Blog G

Are you into your gear? I'm not a mountaineer, because of the incredibly high standard of gear one needs, which, regrettably, one has to tote UP the hill. However I am a skier, and I enjoy most of all the descent, though I can be persuaded to exert considerable energy to get across to a decent expanse of powder snow. My gear is pretty good. I've cheated sneaked and cajoled my way into a variety of test days where I've been able to get onto the best products available and blast a short fast route down a slope to see what really is the gear, and what really is just a load of hype. It's amazing how this stuff varies in quality and performance, and I wonder how we are all doing now we are obliged to source a lot of our recreational goods from the newly emerging asian producers. I have always liked nice stuff; I've enjoyed good tailors whenever I've sought a suit, as I'm a tall skinny type who doesn't fit 'off the peg' clothes much, and the last time I ordered a suit, the fabric fell apart after a couple of day's wear, and, surprisingly, the fabric supplier reimbursed the cost of the cloth AND the cost of the tailor. This is the twenty first century, and most of my time in the complaints department of the many stores I patronise gives me the impression that the customer is always wrong. So now I am viewing the rash of PRC products which I am tempted to buy, and I always scrutinise the labelling on the 'Grand' brands of goods offered too. Here's my gripe. CE is a pair of letters that say there was a set of rules put in front of the manufacturer before he signed the contract to supply. It promises no quality control, and, with my partner's €200 pair of sunglasses, the finish fell apart very quickly, the earpads softened and disintegrated, and while they could replace the frame with a new one, it had to be identical otherwise the prescription lenses wouldn't fit; what would you do? Want another pair the same? I did a replacement of the earpieces using near matching heatshrink tubing, which has done fine, but my ITALIAN sunnies with the synthetic nosepads have gone strange, and they don't make that model anymore, and there is no warranty options available to me; I'll wait till I'm using a cartridge of suitable gunk and I'll remanufacture the nosepads with something durable. I'm renovating a house right now, and my German disc grinder is a replacement for the one that fell apart too quickly, and fortunately the retailer knew me and treated me well. My second grinder is a dirt cheap PRC model with a speed control; it failed rapidly, and I got a replacement, with trepidation, that was the last one on the shelf. I've given it heaps of work and it's fine. Same with a lot of my new gear. Plan to get back to the retailer quickly if there's a problem, hope the second one is better. Now do the math; can't we get the 'CE' quality control up to standard? Is this just a bureaucratic wank? How about TUV? Have you bought any 'TUV' certified product? For years I've sworn by it; it's stamped on my ski bindings; they protect my bones and ligaments, and a recent cheap Polish tool I bought functions perfectly, but I got a lemon, too, and complained directly to the TUV organization; I've had months of 'getting nowhere' with heaps of emails, the upshot of which is that I am expected to do the research on this product myself, take digital photographs and document the problem, and send the wrapping and relevant details to these bods....yeah right.... how about I reappraise the thousands (yes) of dollars I've invested in TUV marked products, and start trying other options? The Gear to Garbage cycle needs cutting down; it's not hard; I'm reminded of the 'Nothing' campaign, where one artist prompted a city to 'just stop' consuming for one day; there was also a climatologically fascinating episode for three days after 9:11 when no commercial aircraft flew American skies; I've a blueprint for a solar powered plastics recycling unit, which turns the melted plastic into giant Lego blocks, free to one and all to construct walls, bins, utility structures; in fact anything at all, as burying this stuff in our architecture is probably the best way of all to deal with the plastic bottles that even this conservationist has no solution for. You want the chance to help fabricate these recycling units? I'm keen if you are; I've got a mile of little structures that could use this product..... Nuff said.