Right…Im having a clear out of shed loads of kit and need some advice on some future purchases perrrlease.

TENT
What is the best two man tent for the money….ultra light, easy to erect and roomy. Capable of a summer jaunt to a windswept week of UK biketouring.

DOSS BAG
Warmest and lightest/compact sleeping bag – down vs synth debate? Have looked at the ME Xero 550 but its a tad restrictive for my wide shoulders.
Any others ? Id like to support UK brands so Rab?

TARP/BASHA
For the overnights when I want to grow a beard and go all ferral…one man, ease of use and durability essential!

FINALLY – RUCKSACK

50 litres plus,technical enough for UK winter climbing, durable enough for airport carousels…have looked at the Deuter guide and liked the look of that. Any others recc'd?

Cheers everyone…so much easier to get reccomends from people than cutting the wheat and chaff of sales persons.(pc)

Mountain Equipment shops are having a big fat sale at the moment, their top of the range sleeping bag is ok & light + big discounts on bag liners if you want to stay toasty.

For the tarp try an OES one from the states – http://www.outdoorequipmentsupplier.com/

Tent – try a MSR Hubba Hubba or Vaude Hogan or Taurus.

Rab sleeping bags are my preferred choice because I need a nice wide bag at the shoulder. If you go to the factory shop on Weds or Thurs after 12pm you can pick up some great deals.

Rucksack – i'm a big fan of Osprey as they fit me well. Lowe Alpine, and POD (same company as RAB) are another good bet.

You could do worse than alpkit, I've always bought softies (snugpak).
Tarp; get an army basha (the DPM ones), 6 pegs, 6 bungees and 2 telescopic poles and as long as you have a warm doss bag and bivvy bag you'll be toasty year round.
trouble with tents, the lighter they are the more they cost normally.

Tents – Terra Nova (Solar 2 is great for 2, light and quite tough)
Sleeping bags – Rab bags are good quality, we have 2 lightweight down ones which are now 15 years old and still fine.
Rucsacs – Macpac, fantastic quality and waterproof without the need for silly covers, also comfy to wear and available in different back lenghts.

i just bought a lightwave t2 ultra xt 2 man tent, bit pricey but very nice, only arrived last weekend so i haven't managed to put it up yet,

cost 450ish plus another 50 for the footprints (optional)

the tent weighs just under 2.5 kilos, the footprints hardly anything, it did a bit of scouting before buying and these seemed to be one of the best tents out there, it has room for two bikes in the awning !!! front wheels removed,

lightwave.uk.com

it is for riding with on the C2C next spring, and the others are right there are some really good deals and sales out there,

I too am in the market for some lightweight sleeping bags so suggestions please,

as for Tarps, try ddhammocks.com , we were going the tarp and hammock route and these guys look the bomb, worth a look.

bag wise we are going for Osprey talon 44's , i tried one on last week in blacks, very nice loads of nice touches top finish .

if you want a good lightweight tent have a look at "Big Agnes " i have tried a few and found them excellent one piece poles all linked in and bombproof so far, try the seedhouse two sl says three season but combined with a Rab sleeping bag and a silk liner i have used one all through winter both here and abroad
for rucsacs i would second the lowe alpine stuff

Cheers will certainly take a peek at your suggestions…like the look of the dd tarps and the rab bgs so far.

Has anyone trid the vango ultralite 200 tents? Any good?

Remember the old " strong light cheap – pick two" Its even more true of camping kit than others.

I have a very robust and reasonably light tent – it cost several hundreds. Not made no more but terra nova is the nearest equivalent. I have had it for years and hundreds of nights camped – still stands up and is waterproof in a full on gale.

You need to decide your priorities

TJ, How can you say your tent has had hundreds of nights use when your on here every night giving somebody your wisdom

I moved from the BA seedhouse to the MSR Hubba Hubba. The Seedhouse was a nice tent but the porch arrangement meant that if the fly was wet and the door open that water would drip into the main sleeping area of the tent. Not good. If sticking with BA then the Copper Spur would be a better option.

I have a Macpac tent, very expensive in it's time when made in New Zealand, 10 years ago. Now made in China, but still the same very good quality I believe, but much cheaper. Worth looking into.

phd if you want light and warm down.

sacks check out the mammut stuff, similar to deuter but very understated. Oh Crux as well, simple and strong

have you been to Tiso?

Im quite fond of Mountain Hardwear tents, macpac or for silly stuff Crux.
Rab sleepingbags.
Crux or macpac rucksacks.