[shakes]

After peoples opinions on something to light up the campsite of a night time, mostly just to read/play cards by. Needs to have a long run time and be fire ban friendly.

Anyone have something they would recomend (or to stay away from?)

Edit: Renamed the thread to try and get any 'what should I buy' questions all in the one spot.

[stockman]

DIY

[shakes]

stockman wrote:

DIY

School me, I dont have a clue when it comes to piecing together electrical stuff.

[bohuler]

Use this shit, cheap as fuck, easy to wire up and if you add a small (under 40amp hour) deep cycle, will definatly run the lights all night.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5050-5M-300- ... 4aa88bf193
They are the ones that atari used as his porn rock lights. I have 5 meter here that i'm going to light up the new GV with
Dave
p.s speaker wire is the way to go if your running the power to these as in camp site lanter, cheap as and got hte power and earth.
Dave

[shakes]

Light needs to be stand alone.

Fuck it, going to see how much I can ball's it up. If I buy a LED torch, a cheap old kero lamp. Gut the lamp and torch, fit the globes/circuits from the torch into the lamp. Cram a battery pack underneath and swear lots because I've wasted all this time for a shitty throw of light?

[mnemonix]

I know you said standalone, but those LED light strips are a damn good solution.
A 5m strip lights my 5x5m lounge room up brighter than a 70w light globe.

Atari made an idiot proof howto for wiring them up.
http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... rock+light

[royce]

yeah leds like to shine in a direction, lamps like to be spraying shit all over the place, it will suck

Coleman make a nice lantern with a compact fluro in it and built in battery pack, good for on a table or hung up to light an area, doesnt spread mega far though

[shakes]

http://www.raysoutdoors.com.au/online-s ... escription

That the one your talking about? with a couple of $5 headlamps for reading etc should see us well sorted

[royce]

yeah thats it, ive got one that to be honest I only get out to charge up during storms incase the power goes out cause I just use a headlamp everywhere and a versa light that hangs off the car, I dont need a lot of light camping

[shakes]

Thanks. Neither do I but the missus is paranoid with the little one. I normally crash not long after the sun goes down.

Talked the missus into two small tents is far better than one monster tent.

On that note, anyone got tips on how to keep a tent cool during the day?

[DAZOOK]

When we go on week long hunting trips some blokes run a generator to street lamps thrown over tree branches. Works a treat and if the extension leads are long enough you won't hear the generator running

[fordem]

royce wrote:

yeah leds like to shine in a direction, lamps like to be spraying shit all over the place, it will suck

Coleman make a nice lantern with a compact fluro in it and built in battery pack, good for on a table or hung up to light an area, doesnt spread mega far though

Get a square plastic former (electrical trunking comes to mind) and stick four pieces of the LED strip on to it - that will give you a resonable light distribution, and the LEDs will be more efficient than the compact fluoro.

[TZAR]

http://www.burnbrite.com/Our-Products-- ... Light.aspx

one of these in 12 volt. Its like daylight, no need for anything else has fuck all draw.

They cost about $70 for a 12 volt one and will run off the car of get a battery pack thingy from super cheap and that will last all weekend.

PLUS when you need to fix something in your car at night you will be thinking about how much you want to come suck my balls for telling you about these great lights.

[BAZZOOK]

for headlamps Ebay CREE headlamps for under $10.00. Also CREE torches for under $20.00. Much better than the led headlights at outdoor joints. Bright as for reading.

[royce]

stick a solid tarp up between the sun and the tent to keep the sun off it and it will help to keep it cool, try and orient it so the breeze passes over its ventilation properly

[shakes]

Got the coleman light for just over $75 at a rays special. Came with a 'free' torch hoorah! Also brought a couple of $5 headlamps, mixed with my LED worklight, and spotty we are well set for lighting.

Also purchased a small table as the girl wants comforts found one that folded into qtrs instead of half so is nice and compact.

What are peoples thoughts on the camp cot things? I'm pretty happy with my yoga mat but these pack up not a whole lot bigger and I like that fact you can stow stuff under them making a bit more space. Will the singles support 2 people?

[buzbox]

I have an Arlec Fluro U tube and it is plenty bright, usually it's the brightest camp light out of all the campers
Running just off the car's 12v plug I had it on for about 3 hours and still had juice in the battery to start the car, I also had some tunes going too.

What I want next is to try out those under bonnet LED work lights, you know the ones with hooks to connect to the bonnet, they're rechargable via 12v plug and seem to be ok.

[laurie]

$5 ufo shaped led battery powered camp lights from crazy prices.
hang offset over your table. so the bugs don't land on ya head.
plenty of light and cheap enough to buy a couple.
for the tent
put a fly or tarp over your tent on some tall ebay poles.
and have heaps of ventilation.

[11_evl]

http://msa4x4.com/Products/OtherAccesso ... htKits.asp

bit more expensive but all the work is done, just plug and enjoy

[disco]

Q) Will be looking to get a new tent soon, I wondered if anyone had general advice about what the look for / what to avoid?

[royce]

If you can live with the weight and bulk, canava tents are heaps better, a lot cooler and darker

[buzbox]

For where you live I'd look for one that is practically a screen house, I'm sure you'd want alot of ventilation especially after a few tins of beans.

Decision comes down to, how many people will be in it, what your budget is, how many times you are going to use it, do you want an easy setup and pull down, how long will your stays be. For example, if your doing the usual weekend thing, you'd want something that is lightweight, easy to set up etc. If your staying a week you'd probably want something a bit larger.

I'm a fan of cheap dome tents, my little $5 clearance thing has lasted me at least 3 years now with frequent use. It has held up much better than some of the more bigger priced blackwolf tents, during a big storm the other guy's Iwas camping with had to retreat to their cars while I layed in bed laughing at mother nature. They are easy to put up and down, very compact and if it does rip or whatever your not losing out on alot.

I did find a similar one to mine at Sam's whorehouse (GoLo, crazy clints or whatever you have up there) It's called the Oztrail Festival 4 for about $20-25.

Regardless of the tent, I always put a tarp down, tent ontop and a picnic blanket under the air bed.

If you want something a little better have a look at Oztrail Touring tents, reasonably priced and not bad quality.

[atari4x4]

buzbox wrote:

If you want something a little better have a look at Oztrail Touring tents, reasonably priced and not bad quality.

i bought one of those & slept in it down at beachport in heavy rain & it held up great, was the first tent i'd slept in about 10 years, ended up rolling my swag out inside & had plenty of room for all my shit... the best bit was being able to sit up inside undercover, this is what has inspired my tent trailer idea.

[Chop]

Have noticed you can now get instant touring tents similar to the black wolf for less then half the price. Seen a coleman that looked good the other day.

[shakes]

http://www.cobb.com.au/ I'd forgetten how much I goddamn love mine. Awesome, especially if you can't have fires. Ate roast chook (with a can up the bum) baked spuds and roast lamb.

The coleman light was great too. could play cards by it on low easily, which meant it lasted about 5 nights.

My chairs have died, $7 cheapies that have seen hard use over as many years. My only gripe is they dig in to your leg in the rail at the front. Are there any brands that don't do this?

[reeceh]

I got a top of the line Coleman campchair with all the goodies. It's meant for larger guys do it's very comfy and heavy duty.

[shakes]

Not sure to start a new thread or not. Starting to gear myself up to do some offroad cycle touring aka bikepacking. So will be looking at weight weenie type camping gear.

I keep swinging between a tent or a bivvy bag. An extra 500g~750g for more space, but not so storm friendly in the cheaper end? takes longer to set-up and pack up? but easier to get changed in or read a book when it's raining? what else? I'm not planning on heading out over or too close to winter but will be in the alpine regions so anythings possible anytime.....

The tent below has caught my eye, peoples thoughts? Only really has to last a few trips until I work out what I actually need.

http://www.wildearth.com.au/spartan-per ... p-751.html

[stockman]

The Topeak is very cool. Light, compact and uses the bike as the framing.

[shakes]

stockman wrote:

The Topeak is very cool. Light, compact and uses the bike as the framing.

Had a quick look, not much more space than a bivvy bag. As heavy as a tent, and I have to disassemble my bike to set it up. Even at wholesale costs as much as a cheap tent. Cool idea though.

[jonfromhamilton]

GoLite shangrila-5 of shangrila-3 ftw