Binoculars are coming up a lot, I’m looking into the zen-ray’s. They seem to be well liked and reasonably prices + a site sponsor.
Next thing to watch out for is babysitting your gear. Now that you are bringing along about a hundred items, you'll probably lose a few along the way. Once you have a gear babysitting technique which works, maybe then invest in the more expensive gear.
Stuff falls out of pockets, clips fail, twigs snag stuff off of your pack... and worst of all, seems that gear left behind walks away on its own.
