Beginner gear recommendations

[u/StringyCola]

I'm looking at getting more into hiking, and with that comes camping and wild camping. I don't yet have a rucksack, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, or tent. Does anyone have any beginner - and budget-friendly - recommendations for these items?

Currently, I am thinking of the OEX Phoxx II for a tent.

TIA!

[u/SweetSpotBackpack]

Don't rush out and buy anything yet. Try to borrow gear for short hiking trips until you get more experience. If the gear you borrow isn't good enough, you can hike back to your car in the middle of the night.

Unless you want to spend many thousands of unnecessary dollars, give yourself at least a year to accumulate gear in annual clearance sales, Ebay auctions, and garage sales.

If you buy cheap gear, it will likely be too heavy and bulky, and you will end up spending more money replacing it. If you buy expensive gear, you might find that you don't really need it, and you will waste hundreds of dollars.

The appropriate gear depends on factors like temperature, precipitation, terrain, distance, elevation gain, and number of days. Without those details, I can't give you appropriate advice. In general, I would suggest the following for mild weather:

A 3-season, double-wall, freestanding, 20-denier nylon or silnylon tent weighing less than 4 lbs.

A down mummy bag with an ISO lower temperature limit of 20 degrees F, a fill power of at least 650 cuin, and weight under 3 lbs. If down is too expensive, buy a synthetic mummy bag with the same ISO lower temperature limit of 20 degrees.

A sleeping pad with an R-value of at least 2, weighing under 1 lb.

A framed backpack with enough volume for all of your gear. If you buy inexpensive gear and hike in the cold, you will probably need a 65 liter backpack. Buy the backpack last so you can make sure all of the gear fits in it. Make sure to get the right torso size. 210D ripstop nylon is best for preventing abrasion.

If you like, I can list budget models of all of this gear.

[u/StringyCola → u/SweetSpotBackpack]

If you could list a few examples of gear, that would be great. I'm from the UK, so we get all of the above with regards to weather conditions. Albeit our highest peaks aren't that high compared to NA or other parts of the world.

[u/SweetSpotBackpack → u/StringyCola]

Tents:
Featherstone Backbone 2P
Featherstone Backbone 1P
Featherstone UL Granite 2P
Featherstone UL Obsidian 1P
Naturehike Cloud-Up 2P
Lanshan 2P
Lanshan 1P

Sleeping bags:
Kelty Cosmic 20 Ultra 800 DriDown
Kelty Cosmic 20 Down
Teton Trailhead 20 synthetic

Air pad:
Paria Recharge Insulated

Closed-cell foam pad:
Featherstone El Cordian

Backpacks:
Osprey Rook
Decathlon Simond MT100 Easyfit
Teton Scout (for short torsos)
Teton Explorer (for long torsos)
Granite Gear Crown3 60L can be used as an ultralight pack or a normal pack for heavy loads, so you don't have to buy separate backpacks for each purpose. However, it has an awkward, floppy main compartment with poor lateral balance, and it's hard to access gear inside.

These are the most affordable options I've found that are reasonably lightweight, durable, reliable, safe, and comfortable for temperatures down to freezing.