desk, and travelling. Few pieces of gear get that much wear, and that frequency is the strongest argument for them. When a single garment covers a trail day and a travel day, it takes up less space in a bag and less thought in the morning.

Best Backpack: Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight 60L

The Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight 60L is the largest of the three picks and the one that carries everything else. It was refined across several prototypes, and the result is a pack that prioritises comfort, organisation, and fabric choice rather than chasing the lowest possible number on a scale.

The 60-liter version is the size that gets used most, and the capacity is what makes a multi-day load practical without strapping gear to the outside. Comfort is the headline here, because a pack sits against your body for every hour of a trip. Small improvements in the harness and the way weight is distributed are felt far more than a marginal weight saving.

It also represents a step away from older, heavier designs that no longer matched a lighter kit. A backpack either makes the rest of your equipment easier to carry or it does not, and the Shadowlight is built to do the former. Side compression keeps a part-loaded pack stable, and the internal organisation means less digging when you stop for the night.

How Weight and Comfort Shape a Gear List

Ultralight packing is not about owning the lightest version of everything. It is about deciding which comforts are worth their weight. A chair, a pair of pants you wear every day, and a pack that carries well all sit on the comfortable side of that line, and each one replaces something heavier or less versatile.

A useful exercise before any purchase is to sort your current kit into three groups: items you use on every trip, items you use on some trips, and items you have carried without ever using. The third group is where the weight savings usually hide, and it is often enough to fund a comfort item without increasing your base weight at all.

Buying Advice

Start with the pack if your current one is the weak point in your setup. Capacity, comfort, and organisation affect every trip, and a 60-liter pack covers everything from a single overnight to a longer multi-day route. If your pack already carries well, the pants are the next most versatile purchase, because they replace several other garments in a bag.

The chair is the piece to buy last, and to buy deliberately. It is a luxury item by any honest measure, so it only makes sense if you spend real time sitting around camp. For backpackers who do, the sub-one-pound weight makes it an easy call. For fast, minimal trips, leave it at home.

Whichever order you choose, judge each item against the trips you take most often rather than the trips you imagine taking.

Conclusion

Three pieces of gear, three different jobs. The REI Flexlite Air buys comfort at camp for under a pound, the Outdoor Vitals Satu Pants cover trail days and everyday wear in one garment, and the Outdoor Vitals Shadowlight 60L carries a multi-day load with the comfort and organisation a backpack has to get right. Match them to your own trips, and each one earns its place.