Garant Snow Shovel

I mentioned my snow shovel briefly on the last post but thought it might be worth looking at it again as I was back on the hill today and actually used the shovel as intended.

I had my gear packed last night, pretty much the same as I had on Saturday and set off for Trostan. There isn't a car park as such, just the entrance to a waymarked trail but there's plenty of space for parking assuming you can actually get the car in. The road was clear but the entrance was filled with snow, some packed down were other vehicles had been parked up probably on Saturday/Sunday. The only option was to reverse into the entrance at speed and force a track so I repeated this a few times gaining a few more feet with each attempt. As the entrance slopes slightly towards the road I took the snow shovel and cleared my tracks as best I could to the gravel base to help make things easier to get back out and to prevent the car gradually slipping down towards the road.





The shovel worked just fine even though I was digging into hard packed snow and gravel. The bucket shaped blade helped hold the snow and while there were a few scrapes on the edge it didn't feel as if it would break, snow that isn't packed due to a car driving up and down it should be no problem. As it started snowing shortly after I set off and had only just stopped before I returned I had to clear my tracks again and also used the shovel to clear the snow off the car.

As I mentioned I bought the snow shovel in B&Q earlier in the year, I can't remember how much I paid but it was significantly less that a branded snow shovel from an outdoors retailer. It's currently priced at £10.98 which has to be a good price.


Handle Collapsed.


Handle Extended

The shovel weighs 530g, extended it measures 755mm from the edge of the blade to the grip, with the shaft simply retracted which is how I carry it on my rucksack it measures 580mm and with the shaft pushed right down to the edge of the blade it measures 420mm (see pic in link above), of course you can just remove the shaft completely. The blade is 225mm wide at the edge, 310mm from edge to grip and is about 60mm deep at about the middle of the bucket.

Commercial Reviews.

I had an e-mail from Gareth at Webtogs a few weeks ago asking if I'd like to review some kit, my initial reaction was that I was flattered but on thinking about it I wasn't sure if I wanted to go ahead with it. I've purchased a few items from Webtogs in the past and had no reservations about their service but felt that I'd be a bit pushed for time to actually do product reviews. I phoned Gareth to thank him for the offer and had intended to say no but after some discussion he persuaded me to give it a try on the basis that if either of us thought it wasn't working we'd call it quits. Initially it was suggested that I'd recieve an item every month or so but at my request that has been reduced to every 2 months or thereabouts.

In a nutshell they'll try to send something that I'd actually use but I may also be expected to review something that I wouldn't normally choose. The gear will be tested in the field and I'm free to post my opinions on my Blog without any influence.

So you may be wondering whats in it for me, well if it's not an expensive item I get to keep it so I expect I won't have to return a pair of fleece gloves or the like, more expensive kit such as I guess fleeces, shell jackets and so on will need to be returned. To be honest that suits me fine, I'm trying to simplify my gear not add to it.

For the benefit of anyone looking at a review any items that I haven't paid for will be clearly marked as such. To date the only item I recieved for review that I didn't actually buy was the MSR Reactor which Hendrik at Hiking in Finland sent out to a few bloggers as part of a pass-around. I didn't get to keep the Reactor unfortunately but I did eventually buy one.

At this satge I haven't received anything as I need to sign and return the T&C's, basically I don't post reviews on websites of a dubious nature and don't blame Webtogs if I kill myself.

Berghaus Pro Trek Shell Jacket

I've been looking for a new shell jacket for quite some time but found it difficult to get something that met the design criteria that I had in mind. To be honest the criteria wasn't anything unusual or at least that's what I thought.

I wanted a decent wired hood that wasn't cut away at the sides, something like my old Phoenix Gore-Tex jacket or the Paramo VAL, I wanted a standard zip and double external stormflap rather than a waterproof zip, I also wanted at least one map sized pocket accessible behind the stormflap or at least accessible without needing to open the main zip, I wanted a waist drawcord and finally I wanted self fabric cuff tabs rather than rubber tabs. I didn't really care whether it was eVent or Gore-Tex as I didn't notice much difference in breathability with my eVent Montane Venture over my Gore-Tex jacket. The Venture isn't a bad jacket but I really disliked the hood to the extent that I've only worn it about half a dozen times.

I've had good results with Mountain Equipment clothing and quite liked the look of the Morpheus although I was doubful about whether I'd like the hood in spite of it being highly rated. I was browsing the Field & Trek website and noticed that the Morpheus was on sale so decided to order one, being unsure of the size I checked Mountain Equipments website and decided on small.

I really liked the Morpheus, the design was clean and the fit was good, it ticked most of the boxes having an external map pocket, a waist drawcord, standard zip and external stormflap and self fabric cuff tabs but unfortunately the hood let it down. I felt that the hood was too small, too cut away at the sides and the collar didn't go up quite high enough. I wondered if a medium would be better but couldn't get a Medium Morpheus in the sale so decided to try the Mountain Equipment Ogre which was reduced. I ordered a medium but it felt too big and the hood still didn't feel right so it went back, it's possible that a Small Ogre might have worked as I think the hood is slightly different to the Morpheus but at £190 I needed to be 100% satisfied so decided not to take a chance.

I looked at as many different brands as I could think of and couldn't find anything so asked on Outdoors Magic for suggestions, eventually someone suggested the Berghaus Pro Trek and for want of any better suggestions I ordered one from Outdoor Action in size medium, price £140.

I'd tried a Berghaus jacket earlier in the year in one of those shops that sells end of line clothing, I think the jacket was the Dunedin and I'd liked the general fit and the style of the hood so I was reasonably confidant that the Pro Trek would be the one. The jacket duly arrived and after trying it with a variety of midlayers I decided to keep it. It doesn't tick all the boxes but I've had to compromise as the hood is right and that's the major thing for me.


Not a Slim Fit Jacket but I can easily get a down jacket underneath.

The Pro Trek is made using 3 layer Gore-Tex Pro Shell and is a bit heavier than my Montane Venture at 600g, it has a standard front zip with an external double stormflap, the flap closes with small velcro strips set at intervals rather than a full length velcro strip on the Morpheus, I think I prefer the small strips as velcro is a bit of a pain generally as it tends to catch up on everything else, to be honest I can't see why they don't just use studs to secure the stormflap. It has 2 handwarmer type pockets which use waterproof type zips but also have a little stormflap, there are 2 chest pockets capable of holding a map, like the other pockets they have waterproof zips/stormflaps. Finally there's a zipped mesh inside pocket.


Mesh Inner Pocket

The hood drawcord is elastic and the ends of the cord are kept out of the way behind the stormflap but the cordlocks are much too small, it's difficult to release them with bare hands and virtually impossible with gloves.


Hood Cordlocks


Hood Drawcords behind Stormflap


Micro Fleece inner collar, studs help keep the hood rolled and secured

I intend to replace them with side release cordlocks from Shelby in Finland which are similar to the ones on a Montane Flux .

The jacket also features pit-zips, how much advantage they'll be I've yet to find out, given a choice I'd probably do without as it's one more thing to go wrong, in any case the zips are the waterproof type and again have a small stormflap.


Pit Zips


Rubber Cuff Tabs, Stiff, Bulky and Prone to Snagging


Old Phoenix Shell Jacket with Self Fabric Cuff Tabs, Low Profile and Perfectly Functional

There isn't a waist drawcord unfortunately but that's one of the compromises I decided to accept to get the type of hood I wanted. The other compromise is the cuff tabs, they're the rubber type and to be honest I just don't see what advantage they offer over self fabric tabs, they're stiff, don't want to lie flat and tend to catch on gloves, pockets and so on, I'm seriously considering cutting them off and sewing on a plain velcro tab. I'd class the cut as full which is exactly what I wanted as it needs to work with a variety of midlayers, I didn't want a slim fit as I already have a close fitting waterproof for using outside of winter.


Ample Protection on the Hill, Less Stylish on the High Street


Volume Adjuster, Studs Secure Rolled Hood

The Hood, well the hood was always going to be the deal breaker, thankfully the hood on the Pro Trek is a full on mountain hood that should protect from wind driven rain/sleet/hail, the drawcord goes all the way around so it actually tightens around my face rather than simply pulling the hood down (or the shoulders up) like my Montane Venture. The peak/visor has a decent wire stiffener and has a volume reducer that is pretty similar to the Mountain Equipment design, and when zipped up the collar comes right up to nose level comfortably.


Hood Rolled and Secured


Micro Fleece inner collar

There's only one aspect of hood that I don't like or at least don't see the benefit of. The hood can be rolled away and secured with plastic press studs but to be honest the wire stiffener makes it a rather stiff and uncomfortable collar, it's much more comfortable to just have the hood hanging loose and in any case you'd need to remove the jacket to roll and secure the hood. To be honest I think it's a case of having an extra feature for it's own sake and like the rubber cuff tabs it adds little if anything to a jacket that would function just the same without it. Ironically the studs used to secure the hood could have been used to secure the stormflap, that in my opinion would have improved the jacket.


Hood Worn Rolled, It's Quite Stiff and Uncomfortable due to the Wire Stiffener


Hood Worn Loose with the Peak/Visor turned down, I find it more comfortable this way

That said I like the jacket and while it's yet to be tried in the conditions it was bought for it should be tested quite soon given the weather reports.

Vango Halo 200

I was looking for a 2 man tent for base camp use and didn't want a tunnel type preferring a self supporting dome or geodesic but didn't want to spend too much. I wasn't too concerned with weight simply as anything that was 2 man, self supporting and light was outside my budget so decided to look at one of the stalwarts of reasonably priced reasonably tough tents, Vango.

We've had a Vango Equinox 300 for ages and it's been totally reliable so far, it's quite well finished and as with most mid to top end Vango tents is surprisingly well featured. I also had an F10 Nitro 100, recently sold which was a step up again from the top end Vango branded models so I've quite a bit of faith in Vango/F10. Sadly you can't have it all and the downside is that they're heavy. I have to say their website is pretty appalling so I'll apologise in advance for posting a link ;-)

In the end I decided on the Halo 200 which is a 3 pole dome type with twin off-set porches, I think it's a bit similar to the Hilleberg Allak or Staika layout which look very good, if money was no object I'd have had an Allak. I bought the Halo from Outback Trading, price was £85 but unfortunately shipping to N.I. was £20. It's obvious that at £105 it most certainly isn't going to be comparable to a Hilleberg in any way. I also bought my F10 Nitro from Outback Trading and I'd highly recommend them.

The Halo isn't a light tent by any means, the suggested weight is 3.5kg and although I've had it for a week I hadn't weighed it. I had it pitched up since last Friday only taking it down today and although the flysheet isn't completely dry I weighed it anyway and it came in at 3.845kg.

The individual weights less flysheet are;

Inner - 1035g
Poles - 884g
Pole Bag - 12g
Pegs x 14 - 214g
Peg Bag - 10g
Repair kit - 19g
Porch Half Groundsheet - 54g x 2
Stuff Sack - 72g

Total Less Flysheet - 2354g

Flysheet - 1290g

Total 3.610g



The Halo is pretty easy to pitch, it came with inner attached so pitched as one. The poles (9mm T001-T6 Alloy) need to be fed through the pole sleeves which run over the top of the tent and extend about halfway down the sides, the pole ends locate in eyelets and then the fly is clipped to each pole using a plastic clip on a webbing strap. The tent is basically self supporting although the porches need pegged out.

The Guylines are referred to as 'O Ring Guylines' basically a length guyline with a free running plastic ring is attached to the tent in 2 places, at the top it goes through an eyelet fitted to the pole sleeve, at the bottom it's attached to the webbing holding the pole clip. The actual pegging line is attached to a plastic 'O Ring'. I think the idea is that when you tighten the guyline the the 'O' ring helps equalise the tension on the pole. Each pole has one guyline but where 2 of the poles meet at the webbing tape both guylines can be pegged with one peg, this is how I had it pitched.





In addition there's a tension strap at one end of each pole. Another neat little touch is the velcro strap to keep the guylines tidy when packing, it isn't something I'd partcularily need but it's another of those little touches Vango adopt.





The flysheet doors are diagonally opposed which is a good idea as you still have a sheltered area regardless of wind shift, the doors have a J shaped double ended zip and can be rolled back and secured with 2 toggles and loops. Finally there are 2 adjustable vents which can be held open with a stiffened strut or closed down and secured with velcro.





The inner tent is quite spacious, bigger than my Wild Country Quasar, the head room is good both at the center and at the ends and there's plenty of inner/fly separation. The doors on the inner are plain fabric with a mesh section at the top, there's also a plain fabric cover which can be closed with a 2 way zip and when open the panel can be rolled and secured using double loops/toggles.





The doors themselves have a 2 way zip and when open the door simply gets stuffed into a pocket on the inner. There are 2 storage pockets set one above the other at the opposite end from the door pocket, both sides of the inner are laid out the same but diagonally opposed to match the flysheet. The inner also has 2 mesh vents matching the vents on the fly. Finally there's a loop for hanging a torch/light, it should really be a hook rather than a loop as most torches if they have anything have a loop rather than a hook. The porches are quite spacious and even with the supplied half groundsheets fitted leave sufficient room to access the tent and for cooking. The actual groundsheet is of the bathtub design and stands up well, on some tents the bathtub tends to drop downon the longer sides. The groundsheet looks tough enough to not need a footprint but of course a footprint would help keep it clean.







I mentioned there's the weight penalty, everything is just a bit chunkier than you find on more expensive tents, every zip has a loop of the same cord as the guylines and it's about 3-4mm diameter, the shockcord pegging loops on the porches are about 4mm and crimped with a metal crimp and of course the guylines are thicker than I'm used to. The same applies to the inner tent attachment points, the floor level hooks look like you could hang from them and the remaining attachment points use tape, plastic rings and toggles. In the end though it's been designed as suitable for rough handling and split between 2 the weight isn't outrageous, it's DofE approved and I have to say I think it would stand up well.

As I mentioned it had been pitched in ther garden for the past week with no ill effects. The only thing I've changed so far is to fit line locks to the guylines, I may switch to Marlow Excel 2mm line for the guy's and zip pullers but in the end thats more for useability than any attempt at weight saving. I would certainly use it if I was car or canoe camping, shared I'd be happy to backpack it and maybe, just maybe if I was going to pitch up in one place and use it as a base, even a wild camp I'd consider it especially in winter when the extra space would be welcome. I did some checking and I think I can easily get in around 14kg for a winter load even carrying the Halo myself, to put that in perspective I carried about the same last year on my 2nd visit to the Cairngorms but was using a Laser.

That aside the tent gets the thumbs up, it's easy to pitch, pretty stable, appears to be durable, hasn't leaked so far, weighs less than my Quasar and didn't break the bank at £105.

Vaude Power Lizard, Final Update

As I mentioned previously I e-mailed Vaude UK and attached the photos showing where the water was seeping through the flysheet. I'd decided to contact Vaude UK directly as I'd been in contact with them regarding the end strut length as the retailer was unfamiliar with the Power Lizard. They did get back to me to say that,

basically, your tent should be a fully waterproof system. Checking your photographs, I would suggest the ingress is at the inner-tent suspension / attachment-points, this being not something we`ve come across previously.

They asked me to return the flysheet so that they could check it out and if a fault was found they'd source me a new flysheet from Vaude Germany which would take 2-3 weeks.

To be honest I wasn't too happy with that as I didn't really want to wait that long and had hoped Vaude would simply send out a replacement tent on receipt of the faulty one. I e-mailed Vaude suggesting I'd be happier to have the complete tent replaced or if they wanted to OK it with the retailer then I would return it to them (retailer) for a refund. Vaude UK then got back to say that as they were completely out of stock and it would be mid November before they had any more it might be better to contact the retailer for a replacement. To be honest there didn't seem much point in getting a replacement as any stock the retailer had was likely to be from the same batch and would at the very least suffer from the strut issue if not the leak which I felt was a manufacturing/design issue anyway.

In the end I contacted the retailer Friday past detailing the problem and asking them to contact Vaude UK for further information. They were quick to respond and e-mailed me saying they'd spoken to Vaude UK and felt that the best option was for me to return the tent for a refund. Obviously I took them up on the offer as I didn't particularly like the tent anyway. The tent was posted back on Saturday, ironically I finished making the footprint* on Friday prior to hearing from the retailer, and the purchase price together with my return postage costs was refunded on Tuesday so top marks to both Vaude UK and the retailer for dealing with the matter very efficiently indeed.

So I'm back where I started again, still looking for my perfect tent but the reality is that I may already own my perfect tent.

The Footprint

I wanted to make a footprint for a varety of reasons, I wanted to protect the groundsheet, not because I thought it was fragile but it's just something I've always done, secondly it would have allowed me to use the fly only if I so wished and thirdly it helps keep the groundsheet clean and dry when packing the inner and fly separately.

I had bought some temporary double glazing film but found it difficult to work with as it's so thin so I decided to use a sheet of plastic as a pattern. I cut the footprint to the dimensions given for the inner tent (230cm long, 115cm wide at the head and 90cm at the foot) I found however that the footprint was much too close to the bottom edge of the flysheet and felt that there was a strong possibility of rain being blown onto it. In the end to achieve sufficient clearance I cut the footprint down by 10cm in each dimension (215cm L x 105cm wide at the head and 80cm wide at the foot) which tends to support my view that the inner tent is cut too large and in doing so inner/fly separation has been sacrificed to achieve greater internal space. As it turned out I never actually got to try the footprint as by the time I'd completed it I'd received the e-mail asking me to return the tent for refund.

Vaude Power Lizard UL, Waterproof? Updated

I wanted to make a lightweight groundsheet for the Power Lizard to provide a dry place to sit to hook up the inner and to keep the groundsheet dry for packing separately from the fly. I'd thought about silnylon or double glazing film but hadn't really made a decision. However I was in 'Poundland' last week and noticed packs of temporary double glazing film at £1 each, the sheets were only 157cm x 107cm so I bought 2 packs with the intention of taping them together.

It's was pretty miserable today with constant persistant rain which was quite heavy at times but not wind driven but I wanted to make a start. I pitched the fly 1st and then went to tape the 2 sheets of film together. They obviously needed trimmed to size so I laid them under the fly before hanging the inner tent.

I'd been messing around in and out of the tent a few times and was lying in the inner when noticed a few drops of water on the inner tent at the apex of the roof. I unhooked the inner, simply letting it lie flat and rubbed my finger across the inside of the fly just down from the seam tape and definitely felt that it was wet. On closer examination I noticed a few droplets starting to form again on the inside of the fly, now it's just possible that by wiping my finger across the inside of the fly I encouraged water to penetrate but that doesn't explain the droplets that had caught my attention in the 1st place.



As I had to go out for a couple of hours I left the tent as it was with the inner dropped and when I returned there was a wet patch on the inner. This time it looked as if water had been dripping from one of the hanging loops. I checked the other loops and there was a droplet of water on each together with the loop that the pole tension cord runs through although I didn't see any droplets on the inside of the fly.



To be honest it wasn't much but considering that although the rain was constant and at times heavy it wasn't being wind driven and to be fair I'm not sure that it's acceptable that there was water seeping through. It looks as if the water is getting through the seams where the pole clips are attached as the inner hanging loops are directly opposite on the inside.





I was going to modify the inner tent attachment loops but don't want to do anything now until I contact Vaude, I'll e-mail them again and send them the photographs/video clip to see what their response is although I'm getting to the point where patience is running low.



Update

I was having another look at the fly as it's currently hanging in the garage to dry out and I've found why water is dripping off the hanging loops/tension cord webbing. The webbing loops have been sewn on after the main seams have been taped and obviously the stitching goes right through the fly sheet, when the tension cord is tightened it pulls the webbing which in turn pulls the stitches. Now that I know where the water is coming from it'll be easy to seal the stitching with silicone sealer. I'm still not sure about the droplets forming on the inside of the fly fabric but I'll just keep an eye on it. I'm happier now as I was initially worried that the seam tape was faulty.







In response to the comments I thought I'd add the following shots illustrating how Phoenix attempted to minimise the problem of having to sew loops to the flysheet to attach the inner tent. This flysheet is the newest of 3 Phreerangers I own, all purchased used. The best 2 are ironically the pre 1988 un-taped versions, the taped one while being the newest is in the worst condition. It may be difficult to see in the shots but the elastic loop has 1st been sew to a small square piece of fabric, the fabric has then been sewn to the fly using a row of stitching either side of the loop. The square piece of fabric is then taped which means that the un-taped stitching holding the loop to the fabric isn't sewn directly to the fly. While it would still be possible for water to penetrate eventually it certainly minimises it. Of course doing it this way involves much more work and goes some way to explaining why my original Phreeranger EB cost almost £200 back in 1990/91.

Vaude Power Lizard UL, Take 3

I’d decided the Power Lizard wasn’t for me so I’d offered it for sale on a few places but although I asked £250 including shipping and being open to offers there was no real interest. Having looked around I still couldn’t see anything else, no surprise as I’d been looking for quite some time prior to deciding on the Power Lizard so I decided to just keep it and try to sort out some of the things I don’t like. In the end in spite of the hype it isn’t really any better IMO than the Laser I had last year. I didn’t like the Laser for a variety of reasons.

At least on the Power Lizard the inner can be removed although the use of toggles and rings makes it more awkward than it needed to be. The worst ones as I mentioned before are the ones at the botom corners of the fly and at each end adjacent to the top of the end strut. For some reason while most of the fittings on the inner are toggles the ones at the corners are rings, this wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that the toggles are attached to the fly with webbing thats only just long enough to allow you to push them through the rings. I've experimented with glove hooks on the fly, simply tied to the existing webbing and it makes hooking the inner on so much easier. I'd like to fit the glove hooks using thin shockcord without permanently altering the original fittings but it might not ne possible. At the ends adjacent to the strut the ring is attached to the fly but it's on a very short piece of webbing and suffers from the same lack of flexibility as the toggles on the bottom corners. When the fly is tensioned it's tricky to get the toggles through the rings. The toggles are attached using flat elastic but again I've attached glove hooks to the fly simply by tying them to the existing rings. The other attachment points aren't too bad as theres more room to work but the inner is very tight across the tent where it attaches to the webbing running from each end of the main pole. The webbing has rings attached, the fly has toggles but I'll simply add a shockcord loop to the existing ring at the porch side through which I can place the toggle.

I've already tried it out and it makes a big enough difference for me to be worth doing.

As I'm intending to remove the inner I'll need a footprint to keep the groundsheet clean and dry I haven't decided what to use. Silnylon would be my preferred option but it adds weight, temporary double glazing film is lighter and cheaper so perhaps I should try it 1st. If I use silnylon I could sew it into a bathtub form which would permit me to use the fly only but as the tent is pretty low I'm not about that. It would come down to how much weight I'd actually save by taking my Ti Goat Ptarmigan bivvy rather than the inner tent, I'm not counting the weight of a footprint as I'll be taking it anyway.

In the end as far as I'm concerned the Power Lizard is a better option only because I can remove the inner, in addition it's a bit lighter, about 200g IIRC. In every other respect the Laser is as good or better and while Vaude have attempted to address some of the criticism levelled at the Laser the solutions have in most case resulted in compromises elsewhere. I didn't have a Laser to hand for a direct comparison but my general observations and reasons for my comments are dealt with in the following paragraphs. Do bear in mind though that I couldn't do a direct comparison.

Vaude Power Lizard UL v's Terra Nova Laser

The Power Lizard was touted as a Laser with the problems sorted and on paper it looked good, it avoided the pole hood by using locking pole clips which simply hooked on to the pole once the pole ends had been inserted into the eyelets, it was claimed that locking the clips together with a Vangoesque internal tension cord improved the stability of the pole/tent. The end struts were 2 piece which helped reduce packed length and were fitted on the outside of the fly rather than underneath the fly. The inner was also removable to avoid getting it soaked when packed with a wet flysheet. In addition it provided extra space and was claimed to be more suited to those over 6’ tall, that wasn’t a particular concern of mine at 5’ 10”.

Someone said ‘In theory there’s no difference between theory and practice but in practice there is” and that proved to be the case with the Power Lizard. With regard to the method of locating the main pole I didn’t find the clips to be any quicker in the end than the pole sleeve/hood on the Laser. On the Laser once the pole is fitted and tensioned from the outside using the tension cord on the pole hood you’re finished. On the Power Lizard you fit the pole, then attach the clips but leave them unlocked, then when the fly is fully pegged you need open the door, tension the cord, close the door again and lock down the clips so in reality it isn’t any quicker, just different. I didn’t notice the pole on the Laser being particularly un-stable and in any case the design of the clips suggests that it won’t take long until they don’t actually lock anyway, as it is even locked you can move them without too much effort. The clips even if they do offer a marginal improvement in ease of use or stability introduce another problem. Due to the way the clips are spaced the fly takes on a hexagonal form directly under the pole which in turn prevents the fly zip from following a natural curve, instead it’s forced to follow the same hexagonal form which places extra tension on the zip especially adjacent to the 2nd clip down from the apex, you can easily see the teeth on the zip being pulled apart at this point. Finally even if the fly tension had been improved it only really affects an area 3-4” either side of the pole, the main areas of fabric are still just as prone to flapping as those on the Laser. One final thing to consider is that as the pole isn’t a standard diameter and the clips are a unique design repairs are going to be more difficult/costly and should you need to use the pole repair section to fix a break close to a pole clip the clip will no lomger fit. In the end all things taken into consideration the pole clips don’t in my opinion actually improve on the sleeve/hood used on the Laser, they do however introduce their own problems.

Zip being pulled apart adjacent to Pole Clip

Laser end Tape which hold the position of the Strut relative to the main pole

I found it difficult or at least time consuming to get a taut pitch on the Laser, unfortunately I found it equally difficult on the Power Lizard and it comes down partly to how the end struts are located. On the Laser the inner is fixed but the end tapes/pegging points are part of the inner. The struts are located in pockets, one on the fly (Top) and one on the end tape (bottom) in addition they’re held in place by a shock cord. Once you peg out the end tape the position of the strut and distance from the main pole is fixed, on the Power Lizard this isn’t the case as although the strut is located top and bottom there’s nothing to hold it at a set distance relative to the main pole, the bottom of the strut is free to move around and only really stays put if the end that protrudes through the eyelet penetrates the ground. This means that when you peg out the fly and fit the main pole you need to reset both end struts to the correct distance and angle before you can get a taut pitch, I found I needed to readjust the end strut position and angle more than once at each end and readjust the fly sheet pegging points a similar number of times before I had everything pitched to a reasonable standard. The end strut guyline runs from the vent hood at the top of the strut down at approx 45° to the pegging point which is a plastic ring then back to the bottom of the strut. The plastic rings are too small to allow you to use aluminium ‘V’ or ’Y’ section pegs but also means that when you try to tension the strut by angling it back towards the pegging point there’s even more tension trying to pull the bottom of the strut back towards you which is the last thing you want because if the bottom of the strut slides back towards the peg the top gets pulled forward towards the main pole and the end of the tent collapses. While it may be slightly easier to insert the struts the disadvantages greatly out weigh any advantage there may be. I personally didn’t like the 1 piece struts on the Laser as I felt they were too long for packing but in the end I feel the 2 piece struts on the Power Lizard are a weak point given the amount of tension they‘re under. On both the Laser and Power Lizard the stability and strength of the end struts is critical as the they take a greater share of the loading than any other pegging point, if they fail in strong winds the tent is likely to collapse as most of the tension will be lost and the main body of fabric will lose any wind shedding ability that it had, effectively becoming a sail. The Laser design does a better job of ensuring that the strut is set correctly and keeping it that way.

Short Toggle attached to Fly lower corners

Result of packing as 1 when the fly is wet

The issue of whether the inner can easily be removed or not takes on less significance if by making it removable you make the tent more difficult to pitch. I considered a removable inner a key point but as it takes me so long to achieve a taut pitch I’m unlikely to detach the inner anyway, had I intended to keep it attached on the Laser my opinion of the Laser may well have been different. In any case Vaude have chosen to use a combination of toggles/rings to attach the inner and it simply serves to make the job more difficult than need be. Shock cord loops and ‘S’ or glove hooks would have been perfectly adequate and vastly easier to operate, instead the toggles at each corner of the fly are attached with very short webbing loops which makes the rings difficult to attach, the adjustable straps at both ends of the porch side don’t actually do anything as even fully tightened the head end of the inner is as wide or wider than the fly. It would probably by possible to swap the toggles/rings for shock cord/glove clips but it would have been better if Vaude had concentrated on making things easy to operate rather than looking nice.

The Power Lizard of course has been touted as being more suitable than the Laser for 2 person use due to having more width and suitable for taller people due to having greater internal length. On the 2nd point unless you sleep stretched full length there’s little advantage as the headroom is just the same as the Laser at 95cm, extra length comes primarily through extending the inner relative to the fly which reduces both inner/fly separation at the ends and loses the under fly storage space that you have at the ends of the Laser. For 2 person use the Power Lizard is only wider from the mid point to the head end otherwise it’s the same width as the Laser, the footprint of the Power Lizard being asymmetric. The Laser on the other hand has a door on both sides (only 1 porch) which is something worth considering for 2 person use. In addition the Laser has bigger mesh panels at each end and the fly can be pulled up from inside the inner tent to increase ventilation if required which should reduce condensation especially when used as a 2 person tent. In attempting to optimise internal space the inner/fly separation on the Power Lizard is reduced generally with as little as 25mm between fly and inner at the head end corner on the opposite side from the porch. I suspect that most people buying a Laser or Power Lizard are buying it primarily as a solo tent and the reality is that both have pro’s and con’s when used as 2 person tents.

Inner/Fly separation on the Power Lizard

Inner/Fly separation on the Laser

Lastly there’s the weight advantage, the Power Lizard comes in at between 150-200g lighter than the Laser, changing the pegs from those supplied will more than likely tip the balance in favour of the Power Lizard as it comes with 8 decent ti skewers rather than the ti toothpicks supplied with the Laser.