Gear of the Year

Time for some gear talk and my vote for gear of the year as winter comes to a close. 

I considered my excellent Inov-8 Roclite 315s which have been through a lot over two years - hell on the Fannichs, a Highland Cross and more snow than we have seen in the previous decade and are still going for more. Comfy, grippy and hardy.

Honourable mentions to my lovely Haglofs hoodie fleece, my Howies merino 'surf style' base layer - which they stopped doing for some reason - and my PolarBuff. Nice to be warm...

But the winner is....my still shiny Hope Vision R4 LED light set. For a northcountryboy like me it means an extra 18 hours a day of potential playtime per dreary December day. It's a headtorch, it's a bike light, it means an end to night time as an excuse for not riding, running or even hillwalking. It's like a sunny day you fix to the front of your bike. And its made in the UK. 

Turkey of the year also belongs to the UK. A Montane eVent SuperFly jacket that leaked from the off. It took nearly a year of discussions to persuade Montane that the jacket was faulty. Just not good enough.