gourd

Can't help you with the chopsticks or blender, but as for the coffee grinder, have youe ever tried to lug a Mazzer Mini and Honda generator up a friggin' mountain??? http://www.illyusa.com/AB1666000store/mazzer.cfm Gourd

How-do, The Sil/PU-nylon question has lingered for quite while. I could use some feedback from folks who have owned these tents and used them long-term in really shitty conditions. We rejected this fabric for MEC tents many years ago (it's not new by any means) as it has waterproofness way below our minimum standards. Also, being nylon, it droops a lot when wet (and shrinks enough when drying in the sun to actually pull tent pegs out of the ground) and needs adjustment buckles on the fly. There have been a number of Euro-tents done done in a different Sil-nylon (without PU on the back) that's pretty good and I use an even better version of that on our silicone tarps, but it doesn't pass fire-standards for use on tents in Canada/USA. The 50 denier version of the Sil/PU-Nylon actually weighs more than our current 75d poly. We have been field testing the Sil/PU-nylon for a couple of years and are considering using the 30d Sil-Nylon in the future as there is big demand for it despite the drawbacks, so I'd love to hear comments. It would be from the same suppliers as everyone else's fabric, so comments on any tent would be great. We have been working on a non-nylon version for a few years, but no luck so far on that project. Gourd PS I'll vote for Don.

Some clarification on the Teenie Genie..... (& Genie) Actually, the Teenie Geenie was created about four years ago when Tracy (the former pack sample-maker at MEC) scaled down the Serratus Genie as a gift for a little kid. It was so damn cute that we stuck a bunch of Scotchlite on it and started selling 'em as a kids day-pack under the MEC brand (the Teenie-Genie name just stuck). The pack was simple and stuffed away just like the big 'un. Fast forward a few years.... a contract designer made a new kids pack for MEC and the "Teenie-Genie" name got recycled for that (the current) pack. No logical or otherwise connection to the "Genie" namesake(pack appears out of it's own lid...get it???). Anyway, that's where it's at... There will be a new real "Genie" as an MEC pack - maybe called "Apline 30" or some such. Should show up at MEC in the fall - there are still lots of Serratus Genies to be had, just not listed in the catalogue as an atempt at good taste... Gourd

bizzare thing to strike you as

Greetings one and all, I would like to add my two bits to the Serratus comments. First I’ll point out that I work for MEC and I have designed virtually all of the Serratus products made in the last eleven years (packs, bike-bags, PFDs, etc). I have also designed many of the MEC packs, sleeping bags, tents, etc for the last eight years. Obviously my personal tastes in packs run to the ones people have commented on positively in this web-site over the years; the lean, technical packs. I admit that I also made the more behemoth style packs such as the Ibex. The sad truth is the “full featured” packs like the Ibex, Gregory, Arc’teryx, et al make up the bulk of the big-pack market and we wanted to offer some Serratus packs that would sell, so that we could keep making things like the Gene, Aladdin, Icefall, and Alpine 65/85 (if you lump the Alpine 85 in with the behemoth packs you clearly haven’t used one). In the end though, the MEC membership decides where and how to spend their money and the clear winner in the pack market in Canada is the MEC packs. With the closing of Serratus we will be pouring all of our energy into the MEC packs, not holding back on the high end to protect the Serratus brand as we have for years, and dividing our energy between the two brands. Our intention is to cover the technical niches we served with Serratus using new MEC designs, but do it better and at a lower price. We will not be transferring exact pack designs over (and there is no copyright or intellectual protection on virtually any pack on the market) to the MEC brand, but rather developing technical equivalents. The same people that have been behind all of the really tech Serratus packs will be the same people behind the MEC packs, so I truly hope we will not disappoint our fellow core users! I’m glad a lot of people like the Genie – I designed and built it on my own time, for myself, before it ever saw the light of day as a Serratus product. Now, many years later, I fully intend to make a MEC replacement that is even better! A note on why Arc’teryx can compete and Serratus could not (not to be confused with the MEC packs, which can and do compete with anything on the market). First of all, Arc’teryx sells to a global market, not just to MEC as does Serratus. The bulk of their product is also clothing – a much bigger market than packs and panniers. Hence their factory is ten times bigger than Serratus and they can benefit from all of the advantages that a larger scale brings. They also manufacture a portion of the their product line outside of Canada – not an option for Serratus due to their role within MEC. Lastly, because of their scale, financial backing, and focus on being a manufacturer, Arc’teryx has been able to pour vast amounts of money and resources into marketing, advertising, professional athletes, design, manufacturing technologies, and distribution. All of these things permit Arc’teryx to produce exceptionally good gear and command a premium price for their products, enabling them to make high-end stuff in Canada. Being owned by Adidas (a 5 billion dollar multinational) probably doesn’t hurt either. Far bigger companies than Serratus gave up on manufacturing packs domestically years ago (The North Face, Marmot, Osprey, Dana Designs, Kelty, Mountainsmith, REI, LL Bean, Lafuma, Millet, Gregory, Eagle Creek, Lowe, etc, etc). It is really a credit to all the great people at Serratus and our minimalist customers (few may they be) that they have been able to keep it going for so long. Thanks to you all.