Sea To Summit Pocket Trowel - Reinforced Nylon - 2007 BCS

Expensive but durable. Better than a plastic fantastic trowel from the dollar store. The handle can be very hard to close, but when it does - this thing packs down small. The end cap to get "inside" the handle is also really tough to open. Nice thought on the product, but how much can you expect out of a poop shovel?

There are four key features that make this product worth getting (in my opinion):
1. Lightweight (2.6 oz)
2. Packs small (the handle slides over the face of the trowel to half the pack size)
3. Hollow handle (store hand sanitizer or some toilet paper)
4. It keeps your excrement in the ground, not on the trail or in the water

I used this to dig out the fire pit, and cover up the hot ashes before I head out. And of course, for burying the departed. Only thing I don't like is the difficulty to extend and collapse the handle. Especially when it has dirt particles wedged under the backside. It worked great on moist soil. Haven't used it in dryer soil. I assume it would be a bit more difficult to dig with this as it doesn't have a very sharp tip.

This little tool has some good things going for it. It is lightweight and does a decent job of digging if the ground is not rock hard. It has a hollow handle that can be used to store toilet paper. It compacts nicely but the button is kind of a pain sometimes.

Pros:
Very durable
Compact
Lightweight for the construction

Cons:
Weight
Fiddly handle
Price

Short of a true shovel that you can use a foot to force into the ground, I don't think you'll find a better digging tool, and it packs into a very small package. I've hacked through frozen and rocky soil that friends couldn't get through with their cheapo plastic trowels. I keep a roll of camping TP in a small Ziplok bag, and there's room for the TP and the iPood in the included stuff sack.

There are lighter options, but I don't think they're nearly as durable. The sometimes fiddly handle isn't a big problem, but it bothers some people. There are much cheaper trowel options. All of those cons are minor, and directly balanced against the pros; it's up to you to decide what's more important.

If anything, the current version is over-engineered. I think it'd be very difficult to break, even when abused. I'd like to see a metal version that's a little lighter, even if that means it's slightly less durable. Sea to Summit makes a plastic version that's a little cheaper and lighter, but I don't know how well it digs.

Things I like and things I hate. Small pack size becuase the handle slides up into the trowel but the button is hard to press especially when it is 35 degrees out and your hands are freezing. The metal construction is great and it works well in rocky and hard soil. It is what it is, a way to dig a hole for you to lighten your load in. I still think it is one of your best options.

This tool is ideal for it's size, weight and durability. However, I've had difficulty with getting the handle in place. The little tabs you have to push in to extend and lock it in place are tricky without using something like a pen tip or something of that nature to push them in. But if you have a tool/pen handy with it then it's great =)

Though this attracts attention and has a funny name it was a pain to use. The button always got stuck and it was hard to remove the cap where you insert the toilet paper.

I'm sending mine back. Haven't even used it, but its clear that it will be more trouble then its worth. To begin with the buttons that you have to press to get to the storage compartment are hard to deal with. However, the main reason I'm returning it, is that the main button that locks it in to place was broken before I even opened the box. No way this would last me while on a thru hike. My recommendation is to stick with a simple cheap trowel with no moving parts.

It's very sturdy and still lightweight. it's about 1/10 the weight of the old shovel I used to own. Also it folds up to help save space.

This worked great for digging in hard rocky ground. Our companions had a plastic trowel that could barely break the surface. Had no such problem with this. The handle is a bit difficult to compress but otherwise a great buy.

I can't say it's a bad product, but you can get a fiskars composite trowel at walmart for one dollar, and it weighs just 2 oz.- only difference is it doesn't fold up, but it does have storage in the handle. Quite a bit cheaper.

I couldn't give this 5 stars because I almost cut the end of my finger off getting the iPood trowel open/closed. It is a little finicky to work with. However, it works fine for its purpose and is super light and packable. If you like cool, novelty named gear...this is good...and certainly a conversation piece. I always get a laugh out of my fellow hikers when I break out the iPood. If you are really, really into saving every little bit of space, it's nice to put TP or matches or whatever you can fit into the iPood handle.

Light Weight, compactable design with good storage for the poo tickets. does great job of digging a hole for you to do your job.

Lightweight yet sturdy, no problem digging a hole in the ground with this one. I really like that it comes with it's own little waterproof bag and that you can put paper/lighter and some antibacterial wipe towels in the handel...pretty darn sweet if you ask me.

OK, I'll admit that I was suckered in with the silly name... but I also liked the fact that it is collapsible and has a hollow handle for sanitizer. The problem is that the buttons you need to push to collapse the handle or to open the little storage on the handle are impossible to work, making those two features completely useless. It's not worth sending back, so I'll just toss it in with car camping stuff and find something else for packing.

I finally replaced my old E-tool (24oz) with the iPood (2.6oz). Obviously it takes up less space and weighs a lot less. The spade worked great in the sandy soil at Yosemite, I'm not sure how well it'll work in tougher soil since the blade isn't as pointed as most.

Pressing the button in to collapse the shovel can be difficult, and I didn't bother using the handle to store anything. It's too much of a pain to pop the top in and out of the handle. The shovel does feel pretty tough though, I can't imagine it breaking anytime soon. It'll probably last through the whole i-etc trend and still be going strong.

It gets the job done, but there are better (and cheaper) options with less catchy names.

I haven't actually had this out on a trip yet, but I plan to next week. I've been eyeing this shovel for a long time, both for it's light weight and compactness. I'm a very neat and organized person and I thrive on efficiency. The idea is good, but the buttons both on the extension handle and the compartment cover are extremely difficult to open. I wasn't even aware it came with a bag, and I love that feature. We'll see how it works in the real world over the next few weeks and I'll update this comment.

This trowel is great. It's small, lightweight, compact, strong, and has a storage compartment. Get one...for everyone's sake

Got this to replace a cheap plastic trowel. Alas, while the metal trowel itself seems very functional, and the storage area in the handle is a nifty bonus, the buttons that one must press to pull out the handle and access the storage area ridiculously difficult to engage. I had to take a screwdriver tip to get them to depress enough to slide out the handle and/or take off up the cap on the handle. I could well imagine how not fun it would be trying to get the darn thing ready to go while scurrying off to the woods to find a suitable site for a cathole.

I was skeptical at first because it didn't seem very sturdy but after using it I'm sold. Handled small roots and pebbly soil much better than my folding stainless steel trowel. Lightweight and robust. Even comes with a nifty storage compartment in the handle.

You need super human strength to push the button back in order for it to be folded up! But it is tuff and digs in rocky hard ground easily.

Super light weight and strong, with a sense of humor. The teenagers on my backpacking trips always make fun of me for it, then they go out and buy one of their own. Great product!

I was not looking forward to taking a dump in the woods but now that I have I'm glad I had my iPood. Although very lightweight it was strong enough to dig through rocky woody New England soil. The hollow handle not only saves on weight but is the perfect place for putting toilet paper. The sack has just enough room to fit a mini bottle of Purell. Makes a great little package to hand to your friend or anyone in your group when they gotta do their business.

Alright, had to replace a misplaced U-Dig-It trowel and saw this in the store. . . Nice lightweight product and the stuff sack was quite a bit lighter than the heavier belt holster model of the previous trowel. The hollow handle seemed to give it strength without weight as well as nice storage for a small bottle of hand-sani. However, after a week in the woods we are not impressed. The blunt tip does a very poor job of penetrating the ground when you gotta go. The storage compartment is virtually impossible to open and the push button to retract the telescoping handle is likewise impossible, without something to push it in. Not to mention that it eventually rotated inside the handle and became useless, and the handle would not stay extended. In the spirit of LNT and Sustainable Living; I will repurpose the nice, lightweight stuff sack, for carrying a toothbrush and paste but unfortunately the trowel is garbage. I would not let anyone else struggle with it, when they too have gotta go.

Every once in a while a product comes along that changes the way you do backpacking, and I really wanted the iPOOD! to be one of these products. It was light, sleek and seemed like it would be handy because you could stuff toilet paper or wetwipes in the handle. The first problem resulted from the metal adjuster button not lining up with the hole in the handle, it was a metal bracket inside the handle which kept bending and not snapping into place. After fixing it, I'd try to slide it out again for use and the same thing would happen. This happened SIX times in a row. The next problem was in the plastic cap on the handle where you are supposed to stuff toilet paper into, it would continuously to get stuck and was really hard to pull out. My brother tried to pull it out and it ripped half his fingernail off- seriously. Keep in mind this was all after one time using it. On it's maiden backpacking trip, it was never to be put back together again. I guess it was my fault for buying a shovel that had moving parts. I would recommend looking at another shovel or not using a shovel at all. In fact, there's not much a rock can't do the same as this shovel except carry toilet paper, at least a rock works and you don't have to carry it. iPOOD!- R.I.P.

I hate it when my dog starts eating some human poop it just found in the woods. Do us all a favor and buy one of these and teach yer kids and yer wife how to use it too. Thanks.

You people make me sick. Hahaha.

Great little tool to have around for a multitude of reasons. Good for digging and extremely light so its a no brainer to throw in the pack on backcountry trips. The handle does catch a bit, but it is not a huge deal as the folding function keeps the trowel really small, easily fitting in a pocket.

When I first opened the package just to check it out, brand new, I found the storage compartment to be worthless. I thought maybe I was crazy and wasn't suppose to remove that end cap and had to double check the packaging to make sure it was listed as a feature. I eventually got it open, but it was near impossible and is WAY too much trouble to bother using it for any storage, especially TP. The buttons to collapse the shovel are a little easier, but could still be improved. Overall, it still works as a shovel, but I hope they upgrade and smooth out the kinks in the next version. And call me girly if you want to, but if you're going to bother offering a product in multiple colors, it would be nice to choose your own color when purchasing on the web.

I used to carry a bulky shovel axe combo, when the axe head started to fly off mid swing on ocassion, I started looking into other options. I replaced the saw portion with a 0.1 ounce ring saw, while this next to nothing weight, cleverly named iPOOD! is infinitely lighter and more compact form of shovel, especially for the purposes I use it for.

CONS: I have a hard time getting the plastic cap piece off to access the hollow compartment in the handle, and sand can quickly (although temporarily) gum up the function of the retractable handle.