Their (not there) washable toilet paper is simply to die for. Their disposable walking poles are a must, ideal for making a small fire (some people call them sticks). I have to say though that their waterproof microfibre towels are their piece de resistance, they don't actually dry you but boy are they lightweight.

I guess what you consider good depends on what you're used to, When I was in basic training in the RN, the food was absolute shite but every scouser amongst us and those raised in institutions, thought they were in gourmet heaven.

I think I'd rather see Phil S naked than wear Crane Sports

What a strange thread this is!?

Aldi & Lidl do have some useful stuff, but I'm not that keen on the brainwashing campaign that seems to have been launched above...?

If anyone's interested, Crane Sports email address is mail@royalbeach.de

At this very moment I am concocting an email to be sent to all@(severalmajorcompanies).com, it goes along the line of -

"Crane Sports are testing their e-mail server to see at what volume it crashes. As an incentive for people to partake in this test Crane Sports are paying £10 to everyone who emails them. To claim your £10 please forward this email to mail@royalbeach.de and everyone in your address book."

Happy Spamming Folks!

> But you will in stuff by the 'Big Outdoor Brands' which is made by slave labour too?

Like those lovely people at Gap, for instance. Granted, they're not a 'big outdoor brand'...

> I'd rather be naked than wear Crane Sports. Make of that what you will....

You're the Naked Rambler?

> What a strange thread this is!?

Very strange, isn't it? I know I'd rather wear my Crane Sports cycling gear than be naked. It's now entering its fourth winter of daily use. The zip pull on one of the ankle zips snapped the other day; <sarcsasm>just shows what cheap rubbish it is...</sarcasm>

> Happy Spamming Folks!

Curiouser and curiouser...

I've bought a walking jacket for £15 and its excellent, fleece lined lots of pockets and windproof and warm.  Also base layers are good.

You dont need to buy top makes just for image as a lot of you do, Crane sports are good Ps i'm not getting paid to say this.  Try for yourselves and stop getting ripped off in the high st shops.

John W,

my answer has tended to be discount outlets... get the 'good stuff' for Aldi/Lidl prices!

Is it actually the case that the Crane stuff is bad, as opposed to just not up to the heights of the best stuff?

While on the one hand it's tempting to say it's clever to buy the best if it's warding off potential death from hypothermia, folk have actually managed to do that in far less technical stuff for a very long time.  The Crane stuff, from the looks of it, is far, far better than the stuff I started off my mountain career in and that was never a problem.

As for discount outlets, well it's great if there's one nearby that has what you want in your size... last visit to TK Maxx revealed a lot of tosh in XXXL or XXXS!

Pete.

> Is it actually the case that the Crane stuff is bad,

Some of it is rather good, like my cycling stuff.  Some of it is rubbish.  You have to be able to look at the stuff, and use your judgement and experience to decided which is which.  I guess that if you have neither the judgement nor the experience, you might be better off sticking to 'known brands'.

Whilst I'm an invererate TK Maxx spotter, I've rarely seen cycling stuff (other than a few Montane Featherlite Velos and some German cycle shirts).

Lidl/Aldi stuff is as rare as TKM stuff; they're only ever 'specials', and unless you get there in time, you may not find your size either.

captain paranoia wrote (see)

Some of it is rather good, like my cycling stuff.  Some of it is rubbish. 

Great first post Mike, welcome to the forum. Do you not find that 2 minutes is a tad overdone? I much prefer 1 min and 56.5 seconds for sheer perfection!

> To be fair this is true of the "big names" too

Absolutely.

> I often gather whelks from the beach

From royal beach, though?