[Seldom Seen]

#1 Cougans bread toaster. Used on a propane stove, supposed to make up to 4 pieces of toast at a time. Mine wouldn't work for love or money, only managed to make my bread hard. We tried a couple of times before it ended up in the trash. A simple forked stick over a campfire is 100% better toaster I think.

#2 Fleece "comfort" pillows. These might work fine if you made a little pyramid of 6 of them and rested your head on that. A wadded up flannel shirt makes just as an effective pillow. Just too tiny IMO.

#3 Chinese made e-tools. I was in a rush and bought one once. It sure was a waste of money. I was always afraid the handle would break off and the shovel blade was very easy to bend. Do yourself a favor and buy American or maybe one of those German surplus e-tools that are everywhere.

[Seldom Seen]

Another one is Coleman bunkhouse cots. I used mine for the 3rd time recently and bent it. The frame is made of soft,round,hollow aluminum poles. My Slumberjack is twice the cot the Coleman ever thought of being.

[SmartAZ]

Nesting kitchen kits. You usually only need one piece, but you have to unpack the whole stack to get it. If a pot gets dented, you can't get them together again. And they are easily dented. They are too flimsy for camp use. Ordinary pots and pans from your kitchen are the best for camping.

[fruit loop]

Get a wooden army surplus cot, or better yet, just an air mattress. If it's cold, the air moves right under your cot. You have to put something under it. Even on the ground, there's an air cushion between you and the ground. I've slept on both cots and the air matty in below-zero temps, and the air matty was much better.

Cookware - nothing beats cast iron. It goes from kitchen stove to camp stove to camp fire. The only real problem is the weight. I make do with just a frying pan and dutch oven.

Camp cookware....get a cheap tin pie pan. You can eat anything out of that, including stew, and it's very light.

Lanterns....I like the Coleman battery powered ones. $17.99 at Wal-mart and they put out a lot of light. It takes either 10 D batteries or 2 six volts. I recommend the six volts because they seem to last longer.

"Kerosene" lanterns (the old railroad kind) burn just as well off plain old lamp oil and it's cheaper. You also don't get the bad smell and there's less smoke.

Wooden camp lanterns are great. They burn candles and have glass sides to keep the wind from blowing the candles out. I bought one at a reenactment and it's great. The candles are lighter and easier to carry than the lanterns and lamp oil.

Check out repro reenactment gear. These designs have worked for over a hundred years. I sold most of my modern camping gear when I started reenacting since I couldn't and wasn't using most of it. I've never missed any of it.

http://www.blockaderunner.com

[Shadowfane]

My credit card thanks you for the link, my bank account curses you for it.

[fruit loop]

I love blockaderunner. Their wool blankets are great. I got over half my gear from them.

Check out the rubber groundcloths. Before Goodyear made tires, they made rubber ponchos and groundcloths.

Put one under your bed to keep it dry. If there's going to be dew in the morning, put the groundcloth over you with the rubber side out. There will still be some damp but you won't wake up soaked. It also helps hold body heat in.

[Wojapi]

Those 5-gallon clear plastic collapsible water containers: they'll roll off any surface they're placed on, and inevitably develop pinholes after folding a few times.....

[Ought Six]

Any heavy cotton clothing for cold weather. Light cotton is great for hot weather, but heavy cotton in cold conditions is like a dry sponge that grabs any moisture it can and invites hypothermia. All winter clothing should be wool, fur, hide or synthetic.