I've been backcountry packing for over 20 years, and the Group Cooking System one of the best investments I've ever made. My son carried a Jet Boil Personal Cooking System with him, and we could have easily used that alone for the entire trip, but I wanted to try them both side by side. Both worked flawlessly. What was nice was cooking one-pot meals in the Group Cooking System, and boiling water for coffee or hot chocolate mornings & evenings. This way we wouldn't have had to hike out if a stove failed, and we could carry one type of fuel bottle to operate one or both stoves. On average we boiled 6 cups of water per day and we had plenty of fuel left over--and we only brought 2 4oz fuel bottles! The main thing to learn is, have EVERYTHING ready when you start the stove, because the speed of heating on this stove seems faster than a microwave. Easy to pack, easy to operate, easy to clean. Outstanding!

I've either hung food in the past, or used an older product from another vendor. I loved this product because: While in the pack you do not need to screw the lid down all the way past the locking tab, this makes it easy and quick to unscrew the lid when getting out lunch, or making camp. At camp this made a great table or chair. I liked that it's clear so you can identify food items in the can before opening it. On a cold morning it can be a little difficult to open, however, the key is not to rush, and to practice opening it and then doing it the same way every time.

Just completed my first trip with the Insulated Air Core REM Mummy Sleeping Pad. Packs very small and light despite the pad material seeming very robust. I slept warm and comfortable every night, more so than the Thermarest I've been using for years. However, it is time consuming to blow up the Air Core pad versus the self-inflating Thermarest. I think it was worth the tradeoff to be so comfortable at night, and have such a small and light sleeping pad in my pack. Next year I'd like to buy a Big Agnes sleeping bag to complete the "system." But even using a regular Kelty bag, I didn't roll off the pad --it's nice and wide at the shoulders and more than big enough for me, (I'm 5'10" @ 165 lbs).