Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/06/8-pieces-of-camping-gear-you.html
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Man I’ve been backpacking for and canoe camping for decades and the only thing on this list that I have is a hydration bladder. I must be soooooo lost! Definitely gonna pick up that snorkel for my hiking trip in Rocky Mountain National Park this summer.
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Most of this doesn’t look that handy, but that flashlight looks wonderfully minimalist
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$17 for a paracord bracelet? Who you jivin with that cosmic debris?
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The Blocklite thingy is very useful - I’ve had one for a while. Mine does not have the alleged flashing mode but does have two lighting modes - all on, or just the two central LEDs on (power saving when battery low, but honestly, good enough for most uses - I rarely need all LEDs on for most of my own usage).
BUT - anyone getting one needs to be aware that over time the battery connection may become a smidgen looser and it can all too easily result in the battery detaching, and being plunged into darkness - typically when I’m trying to do something that involves three hands and I accidentally knock the head or the battery and they come apart. Which is why my other go-to torch is on a headband. I still use it a lot, though - I just take more care now I know the risk of accidental detachment.
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This is the worst list I’ve ever seen. None of these items is necessary and most aren’t even helpful.
Title should be: 8 random items we’d like to sell you. You wrote a bad list, boing boing.
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That diving mask looks pretty, but I doubt it is very practical for actually diving under the surface. As long as you just float it’s fine, but if you try to descend you will have to fill it with air to compensate for the higher pressure, and with that volume you need a lot of air that will have to come from your lungs.
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that’s basically how all these types of affiliated posts go here.
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Full face masks are dangerous.
Also, paracord bracelets are the epitome of military fetishism. Everything needs to be “tactical” now including a bracelet? Absurd.
Tangent; I’ve only recently come back to BB after a self-imposed hiatus. One of the reasons I left, and one of the reasons I’ll probably leave again, is the commercialization of the site. Between the BB Store and the paid content pieces, it’s really become a terrible site. Except the discussion boards, I see almost no value here.
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I hesitate to think about complicating something so minimalist, but I wonder whether that could be improved by adding a clip (like on a pen) and making the top rotate to allow it to be put in a pocket or neck opening as an angle-light for hands free use.
Also, paracord bracelets are the epitome of military fetishism. Everything needs to be “tactical” now including a bracelet.
ISTM that the paracord bracelet has some marginal utility for bringing some paracrod along when you DON’T think that you’re going to need it. But if you are actually LIKELY to want to use it it just makes getting to it less handy.
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I’m sure in some cases paracord is handy, but everyone who wears one of these bracelets around (especially when they’re not hiking) is a complete tool.
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If I were contemplating taking a backpacking trip with a “portable” over-20-pound hammock, how much food and equipment would I have to leave behind to provide the space and weight it needs?
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I really only have one word in response to the multi-tool:
Sundial?
shouldn’t a compass be first on that list?
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I think that I’d use that credit card saw exactly once. And I think that it would agree with me and promptly disintegrate.
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Except 9V are not very power dense when compared to AA cells.
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is that a real poncho? or a sears poncho?
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A dive school told me they aren’t too keen on them as they can build up Carbon Dioxide in the mask area if you aren’t careful
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You can get a morakniv for $15, which is carbon steel, made in Sweden, and a far better knife than that thing.
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