Kit performance

BBB Bell

Pros: Looks nice, compact, fits on the bike easily.
Cons: Barely audible ding, rendering the BBB Bell useless and pointless except as a decorative piece. 0/10

Sony VCT HM1

Very good in that I got great footage, which was the point.


Finding space on the handlebars may be an issue. It managed to raise the camera high enough so as not to have the top of my bar bag in every shot though this may not be the case with all bar bags. It moves in one plane; it does not swivel but at £15.00 this was not a deal breaker. The rubbery fittings are not that hot. I used a strip of bar tape, which did the job 7/10

Garmin 810

I had a burning desire to the flash the cash on some proper, boys'-toys gadgetry. I'd run my fingers over the shiny Go-Pros, Contours, Ion cameras but realised I was forgetting my very own Canon A2500 Powershot. Apart from its inability to beam live pictures to a monitor on my handle bar carapace, this does everything those darned action camera things do. It is light and has one touch filming in HD. Long battery life - six days and so in sidestepping the camera the field was left wide open.
I frequently get lost while on tours. Not dramatically lost but enough to lose the plot and waste half an hour here and thirty-one minutes there plus the time spent removing all that egg on my face. The 810 ticks the box - though there mappage it comes with isn't brilliant and the Garmin maps are pricey. There is an alternative with the Open Street Maps that are free and do the job.
My Iphone's GPS was becoming unreliable and Strava guzzled the battery. With canny turning on and off, the 810 has enough juice for at least a day and a half's riding. It also has enhanced GPS with its barometric altimeter. It did briefly lose satellites here and there in dense forests, sheer-sided gullies and  the toilet block.
Data: the 810 provides a feast of live data: speed, grade, total ascent, direction, temperature...all via a touch screen. You can attach optional extras to measure cadence, heart beat, love interest etc.

The pros - all the above make it a handy all in one compass, map and data source. I went up Swain's Lane the other and discovered the awful truth - it does hit 24%. You know you are on a steep hill yet, seeing the evidence there on your handlebars eases the pain!.

Cons - it is expensive and a bit fiddly at times. The higher end 1000 has wifi; the 810 uses Bluetooth to transmit to a proxy that passes the file onto Strava or the like. That is no big deal. It is easy to use - despite reviews out there. 8/10.

Mountain Equipment Helium Trekker Quilt

This weighs 600g and once you have got the hang of shoving it the bag it really does compress down to silly dimensions but not quite the advertised 14x18cm.

Having used the quilt in the cool damp of a Normandy Spring and the simmering heat of an Alpine summer's night I have been comfortable. The only issue is that the quilt's natural inclination is to slide off the body and relocate to a corner of the tent. But it is preferable to a clammy clinging mummy bag.
8/10.

Blackburn Multi Mirror Bar End

This is good product - if you ever manage to get it to stay put. Fitting it once is easy; but if you want to swap sides - like, when you return to the UK - the expander bolt does not undo and you have to pull it out and in doing so, inflict some damage upon the rubber sheath that, er, provides extra girth for the expander bolt. Once I'd pulled bar end fitting out I had to take the whole gizmo apart to release the expander bolt.
When it is on, vibrations move the mirror module about and all of a sudden you can see tree tops and seagulls swooping about while a flipping great articulated lorry flies by unexpectedly. That said, if you can get it to stay tuned in with the patch of space behind you that you want to scan, it does the job. It was a great help flying down the cols as I moved out to take a bend. It does do what it says on the tin - as long as you can open the darned tin, so to speak. 7/10