backpack stove and GSI Halulite Kettle

This review is of the first backpacking stove I purchased a couple years back. I got it off amazon for about $8 and paired it with a $22 GSI aluminum kettle. This $30 combo has proved effective and reliable over the past 2 years or so, it has only recently been replaced by a JetBoil Zip for no other reason than I thought the JetBoil setup is “neat”.

Specifications
Street price	$31.40
Combo Weight w/o gas	284g
Combo Weight w/ gas	480g
Energy output (kW)	3.5
Energy output (BTU/hr)	11942
As tested fuel consumption	100g consumed in 12 minutes
Pack volume	91.89 Cubic Inches
Graduated Markings	None
Advertised capacity	1 quart (32 ounces)
Instructions (pdf)	N/A

The kettle is made by GSI out of “Halulite”. GSI claims the Halulite aluminum allow is as light as titanium but conducts heat better and more evenly. It sports a hard anodized finish that resists scratches. The lid handle and bale are coated in a silicone like material that does a pretty good job at insulating your hands from the heat. The lid is very secure, if not a little hard to get off without burning your self. The detent that keeps the bale upright is a bit stiff but has loosened up some with use.

The stove doesn’t have a brand name, I assume its made in china and is probably a copy of a brand name stove. It has some pretty good reviews on Amazon. Overall I think its an amazing stove for the price, its very light and compact. It was not built to exacting standards, the pot supports don’t all touch the pot (see pictures below) but amazingly its pretty darn stable even with the full 32 ounce kettle sitting on it. A great upgrade would be to get a JetBoil canister foot. The output is pretty impressive at almost 12,000 BTU. I have noticed that the flame is stronger to one side but when boiling water that doesn’t seem to matter much. If you are using a frying pan you may want to keep an eye out for hot spots.

In my tests I was able to boil 16 ounces of water in around 2:45 seconds with an air temp of 65 degrees. It did 8 ounces in about 1:10 in the same air temp. I did not get a time for a full 32 ounce kettle.

The theoretical fuel consumption should be 100g of fuel (6615 BTU) in 33.23 minutes. This would suggest that a small 100g canister should be able to boil 16 ounces around 12 times for a total of 6 quarts.

As tested fuel consumption was lower, I boiled a total of 24 ounces in my tests (about 3 min total burn time) and the stove consumed 25g of fuel. That gives us a burn rate of 7.2 seconds per gram of fuel. That suggests a full 100g canister should be consumed in 12 minutes, that would give us the capability to boil 16 ounces about 4.3 times. Admittedly that doesn’t sound right but its what the numbers show. There is liquid fuel lost every time you attach and detach the stove from the canister so I am sure that plays into this number. If you are not quick with the canister change you will loose more fuel. However, this stove does put out a ton of heat (11942 BTU) which does equate to fuel consumption.

Vacuum Cleaner Tools You Must Have

Providing your home with a thorough clean is the easiest and most effective way of keeping not only your carpets / flooring free from a range of dirt, dust and debris – but also other areas of your home, including your mattresses, upholstery and those hard to reach areas such as picture rails.

To achieve such a thorough clean, it’s important to make sure along with having a fully functioning vacuum cleaner you have the six vacuum cleaner tools listed below. Each of these tools will help you to clean various areas of your home effectively and easily.

Floor Tool:

One of the most commonly used tools with a vacuum cleaner is the floor tool, because it makes switching between carpets and hard floors – particularly wooden and laminate floors – a breeze, enabling you to provide a deep clean of your home.

On many floor tools, you’ll find two sets of bristles which allow you to remove large debris from your floor whilst preventing suction from leaking.

Crevice Tool:

Your skirting boards, the top of your picture rails and those tight corners in your home are subject to a range of dirt and dust – which can be difficult to remove without the right tool for your vacuum cleaner.  With a crevice tool, such awkward spaces are easy to get to, particularly if you use a flexi-crevice tool which makes it even easier to get into those tight and difficult areas, without suffering from a loss of suction.

Mattress Tool:

The average mattress can last anywhere between 5 and 10 years, but to ensure it has a long life it is important to take care of it – and this includes regularly vacuuming your mattress to keep it clean.

By taking the time, whenever you change your sheets, to vacuum both sides of your mattress you will remove the build up of dust and dead skin cells which inevitably build up. You will also reduce the risk of bedbugs setting up home in your mattress too.

The easiest way to clean your mattress is with a mattress tool which includes lint pickers on the front and back. These pickers gather the dirt, hairs and other fibres which have built up on your mattress, roll them into a ball and allow them to be sucked up into the vacuum.

The angle of the tool makes it easy to push it across not only the mattress but also fabrics and carpets, whilst the angle also makes sure suction it evenly distributed across the tool.

Upholstery Tool:

When it comes to reducing allergens from your home, your vacuuming shouldn’t stop with the floor – it should also extend to the upholstery within your home, particularly as dirt and allergens can harbour away on such surfaces.

To easily lift away dirt from such areas, the upholstery vacuum tool is perfect. With their wide thread catchers hair and other dirt is easily caught and sucked up into the vacuum, providing an effective and thorough clean of furniture, curtains and cushions.

Radiator Tool:

Chances are it has been awhile since you last cleaned behind your radiators. In fact, we would bet the last time you cleaned behind a radiator was before decorating due to the radiator being removed – meaning behind your radiators is a build up dirt and dust.

With a radiator tool for your vacuum cleaner though, the build up of dirt and dust behind the radiators can be a thing of the past, as such a tool is perfect for cleaning in narrow spaces whilst the bristles make the tool perfect for cleaning dust from vents, fridge coils and even decorative vases – meaning your home really can be dust free.

Groom Tool:

Pet hair can be difficult to remove from the home, often getting stuck in the fibres on your carpets, furniture and clothing. Removing pet hair from wooden floors is also difficult as the air from your vacuum blows it around the home.

But there’s no reason why removing pet hair from your home needs to be difficult when you have a pet grooming tool for your vacuum cleaner, particularly the Dyson Groom Tool.

Such a tool makes light work of removing hair directly from your dog, with the collected hair being sucked straight into the vacuum cleaner. The tool has also been engineered to remove dead skin cells from your pets, helping to remove allergens from your home.

As an added benefit of the Dyson Pet groom Tool, with little more than your thumb you can adjust the bristle length, switch between groom, self-clean and self-store modes – so whether you have a long-haired or medium-haired pet, prevent their hair from cluttering your carpets with this tool.

By kitting out your vacuum cleaner with the right accessories and tools, you can make the cleaning of your home a breeze, ensuring all areas – including those hard to reach ones such as the tight corners, are clean – allowing you to relax and unwind after a hard day at work.

Pier Fishing Tips

Piers grant boatless anglers access to deeper coastal waters, while proving their fish attractors with plenty of shade, structure and feeding opportunities. Make the most of your pier outings with these tips.

Keep It Together: Commercially manufactured pier carts, modified 2-wheel grocery baskets and even kids' wagons make it easy to wheel your tackle, tools and bait containers onto the pier. Rod holders (PVC pipe will do) are essential, as is space for a cooler and tackle bag.

Simple is Best: Don’t clutter your game by carrying every piece of tackle you own. Think about the common needs and bring multiple spares. From hooks and sinkers for your bottom rigs, to Bomber Saltwater Grade Shad Head Jigs for probing the pier’s pilings and perimeter, a well-planned arsenal keeps you in the game and traveling light.

5-Gallon Bucket: It’s a short-term live bait holder (add portable aerator for more than 5 minutes), a sink for washing fish slime off your hands and a convenient spot for holding your catch en lieu of a cooler. (In warmer conditions or on longer stays, a bag of ice will keep those fish fresh.)

Hint: For lowering the bucket for a sea water fill up, rig several ounces of lead to the metal handle. This dips the  bucket mouth downward to allow water inflow.

Appropriate Gear: Unless you join the big game crowd at the end, 7 1/2- to 8-foot, medium-heavy spinning rods with 30-pound braid and 20- to 30-pound fluorocarbon leaders handle most general pier duties. If mackerel, bluefish or sharks are present, rig a foot of wire leader to prevent bite-offs.

Guide To Choosing A Walkie Talkie

A long time ago, I needed a couple of actually low-cost 3xAAA walkie talkies. We were holding tiny and also well developed, yet power packs perished inside of a few hrs, and also array has been very constrained. That has been inside 2006. Walkie Talkie technical have not developed significantly ever since then (it's nonetheless almost all FM by using an analog signal), nevertheless the top quality and also value regarding respectable walkie talkies have got improved upon.

There exists a lack regarding details on the net relating to reasonable Walkie Talkie and UHF CB sensible array. Suppliers usually state twenty-two to be able to thirty-six distance amounts which can be entirely erroneous. Many folks are furthermore tricked directly into acquiring tiny walkie talkies which can be only youngsters toys and games.
This informative article addresses UHF Person Group (CB) school accredited (public spectrum) radios. VHF is employed inside underwater software in which array above unblocked floors and h2o will be a lot more crucial. Super Large Regularity (~477MHz inside Australia) has considerable power to sink into things which is far better inside accumulated surroundings. Issues employed any cellular phone, you might have employed any UHF radio stations and that means you have several thought about how precisely properly that penetrates surfaces. Given that cellular phone podiums are situated with extremely ideal vantage items (hills and towers), cell phones make do together with comparatively lower strength end result. GSM cell phones maxes out there with 2W and also averages lower than 0. 5W within a common call. Using a walkie talkie, equally celebrations will be the cellular phone tower system yet positioned with ground level : a really huge caveat since UHF will not sink into ground/earth.