Skim Beaufort seven month review

Seven months have gone since I wrote about my first impressions of the Skim Beaufort kayak. Though I haven't had an opportunity to take it out in all conditions needed for a full review yet, I think it might be of interest to write about my experiences of it this far.

Bontrager Gnarwhal 27.5x4.5 studded fatbike tire four month review

I've now had the Bontrager Gnarwhal studded fatbike tires in use for almost four months and have used them in all sorts of conditions: powder, firm trails, ice and crust. Though we had a nice winter only a few days ago, the snow is now melting rapidly and after this weekend I think I'll put on the summer tires. Thus a good time to write a little review.

Bontrager Gnarwhal 27.5x4.5 studded fatbike tire impressions

In December I put together Mk. III of my Surly Ice Monster Truck, with the main new thing being the 27.5x4.5" platform. I'm still lacking deep snow and crust conditions for it, but thought it would be of some interest to give my impressions so far.

Skim Beaufort first impressions

Regular readers might remember me having difficulty finding a sea kayak that fits me. Now I have one.

Olympus TG-4 impressions

There have been some questions about the Olympus TG-4 I bought, so I thought it was time to write something about it.

Venture Capella 173 - First impressions overnighter

Long-term readers might remember my frustrations with the Zegul Arrow Play kayak, which I returned to the shop, Melontapiste, last August. A little over a week ago the replacement kayak, a Venture Capella 173, arrived. I first took it out briefly just to check that everything was in order, i.e. that there were no leaks etc, but the first real test was an overnighter this weekend. I got O-P to join me. He wanted to do a slightly longer route, which suited me fine. We met at the paddling club and drove 45 minutes to Granvik, were we packed the kayaks.

Seabird Scott MV HDPE midterm review.

I wrote about my initial impressions of the Seabird Scott MV HDPE kayak last August. Since then I've used only this kayak, on evening paddles, overnighters and a few weekend trips. Now that my new number one kayak has arrived, making this my number two kayak,  it's time to expand upon those initial impressions.

White 3Fat Pro One Year Review

I've now had the White 3Fat Pro fatbike, sold by XXL, for a little over a year. As I'm about the complete the build of a new fatbike soon, it feels like a good time to sum up a year with the 3Fat Pro.

Seabird Scott MV HDPE First Impressions

So, there I was again, looking for a kayak. This was not my intention. I would have been more than satisfied with the Zegul Arrow Play HV, had it been of a good enough construction. Now I returned it to the shop and will get a replacement kayak of another brand sometime next year.

Zegul Arrow Play Six Months Review - Caveat Emptor

Executive summary

The Zegul Arrow Play HV is a very fun kayak that works as intended. The build quality of it is a pure catastrophy and mine is falling to pieces already. I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy one until Tahe Marine gets its act together.

Zegul Arrow Play first impressions

While I've been quite satisfied with the Aquarius Sea Lion, in some situations it has occurred to me that a little more stability would not be a bad thing. I would even be ready to trade a little speed for it.

Aquarius Sea Lion kayak one year review

This review is an updated version of my initial review from earlier this year. I think it is motivated to update it, since fairly little information is found on the web about this particular kayak. It has gained at least some popularity in Finland, along with the kayaks of another Polish manufacturer, Kayman kayaks. At the Hanko Sea Kayak Gathering in August I saw about five other Aquarius Sea Lions.

Tarptent Double Rainbow five year review

In July 2010 I decided to sell my Hilleberg Akto tent and buy another solo tent better suited to my needs. The Hilleberg Akto, which generally has been considered to be one of the absolutely best solo tents, simply didn't do what I wanted. The weight (1.5kg) was ok and it definitely was ready for just about any weather, even up in the mountains, but for ordinary forest use it wasn't optimal. The bug netting only covered the upper half of the small door and provided no view towards the beautiful summer nights. During the summer the weather is mostly great in Finland, and all you really need is good protection against the bugs as well as the occasional rain shower.

Aquarius Sea Lion kayak review

Ok, here I am with a full-blown product review, even though I've said a number of times that I don't do any. There has however been some requests and questions about the Aquarius Sea Lion kayak, which is sold in a number of Northern European countries and not much information is found on the internet about it. At the time writing I have around 700 km of paddling with the Sea Lion during fall, winter, spring and summer in different conditions, in winds up to 10 m/s and waves up to 1.5 m as well as a number of overnighters and one week-long trip. I now think I have a pretty well founded view of it to offer.

Greenland Paddle, Six Months Later

In November 2014 I bought a Greenland paddle. I had been curious for quite a while, and inspired in particular by the Swedish kayak designer Björn Thomasson, see www.thomassondesign.com (lots of info in Swedish and some in English). During a visit to the local shop Melontapiste, I noticed that Lahnakoski had a rather cheap Greenland paddle in my length (228 cm), so I bought it and started to use it.

Aquarius Sea Lion kayak initial review

I'm really not interested in doing product reviews, since the web is already flooded with them. They are usually also of rather poor quality, since people use them to draw traffic to their websites, without having a long enough experience with the products being reviewed. Since this blog is maintained on a pure hobby basis, I have no need to resort to that trick and hence have only done the occasional first impression post. My new kayak, which is of a brand rather unknown outside Eastern Europe, has however generated some requests to review it, so I'm doing an initial review post about it.

Lowepro Photo Sport 200 AW first impressions

During my trip to Lapland a month ago, I had my camera gear (except a pocket camera) in an ordinary 30 liter backpack. The result of this was that the camera didn't come out often enough, since it involved taking off the backpack completely and dig out the camera. My trusty Lowepro Slingshot 102 AW, while being an excellent fast-to-use camera bag, didn't have any extra space for the sleeping bag and down jacket, hence I had to take a slightly bigger backpack.

Since I'm now trying a completely rackless bikepacking setup, I need to be able to put some light and bulky item on the back, but an ordinary backpack unsurprisingly turned out to be suboptimal for this. Some googling and a few questions on the Finnish cyclist forum fillarifoorumi quickly led to me buying a (slightly) used LowePro Photo Sport 200 AW, which promised to be very suitable for my use. It has a large enough padded camera compartment accessible from the side without taking it off completely as well as a 13.9 liter upper compartment. All the reviews say that it is very light, but at 1.3 kg it doesn't really seem so from an lightpacker's point of view. Anyway, here are my first impressions of it:

Loaded with some camera gear and clothes in the upper compartment it sits well on the back. At home I confirmed that my winter sleeping bag would fit there, though it was a tight fit. The waist belt is rather light and flimsy, but since I won't load it with more than 3-4 kg it won't be a problem for me.

Accessing the camera is fairly fast and can be done without taking the backpack off completely. A slingshot type bag is faster, but this is not bad.

No problem getting a Panasonic GH2 with the Olympus 14-150 mm lens mounted to fit. A few extra lenses and a flash unit also fit without problems. In fact, there is a little too much room (m43 gear is small), but the tightening system does a good job of preventing things from bouncing around. There is no good place for memory cards, though.

There is is a water bottle pocket on the right side, which fits a small tripod perfectly.

A small pocket on the lid for e.g. mobile phone and other small items. Inside the bag is another small pocket for e.g. a wallet. The waist belt has two small pockets suitable for e.g. energy bars.

There is a separate compartment for a water reservoir, which also fits a laptop or an IPad. I probably won't use it much.

Another possible place to secure a small tripod on the bottom of the backpack.

Built-in raincover.

The backpack seems to be what I was looking for. I will use it for bikepacking trips, but probably not for ordinary rides, since the Lowepro Slingshot 102 AW works well for that and I have room in my frame bags for some extra gear. There is also a smaller slingshot version of the backpack, the Lowepro Photo Sport Sling 100 AW, which could be a good option if less room is needed.