Wilderness magazine NZ

The free articles I have clicked on have always been enormously helpful - with info on route guides to particular spots etc. The hardcopy mags are a fantastic read, IMO - nice pics of some great NZ spots. What I also like is the use of the Geographix 3D maps to show routes etc - its a bit imaginative than a topo and makes destinations come alive. Im not sure how much value I would get out of an annual sub tho. You got a steep discount as an FMC member in 2017 to a subscription - not sure if that is still the case. No affiliation

I used to be a subscriber, but let that lapse when I found I couldn't keep up with reading them all. It's been through its ups and downs but lately it's not a bad magazine, and one of very few outlets with occasional informed journalism on outdoor issues that aren't hunting. If I had to choose, though, I'd probably go with FMC's quarterly Backcountry magazine (formerly FMC Bulletin). I might be biased, though, because I tend to support the majority of stuff that FMC likes to advocate for.

Avid readers here. I love the magazine, and always looking forward to it. If you get the magazine, you also get the website subscription obviously. They have a huge number of trips you can look at on their website. I say: give it a try for a year!

It's a little bit Readers Digest. Usually some treasure in it. There isn't much that doesn't get read. I sometimes think they recycle trip reports without actually doing them again ?. They just seem to have less detail to them ?. Pretty handy getting it delivered to your mail box at a discount. Haven't really messed with it on-line yet. It's a pretty good read if you want to keep in touch with NZ outdoors. That and "NZ Hunter Adventures" if you want to check out TVNZ On Demand or YouTube.

I have most issues since the turn of the century. Even had a few stories published. Haven't bought one for over a year. Gone super shallow. Weak trip reports and full of advertising and bias reviews. Used to be great during the era Shaun Barnett ran it. Some of the mags from the first decade are great reads. Ditto to fmc mags.

I did a gear review for them, they changed what i wrote and the rating i gave the torch, it was a mediocre, heavy headtorch i gave it a mediocre mark.. they increased the marks i gave and changed the wording to give it a more positive review than i had written, they still put my name to the gear review, they didnt explain why and i didnt ask and didnt want anymore to do with them after that if thats how the edit work. I work with electronics for a living and have a good knowledge of tramping gear, so I was confident about what i was writing comparing it to other similar available products from other brands. and the reality is a lot of brands don't make their own head torches, they pay another company to produce them and put their own brand on them, outdoor gear companies are either electronics focused like garmin, or they arent, like the clothing and gear companies.. so a reputable company could easily market a mediocre product their gear reviews are just previews, the advertisers are giving them the gear so they wont say anything bad about them. Ive been told the editor is the son of the owner of the publishing company. the mag is pretty generic now, 5 best this 10 best that, lots of big pictures, lots of generic tramps, a few non generic, doesnt really get into the serious issues affecting trampers and tramping in NZ. they try and write about bushcraft skills but just trivialise and over simplify them, one auckland writer said you should sterilise all your water to be on the safe side, given they can advertise water purifiers then how objective is that? but hey if you lie the maps and photos and what their writing, thats your call to keep reading... us old hands tend to see the flaws too much, but the publishers arent interested in bad news, they want the feel good magazine to attract the readers, NZ is a paradise right?

Pretty much agree with what Waynoski wrote. The rag looks pretty good on the shelf until you pick it up and start reading. It's then that you find out the articles have little or no substance. For me, anyway.

It is a mag I used to get to see because my partner a former librarian would bring a copy home for me to read. Most issues there was an article I'd find interesting and sometimes two or three. The title is "Wilderness" but much of the coverage is is of high use areas where there are plenty of facilities. I'd like to see more coverage of real wilderness with more trip reports of areas away from the beaten tracks. I guess there is a commercial imperative with a need to attract advertising & subscriptions, show trips suitable for newbies, young families etc. and "off trackers" are a minority of the readership. Further to what Wayno has written; I don't trust their reviews or at least some of them. They often don't have the best gear tested in their line ups. In fact I've seen some gear that IMO doesn't stack up given good reviews. I wonder if manufacturers pay to have their products in the test line up? I was contacted about writing for this mag some years back and having some of the remote historic sites I've visited profiled but nothing came of it. They suggested I should become a subscriber before things progressed but I didn't bother because the library copies of Wilderness I was seeing were adequate for my purposes and I was some what ambivalent about having stuff by/about me published in Wilderness.

I find the digital subscription convenient and good value. Always enjoy reading the articles. Reviews I tend to ignore and rely on other sources of information.