AntiGravityGear Blue Cozy Cover
Field Report by André Corterier
Note: The blue cozy cover is designed to go with a pot and pot cozy by the same manufacturer and has been and
will be primarily tested with these. These items were also tested with BackpackGearTest as parts
of
Mama's Kitchen cook set, where more information is available.
Item: AntiGravityGear Blue Cozy Cover
Year of manufacture: 2005
Manufacturer: AntiGravityGear
URL: http://www.antigravitygear.com/
MSRP: 9.95 USD for the 3 cup cozy cover
MSRP: 12.95 USD for the 2 quart cozy cover
Weight Comparisons - scale accurate to 5 g (0.2 oz)
3 cup cozy cover listed weight: 1.9 oz (54 g)
3 cup cozy cover measured weight: 55 g (1.9 oz)
Product Description:
The blue neoprene cozy cover is indeed, as the name implies, made of neoprene and quite blue.
Pictures can be seen at the
manufacturer's website. A more detailed description can
be found in my
Initial Report.
Fit:
As I had hoped when seeing this product online, it did (and does) indeed allow me to transport my cook gear on top
of the pot, leaving room inside the pot for food (and my spork, which I still haven't shortened). Having the spork
stuck in there diagonally somewhat reduces the usable volume for food packages, however. One way I have found to
work around this is to put the pasta (uncooked) directly into the pot sans wrapper, with salt already added.
This meant I only needed to add water before putting it on the burner. This is actually an effect of the cozy cover's
nicest - in my opinion - property: its stretchiness. With my cook gear on top of the lid of the closed pot, the
fact that it stretches around (and thereby compresses) its contents keeps the lid firmly on the pot. No noodles
(not even salt) escaped. This effect also keeps order in my cooking utensils. In order to pack them on top of my pot,
I arrange them in a way with which I try to minimize the volume they take up (for general reasons of packing strategey
as well as not to put undue stress on the cover). Then I zip the cover around all of my cooking things. When I unzip
the cover, everything is still exactly in the spot into which I put it, no matter how much my pack has been bounced
around. This is so neat! Maybe it's just because I'm German, but I enjoy things staying where I put them.
Unpacking:
When I open up the cozy cover in the field, my first reaction is to place everything I have put on top of the pot
into the open side of the cozy cover lid. This provides a ready receptacle for the odds and ends stored inside the
cozy cover. As the zipper is located high on, but not at the top, of the closed cozy cover, there remains a sort of
"wall" around this spot, which neatly prevents my lighter, herbs and spices from
rolling off and getting lost. Setting up my
Clikstand
then is easy as I have it and my other odds and ends well in reach for cooking. Placing the pot on the burner, I leave the cozy
inside the bottom of the cozy cover. I leave the lid section of the cozy on the lid while cooking, however - probably
saves a smidgen (a fraction) of fuel. Once I have everything boiling, I place the pot back inside the cozy inside its cover,
extinguish the burner and zip up the cozy cover. I roll the remaining odds and ends into the bandana I keep
rolled up in the cozy cover for transport and place it on top of the closed cozy cover while I let the contents
steep. The beauty of all this is a very neat campsite with nothing lying around - just the pretty blue cozy cover
with a knotted up bundle on top sitting next to the cooling cookstand and burner.
Use:
I have not run any comparative
tests - yet, gut feeling and what I remember of physics conspire to make me feel that the additional insulation around the
cozy has an (additional) insulative effect, which should slightly speed up the process of "cooking" what is inside and
results in warmer (in fact, hot) food when it's done. The freeze-dried chicken with curry rice I cooked on my latest
day trip was, after the rice had softened up to where it was still somewhat chewy, hot enough to still need blowing on to eat.
This in turn meant that the last bites of my meal were still quite warm, though no longer in need of additional
cooling before eating (this was with the ambient temperature only a few degrees above freezing). I find this enjoyable. Eating out of the pot still sitting in its cozy, which is again sitting
in the cozy cover, probably does a little something to maintain warmth while I eat (though most will escape upwards).
This arrangement definitely meant that I could grab the pot easily - nothing hot to touch. It also keeps the soot-
blackened bottom of the pot off my clothes, pack and what have you.
Visibility:
Visually, the cozy cover is actually less likely to be accidentally knocked over than the (hard anodized) pot that
came with it (contrary to what I had feared in my
Initial Report).
While the partially soot-blackened, dark pot blends into the forest floor neatly with only the silver, cozy-covered
lid to give it away, the nice blue package affords better visibility. "International Orange" would work even better,
of course, but would likely be hard on the eyes. As I am very much into visual LNT (camouflage, if you will), I consider
this shade of blue a very good trade-off. Contrary to what I had thought initially, I am not sure that I would trade this one in for
a green or brown one.
Packing up:
Packing up again after dinner (or lunch, as it often is when I go for an extended dayhike with my daughter) comes
easily. As the cookstand and burner tend to have cooled off sufficiently, I simply reverse the order in which I
unpacked things - and again, never have to look around mumbling "now where did I put the ...". In case I don't feel
like washing the pot (and, as I often dayhike, this is often), I can wrap the windshield around the pot cozy and
let the cozy cover hold it together. One less thing to go into the dishwasher...
Protection:
I meant to report on how well the cozy cover protects its contents. Well, there has been literally no damage
whatsoever to the contents. However, I haven't dropped the pack or suffered any other mishap, so I believe keeping
my cook gear in a different type of sack would have yielded the same result - except that the contents would likely
have been jumbled around.
Pros/Cons:
Pro: Neat storage solution. An "added value" item.
Con: Just a nit - the neoprene seems to acquire and hold the smell of the denatured alcohol I use in my alcohol
burner. While I haven't noticed it as much as I feared when eating from it - probably a combination of fresh air
around me and habituation from having just cooked with it - my gear drawer now spreads the smell of denatured
alcohol around the room whenever I open it.
Suggestions for Improvement:
I guess one could bar tack a little haul loop to the zipper ends - this should make retrieving
the cook set from a tight pack easier (I won't bother with a stuff sack, when the cozy cover
fulfills this function so nicely).
Personal Biographical Information:
Name: André Corterier
Gender: M
Age: 33
Height: 1,85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight: 80 kg (175 lb)
Email: andreDOTcorterierATfreenetDOTde
Home: Bonn, Germany
DATE: 2005-04-25
Backpacking Background:
I began backpacking in my late teens using Europe’s "InterRail"-System – weight hardly mattered, as we were on
trains a lot. I recently rediscovered backpacking and have started out slowly – single-day 15 mile (24 km) jaunts
by myself or even shorter hikes in the company of my little daughter. I am getting started on longer
hikes, as a lightweight packer and hammock-camper. I’ve begun upgrading my old gear and am now shooting for a dry
FSO weight (everything carried From the Skin Out except food, fuel and water)
of about 10 kg (22 lb) for three-season camping. Not quite there yet.
Read more reviews of AntiGravityGear gear
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