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MSR's Lightweight Bikepacking Kit List

Posted by Lois Fife on Mar 01, 2024

Whether you are racing the length or breadth of the country or enjoying a scenic tour of coffee shops and stately homes, your basic needs for shelter, sleeping and making a brew won’t differ greatly so, here are a few items that are compact and lightweight enough to fit on the bike and not weigh you down, allowing you to enjoy your next adventure.

Ultralight Outdoor Gear Awards 2023

Posted by Andy Neil on Dec 22, 2023

2023 was an excellent year for new ultralight equipment and clothing, and we wanted to highlight some of our favourite gear that hit the market this year. Some pieces, like the Montbell Plasma 1000, pushed the limits of what it means to be ultralight even further. Others, like the Nemo Tensor Extreme Conditions sleeping pad, showed real innovation by raising their R-value to an industry-leading 8. …
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Enlightened Equipment Enigma 850FP 20F Down Quilt Review - ''The Enigma from Enlightened Equipment, will be my choice for 80% wild camp adventures''

Posted by Chris Futers on Sep 11, 2023

After a couple of days spent in the Lake District, I was able to gain my first impressions of Enlightened Equipment’s Enigma Quilt (20F). My first impressions were that it seemed well made with an interesting angular U-shaped baffle design and fully sewn in footbox. The 850 fill allowed the bag to loft with ease and the bag packed down smaller than expected. Whilst it comes with a stu …
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Andy’s 2023 TGO Kit List

Posted by Andy Neil on May 09, 2023

May means one thing here in the Ultralight office, The Great Outdoors Challenge, or the TGO for short. We are incredibly proud to be a sponsor of this communal coast-to-coast crossing of Scotland. Three of our team, Danny, Chris and myself, are participating in this year’s TGO, so I thought I’d give you an insight into what’s in my pack and some of the gear I’ll be taking for this year’s chal …
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The Ultimate Ultralight Bikepacking Advice Page

Posted by Chris Futers, Lois Fife and Rob Farquhar on Mar 15, 2023

Bikepacking Travelling on two feet can require little more than a rucksack to carry your belongings and enable you to travel far. An ultralight journey on two wheels can require a bit more thought. Some of the main factors being the terrain and the duration of the ride. Gruelling miles off road can feel very different to those on the road, and take a lot longer, but the rewards when b …
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Revelation 850FP 20F Down Quilt Review - “ It’s an amazingly lightweight option for camping”

Posted by Mark Richardson on Feb 27, 2023

850 Fill Power down / -6.6 Comfort rating / Regular Length / Wide / 683 grams Fill Weight (Regular Wide) 479g In the right conditions quilts are an amazing way of sleeping outdoors,  Enlightened Equipment specialise in quilts and are very good at it. When Summer camping you can sleep under a quilt and feel really comfortable compared to the restrictions of lying inside a co …
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Sierra Designs Nitro 800 35 Degree Quilt Review - Ultralight Outdoor Gear

Posted by Danny Pearson on Jul 05, 2022

Quilts have been a popular choice amongst American backpackers for years but took longer to gain popularity in the UK. We have seen a significant increase in quilt sales and enquiries over the past couple of years. There are clear pros and cons of a quilt vs. a sleeping bag, read our article here ‘Why choose a backpacking quilt?’ As a long-term user of mummy sleeping bags, i …
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The Ultimate Guide to Ultralight Backpacking Quilts

Posted by Danny Pearson on Apr 25, 2022

Backpacking quilts are rapidly increasing in popularity especially amongst lightweight backpackers. So, what is a backpacking quilt? Essentially, it’s half a sleeping bag with no bottom layer (although there might be a footbox) and in most cases no zip or hood. The down in a sleeping bag gets compressed underneath you so do you really need it? So why would you choose a quilt over a …
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