Worst of Aliexpress

Balagan

Balagan

Thru Hiker
I've bought some good stuff on Aliexpress but this is a thread for owning up to buying real lemons there. You know, that time you were about to buy something and your mouse hovered to a cheaper alternative that turned out to be bin fodder.

PS: I'll let the usual sock puppets start the best of Aliexpress thread. ;) Actually, a thread highlighting the good product and/or.shops could be useful.
 
Balagan

Balagan

Thru Hiker
I'll get the ball rolling with sand pegs.

While in Hong Kong, I picked up some pretty good hard ABS sand pegs that looked like these:

tmp_5837-peg635484173.jpg

I wanted to buy a few more and went for some that were a little cheaper (I will try to find a link to these). These turned out to be utterly useless soft bendy plastic imitations.

My youngest son was thrilled at having plastic nails to go with his plastic hammer though so all was not completely lost...
 
Enzo

Enzo

Thru Hiker
Axeman A frame mesh tent, 'ultralight' at just short of 600g, otherwise not tragic just no where near as good as the 3F stuff at not much less money
 
el manana

el manana

Thru Hiker
craige

craige

Thru Hiker
el manana said:
They worked fine for me with cheap 3mm polypropylene cord, never had one slippage!
Not that good with 2mm cord. (never risked trying 2mm Dyneema).
Click to expand...
Ah, I've only tried it with the line that came with the faux trailstar and lawson 2mm glowire (works well with LL3s) and it failed with both. I guess I'll try them with othe line.
 
Balagan

Balagan

Thru Hiker
Local Lion 35l pack. This is in fact the very same rucksack that REI used to sell as the Flash 30. It is in fact 30l rather than 35 and suffers from the same flaws as when it was sold by REI: pretty bad stitching of the nylon collar at the top of the bag. Bought it for n.1 son (the back length is pretty short) and he ripped it off when trying to close the bag at the end of an overnighter with the scouts. I went low tech with the repairs, added some gromets around the top of the pack and some cord and a cord lock sorted that. Rucksack was passed on to another scout and is still going strong so I guess it's not all that bad.

index.jpgFOPpZdGl.jpg
 
B

Bongo

Trekker
Naturehike 2 persons ultralight hammock. (about 12 quids)
Bought this for the kids, did a stretch test this afternoon: one of the straps broke at 130 kgs without warning (after 3 re-tensionning sessions)
It is supposed to hold 200kgs...
Basically, it's a piece of silnylon triple hemmed at both ends.
I'll try to find better straps and let you know...

Oh yes: 280gr, fabric only
 
fluffkitten

fluffkitten

Moderator
Staff member
Balagan said:
Local Lion 35l pack. This is in fact the very same rucksack that REI used to sell as the Flash 30. It is in fact 30l rather than 35 and suffers from the same flaws as when it was sold by REI: pretty bad stitching of the nylon collar at the top of the bag. Bought it for n.1 son (the back length is pretty short) and he ripped it off when trying to close the bag at the end of an overnighter with the scouts. I went low tech with the repairs, added some gromets around the top of the pack and some cord and a cord lock sorted that. Rucksack was passed on to another scout and is still going strong so I guess it's not all that bad.

View attachment 8428View attachment 8429
Click to expand...

REI didn't include the volume of the lid pockets or the side mesh pockets, the Chinese are are including (and I think overestimating it). I almost bought one until I realised they were only making the small version.
 
Gadget

Gadget

Thru Hiker
Bongo said:
did a stretch test this afternoon: one of the straps broke at 130 kgs without warning (after 3 re-tensionning sessions)
It is supposed to hold 200kgs...
Click to expand...
What was your test rig?
What strain gauge were you using?
(I'm looking for a cheap one, up to 500kg... much easier than borrowing the work one)
 
Mole

Mole

Thru Hiker
Naturehike Aeros pillow

Fabric on mine went air porous after a couple of 2 week trips. FWCs after 3 trips.
 
B

Bongo

Trekker
To Gadget:
only field experimentation ! (hammock loaded with living human flesh and bones - preferably close to the ground)
Consider the straps as "not reliable" but the fabric itself has withstood 2 weeks of teenagers summer camp use. Is said to be fine and "much superior to the Decathlon one" but I can't tell you anything else since i've given it away. I had replaced the straps by standard nylon cord .
 
Gadget

Gadget

Thru Hiker
Bongo said:
hammock loaded with living human flesh and bones
Click to expand...
In that case, at what angle where the suspension lines?
That makes a huge difference to the amount of load experienced by the rig.
Have a play with the hammock hang calculator here, you'll see what I mean,
https://theultimatehang.com/hammock-hang-calculator/
If you hang a 100kg load with the cord coming off the tree at 45° then the hammock will experience 70kg at each end, but if you tighten things up so tht the angle is only 5° then the loads shoot up to over 570kg!!
(also bear in mind dynamic loads, getting in and out, just shifting about can double those loads)
 
B

Bongo

Trekker
Sorry I'm nowhere a hammock specialist and your link doesn't work for me right now
I'm not sure what's your point actually : are you implying the failure could be "usor error" related ? (which idea I wouldn't reject, in the name of science)
To my recall the hammock hung at an angle much closer to 45° than 5° !
Is it normal that a hammock sold (cheaply) for 200kg fails at 130kg ? at its first and very gentle use?
My kids were happy with the thing actually, after fitting a new cord.
I just wanted to warn you that - in my opinion based upon my own experience- my straps failed, that's all. If i'm using an object that could compromise my physical integrity (ahem!) I 'd prefer having a security margin.
(Sorry for my poor redactionnal skills in English, feel free to correct me )
 
Gadget

Gadget

Thru Hiker
My apologies for being presumptuous.
I see a lot of people new to hammocks tie them tight between two trees and jump in, not realising what sort of forces are involved. When I read,
one of the straps broke at 130 kgs without warning (after 3 re-tensionning sessions)
Click to expand...
I thought that might be what you were doing.
Sorry if I was being an arse.
 
B

Bongo

Trekker
No apologies needed because I never felt offended.
Maybe I should have mentionned from the beginning that i was gentle with my gear .
Aren't we all on "ultralight" forums? My turn to be presemptuous, haha...
(By the way I was extra-extra gentle because i remember becoming very suspicious at the third re-tensionning, thinking that elongation shouldn't be allowed that much with a hammock)
To close the subject: it was only 12 £ after all !
 
Shewie

Shewie

Chief Slackpacker
Staff member
HTB1LQ8KXKj85uJjSZFuq6AwyFXab.jpg


One for @edh
 
Taz38

Taz38

Thru Hiker
XXL...you can fit two in one of those...

NatureHike pillow also...lots of little holes after a few trips, now replaced with a Seatosummit.
 
FOX160

FOX160

Thru Hiker
I bought an Axeman Apex single person tent a long time ago, I put it up and rained that evening and the guy lines snapped? Most of that crap is bin material.
 
JKM

JKM

Thru Hiker
Mole said:
Naturehike Aeros pillow

Fabric on mine went air porous after a couple of 2 week trips. FWCs after 3 trips.
Click to expand...


Taz38 said:
NatureHike pillow also...lots of little holes after a few trips, now replaced with a Seatosummit.
Click to expand...



KVerb said:
Oh no! I hope mine won't end up the same way, I really love sleeping on it!
Click to expand...

There must be some duff batches or poor QC as mine (orange btw) has been used for well over 100 nights with no sign of deterioration at all and I am still seriously impressed for the money. At one point it was left inflated and used daily around the house for over 75 days without once having to add air.
 
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