L.L. Bean Kid's Adventure Sleeping Bag 20

A Sleeping bag is essential for any child who wants to go on overnight adventures, even if it is just camping out in the backyard.  The L.L. Bean Kid’s Adventure Sleeping Bag 20 is a great option that will last your child multiple years.  Even if you’re child is like my son and sleep in it EVERY night.

My parents have bought my two youngest children sleeping bags for Christmas.  My daughter received a Kelty bag a few years back and my son got his L.L. Bean one last year.  The Kelty bag is a nice bag and about $15 cheaper than the L.L. Bean model but is designed like a child’s bag that you can find anywhere.  The Kelty bag has a flat hood and flannel lining like any kids bag you would find at a super store just built with high quality materials unlike the ones from a super store.  On the other hand the L.L. Bean Kid’s Adventure Sleeping Bag 20 is built like an adult bag.  High quality nylon lining and shell, an actual fitted hood and a ¾ length zipper.

The sleeping bag over the past year has proved to handle the abuse that most bags would take in a life time.  My son has slept in it every night since he got it.  We have always washed it in a front loading washing machine (essential for any outdoor family) on delicate and it has handled the many cleanings well.  The sleeping bag does compress nicely for a synthetic fill bag and is manageable weight for a backpacking trip.

All in all I personally think this is a great bag for a child who’s family has an outdoor lifestyle.  L.L. Bean consistently makes solid products at a fair price and the Adventure Sleeping Bag 20 is no exception.

Review of DiCAPac WP-S10

I have been looking for a way to carry my camera on the deck of my kayak that won’t cost me thousands of dollars for awhile now.  I thought the DiCAPac WP-S10 waterproof camera bag would be my salvation.  It has worked well for a bag that cost under $100 but getting there was a less than a confidence boosting experience.

I like to take photos and lots of them, I also enjoy kayaking, but getting the two together can be very costly.  I tried using a waterproof pouch from SeaLine for my phone, thinking I would use the camera on it.  The pouch worked great, the problem is the phone, and no matter what you do you are still using a very small sensor and getting only jpeg images.  Not the type of photography I enjoy.  A dive housing is another option, if you’re made out of money.  I don’t need to be able to take my camera to 100ft below the water and I don’t have the three grand it cost to buy one either.  I only want to be able to take photos in shallow water and it stay dry while I'm paddling.  The DiCAPac seemed like a great option, it is $85 from B & H Photo and guarantied to 16 ft .

This summer we bought my daughter a kayak for her birthday and we took her on a trip for her to try it out.  This isn’t the wilderness adventure of a lifetime but it was my daughter’s first trip so it was one that will never happen again and I wanted lots of photos.  My kids surprised me by getting me a DiCAPac for my birthday and giving it to me a little early, like the day before we left on my daughter’s trip.  After opening it I did read the instructions (that usually doesn’t happen) and tested it as per the instructions before putting my camera in it.  To my surprise it failed!  One of the welded seams was not welded properly and water poured in.  The good people at B & H Photo took care of me and replaced it but there was no way I was going to have it for my trip.  There is the major issue I have with this camera bag; I didn’t get a dime for being their quality control.  If you make a product that is going to protect thousands of dollars of equipment from water test it before putting your name on it.  It would be well worth paying $100 to $120 if I knew it had been factory tested before I bought it.

The second bag I got passed its test fine and a field test where I did two wet exits/self rescues and 15-20 rolls in my kayak.  My camera stayed perfectly dry which I am happy with.  I did install Velcro into the inside of the barrel then put the other side of the Velcro on my lens hood, putting the hood on backwards while in the bag.  This keeps the outer lens cover close to my lens for sharper images.  You must have an internally focusing lens for this to work.  I didn’t come up with this idea but read it on the reviews of the bag on B & H Photo’s web site.  I use my D300 with a battery grip in the bag and it is a tight fit.  I must take the lens off and put it on the camera through the lens barrel of the bag to get it on.  Thank god I have small hands.  I don’t find this a problem since I want the thing to fit tight.  If it just dropped in manipulating the camera would be impossible.  The bag did come with three micro-cell foam spacers to shim up your camera but I don’t need them for my setup.

As for manipulating the camera you must think out your settings before hand.  The controls are not easily accessible through the built in finger pockets so some ‘fore thought is required.  I put my camera on aperture priority and all is good.  The quality of the shots through the outer lens cover, a hard plastic, was very good.  They are not as good as through a dive housing, of course, but they meet my expectations and I think I will get outstanding adventure photos from it.  I also put a couple of silica packs in the bag to keep any moisture down and I carry a small piece of Pack Towel to wipe off the lens before shooting.  One thing I am working on is a bungee or retractable leash to attach it to my kayak.  I have been using the neck strap that comes with it but it is a pain as it is always in the way.

All in all I do think this is a good cost effective way to keep your camera dry while in the water, just test it first.  As with any product it works much better when you know its limitation and you don’t expect it to perform beyond what it is designed to do.  I will always test the bag before using it, but other than my bad experience with the first bag I am happy with the product, I wish I could be excited about it but I’m not.

My Old Trusty Stove

Sometimes you have a piece of gear that you know should be replaced but despite all practical reasoning you just can’t do it.  My MSR XGK II stove is that way.  It’s not that I even need to replace it since I have a Whisper Lite and a MSR Pocket Rocket.  I know I should be carrying the lighter Pocket Rocket but I don’t.

As a product of working in the outdoor industry for 11 years I have a stove for all reasons and seasons.  The XGK II was bought when I was doing a lot of winter camping and mountaineering.  It was also my ultimate safety net; as a long range surveillance team leader I carried the stove during the winter.  There were many times we couldn’t take the driest route to an objective.  If any of my Soldiers started to go down on a training mission do to cold, wet weather I knew I could fire up the stove and get warm fluids into them.  The stove shows the wear from being in my rucksack for at least 25 to 30 parachute jumps and as many if not more training missions.  I also carried the stove in my bail out bag while I was in Afghanistan.  It’s robust build and ability to burn anything remotely flammable was my safety net if I ever found myself on the “run”.  I knew I could count on it to boil water quickly if need so I could survive.  Do to the parachute jumps, training mission and time in Afghanistan the stove is no longer round and the burner doesn’t sit straight but it still burns like hell.

My XGK II has also never failed to work no matter how crappy the fuel.  The only problem I’ve ever encountered was do to operator error (me being the operator) not the stove.  I cracked the pump housing while in Afghanistan.  So when I got home and before heading to Mt. Washington for a winter climbing trip I rebuilt the pump using the housing from my Whisper Lite.  Ready to go on the trip I made a huge mistake and didn’t do any pre trip inspection and test of the stove.  If I did I would have figured out that the fuel tube fit really tight into the pump and might need a little bit of chap stick to lube it up.  So while in sub zero temps I thought the tube and housing didn’t fit.  Everything worked out as the nice folks at the Harvard cabin let us use the stove in the cabin.  I still felt like a tool for not checking everything first, like I know I should have.

So while I know I should carry my lighter stove I can’t give up the old trusty XGK II.  It is like an old friend that you meet every year for a backpacking trip.  You spend more time sitting around camp passing the flask recounting past adventures and planning for new ones than actually hiking.  It is that old friend that I know I can count on.

Review of Clik Elite Lagre SLR Chest Pack

I have always had a love hate relationship with chest camera bags for back country use. Your camera is always right there and protected, but most of the carrying harnesses just plain sucked, or the bags were too boxy or the flap opened towards your body. I should know, I’ve owned four of them two from Lowepro, one Mountainsmith, and now one Clik Elite. Despite it’s minor shortcomings the Large SLR Chest Pack from Clik Elite may be the last one I ever own. That is saying a lot from a guy that swears by Lowepro, yes the Mountainsmith buy was a serious short term laps in judgment. Clik Elite is a new company that only makes camera bags for adventure travel. The designer is the same guy that started Ultimate Direction, which is well known for their well made hydration systems.

It took some time for me to decide to buy the Clik Elite since the retail is $20 ($100 MSRP) more than the Lowepro Toploader Pro 70 AW ($80 MSRP) and I already owned the Lowepro. The company’s philosophy of designing bags specifically for outdoor use and the fact they "dock" together with larger packs in their line got me and I had to have one. I bought mine from Adorama for $89.99 since Clik Elite’s dealer system is pretty limited and not offered in the Midwest. My first impression of this bag when I took it out of the box was that I could probably shot it with my Glock and not damage the bag it is that beefy. Don’t take that as a bad thing, I want my camera bags to be beefy, more protection the better. The zippers are heavy duty and are going to last for years with out fail. All of the stitching seems to be excellent.

There are just two sections of the bag, one main compartment for your camera and an accessory pocket on top of the flap to access the main compartment. The main compartment is simple, lined with a soft material and tapered to hold the camera tight and opens away from you. I’ve had no problem fitting my D300 with a battery pack and a Nikkor 18-70 attached, hood backwards. The accessory pouch holds the essentials for a DLSR very well and doesn’t add bulk to the camera bag. I even have enough room to fit the cables to connect my GPS to my camera without them being in the way of other things in the pouch. The one major over site in the bags design is the lack of a rain cover. Are you serious, no rain cover? Any bag that is meant to be carried in the backcountry should have a rain cover. Since this bag does cost close to $100 I think this is the most serious design flaw and lack of forethought. I know your think enough beating them up over this but since the bag is so well thought out this just really sticks out.

The carrying harness is a well designed and just enough padding that you don’t notice it even under the straps of a larger backpack. The yoke does tend to ride up some in the back which cause the top of the bag to lean out but it would be hard to have a yoke that fits everyone perfectly. One problem I’ve had with all chest mount camera bags is the strap that goes around your body and this bag is no exception. When you are breathing hard you have to compromise in loosening up the strap so you can breath and having it tight so it doesn’t move around. Previously I’ve used a bungee strap around my back or pack to hold the bottom of the pack in and still be able to breathe when I’m working hard. The way the straps are designed on this bag it will be difficult to do that but the way the bag is designed it would be easy for them to add some elastic. The “D” rings that attach to the bag and the webbing could easily be attached to the bag the same way Blackhawk Tactical does with their military chest rigs. They use a heavy duty elastic webbing to attach the “D” rings instead of nylon webbing. Just a suggestion if you’re reading this Clik Elite.

I only have two other complaints about the bag and they are very minor. First this bag has really nice nylon cord pulls attached to metal zipper pulls. Get rid of those damn noisy metal zipper pulls and just use the really nice cord ones you already have on the bag. I did cut the metal ones off they bugged me so much. I know it is OCD but I’m comfortable with my problem. The last is there isn’t just a plain old shoulder strap so you can carry this bag over the shoulder. I like to have a small bag when I'm at family events and my large commercial bag would just be inconvenient. Their buckles that connect the shoulder harness are their own design so really can’t make your own to connect to these buckles. I will probably email them and see if I can buy a shoulder strap like the one they have on their smaller bags. So this is really a minor complaint.

In conclusion the Clik Elite Large SLR Chest Pack is an excellent choice if you like spending time outside and want your camera well protected and close at hand. Despite it’s minor flaws I think it is the best chest pack I’ve ever owned. So my Lowepro Toploader Pro 70 AW is on eBay. I will also be buying Clik Elite’s Medium Nature pack before the summer so look for a full report in how the two mate together.