Dollars per kg/lb weight saving

[stevage]

Out of curiosity, do people here often find themselves working out the dollar per pound/kilo weight having of upgrading to a lighter piece of gear? Do you have firm numbers in mind when considering options?

For example, if I replaced my 1.8kg tent with the Tarptent Sublite at 535g, I'd be saving 1265g for about $200 (inc shipping): $158/kg ($71.7 $/lb). That's probably a decent ratio, but still a fair bit of money to lay out when it's strictly a weight saving exercise.

Or do you just get on the bike and pedal

[DaveH]

dollars/gram in MTB upgrades is common.

calories/gram is valuable for bikepackers.  Watery things are heavy.

dollars/weight for gear is not one I've used but an interesting concept in a really geeky way.  <heads to spreadsheet>

[stevage]

Hmm, thanks for the tip about calories/gram (Here, it would probably be kilojoules/gram). It does remind me of a friend carrying plain olive oil on a long desert hike once...he claimed it tasted great when you needed the energy, and it was very energy dense.

[Pivvay]

I don't calculate dollars per lbs of weight savings. My kit is generally as light as it's going to get and any upgrade certainly wouldn't meet a $$/lb goal at this point. If something is generally better and compareable in weight then I'll upgrade if the price is something I can stomach. These days I've only really thought about upgrading stuff that's worn out and with a "service life" estimate I now have, it's easier to decide if the price is worth it for the length of time I'll have it.

Taking less food/water is certainly the best weight savings method, hence the calories/grams measure

[Lonesome Luddite]

The old road biker rule is: don't spend more than $1/gram of weight savings.  That's meant more for components rather than camping gear of course.  I'd imagine that no one (sane) would pay an extra $250 to save 250g on a sleeping bag. 

I'm more concerned about space savings than weight.  I wonder if anyone's worked out a formula for that?  $1/cc?

I've heard about the olive oil trick, but my one attempt at it while backpacking was a failure.  Olive oil likes to creep out of containers and get all over everything.  I didn't even make it to the trailhead before my sleeping bag and clothes were smeared in oil.  Did I mention that I was in bear country?

Anyway, really I just try to get out there and pedal. 

[Pivvay]

Olive oil in PET bottles with the 28mm caps work well. Just don't put them in plastic water bottle types with the wimpy caps.

[stevage]

>These days I've only really thought about upgrading stuff that's worn out

Yeah. I suspect my subconcious is actively trying to wear out the floor in my tent so I can upgrade to a tarptent sublite, but i have no proof yet.

[jeremy11]

sometimes I'll think about $/lb but, performance is the biggest factor.

I have been known to calculate $/calorie at the grocery store on occasion (if whole milk and skim milk are the same price I'll get the whole milk every time.... gotta live somehow)