www.gisvold.co.uk - Camping

startmonkey

tor — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:42:23 +0000

You have to love these guys - I have a powergorilla - with the extra solargorilla for a sunny day (!) - and i can't fault it. It keeps me watching movies for hours on a plane while powering my laptop, while recharging my iPhone.

So their next product is:

startmonkey
Dead car battery? We've got the power...

Introducing the startmonkey - the world's smallest "jump start" system for car batteries.

In 2009, the RAC were called out a whopping 177,916 times to jumpstart cars! A flat battery was the number 1 reason they were called out for breakdown assistance during last year.
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Solar charging in the UK

tor — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:22:20 +0000

I have earlier written about my Solargorilla/Powergorilla - and I have tried charging the Powergorilla from the Solargorilla solar panel

(Click for larger image)

Yesterday was overcast - and I could not get the charging going at all.

But today was very sunny, and the Powergorilla started charging as soon as I connected it (as you can see I hung it up outside using the supplied velcro strap. After a couple of hours the Powergorilla was fully charged (it was showing 3/4 charge when I started) - so quite good.
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Solargorilla and normal batteries

tor — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:21:57 +0000

Wow - my Solargorilla can charge normal 12V batteries with tis handy cable :

I want one!

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solargorilla and powergorilla - my first outing

tor — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:13:59 +0000

I got the combination powergorilla and Solargorilla for my birthday - as a result of trying to charge way too many things when we went camping in Switzerland this year, and I managed to both deplete it fully during a scout event this weekend, and then charge it again.

But back to basics :

(Click for larger)

The device on the left is the Powergorilla - basically a big battery with 3 connectors

- USB out for charging devices such as the iPhone
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My review of a tent : Outwell Indian Lake

tor — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:02:55 +0000

As readers of this blog will know we bought a Outwell Indian Lake tent before the summer holidays.

We have now been to 3 Explorer camps with this tent - one of those for 7 days in Switzerland, and in very different conditions, from very hot sunshine to very, very heavy rain, and the tent (and we) have survived, so it is about time to write about the tent end our experiences.

First of all this is a unusual tent - and you will get to know people if you have one, as there are lots of curious stares and comments :

(Btw. Click on any image to see a larger version)
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Outwell Indian Lake - first real weekend

tor — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:32:50 +0000

We bought a Outwell Indian Lake tent a couple of weeks ago, as we knew we had to go camping a few times this year, and our old 3-man tunnel tent was slowly falling apart.

And what we wanted in a new tent was :

- Headroom to stand up (I'm 6'3") to get dressed.

- Space to have a group of people (Explorer scouts springs to mind) when it rains

- Space for letting visitors "lounge around", reading and playing cards during scout camps

- Storage space for all the stuff we carry along to camps locally and abroad

- Waterproof (we live in the UK after all)
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The first problem with our Outwell Indian Lake tent

tor — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:09:19 +0000

As I blogged earlier today in this posting - we just bought a Outwell Indian Lake tent, and as it is a rather unconventional tent we put it up for the first time yesterday, and then took it down and packed everything away today - to make sure we could do this.

And then we put it up one more time, as we decided that the way we had packed it away (without unzipping the built-in groundsheet, did not work. We managed to get everything into the big packing back, but it was just too heavy to be carried for any distance by one person. This is undoubtably why they have the zip and the option to pack it away into 2 separate bags.
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A new tent for the summer

tor — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:40:17 +0000

Our old tent is falling apart after years of use and abuse at numerous scout camps and trips, and it was about time to look for something new.

One of my wifes criteria was that we should be able to stand up to dress in the morning (or in the middle of the night when you have to care for a distraught scout) - and that we should ideally be able to have enough space to sit around while a typical british summer rainstorm passes by.

Ideally we should also have space for a group of explorers to pop in for a game of cards/storing supplies etc.
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The view from our holiday cottage in Cornwall

tor — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:49:08 +0000

This is the view from the holiday cottage we rented in Kingsand, Cornwall - with the Kayaks in the foreground :

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We're looking to buy a "relaxing tent"

tor — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:18:09 +0000

After having spent "Frostcamp" with a Fiesta tent threatening to fly away we're looking to buy a "relaxing tent", ie.e a tent for relaxing in for a group of people - as opposed to a messtent - which we can share with others.
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