Enclosed is a review of the “whizbang”lightweight backpacking cot from
http://www.luxurylite.com/ The cot costs $189. I used the cot for my 4x day trip from San Diego to Seattle. I’ll mix in a few key shots of that trip. The intent of the cot is:
1. Provide a comfort level not obtained with air matrices (especially for side sleepers).
2. Lift yourself off the wet, rocky, dirty, bug ridden ground.
3. No more sliding around within a tent
4. Keeps your tent side defined thru the night
The main drawbacks are:
1. Cost
2. Transport storage
3. Need insulation as your sleeping bags insulation will compress and will make for a cold night.
4. May need additional support for the heavy individual and/or some folks wives. Hehehe
5. May desire more ground contact during sleep.
Product as delivered
removed the storage sleeve and chucked it
cot weight = 2 lbs 9 oz
Instructions enclosed
more instructions
and more instructions
Items to assemble- foot pads, short poles, long side poles, and fabric (waterproof by the way)
Assemble the short poles (6x total) as shown in view below
attach bungie style long poles (carbon fiber material)
Thread the long poles thru the slots in the fabric, snap attach the short poles to the long pole. It pulls it’s self taunt. About a 5 min job.
Lie on ground
True width = 24 inch total, Ok to use 20 inch mat pad on top. No issues as we will see
Un-stress height = 4.5 inches. Even while fully laden I never touched the ground.
see short poles flexing
foot support in action
Now for a product review...You’ll need to suffer thru some trip pictures to get to camp site:
KLR at Santa Monica Pier...full up camping gear, tools and such
At Pismo Beach
me at rest stop
quick stop at alma marter
entering redwoods
along northern cal coast
oregon coast
miles of coastline
getting to home state
in seattle now
me on bike...handle bars are too high for long distance riding
nice seat though
OK...now for some camping shots of that cot! Camps site in cal $20 per night
Henry shires custom built tarptent. Top of the line in lightweight backpacking silnet tents. 45 sq ft size at 24 oz total. At
www.tarptent.com
Cot, mat, and bag
exped 7 downmat 2.75 inches of 700 fill down $140. Nothing is warmer or more comfortable
see here:
http://www.rei.com/product/720778
sleeping bag Feathered friends Kestrel with epic farbic see here:
http://www.featheredfriends.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productId=94&CatId=1&ProductName=Kestrel at $344 29 oz
in tent, notice full mesh on floor, only use ground cloth if needed
all packed up ready to go
glasses shown for size reference
ready to scoot!
Review and observations......
1. I desired a light weight, compact sleeping system which is comfortable!
2. I found myself (as a side sleeper) so comfortable, I only rolled over once during the night!
3. The pad/ bag combination kept me warm. I did let some air out of the mat as I first had it to taut.
4. I slept very well
5. Easy setup takedown
6. Lightweight and compact
In summary a keeper!
Keithm
