Sorry, I mean a max level character.
And yea, after level 5 and a bit of game experience it's no biggie. My problem is that as a person who is new (twice now, just when I got the hang of everything WIPE haha go find your junk elsewhere sucker!), it seems like an hour respawn time when you factor in the traveling. Why not penalize the dudes running around with AP rockets and shit? 10 minute respawn at level 21, but you're at your tent. 30 seconds if you're level 1. etc...
I realize, the wasteland is BRUTAL! It is still however a place where you magically get reincarnated, so why not make it a bit less frustrating for people who are not in the know, and a bit more frustrating for people who are old hands? It's not going to make it easier for experienced people to level up, since they know how to squeeze every bit of XP out of the game anyhow. It might even make it harder to level up later on because despite your gang having crap-tons of equipment, you may not want to risk the long ass wait if you get killed... though I guess the gathering cooldowns have kinda made people accustom to waiting haha.
Anyhow, just my 2 cents.