Author Topic: Bought any camping gear today?  (Read 331979 times)

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1075 on: 20 August, 2014, 11:10:33 pm »
They do look a decent size.
Getting there...

Mike Conway

  • Wheel builder and general bike rider
    • 23mm-wheels
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1076 on: 21 August, 2014, 08:49:51 pm »
Alpkit Hunka bivvy bag arrived. I'm blown away by how small it is. I wouldn't do it, but it could fit in your cycling jersey pocket - it's that small.

Starting to think about lightweight weekend coastal trips with a night's bivvying on the beach...

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1077 on: 28 August, 2014, 09:47:05 pm »
A new head torch as I accidentally gave mine to TGL. we also got a tent peg with a light on.
Quote from: Kim
^ This woman knows what she's talking about.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1078 on: 04 September, 2014, 12:56:11 pm »
Some more silk liners from Vietnam. Buy two get one free arrived today.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1079 on: 04 September, 2014, 01:13:50 pm »
Replacement pole for an Akto.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1080 on: 04 September, 2014, 02:40:16 pm »
Replacement pole for an Akto.
The poles for a Nammatj 2 (I think) are the same size as that for an Akto, but a bit thicker/stronger at 10mm rather than 9. May be worth considering if you break the pole again.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1081 on: 04 September, 2014, 08:14:30 pm »
Replacement pole for an Akto.

May I ask where you got that pole from? Hilleberg or shop somewhere. I am after a Macpac pole and didn't know whether to chase Macpac or go to a local outdoor shop, of which there are few left near me. Is it a genuine Akto pole?

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1082 on: 04 September, 2014, 10:58:13 pm »
Replacement pole for an Akto.

May I ask where you got that pole from? Hilleberg or shop somewhere. I am after a Macpac pole and didn't know whether to chase Macpac or go to a local outdoor shop, of which there are few left near me. Is it a genuine Akto pole?

http://www.climbers-shop.com/advancedsearch.aspx?Term=hilleberg%20pole

Dave_C

  • Trying to get rid of my belly... and failing!
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1083 on: 08 September, 2014, 01:41:28 pm »
Bought tent waterproofer after my tent tea bag failed to hold out much water after a very rainy weekend at Glenmore campsite.

Also bought jacket wash-in stuff to try doing the inner as well.
@DaveCrampton < wot a twit.
http://veloviewer.com/athlete/421683/

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1084 on: 09 September, 2014, 04:01:58 pm »
Replacement pole for an Akto.
The poles for a Nammatj 2 (I think) are the same size as that for an Akto, but a bit thicker/stronger at 10mm rather than 9. May be worth considering if you break the pole again.

To follow up on this, it seems that Hilleberg (or their pole supplier) changed the design at some point after my tent was made.  My "9mm" poles were straight gauge, with ~8mm inserts at the joins (this is what had cracked).  New "9mm" poles are butted at the ends, with ~9mm inserts, presumably in order to add strength without too much extra weight.

The upshot of this is that today's replacement pole sections won't fit my old poles.

So in the interests of durability and availability of future spares, I've invested in a whole new-style 9mm butted pole, along with a spare section.

This does mean that I have a complete older pole (with no spare sections), which I could use to double-pole if I anticipated camping in gale force winds.  Word on the internets (as well as applied common sense) suggests this is much stronger that a single larger-diameter pole.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1085 on: 03 October, 2014, 08:20:04 pm »
Bought a 3/4 season large hollowfill bag for £35 inc del. Heavy, but lots of elbow room and very suitable for car camping. At half price too good not to really. Still have the down bag for bike touring and want to maximise its life.

http://www.mountainwarehouse.com/camping/sleeping-bags/3-4-season-sleeping-bags/summit-300xl-sleeping-bag-p11491.aspx?cl=KHAKI#product-text
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1086 on: 03 October, 2014, 11:17:35 pm »
Having decided that our pans were too small for us now that the little duck is eating what we do, plus sometimes TGL as well, I bought some MSR Flex 3 pans last month, having looked at various reviews on the internet. They seem very good, but after a rather unfortunate attempt at pancakes, I bought the frying pan to go with the set last week. Pancakes are a requirement and it gets expensive if you buy a new pan every summer (this has happened). Although it will take a couple of summers to recoup the investment in the pan over buying one from wilkinsons. ;D

MSR Flex also include cups and things but we prefer our sea to summit folding ones, so I didn't buy the full set.
Quote from: Kim
^ This woman knows what she's talking about.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1087 on: 13 October, 2014, 09:00:52 pm »
Having listened to others on the forum I have just bought this http://www.franticelix.co.uk/outdoor-equipment-c3/tents-c53/big-agnes-jack-rabbit-sl2-tent-p657
Just need to put it up when we get a break in the weather. Getting a footprint looks a bit tricky. I may just go for a Tyvek one for now.
Reine de la Fauche


Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1088 on: 15 October, 2014, 08:51:44 pm »
A proper sleeping bag for barakta.  Another Mountain Equipment Dreamcatcher 650, to match mine.  They appear to have become unobtainum, which is a terrible shame, as there's an awful lot to be said for a decently warm sleeping bag that isn't overly restrictive, yet packs down properly.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1089 on: 16 October, 2014, 12:36:00 pm »
Another Mountain Equipment Dreamcatcher 650, to match mine.  They appear to have become unobtainum
I like my Dreamcatcher 500.
The only place I found to get a Dreamcatcher now is Bergzeit.co.uk (German site). I suspect that the stretchiness added a bit to the weight, and they decided they were losing sales because of it.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1090 on: 16 October, 2014, 12:43:26 pm »
Another Mountain Equipment Dreamcatcher 650, to match mine.  They appear to have become unobtainum
I like my Dreamcatcher 500.
The only place I found to get a Dreamcatcher now is Bergzeit.co.uk (German site). I suspect that the stretchiness added a bit to the weight, and they decided they were losing sales because of it.

Which is silly, as the stretchiness is the whole point.  It's a warmer, lightweight alternative to a rectangular bag, not a heavy alternative to a mummy bag.  If they weren't selling, it's because not enough people knew they existed, (I think at least partially because most retailers just lumped them in with the mummy bags and it wasn't particularly obvious that they were different).  Shame.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1091 on: 16 October, 2014, 09:37:17 pm »
Another Mountain Equipment Dreamcatcher 650, to match mine.  They appear to have become unobtainum
I like my Dreamcatcher 500.
The only place I found to get a Dreamcatcher now is Bergzeit.co.uk (German site). I suspect that the stretchiness added a bit to the weight, and they decided they were losing sales because of it.

Which is silly, as the stretchiness is the whole point.  It's a warmer, lightweight alternative to a rectangular bag, not a heavy alternative to a mummy bag.  If they weren't selling, it's because not enough people knew they existed, (I think at least partially because most retailers just lumped them in with the mummy bags and it wasn't particularly obvious that they were different).  Shame.

To a point then you're suggesting that it's a combination of a marketing and a user education issue, but perhaps with part of the problem being that folk are conditioned to think rectangular = cheap, low quality, cold, while mummy = higher quality, warmer, more appropriate for anything other than low-level summer use while car camping. I wonder if there's a differentiation issue there too - I am fairly sure my ME bag isn't labelled as a Dreamcatcher (TBH it probably predates that branding) but it's got stretchy bits inside, and I think I'd assumed most decent high-rated bags would be similar.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1092 on: 16 October, 2014, 10:11:29 pm »
To a point then you're suggesting that it's a combination of a marketing and a user education issue, but perhaps with part of the problem being that folk are conditioned to think rectangular = cheap, low quality, cold, while mummy = higher quality, warmer, more appropriate for anything other than low-level summer use while car camping.

It's astoundingly difficult to find a rectangular bag with a down filling, at least outside the US (I tried, before I heard of the Dreamcatcher).  I'd expect there would be motorised types who would value the warmth of down, even if weight isn't really an issue.  If nothing else, rectangular bags are much more practical for joining together, so you'd think there'd be some market for high-spec ones.  But maybe not a very profitable one.

Tail End Charlie

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1093 on: 07 December, 2014, 07:28:44 pm »
I bought a Vango Havoc 200 tent for £125, it's a very good tent, loads of room inside (I can sit upright in it) and it's dead stable in high winds. I know this as I borrowed one earlier this year and was out in a right hoolie. It was half price from Summits Online who dealt very speedily with my order.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1094 on: 09 December, 2014, 04:48:54 pm »
I've bought a Hilleberg Allak as a replacement for a 1985 (ish) TN Quasar that died of flysheet proofing rot.
Not arrived yet, but I've had the "on its way" phone call  :thumbsup:.

Actually getting it was all a bit involved.
Hilleberg's current idea of "green" is verging on black (as seen in this review of an Anjan 2), and red is a bit too public for me, so I though I'd get a "sand" version. Google showed nobody in the UK admitting to selling one, but Trekitt in Hereford had it in green, and aren't too far away, so, as the weather was good, I rode over from Gloucester to look and ask (Saturday).
The green was indeed very close to black, and when I asked about a sand version, the person said they didn't have one, they would have to ask about getting one from Sweden, and they would give me a call on Monday to let me know.
No phone call, so I emailed on Wednesday chasing up.
No email, so the next Saturday I rode back to Hereford, extracted an apology and another promise to find out about ordering (email rather than phone this time).
No email, and it was raining the next weekend, so I emailed them again, in a somewhat grumpy tone.
This time I got a reply from the stock control manager, saying they were on forward order (i.e. waiting for a batch to be made), that he would let me know when the ordering deadline was. I replied saying that as late as the end of February would be OK, and please let me know.
There was no further contact, and as I'd exhausted my chasing up quota, I gave up and tried somewhere else.

Somewhere else was Alpenstock (Stockport).
Email enquiring, a "not in stock, have to order from Sweden" reply more or less by return, replied saying "How long?, Feb deadline", got a reply after 2 days saying "in stock in Sweden, it will take a week or so", so I ordered by phone, and it's taken just over a week.
Not only did Alpenstock actually take an interest in selling me a tent in an efficient manner, they were cheaper too.

I don't know what was going on at Trekitt, but I wasn't very impressed. If they didn't want to order in from Sweden, they should have said so straight away.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1095 on: 09 December, 2014, 04:50:50 pm »
I'm currently well-chuffed with self in a competent adult stylee having managed to buy the correct size replacement section for a Nallo tent pole.   :thumbsup:  Will gloss over the reasons why it needed replacing in the first place  :facepalm:

Seems a shame to waste the not-very-broken one. What can I molish out of 43cm of 9mm diameter aluminium tube?

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1096 on: 09 December, 2014, 05:04:48 pm »
Alas ...or perhaps fortunately, I only have the one broken section. Am hoping not to accumulate enough to get to click-stand or tarp pole height, but nice ideas, though  ;D

Enjoy the Allak when it arrives (or Feb, when it sounds like it has an outing scheduled!)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1097 on: 09 December, 2014, 05:08:50 pm »
I had one of those too, but in an extremely unsheddi moment it didn't occur to me to keep it in case it came in handy for something. 

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1098 on: 09 December, 2014, 05:15:38 pm »
How broken is the broken section? Just cracked at the end, or a creased bend in the middle?

[ previous reply suggesting a DIY click-stand or tarp poles deleted when I realised it was a replacement section rather than a whole pole, but not quickly enough]
I've 5 days carry-over leave that has to be used by the end of March, hence saying an end-Feb deadline.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #1099 on: 09 December, 2014, 05:27:07 pm »
 
Shame on you, Kim!  ;)


Just a bit cracked at the end. Maybe I could hone my blowpipe skills or something...