MAY 93


A WEATHER WORTHY TENT


Plus a hat for all seasons and tiny optics


Quest Preying Mantis Tent

"Day 22, Pacific Crest Trail, just north of Cathedral Pass, Washington. Claps of thunder and cracks of lightning woke me at 2 a.m., and lashing rain kept my eyes wide open 'til dawn."
...Journal entry

Marty and I were huddled in a Preying Mantis from Quest, and the same thought drifted through both of our sleepy heads: Would the Quest withstand the wild alpine weather? At daybreak I inspected the tent and found the answer. The floor was completely dry despite no ground cloth. The sides weren't sagging and there was plenty of space between the walls and fly...no leaks from the fly touching the sides of the tent.

In the vestibule, our packs, boots, food bags, cook gear, and all-important sneakers were dry. The vestibule walls showed some condensation, but not enough to shower the gear as I rummaged through the pile. The Preying Mantis had passed the most realistic of real-world tests. It had kept two people in down bags warm, dry, and comfortable through an all-night Cascades downpour.

I never doubted it would because I'd liked the Mantis from first glance. Marty, who hates to read directions, popped it up in five minutes. The poles are shock-corded into nylon hub connectors so there's no silly sleeve-threading. The hubs withstood our best efforts to flub them up on our month-long trip (30 times pitched, 30 times packed). The extra-long ridge pole spans the length of both tent and vestibule, with a wide support bow in the middle and narrow ones at each end. 

Although Quest calls the Mantis "freestanding," that wasn't what we found. I counted 15 stakes in the stuffsack, but was relieved to find that the tent stood tall and weatherworthy when staked only at the corners, with a couple of insurance stakes at the sides. The fly attaches with quick-release buckles that adjust to help fine-tune the tent's shape on uneven sites. We could easily unclip one end of the fly and roll it back for stargazing through the net sidewalls, yet batten it down fast if rain threatened.

The Preying Mantis sleeps two people who like to snuggle, but what the main area lacks in elbow room the vestibule makes up for in storage space. Every tent should have such a great mudroom; it swallowed all our gear and left room to easily duck in and out. Overall, the Quest's construction was solid, with durable stitching, smooth-running zippers, and resilient 8.5mm alloy poles. A month of hard use left no signs of excessive wear. 

At first, the Mantis was more of a chore to take down than put up. The hubs are tied to the tent body, so we needed to use some forethought to figure out how to collapse everything and pack it into a manageable bundle. After the rain, it was hard to avoid dragging the tent in the mud or getting soaked myself. Still, breakdown goes quickly once you get used to the process. At 5.5 pounds, the Preying Mantis is commendably light for a roomy two-person, three-season tent. If you leave most of the extra stakes at home, trail weight drops to five pounds. 

By day 30 of our hike, when we pitched camp for the last time near Mount St. Helens, I realized how much the Preying Mantis had grown on me. After 350 miles, it still felt like home. What more can you ask of a tent?

...Sally Trepanowski

The Preying Mantis sells for $290. Contact: Quest, 569 Charcot Ave., San Jose, CA 95131; (408) 433-1600. 

All Seasons Hat

"Young man, you put on your hat!" 

I was 5 or 8 or 14 and flying out the front door and my mom was right there handing me my cap. Now, years later, how many times and in how many magazine articles have you read that you lose 50 percent of your body heat out the top of your bare head? It's just plain uncanny how right moms are. 

Back then I wore one of those elfish 2-foot-long stocking caps, the kind you snapped other kids in the face with until some teacher told you his uncle lost his eye that way. Then I think I wore a goofy-looking red pom-pom thing, until I got cool and counterculture and switched to a very hip beret. When it was too cold to be cool, I'd trade the beret for a pointy, tightly woven wool ski cap.

The ski cap was lost in the closet when I got my first "bomber"...bunting on the inside, Gore-Tex outside, a bill on the front, and long dog-earflaps that Velcro under the chin. It was state of the art, and by then I wasn't so cool and it kept my head and ears warm, which is the reason you wear a hat nine months of every year in Wyoming. 

But what about those three months of kinda summer? (Fall and spring represent about a week total.) Enter the Outdoor Research Hat For All Seasons, a thoroughly modern modular hat. 

The Hat For All Seasons has two components, a Gore-Tex Taslan nylon shell and a removable Moonlite Pile liner. The shell has a stiff bill, is lined with Dryline (a fast-drying nylon/polyester fabric), has Velcro tabs for size adjustment, and tape-sealed seams. The earflaps can be cinched down tight when the wind starts to howl (via drawcord at the back), and of course fold up when the wind mysteriously vanishes. You can use the helmet-shaped pile liner separately when it's warmth and not wind/snow/sleet-protection you want. The liner also fits nicely inside a climbing helmet.

The Hat For All Seasons is actually two hats. For summer in Wyoming, the shell alone is plenty, flaps up. For the few days of spring and fall, the shell with flaps down is fine. For the other nine months, I just shove in that thick black liner and hold on.

...Mark Jenkins

The Hat For All Seasons comes in sizes S, M, L, XL and costs $40 (with liner), $32 (shell only). Contact: Outdoor Research, 1000 First Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98134; (206) 467-8197. 


MiniBinoculars

Following our glowing report on the laser-sharp but frightfully high-priced Swarovski 8x20B minibinoculars last August, we were bombarded with competing optics to test. It didn't take much bird watching and seal spying to prove that compact binocs present one highly developed market. Three of our favorites:

Brunton Eterna 8x25: These glasses sport ruby-coated lenses unclouded by glare, UV, or IR (infrared) transmission. They outweigh the tiny Swarovskis (13.6 vs. 7.5 ounces), but are half the price ($273 vs. $475). The Eternas have traveled in my pack's top pocket for several months now and are none the worse for the wear. I can still discern the wisps of sparkly green on the crest of a male merganser along the far riverbank. The Bruntons even proved immune to "Oops, PLINK, into-the-drink" testing on a canoe trip. Lucky me; shallow water. 

Nikon Mountaineer 8x23: The name fits. These glasses are tough as granite, and sharp. On a recent climbing trip they helped me spot a finger-size bolt hanger...the only climbing anchor for the next 165 feet of blank slab. The Mountaineers were easier to focus than the Bruntons, and offered crisper images. Its 23mm-diameter objective lenses gave good low-light capacity; at dusk, I could see the rich texture of a beaver's fur 200 feet away. The Mountaineers aren't cheap ($366 retail), but you won't have to baby them in the bargain. If you gravitate toward wet, bumpy places, give these glasses some consideration.

Nikon Sportstar 8x20: These are binocs for committed ounce-counters...they're lighter than the Swarovskis (7.4  ounces vs. 7.5 ounces) and fold down to be even smaller. Although their clarity lags a notch behind the others, they are still impressive, considering the opera-glass size and relatively modest $180 price. Splashproof and armored with rubber, the Sportstars withstood rough treatment with no ill effects. They're NOT waterproof, though, and our test pair took a week to dry out after my unintentional dunk test through thin ice.

...Dave Getchell

Contacts: Brunton, 620 E. Monroe Ave., Riverton, WY 82501; (307) 856-6559. Nikon, 1300 Walt Whitman Blvd., Melville, NY 11747; (516) 547-4200. 


"Rite in the Rain" Notebook

When you're out in the boonies, something remarkable invariably happens. That's why you go. Suddenly, you round a bend and find yourself nose-to-nose with a bear. It looks at you, yawns, and waddles away. Or the wind sneaks up at midnight, wakes you with its wailing, and proceeds to thrash your tent so wildly that you spend all night holding the poles. Or maybe the tint of yonder tarn reminds you of the color of someone's eyes you saw in a Seattle art gallery in 1983. Perhaps it is simply the absolute, black lack of sound that moves you.

Whatever happens, some of us write it all down (and more ought to). You compose, lying in your sleeping bag or surrounded by headbanging blue flowers or sitting serenely in the forest.

The next day it's raining. It doesn't stop. It rains all the way back to the car. You unpack frantically, searching for the notebook. When you finally find it, swirling in a dark puddle at the bottom of your pack, your prose or poetry is blurred forever in spidery swirls of blue ink.

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"

Forget ordinary paper. Order yourself one of J.L. Darling Corp's assorted "Rite in the Rain" notebooks originally created for surveyors, archaeologists and geologists working in the field. These little books are made of chemically treated paper that sheds water like a duck's back, so you can write in the midst of a maelstrom and every word will be preserved. There's a notebook for every need, from the 3x5 shirt-pocket version ($2.55) to the 5x8 hardback field book ($10) to full legal-size pads ($10).

Rite in the Rain paper was designed for pencil work, but if you can only think with ink, Darling also offers the Space Pen ($4.75), which has been used by astronauts and will keep writing in any position you can think up (including upside down) and under any inclement condition (such as underwater or at -50 degreesF).

Your poetry may never achieve immortality, but at least with "Rite in the Rain" products it will outlast the next storm.

...Mark Jenkins

Rite in the Rain notebooks are available in your local bookstore. Or contact: J. L. Darling Corp., 2212 Port of Tacoma Rd., Tacoma, WA 98421-3696; (206) 383-1714.


GEAR CORNER

-- River Runner camera bags from Sundog provide bump and water protection, thanks to a padded inner case and seam-sealed, roll-top dry-bag cover. We've logged several trips with the Telezoom 35mm SLR and Point-N-Shoot models. Both warded off steady rain and quick dunkings, yet gave easy access to the cameras. Retails: Telezoom, $48; Point-N-Shoot, $35. Contact: (800) 634-0005.

-- All-terrain sandals have become ubiquitous warm-weather footwear, but Acorn's ingenious new Sandalsox extend their usefulness into cooler seasons. These snuggly Polartec socks come in a variety of styles (high, low, men's, women's, and unisex), bright and subdued colors, and happy patterns. Retails: $9.75 to $13.25. Contact: (800) 872-2676. 

-- Any real woodsperson knows that a bucksaw cuts more efficiently than a triangular bow saw. The new Sawvivor from Dawn Marketing updates the classic folding bucksaw in light aluminum. It weighs just 10 ounces, stores 15-inch blades in the handle, and folds to fit behind a side pocket. We've found it particularly useful for impromptu trail maintenance, buzzing through thigh-thick blowdowns. Retails: $29. Contact: (800) 724-3529. 

-- Motorola wants to put backpackers in touch. The company's new Personal Two-Way radios are smaller versions of the "Handy-Talkies" park rangers carry. The Personals are tough and light (12 ounces and fits in a shirt pocket). We just wish their one-watt FM transmitters offered more range, which in our tests varied from a couple of miles over open water to barely more than shouting distance in dense woods. An FCC license is required ($35 by mail). Retails: $269 each or $499 a pair, including 10-hour nicad battery and charger. Options include fitted dry bags, quick-charger and range-extending antenna. Contact: (800) 964-7943.