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COMPETITION: WINNER - Win a Goal Zero Rock Out 2 Speaker

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Rock Out Lifestyle, 3 kbThe Rock Out 2 Rechargeable Speaker from Goal Zero is the perfect accessory for those wanting to rock out while out and about whether it be in the mountains or camping with friends and family. With its rechargeable battery, you can listen to your tunes for over 20 hours from your phone, MP3 player or laptop. When not in use it zips away in its own storage compartment for safe storage. Its DarkBass technology ensures you receive high-quality sound with everything on your playlist.

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62
 Ander 30 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Is this really something the climbing community should condone?

5
 Webster 30 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

a disgraceful givaway and endorsement by UKC! KEEP BOOM BOXES OUT OF THE COUNTRYSIDE!

8
 Andy Johnson 30 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

The very last thing I want when I'm "in the mountains or camping with friends and family" is someone else's amplified music. It's a real shame that UKC feels that this is a suitable product to promote here.

5
 simes303 30 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Article

Oh you grumpy people. I always take my speakers camping. It's perfectly possible to listen to music without annoying anyone else.

By far the best portable speakers I've come across are the Minirigs. They're not cheap but the sound quality is outstanding and the battery life on the new version is an amazing 80 hours.

https://minirigs.co.uk/

Post edited at 10:54
36
 Ally Smith 30 Jul 2018
In reply to Andy Johnson:

> The very last thing I want when I'm "in the mountains or camping with friends and family" is someone else's amplified music. It's a real shame that UKC feels that this is a suitable product to promote here.

I agree with the "countryside" and "mountain" sentiments here, but "camping" is a very broad church - i wouldn't object to some Radio4 on a Sunday morning whilst making a brew after a discrete roadside bivvy.

Similarly i've very much enjoyed having some music at the crag whilst bouldering at night on my own - i wouldn't force my musical choices on anyone else, but i think there's a time and place for products like this.

2
 Greg Lucas 30 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Great! Music while you climb. Even better: someone else's music while you climb. And when you think it just can't get better than that: music to keep you awake all night back at the campsite.

UKC should be ashamed. The unlucky winner should smash it. 

 

10
 TMM 30 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

De ja vu.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/competition_-_win_a_goal_zero_rock_ou...

Hi Alan,

In 2014 you stated:

'With items like this it isn't the device, nor the place it is being advertised on that might be a problem, it is the user and what they do with it.

I am sure there are many locations where such a robust rechargeable device would be incredibly useful for music, radio or whatever you wanted to listen to, without having any impact on others. To condemn it just because you instantly imagine that its only use will be booming out tunes at your local crag is a little short sighted.'

It's a fair statement. This is a useful bit of equipment for lots of applications (it's why I've entered the comp ). 

Do you think the wording in the OP helps though?

'the perfect accessory for those wanting to rock out while out and about whether it be in the mountains or camping'

Like many I really don't want to listen to someone else's choice of tunes in the mountains.

Post edited at 11:03
1
 simes303 30 Jul 2018
In reply to simes303:

> In reply to UKC/UKH Article

> Oh you grumpy people. I always take my speakers camping. It's perfectly possible to listen to music without annoying anyone else.

> By far the best portable speakers I've come across are the Minirigs. They're not cheap but the sound quality is outstanding and the battery life on the new version is an amazing 80 hours.

> https://minirigs.co.uk/

How can that possibly have been given seven thumbs downs? Play music if you want to but be respectful of anyone else in the vicinity. What's wrong with that?

15
 jon 30 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I wonder how many dislikers have secretly entered the competition…

2
 mrphilipoldham 30 Jul 2018
In reply to jon:

I disliked it but have entered, so that I can leave it uncharged in the bottom of my crag bag! 

2
 jon 30 Jul 2018
In reply to mrphilipoldham:

That'll teach'em!

 Kemics 30 Jul 2018
In reply to jon:

Maybe i stand a chance of finally winning a comp.

This product really seems to annoy the ledge shuffling trad bimblers. That's probably because it's not aimed at them. There's other types of climbing though: https://goo.gl/images/dk7iYW there's a sliver of space on tbe venn diagram which overlaps between climbing and speakers

 

8
 jungle 31 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Disgraceful

...entry submitted

1
 simes303 31 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I remember the morning after a rave at the Keyhole Cave at Millstone. Some climbers turned up and were rather unhappy at the noise. Quite a few of the top young grit climbers of the time had been at the party all night. And it was a really good party.

2
 Will Hunt 31 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

My comment was deleted, presumably due to profanity. I would like to submit the following reworded comment:

Would you be so kind as to take your odious instrument of the damned and insert it into your lower bowel via the most convenient orifice.

5
 rgold 31 Jul 2018
In reply to Kemics:

> This product really seems to annoy the ledge shuffling trad bimblers.

You get a A for creative language and an F for having even a clue of what the outdoors is supposed to be about.

Speakers foul the environment just as surely as fecal matter.  Those who are somehow are incapable of going to the mountains without bringing the nightclub with them have the option of blue-tooth headphones---the whole point of speakers is to project the sound to groups of people, and those groups are almost always going to include people who came to the outdoors for the unique things characteristic of the outdoors, and didn't realize they were going to be forced to pitch their tents next to a music festival. 

The trouble with "play music if you want but be respectful..." is, very simply, that people who are already prepared to pollute the environment are generally not respectful (quite a few are even belligerent when asked to quiet down).  It plain doesn't work.

I suppose this argument  can go on forever, with the polluters asserting their insatiable need for musical accompaniment means they can't possibly tolerate the outdoor environment as it is and have a right to modify it to their personal tastes.  But what I find truly shocking is that UKC would not only sanction this type of environmental poisoning, but actually promote it.  For shame!
 

 

4
 olddirtydoggy 31 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

This give away has got to be a troll. I'm entering it so if I do win it I'll be able to dispose of it in a responsible manner.

1
In reply to rgold:

It's a bluetooth speaker for crying out load. It can be used literally anywhere!

If you can point me to where we're promoting it's use at crags then you'd have a point.

What's wrong with using it at a BBQ, camp site, even in the shower, if it's no bothering anyone!?

18
 petestack 31 Jul 2018
In reply to Paul Phillips - UKC and UKH:

> If you can point me to where we're promoting it's use at crags then you'd have a point.

'the perfect accessory for those wanting to rock out while out and about whether it be in the mountains'

 

1
 Tigger 31 Jul 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Amended draft...

The Rock Out 2 Rechargeable Speaker from Goal Zero is the perfect accessory for those wanting to be hated more than drone pilots whether it be at plantation, in the mountains or within ear shot of a UKC user. With its rechargeable battery, you can listen to your tunes for over 20 pitches from your phone, MP3 player, laptop or preferably desktop computer. When not in use it zips away in its own storage compartment for protection from the afore mentioned UKC users. Its DarkBass technology ensures you still receive high-quality sound once Will Hunt has made made good on his promise to insert it into your most convinient orifice.

2
 Kemics 31 Jul 2018
In reply to rgold:

"What the outdoors is supposed to be about"

 

Is it not possible that when im in the outdoors or the mountains by their very nature there wont be anyone else around? Lets say you're trapped in your portaledge on a storm or spending a night in a hut...a bit of music might be nice. Not everyone going climbing is queuing up at stanage

5
 rgold 01 Aug 2018
In reply to Paul Phillips - UKC and UKH:

> It's a bluetooth speaker for crying out load. It can be used literally anywhere!

> If you can point me to where we're promoting it's use at crags then you'd have a point.

> What's wrong with using it at a BBQ, camp site, even in the shower, if it's no bothering anyone!?

Your copy says "the perfect accessory for those wanting to rock out while out and about whether it be in the mountains or camping with friends and family.

A BBQ in your backyard and the shower are one thing.  A campsite is already quite another, and the blanket "in the mountains" is even worse.

There is, by definition, nothing the matter with doing something that doesn't bother anyone.  A bluetooth speaker in the outdoors is going to bother a lot of people, and UKC ought to know that.  Any you already do know it, as you seem to admit it would be wrong "at the crags."  So in other words, you have to be a climber and you have to be climbing in order to find noise pollution offensive, but as long as you are just in some pleasant outdoor setting with no vertical rock in sight there is no problem, blare away?

Post edited at 00:16
2
 rgold 01 Aug 2018
In reply to Kemics:

> Is it not possible that when im in the outdoors or the mountains by their very nature there wont be anyone else around? Lets say you're trapped in your portaledge on a storm or spending a night in a hut...a bit of music might be nice. Not everyone going climbing is queuing up at stanage

Yes, it is possible, and of course if there is really no one around to bother than why not.  But between Stanage and a portaledge (on a remote wall) are a host of settings, the majority of which do have people around.

One of the many unpleasantries associated with outdoor noise pollution is that it becomes the job of the listeners to confront the offender.  What is really meant by "if it isn't bothering anyone" is "if no one comes up to you and complains to your face about it."

There is a virtually endless list of things UKC could be promoting that are good for the outdoors and the people who frequent them.  Why, with such an array of good options, one would choose to promote bluetooth speakers is incomprehensible.  And it is especially incomprehensible for the UK, which from a climbing perspective has been so vigilant about protecting the natural character its trad climbs from the wave of convenience bolting that has swept the rest of the world, to be so (pardon the expression) tone deaf about this issue.

 

2
 mcgovern 01 Aug 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I'll gladly take it if no one else wants it!  

 malk 01 Aug 2018
In reply to mcgovern:

you're welcome to it- no bluetooth...

 Hat Dude 01 Aug 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I've just looked at the spec - 3 Watts!!! You wouldn't even get a whisper of that over me screaming "TIGHT TIGHT"

 Webster 01 Aug 2018
In reply to Paul Phillips - UKC and UKH:

Its marketed for use "in the outdoors". being at a crag or not has nothing to do with it! its even more anti social on a beach/mountain/riverbank in the middle of nowhere than it is at stanage! your narrow mindedness and crag-centric view is rather depressing 

7
In reply to Hat Dude:

Shh, there's actually a WMD inside that will decimate the surrounding 5m radius!

2
Supersonic 01 Aug 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I think this would be a much better advertising pitch:

At the crag this device have the same effect on a crowd of over-bearing and opinionated middle aged climbers as an ultrasonic repellent has on a cloud of midges. Fire it up with some Plastikman and watch your 100m exclusion zone appear as if by magic.

No longer will you have to endure the sound of braying, pot-bellied has-been's spraying beta to all and sundry. Instead just sink back into the glorious sound of a 303 as you commit to the next tiny crimp.

Even otherwise hard to shift instructed groups can be swiftly moved on by the judicial use of a carefully curated mix of ghettotech and booty bass. Consider your rack incomplete until you acquire one of these badboys.

4
 simes303 01 Aug 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

I can't beeeeelieve how square some of you people are. Music is amazing. Play it whenever or wherever you want, AS LONG AS YOU'RE NOT ANNOYING ANYONE ELSE. Being considerate really isn't hard.

16
In reply to simes303:

Exactly!

13
 Will Hunt 01 Aug 2018
In reply to simes303:

The bit about being considerate being easy isn't true. It is apparently very difficult. When I've turned up to a crag and somebody's pumping out the beats, they don't turn it off unless prompted.

1
 jungle 02 Aug 2018
In reply to Paul Phillips - UKC and UKH:

> If you can point me to where we're promoting it's use at crags then you'd have a point.

errrr, the website is called UK Climbing?

 

 

 

 abarro81 02 Aug 2018
In reply to simes303:

> I can't beeeeelieve how square some of you people are. Music is amazing. Play it whenever or wherever you want, AS LONG AS YOU'RE NOT ANNOYING ANYONE ELSE. Being considerate really isn't hard.

You're right... but you're also wrong. What you don't want to end up with is with the UK being like Australia, where music becomes default and people seem to just stick their music on irrespective of whether it might piss people off. It's a slightly weird experience being on a runout at the top of Taipan with 3 different sets of speakers playing 3 different tracks at the bottom of the wall. By weird, I mean shit in comparison to the alternative. 

Even when people ask whether you mind, it makes it awkward - do you say yes, because you'd kind of rather they didn't play it, or say you don't mind because otherwise it'll seem rude and create an unfriendly atmosphere? The rule should be that you don't play music unless no-one else is around IMO, and you turn it off when people turn up, and they can pro-actively tell you they want it on if they want it on...

Post edited at 10:29
 rgold 02 Aug 2018
In reply to abarro81:

> The rule should be that you don't play music unless no-one else is around IMO, and you turn it off when people turn up, and they can pro-actively tell you they want it on if they want it on...

Yup. The advocates of back-country noise pollution have only the content-free tautology that its ok if nobody minds.  Given that many, perhaps most, people seek out the hills to, among other things, attend to the quiet sounds of nature and escape the raucous urban environment, it is virtually guaranteed that if there are people around, a significant number of them will mind the noise.  This means that "it is ok if no one minds" actually means, the majority of the time, that it is not ok.

Glad that it turns out we all agree about this.

[By the way, I have nothing at all against music in general, so please spare me the "square" name-calling.  My daughter is a professional pop and rock musician (and has been on tour in the UK several times in the last few years) so there is a decent chance that I listen to as much or more amazing music than many of you out there.]


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