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“Was expecting more red trim, zero stars.”
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Aug 28, 2022 21:16
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Verman posted:Reviews can be tough to take into consideration. Look at the positive reviews, read the negatives and make an educated guess. Most times, the positives outweigh the negatives by a large margin. Reviewers can also be really harsh on products without giving much context. There's always user error, a bad product of the bunch, or just crappy circumstances. Stuff happens once in a while, thankfully REI has a great return policy. There are also third party review sites like outdoor gear lab and switchback travel which test things really well. Sometimes companies release a new version of a beloved product and a bunch of 1 star reviews come in, not because it's bad necessarily, just that it's too different from the last one. Could still be a great buy for someone, perhaps for even more people than before!
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Aug 28, 2022 21:51
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I usually start my research at the handful of outdoor gear review sites that actually test the products and don't just re-post whatever reviews are on Amazon. https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/ https://www.switchbacktravel.com/ https://sectionhiker.com/ Most of their "top 10 gear" lists seems to be pretty close together so then I just narrow it down to personal preference. FCKGW fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Aug 29, 2022 |
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Aug 29, 2022 00:28
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Manzoon posted:"bought this and used the first time for my 30 day through hike and it failed on day two!" These are always bizarre to me. I've never had quality gear catastrophically fail on me like this, and if it did I'd assume it was a rare manufacturing mistake that the company would fix.
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Aug 29, 2022 00:38
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Yeah I've never had any gear just fall apart on me, and I treat my stuff like crap.
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Aug 29, 2022 02:12
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I can see it being an issue for UL/minimalist gear, especially when worn or slept in. A piece of gear that works totally fine for 95% of people may end up with some stitching stressed in a weird way for one particular case in the other 5%—especially shoes, packs, shells and sleeping bags. I’m a pretty violent sleeper and kicked out the foot box in by first UL bag, and there are plenty of reviews with people completely destroying altras within 200 miles. Those are useful data points in many cases but it’s dumb when internet people turn it into “garbage quality. 1 star” reviews.
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Aug 29, 2022 02:40
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Bathtub curve is real. If a product has a really unusual rate of early failure, it will show up a lot more strongly than some 1 star reviews here or there.
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Aug 29, 2022 17:19
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Was looking at getting lightweight fleece midlayer then i saw a reduced priced Terry cloth merino hoodie from icebreaker at about the same price. I couldn't find any comparison in which material would be better besides the usual merino is delicate and maybe longer to dry but nothing beyond that. I ordered the merino from REI, so i can test it out in my work's 40F and below walk in fridge and return it if not. The fleece i was looking at were the Outdoor Research Vigor and Mountain Hardwear Stratus, both high picks from outdoorgearlabs.
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Aug 29, 2022 18:28
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Fitzy Fitz posted:These are always bizarre to me. I've never had quality gear catastrophically fail on me like this, and if it did I'd assume it was a rare manufacturing mistake that the company would fix. I was more astounded at the thought of not even doing a short weekend trip or just overnighter to test out gear before relying on it for multiple weeks. I guess everyone makes mistakes but that seems a big one! Anyway, I got that Gregory Zulu 65L pack on sale from REI and ordered some Merrell Moab 3 mids, the waterproofed ones also on sale. I went to a local Dick's sporting goods that had Merrells to try on before buying them. Just need a tent and sleep system and I'm pretty much set. Gotta wait though because I dropped a ton of cash recently trying to catch up to a buddy who has been gearing up most of the year slowly.
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Aug 29, 2022 18:38
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its all nice on rice posted:Yeah I've never had any gear just fall apart on me, and I treat my stuff like crap. I had a pair of snow boots fall apart on me on the drive up to snow camp to test them for the first time. But really, my dad had them in the garage for years and never really got to use them so he wanted me to take them but I had serious reservations about it (since he took poor care of his camping gear). Thankfully, someone else on the trip had an extra pair of leather hiking boots! I had a good time, much better than the campers that only brought one layer of sleeping insulation padding and were freezing at night.
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Aug 29, 2022 20:20
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The Wiggly Wizard posted:Looking for some light weight hiking shoes with a little more cushion than Trail Gloves (which have p. much none). Kind of leaning towards Moabs but am baffled by the different versions (speed, gtx, 3) Don't get gtx hiking shoes if breathability is important, or if you want a low ankle. La Sportiva recently re-introduced the Akasha, which are fantastic and well cushioned lightweight hiking shoes if they fit you.
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Aug 29, 2022 20:38
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Morbus posted:Bathtub curve is real. Good thread title / post combo
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Aug 29, 2022 20:39
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Manzoon posted:Just need a tent and sleep system Same. But now we now have a place that rents decent gear just a couple miles from our house. So I keep saying I will buy a tent and bag for the next trip. And then I end up renting again because I can't commit to pulling the trigger.
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Aug 30, 2022 03:26
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Manzoon posted:Just need a tent and sleep system and I'm pretty much set. Gotta wait though because I dropped a ton of cash recently trying to catch up to a buddy who has been gearing up most of the year slowly. REI currently has the passage 2 for $110 right now. The trail hut is only slightly more expensive but sheds about a half pound. It's a good tent for beginner backpackers. ~5lbs for a two person backpacking tent is a great starting point that should get you into things. A 2 person tent has enough room for two people, or one person and gear. Vestibules are good for storing gear as well but a heavy rain might cause stuff under there to get wet. I have a passage 2 that I bought in 2012 and it still works great, it's my car camping tent. I've only recently upgraded to a Nemo hornet because of a ridiculous sale in the garage section at rei for $90. If you want to go even lighter but still have a traditional free standing tent, there are more options which might weigh as little as 2 pounds but you'll spend 3x as much.
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Aug 30, 2022 06:21
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Thanks for the suggestions. I was looking at the REI tents, but I just spent way too much this month as is. I'm sure everything will go on sale again sometime in the near future again.
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Aug 31, 2022 07:03
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Manzoon posted:Thanks for the suggestions. I was looking at the REI tents, but I just spent way too much this month as is. I'm sure everything will go on sale again sometime in the near future again. Yeah, REI’s sales run like clockwork so if you’re looking to gear up for next season you’ll have multiple opportunities to do so.
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Aug 31, 2022 14:37
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The Snow Peak 450ml double wall Ti mug is 25 percent off on Amazon right now. So I bought one because I hate money. ("I hate money" borrowed from the mountain bike thread)
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Aug 31, 2022 17:10
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Cat rear end Trophy posted:The Snow Peak 450ml double wall Ti mug is 25 percent off on Amazon right now. I have that mug and it's pretty nice- keeps stuff hot and you can hold boiling water in your hand comfortably. I'm drinking out of it right now actually. BUT the lip on mine has like a micro hole and sometimes water gets in from drinking and washing. Then it becomes more conductive (bad) and the mug starts singing when hot liquid gets added (lol).
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Aug 31, 2022 21:04
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is there any special cleaning product i need to use to clean some bird poo poo and sap from the rainfly and tent that won't compromise the water repellency? just normal soap and water?
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Sep 2, 2022 06:17
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Bird poo poo is easy to remove. Sap is tough. The best thing I've ever seen remove sap is rubbing alcohol/hand sanitizer but that night not be great for your material or dwr treatment. Best bet is probably warm soapy water and just gently wipe it until it's gone and probably reapply treatment to that area.
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Sep 2, 2022 19:27
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Yeah a mild organic solvent is needed to handle sap. Use as little rubbing alcohol or mineral spirits as you can to get it off, then rinse with water after. For big sap globs you can try putting your tent in the freezer and breaking them off while they're brittle, then hit them with your solvent.
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Sep 2, 2022 19:43
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What should I use this 20% REI outlet coupon on? They don't have anything I need.
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Sep 4, 2022 20:27
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Looking at Altra running shoes on REI… Has anyone transitioned from regular running shoes to zero drop? How was it? And do you like them? I like the extra toe room, but I’m not sure about the differences the zero drop will make. I’m a mid-forties lady, shoes would be used for road/trail running and maybe hiking. I run about 15 miles a week.
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Sep 4, 2022 22:42
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The zero drop felt weird to me at first, but I adjusted pretty quick. It felt like there was more of a "hill" under my arch. Not in a bad way.. it was just like someone had stuffed a pillow in there. But for actual hiking they were fine, no extra soreness or back issues. My only real issue with them is the complete lack of heel lock in.. any kind of slope or boulder scrambling and it feels like my foot is gonna slide out. So I really only use them on smooth trails or when I know my feet will get wet (because they dry insanely fast).
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Sep 4, 2022 23:17
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xzzy posted:The zero drop felt weird to me at first, but I adjusted pretty quick. It felt like there was more of a "hill" under my arch. Not in a bad way.. it was just like someone had stuffed a pillow in there. But for actual hiking they were fine, no extra soreness or back issues. Thanks! That helps a lot. The shoes are getting more tempting.
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Sep 5, 2022 01:36
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There will absolutely more pressure on your calves and achilles. Make sure you stretch and ease into it. I did the minimalist thing 10 years ago when that was cool. No padding under your feet is extremely overrated. Zero drop is fine if you're not a heel striker. All the padding in the Altras is nice regardless. Only issue I had with the Altra Torin 4.5 was that the tongue was garbage. It ripped in half where I tied the laces. Otherwise they were great while they lasted. Hopefully they've improved it since.
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Sep 5, 2022 03:28
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For anyone in Canada big agnes sleeping bags are on ~40% discount at most retailers
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Sep 5, 2022 04:02
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Goons, what happened to that MSR thing that made chlorine solution from table salt and electrolysis? I have recently been stocking up on water purification things, despite living out in California where there will be *no* water to purify, let alone drink, let alone survive The Great Water Wars, and I can't seem to find one anywhere? edit: Oh, discontinued. Shame. It seems like it would be incredibly useful, I didn't buy one before because I couldn't afford it. I am now more surprised that there doesn't seem to be a competitor? SwissArmyDruid fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Sep 5, 2022 |
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Sep 5, 2022 04:42
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newts posted:Looking at Altra running shoes on REI… Has anyone transitioned from regular running shoes to zero drop? How was it? And do you like them? I like the extra toe room, but I’m not sure about the differences the zero drop will make. It was mostly fine for me. I definitely had to change my gait a bit and it felt weird at first. The biggest issue for me when wearing a pack was the tendency to tilt my hips forward to compensate for the change in foot strike, which was murder on my hip flexors the first few times I wore them on longer hikes. I was able to overcome this pretty easily once I noticed the hip belt becoming tight against my stomach as an indicator of anterior tilt and actively focused on keeping a tight core to prevent that. Also I really like the altras now that I’ve acclimated to them. I put on an old pair of hokas recently and they felt even weirder than the altras did the first time i wore them! Just super uncomfortable. Everyone is different though so imo just give them a shot and if they don’t work for you you can always switch back. TheSlutPit fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Sep 6, 2022 |
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Sep 6, 2022 04:39
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Wht would people reccomend for a siltarp? I'm after something roughly 3x3 meters and pretty light weight, no idea which manufacturers are any good.
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Sep 6, 2022 08:46
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SwissArmyDruid posted:Goons, what happened to that MSR thing that made chlorine solution from table salt and electrolysis? I have recently been stocking up on water purification things, despite living out in California where there will be *no* water to purify, let alone drink, let alone survive The Great Water Wars, and I can't seem to find one anywhere? USB electrodes are pretty cheap on amazon/ebay/etc. The process is very simple, add some pure salt to water, and run the electrolysis for 1-20 minutes to get your desires chlorine levels. More acidic water has more hypochlorous acid , while basic water has more sodium hypochlorite (bleach). You will want some chlorine test strips to make sure you're getting the correct range, and do it in a very well ventilated area, because the process does make some chlorine gas. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9P324M4 They're called a bunch of different things, but Sodium Hypochlorite Generator should be a good enough search term. There are no electronics or anything. Just two electrodes connected to the USB power rails. Super simple, and they'll last a while as long you take care of them by taking them out of solution asap once the power is off, and rinsing the solution away. There are also versions built into spray bottles and kettles, with timers to make sanitizer easier. I use one to make HOCL sanitizer solution, 500ml of water, 2% kosher salt (10g), 5g vinegar, and running the electrode for 9 minutes give me a ~200ppm chlorine solution for surface sanitizing. Or half that much salt, but it takes twice as long. I haven't used it for water purification, but I know drinking water has chlorine more in the range of 2ppm. And that you should make a small concentrated batch of high chlorine water to sanitize a larger amount of water. Make sure to use some free chlorine test strips so you're not poisoning yourself. Edit: Technically, if you want to go super prepper mode, any DC power source connected to some electrodes in salt water will produce chlorine. I watched a youtube of a guy making rusty bleach with a wall wart power supply and some rusty nails as electrodes in a bucket of salt water. jetz0r fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Sep 6, 2022 |
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Sep 6, 2022 09:45
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I cut covid a couple months ago, and it killed my aerobic endurance I had to cancel a planned 5 day hike and I still don't trust myself out there for anything strenuous or timed. BUT! My wife found me a set of size 12 MOABs for $15 at the local surplus store. So next summer I'll be UNSTOPPABLE!
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Sep 6, 2022 15:45
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Looks like Apple is on their way to kill the inReach.
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Sep 8, 2022 23:33
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waffle enthusiast posted:Looks like Apple is on their way to kill the inReach. Maybe eventually, but the Garmin stuff is two-way communication while the Apple stuff is currently one-way SOS. If I was SPOT or some other PLB I’d be worried.
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Sep 8, 2022 23:49
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waffle enthusiast posted:Looks like Apple is on their way to kill the inReach. if i'm in an adventure situation where I need an InReach, I don't see myself switching to solely rely on a smashable iphone.
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Sep 9, 2022 00:27
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It's a really interesting development. Personally I'll still prefer the battery life and durability of an inreach, but I'm curious to see where things go in the future. I wonder what this may mean for local SAR groups. I've been reading more articles about overloaded SAR teams and an increasing number of questionable SOS requests. Or of people pushing far outside their comfort and experience levels knowing they can just call in help. This is going to be a sudden dramatic increase in people who have the ability to make SOS calls. To be fair I haven't seen exactly what this looks like on the iPhone user's end. Maybe Apple has anticipated that and has some level of screening.
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Sep 9, 2022 00:54
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Being unable to send "i'm okay" messages to your emergency contact is a big downside to the Apple SOS. You will show up in the Find My app which is a plus, but that doesn't mean you're okay it just means you're at a spot. I don't think it's good enough to replace inreach type devices, certainly better than a kick in the rear end if one gets stranded in the wilderness with no other option but people would have to be crazy to use as their primary rescue plan. I'm guessing customized messages to predefined contacts will be a feature added in the future once they get a feel for how people rely on it.
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Sep 9, 2022 01:05
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incogneato posted:It's a really interesting development. Personally I'll still prefer the battery life and durability of an inreach, but I'm curious to see where things go in the future. There’s a sort of questionnaire you go through To determine what kind of emergency you are in which gets handed off to a call center. That starts a text conversation between you and the call center who, if needed, relays the message to local SAR. It seems like there are filters in place to separate genuine emergencies from situations where people can remove themselves from danger. https://www.macrumors.com/2022/09/07/apple-emergency-satellite-iphone-14/ FCKGW fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Sep 9, 2022 |
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Sep 9, 2022 01:24
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FCKGW posted:Maybe eventually, but the Garmin stuff is two-way communication while the Apple stuff is currently one-way SOS. If I was SPOT or some other PLB I’d be worried. I think eventually is two or three years. I’m curious if the chip in the 14 already supports it but the service just isn’t built out yet. I personally have no concerns about iPhone durability — I’ve cracked a screen on Longs Peak, dropped one in a pool on the South Platte for five minutes, and operated however many in sub-zero temperatures. They all worked just fine. Battery life is just a question of a battery pack and a mode switch. Though needing a week+ of battery life for one’s SOS is for sure an argument to stick with Garmin. The other factor is probably if you want to have a device that lives in a 100% secure location as opposed to a lose-able phone in your pocket. Right now, with the exception of supporting two-way comms with contacts, this checks most of the boxes for me (and I assume a lot of others). But I also bet that’s pretty high up on the roadmap. When I upgrade my phone in a couple of years my bet is that’ll be the last time I renew inReach.
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Sep 9, 2022 02:42
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TheSlutPit posted:It was mostly fine for me. I definitely had to change my gait a bit and it felt weird at first. The biggest issue for me when wearing a pack was the tendency to tilt my hips forward to compensate for the change in foot strike, which was murder on my hip flexors the first few times I wore them on longer hikes. I was able to overcome this pretty easily once I noticed the hip belt becoming tight against my stomach as an indicator of anterior tilt and actively focused on keeping a tight core to prevent that. Thank you! My husband keeps warning me that they’re going to gently caress up my legs, but I think I’ll try them. I only buy a new pair of shoes about every three years so it’s not going to bankrupt me. And if I get them from REI I can just return them three years from now and someone else can buy them at a Garage Sale 
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Sep 9, 2022 03:25
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