Lowa San Francisco GTX Lo
You don’t buy many new shoes and flip them over to find half the sole missing. But that’s exactly what you get with Lowa’s San Francisco travel shoe. To be...
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Gear reviews
Footwear View all
Packs View all
Montane Grand Tour 55l
This is a midsize top-loading alpine pack with an emphasis on simplicity, comfort and weight-saving. Despite weighing a mere 1350g the Grand Tour 55 has plenty of storage options. In...
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Sleeping Bags View all
Big Agnes Hitchens
The Hitchens is a top shelf sleeping bag for all season use. With its streamlined design, ultralight ripstop nylon shell and 850-fill power down stuffing, it delivers phenomenal warmth to...
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Tents View all
MSR Access 2
The guff: Four-season, 1980g (max)/1640g (trail), 2.69m2, vestibules 1.62m2 The Access 2 is a two-person dome tent designed for all year around use. It’s streamlined and well constructed. The freestanding skeleton...
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Jackets View all
The North Face Morph
The Morph is a lightweight, 800-fill down jacket that delivers an impressive amount of warmth. Weighing 312g (w: 282g), it is also the lightest jacket we reviewed. In addition to...
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Wilderness Recommended View all
MSR Access 2
The guff: Four-season, 1980g (max)/1640g (trail), 2.69m2, vestibules 1.62m2 The Access 2 is a two-person dome tent designed for all year around use. It’s streamlined and well constructed. The freestanding skeleton...
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Stoves View all
Biolite Campstove with USB Charger
Biotite’s wood burning stove comes in two parts, the stove and a fan/USB charger. The USB port can be used to charge your cell phone or power a USB light....
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Ice axes
Singing Rock Merlin
Like its namesake, the Merlin is a wizard: it’s a reliable, basic walking axe that’s a reasonable weight (500g/65cm incl. leash) and still performs well in basic alpine situations. A...
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Crampons View all
Hillsound Trail Crampon Pro
The Hillsound Trail Crampon Pro is a minimalist 10-point crampon designed for walking on easy, low gradient frozen surfaces. Lightweight (672g), these semi-flexible crampons come with an easy-to-use binding method,...
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Outdoor watches View all
Suunto Traverse
Unlike Garmin’s Fenix 3, Suunto’s Traverse does not try to be all things to all people. Rather than a myriad of settings depending on the user’s activity – multisport, hiking,...
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Walking Poles
Helinox LBB135
Helinox poles are not available directly in new Zealand – the Australian manufacturer ships them over on an order-by-order basis – so while I had heard of them, I had...
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Sleeping mats View all
Sea to Summit Comfort Light
Sea to Summit take a technical approach to sleeping mats, creating areas of differing insulation to improve R-value while saving weight. The Comfort Light utilises this technique with extra insulation...
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Hiking pants View all
Outdoor Research Voodoo Softshell
These slim fit pants are a stretchy option with a variety of end uses in mind, chief among which is climbing. But with loads of stretch and articulated knees, they make excellent tramping pants too.
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Knives
Deejo Juniper Wood 37g
Deejo knives come in three weights – 15g, 27g and 37g – and are designed to be carried in your pocket, anywhere and everywhere. Wilderness tested the 37g juniper wood...
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Accessories
Stanley Growler
COLD BEER in the backcountry is something you can expect to find in the luxury accommodation of the European Alps, but New Zealand? Not so much. Stanley’s 1.9-litre Growler might solve...
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Headlamps View all
Petzl Actik
The Actik is Petzl’s latest offering. The light is a hybrid and can run on AAA batteries or be used with a ‘Core’ lithium ion battery ($59, sold separately). It...
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Water filters and purifiers
MSR Trailshot MicroFilter
$129.99 MSR’s Trailshot MicroFilter is a simple, lightweight water filter. It is small enough to fit into a jacket pocket and at 153g, it’s almost feather light. In fact, if...
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Binoculars
Bushnell Legend M series 10×42
In testing Bushnell’s M Series, I discovered looking through a good pair of binoculars is a delight. I used them throughout the summer to spy birds in the bush, look...
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Wild books View all
Protecting Paradise
Protecting Paradise 1080 and the fight to save New Zealand’s wildlife By Dave Hansford $34.99, Potton & Burton It’s interesting that books, or films, even peer-reviewed scientific papers, that promote...
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