This will start our reviews of things we use or have used camping and I'm going to start with some small simple things.
Fiskars X27 axe.
Fiskars makes a lot of things that cut and this axe is one of them. It's a hybrid between a standard axe and a splitting maul with a weighty head and plastic handle. I have owned the X27 for a number of years and I appreciate the added weight of the head, it's hybrid profile and its ability to hold an edge. I do not appreciate its plastic handle or the manner it attaches which would seem to prevent replacing the handle with one of hickory. All in all I think it's a good buy for the price which when I bought mine at Wal-Mart was low. I wouldn't consider it a forever tool though thanks to the handle.
Intex QUICKFILL 06C inflator.
This is a standard battery powered air mattress inflators. It's powered by 6 C batteries and comes with three attachments, two of which Are for us useless. We bought this one at a sporting goods store locally but they're available at just about any Wal-Mart and online. Their price is quiet attractive and well under $20. Like the axe I have mixed feelings about it. For years I've used a Coleman rechargeable inflators and loved it. The QUICKFILL is by no means in the same class. While it is easy to use its battery life is I feel a major issue. With fresh batteries it is able to acceptably fill the mattress once. Even with fresh batteries it isn't able to generate the kind of pressure we like and that decreases with each use. So to balance the need for more pressure we come to the next item on my list.
Intel Double Quick III
A manual inflator, I was not thrilled about buying at all. Call me lazy but I had visions of pumping this thing all day. We purchased it to supplement the battery powered inflator and I wish I hadn't waited so long! Let me get this out of the way, I have not and will hopefully not ever completely full a mattress with this thing. The plan was to let the battery powered inflator do its job and then get to the pressure we wanted with the hand pump. This thing pumps air on both the up and down stroke of the handle. With five strokes of the pump we went from sitting on the cot frame to just the right firmness and it took a lot less effort than I expected. I'm quite happy with the purchase, they're available for well under $20 and also at a Wal-Mart near you.
Luci Outdoor Inflatable Solar Light.
This was another under $20 Wal-Mart find. We just happened to see this thing cruising through the camping section and I was intrigued. It seemed like a good solution for inside the tent, it was exceptionally compact and doesn't need batteries. I'll start with the bad, if there's no sunlight you have no lantern. As I see it that's it, I love this thing and will add at least one more some time. It is easy to inflate and deflate, it has loops to hang it at either end. It also has three modes, low, high, and blinking. It also has an on/off button which is also the battery level indicator. The battery indicator has three lights and while I have not timed the full charge runtime we ran it last night on low for about five hours starting with two bars and still have one bar this morning.
Streamlight Siege AA
This was kind of an impulse buy, on the same reasoning as the solar lantern, the ability to safely light the tent but it was in the $40 range at Cabela's. Given my experience with Streamlight products I was willing to pay it and I'm glad I did. The advertised runtime was ridiculous and I'm not going to list it. I will say that it is used nightly for at least four hours and since we bought it April 4th I've changed the three AA batteries twice not including the initial batch. It also has three white light modes, high, medium and low but also has a red light and S.O.S. Mode. Additionally the on off switch is the battery level indicator, turning from green through orange to finally red as the batteries lose power. It has a bail style handle as well as a small caribiner style attachment point on the bottom. It is compact and light weight and I believe be suitable for a backpacker. This definitely a product I would purchase again and it can probably be had for less with some shopping around.
I may have to pick up one of those solar lights. We have the quickfill actually we have 2 they really come in handy.
ReplyDeleteFor a maul I like my "Chopper". It's strictly a maul but you almost might get sort of an edge on it. I had an Estwing camping axe and was SORELY dissapointed.The handle is made of very lightweight steel tubing instead of a full tang like the hammers. I'd take the extra weight instead of having it get dented once and it snaps in half. Estwing won't even back it up either.
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