UKC

Apart from ukc, Andy Kirkpatrick's writing section does anyone know any good websites which give good in-depth information climbing gear/clothing?

In reply to samsimpson:

There are loads and loads, just google it!

To name just a few....

http://www.climbinggearreviews.com/

http://coldthistle.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.petesy.co.uk/

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/index.html

http://iceclimbingjapan.com/reviewsthe-gear-we-love/

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/

http://www.alpinist.com/blogs/mountain

In reply to rosmat:

He said good...

In reply to samsimpson: yeah ive tried google, but just trying to eliminate the majority of the vast sea of information which is completely useless by asking you guys! cheers for those anyway

In reply to jonnie3430:

Typical negative UKC comment. Yawn.

There is a lot of useful informaition on the above sites, if you get off your arse and apply some of your own thinking.

Why don't you contribute by providing some better suggestions.

In reply to samsimpson: I think this site needs a certain critical mass to be really useful and I haven't been on it for a while to know if it has reached that level, but it certainly had potential and the guys behind it were putting a lot of effort into it: http://www.tribevine.com/home

In reply to rosmat:

Oooohhh!!! What type of response do you expect when someone asks for good gear reviews and you put those links down? Have you actually read the pages you linked to? If you have, can you let me know if you actually think they are good, independent reviews cos if you do, your judgement leaves a few questions....

In reply to jonnie3430: Outdoor gear lab is pretty good.

In reply to samsimpson: Dane's Cold Thistle blog will tell you everything you want and then some.

Backpacking Light (the .com one, based in the US) will give you a reasonable amount of info on general hiking and camping stuff, but a lot of the more interesting articles are behind a paywall. I coughed up for it and didn't regret my purchase, YMMV.

In reply to FreshSlate:

But limited in the amount of kit it has tested.

To the OP, it's really hard to get gear information. If you listen to people on forums, they have either bought it and have a good opinion, bought it and have a bad opinion, not bought it because they have a bad opinion or not bought it but want it and have a good opinion. This means that you have to get to know the person posting to figure out what their advice is worth... Even then, unless they have tried all the other products on the market as well, they will still be biased towards something. Other websites will either be one person shows, who tend to have a specific view on what is good kit based on their experience and needs. Your experience and needs may differ therefore their good review is not a good review for you. Or the website is trying to do impartial reviews but can't afford all the gear to test all available, therefore they may have missed something. Or the person reviewing the kit has been given it or is sponsored by the company and will write a biased review.

In conclusion.... Pfft. Your needs are different to mine, so what I recommend isn't what you need. It would be lovely for all manufacturers to submit their gear to an independent test panel, but if they know it is pretty rubbish and something is better they won't sell anything...

In reply to highaltitudebarista:

Dane is a case in point. He has very fixed views based on his own experience and needs. Yours may differ (and he recommends ergos for easy ice.)

In reply to jonnie3430:

This is really quite a sceptical view; I have seen good and bad reviews of almost of kinds of gear. Bad reviews may persuade you to buy an item more than the good ones. If the list of flaws in a scathing review are not things that you remotely care about then a product may be doing pretty well in your eyes.

No one website can test every single piece of gear, nor do they need to. You can compare reviews from different websites. The differing opinions of two people may be closer formed than the same person in two different moods. By reading the review, you should get an idea of partiality and the particular features one reviewer appreciates or dislikes. The fact they have certain querks and biases in-itself is not a problem. As with all things, read up on the subject and you are less likely to be misled.

In reply to FreshSlate:

If gear wasn't misleadingly advertised then there would be no need for the scepticism. If a company turned around and said "actually, X make a better product, we're going to stop making them and focus elsewhere," it'd be nice. But they don't...

In reply to jonnie3430:

I'm just saying that you have only commented negatively so far.

I've read some very good reviews on the sites listed above (and clearly so do a lot of people).

As with all reviews you have to think about the outcome of the review within the context of the conditions and type of use.

I also don't agree with Dane's recommendation of using Ergo's on easy ice. However, I've seen Jeff Mercier use them on the ice pitches of Dru Couloir so maybe I'm wrong!.

Maybe your better placed to comment after climbing E3 and TD+?

In reply to rosmat:

Are you trying to discredit me because I have an honest profile? What are you hiding...

In reply to jonnie3430: I thought we were talking about information sites not advertising? Although, as you mentioned, what is the better product can be subjective and many companies producing the same gear may genuinely believe that their product is competitive, or competitive on a different front than other companies. I.E are Alpkit going to say their product is worse than Arcteryx for being a 1/3 of the cost? Probably not.

Anyway, gear sites should be less biased than advertising but bias exists none-the-less and some bias (and recognition of it) can be useful.

In reply to jonnie3430:

I'm just pointing out that everybody else has contributed positively, but all you have done is moan about the quality of other peoples hard work.

Why don't you write some reviews on gear you have used if you feel so strongly about it.