Fozzils Duet Dish Set
Two person ThinkFLAT dishes that are virtually
unbreakable & BPA free.
Andrew Buskov
Initial Report: April 9, 2010 Field Report: June
16, 2010 Long Term Report: August 20, 2010
Tester Biographical
Information:
Name: |
Andrew Buskov |
Age: |
35 |
Gender: |
Male |
Height: |
5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
Weight: |
216 lbs (98 kg) |
Email: |
Rescue(at)Corridor9(dot)net |
City, State Zip |
Madisonville, Kentucky
USA |
Backpacking
Background:
I’ve been backpacking for years now,
and have
slowly started
developing my ideal style. I’ve gotten my pack weight down to roughly
25 – 30
lbs (11.3 - 13.6 kg) before water, and am whittling it down every hike.
Day hiking is
nice, but
getting out over multiple nights is really what I enjoy. I like to take
my
time and enjoy the scenery as opposed to hiking hard. I also like being
comfortable and insist on an air mattress. I usually tent or hammock,
but stay in shelters at times.
Product
Information:
Item: |
Duet: Tea for Two
|
Manufacturer: |
Fozzils
|
Website |
http://www.fozzils.com/
|
Year of Manufacture: |
2010
|
MSRP: |
N/A
|
Total Weight |
11.64 oz (330 g) Including Packaging
|
Product
Overview:
(From Manufacturer's documentation
& Website)
The Fozzils Duet set is a complete set of dishes for two people
that includes two of each: spoon, cup, bowl, and plate. The entire set
is packaged nicely in a notebook style pouch that makes stowing easy
and convenient. Each set of dishes is color coded (orange or blue) so
that it's easily recognizable which set belongs to which camper. The
Duet provides an environmentally friendly alternative to using
disposable dishes, while greatly saving on weight versus traditional
dish sets.
Initial Impressions:
The Fozzils Duet arrived in wonderful condition, without any missing
pieces, and exactly as described on the company's website. Included in
the package was each piece of the set; 9 pieces in total including the
folding pouch all made of high quality, odor free, food grade
materials. After weighing the materials I immediately set out to "put
it together". After I folded the bowl together and looked in marvelous
wonder at the light weight cooking kit, I realized that I didn't
properly assemble the bowl. It was now that I thought it might be a
good time to look at the instructions in the picture above and right.
I thought it funny that the logo was so shiny in the bottom of the bowl
and how whatever utensil I used might scratch the logo off. However,
after reading the instructions and noting that the logo is to go on the
OUTSIDE of the bowl when it's folded properly, this seemed to be not as
much a concern any more. As mentioned in the instructions, pre-folding
does indeed make it easier to fold it together.
The following pieces are included in the set, along with their actual
& listed weights:
Spoons:
Actual Weight: 0.28 oz (8 g)
Listed Weight: 0.3 oz (8 g)
The spoons fold in such a way that the handle end of the spoon creates
a W before the two snaps are connected. This causes the end of the
spoon to bend into its natural concave shape. Printed on each spoon is
a cautionary message stating that "Liquids may leak from handle." All
cautionary messages are printed in both English and French.
Folding the spoons is quick and easy, though I did notice a tendency
for the snap closest to the eating end of the spoon to come loose. I
think this might simply be due to the stiffness of the plastic and the
fact that the folds aren't easily maneuvered yet. However, it was still
a bit of a pain having to re-snap it every few seconds even though the
spoon was just sitting there motionless.
Cups:
Actual Weight: 1.34 oz (38 g)
Listed Weight: 1.1 oz (32 g)
The
cups are much easier to fold than the spoons were and so far have not
had the tendency to unsnap while sitting motionless. They seem to have
a bit of an arched bottom which makes them wobble a bit when placed on
a
flat surface, but I do not foresee this being a problem as they do not
appear to be overturned in any way by the arch. Unlike the spoon, the
only printed text on the cup is "This side out" to indicate that
printing goes on the outside of the cup. The cup is also designed so
that there is a curve on the low side opposite the snaps. This appears
to make it easier to drink from without having to deal with mouth
placement over the snaps.
Bowls:
Actual Weight: 1.41 oz (40 g)
Listed Weight: 1.3 oz (37 g)
As
with the cups, the snaps tend to stay snapped without coming apart as
easily as the spoon. There is the same printed material on the bowls as
there was on the cups. One thing I did note though was the ease of
pre-folding the creases on the bowl was better than on the cups or
spoons. I attribute this to the greater surface area to grasp and hold
during the pre-folding operation. Other than being larger, the bowls
appear to be designed much the same as the cups. However, the dip
around the non-snap side doesn't appear to be as curved.
Plates:
Actual Weight: 1.48 oz (42 g)
Listed Weight: 1.4 oz (39 g)
Here
is where the similarities begin to differ a bit between the items.
Unlike the deep bowls and cups, the plate is shallow with more of a
straight side. Because of the nice long lines stamped into the plastic,
pre-folding the plates was the easiest of all the pre-folding
operations I did. They also have the greatest opportunity to fold
"wrong" though. During initial pre-folding, I ended up creasing one of
the plate sides that did not have a fold in it. While this doesn't
appear to do anything to the structure of the plate, there is a nice
white crease in a section of the plate that wasn't meant to be there.
This can also be noted in the picture towards the bottom of the report
where there is a half moon crease near the bottom of one of the bowls.
Like the spoons, the plates also have a warning on them that says "Do
not fill with liquids above this line".
As
mentioned above, I wanted to include a picture of the scar that I now
have on the bottom of the orange bowl due to my pre-folding incident.
As can be seen on the right, it doesn't appear to be that
much of
an issue. It's more beauty mark than anything else, but definitely
something to keep in mind when I fold them again. It didn't take much
effort to create, but I don't really feel that I need to be overly
careful when I fold the dishes either.
Summary:
In
all, the Fozzils Duet set looks to be well constructed, and quite small
indeed. I'm looking forward to see how these perform on the trail. I'll
definitely be looking to see how well they handle and distribute any
heated meals that I eat with them. However, as of now, they appear to
have met all expectations that I've read about on the Fozzils website.
I must say that I do not plan on carrying them in the included carrying
case. One of the things that drew me to this test was the weight saving
ability of this design. Because of that, I'd hate to have to carry an
additional case just to store these dishes in. I'm hoping that
they will be easy enough to clean and stuff directly into the
stuffsack. As they appear so durable, this is probably what I will end
up doing, though I will likely carry a heavy duty Ziploc style
bag
the first few times just in case they become exceptionally
dirty
or sticky and aren't as easy to clean as they appear.
Field Report: June
16, 2010
Field Conditions:
I
was able to use the Fozzils Duet on two separate occasions during
this testing phase. Both occasions were during family picnic sessions
with the kids. My testing was done around town at various places at an
elevation of roughly 470 ft (143 m). Temperatures for both
outings were around 90 F (32 C). There was no rain or precipitation
during these meals, but the humidity was quite high.
Performance:Time
for outings over the past two months have been short. In that time I
was only able to squeeze a couple of meals for testing in the Fozzils
Duet dishes. Both times were relatively hot and humid, but the meal was
enjoyable. For the first meal, we decided to try eating some vegetable
soup. We warmed the soup prior to leaving and had some crackers as
well. The second meal was Mexican Manicotti.
The cups performed
rather well for drinking from. I only drank water out of these as I
don't like drinking sweet sugary stuff while out on the trail. One of
the things that I did notice though was how the plastic felt like it
still had a bit of a burr on it. It wasn't anything that was overly
painful, but it was uncomfortable at times. I ended up smoothing the
edges out by washing with the rough side of a scrubber sponge.
The
bowls held the vegetable soup well. They were nice and deep and allowed
me to comfortably hold the hot soup in my hand without being burned.
The outside of the bowl, as well as the rest of the dishes, had quite a
bit of texture to it. This was definitely useful while holding the warm
soup in my hand. Not once did it slip or easily tip over while I was
using it. It was a bit slippery for my son though as he up-ended his
soup bowl all over himself due to not being able to grasp the bowl
properly. The second time I used the bowl was with the Mexican
manicotti. The manicotti wasn't as juicy as the soup and was real easy
to eat out of the bowl.
My wife decided to try and use one of
the plates for the soup. She mixed in some crackers and soup but didn't
notice the fill line until after she'd already poured the soup into the
plate. While the soup slightly came over the top of the line, there was
no spillage as long as my wife took a bit of care. The sides of the
plate came up high enough and were stable enough to keep the plate from
being flimsy. The manicotti fit nicely inside the plate, wasn't too
juicy, and didn't flow up past the fill line. It was easy to scrape all
the cheese up as it didn't stick to the plastic at all. This is
definitely a plus as I like the cheese the best and surely don't want
it sticking to the plate during cleaning.
Use of the spoons in
both instances were easy and worked well. The spoons held a large
amount of food without overflowing, and even though they fold up in the
handle the juices didn't spill back up the handle at all. While the
spoon is big, I had no trouble eating, but then my wife always tells me
I have a big mouth anyway. My son on the other hand had to take smaller
bites off the tip of the spoon in order to eat as the spoon doesn't fit
in his mouth. It didn't seem to bother him much though as he just kept
on eating.
Cleanup so far has been quite easy. Most all the food
that I have eaten off the dishes have washed off quite easily. There
was little or no scrubbing involved in cleaning them. I did notice that
the snaps had a tendency to hold some of the food as I was cleaning,
but nothing too bad at this time. None of the food that we ate was hard
to clean out of the snaps, but I also didn't eat very sticky or mushy
foods either. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this during testing.
So
far I'm pleased with the quality and function of the Fozzils Duet
dishes. They've been easy to pack and have held up well during
use. More information to follow in the next testing phase.
Long Term Report: August 20, 2010
Field Conditions:Once
again, testing this cycle has been few and far
between. Temperatures here have seen heat indexes over 115 F (46
C) a couple of times. I was able to get in a bit of testing this past
week finally during a trip to colder hiking grounds. Temperatures
during the past week long trip ranged from 32 F (0 C) to around 70 F
(21 C). The areas we camped around were about 11,000 ft (3350 m).
There was a bit of rain during dinner time but nothing measurable to
note. It did cool off the day rather quickly though.
During
this trip, we primarily ate dehydrated food; Chili Mac, Lasagna, Eggs
& Bacon, and Alfredo. Much of the findings were the same during
this testing phase as with the past testing phase. I found the plates
easy to eat from though I did notice that they were a bit more
difficult to hold during the colder weather due to the heat transfer
through the plates. The plates just seemed hotter during the cold
weather, almost as if the heat from the food was better transfered
through the plastic. The Chili Mac was a bit more difficult to wash off
due to the thick viscous nature of the food. It had more of a tendency
to stick onto the buttons and snaps more than any other food. The
Lasagna was also hot and hard to hold due to the warmth coming through
the plate, but the Eggs and Bacon weren't as hot.
I was able
to drink from the cup with the same results as during the previous
testing phase. Though the edge of the cup didn't cut me as it did last
testing phase, it still wasn't as enjoyable to use as a standard style
cup. The bowl didn't see any use during the testing phase as I didn't
need it during this phase. The spoon saw a bit if use while eating the
Lasagna, but I found that while it worked well with liquid and smaller
soft solids, trying to use it with the longer noodles of Alfredo was
near impossible.
Final Thoughts:Over
the testing phase I was able to use the Fozzils Duet Dishes about 7
times. During this time frame I was able to experience all pieces of
the set, and came to a number of conclusions over the testing
period including the fact that these are extremely durable and light
weight. They have been a joy to test. They clean up fairly easy, and
pack nice & tight. All that being said, they're not typically
something I see myself using down the road. They were great to test,
but seem like they would be more beneficial during family car camping
trips. They just seem like an extra luxury item for backcountry trips
especially seeing as how I still have to carry a stove and pot to boil
water, and I usually end up eating out of that pot or out of the food
bag after rehydrating. They serve their function quite well though and
I'll definitely
be using these on car camping trips.
In the end, I've been very
pleased with the way the Fozzils Duet Dishes functioned. They have done
everything asked of them and have met all the expectations that I've
had.
I'd like to thank BackpackGearTest.org and Fozzils for allowing me to participate in testing the Fozzils Duet Dishes.
Read more reviews of Fozzils gear
Read more gear reviews by Andrew Buskov
|