Handy Products 

Trev’s tips are taking a bit of a different tack this month to promote a couple of products that I recently came across.

The first of these has a cost attached to it, but considering the quality and usefulness of the product it is minor.  What is the product?  Canvas bags.  Last month whilst having a lazy stroll through the Midland Military Markets I walked into an army surplus style shop that had all kinds of interesting camping and survival equipment.  I gave most items an interested glance but didn’t really pay much attention (prices seemed a little high) until I noticed some canvas bags hanging from the ceiling.  They were a long rectangular shape with square ends.  There were 3 different sizes and they were all made from a green heavy duty canvas, had zippers to keep them closed and strong carry handles (Kookaburra brand). 

The smallest bag was 18 inches (45cm) long up to the large one that was 30 inches (75cm) long.  The small bag was priced at $9.90 while the large bag was $13.  Their usefulness was unlimited in my eyes (which was why I bought 4) and ranged from the ideal recovery kit bag, to a tool bag (actually that is what they were promoted as) to a new bag to replace the badly torn tent bag in my camping supplies.  Take a trip down to ARB and see how much you would pay for a recovery bag like this.  Despite the fact that they do have good products I bet you would pay in excess of $30 for something similar to this else where.

My joy didn’t end there though.  As I was walking out I noticed another table alongside the door which had other canvas bags scattered on it.  Once again there were a variety of styles here but the two that caught my eye were a huge canvas bag (like a big sports bag or diving bag) that was only $21 and a yellow canvas bag that had a shoulder strap and a buckle up flap to secure it (exactly the same as the canvas fishing bags found in many fishing shops) for $7.50.  The latter is a perfect bag to keep all your fishing gear in for those times when you want to walk along the beach or trudge into that secluded Barramundi hole without carrying your whole tackle box (and it allows you to keep both hands free to carry a beer at the same time). 

I had to deliberate for a long time about giving up this secret for fear of making the bags too popular thus driving up the prices so I hope you all appreciate the heartache this caused me.  If nothing else there is a great ice-cream and waffle store in the Markets that would be sure to put a smile on your face.

The second item is a freebee and it is on the internet.  Although it may not be of interest to everyone, to all those people who have a GPS and can’t really see the sense in purchasing something like Ozi explorer then I think it would be very worthwhile.  It is a program that allows you to connect up your GPS to you computer (you will still need to buy the appropriate cable normally not more than $40) and is available as a free download from http://www.easygps.com.  There are two programs known as easygps or expertgps.  For most people easygps will do everything that you want so I would recommend this but if at a latter stage you want to do more advanced function expertgps is quite good.

What can it do?  Well at a minimum it will allow you to download all your waypoints to your computer so that if for some reason your GPS was to die then all your precious points would be preserved on your computer ready for uploading to your new GPS.  It obviously also allows you to easily swap coordinates with other people, upload new points that you have entered from a map (or other source), create routes and many other things.  There is also a useful feature that allows you to view the location of selected coordinates using on line maps.  These maps are a bit basic but what can you expect for free.  There is also quite a comprehensive set of instructions to guide you through the program in simple easy to understand language.  

The best thing about this program (apart from being free) is its simplicity and I think it would work with every GPS that members of the club would have.

Till the next time, remember that it is better to be patient on the roads than become a patient.

Trevor