Mess Kits

Today, I bought 3 mess kits for camping / my family's earthquake it.

Here's my take on them.

1. Wyott Mess Kit

I bought this one used for about $18. It's a genuine U.S. G.I. mess kit. From the stamp, I believe it's Vietnam War era. Made in the U.S. It's the heaviest of the bunch, and feels sturdy. No dents on it, but it has some light scratches on the bottom of the frying pan. I washed it (you know, it's used...I dont't know where it's been). I filled the frying pan portion half ways with water and put it on a stove top to boil to see how it would react. The burner was set to high, it began boiling water in about 5 minutes. No scorching on the bottom that I could see, no scorching on the sides or discoloration inside. I let it get to a rolling boil and then removed the pan from the burner and began to dump the water out. The handle was not hot, it was barely warm. I was careful dumping it out in case the handle gave way....it didn't. The handle isn't made to lock the pan in place, gravity and weight should keep the pan exerting pressure on the handle. Just dont't tip the pan where you dont't want the water to go and you'll be alright. One thing to note, it was a cold night, and when I began to pour the boiling water out, the water would "hiss" when it touched the cooler parts of the pan. After I poured the water out, the pan began to cool down quickly and in about a minute was warm to the touch. The portion where the handle connects to the pan took the longest to cool off, a little less than minutes. After all was said and done, there was no discoloration, scorching, or malfunction.

2. Mil-Spec Mess Kit U.S. Style

This is very similar to the Wyott mess kit in apperance, except shinier. It's made in China, and is 304 Stainless Steel. It was for about $14. It is slightly lighter than the Wyott. While it works the same way, the eating tray isn't a perfect fit on the handle (when holding the entire mess kit with one hand - pan on one side, tray on pan handle), a good fit, but not perfect like the Wyott. Also when locking the kit up, it doesnt lock as snugly, still locks sufficiently just not as snugly. I washed it and then put it to the same test. It boiled half a pan of water in about 5 minutes, didn't scorch during boiling, made the same "hiss", took the same time (~ 10 minutes) to cool off, and had the same hot spot where the handle meets the pan. No malfunctions, no scorching, no cave-ins, no discoloration. It actually locked in place better when I was done with it than when it did prior to boiling. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. You get what you pay for, and this isn't bad. It's not as good as the real deal, but what it lacks, you wouldn't miss if you didnt have the genuine one anyway.

3. StanSport 5-Piece Cook Set

With this you get, from smallest item to largest: a plastic cup, a boiling pot with cover (mini dutch oven), plate, and frying pan with handle. Made in China. The whole kit was for about $12. The frying pan is lighter than the other two mess kit frying pans and thinner. I washed all the pieces in this set, and tested 2 pieces. The frying pan wouldn't balance on the burner when it was empty, it had to go on the burner with the water already in it to keep itself balanced. The frying pan boiled water faster than the other two mess kits, I'd say about 3-4 minutes. The PVC coating on the handle did not melt, and the handle was not hot, just warm. No cave-ins, discoloration, or scorching. Same test on the pot. It boiled water in about 3-4 minutes, did not scorch or cave-in. It DID slightly discolor inside where the water level was when boiling. It's a slight discoloration. The little pot is neat in that the carrying handle somewhat locks in place, though I didn't quite trust it when I was moving the pot filled with rolling boiling water. Both the frying pan and the pot cooled off completely in about 5-6 minutes. The pot handle didn't get too hot either. The kit doesn't fit quite right when you put everything away as a clamshell. The handle just barely locks around everything, the pot and cup bounce around inside, and the plate slides a little. This kit gives you a lot for the money, isn't perfect, but in the end seems to get the job done.

I will be testing these out cooking over an open fire through out this year and will update with any new findings.

Vlingo on OG Droid

Have you heard of Vlingo? It's an application that works with Android, iPhone, Blackberry, and Nokia and allows you to transcribe emails, text messages and make phone calls with using your voice. It can also read your e-mails and your text messages to you using SafeReader, a setting within Vlingo.

Some people have been having trouble with getting Vlingo to read text messages or e-mail on Android. Here's how to do it.

1. Download Vlingo from the Android Market Place.
2. Open Vlingo
3. Tap your phone's menu button
4. Tap "Settings"
5. Under "Behavior", tap "SafeReader settings"
6. Ensure "Play texts" is selected.
7. Tap "Play email" to put a check mark on it.
8. Tap "Email accounts" to add an email account.
You can add a GMail, Windows Live Hotmail, Yahooo! Mail, AOL/AIM Mail, or "Other" email account. If you click "Other" you have to manually specify your account settings. It supports IMAP, and POP3. IMAP and POP both support SSL and TLS and allow you to change the port. You can add more than one email account.
9. After you've setup your account, go back to the Vlingo main page. At the top left of the screen you'll see a speaker. If it has an "x", that means SafeReader is turned off. Click on the speaker to turn on SafeReader (it should now have sound waves next to it, and you should hear a voice that says, "SafeReader is now turned on").
10. Vlingo should now read back your texts AND emails. It will read both texts and emails to you in regular mode, and InCar mode as well.

It seems that it will not read back to you over Bluetooth. It will respond to you over speakerphone.

If you have a BlueAnt Q2 it reads EVERYTHING back to you over the Bluetooth headset. I just got mine, tested and it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As far as I can tell after a couple of hours of searching, this is the only app in the Android Market Place that "reads" back your emails to you. It seems to read my work emails OK.

As of December 2011, Nuance is moving to acquire Vlingo. I'm optimistic that this is going to improve Vlingo (my hope is that they will be able to get Vlingo to speak through Bluetooth).

Test it out, and let me know what you think, or if you have found a better app on Android.