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A Beginners Outfit (Low Budget)

My mum got it done for me in Manchester , I'd origionally asked her to do it for me but I think she felt it was too big a job for her machine .
Was about a tenner I think .......

I shall be using mine this weekend :)


Waiting to hear back from Smurf to see if he's allowed out to play on friday night. I fancy an overnighter, the bivvy will be in the bag. :D
 
Instead of modding it you could buy the only a bit heavier German Army Goretex bivvy bag which has a rain protected full length zipper and is available new and expensive directly at Carinthia, but used and cheap in the surplus shops too. I guess, it is exactly the same fabric like the British army bivvy bag.

As I wrote, I trie to recommend here in this thread a for me in all conditions working system. A well adjusted complete system!

To discuss your bivvy set ups we should perhaps better open an own thread to keep this thread here straight and clean.

The discussion about bivvy bags is worth an own thread for sure!

This thread is meant to become a complete packing list for beginners too.
And I am not yet finished with it.

Of course every piece of equipment in this list could be replaced with other options.

Decathlon didn't invent the wheel!
And Snugpak didn't invent the blanket.
 
I use myself the ultra light high quality sighting compass Silva Ranger SL.

16580


That relatively pricy piece of equipment a beginner surely doesn't need for his first steps in the woods.

But because the weather could become grey and cloudy, I recommend to the beginner to take with him a small and cheap compass, to avoid, that he gets lost in the dark forest!

I do not own this compass here, but I guess for the beginning it would be a good and cheap option.

It is very light and surely a nice to have as a back up, even if you should buy a good high quality compass later.

You can attach such a small compass later with a thin line to your jacket and take it always with you.
Sooner or later it will be helpfull, even in a foreign part of a larger town in grey weather.

;0)


A hiking map of the area you enter you should of course have with you too, sealed in a zipp lock freezer bag.
 
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Instead of modding it you could buy the only a bit heavier German Army Goretex bivvy bag which has a rain protected full length zipper and is available new and expensive directly at Carinthia, but used and cheap in the surplus shops too. I guess, it is exactly the same fabric like the British army bivvy bag.

As I wrote, I trie to recommend here in this thread a for me in all conditions working system. A well adjusted complete system!

To discuss your bivvy set ups we should perhaps better open an own thread to keep this thread here straight and clean.

The discussion about bivvy bags is worth an own thread for sure!

This thread is meant to become a complete packing list for beginners too.
And I am not yet finished with it.

Of course every piece of equipment in this list could be replaced with other options.

Decathlon didn't invent the wheel!
And Snugpak didn't invent the blanket.

 
That little pouch is perfect to seal the smartphone.

Off course you can double seal it in two zipp lock freezer bags, but that's the better option in my opinion.

It is incredible long lasting.
I surely walked 3000 kilometres having it in the right leg pocket of the Steppe 300
trousers and it is still good!

I have a second one for charger and cables.


Off course a really water proof smart phone is better.
 
That little pouch is perfect to seal the smartphone.

Off course you can double seal it in two zipp lock freezer bags, but that's the better option in my opinion.

It is incredible long lasting.
I surely walked 3000 kilometres having it in the right leg pocket of the Steppe 300
trousers and it is still good!

I have a second one for charger and cables.


Off course a really water proof smart phone is better.


I have a lot of this kit as part of my set up and have to say it works really well for me 👍
 
Half a day after I recommended the "Victorinox Compact" and the "Victorinox Climber" in this thread a good Video about this kind of knifes reached our forum.


I totally agree in every point, but my opinion is, that I usually do not need a saw, because I can do the most I want to do with the blade.

I prefere to save the weight of this little saw.

Fire wood of this size I can brake with the hands or by stepping on it.

If I really want to use a saw for winter camping, I take a larger folding saw with me.
I use the very light small Fiskars x-trakt saw, if I use one on solo tours.

But I usually don't do it.

I am a bit surprised, that he forgot to say, that the scissors mainly are used to cut the fingernails and toenails on longer trekking tours.
 
If it is cold, usually the trees aren't so green. This brown fleece jacket is the right choice!


Decathlon offers warmer and better looking fleece jackets an jumpers, but this cheap light jacket is the best choice for hiking. Because we as hikers and travelers use a more versatile multiple layers system, than hunters usually need it.

In most conditions of your hikes you will carry it around in a well fitting nylon bag and use it mainly as your pillow during the night.

This fleece jacket is mainly meant as an additional warm layer, a spare clothing.

It doesn't matter, that it looks less good than the others Decathlon offers. Technically it is the first choice. That is the fabric usually trekking fleece jackets are made from. The other hunting pullovers and fleece jackets would become to warm if you would hike in them!

I think, you should choose it in brown, because that looks nice if you wear it under the green padded jacket or the green waterproof jacket.
Far better, than everything in green like a NATO soldier from the sixties!

And it's a bit like a camouflage pattern too, that all together. If we look at it from a distance, it cuts the shape of the man in pieces! Yes, the spots are larger than at military field uniforms. But cars are usually coloured in similar spot sizes, and when we sit behind a bush we are totally invisible.


And, hey! We talk about Britain!
All this brown clothing in our list is meant in combination with the green waterproof jacket!

This fleece jacket must fit over and under the long sleeve cotton shirt!
And it has to fit under the padded jacket!

Yes, slowly we reach with all this layers over each other our winter outfit, even if we don't use the merino layer!

As I wrote in the beginning: Here we have spare clothing integrated. One part of this layers can dry while we use the other parts of the system.

And: All this stuff we can wear in the sleeping bag! That keeps the sleeping bag in our rucksack light! That's a very professional very versatile system, which gives us incredible many options to use this insolating material!
Tried this in on today its really nice, cant believe its only 9 quid
 
That's the main reason, why I write this thread, how I do it.

You usually get surprisingly high value for your money if you buy Solognac equipment.

Every shop a factory outlet center.
That's the secret behind it.
 
Decathlon offers now a new beginners summer sleeping bag.
I guess it's a better offer than Aldi, Lidl or Miltec usually offers.

Recommended till 7C it should probably work until 3C if you wear all clothing including the merino suit in it.
(But not the waterproofs of course)


Because it's brand new, I didn't test it, but I would try it out, if I would be on a budget.

Off course the Snugpack Special Forces 1 sleeping bag is far better. It's lighter and more compact and recommended for lower temperatures, and the central zipper works far better with the central zipper of the recommended Special Forces bivvy bag.
 

Thanks for the suggestions, got a favourite out of these?
 
I would prefere the Decathlon Sleeping bag, because the colours blend better in nature.
Black doesn't blend in as good as olive green, brown or dark grey, but in a shadow behind a hedge it blends in too, surely better than blue.

It weights 1250 g, the 300 GSM has the same weight, 1300 g so it should be more or less equal. Warm till 10C. Ok till 7C, with clothing in it OK till 4*C.

The heavier ones have a larger packing Volume and work probably well till -5/ -7C (400 GSM) and -10C (500GSM).

They are really bulky.
I prefere to sleep in clothing in a light sleeping bag, because I am hiking.

Who is usually camping would probably recommend the 400 GSM as allround Sleeping bag.

Because you are small, you could take the Decathlon bag and look later for a shorter Summer Sleeping bag. To use them both in each other as a winter sleeping bag.
If your shoulders aren't very wide that should work well.

Have a look at the Snugpack special Forces complete system! There you can see, that now a days the whole Nato uses two lighter sleeping bags in each other and usually no winter sleeping bags any more.
 
I would prefere the Decathlon Sleeping bag, because the colours blend better in nature.
Black doesn't blend in as good as olive green, brown or dark grey, but in a shadow behind a hedge it blends in too, surely better than blue.

It weights 1250 g, the 300 GSM has the same weight, 1300 g so it should be more or less equal. Warm till 10C. Ok till 7C, with clothing in it OK till 4*C.

The heavier ones have a larger packing Volume and work probably well till -5/ -7C (400 GSM) and -10C (500GSM).

They are really bulky.
I prefere to sleep in clothing in a light sleeping bag, because I am hiking.

Who is usually camping would probably recommend the 400 GSM as allround Sleeping bag.

Because you are small, you could take the Decathlon bag and look later for a shorter Summer Sleeping bag. To use them both in each other as a winter sleeping bag.
If your shoulders aren't very wide that should work well.

Have a look at the Snugpack special Forces complete system! There you can see, that now a days the whole Nato uses two lighter sleeping bags in each other and usually no winter sleeping bags any more.
Oi less of the small i prefer vertically challenged! ;)
 
I think the Decathlon bag fits in the 400 GSM.

That probably would be a good and cheap allround sleeping system if your shoulders aren't to wide.

You could use the Decathlon bag for summer hikes, the 400 GSM for Autumn camps and both together for winter camping.

That would be a very cheap allround solution.
 
Here you have a relatively bulky 0*C option from Decathlon.


I dislike the two zippers at each side and find that idiotic. You loose heat via the zipper and it is heavy.

But this sleeping bag is relatively cheap and olive green.

I personally would start with the black Decathlon bag and save the money for Snugpack stuff, what is cheaper in the long way, because it lasts longer and on top of it it works better and is less bulky, what is important if you want to carry it in a rucksack..

You could put the black Decathlon bag in the Snugpack Special Forces 1 sleeping bag. If your shoulders are to wide, by the SF adapter! That fits for sure!
And later buy the SF2 Sleeping bag.
 
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