Author Topic: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?  (Read 292397 times)

richardh1905

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #435 on: 07:52:59, 12/06/18 »

My most recent purchase is a Coleman Phad X3 tent (3 man semi geodesic) from ebay; hardly used, and a steal at £25 + postage.


Just the job for some modest family backpacking, or for 'boot of the car' use in all but the most extreme conditions.


WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

beefy

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #436 on: 08:03:53, 12/06/18 »
Bought a Yamama Mountain Gear Swiftline 2 recently https://www.yamamountaingear.com/swiftline-2P/
Only 962grams without carbon stakes at 66grams plus a new Hyberg rucksack https://hyberg.de/produkt/hyberg-attila-x-ultraleicht-rucksack/  and a new stormin cone together with at Toaks 135ml ti pot.
Great idea using trekking poles to save weight  O0


you could use some mouldy old branches to do the same job  as the poles if you want to go for a walk after pitching your tent  
Leave only footprints, take only photographs, kill only time ...

April

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #437 on: 08:34:00, 12/06/18 »
you could use some mouldy old branches to do the same job as the poles if you want to go for a walk after pitching your tent

Do you think we could use these mouldy branches in the MSR if you forget to bring the poles for our tent?

Hate will never win

beefy

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #438 on: 08:43:12, 12/06/18 »
Do you think we could use these mouldy branches in the MSR if you forget to bring the poles for our tent?


;D
e

There are four main problems with the Fly Creek HV UL1...   1) They are very flimsy in construction, so will rip or tear easily. 2) They are made from Nylon, which is easily damaged by the UV light in sunlight outdoors so the fabric will degrade over time, making it even easier to rip or tear. 3) Nylon absorbs water, so the rain fly will sag when wet, which can both loosen your guy lines (and if it is windy out this can cause you real issues) and allow the rain fly to touch the inner tent allowing any condensation inside to run down and into the mesh inner, leaving you and your kit wet. 4) Because the door is on the front, and partially covered by the top of the vestibule, you have no choice but to crawl into it on your hands and knees...And if the bare ground inside the vestibule space is wet and/or muddy, your hands and knees will get dirty and muddy too! It is a terrible design.  It's only saving grace is it's light weight...But I don't mind carrying a bit more weight to allow me to have a better designed tent, with more space inside, made with much longer lasting materials and with a rain fly that won't sag when it gets wet, which stops my guy lines loosening and keeps me much drier.  But I am sure you must have been well aware of these issues and decided you are prepared to live with them, or you wouldn't have bought a Fly Creek HV UL1.


I never thought I'd see something like that from 'the micro-gram counter'


Comfort can often trump weight.j
;D  just spotted this one
« Last Edit: 08:46:29, 12/06/18 by beefy »
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gunwharfman

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #439 on: 09:03:41, 12/06/18 »
I bought some underwear from Decathlon for £3. I'm always looking for synthetic underwear, specifically for hiking trips, that are lightweight, will last and can be washed in an instant and then dry quickly. Most underwear which seem to fit my criteria can be over £15, Odlo for example. I have ordinary Odlo versions but only as briefs so this time I thought I would try figure hugging boxers. I bought a Medium pair which fits me well but just too well! I'm going to go back to Decathlon today and buy a Large in the hope they fit as I want them too. If the Large does the trick for me then £3 a pair is not bad.

I've also decided to be a bit more security conscious with my phone and cards and have been looking for a neck pouch to carry them next to my skin under my shirt or baselayer. My experience is that all of the basic pouches from Blacks, Cotswold and so on have one or even two major weakness, the cord or strap that goes around the neck and the compartment for the phone. They are fine just to carry cards and a few notes but that's all. I find that once I try to carry my phone as well, the extra weight around my neckjust becomes irritating. I do not even look at the corded types, for me once the phone is in the pouch they are always uncomfortable. The pouch in Decathlon has a thin strap but is still irritating because it does not widen at its weight bearing point. The phone is half an inch too long for the compartment so cannot be zipped closed.

I know I sound fussy but I like to walk as comfortably as I can, after a few days little irritations can easily become big irritations. I think my previous set up was better, my wife's friend sewed three debit card sized pockets to my baselayer. I may decide to go back to this arrangement if I cannot find a suitable neck pouch.

alan de enfield

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #440 on: 09:08:43, 12/06/18 »


 The phone is half an inch too long for the compartment so cannot be zipped closed.





Solution :- Get a smaller phone - simples !!!!

marmottungsten

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #441 on: 12:14:30, 12/06/18 »
I bought some underwear from Decathlon for £3. I'm always looking for synthetic underwear, specifically for hiking trips, that are lightweight, will last and can be washed in an instant and then dry quickly. Most underwear which seem to fit my criteria can be over £15, Odlo for example. I have ordinary Odlo versions but only as briefs so this time I thought I would try figure hugging boxers. I bought a Medium pair which fits me well but just too well! I'm going to go back to Decathlon today and buy a Large in the hope they fit as I want them too. If the Large does the trick for me then £3 a pair is not bad.

I've also decided to be a bit more security conscious with my phone and cards and have been looking for a neck pouch to carry them next to my skin under my shirt or baselayer. My experience is that all of the basic pouches from Blacks, Cotswold and so on have one or even two major weakness, the cord or strap that goes around the neck and the compartment for the phone. They are fine just to carry cards and a few notes but that's all. I find that once I try to carry my phone as well, the extra weight around my neckjust becomes irritating. I do not even look at the corded types, for me once the phone is in the pouch they are always uncomfortable. The pouch in Decathlon has a thin strap but is still irritating because it does not widen at its weight bearing point. The phone is half an inch too long for the compartment so cannot be zipped closed.

I know I sound fussy but I like to walk as comfortably as I can, after a few days little irritations can easily become big irritations. I think my previous set up was better, my wife's friend sewed three debit card sized pockets to my baselayer. I may decide to go back to this arrangement if I cannot find a suitable neck pouch.


Wear shorts or trousers with two front pockets and at least one cargo pocket on the side/thigh...Your phone will fit perfectly in there and in that position it will not irritate you when you walk. Put your card/card wallet in one of the front pockets...Never keep your cards right next to your phone as the magnetic field can erase the data on your card!

NeilC

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #442 on: 14:23:46, 12/06/18 »
I bought some underwear from Decathlon for £3. I'm always looking for synthetic underwear, specifically for hiking trips, that are lightweight, will last and can be washed in an instant and then dry quickly. Most underwear which seem to fit my criteria can be over £15, Odlo for example. I have ordinary Odlo versions but only as briefs so this time I thought I would try figure hugging boxers. I bought a Medium pair which fits me well but just too well! I'm going to go back to Decathlon today and buy a Large in the hope they fit as I want them too. If the Large does the trick for me then £3 a pair is not bad.



Funnily enough I've been looking to go over to Decathlon to get these myself. I tend to wear whatever cotton boxers I have in the drawer but they do get soggy and stay that way in damp/hot conditions. Various outdoor brands do pricey underwear but it doesn't look much different to the Decathlon running underwear.


I have have one of their running tops as a baselayer which is pretty good too. Wicks well, not too warm and dries really quick. I wanted the least warm baselayer I could find for wearing under Paramo.

NeilC

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #443 on: 14:42:00, 12/06/18 »

Never keep your cards right next to your phone as the magnetic field can erase the data on your card!


That's not actually true. The speakers on phones don't use magnets and the radio waves won't induce a magnetic field of any significant strength in a magnetic strip.


It's more likely to get damaged from a magnetic clasp on a phone case or similar, and even then it's not common unless in direct contact for hours.


I store my cards in my phone case and they've been there for months on end and they're just fine.


gunwharfman

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #444 on: 22:09:40, 12/06/18 »
I visited Decathlon again today, I'm hooked, so much to see and study! Decathlon is a French company and their head office is in Mons and about three of the staff in my local branch are French. I was looking for a new water container today to fit into my rucksack but couldn't find them. I saw a young woman staff standing nearby and asked her where I could find them. That's when I realised she was French, she didn't understand me at first, I kept asking for a flexible water container, but at one point I must have used the word bladder. Her face then lit up, she now knew what I was asking for and she gave me a very white toothy grin, perfect teeth in fact, laughed out loud and said "do you mean bladdeeer monsieur", all I could say clumsingly smiling back was "Oui, yes, bladdeeer, Merci".That grin and laugh was really worth going shopping for! A classic case of an old man charmed!

I've now bought two synthetic pairs of boxer underwear, one blue, one red specifically for my hiking trips. I got it wrong in my earlier post, they were £3.99 each, not £2.99, sorry about that. My first underwear purchase was a Medium which I found to be too tight, so I've now purchased the Large which fit me perfectly. All I have to do now is go on a hike.

dank86

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #445 on: 22:28:38, 12/06/18 »
I do miss going to decathlon stores, lived in France for 4 years and spent so much there 😂

marmottungsten

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #446 on: 01:17:54, 13/06/18 »
I visited Decathlon again today, I'm hooked, so much to see and study! Decathlon is a French company and their head office is in Mons and about three of the staff in my local branch are French. I was looking for a new water container today to fit into my rucksack but couldn't find them. I saw a young woman staff standing nearby and asked her where I could find them. That's when I realised she was French, she didn't understand me at first, I kept asking for a flexible water container, but at one point I must have used the word bladder. Her face then lit up, she now knew what I was asking for and she gave me a very white toothy grin, perfect teeth in fact, laughed out loud and said "do you mean bladdeeer monsieur", all I could say clumsingly smiling back was "Oui, yes, bladdeeer, Merci".That grin and laugh was really worth going shopping for! A classic case of an old man charmed!

I've now bought two synthetic pairs of boxer underwear, one blue, one red specifically for my hiking trips. I got it wrong in my earlier post, they were £3.99 each, not £2.99, sorry about that. My first underwear purchase was a Medium which I found to be too tight, so I've now purchased the Large which fit me perfectly. All I have to do now is go on a hike.


???  Do you live in France?  If that store was in the UK I would have expected her to have better English than that.

gunwharfman

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #447 on: 08:57:42, 13/06/18 »
No. I live in Portsmouth and our store opened its doors for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I thought her English was great, no problems from me that she could not say bladder as we do. As I wrote, a very charming young woman. I assume that once the store is well established, staff like her will move on to help open new ones? I was told thats what happens when they open new stores in Spain for example.

jimbob

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #448 on: 12:18:21, 13/06/18 »
Having lived and worked in France and Spain for a French company it is my impression that most of them speak English an awful lot better, even with accents, than the British manage with their languages.  As for accents then it is fair to say that these small islands are blessed with a huge range if broad varieties.
« Last Edit: 17:37:54, 13/06/18 by jimbob »
Too little, too late, too bad......

marmottungsten

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Re: What's Your Latest Walking Kit Purchase?
« Reply #449 on: 12:32:25, 13/06/18 »
I have visited Decathlon stores in Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Tenerife, as well as in the UK (Reading is the closest one to me)...They don't sell much ultralight lightweight kit so the only thing I find them handy for is for somewhere cheap to buy gas canisters (In Venice you can't get gas canisters for a BRS3000T and you have to visit the Decathlon store on the mainland, several hours away, just to get one)  However, now I have ditched using gas in favour of solid fuel tablets, because they are lighter, I have little reason to visit Decathlon.  I did buy a pair of trekking trainers from their Rome branch whilst I was out there (which lasted years), but haven't found anything in there since that I couldn't buy cheaper online.

 

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