October 3, 2014
Equipment (in) Pieces
Even a year ago we noted that not a single bit of the equipment that went with us in 2011 is still in our kit. Partly this is because we often just found something better, and the old piece is now on the shelf. But in all too many cases stuff has simply not held up to the rigours of the road, or of time.
For this page, we are highlighting three pieces that have recently failed in some way. Perhaps there will be something to be learned from the failures, or the fixes!
Bluetooth Keyboards
The first device we took on the road for updating the blog was an ASUS eeePC netbook. It put in an amazing performance, with a good keyboard, the reasonably stable Windows 7, and the ability to withstand the bouncing from the road, in the front pannier. The drawbacks were the weight (3 3/4 pounds, with charger and case, and 3/4 pounds more for a spare battery), and the fact that it could only be charged from a wall outlet. So we switched to an 8" tablet - under a pound, with case, and with 3G internet access. This could be charged by USB from the dynamo on the front wheel of the bike, or from solar charged batteries that also served our other electronic gizmos.
But the big drawback - the onscreen keyboard was far too clumsy. Or that is, I was. So here began a saga with a veritable stream of Bluetooth keyboards. A Bluetooth keyboard costs about $90. Well ok, given that the tablet with 3G was already $500 (in 2012), what's another $90?
The first keyboard was by Verbatim. It had the feature of being full width but with a fold that brought it to half - six inches, easy to fit in a handlebar bag. The problem was that the fold broke the usually big space bar into two small keys. I was chronically unable to hit these.
So the next keyboard was by Zagg. This was easy to type on, with big, widely spaced keys. The problem was that despite repeated redos of the pairing procedure, the thing would repeeaatt letters, like that, driving me crazy as I went back to try to clean them up.
Somewhere in Germany I had had enough, and got a little keyboard by a company called Rapoo. Did you know that in Germany the QWERTY keyboard is QWERTZ? and that that is not the only difference? This also drove me crazy. Also the keys were too small and close together for effective clutz typing. When we got home, I found I could not even give this keyboard to Marius, and he was brought up in Germany!
So it was off to Best Buy, for one by Belkin. The space bar here was not as big as on the Zagg, and the keys not as well spaced, but ok. So in France, the thing lost its ability to pair. I think it was not transmitting key strokes at all. At the part where the system says "Type 4733 (or somesuch) on the keyboard and hit Enter" there was no response at all. And yes, the keyboard was fully charged.
So it was off to "FNC", the Best Buy of France. We were directed there by a hotel employee in Metz. We came up with a quite capable model, actually branded Samsung. The spacebar still gave me a little trouble, but that is probably just me. The main problem was that this one was too long to fit in the handlebar bag with the tablet. So it was back in the front pannier where the eeePC (remember the eeePC!) used to be. And oh, did you know that in France a QWERTY keyboard is actually AZERTY, and that is not the only difference? The Samsung had no case to protect it from road shock, but we soon found a construction site and liberated some foam insulation. It was muddy, so we found a place to wash and sponge it down. It held on to the moisture for at least a day, but finally we deemed it dry enough to go into service around the keyboard. This worked rather well, if you consider having a giant piece of plastic in your pannier, surrounded by foam, working well.
When we got back this last time, we were prowling around Future Shop (a Canadian company that has been bought out by Best Buy) and Dodie spotted a Belkin with a slightly different design from our first one. For one thing, it is Samsung specific, while all but one of the others was really for iPad mini.
So that's where we are. Actually on Bluetooth keyboard number six. So far it is working. That is not to say I am typing this on the Belkin. Oh no. To actually get anything done you need the tank like 19" by 9" Logitech desktop keyboard, weighing in at 2 1/2 pounds all by itself! That's what I will use until forced out on the road again, with a little Bluetooth toy!
Next piece of equipment in the spotlight (check back soon):
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Bike Friday stand, and frame
The idea of touring on a folding bike is no longer so much of a novelty. Certainly when David (and later,Pearl) Omick set out in 2008 as the "Circus Bear", it was something quite unproven. But by the time we bought our Bike Friday "New World Tourist" bikes in 2012, we were just following in the tracks of others, and could be quite assured that the bikes could do it.
Despite this, I clearly remember a time out in the rain, cold, and hills of the Pacific Coast route that I walked back to my bike at an overlook, looked at the bike, and thought "There is no way that this little toy is going to get me out of here". Of course, it did get me out, and over time I have developed ever more confidence in the little thing. The wheels have been a big part of this. They are small, and so seemingly immune to twisting forces. Not only have we broken no spokes in 23,000 km (times two bikes = 46,000 km!) of riding, but none of the wheels has required any truing in all that way!
On the other hand, as we have found with much recreational equipment, though labelled as a "Tourist", the Bike Friday is not really meant for extended heavily loaded touring. The first evidence of this came with the supplied stands. These flimsy things failed almost immediately, when trying to hold up bikes that might have a load of up to 80 pounds of gear, food, and water as they head into some region where supplies are lacking. We found and installed much stronger stands in the Netherlands, and also sometimes used trekking poles as props (modelled on the idea of the Click Stand). However this could not stop the weight from ripping apart the little welded on frame bridge that the stands bolt through. This happened to my bike last year. This year it's Dodie's.
Dodie's frame also showed another weakness this year. The bushing where the left side rear brake bolts on simply cracked in half, leaving us almost stranded in Verdun, France. We were saved by the fact that the portion of the bushing still attached to the frame had enough threading for the whole thing to be held together with an extra long bolt.
Bike Friday, most impressively, has stood behind their warranty, and moved to repair all our items quickly and completely. We asked them this time if they could dream up a stronger construction for the stand mounting, and they are presently working on it. Still, it is a little sad to see Dodie's once noble steed looking like it does in the photo below, just 43 days from our next big(ish) trip!
Next up:
Black Diamond Vista tent
We took a fair amount of time deciding on the Black Diamond Vista, when we bought it a couple of years ago. The features we went for were a fly that covered almost all the way to the ground (to guard against blowing rain), two entrances (to avoid crawling over each other), "three person" size (to allow lots of room for gear), and lightweight poles connected to a single hub (for fast assembly and low weight). Obviously, we got all that. So what is our beef now?
1. Fly material. The fly seems to magnetically attract condensation and only full sun (not even paper towels) can actually dry it (given a couple of hours).
2. Some thing weird about the waterproof taping - we always try to pack the tent away on the road as dry as possible, but if you actually want to leave camp before noon, there is going to be some moisture around. The waterproof taping inside the tent has reacted by growing mold underneath the tape . It is not leaking, but it is scary.
3. Colour. The catalog called the tent "Marigold", but let's face it, it is Orange. We know we are generally rotten stealth campers, but trying to do it in a giant orange ball is just too much of a disadvantage!
4. Size and weight.
This year we discovered the joys of guesthouses in Germany, with the result that we camped only half the time. With less emphasis on camping, we began to think that we could get by with a less spacious, luxurious tent. A smaller tent would weigh less, too, speeding us our way to the next guesthouse!
So we ran out and bought the REI Quarter Dome T3. But I guess camping luxury was still in our blood, and it looked too small to us. So we swapped for the T3 Plus, which is basically the same size as the darn Vista. It seems like Quarter Dome is REI's lightweight offering, so even the T3 Plus weighs in at up to two pounds lighter than the Vista. So because we were (are) not really focussed on what we are trying to achieve, our $300 for the T3 Plus bought us only a little less weight. Actually, we do have a hope (or a prayer) that the fly and the tent generally will handle moisture better. It does have two vents at the top of the fly.
Because we realized that somehow we were not done with refining our tent situation, next time we were hypnotically drawn through the doors of REI, we gravitated to the tent display. Set up there were some two person and two person plus models of the Half Dome. On sale! We almost snapped one up, telling ourselves we would only use it when no lovely guesthouses were around. Unfortunately we quickly discovered that the two person Half Dome is as heavy as the three person Quarter Dome. No sense our cutting back the tent size for no gain. Aha, clearly what we want is the two person Quarter Dome. Yeah maybe, but for a not on sale $US320 we gave it a miss.
So where are we at: slightly lighter, maybe drier, same size as always, Quarter Dome T3 Plus, with the wasn't at all cheap Black Diamond Vista joining our pile of expensive cast off stuff.
But hey, that Quarter Dome is Moss Green. They will never find us now!
**Flash** The Quarter Dome T2 Plus is now on sale. Do we dare go back into REI?
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |