Duke of Ed equipment!

[warghh]

Hi all,

I'll be doing my Gold DoE (4 days/ 3 night hike) soon, and I have a few items that I need advice on. Most likely to be hiking in the Autumn and Spring, and also around KNP, Blue Mountains, and coastal tracks.

TENT
This is my main concern. A LOT of tents that I've seen decent reviews around are $500+ I would appreciate a few suggestions on tents with these features (although I'll be interested in others)
- sub $200 range
- fly and mesh
- generally easy to set up
- 2 person
- ~2kg or less
I'm also wondering if anyone's had experience with Anaconda's Denali Zephr II tent which is $150 right now on special.
And also the Luxe Lightwave.
I'm curious about the suitability of these two for my hikes. Especially the Luxe. If anyone knows about the price of it in HK, that'd be fantastic.

PACK
Right now I'm using a borrowed Blacks Tundra 65. It'a pretty nice, but I'm interested in investing in one of my own. I found that for a 3 day hike, the 65L was actually a little big, and I could compress the pack a LOT, although that may be because of the side pockets.

SLEEPING BAG
I currently have a Caribee Discovery 1400(~1.5kg). It was $50 from Big W 2 years ago. I'm considering upgrading to a Kathmandu Globetrotter (0.9kg).

Thankyou!

[Maelgwn]

Hi Mate

Welcome to the forum. Until you can afford something nice, I would just keep borrowing gear. Ask around you family or friends, school/uni or even the local scout group and you should be able to find a tent to borrow.

The Kathmandu Globetrotter sleeping bag doesn't look warm enough. For general use you probably want something with a comfort rating of at least 0C (or -5C if you are a cold frog). If you pool the money from the tent + sleeping bag plan you should be able to buy a good one planet/sea to summit bag.

[frenchy_84]

The ferrino range of tents are worth looking at for what your after. Check out the ferrino nemesi 2

[wayno]

ring around, find out what sort of discount you can get for buying all your gear... even if its on sale it's still possible to negotiate better discounts, but depends on how much your total spend is....
put off buying for as long as you can if you can save more, ideally buy quality.
to really save money, go second hand, there are always people who are selling gear that didnt work out for them that hasnt been used that much and is a good deal...

[icemancometh]

Hi Mate

Welcome to the forum. Until you can afford something nice, I would just keep borrowing gear. Ask around you family or friends, school/uni or even the local scout group and you should be able to find a tent to borrow.

The Kathmandu Globetrotter sleeping bag doesn't look warm enough. For general use you probably want something with a comfort rating of at least 0C (or -5C if you are a cold frog).

Borrow is good, but I disagree re sleeping bags (bear in mind this is just one person's opinion-mine)...Anything +5ish and below (T limit NOT extreme) is about right for most Australian conditions. If you insist on a Kathmandu bag, go get the Pathfinder?

[icemancometh]

put off buying for as long as you can if you can save more, ideally buy quality.
to really save money, go second hand, there are always people who are selling gear that didnt work out for them that hasnt been used that much and is a good deal...

what he said!

[warghh]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate your input.

Packwise, I am able to continue borrowing a friend's pack.

Sleeping bag doesn't have to be Kathmandu branded. I'm open to others of course. I can't see myself going camping outside of Australia, or even in extreme weather conditions.

Unfortunately, with the tent, I am unable to borrow others, since people I know that own a suitable one will be going on the hike with me, and sharing with other people. Family friends aren't the type to go camping.

I am really curious about the suitability of the Luxe Lightwave (my cousin's in HK at the moment, and would be able to ship it back for me at a very economical price), and so I'd appreciate any input on that.

Do you guys have any suggestions on online secondhand stores for camping equipment that are good?

[Strider]

Macpac up to 50% off Easter sale started today. Suggest you go have a look at their Escapade range of sleeping bags.

I would avoid just about anything from Kathmandu. The Globetrotter would be a very cold bag going by the specs.

[icemancometh]

Luxe is just a company that reverse engineers, ie makes copies, other brand's tents (a lot of other companies also do this) at a more affordable price. They should be adequate for your purposes.


Anyway Ueli uses a +5C bag too
http://www.mountainhardwear.com/Mtn-Spe ... lt,pd.html

[disco_nex]

For a tent, I was impressed with the Vango Banshee 200. It was $170 from some online place based in Queensland. Funnily enough, it is recommended DoE equipment and it is good quality for the price, yet very light.

Black Wold sleeping bags are well priced for everything short of extreme conditions.

Otherwise, borrow. It is certainly cheaper.