Hello from Zurich. I used to go wild camping very regularly from the late 1980s until 2007. Marriage, children work put an end to that. My gear is ancient; Phoenix Phreak tent, still going strong, Osprey Crescent 75 Rucksack bought 20 odd years ago. I recently bought a Jack Wolfskin Gossamer 11 tent for my son while I will use my Phreak!
New member from Zurich
- Thread starter Conor
- Start date
Thank you gentlemen for the welcome. Wild camping is not so straight forward in Switzerland; it is only allowed in mountainous regions above the tree line. I’m a member of a hunting revier so our first expedition (weekend only) will be this weekend on reasonably hilly ground, not the mountains.
Grüezi wohl!
Attention! Jack Wolfskin is no quality brand anymore!
The stuff looks like before but is made in a horrible quality now.
If your son is a child it should be OK as a toy for playing in the woods around Zürich in nice summer conditions, but I wouldn't go with that above the tree limit or use it anywhere else where a failing tent could become dangerous! That is no serious outdoor equipment and can become really dangerous to use in most parts of Switzerland in unfriendly weather!
If he is older and should get a good tent I recommend to bite the bullet and buy him a green Hilleberg Akto.
My Nallo 2 is more than 25 years old and looks like new. The stuff is pretty expensive but worth the money and even cheap in the long run because well treated it lasts a lifetime. These tents are storm proof mountain sport and serious trekking equipment, incredibly well constructed. The Akto is the Porsche 911 of the one man tents.
I recently called Hilleberg and asked them how old the tents become if well treated, and they told me that they don't know it because they make them since just 40 years and had not yet the case of a tent that died by aging.
If you get a damage they repair it pretty cheap. To replace the floor costs approximately 100 €.
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Good morning. Thanks for your input. The damage is done and I bought the tent! I read many reviews online and watched YouTube. The consensus is that it is a good tent for the money and one of the best waterproof tents there is. My only disappointment with it, is the lack of a separate groundsheet. We will test it tonight at about 1500m and see how we get on
May be that the tent is OK, may be not.
I assume that it's OK in the beginning in friendly weather and easy conditions, and suddenly breaks after some time of use or in the first heavy wind.
It's a disposable tent for wind protected touristic camping grounds and summer conditions.
The trousers that my brother bought many years and that usually lastet 3 years, suddenly broke after a couple of weeks, when he bought the next ones, several colours, by the way.
We can assume that this in no Monday production but a decision of the headquarter. And surely it's the same with the tents.
I also have heard other stories like that about Jack Wolfskin products and found them in internet forums.
You generally have 3 main reasons why you find wrong reviews in Internet forums and especially at YouTube.
1.) It's payed advertisment.
2.) The author is a beginner.
3.) The author decided to buy the item and invested money. Psychologically most people are forced to like the item afterwards, and indeed think that they like it, because they like camping.
They don't realise that they have a bad pot for example, because they never have seen or used a really good camping pot. And if it's a steel pot they are happy with the bad pot all their live.
The more expensive the stuff is, the more reviews of that sort you get.
The worth of such a forum is, that after some time I know the members have an idea how experienced they are, and I also know approximately where they use the equipment.
I own for example myself a phantasticly well working Decathlon Igloo tent that I bought for 20 €. It broke after approximatly 1000 nights of use within 3 years. I displaced, packed and pitched it surely 600 times. Usual users don't reach that amount of nights in a decade.
It works perfectly in relatively dry summer conditions in wind protected areas.
It's a good recommendation for every usual beginner on a low budget.
But the maker tells you very clear:
"Tested and recommended up to 40 km / h windspeed." In other words: If you expect more wind, take a different one or leave the camping ground!
Most makers don't tell it you.
Most users don't use the stuff in hard circumstances and not often enough to be able to give you a review of any value.
And you very seldom find after a couple of weeks, month or years a long time review where people admit that their first impression was totally wrong.
They just echo what the seller did tell them and afterwards shut up for ever.
I assume that it's OK in the beginning in friendly weather and easy conditions, and suddenly breaks after some time of use or in the first heavy wind.
It's a disposable tent for wind protected touristic camping grounds and summer conditions.
The trousers that my brother bought many years and that usually lastet 3 years, suddenly broke after a couple of weeks, when he bought the next ones, several colours, by the way.
We can assume that this in no Monday production but a decision of the headquarter. And surely it's the same with the tents.
I also have heard other stories like that about Jack Wolfskin products and found them in internet forums.
You generally have 3 main reasons why you find wrong reviews in Internet forums and especially at YouTube.
1.) It's payed advertisment.
2.) The author is a beginner.
3.) The author decided to buy the item and invested money. Psychologically most people are forced to like the item afterwards, and indeed think that they like it, because they like camping.
They don't realise that they have a bad pot for example, because they never have seen or used a really good camping pot. And if it's a steel pot they are happy with the bad pot all their live.
The more expensive the stuff is, the more reviews of that sort you get.
The worth of such a forum is, that after some time I know the members have an idea how experienced they are, and I also know approximately where they use the equipment.
I own for example myself a phantasticly well working Decathlon Igloo tent that I bought for 20 €. It broke after approximatly 1000 nights of use within 3 years. I displaced, packed and pitched it surely 600 times. Usual users don't reach that amount of nights in a decade.
It works perfectly in relatively dry summer conditions in wind protected areas.
It's a good recommendation for every usual beginner on a low budget.
But the maker tells you very clear:
"Tested and recommended up to 40 km / h windspeed." In other words: If you expect more wind, take a different one or leave the camping ground!
Most makers don't tell it you.
Most users don't use the stuff in hard circumstances and not often enough to be able to give you a review of any value.
And you very seldom find after a couple of weeks, month or years a long time review where people admit that their first impression was totally wrong.
They just echo what the seller did tell them and afterwards shut up for ever.
Regarding old outdoor equipment brands one nowadays realy have to pay attention.
One could easily found such a business in the late thirties or early forties and deliver such stuff to the army.
After WW2 most Europeans had not so much free time and money to buy new outdoor equipment and the military equipment was everywhere available and very cheap. So most interested young people joined the boy scouts and used old military equipment.
I the seventies and early eighties a new generation experimented with new materials and constructions and there was suddenly a market for individual modern outdoor equipment. Once more one could found such a business. And that was usually done by people who had sewn the prototypes for themselves.
The older brands are exactly one generation older than the younger brands. And both changed during the last 20 years the owner, because the next generation inherited it.
But the new owners don't necessarily share the weird hobby of father or grandfather or like to run that business like they did it before.
In the last 20 years work became more and more expensive in Europe and otherwise one suddenly got the option to moove the production to Asia.
Some brands simply moved, some were sold completely and moved the prodution as well. Most equipment isn't made anymore where it was made before or in the same quality.
They make the money with short lasting outdoor clothing that most clients use in town or on a day hike in the summer. It doesn't need to be robust. And nearly all the other stuff lost build quality too.
New brands rarely offer a good quality but sometimes before in some areas unknown brands are available everywhere and fill the market niche that was left by the brands that decided to stop making good quality stuff.
If you want to buy new equipment you usually can't use your 20 or 30 years old informations about what's good and what's bad. (If we don't talk about historic equipment of course.)
European or US American made high quality outdoor equipment became pretty rare on the market. One can still get such stuff but it's needed to inform oneself ones more from the beginning, regarding nearly every item and especially if we talk about plastic fabrics.
And funnily the good equipment often doesn't cost more than the factory new rubbish that's labelled with a good old name.
One could easily found such a business in the late thirties or early forties and deliver such stuff to the army.
After WW2 most Europeans had not so much free time and money to buy new outdoor equipment and the military equipment was everywhere available and very cheap. So most interested young people joined the boy scouts and used old military equipment.
I the seventies and early eighties a new generation experimented with new materials and constructions and there was suddenly a market for individual modern outdoor equipment. Once more one could found such a business. And that was usually done by people who had sewn the prototypes for themselves.
The older brands are exactly one generation older than the younger brands. And both changed during the last 20 years the owner, because the next generation inherited it.
But the new owners don't necessarily share the weird hobby of father or grandfather or like to run that business like they did it before.
In the last 20 years work became more and more expensive in Europe and otherwise one suddenly got the option to moove the production to Asia.
Some brands simply moved, some were sold completely and moved the prodution as well. Most equipment isn't made anymore where it was made before or in the same quality.
They make the money with short lasting outdoor clothing that most clients use in town or on a day hike in the summer. It doesn't need to be robust. And nearly all the other stuff lost build quality too.
New brands rarely offer a good quality but sometimes before in some areas unknown brands are available everywhere and fill the market niche that was left by the brands that decided to stop making good quality stuff.
If you want to buy new equipment you usually can't use your 20 or 30 years old informations about what's good and what's bad. (If we don't talk about historic equipment of course.)
European or US American made high quality outdoor equipment became pretty rare on the market. One can still get such stuff but it's needed to inform oneself ones more from the beginning, regarding nearly every item and especially if we talk about plastic fabrics.
And funnily the good equipment often doesn't cost more than the factory new rubbish that's labelled with a good old name.
