 Wasn't sure where to put this thread!;-) But.....I have just finished with some mates the 3rd leg of our C-2-C walk. I took along my Go-lite umbrella, and it reminded me of when I discovered walking with poles for the first time!(how did I ever manage before!). The weather wasn't too windy and mainly showery. when my mates had to either put their waterproofs on or get wet I just put the brolly up! didn't get overheated or clammy and pushed it back in my pack when no longer needed. I even managed to use both my walking poles by shoving the handle under my chest strap, I will refine this for next time, the brolly pole is the same thickness as a hydration tube. So it looks as if it's going to be part of my regular kit from now on! Next time you see a guy approaching with a red brolly and a big grin, say hello! you can call me a pillock when I've past! 
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 I'm going to be a cheapskate poster and copy something that I wrote about three years ago on OM... so add three years onto what you read below... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in the 1980s you never saw anyone with a brolly on the hills, then all of a sudden I met someone walking in the Lakes with one. Turns out he'd been to the Alps and said everyone used them in the rain there, so he thought he'd give it a lash. He said it was OK, but the weather in the UK was more blustery than in the Alps, where the rain tends to come straight down and so is easier to deflect with a brolly. When I eventually got to the Alps, I found that the rain did indeed come straight down, and while I was all wrapped in waterproofs, other walkers just wandered around with brollies. Seemed to me like a brilliant idea, but I still didn't rush out and get a brolly myself. I finally cracked nearly two years ago, and got a Go-Lite brolly, partly because it was ultra-light, but I was also seduced by the aluminised surface. In true ultralight style, it seemed that this was an ideal bit of kit for keeping the sun and rain off me! Anyway, I tried it in the UK with reasonable success, but it's true that our weather is blustery and has a habit of wrecking brollies. I took it with me to the Alps for three months and it shed rain and snow a real treat, kept the burning sun off me when there was no shade, and even served as a tent pole. So, three uses for one bit of kit. Last year I told a pal all about it in very enthusiastic terms, pointing out that it seemed ideal for 'stair-rod' rain and burning sun, but I said it was more limited in the UK because of the danger of turning it inside out or otherwise wrecking it in blustery conditions. So, last Christmas, my pal gave me a 'special' brolly as a present, made by Senz, with one hell of a story behind it... I'll leave you to read all about it here! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To bring it up to date, I've taken the Senz umbrella with me almost everywhere I've been, and it's been a brilliant bit of kit. It's meant that I could walk under waterfalls and expect to keep reasonably dry, and it's enabled me to photograph things in the rain without fear of trashing my camera. Handy for 'sunshine with showers' weather and for when rainbows pop out in the view. I feel as though I should carry a load of Senz business cards, because people are always asking me about the brolly, and it would be handier to give them full contact details instead of having to do on-hill promotion.
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.JPG) Paddy - which senz model do you carry? The original seems a bit heavy for a lightweight like yourself
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Yeah... I guess Senz and Go-lite should put their heads together and come up with a lightweight umbrella that doesn't turn inside out. For portability, I use the Senz Mini, which weighs 300g, ocmpared to the Go-lite at 230g. The Senz Original is beefier and stronger, but tips the scales at 445g.
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Thanks - I wondered if the mini was a useable size or not for real outdoor-world use- the original looks a little long and heavy for a just-in-case item.
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There are two differences between the Mini and the Original... The Mini handle extends to 61cm and has three sections that collapse to a length of 28cm for packing. The Original is 76cm long, whether it's open or closed, so it doesn't pack too well. For the sake of comparison, Go-lite is 64cm long, open or closed. The actual coverage given by the material is the same on both the Mini and Original. The other difference is construction. As the Mini is collapsable, both the handle and the struts, it has more parts, and therefore isn't as strong as the Original, which is altogether beefier. That means you get a lot more protection from the Original before it gets destroyed.
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| Edited: 16/06/11 18:07 |
thanks! Have you ever destroyed either?
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My original Go-lite got destroyed bit by bit, because after all it's just an 'ordinary' umbrella design, so it can only turn inside out so many times, then it's ruined. The Senz Mini that my pal got for me was fine until I let someone else borrow it. Opening them is simple, but there's a knack to closing them properly, and before I could stop them, they'd managed to mangle all the struts. My new Senz Mini and Original are only ever going to be used by me, so they're unlikely to be ruined, unless someone physically wrestles them from me, throws rocks at them, or does a 'Psycho shower scene' attack with a knife!
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Thanks for the tips - I would probably have broken a mini if I hadn't known that a Senz has been on my 'must try' list for ages, and first hand experience of testing to destruction is always useful
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There are videos on the Senz website showing the umbrellas being tested to destruction using extremely silly methods... wind tunnels... water cannons... racing cars... skydiving. Of course, they all end up in tatters, but 'ordinary' brollies would be wrecked much quicker than the Senz in every case. There are one or two wind tunnel tests pitching 'ordinary' brollies against the Senz.
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 Thanks for this thread. I've been on the point of buying a senz for the past few days, and am torn between light and not light. This thread has helped, even if only by pointing out that it's quite a hard decision. Okay - I'm going with the mini
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As said previously very popular in the alps.I well remember having puffed and panted over the 3280m col de Lauson in Italy in truely awful weather meeting two beatiful Italian ladies,clad in make up with perfect hair wearing trainers and having a pair of huge umbrellas.Worked for them!
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 I am going to get the Senz mini. A few years ago in true Ray Jardine tradition I walked on the App Trail with a Go lite brolly, umbrellas are great, good for keeping wind away from your stove and for the end of a tarp, adding a bit to a vestibule. I went through two hurricane rain spins. Narrowly missed a Mary Poppins trail name, brolly was red and black! The downside is that I broke mine after stumble -natural thing is to put the poley thing down and... snap, reshafted it with a stick it but it eventually failed. Did buy another in a dollar store and left it behind when the weather settled.
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My Go-lite was fine until some oik in the Alps dropped his pack on it and snapped the shaft. That evening I found some Superglue in a supermarket at Les Houches, and squirted it into the hollow shaft. I then inserted a length of stiff wire from an old coat hanger, slid the two halves back together, and let it set overnight. In the morning I sanded down the join with a stone and was well-pleased with the result. I got another year or so out of it until it turned inside out and got shredded on a mountain in Mallorca. After that, I was using Senz.
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 I've a Senz original, and like Paddy says they're (a) Good, and (b) pretty chunky. I think I'll get a Mini if I'm going to use it on a multi-day walk. Pete.
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Well I'm glad I posted this! It's kept Paddy of the streets! lol and I wasn't ridiculed! Have seen the Senz before and will probably get one soonish but for now the Go-lite will more than suffice! Seems like it's other walkers rather than the weather that I'll have to be mindful of
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 Has anyone put a Brolly up inside a bothy to give it a bit of shape and more shelter like? Or.... tarp-brolly? Senz struts strong enough to be loaded?
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 I've been thinking of using a small brolly as a mini-tarp (with a couple of guylines for stability in rainy but calmish conditions) if ever got a bivi bag... 
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Please don't make the mistake of thinking a Senz umbrella is super-strong. It's not. It's just cunningly designed to shed the wind without being ripped out of your hand or turned inside out. Even in a gale, the shaft can be held lightly by only a finger and a thumb, so that the canopy can find the optimum direction and angle to work with the wind, rather than struggling against it. Because it works with the wind, it doesn't actually need to be strong. If you're thinking of fixing one down with guylines, it probably won't be aligned the right way, in which case it could well get damaged. Please check out the Senz website! One way of thinking about this is to imagine a lightweight glider in the air... and a lump of concrete in the same shape as a glider... also in the air. One is flimsy, but will glide perfectly well. The other is much stronger, but will plummet from the sky.
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| Edited: 18/06/11 15:07 |
Emhh done my bronze C many years ago but never compared my glider to a lump of concrete.lol.
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