Big Agnes Copper Spur 3: Review

Because I wrecked my back (that will come up frequently, sorry), we figured the only way to get me on the trail again was Lee taking a bigger chunk of the load, and seriously lightening my load.

Heaviest thing I typically carry is a tent for the 3 of us. It's a 10 year old Alps Mountaineering, weighing best we can tell around 8 pounds (about 3.5kg). Over the winter I did a lot of research, and we ended up buying a Big Agnes Copper Spur 3 because it's orange.



The big quick win, is that we went to about 4 pounds, halving our shelter weight (again, we haven't weighed it). Tent volume decreased by about 1/3. The pole bundle is also significantly shorter, so easier to pack.

The fabric is a lot lot lot thinner. So I jam the zippers, something I've never had a problem with before. I had the door held open with the toggle one day, went to bed after dark, and instead of untoggling the door, I ended up sending the toggle through the loop twice more before I gave up and turned on my light.

Pole clips have come lightyears in the past 10 years. Boo can clip and unclip these!

Three 20" sleeping pads fit inside. I'm 6'1" ( 185cm) tall, and I fit with my head and toes not touching the ends. If Boo slept parallel to us, we'd all fit OK.

I've only ever used shepherds crook stakes, so the tiny angle iron stakes were new, and need a little finesse to keep the lines from slipping off. I did put a loop of bright orange cord on them, which kept them from getting lost and provides a little pull handle.



 The first "dry" run, in an RV campground, the tent survived pea-sized hail with no damage or leaks. Second use, there was a more sustained rain. There was a stream under the tent (with footprint), but no water came in that way. The fly sagged in the rain. We did not leave enough cord to tighten it up, though, so the fly hit the tent body in the night, and I got dripped on. The "rainbow" doors that open down have not been a problem when it's dry. Packing up in the mud, I got mud inside the tent, because the doors were flopping all over. Practice needed.



Orange on the outside of Lee's pack is the entire tent. All between the sleeping pad and top lid. It's small.

What's your current tent? What do you like about it? What would you want different? 

Black Diamond Wiz Kids Headlamp: Review

I got a headlamp for Christmas. It was a nice Black Diamond with dimmer and red LED (possibly a Storm?). Turns out, headlamps are much more useful than flashlights.

Lee kept borrowing it, and Boo really wanted one. So I got Boo the kid’s Black Diamond. It’s light (2oz according to REI) and has a sweet octopus twisting around the band (looks like new designs this year, also pretty cool). It's distinctly smaller than mine, much better for a kid-sized person.

The battery compartment has a screw, which is nice from a losing batteries and safety perspective. I’m afraid I’m going to lose the tiny screwdriver that came with it….

 It throws a nice bright light. Not a spot, but not totally diffuse, either. She's not confidant enough in the dark to go running in it, but it's plenty for an evening stroll or potty run.


It only has on/off, which I think is best for a 5-year-old. She wants it to dim and have a red light, which I think is more complicated than she needs. Other than not being as complicated as mine, she loves it.

It has the same feel as the adult Black Diamond headlamps I've handled. Same strap type and setup, same general case thickness, same tilt mechanism.

I prefer the headlamp because I'm less likely to get flashed in the face, and it's easier for her to keep track of than a flashlight.

Boo says, "I like it a lot. It's very good. I use it to see when we're going camping in the dark and when I go potty at night.  (Is it comfortable?) Um yeah. (Is it easy to use?) Yeah, all you have to do is put your finger on it and push."

How do your kids see at night?

Whistles: Review-ish

When she started running ahead of us, we decided we needed to start teaching her basic getting unlost skills. First was “If you get lost, hug a tree and stay put.” Then we got her a whistle. 

The first whistle she had was a yellow one like this. It was too easy for her to cover the holes with her mouth. 

Many backpacks come with whistles built in to the sternum strap (like this). While I can make an OK tweet on one, Boo doesn’t have sufficient control to keep the holes uncovered and make any noise. It’s a nice backup, but not sufficient for her yet.

Now she uses an orange whistle like this. She likes it best. The sound holes are furthest away from the mouth, so she’s most successful making noise with this type. 

We do have her practice with them occasionally, in situations where nobody is likely to mistake it for an actual emergency call (trail head, back yard…). 

The other thing we do is put her whistle on a break-awayneck lanyard. We bought a pack online, and I cut out 5-6” of the strap to make the length better for her. It stays looped on her backpack, or is a safe necklace. We did lose one once, but I’d rather she have the breakaway safety feature right now. 

I’ve considered a bigger whistle with the holes even further away and harder to cover up, but I’m afraid those are too big for a good little kid necklace. Thoughts? 

The boy had three whistles on him the last time we discussed it. One plain yellow whistle, an two that were parts of emergency/survival multi-use things. 

What whistle (if any) do your kids carry?

Review: Rei Sahara Zip Pants

For Christmas 2011, we got Boo 2 pairs or REI Sahara zip-off pants. We bought the girls, but the only “girly” thing about them is the tag and waistband elastic are pink. http://www.rei.com/product/827106/rei-sahara-convertible-pants-girls

 

 Fit

They have the button elastic in the waistband, which is a requirement for anything beyond sweatpants for us. I have no idea what size they are, since somebody cut the size part of the tags off. I’m sure they were the smallest size offered, but I think it was a 5-6 range. I expected them to be too long, and they were. At 4, they were over 3” longer than she needed. Which ended up being 1 roll at the waist and 3 rolls at the cuffs since I was too lazy to shorten them (just taking the cuffs up would have made the zippers not work). At 5 years and 43” tall, they barely hit the dirt. The knees are shaped a bit

Durability

We bought 2 pair so that if one got totally nasty we could trade it out. I will not take a little kid who regularly rolls in the mud and puts her dinner in her lap into the wilderness without a second pair of pants. Chipmunks might get her in the night.

So she’s rolled in the mud, climbed on rocks, shimmied up trees, spilled her food and drink, fallen down, bushwhacked, and generally abused them as much as a 4 year old can. One pair the stitching is broken on the back pockets (one set of the double stitching). One pair is slightly faded (we hang our laundry in the summer). They are still in great shape.

Update Sept 22, 2013: The bottom hem of one leg is starting to show wear. After almost 2 years.








Zips

My favorite thing about these pants is the zips. The entire around zipper is colored (not just the pulls like my pants). And the vertical zipper goes all the way up. So they can be taken off without taking her shoes off. The zipper pulls are on the outside of the leg. The amazing part is that I can take the bottoms of her pants off while she is riding on my shoulders.

 

Pockets

She doesn’t use the rear pockets yet, but she loves to put found treasures in the other pockets. They are nicely sized for her, and reinforced so I’m not afraid she’ll tear them out before she outgrows them.

Warmth/Weight

We bought her convertible pants because she hates the feel of grass on her bare legs, but then gets overheated easily. These keep the grass off without overheating, and then can be turned into shorts when we’re out of the grass. They’re summer weight, and when it’s chilly or windy we layer them with some sweatpants or leggings.

Water

They dry quickly. All the pockets have drain holes.

Dirt

She rolls in the mud. The mud rinses right out. They’ve had a year of reasonably hard wear and don’t have any stains. I’ve never picked burrs off them.

Boo's Views

I like that they can zip off for hot summer days and they can zip on for cold and grassy days. For medium and cold days and for snowy and hot days I like to have my zip ups off and in the summer we took them to Duluth and they have excellent washing machines. You should go there. Yes you really should. They fit perfect but I don't like how the fabric feels on my legs.

Overall

She likes them for hiking, we like them. They're pricy, but they will fit 2 summers, maybe three, putting them into a more normal kid pants price range. If she wasn't so bothered by grass, we'd have stuck with normal nylon pants and shorts, but the trading them on and off was getting too much. So, not for everybody. But if you want zip-off kid pants, these are a good choice.

Review: The North Face Tigger Sleeping Bag

After her fever night in the sleeping bags with us, she asked if she could have her own sleeping bag so that she could flop without us getting in her way.

We could have gotten a down bag that would last until she’s mostly grown, but she’s not too old for accidents, and has been known to spill water. I’d rather be safe than sorry in that respect.  

Many of the youth bags we found were long enough that Lee could fit them nicely. Which is a bit big for a 41” kid. 

We looked for the shortest synthetic-insulated mummy bag we could find. And came up with  The North Face Tigger.

The zipper goes about half way down, making it harder (not impossible) for her to get loose in the night. I hate trying to stuff a clingy cold kid back into her own sleeping bag once she has escaped, squirmed all around the tent, and ended up trying to worm into my bag. 

The hood is fitted for snugness without elastic or dangling cord bits of doom. When she’s calm or cold at bedtime, she’ll snuggle into the hood. 

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Specs say it’ll fit 60 inches. At 42 inches, she’s got 6-8” at the foot, and probably another couple at the head. She’s skinny, and has enough room to wriggle a little. 

It has a little zipper pocket, which will be nice when she needs glasses.  (This does not show up in the descriptions that I can find right now, so it may no longer be there.)

The zipper pull has a glow-in-the-dark tab.

There are hanging loops all the way around: both sides, head, and foot.

At Weldon Springs this October, it was around 40 F overnight. She was not in socks or a hat. She wiggled off her foam pad. She did not report any discomfort or try to crawl into our bags (until she was awake), but when interrogated reported that she had been “OK, maybe a little chilly.”

Update: May 27, 2013
 The Velcro  kept getting caught in her hair this weekend. Unsure why this is, since it hasn't been a problem before.

What do you look for in a kid’s sleeping bag?

Review: REI Sprig 12 Backpack

Boo has wanted her own water bladder and tube since forever. For Solstice she got a 1/2L Platypus. Only problem? Her orange bag was about an inch too short for it to fit well, so we had to not fill it fully and roll the bottom end a bit. So Lee was shopping in Chicago (a tea- seeking trip I believe), and Boo and I were plotting her next backpack, when the phone rang. 

“Hi, Lee. How’s it going?” 

“I have an REI Spring in purple on major clearance in my hands. Should I get it?”

We discussed. Her hands-on impression, my looking at the website and reviews. 

“Yes, do it.” 

Boo was immediately thrilled. “There’s room for so much more stuff!!” Of course, the thing we were most concerned about was this bag is big enough to carry more weight than she should carry all day. 

Inside

12L holds her first aid kit, field guide, binoculars, bike gloves (protection against scraped hands), bandana, hat, raincoat, snack, and water easily. If we stuff her sleepingbag directly into the pack it fits, but nothing else will. 

It’s shaped so it’s deeper at the bottom (below the zipper), and tapers to the top. If your kiddo, say, wears her backpack backwards and opens the zippers while bouncing down some stairs, much less than half the stuff will spill all over the trail. It has a two-way zipper. 

The hydration pouch is just like a larger pack. Nothing fancy. The hanger loop is just a loop, not a clip like our big packs. There is one tube hole on the right. 

The seams are all finished like you’d expect from a quality pack. It has good hand-feel. 

Harness

The shoulder straps are cut in, so they don’t fall off tiny shoulders. The right has 2 elastic loops for a hydration hose. They are nicely padded and backed with mesh. 

The sternum strap adjusts up and down with sliders, and has a whistle built in. That kind of whistle is too small for her, at 4, to blow without covering up the noise hole, but it’s a nice touch. 

The hip belt is just 1” webbing, but it has a double-pull. It does carry some load if she wears it actually tightened down, but she generally just clips it. She likes to be like the adults. There are little pockets the hip-belt can tuck into if your kid doesn’t want it. We could probably cut a foot off each strap and it'd still fit her until she outgrows the pack.

The back is a foam board with a nubby surface toward the wearer. This is covered in mesh. There’s a gap between the lower and upper back area. 

The top grab loop is smaller than on an adult pack, but still large enough for an adult to grab easily. 

As a bonus, the straps have enough webbing to lengthen enough for an adult to carry it. I put some shockcord loops for it on my pack. 

Exterior

There are two roomy mesh side pockets. Boo generally puts found items there, as she can reach them with the bag on. I’ll often put her hankie there so I can get to it quicker. They haven’t been damaged by snagging yet. 

There is a shock cord on the back. It runs through 4 loops and one grommet. This arrangement has the cordlock on the bottom and you can’t turn it over without cutting off the pull-tab. But it is a nice place for her jacket or a stuffed animal. 

Fit

She's 4-years-old,  ~35 pounds and 41" in the pics. The harness has a lot of room to grow. The pack is a bit long for her yet. It's got lots of room to grow.  It can fit her clothes and snacks and her "essential" hiking gear for a weekend.

Cons

The purple color  is not highly visible. The red is not much better. I much prefer bright orange or construction yellow for better kid visibility.

While this isn't a con for me, this is a hiking pack, not a school pack. It would be a really bad school pack for a myriad of reasons.

I'd like the shockcord to pull tighter on the top, instead of the bottom.

Overall

Boo likes it a lot.  She willingly carries it all day. I expect her to outgrow it before she wears it out. She took a picture of it on our last backpacking trip.

What pack do your kids use?