http://www.BackpackGearTest.org : the most comprehensive interactive gear
reviews and tests on the planet.


-----Original Message-----
From: backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Will Rietveld
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 8:22 AM
To: Coy Starnes; backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [backpackgeartesters] EDITS: Princeton Tec Quad - Coy

Hi Coy. Good thorough report, and thanks for including some good photos. I
have a few edits and comments. The html version looks good. Upload when
ready, and be sure to check your hyperlinks and delete your  report in the
test folder. Best regards, Will Rietveld, Test Monitor


MSRP: Not Given
COMMENT: I found it on internet stores at $29.95

### As we don't use prices from anyplace but the manufacturers website
(MSRP) this isn't relevant. ###


Initial Impression
EDIT: Impressions (plural because you have more than one impression)

### Not important. Just a bit picayune, Will....   ;o)  A first impression
can certainly encompass more than one thing. ###


I will have to say that when on high beam the Quad puts out some serious
light.
Working through the various beam setting is also simple.
EDIT: settings


To turn the light off, just wait at least 2 seconds before mashing the power
button. Simple but efficient.
COMMENT: I suggest "pressing" instead of mashing. Mashing means mixing
something up.

### Style issue. "Mashing the button" certainly isn't that unusual. ###


I will see how well the light performs for different task.
EDIT: tasks


Can I see well enough to cook super with the low beam setting?
EDIT: supper


This one appears to be a small red light that comes on or blinks when the
batteries need replaced.
EDIT: batteries need to be replaced


If it comes on on the first night of a multi-day trip, how long can I milk
the light using the low beam?
COMMENT: I suggest saying "continue to use the light" instead of "milking
the light"
EDIT:  delete the second "on"

### This one I'll have to agree with Will on. That was a little unclear as
to meaning. ###


I will be testing in the southeaster US with trips into the local mountains
of Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina.
EDIT: southeastern


Jerry



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




Yahoo! Groups Links

http://www.BackpackGearTest.org : the most comprehensive interactive gear
reviews and tests on the planet.


-----Original Message-----
From: backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Will Rietveld
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 8:55 AM
To: backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com; Roger Caffin
Subject: [backpackgeartesters] EDITS: Princeton Tec Quad - Roger



MSRP: US$
COMMENT: I found it on internet sites for $29.95

### Again, this doesn't matter. The only thing we're interested in, or
should report, is the MSRP.  ###

  Jerry

You could always do the old golf course trick....

Jerry


http://www.BackpackGearTest.org : the most comprehensive interactive gear
reviews and tests on the planet.


-----Original Message-----
From: backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Thomas Vickers
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 10:34 AM
To: backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [backpackgeartesters] Re: Rain gear

Jerry, after a long thinking session, I have decided that you should just
send me all the rain gear.
I will go down to the local fire dept, let them blast me with their hoses
and then I will file one giant report on how the gear worked.

There will be no worry about the season and it make things easier for
everyone.

TV


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




Yahoo! Groups Links

Hi Chuck,

I am unsure who the monitor is but I attach my Initial Report for the
Hilleberg Rajd Shelter for edit.

A copy is in the test folder with photos.

It can be found at:

http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/test/TESTS/Initial%20Report-Hilleber
g%20Rajd%20Shelter/



Cheers

Ralph



INITIAL REPORT

HILLEBERG RAJD SHELTER

REPORT BY: RALPH DITTON

REPORT DATE: 30th AUGUST, 2006

Rajd

(Courtesy of Hilleberg the Tentmaker)

Personal Information

Name: Ralph Ditton

Age: 55

Height: 1. 76 m (5 ft 9 in)

Weight: 77 kg (170 lb)

Email: rdassetts at optusnet dot com dot au

City: Perth. Western Australia. Australia



Backpacking Background

I have been walking the Bibbulmun Track over five years and the Coastal

Plain Trail. My goal is to complete the 964 km (603 mi) Bibbulmun Track

and become an End to End walker. I am nearly there.

I have evolved from being a heavyweight backpacker of approximately 28

kg (62 lb) including all my water and food to a mid- weight backpacker

averaging 18 kg (40 lb). I am still trying to get lighter with better

equipment. My trips range from overnighters to five days duration.



Product Information

Manufacturer: Hilleberg the Tentmaker, USA

Manufacturer's Website: http://www.hilleberg.com

Year of Manufacture: 2006

Model: Rajd

Colour: Green

Sleeping Capacity: 2

Number of poles supplied: 2

Pole thickness: 13 mm (0.5 in)

Poles made by: DAC

Fabric of shelter: Kerlon 1200

Door configuration: 2

Guy lines: 2 mm (0.07 in) Spectra-blend cord

Fabric of floor: Kerlon 1200

Number of walls: 1

Tear strength of Kerlon 1200: 12 kg (26.4 lb)

Factory seam sealed: Yes

Zips: YKK

Shelter pegs: 10

Shelter pegs material: Aluminium

MSRP of shelter: US$285

MSRP of poles:US$35

MSRP of Rajd footprint: US$32

Total MSRP: US$352



Listed Measurements

Weight of shelter: 950 g (2 lb 2 oz)

Height of peak: 115 cm (45.3 in)

Area: 2.4 m² (25.8 ft²)

Number of pegs: 10 square pegs

Weight of Kerlon 1200: 50 g/m² (1.47 oz/yd²)

Note

The manufacturer states that the weight of the shelter includes the guy

lines and 10 pegs only.



My Measurements

Weights

Weight of shelter: 840 g (1 lb 14 oz)

(including guy lines only)

Weight of a single peg : 10 g (0.35 oz)

Weight of 10 pegs and stuff sack : 106 g (3.74 oz)

Weight of peg stuff sack: 6 g (0.21 oz)

Weight of footprint : 233 g (8.22 oz)

Weight of footprint stuff sack: 15 g (0.53 oz)

Weight of 2 poles: 275 g (9.7 0z)

Weight of pole stuff sack: 9 g (0.32 oz)

Total weight of shelter plus pegs and guy lines: 946 g (2 lb 1.37 oz)



Lengths

Packed size of shelter: 27 cm x 16 cm (10.63 in x 6.3 in)

Circumference of shelter in stuff sack: 48 cm (18.9 in)

Length of pole: 115.5 cm (45.47 in)

Length of pole section: 42.2 cm (1 ft 4½ in)

Number of pole sections per pole: 3



Expectations from the Web site

I was intrigued by the title of a hybrid shelter. According to the

manufacturer it is a blend of tarp and tent.

  I do not camp using a tarp due to too many "bities" present, especially

ants and spiders. I either use a tent or the hut that may be available.

I expected a very lightweight shelter made out of a product very similar

to silnylon. There would be no frills inside the shelter like pockets to

stow items in, nor a vestibule to stow the backpack and boots.

Upon arrival I examined the shelter and it certainly is a no frills

unit, so my expectations from the web were correct.

What I did not count on but was very pleasantly surprised was the

inclusion of the poles and footprint as they are optional extras.



Product Description

The shelter is big enough for two people but extremely spacious for one

and a 90 litre (5492 cu in) backpack.

The stuff sack appears to be made out of the same material as the

shelter, Kerlon 1200.

The Rajd is made up as a single fabric shelter wholly constructed from

Kerlon 1200 that had a sewn in floor, roof and sides. There is no inner

tent.

To allow ventilation and air flow there is a triangle of mesh in each of

the two doors as seen in the photo below.

mesh panel

mesh panel

The YKK zipper, there are two on each zip track, open from the top of

the shelter and at the tub level changes direction to the right, as I

face it from outside, ending 340 mm (13 in) from the corner. This allows

for a generous open door to enter and exit from.

At the top of the tent where the zip starts, there is a reinforced

pocket to accommodate the pole tip, branch or trekking pole which can be

seen in the above photo.

The little awning over the doorway can also be zippered open or closed,

depending on weather conditions. When unzipped, the little awning is

rolled back to the leading edge of the shelter and held in place by a

piece of black elastic that hooks onto a plastic catch. The same

arrangement exists for the doors.

All of the zippers have a dual handle, one to operate from the inside

and the other from the outside.

The corners of the shelter are all reinforced with double stitching and

triangular pieces of additional black material on the inside.

Stitched along a seam to where the tub starts is a white warning label

advising to keep all flames and heat sources away from the fabric as it

is not fire-proof. The next heading is "Caution! Read Carefully". There

are five points raised. The first one is about flames and not cooking

inside the shelter. The rest are about the pitching of the shelter.

Finally, as an afterthought there is mention made of cleaning the

zippers and packing the shelter dry and clean. Common sense really.



On top of the shelter at the reinforced points where the poles go, there

is a black plastic ring that allows the shelter to be pitched without

any pole like item. Simply pass a cord through the ring and tie off to

another object at a higher angle that will allow the ridge line to hang

and thereby form the shelter.



The shelter comes with 6 guy lines made out of a proprietary cord with

interwoven strong Spectra fiber. The cords are light and according to

the manufacturer absorb almost no water and have minuscule stretch.

The guy lines come with polymer guy line runners that allow for quick

and easy adjustment of the guy lines.



To hold the shelter in place, there are 10 aluminium pegs. They are

square in the shaft, have a hook at the top for the guy line and a hole

with a cord at the very top to allow the peg to be pulled out of the

ground easily.

top of tent peg

top of tent peg

I was supplied with a set of poles that are an optional extra. They are

DAC poles and are shock corded. Judging by the size when folded up into

their three sections, the poles will fit inside my backpack even laying

length ways which is something I can not do with my current tent poles.

I can only stand them upright.

The tips of the poles have a rounded cap/

.end of pole

tip of pole

The other optional extra that I received was the footprint. It measures

2 m 30 mm (6 ft 8 in) x 1 m 245 mm (4 ft 1 in) and is black in colour.

It comes in its own stuff sack. All the manufacturer states is that the

fabric is extremely waterproof and highly puncture and abrasion resistant.

Each corner has two strips of elastic stitched at one end which are used

to tie to the corners of the shelter.



Attached to the stuff sack of the shelter was a set of instructions in

three languages, Swedish, German and English. The instructions are

adequate for the task of erecting the shelter, with or without poles.

There is a single page instruction sheet in a plastic envelope, in

English, giving the barest  minimum information on how to pitch the shelter.

single page instruction sheet

single page instruction sheet

stuff sack with instructions attached

stuff sack with instructions attached

Initial Impressions

Opening the box that the shelter arrived in, I was surprised to see the

tags attached to the shelter stuff sack and footprint stuff sack.

The footprint stuff sack tag was basically a label stating that it

contained a footprint for the Rajd and on the reverse a signature from

the person checking the item as "Controlled by".

As mentioned above, the shelter stuff sack had the two instructions and

a checked label also.

On both stuff sacks, the labels were threaded through by the draw cords

of the stuff sacks.

I undid the knot on the draw cord of the shelter stuff sack so that I

could remove the instructions as this made it easier to pull the shelter

out of the stuff sack. Trying to thread the draw cord back into the

locking clip was an interesting exercise. I am no sewer in that I have

difficulty in threading cotton through the eye of a needle. In this

exercise I had the added difficulty of a spring wanting to close off the

hole, but I got there.

There was a thank you letter from the President of Hilleberg, Petra

Hilleberg. I should be thanking Petra for the opportunity to test the

shelter.

In addition there was a sheet with three samples of fabric used in their

tents. The topic was the relative merits of their respective tear strengths.

There was also included a 2006 & 2007 Tent Handbook listing their

products and technical information.



I extracted the shelter and began to unroll it when I commented to

myself out loud that there seemed to be a lot of guy lines because I

came upon a mass of cord.

The next concern I had was what was the floor and roof as both were of

the same material and I had not completely unrolled the shelter. Which

way do I lay it on the floor. Logic told me to follow the guy lines as

they tend to be near the top. This I did and found the roof. I initially

had it upside down. Having the guy lines already attached was a very big

help in that I was able to determine the correct sections of the shelter

and I think I would have found attaching the guy lines a bit tricky,

especially the rear ones as the instructions do not cover this. Picture

5 in the "Rajd Instruction" booklet has an insert photo showing the

lines but they are extremely faint to see. In fact I needed a magnifying

glass to see the guy lines and then I could only just make them out a

little better.

Inside the rolled up shelter there was a bag of tent pegs with a label

stuck to the draw cord. It had the numeral 10 on both sides. I guess it

meant that this was a 10 tent peg bag as there were 10 tent pegs inside.

I had never seen this style of tent peg before so I am very interested

to see how they perform in the different types of soils that I camp on.

tent peg bag

tent peg bag

The next item that I opened was the tent pole bag and I was immediately

surprised by the thickness of the poles. I am used to tent poles of

between 7.5 mm to 9 mm ().29 in to 0.35 in).

When I thought about it, this shelter can be propped up with sticks and

trekking poles and they can be relatively thick.

There were two poles broken down into three sections each. A shock cord

passed through the centre of the poles.

shock corded tent pole

shock corded tent pole

The male component of the tent pole is 50 mm (1.96 in) long as seen on

the left of the above photo. This makes for a stable pole that should

not fail in adverse weather conditions.



I next unpacked the footprint and spread it out to see how big it was.

The measurements are listed under "Product Description". There is a

fabric side and a "plastic type feel" side to the footprint. As I could

not find any information on the material used to construct the

footprint, it appears to be a Nylon coated with polyurethane. This is

supposition on my part.



I went outside to pitch the shelter using the tent poles. I did not

bother to time myself as I took my time to understand how it should be

erected. I got it wrong the first time with the end guy lines. I brought

the  guy lines back along the edge and passed them through the hooks

located about halfway along the edge and then pegged them out at the 45

degree angle as mentioned in the instructions. It sort of worked. In

reality the hooks are there to secure the doors when they are rolled back.

guy lines incorrectly employed

guy lines incorrectly employed

It just did not look right and the instructions are a bit vague so the

next day I tried again. As I was pitching the shelter, the wind came up

and made life a bit difficult as the pegs kept being pulled out from the

new rolled out lawn that I tried to do it on. Perseverance paid off and

I got it up minus some pegs that came out. They can be seen on the

ground in the photo below at the rear of the shelter.

Out in the field I will not be pitching on newly laid grass so I do not

place any importance on the pegs performance in this instance. The main

thing was to see how the new configuration of the guy lines worked.

new configuration of guy lines

new configuration of guy lines

Folding and rolling up the shelter to put back in the stuff sack is not

the easiest of task. The fabric is slippery and does not want to stay in

place when being rolled and it traps air inside. As I got to nearing

completion of the folding and rolling, I was faced with a big air bubble

inside the fabric. It was a matter of placing the package against my

chest and using my arm, squeezing the air out through the fabric. This

took a few minutes to accomplish as I did it reasonably gently. Once the

air was out it was still tricky to get the shelter back inside the stuff

sack as it wanted to slip apart especially when I held it in one hand

and used the other hand to open the stuff sack. I got there eventually,

but not as neatly packed as I started off with nicely rolled.



Test Plan

I will be looking at the following aspects of this shelter:



     * What is the optimum diameter of a branch that will fit into the

       pole-end cup?

     * What is the optimum height of a branch needed to erect the shelter?

     * How effective are the poles in staying in place as they do not

       have locking tips?

     * I will time myself as to how long it takes to erect the shelter in

       a non-rushed manner so that an average camper will know what time

       to expect.

     * Conversely, dismantling the shelter and packing away.

     * I will comment on the effectiveness or limitations in using the

       rings on each corner of the ridge line to "hang" the shelter from

       the guy lines in lieu of using poles.

     * I will also use fallen branches in lieu of poles to see if the are

       a good alternative and if I have to do a bit of breaking off of

       the branches to get the desired height.

     * How efficient are the non-slip line runners used to tension the

       guy lines in demanding weather?

     * Is it an effective method, or will there be slippage during the

       night when it is windy and wet?

     * Is the shelter quick drying, inside and out whether being wet

       through condensation or rain?

     * In very wet weather, will rain be able to enter through the

       no-see-um mesh?

     * How effective is the footprint in providing protection from

       potential damaging sharp objects and abrasions? I will be removing

       the most obvious one that I can find.

     * I will be commenting on the condensation issue as it is our spring

       and the weather will still be cool at night.

     * How effective is the fabric in blocking out the early morning sun

       so that I do not wake up too early?

     * Will the zippers catch on the fabric?

     * If so, how easy or difficult is it to free the zippers from the

       fabric?

     * Do the seams need to be seam sealed?

     * Will it be stifling and uncomfortable inside the shelter on a warm

       day?

     * When I lay down, I want to find out if the shelter is long enough

       without my head and foot end of my sleeping bag touching the walls

       of the shelter.

     * How close does the single wall slope across my head and does it

       cause a claustrophobic feeling?

     * What is the clearance from my face?

     * Can I comfortably sit up inside the shelter without my head

       touching the roof of the shelter?

     * Is the entry through the door to the inside of the shelter easy or

       is it too narrow and a bit of a squeeze due to the central pole?

     * Will the stuff sack containing the shelter be long enough to be

       secured on the outside of my backpack, or if too short, do I have

       to remove it from the stuff sack and rearrange the folding of the

       shelter so that it can be secured on the outside?

     * Will the material fade in our sunlight as we have a big hole in

       the ozone layer above us?

     * How stable is the shelter in various types of wind?

     * Will the fabric sag when wet?

     * Can I lay my damp hiking clothes over the shelter to dry off

       without causing the shelter to (a) absorb moisture, (b) distort

       the shape and reduce the interior room by bending inwards?

     * How easy is it to clean the shelter when I get home?



I will comment on any other matters that may come up during the test

period that are unforeseen at this stage.



Things I like



     * Lightweight.

     * Excellent interior space.

     * Inclusion of tent poles and footprint.

     * Lots of guy lines.

     * Square tent pegs. Should be strong and not bend.

     * Unique guy line runners.



Things I dislike



     * Lack of clear instructions on how to utilize the guy lines

       correctly at the rear of the shelter.



Thank you Hilleberg and BackPackGearTest for the opportunity to test

this product.















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Nice list :-)

I can give you a run on packs, but only have a couple of their shirts
in the clothing realm.

Khamsin 30, 38 and 50; M-30, Snoyo and Sebring.

Historically, their packs have been a good combination of bombproof
and comfortable. The Khamsin series, in their time, were also worthy
"lightweight" options. Now they seem pretty heavy but boy, they're
well made and comfy.

--Rick

-- In backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com, JimSabis@... wrote:
>
> In a message dated 9/1/2006 7:37:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> rayestrella@... writes:
> Do we test ARC'TERYX products? My winter pack is one of theirs and I
> like the direction that they are going with the new packs.
>
> Also, Stephanie. Did you touch base with Gerber at the OR show? Are we
> going to do anything with them? If not can I talk to my contact?
>
> Ray
> ##########
>
> Ray,
> The OR Crew has worked the Arc'Teryx group for years. They finally
got some
> nibbles last year, but nothing has materialized yet. Keep you
fingers crossed.
>
> I am a huge fan of Arc'Teryx and use much of their gear. I have posted
> several ORs on their shell jackets and pants. My Arc'Teryx equipment
list is as
> follows:
>
> Clothing:
>
> Theta LT jacket
> Sirrus SL Jacket
> Theta SL Jacket
> Katabatic soft shell
> Anabatic windshell
> Beta AR shell pants
> Delta fleece soft shell
> Delta fleece jersey
> Sigma AR windstopper softshell
>
> (Outdoor Research is still the leader in gloves!)
>
> Packs:
>
> Q10 (dayhikes)
> M20 (Winter dayhikes)
> M30 (winter sled trips - used as sled harness, then back country
daytrips)
> Khamsin 38 (three season multiday backpacks)
> Needle 35 (general backpack use, I'm considering adding a 45 or 55)
>
> I've been ogling the Khamski for years, but never caught one on
sale. I also
> like the new AC2 packs. Very innovative but, hoo, the price!
>
> Only Osprey gives them a serious run for worldclass, rock solid
packs, in my
> opinion.
>
> Which pack are you using?
>
> Jim S.
>
> "Madness does not always howl. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at
the end of
> the day saying, "Hey, is there room in your head for one more?"
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Here is the field report for my crazy creek hammock

You can read it in the test folder here
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/test/TESTS/Crazy%20Creek%20FR%20--%20Bri\
an%20T/

or
http://tinyurl.com/p588d

or below

Thanks,
Brian

########################################

Field Report Crazy Creek Crib LEX Lightweight w/ UltraLite Tarp
By Brian Tannehill

Personal Information  Background Information  Product Information
	 Field Locations  Field Reporting  Questions Concerns  Test Plan

logo

Personal Information:

Age: 31
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 7" (1.7 m)
Weight: 185 lb (79 kg)
Name: Brian Tannehill
Date: 18 Jun 06
Email: tannehillclan(at)gmail(dot)com
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Backpacking Background:

I am fairly new to backpacking, but I have hunted/fished/camped all my
life in East Texas, Colorado, and California. My young kids (4, 10,
12) limit me to weekend overnight camping trips, or day hikes
Geocaching. I am also an avid mountain biker. Currently I live in
Colorado Springs, Co at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Pike National
Forest surrounds me at 9000 - 14,110 feet (2743 m - 4301 m). Snow can
happen 10 months out of the year and summer is the hottest reaching 85
deg F + (29 C), the other months average 45 deg F (7 C).

Product Information:

Manufacturer: Crazy Creek
Year of Manufacture: 2006
URL: http://www.crazycreek.com/
MSRP: $ 199.00 USD
Listed Weight: 54 oz (1531 g)
Weights as I measured them:
Poles each: 3 oz (84 g) x 2
Aluminum Stakes each: 3/8 oz (12g) x 6
Tie Out Ropes: 3 1/2 oz (100 g)
Rain Fly: 12 5/8 oz (356 g)
Hammock: 2 lbs 3/4 oz (928 g)
Stuff Sack: 1 1/4 oz (36 g)
Total weight: 58 5/8 oz (1,662g)

Field Locations:

The locations of my tests have been in the Rocky Mountains of Pike
National Forest just west of Colorado Springs. Elevations have ranged
from 7,000 feet (2,134 m) at my house up to around 10,000 feet (3,048
m) in the local mountains. Weather at this time of the year is fairly
warm. Temperatures will range from a high of mid 80's (29 C) and a low
of mid 50's (13 C) through the month of July to mid 60's (18 C) for a
high to mid 30's (-2 C) for the low in the month of October. The
terrain is typical for the Rocky Mountain region. Very steep, rocky
trails and numerous trees to hang from.

Field Reporting:

I have used this hammock numerous times since my Initial Report.
Hammock Set-up:
I finally figured out how to get my Therm-a-Rest Z Rest into the
sleeping pad compartment. I had to do it kind of like putting a pillow
case on a pillow. Before setting up the hammock I had to lay it out
flat, then start the pad into the sleeping pad spot, then pick it and
the hammock up and shake it like putting a pillow case on. Eventually
it will slide in pretty easily, and the more I've doen it, the easier
its become. I've gotten both the Z Rest and the old green military
pads to fit inside the sleeping pad holder.

To answer the question from my initial report, is there a proper way
to set up the hammock? My answer is a resounding YES!

In this first set of pictures I had the hammock set up really tight.
This is how the pad buckles on me when I set it up this way.
top bottom

Take note of the red lines I added to the picture on the upper right,
the hammock bottom is really tight at those points. Because of how
tight I had it, the pad tends to buckle and is very uncomfortable. It
mainly buckles up at the head and foot section like the picture on the
top left when I sit in it. I also think this is part of the reason I
felt like it rolled my shoulders in some.

Notice in the second set of pictures, after I added some slack, the
difference in the hammock set up. The bottom lays flatter than before
and is much more comfortable.
topslack bottomslack
So I make sure to add a bit more slack into the hammock when I set it
up now. I try to string it between trees right about my waist/mid
section. This way it has enough slack to lay flat, and it will not hit
the ground when I lay in it.

Rain Fly Set-up:
The rain fly set up was an adventure in it self. All the documentation
says the rainfly is factory taped and seam sealed. Upon further
inspection neither of those statements were true. I performed two test
on the rain fly to make sure. The first thing I did was to fill it up
with water around one of the seams and watched the water drip through.
The second thing I did was set it up in the rain. The only part that
leaked was of course along the seams and where the tie outs are sewn
in.

I do not think having the tarp seam sealed would be that big of an
issue, except that the main seam runs right down the middle of the
ridgeline. I might get wet in this case.
ridgeline

Here is a close up of one of the tie out points. No factory taping and
I can actually see through some of the stitching. Thats where I get a
lot of leakage from during the rain.
tieout

The rain fly came with 25 meters (82 feet) of small diameter rope to
stake it out with. The documentation suggest cutting the rope at 6-10
ft (180-250 cm) intervals for the ridgeline tie-outs and 4-6 ft
(120-180 cm) intervals for all others. There was no method to my
madness when I cut them as I was in the field and had no way to
measure exactly the length of rope recommended. I wound up using my
wingspan (fingertip to fingertip) of about 5.5 feet (1.7 m) to measure
out the rope. Some lines I made two lengths of my wingspan, others
were just one. I found that using this method I would actually need
more rope than provided so I had to add some of my own rope to it.

There are actually 14 tie outs on this tarp. I can successfully tie it
out with about half of that, usually only using 6-8 tie out points.
The below picture is looking down one side of the tarp. The two tie
outs in the middle of the side are the longest on mine. I think those
(two on either side) could be done away with, but then again this is
my first real tarp and hammock.
14 tieouts

One thing I like to do with the webbing is criss cross it and use the
friction of the webbing on itself to help hold the hammock in place.
webbing

I have not set this hammock up like a bivy yet. I have tried to set it
up on my wooden back porch to get an idea of how it would work, but I
dont really see a way to stake out the hammock from head to foot. This
is something I will experiment with for my long term report.

Some of my questions and concerns:

To answer some more of my questions from my initial report:
Read my Initial Report for clarification of this first question.
Will the material stretch some so the zipper is not as tight?
It does not seem to be as tight as the first time I set it up.

How easy is this thing to set up? How long does it take? Is it easier
or harder than I expected?
I find this hammock really easy to set up. The hardest thing is
getting the sleeping pad inserted and staking out the rain fly. I've
unfortunatly bent one of the stakes driving it into some rocky soil.
So far its been easier than expected.

How easy is the Crib to get in and out of?
So far its been easy

Does it balance well? Will I fall out? LOL I've fallen out of every
hammock I have used.
Yes I've fallen out once, but for the most part it is really stable.

Does it lend itself to sleeping on my side? Stomach? At a diagonal
across the bottom or with my feet off either side?
I've slept on my side in it, not bad. I can not sleep on my stomach,
and the pad holder makes it difficult to lay at a diagonal. I do place
my feet on either side of the hammock to force it flat.

Can it be used as a quick camp chair? Yes.

How will it stand up to the wind? Unknown so far

Some of the old reports mentioned the lines on the hammock fraying.
Has this changed any? No fraying yet

Test Plan:

My test plan will continue to address the above questions as well as
using this hammock with a few different sleeping bag configurations. I
also plan to use it on the ground as a bivy. I think it will make a
pretty nice one man tent/bivy. I will be using it on numerous hikes up
a local place called Stanley Canyon in the Pike National Forest.
Temperatures are now dropping down into the high 30's F (3 C) to low
40's (6 C) at night so I may move to the ground sooner than expected.

Thanks to Backpackgeartest and Crazy Creek for allowing me to
participate in this test.

Brian

--- In backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com, "Jerry Goller"
<ChiefModerator@...> wrote:
>
> I'm looking at when we schedule rain gear.
>
> I'd like you all to chime in on when you think the best time period for
> testing is, fall to winter or late winter through spring.

here in California, our actual rainy season doesn't usually start
until December or so, and goes through the end of spring and even into
early summer some years.  we typically get NO RAIN during the fall.

so, late winter through spring would be my vote.

-colleen

LOL, Ralph, Ray knows he's got carte gris to tease me (but not quite
carte blanche).

Ray, you were OOP when i promised you dinner as a thank-you for
picking up the injinji edits.  here's a re-invite.  drop me a line and
see about coming over some time soon.

-colleen


--- In backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com, "Ralph Ditton"
<rdassetts@...> wrote:
>
> Ray,
>
> I hope you know Colleen VERY WELL, otherwise you could be on a diet
of hot
> tongue and cold shoulder. <g>
>
> @yahoogroups.com, "Ralph Ditton"
> <rdassetts@> wrote:
> > Hello Colleen,
> > The mental picture of you trying to stand on/ride/wobble on the >bag
> under water to see if it leaked is amusing
> >
> > Did it manage to throw you off?
>
> She lives close enough to a couple of ranches for me to say,
>
> Ride 'em cowgirl! Yee-haa...
>
> Ray

Colleen,

   Since it is due the 12th, I think that would be fine.  Do you think you could
have it written up by the weekend after the 12th? (I thinking the 16th or 17th?)
I know Andrew has a time frame to notify the companies that their reports are
in.

   Jason B
   SD Wicked Fast Monitor

Emma Eyeball <tarbubble@...> wrote:
   Jason,

i've gotten two nights in the Wicked so far, but next weekend i will
get 4 nights in it. only problem is that i'll get back the night of
the 11th, and the 12th is my son's first day of preschool, so things
are going to be nuts. could i have an extension of one week to get a
good, solid FR written up?

thanks,

-colleen





  __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The BackpackGearTest.org documentation has been updated.

http://www.backpackgeartest.org/requirements.php

The Bylaws have replaced the Survival Guide, and the Survival Guide is now
an actual Survival Guide instead of the Bylaws.  If that's too confusing to
consider, just check the link.  It should be easily understandable.

There are still several things in the process of being updated, but for the
most part it's complete.

Comments, complaints, suggestions, and insults should all go to BGTWeb.

Shane Steinkamp
BGT Moderator

Wow, this is really great!  I think it's so much easier to read and to find
answers to questions than the "old" version.  Thanks, Shane (and anyone else
involved)!  Can't wait to see the report generator - I think that'll really make
it easier for new members.

Kathy Waters

   ----- Original Message -----
   From: Shane Steinkamp
   To: backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com
   Cc: BGTWeb@yahoogroups.com ; BackpackGearTest@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 5:38 PM
   Subject: [backpackgeartesters] And now, for what you have all been waiting
for...


   The BackpackGearTest.org documentation has been updated.

   http://www.backpackgeartest.org/requirements.php

   The Bylaws have replaced the Survival Guide, and the Survival Guide is now
   an actual Survival Guide instead of the Bylaws. If that's too confusing to
   consider, just check the link. It should be easily understandable.

   There are still several things in the process of being updated, but for the
   most part it's complete.

   Comments, complaints, suggestions, and insults should all go to BGTWeb.

   Shane Steinkamp
   BGT Moderator





   __________ NOD32 1.1737 (20060903) Information __________

   This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
   http://www.eset.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Will,

also: 65 F (highest nighttime low in the beginning of your report)
converts to 18 C rather than 36.

Impressive report. I do need to get out more.

André

--- In backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com, "Rosaleen Sullivan"
<rosaleen43@...> wrote:
>
> Hi, Will-
>
> Thanks for getting your report in a bit early.  It looks great and
is very much up to your usual high standards.  I would point out just
a couple of possible oversights.  The manufacturer's link does not
appear to be "clickable" from my end.  Also, there is some (few)
switching between imperial/metric measurements and imperial (metric)
measurements.  I have no preference between the two styles, but would
suggest that you select one and stay with it to keep things uniform.
Once these are attended to, go ahead and upload.
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Rosaleen
>
>
>
> Hi Rosaleen,
> Here is my LTR for editing. Thanks in advance. The html version is
in the test folder at:
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/test/TESTS/Montbell%20Alpine%
20Down%20Hugger%203%20Sleeping%20Bag%20LTR/<about:blank>
>
> LONG-TERM REPORT: MONTBELL ULTRALIGHT ALPINE DOWN HUGGER #3
SLEEPING BAG
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Shane, thanks to you (and others?) for all the effort that went into
this. I note that a big change is the IR, FR, and LTR are now appended
together to create a single report. When does this go into effect? Will
we replace our report at BGT.org with a new one each time? Thanks, Will.

> also: 65 F (highest nighttime low in the beginning of your report)
> converts to 18 C rather than 36.
****************************

I fixed it, thanks Andre

This is awesome.  combined reports are going to be wonderful.  when i
heard a rumor about this change, i got all wiggly-happy.  this is
going to be great.

-colleen

I'm sure I had a really good reason for doing the three report format....I
just can't imagine what it was....lol.

This has needed to be fixed for quite awhile. Should make things much easier
for writer and reader alike.

Jerry


http://www.BackpackGearTest.org : the most comprehensive interactive gear
reviews and tests on the planet.


-----Original Message-----
From: backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Emma Eyeball
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 9:58 AM
To: backpackgeartesters@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [backpackgeartesters] Re: And now, for what you have all been
waiting for...

This is awesome.  combined reports are going to be wonderful.  when i heard
a rumor about this change, i got all wiggly-happy.  this is going to be
great.

-colleen







Yahoo! Groups Links

Hi,  I'm exhausted but back from the "Wedding Week" chaos - put the
newlyweds on their plane to Italy in this AM and now back to normal for two
days.  Then I will be OOP from September 8 to September September 18 on two
separate trips to CO and FL.

Tests affected are the edits for the Suunto Advizor (I haven't seen any yet)
and my monitoring of the Ibex Qu T reports.  The Qu T reports are due
September 5, so I should be able to get them done before I go if they are
submitted by the testers by the due date.

Kathy Waters

For your editing pleasure - HTML is at
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/test/TESTS/LTR-SD%20Volt%20sleeping%20ba\
g%20-%20J%20Waters/
and looks a lot better with the temperature tables.

Long Term Report: Sierra Designs Volt Men's Sleeping Bag


September 4, 2006

Contents:
Biographical Information
Product Information
Field Conditions/Completed Test Results
Summary

Tester's Biographical Information

Name: John R. Waters
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.7 m)
Weight: 178 lb (81 kg)
Email Address: exec at bysky dot com
City, State, Country: White Lake, Michigan USA

Backpacking Background

My backpacking began in 1999. I've hiked rainforests in Hawaii, Costa Rica,
and Puerto Rico, on glaciers in New Zealand and Iceland, 14ers in Colorado
and Death Valley's deserts. I hike or snowshoe 6-8 miles (10 km-13 km) 2-3
times weekly in Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, with other day-long hikes on
various SE Michigan trails. I also hike in Colorado and am relocating there,
which will increase my hiking time and trail variety tremendously.

My daypack is 18 lb (8 kg); overnights' weigh over 25 lb (11 kg). I'm aiming
to reduce my weight load by 40% or more.

Product Information and Picture (from manufacturer's website)
http://www.sierradesigns.com

Manufacturer: Sierra Designs
Style: Ultralight synthetic mummy bag
Model: Volt
Type: Ultralight
Manufacturer Temperature Rating: 15 F (-9 C)
Insulation: PrimaLoft Sport
Trail Weight: 2 lb 8 oz (1 kg)
Fill Weight: 29 oz (822 g)
Inside Length: 84" (2 m)
Zipper Side: Left
Stuff Size: 9" x 19" (23 cm x 48 cm)
Shell Material: 20D Polyester
Liner Material: 15D Polyester
Shoulder Girth: 60" (152 cm)
Hip Girth: 56" (142 cm)
Footbox Girth: 39" (99 cm)
Sizes: Regular and Long
MSRP: $209.95 USD



Features:
For an in depth description, including warranty of the Sierra Designs Volt
Men's Sleeping Bag, please refer to my Initial Report.


Product Information (from tester)

Color: Gray and Orange
Size: Regular - fits up to 6 ft (1.8 m)

Field Conditions/Completed Test Results

Testing was primarily done on a recent trip to Cañon City, Colorado at an
altitude of 5687 ft (1733 m) above sea level. The terrain is high desert.
It's actually a 35 acre ranch parcel that my wife and I just purchased early
this year and now we are in the process of adding infrastructure (driveway,
electric, etc.). Surrounded by 30,000 acres of state and federal land, the
nearest neighbor is 2 m (3 km) away and, seriously, there is no sound but
that of wind, birds and coyotes. From everywhere on the ranch you cannot see
or hear a soul.

WEATHER CHART FOR CAÑON CITY TRIP

    Time  Temperature Dewpoint Humidity Winds
Day 1 6:55pm 86 F (30 C) 46 F (8 C) 22% 7 mph (11 kph)
Day 2 6:00am 64 F (18 C) 41 F (5 C) 42% 7 mph (11 kph)
    8:30pm 91 F (33 C) 45 F (7 C) 20% 13 mph (21 kph)
Day 3 4:53am 62 F (17 C) 49 F (9 C) 62% 7 mph (11 kph)
    7:53pm 92 F (33 C) 36 F (2 C) 14% 5 mph (8 kph)
Day 4 6:53am 63 F (17 C) 50 F (10 C) 63% 5 mph (8 kph)
    7:53pm 92 F (33 C) 38 F (3 C) 15% 9 mph (14 kph)
Day 5 5:55am 70 F (21 C) 41 F (5 C) 35% 7 mph (11 kph)
    7:03pm 82 F (28 C) 55 F (13 C) 39% 15 mph (24 kph)
Day 6 6:57am 63 F (17 C) 57 F (14 C) 82% 3 mph (5 kph)

Summary

Hot days (105 F/41 C) and cool nights (52 F/11 C). How does the Sierra
Designs Volt Sleeping Bag perform under such a temperature swing?

Recently, I camped for 3 nights north of Canon City, Colorado at
approximately 5700 ft (1737 m) above sea level. The area is arid, high
desert. The ground was hard packed sand and slate with no grass cover. I
packed in with the SD Volt compression strapped to the underside of my pack.
This bag compressed down nicely. I could have pulled the backpack's straps
even tighter around the Volt than I did, but there was no need to. I don't
like to put too much stress on things.

When the Volt was stored, I kept it hanging in our gear closet loosely
stuffed into the provided mesh storage sack. To head out on the trail, the
Volt was removed from the mesh bag and stuffed into the provided orange
nylon stuff sack. The nylon sack is only 9" x 19" (23 cm x 48 cm) and has a
nylon dust flap that goes over the opening that remains after the draw
string is closed as tightly as possible. It's a compact and lightweight unit
that easily straps to a pack on the outside.

After setting up my tent, it was easy to remove the stuff sack from my
backpack, pull out the Volt and flip it out onto my sleeping pad. There was
no issue with settling of fill or empty fill spots that I could see after
storing the bag for over 30 days. Also, to get to the destination, the Volt,
stuffed inside its orange nylon stuff sack, was packed very tightly inside
my airline luggage next to other gear. So it was handled roughly and
survived quite well.

The Volt has ground pad locking straps to connect the Volt to the sleeping
pad. I was using a Mountain Hardware Superlight 60 pad and tried connecting
it to the bag to make one unit. The process works well. The Volt stays on
top of the pad and only slides off maybe 10% of the width on either side. I
never completely slid off the pad through 2 nights of sleeping. But, as I
mentioned in my field report, I move around a lot and it's my personal
preference to not be tied to my pad because when I use a pad lock, I have to
turn inside the bag; not turn the entire bag (because the pad would end up
along side of me), so for the 3rd night, I removed the pad straps. Yes, I
did slide off the pad and I did find myself sleeping half on and half-off
the pad, so evidently those straps do serve a purpose well, but on the other
hand I was able to sleep better on my side.

In desert climates, when the temp is 105 F (41 C) during the day and I go to
sleep at dark, around 10pm, the outside air temp is still around 80 F (27
C), but will drop off to the mid-50Fs (10s C) around 3AM. With a constant
breeze of between 5 to 15 mph (8 to 24 kph), it can get chilly at 3AM. So
what happens is that I hit the sack warm then need to get warmer during the
night. That requires some flexibility in my sleeping gear.

Under the long term testing conditions, I went to sleep in my underwear
lying on top of the bag (sorry, no photos) with a gentle warm breeze,
absolute silence and millions of stars overhead. Sleeping on top of the Volt
sleeping bag, which was on top of the pad, was pretty darn comfortable and
if the temp had not dropped, I would have been content to sleep just like
that all night. However, as arid desert nights go, with humidity at 15% to
18% and that breeze still blowing, I was awake at 2AM feeling chilly.

At 2AM half asleep, I wanted to be able to get into my bag for warmth
without having to fuss. There is a certain amount of such fussing though
with any half-length zipper sleeping bag. The issue is that there isn't
enough room inside the tent (when the foot of the bag and the head of the
bag are within inches of the tent wall) to scoot my 5 ft 9 in (1.7 m) body
into the opening. So I had to move the top of bag down towards the foot of
the tent so I could get my feet into the opening and then pull it up like I
was putting on a pair of pants. It's the same issue with any bag that has a
limited length zipper. But it worked fine because the material is so
slippery. I easily slid into the bag, pulled it up and was ready to generate
Zs again.

This is a VERY warm bag. So at 57 F (14 C) I needed to be vented. This is a
challenge if the side zipper is all the way up. I found it quite difficult
to reach the foot vent with the side zipper closed up to my neck. I suppose
there may be users that can make that happen, but I could not do it as hard
as I tried. I am in good shape and can easily touch my toes, grab my ankles,
do sit-ups, etc., but I could just not get to that foot zipper as long as
the side zip was up.

So to open the foot vent, I had to unzip the side zipper and wiggle myself
so that my butt was moved up to the head of the bag and then I could pull
the loose bottom half of the bag up to where I could reach the zipper.
Finally. It was my 3AM work-out. But of course, on occasion, not to make my
life easy, the zipper jammed on the zipper sheath of the foot vent. Now I'm
very warm from the contorting and just want to get this done so I can vent
my feet and get to sleep. In order to un-jam the zipper, I had to see the
zipper, so I had to move my butt higher up towards the top of bag so I could
grab the foot of the bag up to bring it up to my face. Of course, it's dark,
so I had to reach over now and get a light so I can see where it was jammed.
After a few minutes of tugging and moving the zipper back and forth, it was
finally free again and I opened the foot vent. Not what I intended to get
involved in at 3AM.

To make things worse, after I got the foot vent open and I lay back down,
the side zipper jammed on its sheath when I went to zip it back up. Since it
was about 80% closed, and the bag is narrow, I was again doing contortions
to get my right arms out of the bag and to work myself around to a point
that I could see where it was stuck. Had to get the light again and fuss
with the zipper for another minute or so and it was free. So for the rest of
this trip I was careful to slowly zipper things closed and open and to be
sure that I manually cleared the zipper track from the sheaths during the
process.

The foot vent worked as well as the other times I used it. The additional
airflow made things much more comfortable. But again, as I reported before,
since the bag is fluffy the vent opening will close almost completely unless
I stick my feet out. There isn't anything to keep the opening open.

I did use the hood one evening when the temp dipped down to 52 F (11 C).
Otherwise, I did not use the hood on this trip except to act as a light
shield because I wanted some extra sleep. It was too warm to get that
wrapped up in the hood when it was over 55 F (13 C).

As reported before though and as with most mummy bags of this design layout,
I found that side sleeping can leave a major opening on my back when I sleep
on my right side facing away from the zipper. The Volt is no different. To
side sleep warmly on my right side (the zipper is on the left when lying
down) the zipper needs to be all the way closed when rolling onto my right
side or I'll getting a draft on my back from the open space because it's
behind me and I can't pull the top and bottom material together to fill the
gap as I can when I am laying on my left side.

Except for the early morning hours, I found that I was sweating at times and
that I would get warm, have to open the side zipper then have to zip it back
up, and so on, because I would get cool, get into the bag, warm up to
sweating, unzipper, cool off then try and get warm again, etc. But even
though I was sweating, the bag never got damp or uncomfortable.

Each morning a simple shake of the bag turned inside out then a stuff in the
stuff sack and it was ready to move on to the next site. It was extremely
simple to work with and, other then the zipper issue gave me no trouble at
all.

There are no broken or snagged threads. The bag's liner still looks new and
shows no signs of pilling. The zippers operate smoothly but under certain
instances will snag. This is likely due to the very thin and loose material
around zipper opening with nothing to hold it back. I have not needed to
wash the bag yet, and have not been sloppy enough to get any stains on the
bag. The bag still looks new after about 9 days of actual overnight use.

Comments:
The Sierra Designs Volt Sleeping Bag is definitely a cool weather bag
sleeping bag. I would not even think of bringing this bag along if the early
morning temps were going to be over 60F. I would use a different bag. For
under 60F though this bag is comfortable, packs well and is lightweight.
Unfortunately, the temps where we were during this test period were not at
the low end of the bag's specified range, so I didn't get a chance yet to
see how this performs in snow and freezing climates. I am sure that I'll be
able to do that in the next few months. And I look forward to it!

Thank you to BGT and Sierra Designs for the opportunity to test this
product!

John R. Waters

Hi Brian,

Here are your edits. Nice photos.

Ray


***Date: 18 Jun 06

EDIT: Needs correct date


***So I make sure to add a bit more slack into the hammock when I
set it up now.

EDIT: delete "so"

***The documentation suggest cutting the rope

EDIT: suggests


***I wound up using my wingspan (fingertip to fingertip) of about
5.5 feet

Edit: arm span?


***I have tried to set it up on my wooden back porch to get an idea
of how it would work, but I dont really see a way to stake out the
hammock from head to foot.

EDIT: don't

I am back and tired. I got a lot done at Dads's though.

Ray

HTML may be found here;

http://tinyurl.com/zpn3m

Merrell Passage Ventilator Mid

Long Term Report
September 4, 2006

Tester Information
Name: Raymond Estrella
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 3" (193 cm)
Weight: 210 lb (95 kg)
Email address: rayestrella@...
City: Huntington Beach
State: California
Country: USA

Backpacking Background: I have been hiking for over 30 years, all
over the state of California. I have also hiked in Washington,
Minnesota, Nevada, Arizona, and Idaho. I hike year-round, mostly in
the Sierra Nevada, and have logged 291 miles (469 km) with a pack on
my back so far this year.  As I start my 4th decade of backpacking I
am making the move to lightweight gear, and smaller packs.

The product

Manufacturer: Wolverine World Wide Inc.
Web site: www.merrell.com
Product: Passage Ventilator Mid
Style # 83647
Year manufactured: 2006
MSRP: $110.00 (US)
Size: Men's 11 (US)
Sizes available: Men's 7-15, Women's 5-11 (US)
Weight listed (size 8): 2 lb 6 oz (1.08 kg) Actual weight of test
pair 2 lb 11.8 oz (1.24 kg)
Color tested: Grey/black, also available in Walnut
Warranty: I could not find any mention of it in the packaging, or on
the web site.

Please see my Initial Report for a full description of the Passage
Ventilator's.

Field Conditions

I have used these in a lot of places since the Field Report, here
they are in chronological order.

At the end of June I went to Casper Regional Park for a day hike. I
had my normal 12 lb (5.4 kg) pack, with 3 liters of water. It was 68
F (20 C) and overcast when I started out, perfect for hiking. It got
up to a sweltering 91 F (33 C) by noon. I went 15 miles and had
1,090 feet of elevation gain and loss.

In July I wore them on a backpacking trip in the San Jacinto area
where the temps ranged from 48 F to 82 F (9 to 28 C) carrying a 29
lb (13.2 kg) pack. I had over 3,000' (914 m) of gain and 18 miles
(29 km) on the boots for this one. Back to that area for a day-hike
with 13 mi (21 km) and 3060' (933 m) of gain. The last July trip was
an overnighter with a 30 lb (13.6 kg) pack in the San Gorgonio
Wilderness where I climbed two peaks, the highest at 10691' (3259 m)
elevation. I put 22 mi (35 km) and 5991' (1826 m) of gain on them
there. I encountered a severe thunderstorm with hail and heavy rain
on this trip.

In August Dave and I did a monster 20 mile (32 km) day-hike up the
Deer Springs Trail from Idyllwild to the peak of San Jacinto then
semi-looped back by way of Wellman's Divide. 5224' (1592 m) of gain
on this one.

Field Observations

Well I am finally using these boots the way that Merrell intended
them (kind of). The snow has mostly melted off and I am wearing them
in some high temps where the ventilation aspect of the boots may be
appreciated more. As can be seen below, the day-hike at Casper was a
cooker. There are very little parts of the trails I was on that have
any shade so the bright sun cooking the rocky trail only amplifies
the heat on my feet. I never got uncomfortable. I did get quite a
few stickers in my socks (mid-weight SmartWool plus liner) but
fortunately they did not seem to get good purchase in the open weave
parts of the Ventilators. Here is a picture on that trip where the
trail ends at a bird sanctuary. (Actually it had ended earlier but I
feigned ignorance until I hit the gate and sign.)

A much tougher test of them came on the next trip, an overnighter to
the San Jacinto area. I had gone to pre-scout camp sites for a trip
two weeks later with a bunch of children and spent the first day
doing so, only putting four miles on the boots in the process. The
next day was a little different. I hiked down to Caramba Overlook
and back out. In six hours I went 14 miles (23 km) and climbed
almost 3,000' (914 m) with a 25 lb (11.3 kg) pack on. It was mostly
exposed trails and got up to 82 F (28 C). I was sweating like crazy,
and my feet while warm were not uncomfortable. And I have still not
experienced a blister with the boots.
|
The trip to San Gorgonio Wilderness was supposed to be a moderate
day climbing a couple of new peaks. But a lack of water at my
intended camp site and the next few places also led to a change of
plans.  I had to retrace my steps to a spring that I had seen on the
way in. This led to 16.5 miles (27 km) with just short of 6000'
(1829 m) of elevation gain in one day. My feet got soaked from the
storm that popped up, but they were not sore and had no blisters or
hot-spots after all that abuse. Here is a picture of the wet Merrell
on the Washington's Monument Plaque near San Bernardino Peak.
  Something that I have noticed is how dense the soles seem to be.
The bottom is not wearing as much as I would expect for all of the
major rock I wear them on. When walking on a paved road or a stretch
of solid rock they "knock" with each heel plant. So they must be
some pretty hard material.

On the day-hike up Deer Creek Trail I noticed the first wear on the
boots. The thread is coming undone on the toe area of the right
boot. This caused me to decide not to take it on a four day trip in
the Sierra Nevada a week later. But with almost 200 all-purpose
miles (322 km) on them, and the conditions I use them in that is not
too bad. Here is a picture of the boot at the USGS survey marker on
San Jacinto (10,834', 3302 m), notice the spot pulling out.

I will continue to wear them for day hikes this fall and early
winter as we have some desert locations planned. I will keep an eye
on the unraveling stitching and if it accelerates too much may
contact customer service to see what they say about it. (I never
have found what they have for a warranty.) I have been very
impressed by the fit and comfort of the Merrells. As I own a pair of
their low-hikers and have had no problems with them either I would
have no problem with feeling comfortable with making future Merrell
purchases.

I would like to thank Merrell and BackpackGearTest for allowing me
to participate in this test.

Pros: Lightweight, very breathable, good support, decent weight

Cons: Escape-artist insoles, hard soles

My son and I are back from the Latir Peaks Wilderness trip.  We made
it to our goal of Latir Peak which sits at 12,708 ft.  Quite a view!
Now, how to clean this POE camp chair ;)

Greg

 Here's the LTR for the Baku 2.  The html version is posted in the
test/TESTS folder.  Thanks for the edits.

Andy

Biographical Information
Name:  Andrew Henrichs
Age:  25
Gender:  Male
Height:  6' 2" (1.88 m)
Weight:  190 lb (86.2 kg)
Email address:  a_henrichs@...
City, State, Country:  Carbondale, Colorado, USA
 
Backpacking Background
    Most of my backpacking has been in the mountains of Colorado and
Wyoming, as well as the desert in the southwestern US.  I've gone
winter camping several times, but I still prefer backpacking in the
warmer months.  Most of my trips are 2-3 days, but I have taken
several trips of 5-6 days.  This past summer, I was fortunate enough
to have thru-hiked the 476 mile Colorado Trail over 35 days.
Recently, I have been leaning towards the lightweight side of the
spectrum.
 
Product Information
Manufacturer:  Sierra Designs (www.sierradesigns.com)
Year of Manufacturer:  2006
MSRP:  $289.95 US

Manufacturers Specifications
Stated Trail Weight: 4 lb 0 oz (1.8 kg)
Stated Packed Weight: 4 lb 7 oz (2.0 kg)
Stated Packed Size: 21 in by 5 in (53 cm by 13 cm)
Stated Floor Length: 83 in (211 cm)
Stated Floor Width (narrow side): 45 in (114 cm)
Stated Floor Width (wide side): 52 in (132 cm)
Stated Interior Area: 28 sq ft (2.6 sq m)
Stated Vestibule Area (each): 7 sq ft (.7 sq m)
Stated Peak Height: 40 in (102 cm)

Tester Measurements
Measured Weight (as delivered): 4 lb 7.5 oz (2.0 kg)
Measured Trail Weight: 4 lb 0.5 oz (1.8 kg)
Measured Weight (tent body): 3 lb 2 oz (1.4 kg)
Measured Weight (poles): 14.5 oz (411 g)
Measured Weight (stuff sack total): 2.5 oz (71 g)
Measured Weight (6 stakes): 3.5 oz (99 g)
Measured Weight (guy lines): 1.5 oz (43 g)
Measured Packed Size (uncompressed): 21 in by 6 in (53 cm by 15 cm)
Measured Packed Size (compressed): 15 in by 7 in (38 cm by 18 cm)
Measured Floor Length: 82 in (208 cm)
Measured Floor Width (narrow side): 45 in (114 cm)
Measured Floor Width (wide side): 51.5 in (131 cm)
Measured Interior Area: 29.3 sq ft (2.7 sq m)
Measured Vestibule Area (each): 7.1 sq ft (.7 sq m)
Measured Peak Height: 38 in (97 cm)



Product Description
    A thorough product description of the Baku 2 can be found in my
Initial Report.

Field Testing
     While I haven't been able to get as many testing days in the
Long Term portion of my test as I wanted, I've had a few.  In
addition to the 12 nights of use during the Field Report phase, I've
been able to use this tent on two additional overnight backpacking
trips and one additional car camping night.  These additional nights
have all been in sub-alpine forests .  Elevations on these trips
ranged from 9000 ft (2700 m) to 10500 ft (3200 m).  Night time
temperatures ranged from approximately 30º F (-1º C) to 50º F (10º
C).  Weather encountered on these trips has included clear skies,
moderate wind, and moderate yet sustained rain.

My observations of the Sierra Designs Baku 2 Tent are as follows:
1.   Ease of Set-Up - This tent is very easy to set up.  I don't
have to struggle to get the pole tips into the grommets, and there
are only six stake-out points, making it easy to anchor the tent
down.  For the sake of testing, I tried setting the tent up in my
backyard in the dark with no issues.  I was using a backpacking
headlamp, and didn't encounter any problems at all.  After locating
the appropriate grommets, it's just a matter of clipping the "Clip
Locs" to the pole.  Setting the tent up in high winds concerned me
initially, but I'm not worried about it any more.  Once both poles
are inserted into the grommets and clipped to the "Clip Locs", the
tent has a substantial side profile.  This acts as a moderate-sized
sail until I get a couple stakes to anchor it down.  A rather
brainless solution is to stake one or more of the windward corners
down before inserting the poles.
2.   Living Space – I like the living space provided by this tent.
When I've used it solo, it's been near palatial.  When used with two
people, it's very adequate.  The double vestibules play a big part
in providing enough living space.  I have noticed that if I don't
have the tent staked out taut, either the head or foot of my
sleeping bag touch the end walls of the tent.  This isn't a problem
if I'm solo, as I can sleep diagonally, but it does pose a problem
when sharing the tent with a friend in wet weather.  I've found that
I will oftentimes curl up a little bit while sleeping.  This keeps
any part of my bag from touching the ends of the tent.  On my
longest trip, I shared the tent with a friend with a build similar
to me.  We were definitely cozy, but neither of us felt cramped.
3.  Vestibule – I'm pretty impressed with the vestibules, provided
they are staked out taut.  I could easily fit a 4000 cu in (66 L)
pack under the vestibule.  I also had spare room for hiking shoes, a
rock climbing helmet, and my camp sandals, all the while leaving me
plenty of room to get into and out of the tent.  My friend was able
to fit the same gear under his vestibule.  One small quibble that I
have with the vestibule actually pertains to the ball and loop used
to fasten the vestibule out of the way when it's rolled up.  It
would be nice if each strap were just a little longer.  I've had
problems unhooking the vestibule when I'm rushed, have only one free
hand, or cold hands.
4.   Breathability/Ventilation – This is my first experience with a
single wall tent.  After four months of using this tent, I have
mixed feelings.  When it's dry out, the tent is fabulous.  When I'm
solo and there is a light rain, it's pretty good.  When I have a
friend along and there's some form of precipitation, I'm less than
thrilled.  The two small vents are great as long as there is wind to
ventilate the tent.  I've also found that it takes some foresight
to "aim" one end of the tent into the wind.  This increases the
airflow through the small end vents, thus decreasing the amount of
condensation.  When the weather looks like it will cooperate, I'll
unzip one or both of the zippers from the top to increase
ventilation.  In these situations, there is no condensation at all.
If there is no breeze and I'm solo, sleeping with the vestibules
completely closed, there is some condensation in the morning.  If
there is no breeze and I'm with a friend, sleeping with the
vestibules completely closed, there is more condensation in the
morning.  Any time that it really rains and I have to leave the
vestibules closed, there is a lot of condensation in the morning.
Unfortunately, this condensation likes to drip from the ceiling onto
me any time the tent is bumped.  This makes entering and exiting the
tent a tenuous dance to avoid getting wet.
5.   Waterproofness – The siliconized 40-denier nylon is very
waterproof.  All of the moisture that I've encountered on the inside
of the nylon is condensation.  I haven't found any leaking seams
yet.  After my first storm (without a groundsheet under the tent), I
looked at the floor and thought "Oh no, the floor is soaked!"  Upon
closer inspection, I realized that the underside of the SuperSeal
floor must be soaked, but the moisture never penetrated into the
tent itself.  Still, looking at water pooling under my tent is
unnerving.  I have started using a thin plastic groundsheet to ease
my mind and protect the floor from punctures, if nothing else.
6.   Stability – The Sierra Designs Baku 2 has not let me down in
the wind.  I have experienced several strong gusts, as well as a
moderate sustained wind when camping above treeline.  I decided to
guy out the windward side of the tent when initially faced with this
wind, but I soon realized that it wasn't necessary.  Once staked
out, this tent is rock solid in the wind.
7.   Durability – The tent is very durable.  I haven't experienced
any tears or holes in the floor material, even after I used the tent
several times without a groundsheet.  As for zipper durability, the
only problem that I've noticed with the zippers is that the
vestibule zippers tent to get caught on the material covering the
zipper if I'm not careful.  It would be nice if the storm flap
around the zipper wasn't quite so taut at the top of the zipper
track.
8.   Packability – The Baku 2 fits into my backpack very well.  It's
packed size seems fairly similar, if not slightly smaller than,
other tents I've used.  I do wish that the provided stuff sack had a
small handle sewn onto the bottom.  This minor detail makes it much
easier to pull the stuff sack out of a stuffed backpack.
9.   Organizational Simplicity – I'm fairly happy with the gear
pockets.  I find myself using the "stash door" pockets more for gear
than the door itself.  The medium-sized pocket located just above
the floor is nice, but it would be really nice if there were one
more of these pockets, particularly when there are two occupants in
the tent.
10. Smell – The only time that I noticed any funky smell emanating
from the Sierra Designs Baku 2 was when I was lying in it after a
long day of hiking.  That said, the "Tent Guard with Ultra Fresh"
fungistatic agent seems to work very well.  I put the tent away damp
after one trip, stored it that way for a few days, and set it up
again.  There were no funky smells to be found.
Pros
Great living space.
Fairly lightweight for a two-person tent.
Excellent waterproofness.
Lots of pockets.
Lots of vestibule room.
Very easy to set up.
Very stable in winds.

Cons
There is moderate condensation when two people are using the tent in
wet weather.
I wish the stuff sack had a handle on the bottom.
The ball and loop that holds the vestibule open can be tough to get
undone in certain situations.
The vestibule zipper will sometimes snag on the vestibule storm flap.
Thank you to Sierra Designs and BackpackGearTest.org for giving me
the opportunity to test this tent.