MIKE CLELLAND : ULTRALIGHT BACKPACKING TIPS
A technical and philosophical guide to lighten your backpack. Funny cartoons, short chapters, fun and pleasant to read.
jeudi 9 août 2012
lundi 6 août 2012
VANGO HELIUM 200 REVIEW
TENT : VANGO HELIUM 200
Vango is a Scottish brand which offers a variety a products for outdoor activities. In this catalog you will find a special category of gear under the label "Force Ten" which is a technical and more extreme type of gear. The Helium series belongs to this category.
The Vango Helium 200 was, at the time I purchased this product, the best price-to-weight-to-technical nature ratio tent I found on the market. My wishes were about enough room for two people, place to store a pack or cook in bad weather, light weight and price. The Helium 200 did it all.
Technical aspects : The Vango Helium could be seen as an Hybrid tent between a tunnel and a self standing tent. It's composed of a inner shelter of orange ripstop nylon all closed with an oval shaped door with a nu see um mesh window. An opening at the feet secured by a mosquito mesh breezes the room. I didn't had to complain about any condensation during the Fjallraven with cold and wet weather nor during another overnight hike.
The rain shelter is made out of ripstop sylnylon and can be pitched alone before pitching the inner shelter which is a must when it's raining. you can of course let the inner tent at home and pitch the rain shelter alone dropping the overall weight to less than 600 grams (i will check this point again). Pitching the tent is fast and easy. The stock pegs are very short but light, T bought longer orange (easy to find in the grass) aluminium pegs from Decathlon. The unique aluminium pole goes from side ti side over the tent, a small pole is pitch at the foot to rise this part and insure ventilation.
Comfort: The Helium 200 is a palace for one person and I could sleep with my pack beside me and easily dress inside. For two people, I mean adults, it will be a bit more tricky and you should consider to be in love with the one who will share the shelter ! If it's cold outside you will share human heat. This is mainly due to the inner shape of the tent (see diagram up the page) one close to the door will have a straight room for is body and legs, the one at the opposite will have to bend a bit in the angle. Despite this remark nothing impossible and sleeping in a wild and remote area is rarely a comfortable experience anyway so, with a sportive mind let's go !
I'm 1.78 m high and I can stay sit in the tent at the entrance where the under roof clearance is the best, my head just gently rubbing the top. The room outside is big enough to welcome a backpack and some small stuff like shoes or trekking poles, you can easily prepare a hot meal in this place. A pocket/shelf is sewn near the door and big enough to store a headlamp a small bottle and a book (I hike with a book, that one of my three luxury items).
I slept very well in this tent with plenty of room, not touching the walls during the night. The orange color give a feeling of heat and the pretty small surface of mesh fabric participate to protect against the wind freezing in cold areas like Lapland.
Price: I purchased this item in December 2010 from an online UK retailer (I will try to remember the link) for 220 euros delivery included. It's surely more expensive than a Decathlon product but surely not the same quality considering all aspects : good looking, finish details, fabrics quality, durability...). The brand's technical specifications are well respected with an announced weight at 1300 grams and a scale checked weight, just out of the box including the repair kit and labels, of 1360 grams !
Conclusion : A nice purchase ! With more experience now I would probably purchase the Helium 100 (1190 gr) which is more in my ultralight approach and may be, if I were rich enough, the Helium 100 Carbon (860 gr).
Check the video : Helium 100
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| Bad picture of the tent |
GRANITE GEAR CROWN VC 60 UPDATED REVIEW
I recently loaded my new pack with my sleeping bag, tent, mattress, cook kit, gas canister, emergency kit and some clothes to check the volume of the pack compared to my Deuter ACT lite 40+10 liters. I still have more room left in my new pack with all this stuff and I haven't used to extension collar. Yet, the pack doesn't look that huge loaded with stuffs what is very pleasant in my opinion. It feels great on my back, soft and supple and I guess offers a good load transfer to the hip-belt but my bed-room test is not relevant and I will bring it on the trail soon and bring you the feedback at the end of august.
You can check these reviews on YouTube :
Prolite
Backcountryedge
And here are some more pictures of the pack :
View of the two packs side to side the GG doesn't seem to be bigger than the Deuter...
The nicely padded shoulder strap !
Grams (or ounces) counters can remove the hip-belt system and switch for none or a DIY lighter one !
Ready to jump inside ? view from the top. The inside is not of a black fabric making it easy to find stuff.
View of the back inside. notice the toggle for a water bag but could be used to secure something. under the toggle is a zipper for water bag pouch and the internal frame access.
The internal a removable frame.
You can check these reviews on YouTube :
Prolite
Backcountryedge
And here are some more pictures of the pack :
FORGIVE ME FOR MY FAULT.
I'm sorry to notice that I make not only language mistakes but also writing mistakes, forgetting letters in words or writing words in a wrong way. I promise to try to improve this skill in the future...
dimanche 5 août 2012
GRANITE GEAR CROWN VC 60 UNBOXING : FIRST IMPRESSIONS
As I wished to become a very-light backpacker (still not ultra or mega light) I chose to go for the Granite Gear Crown VC 60 after having considered the Osprey Exos 46 and about a hundred other packs ! I received yesterday my parcel from ArklightDesign.
So, here ar my very first impressions when unboxing this pack.
This pack is light !
The colors are nice and discrete.
The overall construction seems good (for 200 $ you can expect a good quality !).
It doesn't look like being a 60L pack ! I really don't know what is the real capacity of this pack compare to my 40-10 liters Deuter ACT :
I guess the 60 liters are obtained by using nearly all the collar extension of the pack making it very versatile.
The mesh pockets are very nice, it's not a traditional net mesh pocket but a much more dense fabric which seems durable. The green fabric seems very durable too. The coyote brown fabric is told to be waterproof and even if it seems lighter it's made of very good quality material. the seams do not seem to be sealed but it's may be enough to deal with rain and gives you the opportunity to let your backpack cover at home.
The shoulder straps are nicely constructed with real padding as well as the hip-belt system. For hardcore light packers you can save weight but removing the internal frame (160 grams) and the hip-belt as well (don't know the weight but I would say 100 grams at least). Concerning this last point, small buckles will remain attached to each side of the pack so it should be possible to create a very light hip-strap system.
The shoulder pockets seem to be too high on the shoulders to be really effective, you can't store a smartphone in these pockets may be a small cell phone but no GPS, I tried to put my Lumix FT20 but it's tight and I'm afraid that it's placed on the round part of the shoulder and could damage my device. May be to store a small compass or cereal bars.
The front mesh pocket is huge and goes underneath the green fabric on each side and all the way down to the bottom of the pack, offering a nice storage space. The side mesh pockets are huge too and can welcome your cook kit, trekking poles, water, emergency kit...they can be secured by making the draw cord run over it or you can choose to make it run underneath the mesh pocket.
The VC backpanel is nice and seems supportive because it's made out of a very dense foam, not a soft foam like a sleeping mattress but closer to beach shoes.
So, here ar my very first impressions when unboxing this pack.
This pack is light !
The colors are nice and discrete.
The overall construction seems good (for 200 $ you can expect a good quality !).
It doesn't look like being a 60L pack ! I really don't know what is the real capacity of this pack compare to my 40-10 liters Deuter ACT :
The mesh pockets are very nice, it's not a traditional net mesh pocket but a much more dense fabric which seems durable. The green fabric seems very durable too. The coyote brown fabric is told to be waterproof and even if it seems lighter it's made of very good quality material. the seams do not seem to be sealed but it's may be enough to deal with rain and gives you the opportunity to let your backpack cover at home.
The shoulder straps are nicely constructed with real padding as well as the hip-belt system. For hardcore light packers you can save weight but removing the internal frame (160 grams) and the hip-belt as well (don't know the weight but I would say 100 grams at least). Concerning this last point, small buckles will remain attached to each side of the pack so it should be possible to create a very light hip-strap system.
The shoulder pockets seem to be too high on the shoulders to be really effective, you can't store a smartphone in these pockets may be a small cell phone but no GPS, I tried to put my Lumix FT20 but it's tight and I'm afraid that it's placed on the round part of the shoulder and could damage my device. May be to store a small compass or cereal bars.
The front mesh pocket is huge and goes underneath the green fabric on each side and all the way down to the bottom of the pack, offering a nice storage space. The side mesh pockets are huge too and can welcome your cook kit, trekking poles, water, emergency kit...they can be secured by making the draw cord run over it or you can choose to make it run underneath the mesh pocket.
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