Gear

Hundreds of gear reviews, constantly updated, brought to you by the best testers in the business. Add your thoughts about the gear you own to help build the knowledge bank!

Outdoor gear is amazingly advanced these days and while it can’t make you any fitter or cleverer it can stop simple miseries like damp and cold spoiling your day. Our testers Chris Townsend, Judy Armstrong and John Manning live and breathe outdoor gear and the whole outdoor industry waits with bated breath for their verdicts. Coupled with the biggest long-term test team in the business, (that’s you) no-one need ever buy duff gear again!

Our gear testers

Chris Townsend

Height: 5’8" Shoe size: 9 Clothing size: Medium (with short legs!)

Chris Townsend has written 17 books on the outdoors including the award-winning The Backpacker’s Handbook (now in its third edition). Among his walking achievements, he was the first person to complete a continuous round of all the Munros and Tops and the first to walk the 1600-mile length of the Canadian Rockies. Chris has been reviewing gear for TGO since 1991.

Judy Armstrong

Height: 5’2" Boot size: 3.5/4 Clothing size: 12 Women's Medium

Judy Armstrong has been testing gear for TGO since 2005 but has been hillwalking and mountaineering for 30 years. Her passions include lightweight backpacking, wild camping, scrambling and ridge walking – as well as sea kayaking in summer and telemark skiing in winter. Originally from New Zealand, Judy lives in the North York Moors National Park and also has a base in the French Alps.

John Manning

Height: 5’8" Boot size: 10 Clothing size: Large/ Extra Large

Over the last two decades John Manning’s feet have carried him along some of the world’s great trails, including the Pacific Crest Trail, the Inca Trail and New Zealand’s Kepler Track. Having spent 13 years working in Scotland as Deputy Editor for TGO, in late 2007 John returned to his native Yorkshire, where he now spends his time testing gear around the clints and grykes of Three Peaks country.

Models and prices were correct at the time of TGO going to press.
Please check with the individual brands or your local retailer for up-to-date information.