Camping Gear Reviews, A Ton

Overland Hadley

on a journey
Great reviews, thanks for posting them.

The Fox Hill oven looks very interesting. Might just be what I have been looking for.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Thanks, you are welcome.

Finally replaced my Foxhill cooking pan with a new one.
I did not buy the 8x8 from their site, I found an 8x8 non stick cake pan at my local Safeway grocery store.
The new pan has a lip on it, but it still fits OK within the top part of the stove that holds the pan.

The old pan was not so non stick anymore, it has seen many years of use.
 

Lichen

Explorer
Corey. On your recommendation, I bought the Coleman lantern stand. I was surprised at the quality compared to that piece of junk that Cabelas sells. Thanks for the tip.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
You are welcome.
Which one at Cabelas?
This one, it looks identical to the Coleman one.

Or did you mean this one?

If the latter one, that is the FireFly model that I bought back in the 80s.
Very hard to setup, and non adjustable like the Coleman one.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Glad to hear it.
I have some new gear I have bought too since last summer, and I will be sure to add my thoughts on it to this thread when I get out with it.

It will not stop raining here, I want better weather :sombrero:
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Best American Duffel bag #4

Best American Duffel
Best American Duffel bag #4

First off let me say if you do not have a subscription to Overland Journal, you should if you are into exploring the great outdoors.
The OJ is written by a staff that camps, overlands, and goes on expeditions, so they test a wide variety of gear.
The 2009 Gear issue came out a short time back, and I saw an article in it by executive editor Jonathan Hanson.
The article was on duffel bags.
There were quite a few tested, but one I really liked was made by BadBags, or Best American Duffel.
Turns out they are made in American in Seattle, WA. a short distance from me.
Jonathan Hanson mentioned in Overland Journal that owner Malcolm Vetterlein would more than likely answer the phone if you call, and sure enough he did.
By telling him what duffel I currently owned and how long I might stay out, he recommended the #4 duffel.

I ordered up the #4 size which is 25”x16”x13”, and equates out to 4200 cu in.
A little smaller than a Cabelas Ripcord duffel I bought last year, but this one is way more durable.

It has a carry strap on the side, two full zip external pockets on each side, two internal zipped pockets that float away free from the bag inside, and a horseshoe shaped zipper on top to load/unload your contents.
It also has two compression straps that use the Fastex buckles, and you can cinch the bag tight to make it smaller after you stuff it.

While this is a little smaller than my Ripcord duffel, it is still plenty big, big enough for this packrat to take along a weeks worth of clothing and other gear such as flashlights, bathroom kit, and much more as you will see in the pictures below of all the stuff unloaded.

As you can see the duffel can hold a lot of clothing for an extended stay somewhere.
Mine will be used exclusively for camping/overlanding.
Long long ago I use to use the soft sided suitcases to take car/tent trailer camping, but then I found a duffel that is around fifty years old or so that was my parents.
I used that a lot when my kids were growing up on camping trips, but it is a little too small to hold a good weeks worth of clothing and gear.
This new BadBags #4 duffel will fit the need quite nicely.

Here is a picture from Best American Duffels website.

duffel_4.jpg


Here are a few pictures of my bag loaded and and the last one showing all what was stuffed into it.
The socks were put into one of the internal zipped side bags, and the undies where put into the other internal pocket.

I did not have to use the compression straps in the second picture, but I did just to show how they work.
There was still plenty of room left over for more clothing inside.
I did not even use one of the external pockets, so there was plenty of room left for more gear.

bad1.jpg


bad2.jpg


Here is what I stuffed into the bag minus my undies which I put back into my drawer :D

Top row left to right
six pairs of socks
nylon pullover
Boeing sweatshirt
five shirts
extra pair of shoes (they include a stuff sack for shoes or whatever you want to place in it)

Bottom row left to right
Jansport toiletries case
hooded FJ Cruiser pullover
two pairs of pants

Rest of the items in the bottom row were in an outside pocket
eyeglass case
Black Diamond LED headlamp
Gerber Covert FAST tactical knife (to defend against killer chipmunks)
Gerber mulititool (Recoil model, discontinued, best one they ever made IMO)
earplugs
Garmin GPS

What I forgot to pack for this test was a few pairs of shorts.
But there was still plenty of room left over inside to pack them in on top of the pants below the shoes or the toiletries case.

bad3.jpg


The bag is very high quality and also comes with a shoulder strap to carry the bag that way.
I am looking forward to many years of service from this duffel, and I can not wait to test it out on my next camping trip.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Did you mean the roll up type table or the picnic one?
If the former, I have not had it out in the field yet.
Here is one that I saw on Muds site when I started looking at this type.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=254665

24472_ts.JPG


It is very much like the Cabelas one I bought.

s7_517640_999_01


They are a little flimsy being lightweight aluminum, but I have heard many like them.

In the Gear issue of Overland Journal Roseann Hanson did a review on a wooden table.
I went to the site and they make a lot of cool gear.
http://www.blueridgechair.com/
This looks like the one she reviewed.
http://www.blueridgechair.com/tables/rolltoptable.html

rolltoptable.jpg


The two sizes that Cabelas offers are # Large – 28" x 28"
# Extra-Large – 28" x 43"

The Blueridge one is 28" x 36" x 29.5"

The Cabelas one I have also has adjustable length legs on it if the need arises to try and level it.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Steve, the only place I saw that first one that I saw on IH8MUDs site was at that Sportsmanguide website.

The one I have from Cabelas is nice, but I think anything made out of aluminum to keep the weight down will not be as sturdy as a wooden one.

Thanks for the comps on the Bad Bag above.
They really are great bags.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Maggiolina bone dry inside after a very wet winter

I am happy to report the Maggiolina AirLand roof top tent was perfectly bone dry when I opened it up awhile ago to take out the down comforter and shake it out, and to wash the flannel sheets.
Today was the first time it has been opened up since last August.

We had a lot of snow, ice, and rain since winter, and I mean a lot.
With all of that up there it drips over the shell halves where the gaskets are in place, but not one drop got inside.
I was more concerned with winds driving rain up in there while on the freeway, but the gasket/seal did their thing with perfection.

The only thing I had were some small spiders living on the stainless steel ridge where the canvas connects to the lower half.
That was to be expected as there is slight room for them to crawl there.
But they were not up on the bedding at all.

I will be installing a 12v heating bunk pad later this morning, but I am not sure if I have enough cord or not to make it to the 12v outlets in the rear of my rig.
That will come in useful for some future winter camping or summer camping if the temps drop incredibly low.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Thank you very much Dave.
I have more coming too when I can get out again.
I was going to go this weekend, but some friends that were going to go are not able to make it.

That will give me a chance to work on a shelf system to hang in the tent to hold shoes/boots and other stuff that would get in the way if left on the bed.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
New season, just got back from my 2009 vacation.
I will get trip pictures up later, to tired now to work on them right now.

mountain_notepad.gif


Xpress Lounger Arm Chair

I give it two thumbs up
bigok.gif


Pros:
* This chair takes up about as much room as a laptop case.
* Chair expands to almost the size of a regular folding camp chair.
* Comfortable, can stretch your legs out, slump down, and still catch some zzzz's.

Cons:
* The top strap you carry it with only snaps to one side of the chair, thus making the handle bunch up.
I hear the next gen will have snaps on both sides, thus fixing this.

xpress_lounger.jpg


mountain_notepad.gif


Engel Wireless Thermometer

I give it two thumbs up
bigok.gif


Pros:
* Mount the receiver anywhere you like, as well as it is within the specified 80' range.
* Can read temps in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Besides reading the fridge/freezer temperature, it also displays the temperature where you place the receiver.

Cons:
* Can not think of any.

I really like this gizmo, as when camping in hot weather like I just got back from, I may not check the fridge all the time, and this being outside can alert me to rising temps.

engel_fridge_temp.jpg
 

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