Vango Eats Its Fellow Brands

Interesting news from AMG, the company behind Vango, Phoenix and Lichfield - for 2002 all their tents, sleeping bags and rucksacs will be branded simply as 'Vango'.

So what does that mean for you? No more Lichfield tents or Phoenix sleeping bags as far as we can tell, just good old Vango. Clothing, we presume, we still be sold under the Phoenix brand name.

We'll be bringing you a sneak preview of the range in a couple of weeks time, but the company is bullish about next year's range, calling it 'its widest collection of product ever.' They also stress the development that's gone into the new range with a mix of field testing and laboratory assessment.

Currently their entire range of sleeping bags is being tested at the Institute Textile de France, in Lyon.

We'll bring you more details of what's in store soon, but quick highlights include:

• Tents a new top-end geodesic base camp tent called the F10 Spindrift plus new Phantom two and three-person lightweight tents

• Rucksacs most of the range goes hydration system-compatible with built-in pockets and outlet to take a bladder up to two litres, plus new models in many areas including two new fast-moving hydration sacs.

• Sleeping Bags Lab testing for the whole range, down and synthetics from expedition level bags down to ultra-light