KIT REVIEWS
Claire, Holly and Lynn from the Camping team, recently completed a 70 mile hike on the Nene Way for charity, camping along the route.
You can read all about their trek in the January issue of Camping, but here are their reviews of the kit they used during the walk.
Reviews by Claire Morris (CM), Lynn Wright (LW) and Holly Aspinall (HA)
VAUDE TERRAQUATTRO 3P TENT
Lynn's view:
I would recommend this tent to anyone – but especially to back-packers. It’s lightweight and very quick and easy to pitch and pack away. It has ample room for two (three would be tight with all your gear) with enough room to sit or kneel. A sturdy tent for all weather with good protection from the wind and rain and plenty of ventilation for when it’s warm. To make it slightly more lightweight you could share the carrying by splitting the poles and canvas between two like we did.
Key features
- Unique external suspension system
- Structured for stability in wind
- Porch at each end of the tent
- Simultaneous pitching of fly and inner sheets
- Excellent ventilation
- Lightweight
- Tent bag allows whole tent to be compressed down minimising pack size
Pitching
Quick and easy to pitch within minutes, especially with two of you doing it. Just peg out the base, assemble the pole system, position the 6 pole ends into the clips, one in each of the four corners and two either end of the roof, then hook thru the cords. Finally peg out the guy ropes! It was so easy to do, perfect after a long days walk when you just want to relax. Packing away was just as easy, just do the reverse of pitching out, when dismantled, lay out the tent, fold in thirds, roll up and squeeze into the tent bag using the bag straps to compress to as small a size as you can.
Living
Each evening we’d pitch up, change into our comfies with enough height to kneel in, then store our rucksacks, laying them down at the back of the tent. The porch was great for storing our boots, cooking utensils and any rubbish waiting to be disposed of in the morning. When cooking food, rather than sit on the damp grass, we positioned ourselves at the entrance to the tent, placed the Jet Boil outside on the grass, and cooked at arms length. There were small pockets to store items and a handy rope across the inside of the tent roof which aswell as hanging our head torches from, we also hung the tea towel overnight to dry.
Sleeping
This tent had ample room for two, we could of slept three, but we’d have struggled with where to store three rucksacks (which we also sometimes used as pillows!) My lasting memory of this tent was how warm it was. We had wind, rain and cool night temperatures and we were comfortably shielded from the elements as soon as the door was zipped shut. If it got too warm we were able to unzip the mesh ventilation to cool down.
Tech spec
Sleeps: 3 berth
Weight: 3.5kg
Type: Tunnel
Sewn-in groundsheet
Pitch in 10 mins
More information
Price: £270
Packed size: 50 x 22cm
Materials: Outer Polyester Groundsheet Polyester Poles Aluminium
Waterproof: Fly 5000mm Groundsheet 6000mm
Dimensions: Outer: 415x165cm Height 130cm
Vaude
01665 510660
www.vaude.co.uk
Expect to pay: Around £150
www.fjallraven.com
The Alta trousers are great trekking trousers made from hardwearing G-1000 Original. They are extremely comfortable with pliable stretch sections at the knee and in the rear; they are also reinforced in exposed areas such as the knees, and the inside of the legs. Multiple practical pockets for you to carry your map, pocket knife. These trousers really were put to the test, from climbing over stiles, gates to dealing with the pouring rain for hours whilst walking through an overgrown field of weeds! They did not let me down and movement in them was great with not a single drop of rain passing through! I thought these were quite pricey for a pair of trousers but it really proves to not skimp on your kit! CM
Expect to pay: £170
www.hangwag.com
The Alta is a specialist fit boot, designed for people that suffer primarily with bunions, now I don’t suffer with them but I do have “funny feet” and always seem to get blisters so these were recommended to me as they have been specifically designed to provide more space. Reducing the risk of soreness and blisters! And that is exactly what they did; I decided to bed them in on an 18 mile walk, as you do, and didn’t receive a single blister, extremely comfortable and a great fit. Made from durable waxed nubuck with a soft chrome free leather lining, the chrome free leather is not only suitable to people with sensitive skin but is also better for the environment. The boot also features a Vibram Ultra Grip sole with full length cushioning and a heel shock absorber.
The one downside to these boots, they don’t appear to be waterproof and with a heavy downpour my feet got wet very quickly. CM
Expect to pay: £110
www.vango.co.uk
I chose this rucksack as it was part of the DofE recommended kit, something that my daughter was involved in and would be able to use too. It was one of the lighter rucksacks available and had a good capacity too, 60+10Litres. The A3 back system was used at its smallest for me, it could have done with being able to go even smaller though as all the straps were at their tightest and when my daughter used it, it didn’t go small enough to fit her frame properly. The support was still there, but when the rucksack was on my back and packed to full capacity, it towered quite far above my head! I never suffered any back pain though and it was comfortable on my hips. There was some discomfort from the small strap that goes across the collar bone when only wearing one layer; this could be improved with the straps being padded maybe?
The front zip entry was fully appreciated, and when we were inside the tent with limited space, being able to access my belongings was so much easier with the pack laying down and accessing from the top like a suitcase, rather than standing it up and having to rummage round to get to something right at the bottom.
The rain cover was essential and when in use, even though it looked like I had a small body on my back because of the height, it kept everything nice and dry. My final comment is that the drinks bladder should go in an outside pocket rather than inside the rucksack, it would make it easier to access and replenish when you have a fully-packed rucksack. LW
Expect to pay: £100
www.karrimor.com
I would like to say that the reason I got this bag was because of the great technical aspects it has to it, however…….what caught my eye was the excellent colour, hot pink! Luckily for me my rucksack turned out to be a good pick! With an SA (side adjustable) back system and adjustable chest straps that really helped to spread the load evenly across my back. 2 mesh style pockets either side of the bag, an ok sized pocket for my hydration bladder although was a tight squeeze and could do with being just a little bigger. The main compartment is split into two, with zipped access to the base. I stored snacks/sweets in the base of the rucksack so as to try and separate it from the rest of my gear and make it easier for quick access but be careful when taking the rucksack off, I forgot a few times and sat my bag upright, causing my crisps to become crumbs! Because of this I would have preferred a zipped pocket at the top of the rucksack. It also comes with a rain cover which was brilliant, once covered and tightened up it was going nowhere and kept my rucksack completely dry. CM
Expect to pay: £159.99
www.kathmandu.co.uk
Getting the right rucksack to fit you is really important to me, and this 60L rucksack comes with an S2pro fully adjustable harness fitting system. With detailed instructions included to get the fit just right, it makes sure it will fit any body shape. Being quite petite, I needed it on the smallest settings which are hard to adjust by yourself, but with a bit of help from a friend, once the back and shoulder straps are right, the rest is easy to master on your own.
I really liked the big padded waist belt and shoulders, and all the straps and adjustments can easily be altered any time. The other major highlight for me was the dry bag style pack itself. With a roll top fastening, it kept all my gear bone-dry without the need for an additional cover, and was easy to access my stuff too.
With lots of extra gear loops, zip pockets, and a bladder pouch I think this rucksack has it all and I would highly recommend it to anyone. HA
SUMMIT HYDRATION RESERVOIR 2L
Expect to pay: £6.99
www.summitint.co
I was struggling to put my water bottle in and out of the side pockets of my rucksack as my arms weren’t long enough to reach – I needed to get a hydration system! There are various products on the market, called various names, but I obtained a Summit Hydration Reservior. Quite simply you fill the bladder with water which sits in your rucksack and the outlet hose pokes out the small hydration hole in your rucksack for you to easily put in your mouth to operate and drink from. I was thankful for this piece of kit, but this particular product I did find the mouth piece difficult to get open with my teeth and kept having to use my hands to loosen the valve so the water would flow. Consequently I lost quite a lot of water on the floor rather than drinking it. A down side also was the taste of rubber – the packaging does advise to wash before use, which I did, but I advise that you do it two or three times before first using. But still a very useful and strongly advised piece of kit. LW
GEIGERRIG RIG 500 CITRUS BACKPACK
Expect to pay: £80 for the whole pack and £30 for just the reservoir
www.geigerrig.com
The Rig 500 comes as a complete hydration pack, but as I was already carrying my rucksack with all my gear in I just used the reservoir. It has a capacity of 2L which was perfect for a day’s walking, it was extremely easy to clean and fill up as it has a slide top which allows you to open up the entire top, giving good access. I would recommend cleaning a couple of times, I only managed to clean it once and so there was a slightly funny taste to it. By day two the taste was gone and the water was fine. The unique thing to this reservoir is its Pressure Bulb, all you need to do is lightly pinch the hydration pack bite valve with your fingers or lightly touch the hydration pack bite valve with your teeth, and the pressurized hydration pack will fill your mouth with refreshing water. You can share your water with friends by simply spraying it into their mouth. CM
Expect to pay £60-80
www.jetboil.com
I had heard a lot of good things about this stove, so was very excited to get to try it out. And everything I heard was true! Weighing in at just 400g, this stove is super lightweight and compact so that it is ideal for backpacking. With the 1L cooking pot that comes with it, my water was boiled in just over two minutes, so we didn’t have to wait long at all for our tea. It has an easy-to-use click ignition, and is so straightforward to set up and then packs away within the cooking pot – there is even room for your gas canister in here too.
Other handy little features are the insulated cover that changes colour when it is hot, and the secure pot fastening to the system itself. You can also use other pans on the stove, but make sure they have serrated bottoms so they don’t slip.
All-in-all a superb stove, and a must for any future trips. HA
Expect to pay: £30
www.trekmates.co.uk
This cooking system caught my eye as it uses no gas or petrol to create its heat. Instead it uses a chemical reaction to produce the heat with which to cook your food, no chance of setting the tent on fire and no gas poisoning! The cook set has a plastic outer, with a removable neoprene sleeve and an inner, stainless steel container and comes with 2 heat packs. The heat pack is placed in the bottom of the outer box and the correct amount of water is poured on top, then the inner metal box containing the food is placed into the box and the plastic lid is clicked into place, steam came pouring out within minutes, a good sign, we were cooking! Unfortunately not, I seemed to have missed somewhere along the line that water also needed to be added to the dry food! So I started again, 20 minutes later we were ready. The result, quite a tasty meal, just what was needed. CM
TREKMATES ADVENTURE FOODS
Expect to pay: £5
www.trekmates.co.uk
Dry food in good lightweight packaging, nutritionally balanced, with good energy levels. Not only can you get breakfast and a main course but they also do pudding! For the walk I had Chicken Curry and Pasta Carbonara. Both were very flavoursome and filling, the only downside I would say is that after eating them for 3 days they became to taste very similar. Next time I have my eye on the mince hotpot with the chocolate mousse to follow! CM
Expect to pay: £49.99
www.silva.se
A must for any camping trip, this headtorch was used every evening of our trip. The intelligent lighting technology ensured that we had sufficient light for all situations. It has a choice of light settings to enable short range, long range up to 50 metres and a red light for night vision – there are six light modes in total to give flexibility and help extend battery life.
Our first night the headtorches were invaluable when we arrived late at the site, they lit the way whilst we had to pitch our tents and cook in the dark. We made full use of the different light modes - every evening they were used to light the tents by hanging them off the rope from the roof of the tent, quickly positioned back on our heads when off to clean our teeth and stored away in their cocoon storage case when packed away in our rucksacks. LW
Expect to pay: £120
www.lifeventure.co.uk
Duck down insulated sleeping bags are great for backpacking, being really lightweight whilst at the same time keeping you very warm. And this one did just the job. With a comfort rating of +7degrees C, but an extreme rating of -12degrees C, we knew in September we would be ok with this bag overnight, and all three of us found just that. We ranged from people who feel the cold very easily, to one who didn’t at all, and this bag satisfied all of our needs.
It was roomy enough to feel comfortable in the night for movement, but cosy enough to keep us all warm – sometimes verging on positively hot! The hood can be pulled close over your head, and a handy feature is the zip pocket on the front – I kept my watch in there so I didn’t miss my early morning wake up call. The dry bag it comes in also doubles up as a pillow when stuffed with some clothes. I will certainly be using this sleeping bag in the future! HA
Top tip: When storing your down sleeping bag when not in use, keep it in an old pillow case rather than the stuff sack – this makes sure it isn’t packed tightly and the loft isn’t ruined. It will then continue to keep you warm in years to come!
