I Weighed All My Backpacking Gear: Claimed vs Actual Weights (2026)
Every piece of gear comes with a listed weight, and most people take that number at face value when they’re putting a pack together. So I put my backpacking gear on a kitchen scale, one piece at a time, and compared every reading to the weight the brand lists.
My backpacking kit weighs 31 g, about an ounce, less than the spec sheets say. Across the ten items with a listed weight, it came to 4,534 g on my scale against 4,565 g listed, and nine of the ten landed within about 5%. The Paria Bryce 2P tent came in lighter than Paria says. The bigger differences came from what listed weights leave out: stuff sacks, straps, stakes, and water sitting in a filter.
All the data
Weighed on a kitchen scale that reads to 1 gram. “Listed” is the brand’s own number: the tag on the gear, the brand’s website, or the product listing. Click a column header to sort, or click any item for my full review.
| Gear | My scale | Listed | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paria Bryce 2P, everything packed | 1,934 g 4 lb 4.2 oz |
1,984 g 4 lb 6 oz |
-50 g -3% |
| Paria Bryce 2P, trail weight (body, fly, poles) | 1,476 g 3 lb 4.1 oz |
1,559 g 3 lb 7 oz |
-83 g -5% |
| Paria Bryce 2P, minimum (footprint, fly, poles) | 1,132 g 2 lb 7.9 oz |
1,191 g 2 lb 10 oz |
-59 g -5% |
| Marmot Trestles Elite Eco 30, long, bag only | 1,150 g 2 lb 8.6 oz |
1,160 g 2 lb 9 oz |
-10 g -1% |
| Klymit CenterLoft pad | 675 g 23.8 oz |
655 g 23.1 oz |
+20 g +3% |
| Wise Owl DoubleOwl Featherweight hammock, with straps and sack | 448 g 15.8 oz |
not listed | |
| Leatherman Surge | 354 g 12.5 oz |
354 g 12.5 oz |
0 |
| Hoka Speedgoat 5, one shoe, men’s 14 | 369 g 13.0 oz |
292 g 10.3 oz for a men’s 9 |
not comparable |
| Mazama x MGO 1L bottle | 140 g 4.9 oz |
132 g 4.7 oz |
+8 g +6% |
| TOAKS 750ml pot, with lid | 100 g 3.5 oz |
103 g 3.6 oz |
-3 g -3% |
| TOAKS 750ml pot, no lid | 82 g 2.9 oz |
86 g 3.0 oz |
-4 g -5% |
| Sawyer Squeeze, dry | 86 g 3.0 oz |
85 g 3 oz |
+1 g +1% |
| Darn Tough Light Hiker Micro Crew, one pair | 58 g 2.0 oz |
56 g 2.0 oz |
+2 g +4% |
| BRS-3000T stove | 26 g 0.9 oz |
25 g 0.9 oz |
+1 g +4% |
| Sea to Summit Frontier UL long spork | 11 g 0.4 oz |
11 g 0.4 oz |
0 |
The Paria Bryce 2P, piece by piece
| Piece | My scale |
|---|---|
| Tent body | 514 g 18.1 oz |
| Rainfly | 438 g 15.5 oz |
| Footprint | 170 g 6.0 oz |
| Poles, in their bag | 524 g 18.5 oz |
| Stakes, in their bag | 228 g 8.0 oz |
| Stuff sack | 19 g 0.7 oz |
| Compression strap | 11 g 0.4 oz |
Sacks, straps, and extras
| Item | My scale |
|---|---|
| Marmot compression sack | 100 g 3.5 oz |
| Wise Owl tree straps, pair | 186 g 6.6 oz |
| Klymit stuff sack | 25 g 0.9 oz |
| TOAKS mesh sack | 14 g 0.5 oz |
| BRS-3000T stuff sack | 2 g 0.1 oz |
| Full cook kit: TOAKS pot and lid, BRS, small fuel canister, lighter, tinfoil, bandana, mesh sack | 400 g 14.1 oz |
To figure out how much fuel to carry for a trip, use my backpacking fuel calculator.
The Paria Bryce 2P is lighter than listed
Paria publishes three weights for the Bryce 2P, and my tent came in under all three, by 3 to 5%. The biggest gap is the trail weight: tent body, rainfly, and poles came to 1,476 g against Paria’s listed 1,559 g, a difference of 83 g, or about 3 ounces.
Paria’s trail weight leaves out the stakes and footprint. Together those added 398 g on my scale, so if you plan to carry both, budget for the full packed number instead.
Most gear is within a few grams
The Leatherman Surge and the Sea to Summit spork matched their listed weights to the gram. The BRS-3000T, both TOAKS weights, the Sawyer, and the Darn Toughs all landed within 5 grams. The Klymit pad came in 20 g over the weight on its box, which is 3%. The Mazama bottle was the furthest over its listing, at 6%.
Check which version you’re looking at
My hammock is the Featherweight version of the Wise Owl DoubleOwl, and I couldn’t find a listed weight for it. The standard DoubleOwl is listed at 26 oz on Wise Owl’s site and 24 oz on its Amazon listing. My whole Featherweight setup, with the hammock, carabiners, tree straps, and stuff sack, weighs 448 g, which is 15.8 ounces. The straps are 186 g of that, so the hammock itself with its carabiners is 262 g. If weight matters to you, make sure the listing you’re reading is for the version you’re buying.
Sacks, straps, and stakes add up
None of those small extras look heavy on their own. My Marmot compression sack is 100 g, the hammock straps are 186 g, and the tent stakes in their bag are 228 g. Those three alone come to over a pound. When you compare listed weights between two pieces of gear, check what each brand counts, because one may include the sack and straps while the other leaves them out.
A dry filter isn’t always dry
The first time I weighed my Sawyer Squeeze it read 94 g, 11% over its listing. I let it sit and dry out for a while and weighed it again, and it came in at 86 g. That’s 8 g of water sitting inside a filter that looked dry. If you’re weighing your own gear, make sure the filter is fully dried out first.
Listed shoe weights are for a size 9
Hoka lists the Speedgoat 5 at 10.3 ounces, but that’s for a men’s size 9. I wear a 14, and one of my shoes weighs 13 ounces. That’s not a fair comparison, so I left the difference column blank. If your feet are bigger than a 9, expect your shoes to weigh more than the listed number.
Which listed weight?
Brands don’t always agree with themselves. The tag sewn into my Marmot Trestles says 1,160 g. Marmot’s website lists the bag at 1,179 g, and older listings for a previous version of the bag say 855 g for a regular. I used the tag, since it’s the number on the bag I own. If you’re comparing weights online, check that the listing matches the version and size you’re buying.
How I weighed everything
- Scale: a kitchen scale that reads to 1 gram.
- One piece at a time: I photographed every reading once the number settled.
- Clips and straps: the Bryce’s body, fly, and footprint were each weighed with an 11 g compression strap on. I weighed the strap on its own and subtracted it.
- Big pieces: the tent body and rainfly hang off a small kitchen scale, so treat those pieces as close, within a percent or two. All the tent’s pieces add up to 1,904 g, which is 30 g less than the whole tent weighed packed together.
- The kit total: the 4,534 g vs 4,565 g total adds up the ten items with a listed weight. It uses the Bryce’s everything-packed weight, which includes the stakes, footprint, and stuff sack, and the TOAKS pot with its lid.
- Used gear: everything here has been used, and some of it carries trail dirt. My Speedgoats have about a year and a half on them.
- More to come: these are the items I thought were worth weighing. I’ll add more as I review and collect more gear.
Gear weight FAQ
Are listed backpacking gear weights accurate? For most of my gear, yes. Nine of the ten items I could compare came within about 5% of their listed weight. The one exception was the Mazama bottle, at 6% heavier.
Does trail weight include stakes and the footprint? Usually not. Paria’s trail weight for the Bryce 2P leaves out both. On my scale, the stakes and footprint added 398 g, so the full packed tent is about 460 g heavier than the trail weight.
How much do stuff sacks weigh? Mine ranged from 2 g for the BRS stove sack to 100 g for the Marmot compression sack. Most were 25 g or less.
Why does my gear weigh more than listed? The most common reasons are size, since shoe and sleeping bag weights are usually given for one size, and extras like sacks and straps that the brand doesn’t count. Leftover water in a filter can do it too.
A note on accuracy: everything here was weighed on a kitchen scale, so these numbers may not be 100% accurate. Treat them as close, within a few grams, not exact.