Have to say I've been to the NEC one for the past couple of years and although not amazing it's been worth the 3 hr each way car journey. Went to it this year at the Exel in London and it wasn't worth the 1 hour each way journey. Pretty small, not much gear and no "show pricing". Only thing of note was a guy selling military copy clothing using latest fabrics, they were really expensive but looked like they would outlast me
. Can't remember the companies name. Nordic Outdoor were there but pretty small stall taken up mostly by the safir 5 cp they had put up. Hilleberg had latest 2 tents and were really helpful when i spoke to them and tried to convince them to make a shangri la 3 clone
and a knife maker had a stall with some pretty decent wares and prices but that really was it. Not worth the drive or the £20 to get in..