Bargain priced walking clothing and bits goes on sale again just in time for Easter plus some user impressions
Budget gear alert! The Aldi range of walking gear is going on sale
in Aldi stores from tomorrow, Thursday 17 April and it's very
reasonably priced.
A few examples: a unisex outdoors jacket in a waterproof,
breathable fabric complete with Coolmax mesh lining, taped seams, zip
with double storm flap, hood and pockets, yours for £14.99.
Or outdoor trousers with zip-off leg in polycotton fabric complete
with a Teflon water-resistant treatment for £9.99, a windproof
microfleece for heaven's sake at £14.99 - available in pink too
- or those boots with nubuck and Cordura uppers, a waterproof liner
and Coolmax wicking lining for a rather reasonable £17.99 in
men's and women's sizes.
Yep, it's all a bit doolally. On top of that you can pick up
powder-coated aluminium walking poles for £7.99 each or a
camping head torch for £2.99, plus a load of other stuff
too.
In Use
We've been using a few of the items from the Aldi range - it's
badged Cranesport by the way - and we're cautiously impressed
especially at the price.
Outdoors
Base Layer Tee - £4.99
You can pay 30 quid for a baselayer top these days, so we're dead
impressed that a fiver gets you a 50 per-cent polyester / 50 per-cent
Coolmax tee with flatlocked seams for comfort. In use we found that
while it's not quite in the Dryflo / PowerDry league, it wicks
surprisingly well and is a big improvement on the cotton tee-short
that most novices use. Great buy at the price.
Outdoors Zip-Off Trousers - £9.99
Yep, zip-offs for a tenner. We'd try these carefully before buying
as 
the
leg zips can be uncomfortable, but otherwise another great-price buy.
For once, the shorts incarnation is actually pretty good. The
cotton-nylon fabric is light and wind resistant and a Teflon
treatment ups the water resistance a little, though we'd expect that
to deteriorate quickly with wear and washing. Good budget summer
trews and, again, for beginners a major advance on jeans, though
these aren't really good wet weather wear. Then again, is it raining
out there?
Other Stuff
We'd steer clear of the boots despite the attractive £17.99
price point. The sole lacks torsional rigidity and the flex point is
in the wrong place plus there's very little heel cup support. Boots
are crucial and we'd suggest you spend a little more unless you're
really strapped for cash.
The windproof fleece is good value at £14.99 and has all the
features including an elasticated hem, pockets and an adjustable
neck. Unless you run really cool though, we think you'll find it a
bit clammy in use. The waterproof jacket? Not as nicely featured as
last year's and not very breathable, again, as with the boots, we'd
be tempted to spend slightly more.
Where to find it...
See the web-site at www.aldi-stores.co.uk
or call 08705 134262.
