Review: Helikon Patriot

Who is the apex predator who will ruin your day, your week, and even your year?

Who has no respect for tradition, and will rob future generations of their tweedy sartorial inheritance? Tineola bisselliella my nemesis, the common clothes moth. If you like your bushcraft and or traditional Scottish Deer Stalking, you probably like the comfort, warmth, and indeed elegance of wool, and more specifically Tweeds. Not cheap, but with potentially generations of wear in every garment, an investment. Or so I thought. I've lost count of the number of jackets and suits that have been ravaged by the evil that is the clothes moth. So I started all over again with synthetics, and in fairness never looked back. You can buy fleece clothes at every price point from free chuck-ables branded by tool companies to NomadUK. I've got a NomadUK set of breeks and smock for hill stalking and they are fantastic, they were also a fantastic price, even though I got mine at a significant discount on Ebay.

I reviewed their gear a while back and I've now put it to even harder tests and I still love it. A few of you wrote in with variations on 'How Much!?'

Then for not a lot less dosh there's the 'tacti-cool' guys, there are a few companies making 'issue replacement' gear in the tactical/military contractor style; from complete junk, to very well made. Triple Aught Design [TAD Gear] probably being the best. They have their retail outlet in San Francisco so you can imagine the prices. Plus shipping, plus import tax, plus handling charge etc. Really well thought out and made though.

A few weeks back I met up with a friend who has mentored me in Lightweight Sporting Rifle. He has; a very good job, no kids, and as you might expect, a wonderful collection of toys that go 'Pew-Pew'.  The was wearing one of the most substantial, and best cut fleece jackets I've ever seen. As he'd just come back from the US of A I assumed it would be some super niche brand to rival TAD Gear. Not a bit of it. Helikon-Tex of Poland. When I found out you could have one list price for £60 I was intrigued. 

A few emails later the lovely people at Helikon were kind enough to send me a fleece for testing. I've got a few base layers that work well enough, so I chose a heavy fleece hooded jacket they call the Patriot.

Straight out of the bag I like the Patriot. 390g/m2 is a fairly substantial weight of fleece giving a comforting jacket-ness to it. The design detail is right up there with the three times the price American brands and quite a bit better than my much-loved NomadUK hill smock. 


The zips are full spec YKK’s and the pulls don't look like they’ll fail even in heavy use. 

The pull-cords that snug-up the bottom of the jacket are better than the usual junk and have a little bead to stop the quick-locks from getting lost. Me likee.

The chest pockets have inner pockets made of a 'silky' material to hold a pen, your phone, and glasses. They also have clips to keep things that mustn't be lost, like your cast ear defenders secured. The jacket is what's sometimes called 'media enabled' which in the real world means there are little grommets for headphone cables to pass through in the pockets. I had a jacket like this before and I did actually use them, another nice touch. 

Helikon have gone with a semi-rigid velcro closure for the cuffs which are actually nicer to use than having a cloth tab, and very convent during the gralloch or when costal foraging where you want to keep the muck off your cuffs. 

The way the jacket is cut; no hand pockets and pit-zips that you can actually do-up & un-do while still wearing the jacket, mean its going to be my first choice to wear with a pack. 

There's a map sized pocket on the back, for when you need the paperwork, but don't need it to hand. 

I took the Patriot for a spot of coastal foraging, unfortunately it didn't rain, but the wind blew up a fair bit. Just wearing a t-shirt underneath to give it a fair test, unlike most fleeces the jacket was almost totally windproof [which its not described as by the maker]. It’s shrugged off some light rain in town and I’m thinking about getting another one  

Its worth noting that the sizing is pretty generous, if I got some of Helikon’s base layers I’d order them in a size smaller than the sizing chart shows.

www.helikon-tex.com

More soon
Your pal
SBW

Nomad UK Hill Smock Review

Quiet, warm, waterproof, durable, cheap. 4/5 isn't too shabby.

Back in the mists of time, when this blog was young and it actually looked like I might one day bowhunt an Elk, James Marchington wrote a post about buying a fleece jacket made from material so waterproof the company made waders from it. Later James still seemed very happy with it, another blogger of my acquaintance The Bambi Basher called Nomad 'perfect clothes for the hill'. He's worn his set on every trip to Scotland and wouldn't be without them "Tracky for the house and Nomad for the hill, it's all you need to bring".

Nomad UK are one of those companies from a bygone era, they make some very cool products, that not many people have ever heard of.
While every chump with a facebook account and a misplaced belief in their own innate design skill has launched some kind of outdoor crap. Nomad have been making weather-beating clothes for the outdoorsman and keeping the news to themselves. They have a website that can perhaps best be described as 'obscure'. They don't even publish a list of stockists, clear pictures of the clothes, or any but the most cursory details about their fly rods. I know my own photography isn't up to much, but to be fair I don't put a lot of effort into it and I'm not selling clothes.

The jackets Nomad are famous for are cut in the smock style, the front panel coming well below the waist and the back being longer still, available either hooded and openable only to the waist or hoodless and zippered all the way down. A scottish Shalwar Kameez if you like.
The material is a thick fleece with taped seams, non meeting seams are edged in synthetic leather, by reputation they are 100% water and windproof. They are disconcertingly lightweight. It's a bit like you've accidentally gone out in your pajamas, they are really lightweight. The material is thick for fleece, but its still only fleece.
I've worn the Plus4's and smock beating in a thunder storm that got the shoot called off, at the end of the long trudge to the barn I was the only person who was still dry. I still couldn't quite believe it and put off writing this review. A few days ago I pressure-washed a patio in the pissing rain, and still bone dry at the end of the day, turned the pressure-washer on myself. Still dry. The other thing that's great about this 'outdoor jammy's' thing is, they are the quietest clothes this side of cashmere. Even wool hunting coats rustle, and ventile scratches in comparison

When my box arrived in the post I put the coat on. Before I could get to the mirror, or ask for it, Elfa gave me her appraisal  "Whoever made that for you is no taylor, is it even your size?" I've tried to explain to her that the deer don't care, I just want to be dry or at least warm and wet but it seems her dad always cut a dash while slaying partridges in the semi-desert of Spain. All I could think was 'Thank god she isn't Austrian, she'd want me to wear a cape'.

With their obscure website and strangely cut clothes it would be easy to imagine Nomad being seen as deeply unfashionable, but wait. All that is to change!

Last week, 'Hunter' another brand from the hinterland where practicality once ruled over style made their debut at London Fashion week. This would have passed me by but fortunately the keen-eyed Elfa was on hand to offer her incisive commentary.

"Look at disbeach, Joder, she's got your coat on, ess awful! Joder!"

So aside from the reassuring knowledge that, even afield, you are mysteriously at the very cutting edge of fashion, what else do you get for your money?

Very roomy and soft, outdoor pajamas. Andy Kirkpatrick once wrote an interesting piece about the psychological comfort we seek in very solid heavy outdoor clothes. I'd put Nomad in the same class as Kifaru's Packlock Parka - there's something vaguely disturbing about being in the cold, feeling warm, yet strangely underdressed.

 The bum-warmer pocket is a good idea for keeping a foam mat in place while hunting from highseats/treestands, but it would have been more versatile if the zip was horizontal and the pocket a bit bigger.

 The main zip seems fine but the smaller zips aren't really up to the job, this one has broken already.

The binocular pocket on the right is a stroke of genius, so simple and so effective, the document pocket suffers from the same flaws as the bum-warmer pocket and is unfortunately stitched in vertically so its not really useable if you're wearing a pack or harness.

The Binocular pocket is easily big enough as you can see from these super bargain 8x40's from Eden, there's easily enough room for glass in the 50mm class.

The panel under the sleeve is excellent, this smock is a bowhunter's dream so quiet and such good maneuverability, it'd be great for beachcasting too. Personally I'd have given the smock pit-zips as its very warm and not very breathable. They'd have the added advantage that it would be much more comfortable to wear with a pack's waistbelt worn inside the smock.

After so pretty wet and windy real world testing, and being 'pressure tested' with a pressure-washer here are my findings:

Warmth: Excellent can't fault it.

Waterproofness: Wow really really good.

Quietness: Superb. best yet tested.

Design: Functionally perfect, I couldn't help but feel that the Hill Smock is made up of missed chances to design something really fantastic. The money and time that went into the stupid belt loops could have been better deployed on the pockets and 'pit-zips' which could do double duty, making the smock a joy to wear with a pack rather than unnecessarily annoying.

Build Quality: The material is excellent, the seam tape is well bonded, the main zip is ok, the pocket zips are crap.

Style: I'm told I'm not qualified to make a judgement about that, but I have it on good authority that the deer don't care and 9/10 rabbits didn't respond to the survey.

Would I buy another one?
Absolutely. In a heartbeat. Annoyingly imperfect, but really really good.

More soon
SBW

PS Nomad also make a very highly regarded wading jacket - but more of that later.

Unboxing: RedRam Merino Base Layer

The lovely people* at Red Ram have sent me a Merino Base Layer for testing, but frankly the weather is still a warm to be able to tell you anything about it's thermal efficacy. Red Ram is a fair bit cheaper than my current favourite brand, which is no bad thing. The saving seems to come from not having the spiral seams of 'technical' underwear, after one days wear I'm yet to detect a difference. I wore the top last weekend on a  Pheasant shoot where I was over dressed for the weather and under dressed for the thorns and brambles I fought my way through, I was boiling the whole time. As soon as I get round to slinging on a wool wash on I'll let you know how well it survived the rigours of the washing machine, but a true test of the longjohns will have to wait until the mercury falls.

For those of you not afflicted by 'kit-tart-ness' sorry if that's the way the blog seems to be going at the moment - normal service with it's tales of feral failure will resume shortly with a cold weather adventure, a look at the english class system afield, some book reviews, and I may even get the time to finish some craft projects that aren't based in other people houses.

Keep well, your pal

SBW

*Lovely People status is available to pretty much anyone who wants to send me useable stuff

Unboxing: Agion Base Layer Review

I received an email the other day offering me the a free shirt and as buying stuff to review takes up a large part [a ‘large part’ called ‘all’] of the blog budget and I wear a shirt most days I of course accepted.

The company claims the shirt has innate odour reducing properties, not being currently engaged in any adventure sports, I tested it with a couple of days on a building site carrying sanitary ware and plasterboard (dry lining) up many many flights of stairs. Which amounts to the same thing. Just without the fresh air and photo opportunities.

Did it work?

I really don’t know for sure, but it probably smells less than a cotton shirt

Was it warm?

Yes it was. So much so that I’m wearing it as I write.

Would I buy one?

Only if was available without the hideous promotional message.

What would make buying one a no-brainer?

Being able to choose the hideous promotional message myself.

What can we learn from all this?

The slogans on outdoor-wear are crap.

The ‘add your own slogan’ companies don’t offer base-layer shirts.

SBW loves free stuff even more than he loves cheap stuff.

More soon

Your pal

SBW

PS the lovely Traci has just written in to ask me to tell you that the shirts are currently just to demonstrate the efficacy of the anti odour treatment and will soon be branded with the name of a well-know hunting apparel manufacturer. Go on Traci. Seeing as its you. Normally I'd just have laughed and moved on to the next email but as coincidence would have it - It actually works. Really I've been wearing it for days and it doesn't smell as bad as my other work clothes.

Merino Buff and The Antarctica Shirt Review

Det finns inget sådant som dåligt väder bara olämpligt kläder

As they say in Sweden or

"There's no such thing as bad weather - only inappropriate clothing"

To cut a short story long: Any amount of cold is tolerable (in the right gear) but even the smallest draft down my neck seems to suck the warmth from my soul. About 20 years ago when i first met MCP we worked a cycle messengers and would have to stand around in the cold wearing lycra waiting for the next job. Fortunately I know BoB (Brother of Bushwacker) a man whose had more mountain time in one winter than all the armchair warriors on the bushcraft forums have had in their lives, and at the time went by the nickname 'inspector gadget'. Some people thought he was called that because he had a lot of kit, true but not the reason, it was because he has the experience and insight to truly inspect gadgets, when he says 'Quite good, I'd have one' you know it'll out perform any claims made on the box and last three to four lifetimes of hard use, in foul weather. I have had tools that have literally collapsed under the weight of one of his sighs.

He sent me to a shop called Survival Aids in London's Euston station, where you could buy silk underwear and 'snoods'. Don't get exited ladies. These were sets of long johns and tops that seriously kept you warm while weighing nothing. The optional extra was what we now know as a Buff, but then called a snood, in navy blue silk. Boy do they work! Really NOTHING KEEPS YOU WARMER. I've had loads of different ones over the years and wouldn't think of going anywhere cold and windy without one. So after last swagmas's great gift of a Merino wool icebreaker turned out to be such a boon in the frozen north, when I saw Buffs were bringing out a Merino Buff I knew I'd have to get one - they seem a hell of a price at £21 - but i consoled myself that the Survival Aids ones were about £12 twenty years ago and took the plunge.

Basically you get a tube of fine woven Merino wool, if 'Betty Swollox' have knackered a pair of merino long johns you could just cut off a section of leg and save yourself the £21. But sitting the freezing cold wearing old underwear round your neck might not be your thing, in fact when i put it like that it's not my thing either.

One nice surprise is that they're about 1.5 X the length of a regular Buff so you and have it as hood and neck warmer simultaneously. Very good - even at over a score I'm still giving them a thumbs up - top piece of kit. If I do feel the company has a failing its that every time they send anything out to you (last bits were free so i shouldn't complain) they send you a new set of Buffs stickers -I don't need any Buff stickers - anyone can tell I'm Buff ;-) and an 'instructional DVD' which is frankly just more landfill.

They do eight different colours and I hope it's only a matter of time before they take up my suggestion and bring one out in Blaze Orange, as it would add 'arm band' and 'hat band' to the list of uses a Buff has, and as we know would be an important safety aid (and legal requirement) for hunters.

Recently I've been following a blog called Bashing Bambi - basically the adventures of an english chap who has a bit of woodland to raise pheasants on, does a fair bit of stalking, (english for deer hunting), likes military history, bad jokes and spends his weekends selling dog accessories and chronicling the sartorial crimes of the english upper classes AKA 'the Ruperts''.

At the bottom of his blog there are a couple of links to merchants he reckons have good stuff, and that's how I found Stalkersuk.com a small site where a keen stalker is selling some things he's found useful himself. At very reasonable prices.

I ordered the Antarctica Shirt in a Nomex/Merino (30%/70%) wool mix for £44 inc postage, and very good it is too. They are available in any colour you like as long as it's green and as soon as I'd unpicked the horrible logo it's a very nice lightweight outdoorsy top; long back, holes to put your thumbs through so your wrists stay warm and a stovepipe collar. The sizes come up quite large, I might even buy another in a size down. Thumbs up again.

Your Pal
The Bushwacker

BUFFS - The Review

Having run into Henry from Buffs at the start of the Mongol Rally '09, who very generously gave me and the kids some Buffs I've had the opportunity to test them afield and learn a little bit more about them.
What's a BUFF bushwacker?

A Buff is a seamless tube of very stretchy material that I would wear around my neck or stretched over my head, [yes THAT stretchy!] If you're young and hot [or in middle youth and still hot] you could also wear it as a dress or boob tube type top. Or If you're folliclly challenged [ in the common parlance - a slap-head] you could wear one as a Do-Rag.

You wouldn't be telling us about it if it didn't do something more than that, surely bushwacker?

Glad you asked, you know me so well, here's the clever bit.

Because of the way the material is knitted Buffs offer a very high grade of protection against UV light, in fact 95% which is better than many sunglasses. So when spending the day fishing, near snow covered slopes, or on the water they offer the kind of UV protection that we'd usually have to resort to environmentally questionable and expensive sun creams to obtain. They also do a range of Angler Buffs in all kinds of fish skin prints which are pretty cool.

OK so that's fishing, snow and water sports covered, anything else?

Yes, for lots of hunting applications, Rabbits, and Turkeys for instance, face camo can be a real help. Henry didn't have a any of the types of 'Camu Buffs' to hand when we met but there's a match for pretty much any pattern you might choose. Obviously my first question was 'do the dies contain optical brighteners?' i.e the chemicals in washing powders and cloth dyes that make clothes look bright, clean and vibrant to the human eye, but which literally make us GLOW to the eyes of a deer. Henry didn't know but was good enough to pass my question on to Sarah at Buffs HQ who passed word back telling me she thinks not.

Cool, so great for Summer, late Spring and early Autumn [Fall] then?

The Buff folks are keen outdoors people too and they've long stocked a Polar Buff which is basically a regular buff stitched to a fleece tube. Not bad, I wore a fleece tube while commuting by scooter all winter and it was a godsend, but the latest development is what's got me exited - the new 100% Merino Buff.

The color I want wasn't in stock yet but as soon as it arrives I'll be doing an 'unboxing' review. I'm expecting great things, as regular readers will know, after receiving that Merino Icebreaker top for swagmas last year I'm a total convert to Merino wool. Its almost water and windproof, it combines the super insulative qualities (wet or dry) of wool, with the stretchy comfort of a cotton lycra mix. It's now my default choice for all but outer wear.

Warning to potential buff owners - The Littlest Bushwacker has already had her Buff misappropriated by EX Mrs SBW who is now wearing it as an Alice band, and she would have taken Bushwacker Jnr's too if he hadn't caught her in the act. Keep 'em close or lose 'em.

More soon

Your Pal

SBW

Mongol Rally - Making Life Less Boring

A few years ago in an attempt to make life less boring some nutters set out to drive to Mongolia. Obviously they failed but it wasn't the car that let them down. Their lack of visas was all it seemed that stood in the way of an adventure that would take them across some of the worlds most demanding roads in a car costing less than £1000 with an engine of only 1200 cc. A nine year old suburban shopping cart basically.

Of course the sensible thing to do would be to go in a Landrover, but where's the fun in that?

A year and an internet campaign later 6 teams set off - london to Ulan Bator - 10,000 miles or approximately one third of the earths surface. 4 of them made it. Every year a few more make the start and the number finishing goes up too.

The rules are hilariously simple.

Totally unsupported. Totally. The Adventureists will help you get started, get your papers in order but from the moment you leave it's all on you. here's the warning they issue to potential entrants

These adventures are genuinely dangerous things to do. The website is written in a light-hearted fashion but you cannot underestimate the risks involved in undertaking this kind of adventure. Your chance of dying can be very high, some past teams have been seriously injured. These adventures are not a glorified holiday. They are an adventure and so by their very nature extremely risky. You really are on your own. If it all goes wrong, that's it, tough.

No cars over 1200cc

No cars over £1000

If its over ten years old you must bring it back.

If it's under ten years old it's auctioned off for charity in Mongolia and you fly home.

This years start was four weeks ago from Goodwood house a massive stately home in the countryside just outside london. 300 teams set off, with a further 200 from Milan[o] and Barcelona between them. The Northern Monkey, Bushwacker Jnr, The Littlest Bushwacker and myself attended on your behalf.

Lots of different motors had been chosen by the teams, The Rally's rules stipulate that a participating car must "generally be considered to be crap." this crew had gone for the Daihatsu Hijet known for being cheap as chips a chugging on for ever. A recent rule change, the Mongolian government now asks that if your conveyance is over ten years old you have the common courtesy to scrap it in your own backyard, means that some of the better old school options are no longer practical. A citroen 2CV or Diane van is easily prepped into a serious off roader and with its air cooled 600 cc engine fits the rules and is easy to fix. The car with the highest number of successful finishes is that archytypal shopping trolly the Daihatsu Charade. One, bought for £150 on e-Bay, is credited with a 20 day finish with NO BREAKDOWNS.

We met Beth and Keith from Maine calling themselves The Mainiacs. Beth had wanted to go for five years, her husband had flat out refused to go, she'd spent most of the time looking for someone crazy enough to go with her, flown to england bought and prepared the car (a 2000 Hyundai Accent) covered it in inflatable lobsters and was setting off in high spirits. Four weeks later they've finished!

You can read about their adventures here

We also ran into the most excellent Henry from the UK arm of BUFFS, who are sponsoring the event. Proving himself to be one of the good guys he gave the kids a Buff each and then as if his good-guy-ness was in any doubt,he flashed up a buff each for myself and TNM. Top Chap.

Just in case any of you were wondering what a crazy pig-dog would look like in a Buff, The Northern Monkey was on hand to settle any debate!

The application time for next years event is coming up fast , have a look here to find out more.

Your pal

The Bushwacker.

Swagmas Pt2 - Sheepishness From NewZealand

Well played MoB (mother of Bushwacker). Bad form BoB (brother of Bushwacker).

Just when I'd said BoB would never let you down, this happened, or rather didn't happen. 

Bad BoB.

MoB, fearing that it would be cold up north (a fear that has proved well founded) ordered me a

Phoenix Zip Thru by Icebreaker of New Zealand in early December. Think of an old school 70's tracksuit top in Wool. Merino Wool.

Being a practical person by nature, MoB thought it could travel economy in combined shipping. Being nearly crimbo and expecting/hoping for a gift from her far-flung son, she had it delivered to BoBs house on New Zealand's south island, where it stayed. Bad BoB

Finally BoB has gotten his butt in gear and shipped it - half a world in seven days - BoBs sofa to the post office took nearly seven weeks. Baad BoB.

In October 2008, Icebreaker launched its pioneering traceability program in Europe called "Baacode." The system enables customers to follow their garments through every step of the production process, beginning on the New Zealand South Island sheep stations where the merino is grown and extending throughout its entire supply chain. Icebreaker is one of less than a handful of consumer companies now offering product traceability.

Yeah BoB that's TRACEABILITY.

SBW