Reviews:
Here are some reviews of equipment that I own and of services I've utilized. I shop a lot online -especially to support my hobbies of backpacking, trekking and camping. Most of the time, I've read online reviews written by others which helped me in my purchases. It is only fair that I should give back to the community, so that the chain of giving and receiving can go on. Sometimes the product is good but the merchant turns out to be a leech, so it is good to know about the service of the merchant too. Hope this helps you make a decision on your purchase(s).
Again a word of caution, and a disclaimer. In this age of litigation, all my reviews come across with no ill-will towards the merchants or manufacturers but are shared only in the spirit of open information sharing from one consumer to another prospective consumer. We need to watch each others backs! There are no fabricated tales or revenge stories here but only the truth. It is true that sometimes the service provider may turn over a new leaf or make amends and I leave that matter open to your discretion. You are advised to check the date of the original review as I shall not make any changes to the reviews as it is not practical to keep monitoring the merchants or their products. In case I find convincing proof of any change, I shall mention it in a footnote below the post, but will not go out of my way to acquire any current information on the product. This especially rings true for bad merchants or products as I won't be buying from them again.
Good & bad news does travel around by word of mouth and I am often advised by friends what to buy or what not to and from where. These posts are no different, the only difference being that they serve a wider audience 24 x 7 x 365 in most languages and in different time zones. Isn't technology neat? I have not received any product exclusively for review purposes from any manufacturer or merchant like some of the other sites which do so on a regular basis. Due to this, you won't find any destructive tests like stress tests or breaking point tests like at http://knifetests.com/ as to be honest, I can barely afford the equipment I buy. So rest assured that the reviews here are unbiased and fair to the reader.
Review: Glock Entrenching Tool
An entrenching tool ( e-tool for short) is a compact digging tool which is a good thing to have in your backpack. It can be used for a variety of purposes, -digging a toilet pit, digging a shallow trench around your tent to channel off rain water, digging for roots, mundane construction projects or to [...]
Review: Pacsafe eXomesh rucksack lock
Buying the best backpacking gear is expensive, so keeping it safe is a priority. Backpacks or rucksacks are not secured as easily as a suitcase is. Suitcases can be chained or tethered by means of a cable/chain and padlock, but how do you do that for a backpack? If you loop a reinforced chain or [...]
Review: Chico bag’s Bottle Sling
When I bought my 40 oz (approx 1.1 liter) Klean Kanteen, I also bought a neoprene jacket made by Built NY from them. It took me quite some time -almost a year to get used to the neoprene jacket (because I was carrying my Sigg around) as it was a bit different from the simple [...]
Review: Snakes of India -The field guide
Snakes evoke mixed feelings in most people. They are either feared, adored, worshipped or despised. Even among those who worship and revere them, most of them would rather keep their distance than come up close to observe them. On looking back at my past interactions with snakes, from a total of about six or seven [...]
First Look: Khukuri, Ganjuwal Swiss
I had been aware for quite some time that my camping equipment was missing a tools for chopping up firewood into manageable pieces. I did have emergency tools like the excellent shark toothed saw on my Victorinox Swiss champ, and a commando wire saw. However these are basically tools to be used in an emergency [...]
MRE’s in India
My post on the Bug out bag keeps getting more complicated and the research seems never ending. It seems sensible to break up the post into manageable chunks instead of one long post which will otherwise weary the reader. This separate post is also advantageous as I can keep reviewing newer products without breaking the [...]
Review: Clikstand for the Trangia burner
review of my Clikstand for the Trangia burner
Review: TV on Tata Photon +
Technology keeps changing… After I replaced my Airtel EDGE data card with a Reliance USB modem, I breathed a sigh of relief, but not for long. I’m habituated to opening umpteen tabs on Firefox -a habit I picked up while using my Airtel PCMCIA data card on account of its mule like pace. I don’t [...]
Afrikaans