Bushwalk Australia

Down pricing has been a major concern for manufacturers for a couple of years now. I just spent the week wandering the country with a representative of Exped doing some training in NZ. They struggle with the pricing every year and it is looking to keep getting harder. His take on the issue was that ...

Currently in Germany about to go to the last day of the show (been 3 busy days before this). Seeing more Cuben around in a few demo tents from asian factories and pieces here or there but is still being held back from serious consideration by the mainstream due to price. The materials component when...

Samples from brands including TNF with the new membrane would have been floating about since late 2012 when the ranges were shown. A good site for some details on the change and the visual difference in the backer is at http://www.gearinstitute.com/getschooled/item/gore-tex-launches-new-pro-shell

Gore moved to the Pro naming replacing the ProShell in the USA last year but the fabric did not change. It was just a range name shuffle where Paclite was also dropped as a true fabric name (becoming GoreTex with Paclite Product Technology) and some other changes. The new membrane is in most brands'...

Interesting video. A little disappointing the intermingling of the terms breathablilty and air permeable. Always hated the term "breathability" (show me the lungs) but it is accepted to be all about vapour transfer and does not rely on air permeability. The video was all about air perm but...

There certainly is always debate over waterproof lining when the big hole in the top cannot be effectively plugged. However one pro-argument I have some time for is that the drying time of the lining is often reduced in leather boots. A saturated leather boot takes longer for the lining to dry as it...

Yes. Last time topic came up we were only just beginning to see more issues with the high volume mats above the other brands of mats we had imported/sold . Possibly because we had only later models of mats compared to Auz the stock was either better or had less time to degrade or both. Added to this...

One thing that is a possible issue on older model Exped mats is hydrolysis. This can happen to PU films over time (like when a nylon daypack with a coating goes sticky or flaky on the inside surface) and leads to the airtight film laminate becoming air permeable. The symptom is a slow leak which whe...

Hi Just to answer a couple of those questions. I have avoided comment before now as I do have an affiliation bivouac and so my views on the quailty of Exped bags are somewhat biased. Think you will find a lot of information on the forums here and elsewhere regarding the measurement and accuracy of l...

Just with regard to DWR aftermarket care though would add my 2 cents. I had these questions from staff so did do a test a couple of years ago using swatches cut from a reflex jacket I had around. Did this with 10 of the common treatments available in NZ and clear winners were grangers spray on and a...

Thanks for the plug - we try but have a long way to go before we are where we could be as an online retailer - relatively small company = more ideas than time and people to do them. I do try and avoid posting on forums as too easy to slide from informing to promoting and the independence of opinions...

Blacksheep Certainly do not want to get into any long discussions her but just want to point out a little inaccuracy. Osprey is imported into NZ by a company owned by the same family trust that owns Bivouac but the purchasing decisions are made independently by different teams of people. Bivouac pro...

Nuts - Warranties are always a key part of any business but with the best will in the world things do go wrong and dealing at this end of the world does sometimes put some communciation gap between us and the manufacturer. Cannot comment on any warranty support apart from ones we have dealt with but...

Hi all I have regularly followed this very active and interesting forum for a year or so now but having a commercial interest in outdoor gear I stay away from commenting in forums as a rule. In this case may have something to contribute as it is specific to product we supplied. With the issue of dou...