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dxmetal
Aug 18, 2005, 1:40 AM
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The North Face is proud to introduce the world record-breaking Spectrum 23 tent ($259) at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market (for consumer release in Spring 2006). This 3- pound 12-ounce tent broke wind tunnel records at KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) by withstanding winds of 130.2 mph. The previous record was set at 100 mph by a 9-pound expedition tent. The ultralight Spectrum is a 3-season, 2-person, single-walled tent designed for done-in-a-day pursuits when fast and light packing is paramount.
“A lot of our competitors achieve light weight goals in their gear through deconstructing the product,” said Wade Woodfill, product line director, equipment. “With the Spectrum 23, we are doing the exact opposite. We’ve designed and developed a new tent geometry that allows this ultralight shelter to work with the wind, not against it. The Spectrum 23 will change the way we construct all of the tents in our line, from expedition to trailhead.”
The integrity of the Spectrum 23 can in large part be contributed to an aluminum Nano-knuckle™ on the top cross pole of the tent. The Nano-Knuckle™ hub creates a hood scoop, or overhead vent, on top of the tent that when unzipped, allows wind and air to enter the tent, circulate and exit through low perimeter venting. In effect, the innovative Spectrum 23 tent works with the wind, instead of fighting against it. During wind tunnel testing, tent structure and poles held their own, ultimate failure came only when the tent stake and webbing separated from the tent body.
All of The North Face Flight Series™ tents incorporate DAC Featherlite™ aluminum poles, ultralight 1” pole sleeves, fusion pitch system with a new ultralight Microclip™ and a fully seam-sealed canopy.
Cool video of the Spectrum 23 hitting 130mph
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/whatsnew/article/0,20967,1089807,00.html
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andrewbanandrew
Aug 18, 2005, 1:51 AM
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Sucks if the wind changes direction. If the wind blows through the tent, isn't it going to be fucking cold inside?
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aknecht
Aug 18, 2005, 2:06 PM
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That video is sweet and everything, props to North Face but even in gail force winds 35+ that you encounter on a climb, the direction is going to be switching all the time. Plus the vented air at this level would make that puppy flipping cold inside. not to mention 50 mph or 100 mph. I dont know why they (north face) would spend so much time and effort trying to make a tent so wind resistant. At least in my experience 30 mph is hard to get shut eye in anyway, because its so loud. And developing designs that are resistant to more than one direction at much lower speeds would seem more practical to me.
To answer the other question not from experience, but from simple physics you can be sure the alteration in interior pressure would be very negligable in terms of climatization. I would say no more than 20 mbars (sea level is approx. 1000)which equates to roughly 600 feet of ALT. at least from the napkin numbers I just look at. But pressure changes with weather and temperature as well every day. All in all not much to worry about
free .02
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dxmetal
Aug 19, 2005, 4:45 AM
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oh oh... and if you purchase the tent, dont forget to get this $13.99 matching sunglasses, also being able to witstand 130 mph wind.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006J31X8/ref%3Dnosim/bensbargaicenter/102-0618454-5771356
" This is the most comfortable sports goggle you will ever wear.á They fit like sunglasses, yet withstand wind speeds up to 130 miles per hour. When you are not wearing them simply hang them around your neck. You don't have to take off your helmet or hat or mess up your hair to put them on, or take them off. They connect via strong magnets over your nose for quick and as needed access.á They provide ultra violet and infa red sun protection and are perfect for any sport requiring eye protection, or for casual wear.á Skiers, snowboarders and skatersálove them as do motorcycle riders and bike riders.á There are two adjustableásizes, standard, for male and some female adults, and smaller for women and teens.á You have a choice of bright blue lenses or iridium mirror lenses. They also can be fitted for prescription lenses, and they float. Easy push/pull adjustment. "
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q
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Aug 19, 2005, 4:03 PM
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great price , low weight, high wind resistence. so why is it just a 3 season? does this mean it can't take snow loads? how about water-proofness?
when it blows AND snows/rains, does the precipitation blow thru the tent as well? if you zip her shut during windy precip does the tent "deflate"?
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btreanor
Aug 19, 2005, 4:35 PM
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"The ultralight Spectrum is a 3-season, 2-person, single-walled tent designed for done-in-a-day pursuits when fast and light packing is paramount."
Funny, when I am going car to car, I don't usually carry a four pound tent...
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carbo
Aug 19, 2005, 5:45 PM
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At least in my experience 30 mph is hard to get shut eye in anyway, because its so loud.
I would rather be in a tent than outside it. It is nice to have shelter that stands if the weather turns on you.
And developing designs that are resistant to more than one direction at much lower speeds would seem more practical to me.
true
great price , low weight, high wind resistence. so why is it just a 3 season? does this mean it can't take snow loads? how about water-proofness?
Probably snow would get in through the vents.
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dxmetal
Sep 6, 2005, 5:15 PM
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From Boston Globe
Outdoor clothes for the indoor set
Outfitters' sales boom is all about fashion
By Nathan Hurst, Globe Correspondent | September 6, 2005
Roopa Nama won't be scaling a rocky mountain any time soon, but she represents a new kind of customer for outdoors companies like The North Face.
Nama, 20, a junior at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, recently spent $80 on a fleece jacket from The North Face's boutique on Newbury Street. The money she spent, however, was for fashion, not function.
''I'm sure it keeps everyone warm, but it's really about the look," Nama said. ''Everyone at my school wears it. It has a preppy, clean-cut look."
The surging popularity of the ''outdoors look" is boosting sales at The North Face and a number of other companies, such as Timberland, the Stratham, N.H., maker of hiking boots and other outdoor gear.
The outdoors industry grew about 11 percent to $20 billion in sales in 2004 from 2002, said Michael Lee, a spokesman for the Outdoor Industry Association, a Boulder, Colo., trade organization that tracks the sector.
The majority of the industry's recent growth, Lee said, was from sales of outdoor fashion merchandise, such as clothing and shoes, not from so-called technical products like tents and camping stoves.
''There has been a shift where the outdoor look has been popular, and there are brands that represent that look," Lee said. ''The North Face has really gone hard-core with the whole fashion concept. They now have a fashion catalog and a technical catalog."
Mainstream customers who see an everyday practicality in a product will latch onto it, said Fernando Galiana, product manager for Nalge Nunc International Inc., the Rochester, N.Y. maker of the Nalgene brand of sports bottles.
The company got the idea for a line of sports bottles after some of Nalge Nunc's plastics researchers took bottles made of laboratory plastic on camping trips during the 1970s. Galiana said the researchers liked the bottles because of their virtual indestructibility. The company decided to sell them commercially and eventually created the Nalgene Outdoor division.
In recent years, the high-end water bottles have gone mainstream since college sports teams started to use Nalgene bottles and campuses started to sell them in their bookstores. Today, the bottles -- which can cost about $16 each -- are not just marketed to hikers and campers at stores such as Eastern Mountain Sports, but also to runners and bikers at sporting goods outlets.
Galiana wouldn't disclose sales figures for the Nalgene bottles but said the product makes up ''a significant portion of our sales."
Test tubes and other scientific equipment sold to research laboratories still account for most of the revenue that comes into Nalge Nunc.
''If it wasn't for the consumer bottles, most people wouldn't know us," he said.
Madison Riley, a principal at Kurt Salmon Associates, a retail consulting firm, said another reason for the recent boom in the outdoor industry is that people like buying ''authentic" products, even if they don't plan to climb a mountain.
''Think about New Balance or Nike and brands like that," he said. ''Most people aren't buying their shoes to run a marathon; they just want the aura, the brand presence. People aspire to have that authenticity."
North Face and Timberland aren't the first outdoors companies to develop a mainstream following. Abercrombie & Fitch, now known as one of the country's top purveyors of clothing for high school and college-aged students, started out as an outfitter to adventurers in 1892.
While outdoors companies are enjoying a newly expanded consumer base, executives are quick to defend their commitment to their core customer: the outdoorsman.
''What we are doing, which has always been a philosophy of The North Face, is billing us as having the best products for athletes and outdoors enthusiasts," said Joe Flannery, vice president of marketing at the San Leandro, Calif., company.
Flannery said that although his company recognizes its new audience, there are no plans to begin catering to trend makers, even though the company offers a fashion catalog in addition to its traditional technical catalog.
''We advertise in the most core outdoor magazines. We don't advertise in a lifestyle sort of way," he said. ''We're not going to try and chase that market."
Timberland spokeswoman Robin Giampa said the company ''has always been committed to our outdoors customers," but wouldn't elaborate on any push to broaden its appeal. Already, the company offers a wide variety of colors of shoes and an expanded line of casual clothing. It also sells its products at popular stores like Macy's, Lord & Taylor, and Foot Locker.
What's also boosting sales of outdoor products is that companies are building stand-alone stores in upscale shopping districts frequented by the young and fashionable.
Besides its year-old Newbury Street store, The North Face also has a shop in Beverly Hills, Calif., that opened in 2002.
''It's literally one of the richest blocks of shopping districts in the world," said North Face's Flannery. ''You're not going to find our performance from Prada. We're putting first-class outdoors gear right in the middle of first-class shopping."
And for consumers like Nama, the strategy makes it easier to shop, even if she isn't the outdoors type.
''If I ever did go camping, I wouldn't take it," she said of her new North Face jacket. ''I wouldn't want to ruin it."
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
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stabla
Sep 6, 2005, 6:05 PM
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OMG that article is absoloutely right on the money, frickin North Face makes me wanna vomit. That chick going for the preppy outdoor look probably is in a sorority. People are willing to pay anything to fit in, i love it! :lol:
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skinnyclimber
Sep 6, 2005, 6:44 PM
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In reply to: From Boston Globe Outdoor clothes for the indoor set Outfitters' sales boom is all about fashion By Nathan Hurst, Globe Correspondent | September 6, 2005 ...''If I ever did go camping, I wouldn't take it," she said of her new North Face jacket. ''I wouldn't want to ruin it." © Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
Sweet I think I just found my soulmate... Do you think she'll think my Campmor fleece is stylish enough for her?
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docontherock
Sep 6, 2005, 6:48 PM
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TNF has without doubt altered their marketing to make bucks off too rich trust fund sorority chicks/frat boys and gang-banging inner city types with money to burn from their most recent crack deal. They are chasing profits at the expense of quality. Plenty of other homegrown companies to get better gear from at cheaper prices.
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dirtbag101
Sep 6, 2005, 6:54 PM
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Wait! I thought the North Face poofy down jackets were in style, now I have to go buy a fleece the TNF written on it. Damn
-on my way to the mall
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docontherock
Sep 6, 2005, 6:57 PM
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In reply to: Wait! I thought the North Face poofy down jackets were in style, now I have to go buy a fleece the TNF written on it. Damn -on my way to the mall
Yeah! And you'd better trade in that full down suit you like to wear to the check-cashing place too!
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hosh
Sep 6, 2005, 8:04 PM
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correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't TNF owned by Cosmo magizine?
hosh.
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scuclimber
Sep 6, 2005, 9:23 PM
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I wish I could rate posts today. Done to death. And what's up with the thread drift? And the fact that this should be posted in "Gear Heads."
Colin
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flatstateclimber
Sep 6, 2005, 9:28 PM
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Any word on something that's not trendy? Clearly I need to burn my North Face gear, so I don't stick out like a flippin' frat boy!
Seriously though, not having owned too much higher-end gear until recently, has TNF's quality decreased since they've started courting the sorostitutes & frat daddies? I've heard that, but I wouldn't really be able to tell because of my previous cheap Campmor ways...
--BJ
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yannbuse
Sep 7, 2005, 1:15 AM
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Please, TNF makes fine gear. I have a couple things from them and they last the longest. And in any case look at their competitors, same price, if not more, for a very similar product. Now people will think Marmot is 'shitty' gear because people from all walks of life buy it (has any body else noticed this trend?). They offer a lifetime guarantee that i have utalised, so that's another plus compared to lets say Millet, fine gear, 3 yr. guarantee.
So has the quality decreased, i doubt it. The quality is much more diverse, with a wide range of fabrics, weaves and cuts. Still look at competitors, with the reputation of 'true' or to reference that article "authentic": same stuff, same price. It comes down to opinion, and i hate to think that i will value a product because i care about what other people think or do. Or was that the original issue up for 'discussion'?
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docontherock
Sep 7, 2005, 1:32 AM
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The HUGE corporation that owns TNF also owns Lee, Wrangler, Nautica, Vans, and numerous lingerie labels just to name a few. (go to http://www.vfc.com for the full list) In my opinion, although I am certainly in favor of capitalism, once a company is bought out by a huge corporation like this, the product typically suffers because the corporation cares more about the bottom line than the quality that the founders of said purchased company must have had to found it in the first place.
If BD or CCH were bought by say, Nike, do you really think their quality would remain where it has been since inception. I don't, because Nike is owned by a bunch of businessmen and shareholders out to make MONEY (not that there's anything wrong with that) while the other two are owned by outdoorsmen (also interested in making money) BUT who had a vision of being able to produce something BETTER to improve thier sport.
Regardless, I can honestly say that TNF gear I have purchased in the last 3 years or so is significantly inferior in quality/workmanship than that which I bought in the early 90's.
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yannbuse
Sep 7, 2005, 10:10 PM
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I would completely agree that when a large corporation takes over, then the product of the acquisition may decrease in quality. It MAY decrease. depending on how the company is managed, otherwise what is pretty much given is the lower costs of materials. I actually had a look at an old North Face Jacket (remember the EG tech?) and thought that compared to what i can get today, its not that great. The point is not what they made before (and upon closer inspection, naturally, i find over time their products are better) but what the competition offers, ie what are the standards.
I find that Moutnain Hardwear is the same as TNF in quality and its overpriced. Mammut makes some nice stuff but the number of holes that i experience from their Gore Tex Paclite is incredible. Rab jackets are oversimplified for a very steep price. I could go on. Im not a TNF advocate but the complaints about their gear always seem unfounded to me. They offer such a range, whenever i buy something from them and am unhappy, its because i choose the wrong product for my intentions, it has nothing to do with the quality. Frankly some of their summit series is the best out there. If one finds that the quality of TNF has gone down over the years, then i ask what of the competitors products that are offered today? If you find a difference then your taking differences of personalization and not quality.
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jimdavis
Sep 13, 2005, 3:59 AM
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I've found that the gear I've purchased from TNF has been sub-par. I had their Various Guides jacket, which used their HyVent WPB material. Thank god I bought it through REI, cause it leaked something aweful and I had to send it back. Their backpack suspension system sucks, and most of their stuff is very steep in price.
I think their upper end stuff is still great, but it's too expensive. You can get the same or better quality from other brands.
I have no intention on getting any TNF softgoods anytime soon, I do think some of their tents are pretty good though, the Tadpole 23 being one of them.
It's not just big corporations though, look at 5.10...they've gone to shit. I don't know 5 people that haven't had durablilty issues with their shoes, and I work at a climbing gym! I knew one guide that went through 5 pairs of approach shoes in 1 season...Most people I know these days aren't buying 5.10 twice.
Buyer beware, get feedback first and buy from places with good customer service.
Jim
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joebuzz
Sep 13, 2005, 5:07 AM
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I used to work for them back when I still considered them a true outdoor/mountaineering company. In the late 80's/early 90's it was a fun ride. I did bail on working for them in '97 when they started to be more fashion oriented. Even a few years prior to that when every other call we got was for, "That POOFY Jkt (Nuptse) they wore in the video." I went into the new TNF store that opened in So. Lake Tahoe just the other day and it pretty much made me want to puke it was so phoney & pretentious. That being said, some of my old gear which I have severely hammered on over the years is still in great shape, eg; Mountain Bibs, Exp 25 tent, Climb Light Jkt, have all served me well. I've actually gone through two Climb Lights, on my third, in about 12 years. Every time I needed to send one back, I just got a new one in the mail a few weeks later. So I have to say that even though their face has changed, their core equipment still kicks ass.
PS... Their backpacks always did suck though.
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euroford
Sep 13, 2005, 12:37 PM
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i do agree, most of their stuff has become consumer bullshit so chicks can stay warm while watching the christmas parade down michigan avenue....
however, i will say that my wife (non climber) really like their stuff for just that reason, and finds it to be of MUCH higher quality that competing companies that don't have any serious outdoor relationship.
i also own several tnf items that i'm very happy with. you just have to pick and choose, they have some diamonds amid the rough.
edit: and having watched that video now, i would MUCH rather have a tent where the poles will break than one wich will go sailing off into the night. fuk that!!
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