advpat

Great work, it came up well.

Just had a look at their website, I was impressed. The pants prices are comparative to Tusx, I like their sizing, Im tall so findind pants that fit and are comfortable can be difficult.

I havent had a chance to try the sleeping bag out yet. With the current isolation restrictions, i have not been out and about and It hasnt been quite cold enough to give it a proper rating yet. I have tried the fit, im 6'2 and the bag fitted ok, the insulation felt like it would be sufficient, but I need to try it on cold overnighter to be sure. I will keep you posted when i get a chance Pat

I already have a down sleeping bag, which has kept me warm on some very cold nights. However i wanted a lighter bag as the one i have is sometimes overkill. I recently seen this Recon bags come up sale, so i brought one ($160?). Seems ok but will need some cold nights to test it out

Amazing, you make beautiful knives. I won a heap of big old saw blades from an aution years back. I built a gas forge, brought a linisher, plama cutter and I started making knives out of the steel (self taught, from ebooks and online info) but lost motivation. Seeing these knives you made makes me want to get back inot it again. Well done

Hi Happy Jack I have used the birdseye imagery, I found it to be not very good, I definitely would not recommend it. The aerial images was not very clear, it was like a bad version of google earth. I have a rino750 at the moment and just the cheap topo maps of ebay. This is the second Rino 750 unit, the first was a lemon I sent back and got replaced, no issues, easy, friendly service. The new 750 unit has been faultless and the maps have been great

I have use two types of bino harness syestems, the Solo hunter and Marsupial gear Both strap to your chest so they are close to your body, so if you are on your hand and knees they don't get in the way, they protect your binos from the rain or scrub Both harness have a lid with magnets, so when you open the harness the lid stays open out of the way, until you need to put your bino away, I found this system works without any issues I have attached a additional pouch to the side of the harness, so that a gps or a range finder can be accessed easily. Marsupial gear made a pouch specifically for the Garmin Rino Anyway, I found these two types of bino harness system works well, they make carrying/protecting/using your binos easy. Well worth the money Cheers Pat

Love the knife, it looks beautiful. You've done an amazing job, i can see you put alot time into it.

I used to make knives, I brought a heap of old circular mill blades from an auction for a cheap price. I drew my design on the blade and cut them out with a plasma cutter, I then heated them up in the forge and allowed them to cool slowly to anneal. I would put the bevel on the blade with a cheap bench linisher, then get the blade almost to a dull polished state and then drill holes in the handle and put them in a my home made gas forge, heat them up a quench in olive oil. I would clean the steel up and make handles from huon pine, recycle carbon fibre, antler etc. I learnt knife making from and from and ebook, so it was trial and error. I found the steel to be very strong and the knives held a sharp edge, however being carbon steel the knives did rust easily. Once the knife steel got blood on it and a patina developed, the knife did become a lot more corrosion resistant. I have been thinking about getting into knife making again, as I still have most of the tools. A new linisher would make the job a lot easier, but the one I have been looking at starts at $1000, so for a home hobby, making a few nice knives is expensive. However there was the satisfaction of hand making a quality product,would negate cost involved

Thanks Tassieshooter, the Black Wolf pack have been popular with a fair few of the members on here, the feedback has been great, a lot of experienced feedback Cheers Pat. Cheers Barron, I haven't had the opportunity to try on to many packs, so I only have limited experience with the old pack I currently have. But I think if I invested in a Moroka I would like to try one on first and test it out, see how it feels. Thanks Gibbo, I saw some pics on FB with guys using Exo packs, they were pretty stoked with them, Pat

I just watched a review on the Outdoorsman packs, they look like a great, versatile pack. There website says the optic packs are 6000 cubic inches, which is very generous. They are a bit pricey but shipping was reasonable. I like the external frame system and the muley pack that attaches, Decisions, decisions

Thanks Shawnb, they look like good packs, The Black Wolf packs are popular

Thanks Whelanlad, generally unless its a mission in NZ i only head out 3 day stints at a time as well. Because i only use it a couple of times a year its hard for me to justify big dollars, but i am prepared to pay for quality, i will try and find a balance. Some interesting packs there GSPhunter, i had never seen the mystery ranch packs, they look really good and have some great features too, thankyou for the input. Cheers Pat

T Thanks Coat, i will have a check the markhor packs out ?

Thanks for the input Joe.358, i like the look of the moroko 30, there gear is normally pretty good from what i can tell, yep abit pricey though. Thanks Gibbo, i havent looked at Tenzig packs yet, i will check them out. I would like a pack with a rifle holder/scabbard as well, to help when both hands are needed. I have as badlands diablo day pack, i am very happy with it, it just not big enough for a couple nights out.