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 Journeyman Traveller |
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| Posted: 17/06/11 22:12:19 19 |
| I am also a Smartwool Medium Hiking Crew lover but I use them alone - come winter or summer, they are great. They breathe well, are so comfortable it's obscene and smell ok even after a few days on your feet (or when dried out over a smokey campfire). They are the perfect sock - I've used them in summer and in winter and never been disappointed. |
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| Journeyman Traveller |
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| Posted: 29/12/10 14:05:26 26 |
| Just ordered the Cypher Smock for my brother in law as a year round waterproof and we're testing in the Lakes in January. He'll be layering 130g and 200g merino wool along with a ME Aiguille powerstretch jacket under the smock but, if fast and light is your thing (it is ours), I think the Cypher will do a good job. I'll let you know what I think of it when we get back. We tried to get the Rab Demand but could not find it anywhere where it would get delivered to us in time. I like the smock idea - have done for a while - and the elasticated cuffs is ok with me - my PHD Yukon and my colleague's Rab Infinity both have elasticated zips which are fine. With the Cypher - it's the thickness of the eVent that concerns me but it's worth a shot - UL kit tends to be more robust than most people think. | |
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| Journeyman Traveller |
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| Posted: 19/05/10 06:35:23 23 |
My feeling is that the condensation will be far less significant in warmer weather as the inner and fly will not be as cold. It is a problem but better venting would solve it, I feel. The Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1 that my friend was in at the time experienced no condensation but the inner is almost all mesh. I wonder whether that is something for Vaude to look at.
It's actually pretty easy to adjust the fly to get a taut pitch but I still do not find the inner gets particularly taut across the "head" end which is slightly wider than the feet end. If you put your spare kit in the corners, it evens it out nicely. That said, I think the tent is excellent - the space and strength in a 1kg package is pretty awesome. | |
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| Journeyman Traveller |
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| Posted: 18/04/10 14:37:12 12 |
| I will of course update the review of the PL once I have taken it up into Snowdonia in May. Fixed my pitching problem this morning as well - get the small end poles vertical. | |
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| Journeyman Traveller |
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| Posted: 18/04/10 08:38:09 09 |
I have done some initial impressions of my PL having purchased one from Bob. Not yet had a chance to take it anywhere so it's been the back garden for me. You can find these impressions on http://blogpackinglight.wordpress.com dated 17th April 2010 with some pictures. The criticisms I have I am going to try and resolve today - it may be that I pick terrybnd's brains (have done it before on LFTO so it won't be new!!) as I suspect some of the Comp's pitching techniques could be applied to the PL.
I would say this - the groundsheet material actually seems really rather good given the weight of the tent. Coming from a Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1, I think that the groundsheet material, which is significantly thicker than the inner, will be fairly robust if the usual campsite selection precautions are taken. I am going to try to avoid a footprint this time and see how it goes. If I take the view I need one, a friend of mine works for North Sails (who produce a fair amount of cuben fibre) so I may try to source some of that and sew my own footprint.
As for space - I describe the PL as palatial and I think it is a matter of personal preference. I like being able to sit up in the porch area and both cook and converse with my camping buddy. That's one of the joys for me when I am with someone else. Perhaps some might view the space as a bit of a waste - I think in absolute practical terms, that's probably right (for those of us who are 6ft or less - people like Bob are probably thrilled that a tent that is ultra-lightweight accommodates them as well) and if I were SUL rather than UL then I might be thinking that's an issue but there's a comfort relevance that a lot of the US SUL chaps seem not to care about. I like to stretch myself, and I think that I am moving towards "fastpacking" but equally, I love the feeling I get after a long day when snuggled up in my bag, with a cup of hot chocolate, thinking about the day's exertions - feeling claustrophobic and straight-jacketed need not necessarily go hand-in-hand with UL wild camping and hillwalking. That's why I went for the PL rather than the Comp.
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