gear

Tiny titanium pens

Three Points of the Compass takes a glance at mini titanium pens, suitable for keyring, EDC kits and lightweight backpacking, these are tough little fellows, just don't lose them!

Gear

Fire Maple Petrel Titanium Ultralight Backpack Stove

Easily the world's lightest commercially made remote canister stove, Fire Maple's new offering is a welcome addition to the choice of lightweight stoves, providing something a little different.

Cooking

Fire Maple 800ml Petrel Ramen Pot

This wide-base 800ml offering from Fire Maple is the latest in their Petrel range of heat exchanger pots and goes some way to improving both efficiency and stove compatibility, but not ease of use.

Electronics

Nitecore NB Plus 10000mAh ‘energy bar’

Three Points of the Compass has long been a fan of Nitecore Powerbanks, using them across many thousands of trail miles. Does the latest NB Plus 10k have anything new to offer?

art

Ultem: is this the ultimate material for lightweight EDC pens?

One type of plastic has been exciting comment among the Everyday Carry brigade. But does polyetherimide have anything to offer? Three Points of the Compass purchased a trio of pens to try them out.

Gear

Youth, learning, enjoyment, retrospection… and a set of scales

A few items of new gear have been carried over the threshold of 'casa Three Points of the Compass' in the last few days. While carrying out a few necessary preliminary tasks, retrospection and consideration of 'what it is all for' came to mind.

Gear

Gear talk: Zpacks Ultralight Camp Shoes

Three Points of the Compass ignores over a decade of personal preference and adds the Zpacks Ultralight Camp Shoes to his gear. Why!

Gear talk

Sleeping base layers

Three Points of the Compass takes a look at the base layers he uses as sleep clothes. There have been recent changes, not much, but at least these now lack the holes and rents of the old un's.

Gear

The trials of trail shoes

Three Points of the Compass delves into his love/hate relationship with trail shoes. Now everyone, sigh and shake your head, pity him...

Gear

Unpacking from the trail. Scotland has been wearing me down!

...or rather, multi-day hikes punishing gear over time. It looks like Three Points of the Compass will be hitting the summer gear sales.

Gear

Packing for the trail: my hygiene kit

Packing a few items that may, just may, keep me slightly cleaner on trail. It's not hard, its not difficult, just needs a bit of thought.

Gear

Packing for the trail: goodbye old friend

OK, so it Is just a flexible water bottle. But it is (was) amongst the oldest items of gear I have been using continually on just about all of my backpacking trips over the past decade.

Trail talk

Trail talk: National Outdoor Expo, 2025. Birmingham NEC

The National Outdoor Expo took place at Birmingham NEC over the weekend of 22/23 March 2025. Having taken a break from it last year, Three Points of the Compass went along to see what was new.

ditty bag

Gear talk: what I took on the Arctic Circle Trail

Three Points of the Compass takes a glance at what he wore and carried on an eight day 100 mile summer backpack across Greenland's Arctic tundra.

Gear

Gear talk: Matador FlatPak Soap Bar Case

Three Points of the Compass takes a glance at a lightweight soap case with 'dry through' technology. Spoiler- it's expensive, but good!

Gear

Gear talk: five favourite pieces of gear in 2024

As 2024 rolls to an end, it is time for the Three Points of the Compass annual retrospective of five items of gear that were especially appreciated on longer trails.

Gear

Gear talk: Pure Clear have improved their water filter mouthpiece

Pure Clear have introduced a small but welcome improvement to their squeeze type water filters.

ditty bag

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- my gear

Three Points of the Compass takes a glance at the gear he carried on a recent walk across northern England on the Coast to Coast Path

Gear

Gear talk: a visit to Atom Packs

Three Points of the Compass was driving to Scotland to tackle the Skye Trail. An ideal opportunity to stop by the Atom Packs workshop deep in the Cumbrian fells, both to see what was going on, and get measured up for a custom pack.

Gear

Gear talk: Flextail Light Repel mosquito repellent

The Flextail Light Repel is a small lightweight portable heater element that takes less than a minute to activate mosquito repellent soaked pads. How useful is it to the backpacker and camper?

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