Event: ConFest

Over Easter, I took the family to ConFest, a big "hippie" lifestyle and camping festival. We've been a couple of times before, but this was the first time we had gone with the two littlest ... Triceratops Girl and Tactical Baby. This made it quite the adventure, with the two of us adults, a teenaged lady, a 4yo and an almost 2 yo. Camping for four days, a long way from home.

Its not as if ConFest is really roughing it, by any stretch of the imagination. Ive seen any number of campsites there which were not much more than a sleeping bag on a drop sheet, under a tarp, and yet the inhabitants had hot cooked food, from the large market area.

We took our new (but second hand) 9 person Great Outdoors - Silver Grande 9L  tent, as well as a pair of the Spinifex - Deluxe Padded Camp Stretcher beds (XL)   a folding port-a-cot for Tactical Baby and the very ingenuous Spinifex -  Double Bunk bed cots. We didn't want to spend our holiday with cranky, sleep deprived children.

Where am I going with all this? well, we packed all of our gear into my Toyota RAV4 5-door, including the two kid seats, and drove the 7 hours to ConFest, and I used the exercise as a "get the hell out of Dodge" system check. We could load up x-amount of stuff, and only that. We were cheating because we were planning to buy some food at the market, and stopped for lunch on the way. However, it was a good test of what we would need, and what we could do without.

Here's a shot of us crammed in, the backseat full of kids, the front seat full of road snacks and gear.

We took solar chargers for our electronics, lights and the like, the Australian Easter has no shortage of sunlight. The roof-rack was filled with bedding, the beds, a spare tent, camp-tables and chairs, all covered with a tarp. A cheep tarp. Lesson learned, get a better tarp.

We also packed more food than we ate, never a bad thing, and we chose our food carefully so it would not require excessive care or refrigeration. It would have lasted us a week, if we'd been careful. We had packed baby things, including formula, nappies and changes of clothes.

My big box of camping kit, which included cast iron pots and pan, tripods, spits, fire starters, hatchet, lengths of chain, wire and rope, candles as well as cutlery, plates, bowls and the like. A 30L water jug, ensured we had water at the site, without needing to continually trek to the fresh water hoses. Then there was the luggage, we each packed differently, I wore the same Urban Dax pants each day, changed shirts each day and wore my Paleo Barefoots everywhere. The rest of my kit went into my Platatac Light Field pack which also doubled as a Yoda-carry-rig for Tactical Baby as we wandered the festival.

You can see the Fiskars log splitter I chopped three days worth of redgum firewood and the Zombie Tools Deuce I took with me because ... hippies ... zombie hippies ...

What did I take from all of this?

We took too much stuff. The new camp beds, in combination with the huge tent were worth it for the comfort we gained. Even though we could have done without in an emergency, they were a great investment in comfort. We tool a lot of "snivel gear" and probably not enough food and water for a "get out of Dodge" situation.

A giant festival like this is a good indication of what a well meaning "lets bug out of the city" refugee camp might start out like, and harkens to the chapter in Max Brook's "World War Z" dealing with that.  I looked around at the haphazard sites, and the supplies we had all brought, and reaslised that we in the middle of a couple of thousand people who were a weeks hunger away from barbarism.

Sleep tight campers!

Review: CRKT - Eat'N Tool

I really love my pocket tools, and I really love it when they are multifunction. I also love eating, and am really quite fond of proportional violence. I have several pieces of eat-wear in my collection already, the Alpha Set from Sea to Summit being one example, and my Snowgum BattleSpork (same article) being another. So when I felt the need to splurge on a bit of eating tech, I picked some of these up. This is the CRKT Eat'N Tool. I like CRKT, they have elegant and functional tools, like my STIFF KISS camping/car knife and Folding KISS EDC knife

Once again, CKRT have come up with the goods.


The Eat'N Tool is primarily a spork, with a nice dish (although probably not what you'd always want to eat your soup with) and four little tines, very elegantly worked into the tip. Made of
3CR13 steel and available in a bead-blast finish (9100C), or with a food grade black non-stick coating (9100KC) like the once I have here. 

The tool's scalloped sides and center hole give a good comfortable grip, and enough purchase to be used as an improvised mood-adjustment tool (like the Nukotool Skully)

A bottle opener is always a welcome addition! 
 On the back side, three metric wrench reliefs (10 mm, 8 mm, 6 mm) give you some on hand adjustment options of another kind, again aiding to reduce the overall weight down to a mere 43g (1.5 oz). A flathead screw driver adds another on-the-spot fix-it tool to the package, as well as

There is also a lanyard hole, for even more dummy-cording goodness. 




The Eat'N Tool is friendly in the pocket, I haven't gouged myself on it yet, nor did it gouge my hip pocket (proverbially, as I don't carry my wallet back there).


I'm thinking of giving them away to friends for Giftmas...

Click here to go to Think Geek to get one ...

Wish Lust: Kickstarter Cole-Bar

So, I've been hitting Kickstarter pretty hard again (there will be some more re-previews of cool projects coming up), and I struck a deal with the folks behind this bad-assed tool to see if I could drum up some more interest for them.  This is the Cole-Bar multifunction hammer.

CNC milled from a block of steel, the hammer has a serious industrial look to it, but it is a lot more than just a hard looking claw hammer.




It's a claw hammer with a full crow bar built in!

The production model includes a rubberised grip on the hammer side of the shaft.

The straight edges are inch-maked for use as a ruler (although having it in metric too would be a good addition, I'll put that out there)

Using a patented locking gear mechanism, the Cole-Bar can be opened and extended from 0 to 180 degrees and locked into place at 15 degree increments.

As well as making an angled too, this also makes the tool a protractor, and set-square for all you equipped  masons out there

The locking gear is connected by a

standard 1/2" drive which lets you use the Cole-Bar as a socket wrench.

 
Further more, that same 1/2" drive  the Cole-Bar can be separated with a button release turning it into a set of demolition tools.

I'm looking forwards to comparing this to my Stanley FUBAR and Dead-On Superhammer

Claw hammer, full sized crow bar, socket wrench, ruler, set-square and protractor this is a truly multifunction tool, that I am proud to get behind ....  Now to get it over the line, and into my paws to hammer and pry!

Get to backing, hopefully you can get one too...





edit: Brandon just sent me some renders of the finished product, which Kickstarter wouldn't allow ... get a peek here, FIRST!

Review: OpsCore style bump helmet

Here's another item that falls into my laser-tag/MILSIM collection that spills over into my equippedness kit.

I'll get it out there right away, that this is an OPSCORE style knockoff. If the good folks at Ops-Core want to send me the real deal, I'm all for that, but right now, this will do me.

I really wanted to get a helmet that I could mount my Contour GPS cam to directly, as both the sticker and hat-rigged rail methods I've tried haven't been overly comfortable when doing a 20km mud-run or two
but I had a good expereicne with the helmet-cam's at IRL-Shooter: Patient Zero so I wanted to go that route.

What you can see here is the side rails, mimicking the ACH-ARC Kit to which I have fitted a proper Ops-Core Picatinny rail adapter, on top ow which I have mounted my Strikemark Contour Cam adapter. The ACH-ARC Kit and the FAST Helmet rails facilitate all manner of accessory attachment, from lights, to a face-plate armour, goggle straps and headsets.

I have a Manta strobe mounted by a sticky loop-field, because when I am out adventuring, I want to be able to be found if i get washed out to sea, fall in a heap, or whatever.



The front of the helmet has a VAS_Shroud mount where I could fix NVG or the like, if I had that kind of rig. Currently I am sporting a  KayRank Tactical helmet rank plate by Jerald Kubicek.  I wear that rank plate for roleplaying purposes only, I don't hold this rank in any official capacity (and more power to all the real E-7's).

Inside the helmet are a set of adjustable pads, with hook-fields stuck around the inside to allow custom fitting.  The chin and head straps follow the H-nape style  and gave me a pretty secure fit, once I adjusted it to sit on my head, and policed my hair with a HeadSox tube.

Once I had, it was pretty comfortable, I have taken it out kayaking, running on my Sky-Walker kangaroo legs, and lazer-tagging. I will be not only be wearing it for all my adventuring in the future to stave off bumps and knocks, (but as it it only a rigid polypropylene plastic, and not something I'd trust my life and health to.

It is not a substitute for a bike-helmet, or in any way or shape ballistic protection, but will save my noggin from crawling around under pipes and beams. The ends of the bolts that affix the rails and straps poke in the helmet about 1/4" and i think that could do with some grinding down, too, for safety.

Otherwise, a fun addition to my kit a great place to mount my cam, lights and gear, oh, and somebody wake up Hicks.

Review: Condor Combat - Nomex gloves

I've been trolling eBay to find new exciting things to add to my collection, and one such bargain arose in the form of these Condor Combat Nomex & Leather gloves. I tend to destroy or lose gloves, so having another set on hand (huyk huyk) is a very good idea, as Winter is Coming here in Melbourne.

I've covered some rugged gloves in the past, but those are pretty much dedicated work gloves. I have long thin hands, and when it come to outdoors gloves, getting a good fit is difficult sometimes. The span of my hand tends to tear out the thumb/forefinger seam, so having a well put together glove that fits is also something I'm always looking for.

Constructed from the fire-resistant NOMEX fabric with premium goat leather highlights and reinforcement sections, one of the really interesting features is the dual-layer construction. The long sleeve of the inner layer rides up to about the mid forearm, meaning that it will tuck under a jacket, or over a shirt, giving a full "no-exposed-skin" cover. Is is great n the cold and wet, but essential when exposed to fire: be it flash, sustained or whatever. The outer hand-sized layer is stitched tot he inner, and features fully leather lined palms, and a elastic hook-and-loop closing wrist cuff. The knuckles, finger tips and trigger-finger digit knuckle are also leather reinforced.

I used them whilst chopping and hauling a load of firewood, and then later on when tending the bonfire and spitroast I did over the weekend. Not only did the long sleeve give me abrasion protection, and keep both my hands and wrists burn-free, the leather highlights also include a large padded section on the heel of the palm. This perfectly matches with padding needed when using a repetitive percussive tool.....

For me, that is mostly wood chopping with an axe, hammering or sword-work doing scrub clearing. For others, perhaps slinging hot lead.

These are a really nice set of gloves. They seem warm, without being hot, they have good coverage, solid construction and fit really well. I look forwards to waring these for all my outdoors cooking, chopping and strolling.

Review: Zombie Outbreak - Trekker pack

Here is the second of the Zombie Outbreak packs that I was sent by Global Gear, a follow up of the Hydro-Bugout pack  I reviewed a little while ago.

This time it is a slightly larger and feature rich pack, the Trekker.

The first thing that struck me about this pack was the range of attachment points, it is simply covered in PALS/MOLLE loops, loop-fields, shock-cord loops, and that is before you even get to the compartments.

Made of the same cordura-like fabric as the Hydro-Bugout, one of the things that I noted with this pack was the significantly better stitching and finishing. The MOLLE loops were even and cleanly spaced, the loop fields were heat-sealed and the webbing was all seated much better.

I gave this one a bit of a workout at a recent indoor lazer-tag event, where i loaded it up with my gear, change of clothes, bottle and the like.

This 30L, 33cm  13"(W) x 53cm (21") x 13cm (5") pack is backed with a breathable mesh and features contoured shoulder straps with both D-rings and webbing loops for attaching accessories. The adjustable pectoral strap will slide up and down a fair way to give you a comfortable carry, and the webbing all mounts to the pack by secure looking construction. 

I liked that the drag-strap poked through the opening of the front flap, and was mounted to the back, rather than the top of the pack, it gave me better balance when picking the pack up, I felt.

The front of the pack features a very large flap, that covers over 1/2 of the front, and has a number of pocket (i'll talk about those a bit later. The whole thing covers the front of the pack, except for the interesting cut-up where the drag strap pokes out, and presumably where you could get grab-access to the internals of the pack without exposing it all, or run hydration tubes or comms lines.


From the side you can clearly see the five rows of two channel PALS/MOLLE webbing, along with the dual fastex-style buckles making up twin compression straps on the sides, allowing you to really cinch up the pack to keep it tidy.

You can also see just how far that front panel will extend, this being an unburdened and only lightly stuffed demo, if needed, that front panel could be buckled down way to the bottom of the front, giving you serious compression and packing minimalism.

I had a problem with the ends of the compression webbing coming loose and falling out of the buckles, mostly I assume because they weren't under tension, but also because of the way they were finished (a diagonal heat-cut, rather than a hemmed tab, but this was a minor inconvenience, as I didn't use them much.

The front panel features a pocket right on top,
with a "back-opening" zipper closure, and is itself topped with both a 2 row, 4 channel PALS/MOLLE field, but also a sizable loop-field for affixing patches (as I've done here with one of my TAD patches.

Below that, a zippered pocket opens up to fill the bottom of the flap. On top of that however, is an interesting addition. A shock-corded set of webbing-loops, over the top of another loop-field, and all of this is over a tube-like opening that runs horizontally below the middle set of loop-filed seen here under my "Zombie-Hunter" patch.

The whole front panel is closed and locked down by the really large buckle, which feeds through the front loops of the bottom of the pack.

Under that front flap there is another set of two-row, four channel PALS/MOLLE webbing, this time all loop-field equipped, below which are two more pockets opening up into separate compartments at the bottom of the pack.

The male section of the main front closing buckle is seen here, and this has webbing that feeds through yet another set of loop-field PALS/MOLLE straps, although these are broken up by the extra-wide buckle-strap, giving two sets of three by two loops.

The two main compartments open up beyond these.

The "front" compartment is the bigger of the two, with a full width, top to bottom space. It opens via double ended zippers, and will open all the way to the bottom when needed.You can see here the shiny backing of the fabric used throughout this pack. I don't now what it is, but it feels like some kind of thread-impregnated vinyl.

The internal materials (such as that seen in the large panel-pocket here) has a lightweight tent-feel to it.






The "back" compartment features a padded and hook-and-loop tabbed laptop compartment / hydration pouch/ plate carrier pouch.

This whole compartment only opens 3/4 of the way, ensuring that you don't spill all your needfuls, or that it is not dragged open by the weight of the forward compartment and pockets.

The twin sets of compression straps also act in your favor here, holding the pack open, whilst still giving you access, even when bulky items may hinder zipping it up.

All in all this is a decent pack. I liked the various options for mounting accessories, and the range of pockets throughout the outside, to stow smaller items, without having to open up the main compartments. The large over-flap was an interesting addition, and could almost certainly work like a beaver-tail to stow larger items.

Events: EcoXpo - Free Tickets Anyone?

 Follow up to my EcoXpo event (Friday-Sat-Sun, this week19-21-April-2013), in Melbourne..........
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Dear Josh,

Thank you for registering your details for a trade pass.

As a thank you for your support, we are offering you free tickets to offer to all of your customers, clients, friends and family.

Promote this offer in your newsletter, facebook and social media. Please use the following link

https://yi120.infusionsoft.com/app/form/trade-visitors-clients-offer

The free ticket is for Friday 19 April only and valid from
10am - 9pm at the Melbourne Showgrounds, entry via Gate 5.

Thank you and we look forward to your visit.

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