Terra Nova Laser Competition

Again worked great. No issues. The vast majority of tents I saw during the challenge were either Laser Competitions or Aktos. A little sad, I had hoped to see the newer Terra Nova tents in action or something new I hadn’t heard of. But that’s a topic of another post.

Anyway, the Laser Competation still worked great and I’m a little bit sad that I don’t have a reason to upgrade in the near future.

Summary: Highly recommended!

inov8 X-Talon + GoreBikeWear Socks

My feet hurt on tarmac but I don’t think I can blame this on the boots. Felt great, dried over night and with the GoreTex socks my feet were warm and dry all the time.

My pair is now 18 months old and I hiked at least 600 kilometers in them. By now the profile is disappearing and I have already patched a few holes in the top material. But they worked great for hiking on anything from tarmac, grass, mud and snow. I wore them for snowshoeing and on a via-ferrata and will replace them with another pair soon.

Summary: Highly recommended!

Marmot Super Mica

Light and good enough most of the time. The last day it was raining cats and dogs. The extremely strong wind pushed the drops with such a force that I could feel the impact through 3 layers (Super Mica, Montane windshirt, Odlo baselayer) and some water got through. So good enough for most cases, but I won’t use it again in Scotland.

Summary: Recommended!

Laufbursche HuckePack

After the first real test, I can attest that the HuckePack is really water proof. Even the things I carried in the top pocket were only a little bit wet, and this could be due to rain getting in when I opened the zipper.

The pack is light, comfortable to carry and big enough for all the gear I need and a few days of food. So I won’t have a reason to spend money on a new backpack anytime soon.

Summary: Highly recommended!

Canon G12

Pictures turned out really well (judge for yourself here). Battery life was awesome, I had to change the battery after 9 days and roughly 600-650 pictures.

Summary: Highly recommended!

Hama camera bag

It was convenient to have the camera accessible on the hip belt most of the time, but the bag is pretty heavy with 150g and the rain cover works only in very light rain.

I think I will replace it with a DIY bag with less features but which should be really waterproof.

Summary: Recommended!

Caldera Cone

Like all meth stoves, it took a while to boil my water. But this was no surprised and I’m happy to wait a few minutes if this means that I don’t have to carry a have stove and gas canister.

Summary: Highly recommended!

Exped AirPillow

A little luxury while hiking. Worked great! Very comfortable.

Summary: Highly recommended!

Thermarest NeoAir

The most comfortable mattress I ever owned.

Summary: Highly recommended!

Thermarest Haven

The combination of weight and warmth were great. But I started to miss a zipper. Most nights it was a little too warm for the bag. In a normal bag I would have opened the zipper a little bit, but with the Haven there was no way to regulate that.

Summary: Recommended!

Tilley Hat

I love the hat, it’s comfortable and protects well enough against a little rain and sun. But taking the hat on the TGO challenge was stupid. It was completely useless and I didn’t wear it a single time. Dead weight in a country like Scotland.

Summary: Not recommended (for Scotland)!

Light My Fire Spork

I like my spork. It’s light and works really well. But it broke.

The logical solution: upgrade to the titanium version

Summary: Recommended!

Soon I stumbled over the X-Talon™ 240, according to Inov-8 the lightest hiking boots on the market.

I couldnt’t find a store close to Munich that had them in stock but thanks to outdoorseiten.net I got the phone number of the distributor for Germany. The service was just plain awesome. Because the X-Talon are pretty specialized boots most stores don’t stock them. But the distributor offered to ship me two different sizes to see if they fit.

I wore them for roughly 100km (tested in the Palatinate forest, a 2-day trip in the Black Forest, Brazil and the Alps) which should be enough to get to know the shoes.

Inov8 describes them as “Extreme lightweight boot. High levels of comfort and performance with an aggressive sticky rubber outsole make this shoe ideal for short trail, ultra light walking and mountain running with ankle protection.”

This is absolutely true. The shoes weight 255g (size 42) according to my scales which is roughly 1/3 of my “proper” leather hiking boots. Even while scrambling over loose gravel or polished limestone going up Kampenwand I felt save and in control. They are light years ahead of any running shoes which weight roughly the same. When talking to the distributor he warned me that the soft rubber outsole would wear out quickly, but this is something I can’t confirm yet. After roughly 100km the soles still look like they new give or take a few scratches.

As you can see from the picture, there are many spikes coming out of the sole. These spikes combined with the soft sole feel like an acupuncture when walking on flat ground and it takes some time to get used to the different feel. Unlike the solid soles I was used to from my Meindl boots, this gives you a lot of feedback about the ground and my feet like it.

Enough praise, there is still one little thing I would like to change: the hideous color!

Summary: Highly recommended!

Update 2011:

After using the shoes for roughly 18 months, hiking at least 700 kilometers in them, wearing them for hiking on grass, rock, mud, snow and ice I’m still absolutely happy with the shoes. I even got used to the color, so my verdict hasn’t changed.

By now the spikes coming out of the soles have lost a lot of material and the top has a few holes in it. But they are by far the most comfortable boot I have ever used and I have bought a second pair to replace the first one.

Summary: Still highly recommended!

Eigentlich wollte ich ja wieder die kleinste Größe nehmen, um die letzten paar Gramm zu sparen, und meine Füße auf den Rucksack oder sonstigen Kram legen (hat mit der letzten Thermarest ganz gut geklappt). Aber im Nachhinein bin ich froh, daß ich es nicht getan habe, da die Matte mit 6,3cm doch recht hoch ist und die Kante damit vermutlich sehr spührbar geworden wäre. Und die 150g trage ich gerne für den zusätzlichen Komfort, auch wenn mir dafür ultralight-Fuzzies sicher den Kopf abreissen.

Ich habe sie nur eine Nacht getestet und bisher bin ich voll zufrieden. Das Gewicht ist unschlagbar, vergleichbar mit einer “normalen” Iso-Matte. Das Packmaß ist auch super, in etwa das Volumen einer Sigg-Flasche.

Bonus Content: Bei meinem Shopping Trip zu REI sind mit noch die Sleeping Bag Slip-Not Straps aufgefallen. Also habe ich 6$ investiert und ich habe es nicht bereut. Ich weiss nicht, wie oft ich schon aufgewacht bin, weil ich mich im Laufe der Nacht langsam von meiner Isomatte gerollt habe und es kalt wurde. Die “Schlafsack Rutsch-Nicht Strapse” habe selbiges in 100% der Fälle verhindert (sample size=1).

Ich trage schon lange 2 Paar Socken übereinander beim Wandern und war bisher mit der Kombination von Falke TK4 über Falke RU4 sehr zufrieden. Aber nachdem ich die Injinji Socken zwei Tage getragen habe, werden die RU4 wohl ab jetzt daheim bleiben. Die Zehensocken sorgen dafür, dass die einzelnen Zehen nicht mehr aneinander reiben können und reduzieren damit die Wahrscheinlichkeit von Blasen.

Ich vermute beim Joggen werden sich die Dinger auch ganz gut machen, deswegen habe ich vorhin gleich nochmal einige gekauft.

Falttasse

Die Falttasse habe ich unterwegs genau einmal benutzt und werde sie wahrscheinlich auch nie wieder auf eine Tour mitnehmen.

Warum? Zum einen es nicht trivial, sie in die gewünschte Form zu bringen. Wenn man sie dann soweit verbogen hat und endlich etwas trinken will, läuft das Getränk (in meinem Fall heißer Kaffee) zusätzlich noch aus den beiden kleinen Öffnungen, die im Bild rechts zu sehen sind.

Faltteller

Im Gegensatz zur Tasse habe ich den Faltteller jeden Tag benutzt und bin ausgesprochen zufrieden damit. Der Teller ist leicht, hat ein geniales Packmaß und wenn man zwei der Seiten hochklappt ist er auch einigermaßen steif, so daß man keine Unterlage braucht um davon zu essen.
Als Schale habe ich den Faltteller nie verwendet, aber ich bin sicher, daß es gut funktionieren würde. Wer also einen leichten und gut zu verstauenden Teller sucht, sollte den Teller in Betracht ziehen, vor allem da er mit knapp 6 Euro nicht wirklich teuer ist.