Advantages: Warm, light, confortable
Disadvantages: No shoulder/neck baffle, zip can snag at times.

...The Piute (also availble; woman\'s Piute) is a warm and cozy sleeping bag. Its price is a reflection of its quality and appears reasonable compared to other bags of similar specifictions. Its lightweight design is very useful for back packing or anytime that space is at a premium. It comes with a small stuff sack that it fits into neatly, although could be compressed further (not recomended for down bags, especially not for longer periods of time). The hood offers superb protection from the cold although it could possibly benefit from a second draw string baffle around the neck.shoulders area. However the drawstring around the top of the hood to enclose around the face is confortable and good at keeping the heat in whist allowing freedom of movement. When using this bag i (very) occasionally have a little trouble with the zip... Read review

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Advantages: Reasonably light, quick to erect, roomy, four season.
Disadvantages: None

...An outstanding tent for all weathers. We have not yet used it to its full potential. Myself, husband and daughter regularly travel with this tent. We backpack and find it light and easy to transport in our rucksacks. It can be erected within minutes, is extremely stable with the added bonus of no guy ropes! Waterproof and capable of seeing out the worst rain storms. Comfortably roomy with sufficient storage space for rucksacks at the rear. Good sized front vestibule with good ventilation suitable for cooking in when the weather is bad. Too many inside pockets to count! Very good ventilation. Excellent after care service received from Mountain Hardwear after one minor problem of ink on label running when it was packed away wet and staining inner tent. Mountain Hardwear were extremely helpful and replaced the inner tent within... Read review

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Advantages: Warm, Extreme
Disadvantages: Size

...The Vango Predator 450 is a flagship synthetic bag packed with features to make this one of the best bags proving plenty of bang, for your buck. "The Predator range of sleeping bags is designed for use at the extreme limit. Available in mummy or square. Predators will be used by experienced campers, mountaineers and expedition members who will only use the highest performance sleeping bag suitable for the most hostile environments. Highly compressible Dupont Thermolite Extra is used in conjunction with Thermolite Micro for the ultimate warmth to weight ratio." As stated this bag is for use in slightly more 'wild' conditions, where some down bags would provide to much heat and most synthetic bags wouldnt provide enough. Although this bag has the disadvantage with most synthetic bags, the size, it does hold most of the properties which... Read review

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Advantages: quality, long lasting, good design.
Disadvantages: some may find expensive

...back in the eighties, when looking for suitable clothes for travelling light on a hiking/mountain biking trip in France. I was looking for something you could ware every day, and something that would be hardwearing enough for leisure activities, providing comfort, and durability. So I was kitted out with trousers, shirts, windbreaker, tee shirts, and shorts. At not much change out £300, you might think that you could get similar items at a third of the price. But it is the design and materials used that make the difference, each item of clothing is given a specification that would surpass cheaper clothing. For example a pair of Goa trousers will give you sungaurd protection of a SPF 40+, wind guard protection that eliminates any wind chill. I could go on, but the most important for me was the SPF factor. Both my father and two of my... Read review

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Advantages: Extremely Warm. Considerable Amount Of Down
Disadvantages: I Can't Think Of Any

...I have wanted one of these bags ever since I slept in one, the first time I went to a cold part of the United States. A friend of mine let me use his, as I couldn't carry too much with weight restrictions on the flight over to LAX from England. I know you are thinking, why did I need to sleep in a bag that is so thick and warm, when I was in a warm part of the USA. Will I was actually staying 8,000 feet above sea level, in the middle of Winter. Description From The Web Site: "Our goal with the Snowy Owl was simple: design the warmest sleeping bag in the world. Maintaining a mammoth 11-1/2 inches of loft at a constant thickness over the entire body, the Snowy Owl fulfills this goal at what is relatively speaking, an extremely light weight sleeping bag. The Snowy Owl was designed with a fully contoured shoulder, hood, and permanent... Read review

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Advantages: birlliant views, varied climate, challenging
Disadvantages: cold, hot, remote, altitude

...and the temperatures drop significantly, sometimes to as low as -5 at night. The summit day wherever you are ussually includes a quick dash up the top of a peak with as little kit as possible an then a faster dash down. To anyone contemplating such a trek i would advise them to acquire good kit, (boots, tent, sleeping bag) and i would also say reading about the affects of altitude would be a good idea as someone did collapse in my group.... Read review

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Advantages: Ice on the equator is something that has to be seen to be believed
Disadvantages: It's tough getting to the top, quite tricky in places and not for those with vertigo

...rather like giant pineapple cones. It gets very chilly at Base camp, around 4,300 metres and a down jacket and down sleeping bag are absolutely necessary. Ascending the peak starts at three with a wake up call and a hot mug of drinking chocolate. It can be very cold at the summit, it was -12 when we reached it, and it felt colder in the harsh wind, so excellent thermal gloves are really important-as is a balaclava. Recommendation: KG expeditions who are based in Naru Moru at the foot of the mountain were excellent guides. Ask Bernard to bring his slection of Zairean dance tapes! E-mail them at: kgexpd@arcc.or.ke - A seven day traverse up the Sirimon route and down the Chogoria route will cost about $600 How to get there: Gulf Air did a bargain return to Nairobi via Abu Dhabi for £332. KG's team will arrange an airport pick up and drop... Read review

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Advantages: absolute tardis, easy to carry, wide range of colours/patterns
Disadvantages: none

...use (eg carrying around an airport, to hotel rooms, etc not climbing a mountain or hiking!) I didn't encounter any problems or discomfort. *Other features - The bag has an outer zip pocket for little things you need to access more easily. It is deceptively-sized because while the opening seems small, there is quite a bit of space as it runs the entire length of the bag, so if you manoevre things carefully you can fit a lot in! I generally use it for my passport, tickets, phone, wallet, etc and there is bags of extra space (pardon the pun)! - Mine came with a fair-sized washbag in the same pattern. I'm not sure if they all come with one, when I saw it listed on Amazon there was a picture of the washbag but no mention in the text. Well, if you did buy it and get one it is a good bonus because it fits full-sized shampoo bottles, etc... Read review

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Advantages: Comfortable & Durable
Disadvantages: None

...I have been wearing Mountain Horse boots for years now including the ever popular 'Cheetah' boot. I have always ridden in a pair of long leather boots and normally the zips have either gone on them or the stitching which is quite frankly damn annoying! When I bought another horse about 2 years ago I decided to treat myself to a new pair of long leather boots but something which is a bit more durable and hardwearing. I dont know why I never thought of Mountain Horse before! It might be because alot of their boots are quite chunky. Anyway Mountain Horse hadnt had the Sportive High Rider out for long and I had a look and went into my local saddlers to try them to see what they were like, I was smitten. They were so comortable and fitted really well, I have slim legs and normally I get a gap at the back of the boot but not with these! Two... Read review

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Advantages: great range
Disadvantages: no motorcycle parts

...Halfords is a all round auto store that stocks everything for your vehicle from paints to spark plugs It has a good range of out door equipment for camping like tents, stoves, sleeping bags, trailers and much more. They have a large selection of mountain bikes for men, women and children aswell as all the safety equipmet you will need such as helmets, gloves, knee pads and reflective clothing. They have a brilliant car audio section where they sell lots of different brands of stereos in a wide variety of price ranges aswell as amps, subs, speakers and all the wireing to connect them. They have a vast array of items for cars such as haynes manuels, car paint, lights, spark plugs, alloy wheels, air and oil filters, number plates and a large range of colours of car paint. The only down side to halfords is there lack of motorcycle... Read review

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