2Heeldrive - Walk it off Wimp!

HISTORY

The Gear Weight Calculator (GWC) started out as a project to help members of the BackpackingLight (BPL) group at YahooGroups. There had been several discussions regarding how to use various spreadsheets, databases, etc. in an attempt to quickly calculate the weights of items taken on a backpacking trip.

I wanted to develop a simple application that would allow backpackers to create a list of all their gear, and then see at a glance the effect on pack weight of choosing one item over another. Thus, Version 1 of the GWC was born.

I was overwhelmed by the nice comments and suggestions I received from the BPL members! In fact, it was entirely due to their encouragement, suggestions, and support that the following versions were added. Several members of the group volunteered to act as “guinea pigs” to test new versions before I uploaded them to my web site (http://www.chrisibbeson.com/).

It still blows me away, when I think of the email I have received from backpackers all over the world who tell me they are using this application! I’m happy I’ve been able to make a small contribution to help other backpackers reduce pack weight, or just inventory their gear.

WHAT IT IS

A tool for inventorying gear and for helping to reduce pack weight.

The Gear Weight Calculator is a little application I wrote to easily see the total weight of backpacking gear that you will carry in your pack. It allows you to enter descriptions and weights of your gear, then select various items and see the total overall weight, and weights by categories.

You may print your gear list, export it to a text file, a comma-delimited file (for importing into spreadsheets and databases), or even e-mail your gear list to a friend who can then view their friend’s list in the application.

There are a few customizable options such as colors, printing fonts, etc.

TUTORIAL and INSTRUCTIONS

There is a tutorial for the application at the following link:

Gear Weight Calculator Tutorial

DOWNLOAD the GEAR WEIGHT CALCULATOR
You may download the GWC to your computer by clicking on this link:
Download the Gear Weight Calculator

Upon clicking the link, you will see a dialoque box with several choices. Choose “Save File” and then choose the location on your own hard drive to where you would like to save the GWC. Press “Enter” and wait a minute or so. Once it is saved to your machine, you can simply double-click on the “BPWeights.EXE” file and it should run.
Happy Gear-Weight Calculating !!

Chris Ibbeson