Hey Ben, my mate bought one of the orange plastic ones and now he's gutted I got the exact same one but in black and with a plastic gardening fork for 2 quid for the set from wilco, we've compared them side by side and apart from the colour they seem identical, even dig the same, only putting it out there in case any of your viewers are considering buying the orange one as it might be worth them popping to their local wilco and checking in the gardening section first 😉👍👍

With the big heavier folding Shovel with the camo bag ....they have a tendency to snap back when digging and could really hurt you ! I cured this by sliding a 4" bolt through underneath so it locks it all rigid when using it , but when you take it apart the bolt sits inside the hollow handle !

Love your 'talkiing crap' style. It's what makes your videos interesting to watch; please don't stop. And yes, as someone quite a bit older, you get those "What the hell am I doing" moments your whole life. Thanks for doing these vids.

The small blue one looks multipurpose too .... stirring tea, eating bran flakes .... just a couple of things that come to mind. Anyway, Subbed, liked and commented.

I have seen other campers use trowels but If I'm concerned about weight (or rather bulk of my daypack) I use a stick to dig me hole. Otherwise I like my trifold spade. But from the holes you dug I must say your aim is better than mine 😊

Ben, I can tell you've never been in the army. Scrape, don't dig. Much faster to clear the 6 inch hole you need and easier than digging as the effort is more horizontal and less vertical, especially on hard or frozen ground. We used to call this 'going for a shovel recce' amongst less salubrious sobriquets.I bought a Hori Hori, Japanese garden knife which is designed for digging as well as cutting and it is awesome... awesomely heavy so I never take it. I now use the orange one; light and works well, kept in a plastic sealable sandwich bag with flattened half roll of date roll and a small bottle of hand sanitizer and it gets a good going over every trip. Love your vids, the laconic style and the content.

You warned me to watch other videos before this one; pleased I kept watching. Absolutely Love your ways of describing things and your subtle ,dry humor. I'm Hooked from this one video!

I find the orange plastic one is difficult to use on harder ground and blunts really quickly.

The stainless steel version makes a great soft ground emergency tent peg, leave the handle folded so it can pivot, double duty.

A HUGE TY here, thoroughly enjoyed your review as most others just rambled on. Excellent to watch your digging too. My 1st views were to go w/ the orange one until reading it actually bent on hard soils. So, The Beast is my best choice as the weight is of less concern when needing a dependable trowel that will get the job at hand done with flying results and be at the ready again when you are. Also, Fantastic top on digging your first hole ahead of need and sing songs for Nutter affect.😂

Abit of paracord around the handle on the blue one. Could even use it for flossing afterwards 👌

Got an orange one myself which was given to me by rangers in Scotland. Does the job 👍🏼👍🏼

I always just made a digging stick 😅 although I have the cold steel spetsnaz shovel that I'm dying to get around to taking out

I've just subscribed to your channel... this one has had me in stitches with Christmas and happy birthday 🤣🤣🤣🤣 awesome, I've watched a few of your channels but this just made me giggle... awesome 👌🤣🤣😉

I have the small stainless folding trowel and the orange Coughlans trowel too. Both work pretty well but I tend to use the stainless one. Here's a small tip: "cut" your hole first if you have a folding saw like the Bahco Laplander. Then dig out the hold with the trowel. It makes small roots much less of a problem. "joggist" 🤣🤣🤣

I would suggest taking a look at the Wilcox All-Pro 251S 11" All-Pro Trowel. good video. cheers!

I get one of those “what am I even doing” moments every time I turn the camera on to film a video haha. Good video man some helpful info.

Thanks for field (wood) testing them all. I've been looking at a few for a while now and this has helped narrow down my choices. 👍 This is the final piece of kit I need ...then I'm good to go 🤭 All the best, Katie.

Funny yet informative 😄 who knew someone could talk for nearly 15 mins about s#it shovels, more to the point who knew someone would watch nearly 15mins of a guy talking about s#it shovels 🙈🙉. #iblamelockdown

By eck you were glancing around nervously. Ha Ha. But, the tip about pre-digging your hole is great advice. There's nothing worse than furiously digging whilst trying to hold it in. Gareth & Zoe did a very amusing vlog about different positions that you can adopt. Well done for getting out with shit shovels early on a Sunday morning though. Hope you were going back to a full English. atb.

Thanks for the video I gave you a thumbs up. However I would have liked to see a really cheap garden tool in the mix, as anything 'for camping' gets a few buck added to the price. My concern is did the folding one give you a problem like folding up when you were trying to dig. I'm not concerned about weight, i'm concerned about bulk so I'd like to go with the smallest carry I can find. Good video , though I did 'fast forward' to 5:38 within seconds of it.

great video, enjoyed the puns. I mainly use a folding one it works never really thought about changing it, for winter camps I do sometimes use a folding shovel if the ground is going to be harder (mines bit bulkier than the one you showed so I might check it out).

Jingle Bells and Happy Birthday, got it.....

great comparison video. The beast made me laugh he he I use the vargo dig tool which I have to use gloves as it is sharp but it gets through the roots in the woodland. take care buddy take care.

I think I'd plum for the orange one light weight and easy to stow in your rucksack Another great video stay safe 💪💪👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Enjoyed your videos liked the jingle bells that was funny a think a will go for the small one nice and light hopefully we will get out soon take care stay safe 👍

Thanks for putting yourself out there, getting out of your comfort zone. Some great advise in this video. I have bought the orange one as it was fairly cheap from Amazon with decent reviews. I haven’t tried it or camping out yet, but soon....., Another great video, thanks for these, it is helping me a lot.

orange one it is for me then thanks

Nice video, thanks for showing these shovels. I believe the steel folding one can also be useful if you're making a fire and want to move ashes around (e.g., when cooking). The beast would also be good for that (yet it's a bit big for light backpacking), but certainly not the plastic one, nor the aluminium one as it looks a bit too small for the task.

What !! No giveaway of used shovels / trowels

Ay up Ben If you go down to the woods today springs to mind 😂 I've not seen anyone else talk about shovelling holes for numbers 2's and what to use so glad you have. A shovel is on my kit list and TBH I'll probably go with the orange one Ps Are you staying sane 🤪 Another Great Vid 👍 Cheers JS

Nice vid mate, I’ve got the small blue trowel, I think it’s great, small compact and light 👍🤙

If you want to take a dump put your poncho on.

When someone shouts shit, jump on the shovel. Good vid, been pondering a digger for my kit (shit). You looked like you were a naughty boy caught smoking the way you were looking around. Very funny subtle humour. Well done and thank you for taking the time. 👍👀

Haha were them lawn rollers to flatten your mounds Jiggle bells lol

I use an ice-cream scoop, damn things are indestructible and small.

I think you’ve revealed quite a lot about yourself in this video Ben 😆. An important message nevertheless. With how frozen the ground is at the moment, a pneumatic drill would be needed to dig a 6 inch hole 😂

If you're in the jungle check your hole for snakes they not keen on brown snakes and might bite yours.

Who'd have thought there would be so many 'styles' of dump diggers ??? Very brave of you to risk your reputation (and possibly marriage) by filming yourself in the woods, with an overhead camera, suggesting Jingle Bells and Happy Birthday as diversionary tunes, while comparing the relative merits of steel, plastic, and aluminium shovels !! ( Joking apart, a really helpful video mate )

My thoughts.... 1️⃣The stainless folding trowel is by far the prettiest. 2️⃣The plastic trowel - depends where you store it at home, I guess. What I mean is that after a period of time, plastic can “doze”. I have had a plastic garden trowel (stored in a greenhouse) snap with little or no pressure on it. 3️⃣The beast could double as a frying pan. 4️⃣The aluminium thing is just a big spoon. 5️⃣Don’t go sawing tree roots. 6️⃣If loads of people are dumping on Kinder Scout, it must be a minefield of poo by now?

I stopped the video at "let me fill these back in"!

we all need to crap i use the 3rd 1 🤣

Little tip, you don't need to be hiking while recording. Sound quality isn't the best, your concentration is affected etc. If you have to do it while hiking, speak louder and more clearly, plan your speech or say it again and again till it comes out fluidly and only then record it. Also you pause for quite a while in-between every sentence and even in the middle of some.

Ayup! 🤣🤣 I don't think you've lost the plop...I mean plot. This isht is important 👍🔔 🎂 🤣 if you're *really* poo shy then peg a tarp around you while you 💩 😊