A trip mainly intended to test some kit (and my ability to carry it!), before going on a extended adventure in the near future.
My camera played up on me badly, I lost a lot of footage and of what's left the quality of both audio and video is not great but the trip was so fun I wanted to share it anyway.
Camera has already been upgraded in preparation for the next trip!

Some extra details of what was on test:
Rain gear
Royal Navy current issue Gortex Coat £55 used
Royal Navy current issue MVP (Gortex) trousers £17.50 used
Both were excellent

Navigation
Garmin 62st GPS £140 used
Tiny screen makes it no substitute for a proper map but for knowing in an instant where you are and being able to stick to the trail it excels.

Tent
Polish army issue lavvu (2 ponchos) £18 used (many years ago!)
Heavy at 3kg but I love the security of proper canvas and no having flat sides makes it a good shape for coping with wind.

Sleep gear
British army softie trousers (current issue) £18 used
Royal Navy thermal jacket (current issue) £25 used
Alpaca blanket £60 new
Happy with this setup.

Camera
DJI Action 2 £200 new(ish)
Dreadful! These cameras are in two modules with the intention that the camera half can be detached and used on it's own. In practice, both the battery life and internal storage are so poor when using this way that it's not really practical and so you end up always using both modules together. This it turn means that booting up takes a long time as both modules come on line - when it's finally ready to film, the moment has often passed! On occasion the camera froze on me mid clip and wind cancellation did not work at all. The final straw was something going wrong with the charging. I had it plugged into a power bank all day even when filming, but by the evening the battery was flat. Then despite charging all night only got up to about 4% by the morning. The camera then complained it was too cold and it would shut off it's screens, before powering down completely and refusing to restart.
Were it not for for my deep hatred of littering I'd have lobbed the thing off the nearest cliff.
Lessons learnt: Don't reply on a product that appears half finished. Always carry a back up camera and audio recorder!


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