|
|
 |
Guest - Not logged in | |||
Reviews > Cook and Food Storage Gear > Utensils > Fozzils Bowlz > Owner Review by joe schafferFozzils
Bowlz
OWNER REVIEW
by Joe Schaffer July 3, 2018 REVIEWER INFORMATION: NAME: Joe Schaffer EMAIL: never2muchstuff(at)yahoo(dot)com AGE: 70 GENDER: Male HEIGHT: 5'9" (1.75 m) WEIGHT: 175 lb (79.4 kg) HOME: Hayward California USA I frequent California's central Sierras, camping every month, about 85 nights a year; half the time solo; moving nearly every day. As a comfort camper I lug tent, mattress, chair, etc. Summer trips last typically a week to 10 days; 40 lb (18 kg), about half food-related; about 5 miles (8 km) per hiking day. I winter camp most often at 6,000' to 7,000' (1,800 to 2,100 m); 2 to 3 nights; 55 lb (25 kg); a mile or so (1.5 km) on snowshoes. The Product: Bowlz  Manufacturer: Fozzils Web site: https://www.fozzils.com/bowlz Factory specs: Weight: 1.4 oz (40 g) Nonstick BPA-free Stores completely flat MSRP: USD $9.95 for two-bowl set Available color: Blue w/fish skeleton graphic Obtained: June, 2018 My specs: Weight: 1 1/4 oz (37g) Measures, flat: 9 x 10 x 3/64 in (230 x 250 x 1 mm) Measures, bowl: 5 3/4 x 6 x 3 1/8 in (145 x 150 x 80 mm) Capacity: 17 oz (500 ml) Product Description: This origami piece folds flat or into a bowl. The material is scored to form the fold lines. Four snaps hold the bowl in place. Each corner has a hole for the snaps to join. The synthetic material is smooth and translucent. One side of the bowl has measure marks of 4, 8 and 16 oz; and 250 and 500 ml. The bottom of the bowl is very nearly square at just under 3 x 3 in (73 x 73 mm); and the top of the bowl is close to round at about 6 in (150 mm). Two opposing sides are slightly convex at the top and the other two opposing sides are slightly concave. The top edge is not even around the bowl. There is no lid. It is not insulated. There is no handle. Field Conditions: I've used the bowl a half-dozen times on two recent week-long backpacking trips. Observations: It's about the weight of a gel pack; holds over a pint (500 ml); and folds flat.  As a person almost incapable of following directions--and I don't know
if there are any--I extracted the flat piece from my pack and turned it
into a bowl in about 10 seconds. Were I of the type to figure things
out very quickly, the task might well have taken half the time, as it
now does when I snap the bowl together or take it apart. I confess to
having felt some anxiety about how to make the bowl happen, but found
the process rather intuitive and managed by campfire light. I believe a
monkey would have no difficulty. Pretty sure a crow could figure it out. One
must question how many times the piece will tolerate folding and
unfolding before it breaks, but only the test of time will determine
that. I suppose it is not realistic for the vendor to offer an estimate
given the impossible number of variables, but I would think it
appropriate to say 'we had our eight-year-old fold and unfold it X
number of times and still it remained viable.'I used the bowl for dinner, pouring boiling water into it over whatever noodle concoction came out of the bear bag for the evening. To that I applied dried vegetables and of course several packets of Taco Bell sauce and sometimes mayo as well. I would have expected the red sauce to leave its mark, but the piece remains as pristine as new. For cleanup I poured hot water in the bowl, mushed around a handful of pine needles, pulled the snaps apart and finished mopping the then-exposed corners, which do allow a small amount of food (perhaps residue would be more apt) to seep in. After that I held a corner of the flat piece in my fingertips, doused it with hot water and hung it on a branch. It comes perfectly clean; and hanging on a branch the rodents leave it alone, if they otherwise might not. The bowl is not insulated and does not come with a top. The lid of a Planter's Peanuts can fits close enough in diameter, but because the top edge of the bowl is not flat, heat can leak out. A small amount of weight on the warm lid will push it down a little more closely. My map case would not cooperate as well in conforming to the curvatures, which I would prefer as I already carry it and have no secondary use for the Planter's lid. Given that my high style of cuisine requires 10-15 minutes of steeping the food, I'm finding things get a little more cooled off than I would prefer. Thus I came to setting the bowl on top of my coffee pot of just-boiled water to help keep bowl contents hot during the steep. That works pretty well, though I have grave concerns about inadvertently tipping the combination over as I stumble about for firewood and for stones to throw at the demons wanting to lunge in from the darkness. With boiling water poured onto the contents the bowl gets more flexible than I might like. I can hold it with a couple fingers on the bottom and a thumb over the corner, but my nature is to worry that a snap might pull apart and dispense my meal to the ants. I don't carry spare food. So far that is only a worry which may well not be justified. I don't find the snaps difficult, but they've given no indications of being willing to yield to force other than that directly applied. Also, with just-applied boiling water the bowl is too hot for me to hold. It must be left on the ground and steadied by pinching a top edge in order to stir the meal into the delicious sludge I have so come to desire. After the first week I had to succumb to the compulsion to customize the bowl. The opposing convex sides did little to make me feel they were beyond improvement and I cut them level--that is to say, flat across. I would have trimmed the whole thing, but the concave sides are too deeply curved. The snaps would have to be cut in half, which of course would not work. The concave sides should be redesigned to be level, which would improve lid performance and decrease the likelihood of spilling contents over the as-presently-designed low edges. Volume is just right for me. It holds about the same amount as my insulated mug, but the larger diameter/shallower depth makes blending the ingredients much easier. It also holds about the same as my pink bowl. The pink bowl works better as a bowl, but weighs three times as much and doesn't fold flat. Lighter and flat go a long way to mitigating any bowl performance issues. When I clicked on the 'buy now' button on the vendor website, I got directed to a large web conglomerate who I'm mad at and won't buy from and that touts free shipping but charges more for the product than the MSRP shown on the vendor website. So until Fozzils fixes that, I wouldn't be able to buy their product. The Fozzils Bowlz provides a functional, light, packable--almost inconsequential means to freeing up my mug at dinner time. Quick shots: a) Light b) Packable c) Inexpensive Read more reviews of Fozzils gear Read more gear reviews by joe schaffer Reviews > Cook and Food Storage Gear > Utensils > Fozzils Bowlz > Owner Review by joe schaffer | ||||