The gear you can’t afford is not the barrier keeping you from success. Gear has very little to do with photography.
CHASE JARVIS
I make a distinction between tools and toys. A lawnmower is a tool. A motorcycle is a toy. Tools are for getting work done. Toys are for having fun until they get repossessed by the bank or finance company. Gear is the middle range between tools and toys.
Examples of gear would be a backpack, a bicycle, a headlamp, shoes, gloves, etc. Gear is simply the collection of things you use to do other things. These things could be utilitarian or recreational. There can be overlap. I have a love/hate relationship with gear. I need gear to do things, but I don't like spending money on gear. The people that manufacture and sell gear prefer that I spend money on gear.
I am not a cyclist, but I have come across blog posts and YouTube videos about bike snobbery. That issue captures what I see as a problem across many fields of endeavor. Many cyclists have gone to bike shops only to be insulted by the bike shop operators as ridiculous amateurs for not wanting to buy the expensive road and mountain bikes they sell. People who use bikes for utilitarian reasons want commuter bikes. People who want to ride bikes for fun want beach cruisers. The bike shops don't care to sell to these people even if selling to them is more lucrative than selling to the "professional" riders. The irony is that these so-called professionals aren't professionals at all but posers who like to pretend on the weekends. These bike snobs like to gate keep the cycling world because bicycle commuters and fat people on beach cruisers shatter the myth of cycling as a serious sport.
The reality is that you get judged by your gear. Cycling is not alone in this snobbery. I see the same thing in the radio world as ham radio snobs sneer at people who use CB and GMRS radios. Somehow, the "amateur" part of amateur radio gets forgotten as these radio snobs with their $1000+ radios look down their noses at the white trash with their $100 radios. The cost of your gear is a signal to the world of the seriousness of your commitment to the sport, hobby, or activity.
Gear snobbery diminishes people's interest in various activities. I see that most acutely now in the outdoor activity space where people think they can't go hiking or camping because they don't own or use Patagucci gear. Wearing and using gear from Walmart brands you as a rube. Even hunters are getting in on the snobbery train as sportsmen judge each other on the rifle, bow, crossbow, and camouflage they wear. Why would anyone want to join these comparison traps?
The sad reality is that so much of what we do today has been diminished to buying and collecting gear. Instead of doing things, we purchase things. The activities amount to showing off the things we've purchased. I reject this vanity. I mock this vanity.
One of the words that I have come to love is "pedestrian." A pedestrian is someone getting around on foot as opposed to a car or a bicycle, but the word can also mean "common" and "dull." People rarely use this second meaning of the word, but I find that it fits. For instance, my bird watching is pedestrian because I look at birds in my backyard and sometimes use my $20 monocular that I didn't buy for this specific purpose of watching birds. I am certain that if I joined up with the bird watching club that they would sneer at my cheap looking glass and indifference to logging what I saw. My bird watching was accidental, and I intend to keep it that way.
I try to keep everything I do at that pedestrian level. The key to this is to not spend a lot of money on gear especially branded gear. Now, I don't believe in buying junk. You don't save money buying junk. But you don't have to spend a lot of money to get decent gear. For example, skiers praise the Kinco work gloves for their durability and warmth and wear them on the slopes. This is why I look to workwear and hardware store options for much of my gear. The headlamp I wear for my night walks came from Harbor Freight and cost me $9. I have been very happy with that headlamp.
I have a strategy when it comes to gear. The first part of that strategy is to eschew those activities that require a lot of gear or expensive gear. This is why I am not a golfer or an Ironman Triathlete. This is why I don't do ham radio or go thru-hiking. My aim is to do as little as possible when it comes to these types of activities. The things I choose to do are done at a very pedestrian level. Part of the joy is knowing that it doesn't cost me a lot of money to do these things.
The second part of my strategy is to not buy gear that I don't need. For instance, I don't buy FitBits and fitness trackers for my walking. My Casio watch is all I need. I was going to buy myself some Merrell Moab hiking shoes for trail walking, but I talked myself out of it. You don't need those shoes to walk a trail.
The third part of my strategy is to buy gear at a low cost relative to its value. I have an Igloo cooler that I used at work for my lunch that cost a fraction of the price of a high dollar Yeti. That cooler survived a nasty truck crash, and I still use it today for keeping grocery store purchases cold for the trip home. It cost me $20 from Big Lots. Needless to say, I am an Igloo fan.
Ultimately, I care more about the activity than the gear. I find that basic, affordable, and durable gear does the trick for me. I eschew high dollar brands that are more for status than function. My top destinations for basic gear are Walmart, Harbor Freight, and Tractor Supply. I never go to REI or Cabela's. As for gear snobs, I let my cheap gear serve as a middle finger to their vanity.
