63: Good Gear Bad Gear
Wednesday, January 18th, 2006Good Gear Bad Gear
How about summarising a few “findings” about my gear after the first month of travelling (well mostly staying in a place rather than actually travelling;-):
Things I love:
1) Single Most Important: Silk Sleeping Bag Liner.
I use it as a stand alone sleep sheet/bag, it is comfortable whether it is warm or a bit cooler and most importantly keeps potential bed bugs away due to the silk. Don’t think I really needed it yet but sometimes it better safe than sorry and it is reassuring to have it (call me picky not liking to sleep in strange beds:-)
2) Merrell Chameleon Ventilator Hiking Shoes & X-Static Socks
I will only put them to the proper test in the next few days when trekknig but I have worn them a lot and they are excellent. Even if it’s 30C outside it’s comfortable walking around in the sturdy walking shoes. The shoes would not work without my X-Static socks though which are fabulously thin and work very well with the shoes. X-Static keeps them from smelling and they dry after washing in a few hours!
3) X-Static Shirts
The X-Static T-Shirts are great apart from the fact that they are probably not all that durable (sadly) They are very pleasant to wear when it’s hot, do not get smelly or sticky or even damp like my regular T-Shirts. It’s rather humid and my cotton T-Shirts always feel slightly damp even if they have been hanging in the room for drying; I tend not to wear the cotton shirts at all now as they are uncomfortable and need to be washed after one day. Talking of drying the X-Static stuff dries in a few hours, my cotton T-Shirts take at least 2 days in the room to feel almost dry. The humidity makes drying difficult…
Sadly the X-Static T-Shirts from Rohan tend to pull threads for no apparent reason hence I don’t think they will last very long..
4) Craghoppers Nosquito Convertible Trousers
Pockets Pockets Pockets Pockets and more Pockets 🙂 I can’;t stress enough how important it is to have many pockets (preferably with zips). Other than that they are
easily turned from long trousers to shorts by zip, the trousers are exellently lightweight, compactable (for packing) and don’t feel too warm when worn long on hot days.
(I wear them long quite often when I plan to go to some Temples which require “descent” attire such as not showing bare knees ) We shall see if they live up to the Nosquito claim of being Mosquito proof in the next few days during my trekking 🙂
Also quick drying…
Things I am not too fond of:
1) Mainly.. my backpack 🙂 Reasons..
a) Accessing my backpack. Can’t tell you how many gazillion times I have opened the little locks, unwrapped the cord, taken stuff out or put in and locked the pack again with the small lock that needs to be cleverly wrapped around the pull cords of the pack to prevent easy access to the contents. I never leave my backpack unlocked even if I have my own room that can be locked and I also don’t tend to keep it open during the night so there is A LOT of tedious unlocking and locking going on.. I can’t stand it 😉
b) Packing and Carrying my Backpack.
Basically my pack is techically overpacked. I don’t think I have too much stuff with me (though I could do with 5kg less if I’m honest) but the shape of the pack (narrow, tall.. slim in other words) makes it rather difficult to pack. It’s great when squeezing through narrow places of crowds of people because its not wider than my body but in my oppinion it’s more a 50L than 60L pack and maybe not that suitable for a multi-month around the world trip.
It’s a hassle to pack (it takes a long time because I need to pack it in a specific way) and not overly comfortable when wearing for a prolonged time at 20kg weight. Sofar it has not been a problem because I did not have to carry it that much but moving on that will change… The pack is a lightweight pack and thus the harness is thinner/less padded than normal packs which becomes a problem when carrying this weight for a lengthy time.
Also ..
2) My Teva Wraptor Sandals, the most comfortable sandals I have ever tried… are useless;-)
Whilst I did not have serious blisters I did have several hotspots that could have turned into blisters easily had I not watched out (and stopped wearing the sandals). Badly designed at
a) the back of the heel with special added padding which feels like very soft leather, the stitching causes friction on the heel and the millimeter of leather just above the stitching curls and causes additional friction.
b) the side of the heel which is too high, rubbing against the (what do you call it?) joint bone on the foot causing hotspots.
c) VERY POOR when wet. These Sandals simply dont dry! When wet you will definitely get blisters.
d) They do get smelly despite claims of being antibacterially treated and must be washed regularly. Considering that they dry very slowly I can forget about wearing them for at least 2 days after washing..
So overall they are useless, at least if there is any chance they get wet or need to be worn on a day-to-day basis.
I have been wearing my backup sandals (took them with me cos I was not sure about the Wraptors and for use in shower) which are also Teva but are simpler, neoprene type material for heels and have a plastic sole so no stench.. Still not perfect either because the straps are attached to hard plastic loops which tend to rub as well. Loosening the straps solves this mostly but that means they are no good for longer walks on rough terrain.
Talking about buying new gear in Thailand:
Sound great, shoud be cheap, plenty of choice.. I know.
No so! Yes there is plenty of cheap gear, rucksacks, backpacks, sandals and all the other stuff. But they are cheap not only as far as money is concerned, the quality and design of poor too and some things are even impossible to find such non-cotton shirts (the wicking type or even X-Static based stuff). Packs are generally of design from 5-10 years ago or at least the look like it. There are some proper sports shops that do stock the newer models but they cost almost the same as in Europe. So buying cheap in Thailand is difficult is you have specific requirements… but I keep looking and if I find something suitable I will change swap out some of my gear 🙂
saschas
