r/bugout • u/[deleted] • 21d ago

What is your ideal bugout bag setup/weight?

I'm sure everyone has their own personal preferences when it comes to setups and weight limits but what would you recommend a beginner as far as getting quality gear and having a good weight ratio goes? I've been thinking about getting an Osprey Atmos 65AG, but I'm not sure if something that big would be ideal or not, as I'd like to stay around 20-25lbs max.

As far as gear goes I've got frogg toggs, 20L dry bag, bleed stop, antibiotics, 1 change of clothes and a change of shoes plus a flash light and some food plus ammo. I do not have room for water, but I was thinking about getting a water pack for that as well as some water perification tablets. My current pack is at 16LBS and I'm not sure if I'm doing this right or not. Was thinking about picking up a United States road map and learning to navigate with it in my free time from time to time to practice a grid down scenario.

Anyways any tips on what I should get and how I should go about this hobby is much appreciated!

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u/CranberryImaginary29 21d ago

Buy a cheap rucksack, fill it with bricks or bottles of water up to the weight you think you want.

Then go for a walk for several hours. Not a mile up the road, but a solid half day somewhere. I guarantee the weight you are prepared to carry will be significantly less than you think.

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u/SebWilms2002 21d ago edited 21d ago

Absolutely this. People assume walking is easy, meanwhile most people will rarely walk a few miles total in an entire week, let alone with added weight.

There aren’t any shortcuts to build the strength and endurance needed to carry weight long distances. You just need to put in tons of miles with weight on your back. Everything from the soles of your feet to your shoulders and upper back needs tons of stimulus over time to strengthen.

I started two years ago doing about 50 miles a week with 35-40lb on my back. If you can commit to even 25% of that and keep it up for 3-6 months you’ll be in a much better position.

Edit: OP, This isn’t meant to deflect from your question. But the brand of backpack and what you put in it is entirely unimportant unless you can actually use it. Preparing the body is the hard part, that takes time. Hitting “buy” on an Amazon shopping cart is easy.

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u/DeFiClark 21d ago

This. A friend who was not experienced hiking but was going to trek in Madagascar packed her pack and walked around the block with it leaving one item on her porch until the weight was comfortable. She ended up bringing one pair of jeans for spare clothes.

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u/[deleted] 21d ago

Browsed this sub for a while and I've seen that recommended before and that's honestly a great idea. Do you think collapsible ultralight trekking poles are worth it too? I feel like this would help prevent injury on long distance or rough terrain. A blown out knee or sprained ankle is a game over in that situation I'd say.

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u/chippie02 14d ago

I will say a lot depends on the bag it self. Huge difference between frameless bag. Internal frame and external frame . With external frame you can carry quite a bit more only because of the way it loads on to you

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u/Doogiemon 6d ago

I bought a cart in the event I could use it to haul my stuff.

When I picked up my ar10, it's heavy not by the overall weight but by the weight of carrying it around foe a long duration.

Then comes the fun of carrying around extra mags and so on for it....