Sea to Summit X-Series

Occasionally I get asked if I would like to test and review equipment, other times I will see something that interests me and I will contact the supplier/manufacturer to see if it would be possible to have an item to test/review.

Burton McCall were nice enough to send me a set of the Sea to Summit X-Series Mug, Bowl and Plate.

For years I always carried two cook pots; one of meals and the other a small one for doing 'brews'. The main reason for this was that when using homemade dehydrated meals, they needed to soak for an hour or so, and this ment that one pot was not usable in this time.

I did for a time use just one pot and a plastic bowl but it would not always fit into pockets easily and occasionally pressing to hard on the pack would crack the bowl.

I did also for a time try the Orikaso set of mugs and bowls but never got on with these.

So after seeing a x-bowl on this year's TGO Challenge I though this maybe the ideal solution for the way I cook.

The best way to do this review is do the items individually; So I will start with the X-Mug.

X-MUG

Weight: 52 g
Size: 20mm x 110mm (when flat) 85mm x 110mm (when open)


The X-mug is made from food grade silicone material, this means that it won't taint any liquid that is placed into it.

The mug has a nylon rim to help give rigidity to the mug. The mug is calibrated on the inside in ml and cups, so can be used as a measuring cup. The measurements show from 100 ml to 480 ml.

It will hold 480 ml (2 cups) of liquid but this will take it to the top of the mug; Personally I only fill it to about the 350 ml (1 1/3 cups) this is because where you pick the mug up normally i.e by the sides the mug squishes sightly and can cause the liquid to overflow. The mug can be picked up by the rim but you need to have fairly big hands to do this.


Comparing the x-mug to my old mug; the x-mug will hold sightly more liquid but does weigh a few grams more. But it is much easier to pack away inside a pack or even in a trouser pocket.

Old & New

I do have one niggle and one concern with the x-mug; the niggle is that although the mug will take quite high temperatures, it doesn't seem to hold the heat particularly well. I wouldn't expect it to hold heat like a insulated mug but I found that the heat disperses quite quickly; even quicker that the old plastic mug I normally use. Now I don't know the reason for this; it could be the the walls of the x-mug are quite thin or it could be that silicone don't retain heat particularly well.

The concern is how resistant the silicone is to puncture; I like to have my brew kit close to hand which means I carry it in the outside pockets of my pack. Packs can sometimes get snagged on items like gates, stiles and the odd bit of barbed wire and this could puncture the x-mug; I know this may never happen but I think about these things.

Pros: light and compact, holds a good amount of liquid

Cons: Doesn't seen to keep liquid hot for very long, possibly easy to puncture

X-Bowl

Weight: 86 g
Size: 15 mm x 150 mm (flat) 60 mm x 150 (when open)


The X-bowl is made for the same materials as the X-mug the only difference being that there is no nylon rim; the nylon this time is in the base of the bowl.

The base of the bowl can be used as a cutting board, if you are someone who like to cook and prep fresh food out of the trail.

Again the bowl is calibrated to use for measuring, and shows from 100 to 500 ml.

The bowl can hold a maximum of 650 ml; and you can use virtually all of this, as this time as you are more likely to hold the bowl in the palm of your hand.

I used the bowl for a breakfast (Oat So Simple) and a homemade dehydrated meal and neither of these meals came above the 400 ml mark.

X-Bowl & Breakfast

But once again I found the the meals seems to get cooler quicker than in either a traditional bowl or my Vargo ti-lite mug.

Pros: light and compact, small pack size

Cons: Doesn't seen to keep food hot for very long



X-Plate

Weight: 152 g
Size: 15 mm x 220 mm (Flat) 38 mm x 220 (open)


Again the X-plate is made from the same silicone and nylon, as the other two items. Because of it's bigger size, you get a much bigger cutting board and the plate will hold 1170 ml.

Now I have to admit the I can't really find a way of fitting this plate into my backpacking set-up. It has nothing to do with the weight or the size but more to what I would use it for.

Most of my meals on trips are 'heat and eat' so the X-bowl would serve this purpose 99.9% of the time.

I could see the plate being used on 'Glamping' trips with the family; when having 'proper' meals in a tent.

Pros: light and compact, good if you like a large plate

Cons: doesn't really fit in with my type of backpacking


Overall I see the mug & bowl to be a good addition to my backpacking kitchen.

Power to the people

There have been a couple of posts on charging mobile phones, mp3 players and possibly other equipment while out on a trip.

In the past I have always used a mp3 player that would take AA/AAA batteries and just carry a spare, this usually worked quite well; as for mobile phones, well I never really worried about it because they would be switched off most of the time as they were only a phone.

Nowadays mp3 players have internal batteries that have to be charged through a USB port on the computer and mobile phones are more than just a phone.

There seems to be quite a few different types of chargers out there; from one's that can be picked up in a pound shop to in excess of £30

For my TGOC trip I had picked up one from the pound shop; as I wasn't sure how good these things were and didn't want to pay a lot for something that may not work.



The picture above is of the £1 one; which is very basic, it takes 4 AAA batteries and comes with one lead the connects to the unit and has a female USB on the other end.

Using standard Energizer batteries the unit gave me enough charge to re-charge the mp3 two to three times off one set of batteries.

For the phone is was pretty useless as it only even seemed to add one bar into the phone and I also believed the it was draining the phone but have no proof of that.

Since being back I've looked into them a bit more and if you have an iphone there seems to be plenty of choices, other phones are a bit limited because of the adaptors you need for them. Yes you could use the USB lead that connects to the computer but this means bring along a lead that is at least 3 feet in length.

One company that does seem to make a charger with a variety of adaptors is Powertraveller; they do a whole range of charger but I went for the PowerChimp mainly because is was still fairly cheap and had the tip adaptor I need for my phone.



The PowerChimp comes with 9 tips, a lead to connect the unit to your equipment, a re-trackable USB to unit cable, 2 1800 mAh AA batteries and something I found quite clever; 2 plastic sleeves so you can use AAA batteries in the AA unit. It also has a LED light build into it and also has an on/off button.

Although the unit comes with re-chargeable batteries; normal batteries can be used in it.

The unit takes about 5 hours to fully charge its batteries; and again charging the mp3 player I can get a about 3 full charges.

The website quotes the following about the charger:-

There are two rechargeable AA 1800mAh batteries in the powerchimp, but the voltage is 1.2v. Mobile phones require 4.5 ~ 5.5 v, so the powerchimp needs to convert from 1.2v to 5.5v. The battery capacity is almost divided by 5, 2 x 1800mAh NI-MH batteries are equal to 1x 1000mAh Li-ion battery, powerchimp is a typical emergency charger and therefore will give you up to one full charge of your mobile phone

To test this out I allowed my phone to go completely flat and has a full 5 hour charge in the PowerChimp. The PowerChimp did recharge the phone but not to a full charge; 3 bars did appear but even in standby the phone dropped to 2 bars with in an hour.

Another test was done but this time using Energizer Lithium batteries, again the phone charged to 3 bars but this time it stayed at 3 bars for a day but as usual started to drop as I used the phone.



The unit with the AA rechargeable batteries weights in at about 50 grams and a bit less with Lithium batteries.

The on/off button is recessed on the unit so makes the chances of being switched on by accident less, but I also reverse one of the batteries when not in use, just in case.

The first press of the button will start the charging procedure and this is accompanied by a flashing green light to tell you that that the charging is working. A flashing red light tell you that the batteries are nearly exhausted.

The second press of the button switches on the LED light and a third press will switch the unit off again.

The overall size of the unit in roughly 9x4x3 cm and it come with a small pouch case to store a couple of adaptors and the unit in.



As yet I haven't tried it with Alkaline batteries but would imagine that I will get something between the rechargeables and the Lithiums in performance.

Overall I think the unit works well for mp3 players, and is a good emergency back up for the phone.

Guess Who's Back?

Hello World

Miss me?

Thought not.

It seems as though there is just over a 100 days or so before the start of the TGO challenge for this year; so I thought, it's time for an update.

The route has been vetted; my vetter did give me a couple of new ideas for camping and a slight change of route which I will probably use.

I'm on the lookout for some new equipment before the challenge and have started acquiring it; The first new bit is a new pair of waterproof trousers.

I usually use a pair of Peter Storm trousers but didn't feel that these would be up to two weeks across Scotland, so have bought a nice pair of Berghaus Paclite
Pants. They only weigh 185 g, pack down really small and are a whole 200g lighter than the Peter Storm's.

These are the most expensive waterproofs I have ever bought but they seem much better than the previous one's I've owned.

They have 3/4 length zips on the legs; so make it much easier to put on over boots, they also so help to vent the legs.

Gear Head

There has been some talk on a few of the blogs about gear; and I was feeling left out, so I bought something.

I'm off to Wales on Thusday for a 4-5 day backpacking trip (more on that later) and needed to get some gas for the trip, so a shopping trip to Millets was called for.

Whilst in there; I noticed they had some TNF Hedgehog is stock at £80. For a while I have been looking and thinking about wearing trainers for backpacking, I already have a pair of New balance all-terrain trainers and have been looking at Inov-8's but have been put off trying them out.

With one eye on Scotland next year; I thought it about time to give the New balance ago, and Wales was to be the opportunity but the Hedgehog looked an even better shoe, so I bought them.

Good thing is I also got them cheaper than the £80, I only paid £54. Which is cheaper the the Inov-8's, they are a bit heavier than them, 497g per shoe but that is for a size 12!

Rainy day project

This project has been about on the internet for a few months; but I haven't able to get hold of the main component.

On Sunday I noticed that the main component was back in stock at Ultralight Outdoor Gear, so I ordered it and it arrived this morning. So great service from U.O.G.

The component is a MSR Blizzard tent stake, yes; you can see where this is going.

I made myself a Colin Ibbotson Peg Trowel

For a few years I have had a pretty heavy steel? trowel; it was the one advertised in the TGO, and weighed in at a hefty 156g including carry case.

My CIPT weighs in at 37 g or 40g with the added spike protector, this was added as I am worried that the spike may go through the side or pocket of my pack.

CIPT with protector and old trowel in case

Colin recommends using grosgrain ribbon for the handle but as I didn't have any; I went with the old standby of silver duct tape.

CIPT and old Trowel

I've had a quick try out of the CIPT in the garden and although it doesn't dig out as much as the other trowel; it certainly works and has a weight saving of well over 100g.

Mat

My last night in Scotland, last year; I found that my sleeping mat had developed a leak and was going down after a few hours.

Once home I got it in the bath, and eventually found the hole and repaired it. Or so I thought; last weekend's trip I used the mat for the first time since then and it was still leaking.

I've had this mat for 5 years and it was a freebie; so I pretty much got my monies worth from it.

Biggest problem now was getting a replacement, as they are impossible to buy in the U.K. Other than the U.S the only other countries than seem to have them is Australia or New Zealand.

I don't mind buying equipment outside the EU or even paying the 15% tax on it, but I do mind having to pay the P.O. the £8 for telling me that I have to pay a tax.

Luckily Mac E over at Stayin' Alive had just bought one from a company in the U.K.


So an order to Raw Outdoors on Thursday and today I have my shiny new mat.



I did looking into buying a NeoAir but was not sure whether I would like it or not and also the price was a bit to much; plus I know exactly what I'm getting with the Themo mat.

Shout Out

I'd like to give a shout out to Team io. AktoMan recommend them, cause I was looking for some new guys rope for my tent.

I ordered from their ebay site at 11.34 am yesterday and the new guys arrived today before 11.00 am, great and fast service.

Thanks Team io

Wood Burning

Finally got around to trying the Honey Stove with the wood I collected last week.

The first couple of minutes show that I've never used a wood burning or even started a campfire; I think the main problem was I didn't have enough tinder and also the initial sticks of wood were to small.

Extra Honey

A bit more playing with the Honey stove; although I haven't actually boiled anything on it yet.

When I set up the stove yesterday I placed all the grill pieces in the stove; I now know that the middle grill is for use with a Trangia meths burner, so this grill doesn't need to be inserted in the stove unless using the Trangia burner.

The two meth stoves I have are a Pepsi and a White Box Stove(WBS); so these are the ones I tried in the stove.

Honey & White Box Stoves

As you can see I only have the top & bottom grills in place and no Fire door either; the WBS seems to be quite away from the top grill a gap of about 40cm. Like I said; I haven't boiled anything yet, so I not sure if this gap is to big and will the flames from the WBS reach a pot on the top grill.  It is possible to move the bottom grill to the middle but then there isn't enough room for the WBS to fit.

 

Honey & Pepsi Stoves

Moving the bottom grill to the centre mean that the Pepsi stove is much closer to the top grill and should mean that the flames reach the pot better. This stove is designed to be very flexible; so the top grill could of been moved to the middle and still have the same effect but giving a better windshield around the pot.

Honey Honey

A short video showing the new Honey Stove from backpackinglight.co.uk.

These are just my initial comments and thoughts on first opening the package.

There will be more to come in the next week or so.




And a big thanks to Bob & Rose for the chance to test this out.

Box of surprises

After the problems of yesterday with the line I deleted this post, thinking it was the cause; it wasn't. So I have re-posted and also managed to get rid of the line.

I finally got the parcel I was waiting for yesterday; and in it was a pleasant surprise.

Originally I had been in touch with HiTec about a pair of their V-lite Recon Mid eVent boots but they didn't have any available.

So they said to let them know if there was any others I would be interested in, so I gave them a choice of four; so they could send me out a pair.

So I was really surprised to find that they had sent out; two of the four choices, named a pair of V-lite Radar II eVent and a pair of the Peak II eVent.

Radar II

Peak II

I had a chance to give the Radar II a little test out yesterday; while out shooting some video, the initial thoughts are that they are a little on the tight side but hopefully they will stretch a little but they do feel very light on the feet.

As yet; I haven't weighed either of them but will do over the next few days and post more information as and when the testing continues.