The camping essentials - I've found a bargain which you all need to know about thread...

[al_coholic]

The general rule for these battery packs is take the capacity and minus 10% then divide it by the battery size of your phone. So 20000-10% is 18000 / 5000 = 3.6 charges. 

[snipe]

Turning off bluetooth is a waste https://www.androidauthority.com/does-bluetooth-drain-battery-1145853/ and you’ll disable the handiest feature of a smart watch... getting notifications to your wrist so you don't need to fish for it in your pocket.  With a little work you can get something setup to ping you to let you know when you've to go to another stage.

Edited May 28, 2022 by snipe

[Leyrulion]

9 minutes ago, snipe said:

Turning off bluetooth is a waste https://www.androidauthority.com/does-bluetooth-drain-battery-1145853/ and you’ll disable the handiest feature of a smart watch... getting notifications to your wrist so you don't need to fish for it in your pocket.  With a little work you can get something setup to ping you to let you know when you've to go to another stage.

The ee app did this in 2019

[joeltg]

On 5/12/2022 at 10:34 AM, crazyfool1 said:

my bargain shower not coming till 24th june  according to email today ..... damn 😞 will use it next year instead 

Glamping this year then Crazy 🙂

[Crazyfool01]

Just now, joeltg said:

Glamping this year then Crazy 🙂

im gonna revert to my bigger porta shower .... will just be something else to collect from the car on the thursday rather than something ive already got in my bag on the bus 

[LoraMaze]

£55.20 at Homebase at the moment! 
 

 

[Beaver89]

Would you like a tiny air pump and 3-brightness lamp for all your air bed, vacuum bag and seeing-what-the-fuck-you're-doing-inside-your-F&B needs? I got you: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08GQXHJVX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1.

It's smaller than you think and they make a slightly larger one too (which was the size we were expecting the tiny one to be). A word to the wise, neither will blow up the quechua air bed base as they are too small but excellent for normal airbeds and SIMs.

Not a bargan per se but a natty piece of kit

Edited June 2, 2022 by Beaver89
addition

[angelin]

Does it pull air back as well? I’m looking for something that will suck the air up as I want to try taking vacuum bags this year.

[bennyboi]

https://www.millets.co.uk/15987165/eurohike-utah-4-leg-campbed-15987165/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjwv-GUBhAzEiwASUMm4jQOXS6MeqN5E5-mzrAuAjlLKMWrNE8LVigs6LInvWA0NhWaMnHf-RoCRMkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

£17 knocks spots off an air bed IMO 

[squirrelarmy]

1 hour ago, bennyboi said:

£17 knocks spots off an air bed IMO

If my feet wouldn’t hang off the end of it I’d consider one. 

[bennyboi]

11 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

If my feet wouldn’t hang off the end of it I’d consider one. 

Oh ffs didn’t check that. But I’m 177cm so 30mm to spare, county mile.

one of the few times I’m glad I’m sub 6ft.  

[Twiggy553]

1 hour ago, squirrelarmy said:

If my feet wouldn’t hang off the end of it I’d consider one. 

You can put your rucksack under your feet to raise them up

[irnkrtn]

On 5/28/2022 at 12:43 AM, manc said:

This!

WSCPEH8L8Z it offered me a 10% code. I was about to order one then realised I have 4 working packs plus a 250,000 solar kit and a leisure battery, so I didn't fancy the scornful looks from the better half.

[clarkete]

I won't pretend it's a bargain, but for the brightness it's comparatively good value (many of the others maybe go up to 300 lumens where this is switchable between 400 and 800), has a couple of different hooks attached, it can also be charged from USB (if you have a power bank) or be used to provide an emergency charge to your phone.  The battery inside is 4400mAh  so should allegedly power for 6 to 8 hours on full, therefore should easily get through the whole festival on half.  It's dropped 3 quid since I bought it too.

Uchrolls Camping Lantern, USB Rechargeable 800 Lumen LED Outdoor Lights, 3 Modes Emergency Light, Water Resistant...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08V5JP6FP/

Edited June 2, 2022 by clarkete

[Mark0]

On 6/2/2022 at 2:24 AM, Beaver89 said:

Would you like a tiny air pump and 3-brightness lamp for all your air bed, vacuum bag and seeing-what-the-fuck-you're-doing-inside-your-F&B needs? I got you: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08GQXHJVX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1.

It's smaller than you think and they make a slightly larger one too (which was the size we were expecting the tiny one to be). A word to the wise, neither will blow up the quechua air bed base as they are too small but excellent for normal airbeds and SIMs.

Not a bargan per se but a natty piece of kit

Perfect , just picked one up 

[Mark E. Spliff]

I've only just learned of their existence, and I can't find any previous mentions of them on here via a search, so... USB adapters for power tool batteries.  If you, or anyone else you know, has bought in to a particular brand of power tools, then you can borrow two or three of their batteries and clip one of these on to each one to turn it into a festival power bank.  Don't be confused by the low mAh numbers you'll see on power tool batteries - they're higher voltage, so will give you more charges for the same mAh number.  If you want to do a like-for-like comparison, the number you need to look at is the Wh figure.  For example, for the brand of power tools I use, I've got two batteries which are both 20v, 4000mAh.  This equates to 80Wh.  This is roughly the same as my 3.7V, 22,400 mAh power bank.  So by buying one of these adapters, I've now got another two power banks of the same capacity as my expensive dedicated one.  And it's a greener solution to make use of batteries you've already got than to buy dedicated power-banks which will just be gathering dust, discharging and dying in between festival seasons.  The only disadvantage is that power tool batteries tend to be bulkier than dedicated power banks, but not by that much.

They cost anywhere between £10 and £30.  Here's an example of one for under a tenner.  (A Google search will find them for most other brands of battery):

https://cpc.farnell.com/einhell/4514120/18v-usb-battery-adapter/dp/TL20429?mckv=sE6CM0rzs_dc|pcrid|224680288544|kword||match||plid||slid||product|TL20429|pgrid|48556615353|ptaid|pla-430190314292|&CMP=KNC-GUK-CPC-SHOPPING&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224680288544!!!network}!430190314292!&gclid=Cj0KCQjwheyUBhD-ARIsAHJNM-PxWCRjLidOXvAxWFH-TGxdJ9YBa2Dwcz_MDYcni2JXfzy49CB5sUAaAurJEALw_wcB

[ThatCubT]

On 6/2/2022 at 9:35 AM, bennyboi said:

https://www.millets.co.uk/15987165/eurohike-utah-4-leg-campbed-15987165/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjwv-GUBhAzEiwASUMm4jQOXS6MeqN5E5-mzrAuAjlLKMWrNE8LVigs6LInvWA0NhWaMnHf-RoCRMkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

£17 knocks spots off an air bed IMO 

Used to camp on these, for a few weeks. Had to get rid as they wobble on the legs as they're only shoved in instead of screw etc. Very odd at night! Would not say awful but a more rigid option was better for me. I now have a folding camp bed but - alas - it is not very portable without a trolley! 

[bennyboi]

1 minute ago, ThatCubT said:

Used to camp on these, for a few weeks. Had to get rid as they wobble on the legs as they're only shoved in instead of screw etc. Very odd at night! Would not say awful but a more rigid option was better for me. I now have a folding camp bed but - alas - it is not very portable without a trolley! 

Agreeed but already fixed. 

Did a dry run when it came, noticed the excessive movement in the X axis. So I’ve packed out the hole with small strips of beer can. 
seems to work but I shouldn’t have had to bodge it out the box. 

[gfa]

On 5/27/2022 at 8:25 PM, FloorFiller said:

Man I’ve gotta do a bulk order of cheap shite and sell it off to people as mystery boxes.

Can’t wait to get my crappy earphones…

I'm surprised amazon even allow them

On 5/28/2022 at 12:20 PM, al_coholic said:

The general rule for these battery packs is take the capacity and minus 10% then divide it by the battery size of your phone. So 20000-10% is 18000 / 5000 = 3.6 charges. 

my iPhone SE (2020) is 1821mAh - absolutely tiny! I can do almost 10 full charges though with my 20k anker at least 😄 I didn't realise it had such a small battery before honestly but i guess it makes sense.

[dizzymoo]

Just bought this from Lidl. At £9.99 not dirt cheap, but it looks like good value. It's waterproofed ultralight fabric with taped seams, adjustable hood and a zip at the neck. It's seamed at the sides to improve wind protection, and is huge.  Of course it won't be needed other than for shade...

[gfa]

15 minutes ago, dizzymoo said:

Just bought this from Lidl. At £9.99 not dirt cheap, but it looks like good value. It's waterproofed ultralight fabric with taped seams, adjustable hood and a zip at the neck. It's seamed at the sides to improve wind protection, and is huge.  Of course it won't be needed other than for shade...

I like how they have the 3 experts, their faces names and signatures! chewing gum should start doing that

[Glast0baby]

1 hour ago, dizzymoo said:

Just bought this from Lidl. At £9.99 not dirt cheap, but it looks like good value. It's waterproofed ultralight fabric with taped seams, adjustable hood and a zip at the neck. It's seamed at the sides to improve wind protection, and is huge.  Of course it won't be needed other than for shade...

Can I asked whether it has side poppers?  Every time I've tried to invest in a reusable poncho, it always has side poppers that come off on the first or second use.  So I now avoid them like the plague.  How does this one secure?

[dizzymoo]

22 minutes ago, Glast0baby said:

Can I asked whether it has side poppers?  Every time I've tried to invest in a reusable poncho, it always has side poppers that come off on the first or second use.  So I now avoid them like the plague.  How does this one secure?

It's basically a cape which isn't open at the sides. Has slits to put your arms through, with velcro and storm flaps.

[Kizzie]

26 minutes ago, dizzymoo said:

It's basically a cape which isn't open at the sides. Has slits to put your arms through, with velcro and storm flaps.

'Storm flaps' you say....now you're talking 😮

[blutarsky]

2 hours ago, dizzymoo said:

Just bought this from Lidl. At £9.99 not dirt cheap, but it looks like good value. It's waterproofed ultralight fabric with taped seams, adjustable hood and a zip at the neck. It's seamed at the sides to improve wind protection, and is huge.  Of course it won't be needed other than for shade...

Going to get two of these tomorrow 👍