After seeing Avatar they've acquired a liking for digital camo:
Instead of shelling out about £40 for a set of branded pre-cut vinyls I saved myself 90% by taking the cheaper option from eBay.
I doubt that the Woodpigeons and Grey Squirrels can see any improvement.
When I was a kid I was never allowed anywhere near anything like this:
Now I'm 40 years older and getting into this "growing old disgracefully" malarkey, so I thought that I might as well give it a pop.
It's a tad more interesting than reading all of that Saga Holiday junkmail 🙂
Here's the business-end:
Shooting with the fibre-optic irons is OK but I'm hoping that a suitable scope will be forthcoming on my birthday. After all, I've dropped enough subtle hints.
Due to the disintegration and subsequent disposal of my "holy" Trezeta Peaks I was in the market for a new pair of knocking-about boots. Nothing technical, just something suitable for the lowland walking required as part of the cardiac rehab programme.
I found some on clearance on the Go Outdoors website - the reviews were middling but the price was right so I took a chance and ordered a pair. All I had to do was sit back and wait for them to arrive.
Of course, that's when it started to go awry. Go Outdoors did their bit perfectly - I was kept informed via email and they sent me a working tracking-number. It was the courier that managed to conjure a balls-up from what should have been an easy process. I waited in on the assigned day, referring hourly to the tracking page that kept telling me that the goods had been scanned as "out for delivery" at 08:45 on Tuesday. Sometime after 16:00 I checked again only to find it telling me that I'd been "carded" at... wait for it... 10:24. No way! I'd been in all day, at no time more than 30ft from the door, and I'd seen nowt, heard nowt, and there wasn't a card.
I got Go Outdoors to contact the courier to find out WTF was going on. The courier insisted that he'd called at and left a card at our house, "the one with a white door" but he couldn't confirm that the door bore the correct number. Hmm... most of the houses in our Close have a white door. Anyway, the boots were on their way back to the distribution hub and couldn't be redelivered that day. I insisted on a redelivery before noon the next day.
Not content with the Tuesday balls-up, the courier tried to compound the error on Wednesday. True, he did arrive in good time, but my correction of his "Hello, mate" to "Hello, sir" didn't go down well and the parcel he bore didn't look right. He got annoyed when I took the time to inspect what I was being asked to sign for - it was an insulated polystyrene crate with "Fresh Food - Handle With Care" or something similar printed on the sealing-tape. I took great pleasure in refusing to sign for it, pointing out bluntly that he really should try harder to match the address digits on the package label with either of the two sets of digits identifying my property - the food parcel was for number 11, we're at 20-something. After uttering a curse he took back the food parcel and threw it through his open driver's door. It hit the passenger door and fell onto the seat, I assume that the contents didn't benefit from the impact.
After much rummaging in the back of his van he emerged with another package. "Definitely yours, mate!", he proclaimed. "Definitely yours, sir!", I insisted. Of course, I took some time to inspect the package, just to be sure, but eventually I signed for it and took it indoors. I expected him to return immediately to his van but in a final act of dumbness he looked around, turned back to me and asked "Which one is Number 11, mate?"
What else could I say?
"You mean "Which one is Number 11, sir". Try the one with the white door".
He scowled and drove the 20 or so yards to number 11. Or it could have been any number between 9 and 14, I really couldn't have cared less.
I think that there's a lesson to be learned here - courier drivers should be capable of visually comparing digits even if they're unable to actually count.
Oh, and I've yet to find out who received the card, if it ever actually existed.
Anyway, the boots are fine. So far they've been walked into town and back and have done light duty in the garden and around the house. Later this week I might treat them to a walk to the pub followed by a stagger home. I'll keep you posted about how they fare in wilder parts.
Trezeta Cyclone Mids. Cheap, very comfortable, durability TBD.
This item has been supplied on a "review-and-keep" basis by an agent representing Berghaus.
The jacket being reviewed is the Men's Faroe WINDSTOPPER® Softshell Jacket, the relevant Berghaus web-page is currently here, and here's a screenshot of that web-page:
This jacket was billed by Berghaus as "a perfect lightweight barrier for those cool, breezy, summer trails" and they claimed that "The WINDSTOPPER® Softshell fabric will stop wind chill in its tracks and the 4-waystretch AF softshell fabric allows you to stay mobile". Well, now I've had time to test the thing and to see how it stood up to expectations.
Let's start with the general fit. I'm a medium bloke, that's the size of jacket that I tested and yes, the jacket did fit. It's not a what you'd call a "technical" or a "sporty" fit, it's straight up-and-down and relies on stretch to go around my middle-age curves even when the only garment under it is a lightweight baselayer. Basically it's fine on the shoulders, chest, belly and waist but it's tight around the arse, making the hem draw-cord system redundant:
As you can see, the jacket's arms are long enough for the cuffs to stay put during extension and there's a bit of a back-end drop-tail that doesn't ride up more than an inch. The light-blue "4-waystretch AF softshell fabric" side/underarm panels are responsible for that, they stretch really well. There is a downside to that fabric but I'll come to that later. In short, wherever you put your arms, the rest of the jacket stays where it should be. Ideal for dodgy folk with dodgy armpits:
Now, let's look at some of the details. Pockets, zips, cuffs and that sort of thing. Here's a full-frontal:
What juicy bits can we see here?
Cuff detail
Too slack
Too tight
The pocket inners are mesh which means lightweight but also draughty when open. If you're using this jacket as a windproof and you're using the pockets to keep your hands out of the wind, you get a draught around the torso. That said, the mesh inners are sewn in on three sides so they form pockets that can be accessed internally. As you can see, they're plenty big enough for a folded OS map:
Overall, the construction is sound - the fabric panels are overlocked and then stitched through, it's generally neat stitch-work and there were no dangly threads to snip off before use.
So, is it really a softshell? Well, no. It is soft but it isn't a shell. There's no working DWR and the main fabric (WINDSTOPPER® Softshell) is windproof but isn't showerproof. The "4-waystretch AF softshell fabric" is so permeable that it leaks air and water like a sieve. To be fair, if it had been promoted as a general lightweight summer jacket then I would have been OK with it.
Would it have been worth the £110 RRP? No, because it doesn't do what it says in the advertising blurb.
I suppose a lot depends on what you're used to. Rab make excellent softshells and Montane make excellent windproofs. This garment tries to compete but doesn't really cut the mustard in either category. Mind you, this jacket was part of the Berghaus Spring/Summer 2011 range. The 2013 range may well be a lot better - the Men’s Cadence WINDSTOPPER® Softshell Jacket seems to be the current equivalent (and a tenner cheaper) but for that outlay you could have the Men’s Pordoi Softshell Jacket with a hood and more (and better-placed) pockets, and which looks to be an altogether-better bit of kit.
Details of the current range of Berghaus softshell jackets can be found at http://store.berghaus.com/c/jackets/mens/softshell-jackets
Anyway, I'll continue to use it and I'll try to like it. If my opinions change I'll let you know.
As you know, I've had my fill of poor customer service recently.
I can now report that good order is beginning to be restored. Top marks go to Nevisport, who took the time to do it right and wasted no time in sending the goods. Furthermore, they were kind enough to extend the 14-day returns period so that I could buy on Boxing Day and still have a return option up until the end of January, thus covering a rather important birthday.
To be fair, I don't think there's the slightest chance of me sending them back. Right now there's no way that Chris is going to be parted from her new Scarpa SL M3s.
Thanks, Nevisport!
Proper boots, none of yer Jessiehiker membrane rubbish.
No, not
🙂
I'm on about the Extremities® Lucky Bags that Terra Nova have on sale here.
I ordered a couple after reading about them on Grahame's blog - see here.
So, what did we receive?
Chris got these:
Winter Hacking Gloves (RRP £27.00)
Boreas Windy Took Hat (RRP £29.00)
Merino Took Hat (Est £25.00)
Super Neck Gaiter (RRP £21.00?)
I got these:
Lightweight Mountain Mitts (RRP £80.00) - outers on the left, inners on the right
Balaclava (RRP £22.00)
Windy Took Hat (RRP £26.00)
and between the two of us we got five mini-karabiners and a bottle-opener:
Unless I've lost the ability to do basic addition, that lot comes to a total of £230.
Yes, I know that Extremities® kit can be had from discount outlets such as TKMaxx, but I've yet to see the Mountain Mitts there for less than £20.
I'd say that these Lucky Bags are worth getting. If you're considering getting one, act soon - they're going fast.
Now, you'll have to pardon me but I have to get back to the fight for possession of that Merino Took!
Oh and if you're wondering what a Took is, this might help.
