What's your favorite...?

Have to give a little shout out to Down Booties - I was first to mock these as a frivolous luxury but now take them everywhere as my preferred hut shoes.

@FrankB we (my wife and I) use a lot of water. Reasons to have one: 1. it's way more efficient to boil in a kettle 2. It's very easy to boil just the right amount. It boils exactly two cups. 3. You can boil water while cooking things in the billy. And as @Gaiters said: sometimes I just take this tiny kettle if I have dehydrated food in its own container where you just have to add water.

Haha, it's not that much split between two people and over 4-5 nights - like having a glass of wine with dinner only easier to fit in a pack!

I take the points each of you makes. But I am of the view that a kettle is such an odd shape with a pointy spout. What if you slip and fall and the spout pokes a hole in your pack. Plus what of you were forced to cook your food in it, how would you ever get it completely clean again. I guess it's each to their own. Kettle? Not for me.

I can think of a lot of worse things in my pack that could hurt me if I slip and fall. Especially those pointy legs on my fold out chair. Lol. I jest.

Thanks for that Gaiters, I'll chalk that one up to you. :-)

+1 for the kettle :) Came as part of a 4-piece set & fits inside the larger billy. That, plus a lightweight tri-stand stove, weighs under 200g. Has a large surface area base for contact with flame. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3e/41/93/3e4193ced40eba10c0dace6a55aa4af3.jpg Beats the Listerene bottle vodka flask, unless you like spearmint flavoured vodka ?

I'll take a kettle if tramping with a group (4 plus) - it makes meals/drinks easier. I use the sea to summit x-pot kettle (packs flat into the saucepan and frying pan).

I second the billy grippers. On a long trip, this was the item we should have taken the most. It would save people getting serious burns. We need to start a thread on the most useless items! I would say chairs and kettles...On one trip I decided shorts were useless and from then on stopped wearing them. Particularly after enduring frozen prickly shield fern when walking the Dusky track. I now wear nylon trousers in the milder seasons and long johns in colder months though I know there are some people who get far too hot in this garb and have to wear shorts. I've been taking an open mouthed thermos on day trips to keep my toasties warm which weighs 400g but then I got to thinking. If I wrap my sandwiches in foil then bubble wrap and then wrap it with my down jacket and then put them all in a spare sleeping bag stuff sac, I can have warm toasties and a warm jacket which isn't used until lunch time anyway. Regarding taking a thermos for hot drinks, weight-wise taking a wee butane/propane burning stove and light canister is lighter than the thermoses that people would take e.g. if there are 2 of you and water is available at lunch time i.e. not on a summit. However I often take a thermos for a summiting trip especially if there is a bit of wind at the summit. I guess gear that's going to save your life would be my favourite: the sleeping bag and the fly.

My PLB is my 'most useless' item 🙄 (fortunately)