The Crap Gear List

[schuss]

Actually, I'll second the Oakley lenses. It doesn't seem to matter whether we are talking about their sunglasses or goggles. Both get scratched just by looking through them.

I've had the opposite experience. Despite my lack of care for both glasses and goggles, they've held up extraordinarily well. I have a pair of sunglasses that I've had for 7 years now that have taken about 1000 drops, been sit on about 200 times (at least), many branches to the lens and one exploding cutting wheel from a dremel that would have taken out my eye. Still look great, except for some of the inside lens coating is starting to peel off.

[Roo]

My Oakley lenses ate the big one when Brownmonkey stuck a panty-liner to them.

Other items that are an unutterable sack of scruttocks: The stock liners in a Salomon Ellipse E2 boot. They're like a pair of wellies in there.

The Fritschi Alpine binding: I pine for the days when I could raise a laugh by simply showing someone a picture of these execrable pieces of extruded dung.

Swany Dryfinger glove technology: Use a pair of these on a storm day and I guarantee you'll have watercress growing out of your fingers by three o'clock and a case of trench hand by four.

The North Face: Every single North Face product I've bought has failed on me in relatively short order. Bust zips, split seams, pinged elastic, saggy pockets, premature wearing - it's all shite. Never again.

Holy crap I've bought a lot of tat.

The Black Diamond Alpine Bod harness - Jesus christ, people, do you not have testicles?

[mr_gyptian]

Marmot work glove.

Not only do they not breath. I wore holes through the fingers and ripped seams within one season.

not representative of their other product.

Not to dig up an old one. but Rev's right, Dakine anything is substandard product.

[MrDirt]

leki trigger lock poles- REALLY cool concept and I really liked it I just kept losing the peice that goes to my glove because it constantly would fall off in my bag or if I was carrying around my gloves it would just fall off and I wouldn't notice it. I got sick of replacing them so I just superglued the straps on thus defeating the purpose of the trigger system in the first place

Never had any problems with mine in over 3 years of use. It's pretty easy to get the hole jammed up with snow, but just as easy to tap the handle on something to get it back out.

[doublediamond223]

The Black Diamond Alpine Bod harness - Jesus christ, people, do you not have testicles?

Agreed....try taking a lead whipper in one.

Seconded on Atomic 412 bindings. They prereleased WAAAAAAAY more than my 614s or 1018s ever did. They once came off on a cat track for absolutely no reason while set at 11. Their performance in the course was equally excellent.

[Caucasian Asian]

I gotta disagree with the Messenger goggles. They fit my watermelon waaaaay better than my Triads did, and they don't fog up on me. Plus they eliminated my Triad-Gorby gap.

I'm suprised nobody has brought it up yet. I sold these for a few years, and this is my story.
VOLANT. Ski the Steel. Bend the Steel. Warranty the Steel. Delam the Steel. Warranty the Steel. Delam the Steel Again. Sell the Steel to Atomic. Stop answering the Warranty Phone. Put all the stock away because the new sales rep is a Weasel. Pull all the stock back out once they start answering the Warranty Phone and delam them all while they are still in the plastic. Let the Warranty Guy try to figure out how 15 pairs of skis delaminted without being unwrapped. Send all of them back for credit. Cancel that account.

[Ripzalot]

funny how one man's crap is another man's gold. i've used north face ski jacket/pants and oakley goggles for years and never had any complaints.

roo - i'm still wearing the same TNF pants that i wore in la grave in '04! lots of duct tape now but i dread the day that i actually have to buy a new pair (trying to make it till the end of this season). i only replaced my jacket since i impaled myself with a tree branch a couple years ago. my new one is holding up great, not one rip or broken zipper. the waterproofing seems to be better than the last one too.

and for those that are spitting on their oakley lenses: spit ≠ water.

The digestive functions of saliva include moistening food, and helping to create a food bolus, so it can be swallowed easily. Saliva contains the enzyme Amylase that breaks some starches down into maltose and dextrin. Thus, digestion of food occurs within the mouth, even before food reaches the stomach. Salivary glands also secrete enzyme to start fat digestion. This is useful for infants to digest the fat in milk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saliva

[runethechamp]

marker ski pants. I've put so many tears in them, not to mention ripped off the anti-abrasion guard on one of them. Hilarious to see my ski pants filled with snow though. I literally built a small snowman in the cafeteria after emptying it all out one day.

I am actually very pleased with my Marker Pants. Had them for 4 or 5 years and they still almost look and perform like new.

[pechelman]

Voile Dynafit adapter plate

it just straight up didnt fit the bolt pattern, which because of that the countersunk bolt heads could not sit flush without SERIOUSLY overtorquing them to the point I would be afraid of stripping out a hex head.

Because you cannot get the heads flush, you cannot mount the dynafits.
Also, the heel portion of the plate would not sit flat and was seriously warped when I got it.
note: my friend ordered a pair as well and his were warped to shit as well. we returned them both.

biggest POS ive come accross in a long long time.

it did however make a very convinient jig for the toe peices

[dre66]

Scott Locket Glove... started ripping about after 5 days of use... they have maybe 15 days out now and are already mostly duct tape.

[El Chupacabra]

I really like my North Face "freedom" pants. Fit great, all the features you would want (belt loops, zip vents w/ mesh backing, vented gaiters WITHOUT THE STUPID FUCKING SNAPS/VELCRO/ZIPPERS that other companies use).

Also, I agree that Dakine's stuff isn't top-notch mountaineering tough gear, but their warranty department is first rate. Any problems whatsoever, and they get you a replacement ASAP. Lifetime warranty on packs w/ good features (but middling construction) = perfectly good for me.

[MTT]

The Black Diamond Alpine Bod harness - Jesus christ, people, do you not have testicles?

I just bought one of these


Just sayin

[Steven S. Dallas]

I am actually very pleased with my Marker Pants.

Mine fall off for no reason. Kind of weird.

[runethechamp]

Mine fall off for no reason. Kind of weird.

Premature pant-release

[VTskibum]

There are several maggette's who witnessed my 'Marker-ing out' of those pants that no longer post here... coincidence? I think not.

To them i appologize.

[sfotex]

The Black Diamond Alpine Bod harness - Jesus christ, people, do you not have testicles?

The alpine bod works great for it's intended purpose - alpine climbing. It's simple, light, works well, you can get it on over skis and crampons...

[PNWbrit]

The alpine bod works great for it's intended purpose - alpine climbing. It's simple, light, works well, you can get it on over skis and crampons...

I guess that if you spend your life wafting around in capris the sudden constriction of a climbing harness must come as a nasty shock to the system.

[nick > jesus]

I am actually very pleased with my Marker Pants. Had them for 4 or 5 years and they still almost look and perform like new.

the ones i have had have been pieces of shit zippers and seems were gone after about 50 days, less then half a season, and i had mad premature pant ejectulation (yes they were a bit big but even with belt they came off, yes the belt was a little too big)

[slippy]

I thought I was pretty smart buying cat tracks for snowmobiling in ski boots. One of them fell off or broke in the first three miles. Not so smart.

[Jaxson]

More crap old gear (80's) some may remember:

Rear entry boots and...Scott boots (light but blew up)!
Strapless poles...good for bruising your hand on hardpack.
Hexcel Skis - Honeycomb was light allright...good for a day or two before they blew.

[couloirman]

Any piece of Burton clothing
Ive had their snowpants(the nice softshell ones), and gloves and warrantied both for rips not my fault, and gotten both back and ripped too many seams again. Pieces of shit.


Viosport Helmet Cam Batteries
The plastic AA holder melted upon use, and the warranty Li ion battery packs on off switch broke off first use.

[booner]

Weird to hear people complain about DaKine's quality...I've had the same heli-pro and chute packs for years and used/abused the shit out of them. I love these packs...they fit well and function well. Neither of them have had a single stitch come loose or any other issues, just a bit of fraying on the top ski strap. Maybe the quality has gone downhill recently...no?

[Danno]

I have a heli pro and some dakine mitts. never had a serious problem, and their warranty/customer service is tits (the bladder that came with the pack leaked, they sent me new one when I contacted them, and I busted a buckle in my car door, and they sent me 2 different sized buckles just to make sure they gave me the right size). I would buy from them again.

[Bozoskier]

No votes for the BD Skyhoy? Those things suck.

-Jake

[barney]

BD Riva 2, Voile Vp-II and Linkens were bindings that I actually mounted on my skis and they sucked. I have torqued out of all of these when it was steep and not a place to fall. The Riva 2 would then wrap around your boot and would take 5 minutes to untangle the cable from your boot. The 1st G3's broke while I was heli-skiing and I ended up skiing a pair of piste pipes in the powder because that was the extra pair we had. I skied three pin cables long past their hey-day because everything else would leave you high and dry and break.