This year has been ripe for odd inventions as everyone is stuck in their homes! Take a look at these Kickstarter fails and camping gear that nobody asked for in 2020! While we usually try to find quality gear for everyone, here we’ve pulled together forks that are certain to cut your mouth, packs that are already full of questionably useful gimmicks, and a particularly dangerous pole awaits you below…
1. EATI Titanium Spork
Kickstarter Fail | Sharpen Your Tongue
The EATI titanium utensil is a great example of a good idea that went a bit too far. In their quest to add everything in the western world into one tiny spork shovel, they forgot one key thing, holding onto a knife is bad for the normal human. By adding a blade into the handle, the rest of the titanium piece is useless (except maybe the bottle opener but try to find a gadget around camp without a bottle opener these days)!
Their media shows everyone just choking up on the fork itself, which would work but puts a LOT of confidence into never slipping too far back, or even forgetting about the blade while cleaning up! There are easier ways to cut and eat on the trail, especially for over $20 a spork-knife. Here’s a $10 titanium spork instead. Then you can just get a $5 or $10 titanium knife and still stay set on budget and ~safe eating~.
2. TRAJET Backpack of Junk
Kickstarter Fail | Do Nothing with Everything
The TRAJET backpack is a fantastic way to spend $230 to get budget versions of everything you may actually need backpacking. The kickstarter boasts that this backpack comes with:
- Pop Out Tent
- Sleeping Bag
- Fold-Up Grill
- Outdoor Solar Shower
- Cooking & Dining Gear
- Built-In Cooler
- Eternal Flashlight
- Multi-Tool
- “Every Tool you Can Imaging”
Some of these things alone will run you north of $200 if you want to survive your first storm. Especially when it comes to buying tents or cooking gear. The pop-up tent in the video looks like it would buckle at the first sign of high wind and rain. While this tent is marketed as a ‘bug out bag’ or full gear loadout for a first camping trip, you’d have a hard time surviving more than 36 hours with just the equipment included. On the bright side, your drinks will stay cold! You’d probably be better off putting your money into a real backpacking backpack.
3. Exod Arc Tent
Kickstarter Fail | Puncture Guaranteed
If you’ve ever punctured your sleeping pad, just wait till you puncture your whole tent! The Exod Arc Tent is a hammock style tent with an inflatable frame. After a long day on the trail, just find two to four trees of fair strength to hold the multiple lines it requires, blow up your tent, and then you can climb up and relax. Just hope a field mouse doesn’t try to take a nibble after running across the new ‘branches’ that your tent/hammock created!
Overall, inflatable gear is a tough sell for reliability out in the backwoods or when you’re camping in more primitive campgrounds. If weight is your worry, maybe one of these small tents would work better!
4. Trekking Pole Multitool
Kickstarter Fail | Stab the Earth, or Yourself
Why does everyone insist on putting knives into places they don’t belong? Even regular trekking poles can break and turn into sharp sources of problems on a steep downhill while you’re really putting your weight on them! These guys can turn lethal if anything goes wrong. Not to mention that a double-sided knife and saw combination is already challenging to do anything useful with. One slip of the grip and you might need a first aid multi-tool instead Unless you’re looking for an outdoor themed sword-cane, these poles are pretty unlikely to do you any good.
Closing
Think we got it wrong? Really love your sword-cane Trekking Pole Multitool? Let us know about your favorite gear or other comments by sending an email!
