BCB Crusader II Mug Review

Description

I've had the BCB Crusader II mug for about a year now and I feel it's time to share my thoughts. The mug has been with me on multiple trips overseas as well as closer to home. I've used the mug as an everyday mug as well as a cooking pot. I've scrubbed the Crusader mark 2 and the hard anodised aluminium has held up well.

For more information, tips and advice to enhance your outdoor life, check out my website http://paulkirtley.co.uk

Tags: bushcraft,mug,cooking,utensil,BCB,Crusader,military,belt kit,aluminium,hard anodised,anodized,aluminum,Camping,outdoors,wilderness,gear,kit,equipment,review,opinion,thoughts,test,gear test

Video Transcription

hi there I'm Paul curtly founder of frontier bushcraft an author of poker at Lee's blog one of the leading sources of bushcraft and wilderness advice on the net now in this video I'm gonna talk about the BCB mug or to be more specific the Crusader 2 now many of you may be familiar with the classic stainless steel Crusader mug and these are pretty bomb-proof I've been using one of these for donkey's years this one's from 1996 it's nearly 20 years old at the moment and it's still going strong this is a newer version which full-disclosure BCB of sent to me free of charge to try out and I've had it nearly a year I'm not one for tune reviews where you take something out of the box and just give your opinion and call it a review I use stuff in the field for an extended period and then I form my opinion over that time so I've been using this mug for about a year I've been using it a lot while running courses in the woods living outdoors for extended periods of time at the moment I'm coming towards the end of over a fortnight living out in the woods running courses this is the mug I've been using but I've been using it as a safer year it's also been on several canoe trips with me in Scotland and in Canada 16 day trip in Canada as well as a winter trip in the north of Scandinavian and north of Sweden so it's been in different situations it's been in different environments have used it under different conditions I've cooked in it I've just used it as a day-to-day mug and I have to say it's very good this one is made of aluminium the classic one is made of stainless steel this is quite a lot lighter this is a hundred and ninety grams whereas this one is 290 grams this has got a hard anodized surface which is pretty tough I've scrubbed it with a sponge scour I don't think it will take a metal scarer like a brillo pad or a harsh metal scour but you can scrub it with a good scrub you can keep it clean on the inside the surface is pretty tough and the only place where I've had any issue with the coating coming off is around the lip here and that is largely down to me having it in a daypack that are used on canoe trips and that daypack being taken out of the bag taking out the boat there and put onto rocks where this is clonked down onto that hard rock and that started to chip it around the edges here where that's gone down and hit the surface of the of the rock but even so there are only small chips and they haven't extended they haven't got worse over time because there's that little chink started they've just stayed as a little mark and they're fine that's one of my issues with it and which is a minor thing the other issue that I have or something that you need to be aware of is aluminium is much more conductive than steel

so if you have a hot drink in this you're more likely to burn your lips than you are with a with a stainless steel mug so you just have to be a little bit more careful maybe you have to wait a few more minutes for you for your cup of tea to cool down before you start sipping it this is a larger volume mug as well so it's lighter but it holds about 1/3 more this is a liter mug where's the classic mug is 750 milliliters so you can get more in here and it's lighter you save about 100 grams on your weight on your pack weight or your belt kick weight so it's pretty good from that perspective whether it'll last 20 years like my other one I don't know if YouTube still exists in 20 years time I'll let you know in an update review other things to say about this in terms of how it works with it with a system it's designed to fit alongside or over the bottom of the standard NATO flask which it does are just going to give this a rinse out so what coffee grounds in the bottom that will fit very nicely on your standard NATO bottle that works very well also I'm pleased to see that my robco Australian belt pouch for a water bottle I like to use in hot environments use this in Africa I used it in Australia of southern Europe it's really good just to have a water bottle on your belt and I keep my Milbank bag and some water purification tablets in the brew kit in the pocket here my Crusader goes in there my standard one but it is a bit of an awkward fit I've never been completely happy with it but I've made do because it doesn't rattle but what's nice is that the new Crusader the Crusader 2 actually goes in here a little bit more easily and it's just slides in nicely still a snug fit which I want cuz I don't want it rattling around but it slides in without having to to sort of contort yourself or your wrists to get the thing in and out like you do with a standard crusade because of that lip on the mug here this lip here means it's quite awkward to get it in and out but this one version to Crusader two slips in here and nice and easy and then my other concern was well it's a bit of a bigger mug well can I still get the thing closed but yes I can and it all fits together very very nicely it's snug but it doesn't rattle and it makes a really good really good belt pack so overall I'm very happy with this it's been on quite a few travels with me already and the coating clearly is going to wear over time but so far I've been fairly rough with it and it's and it's lasting well and one final point just on doing that again I can fit my Snow Peak titanium spoon is a little gap between the mug and the bottle and I can fit that in there and it will still close so that's all a nice little pack for belt or just to going us on a side of a rucksack works very well and I'm happy to save a hundred grams from my belt weight on my pack weight by using the aluminium version so yeah good recommendation thanks to BCB for sending it through to me and I hope you find that useful I hope it serves you well and I look forward to seeing you on the next video