Bushwalk Australia

I've just had another camping cot collapse on my at home.
Well actually it collapsed on my 10YO grandson but I guess it amounts to the same thing.
Why is camp gear so damned heavy and expensive and at the same time so badly made?
This is a Darche cot but several other cots in the same X-fold type have failed in the same manner and the same place; the centre half length part.
Trying to get the set-up for the Uluru trip sorted and was using the kids as guinea pigs while they stay with us for a month.

How do you get a cot to collapse on you? Normally one would expect them to collapse under you.

north-north-west wrote:How do you get a cot to collapse on you? Normaly one would expect them to collapse under you.

If I wasn't already a dedicated pedant I'd take exception to that post.
Should I go back and edit or can I let it stand?
To be entirely correct it collapsed under the 10YO.

Fixing the spelling of normally while you're at it....

Lamont wrote:Fixing the spelling of normally while you're at it....

I'd have to fix this piece of crap keyboard to do that.

Are these X-leg cots inherently less robust than the old Australian army type?
And Darche are being less than helpful at the moment.

So much car camping gear is just rebranded Ali rubbish, unfortunately. There's no pedigree anymore; a lot if it is just the same stuff and a lot of it isn't very good.

On the other hand, I've used Darche stretchers/cots before and they seem pretty good. Are you sure it was put together correctly, locked with the locking mechanism, and that the locking mechanism wasn't kicked or knocked?

What locking mechanism? These X-leg stretchers don't have them
Are the ones with locking legs much better?

Well I've spent a few hours and repaired the broken leg on the cot.
I had a laminated bamboo broom handle spare, undid a few bolts and pushed it down thought the broken area and put the bolts back.
Cheap steel less than a millimeter thick, no wonder it broke

There is a difference between cheap and affordable.
They can't keep making camping items more and more affordable without them becoming cheap.

But they are not cheap at all.
I suppose that might be considered affordable and disposable items for some people, we are not in that income bracket
I'd like to be tho.
I can buy a bed for home for much less than I pay for some of these cots.
Even less cheap when you take the poor working life into account. Good engineering doesn't cost anything really when spread over thousands of items, would add less than a dollar to the selling price

Alot of car camping gear is all the same rebranded garbage.

With bush walking gear my philosophy is that the mid range is where you want to be, TarpTent etc. It's all well made and good designs for reasonable prices comparatively .

With car camping stuff I think you need to ignore mid range and either go for the really expensive stuff that will last forever or really cheap stuff. Last December I bought a roof top tent,apart from cars it's the most expensive thing I've ever bought and oath is it good. Paid half RRP for it second hand, no way could I justify full price.

I agree, most of it is badly made and there is no excuse, why does a $400 canvas swag fall apart as quickly as an ultralight tent.