Advantages: Powerful, easy to use, good run time Disadvantages: Can be unstable
...To some, bigger is better. If however, you have to fit your tent, sleeping bag, clothing, food and cooking equipment into one small bag, then bigger can be a pain. It's here that stoves like the MSR PocketRocket come in. The stove packs down into a small plastic container, 4" by 2" without the gas canister and weighs in at a mere 85 grammes. As this is without fuel, you'll need to find space in your pack somewhere for a gas canister, coming in at around 3" by 1.5" and costing about £3 on top of the £30 for the stove itself.
Having bought the stove plus a couple of gas canisters, the only thing to do was try it out. Steadfastly ignoring the warnings not to try it out indoors, I attached a canister and stood back. All I can say is, they don't call this the PocketRocket for nothing. Inside, the stove boils water in no time...
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Advantages: Stylish, durable, sharp, versatile, last a life time Disadvantages: Nothing to lock the blades open
...are really indispensable.
The knives are made by a company called Victorinox who originated in Switzerland in 1884 by Charles & Victoria Eisener. They made quality cutlery & in 1891 obtained a contract from the Swiss Army to supply a sturdy soldier's knife. In 1897 Charles Eisener developed a rather elegant officer's knife which was officially registered & became popular throughout the world because of its high quality & versatility.
Today the company offers a huge range of pocket knives including a sportsman knife, waiter's knife, manager's knife, executive's knife, camper's knife, climber's knife, huntsman's knife & the one I have, simply called the ranger's knife.
Most of them are either coloured red or black with the Swiss flag on the body of the knife. They come in all sizes & all have good quality stainless steel blades...
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Advantages: Pocket sized, UNBELIEVABLE POWERFUL, pure white light Disadvantages: None
...with a lifetime warranty.
The main reason for me purchasing the Mini Maglite LED AA even though I already had a Mini Maglite with the LED upgrade was:
1: I sometimes found that my old Mini Maglite did on rare occasions, just did not provide just enough light, but I will hasten to add that most of the time it was more than adequate.
2: I had heard many good things about the Mini Maglite LED AA, and I thought it would be better for me to have that bit of extra pocket torch power (and boy was it way way more than the bit of extra power I was expecting)
3: I was lucky enough to pick one up brand new on a well known auction site for around £25, so for that price I just had to have one.
The Mini Maglite LED AA is similar to the standard Mini Maglite apart from the Mini Maglite LED AA obviously has an LED, whereas the standard Mini Maglite...
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###### UPDATE 11/10/02 ######
The next installment: Green Flag took the van away to a garage (yesterday afternoon) for an estimate on repair costs. They explained that it was too late to have a thorough look at it so they would do it in the morning.... more