Posts Tagged double-duty gear
New SteriPEN Freedom: Smaller and USB Rechargeable!
The beloved SteriPEN water purifier keeps getting better. I loved my original Traveler and and the Steripen Opti was even better. I’ve lost count of how many international trips those two items have kept me healthy—dozens. But ever since I laid eyes on a prototype last January, I’ve been looking forward to checking out this new Steripen Freedom.
In case you haven’t heard of this product, it’s like a magic wand for tap water you don’t trust. You wave this around in clear water (not muddy creek water) and it’ll kill the nasties with ultraviolet light. I have yet to get the runs even once while using this and it has enabled me to drink tap water from all kinds of dicey places.
This one takes the best aspects of previous models (like the little LED lights from the Opti version that help you see that it’s on) and adds some very key new features.
1) This one recharges by USB.
The reason this Freedom version is smaller is because it doesn’t require two bulky batteries. Instead there’s one small one that recharges. It has a standard micro-USB female plug and the cord has a regular USB on the other end. So you can use the included cord and plug it into a charger or laptop, or you can use something like a Chargepod or iGo and leave the cord at home. Before you could buy a bulky solar adapter case for the batteries, which works, but under this new system you can carry something more compact and powerful along to harness the sun’s energy instead like a Solio or Brunton Restore charger.
Per the official specs you can purify up to 40 times on one charge, so figure you’ll get at least 15 liters out of it before you need to plug it in again.
2) It’s even lighter
This Steripen Freedom is not just smaller. It weighs in at 2.6 ounces (74 grams). This has gone from “I should have room” to “Help me find this little thing in my bag!”
3) It’s also a flashlight
The Opti model sort of has a flashlight…in a pinch if you didn’t need much light. But this one will really light up the path to the latrine. It’s kind of tricky to get it to come on as that involves some shaking and moving around your hand to make it kick in, but the light is a dedicated one on the opposite end from the purifier lamp. It works pretty well once you get it going and stays on for three minutes.
When you buy this travel gadget (list price $120), you get everything pictured in the right side photo here: purifier, USB cord, wall adapter, and the handy Neoprene case it all fits into. This is a worthy investment for yourself and a nice thing to do for Mother Nature: it can potentially keep 1,000+ single-use plastic water bottles out of the world’s landfills, streams, and oceans. Or if someone near and dear to you is about to depart on an international journey, this would be a very thoughtful and useful gift.
See more at the Steripen.com site and buy this online at REI or Summit Hut.
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Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Kids and Family, Travel Light on December 1st, 2011
Chawel: The CHAnge Anywhere ToWEL (Get it?)
We write a lot about items that pull double duty here at Practical Travel Gear. After all, who wants to be schlepping around multiple items in multiple (heavy) bags when you’re backpacking through Europe or even hopping on a plane for a quick weekend getaway. The Chawel — the “CHAnge Anywhere ToWEL” — claims to serve multiple purposes: towel, sleeping bag/blanket, travel/neck pillow and changing room. Yes, changing room.
Chawels come in two styles: the Chawel Traveller is microfleece on one side and light terrycloth on the other; the Chawel Sport has two sides made from antibacterial polyester and compresses small into a mesh stuff sac. Both towels are made from two large pieces of material sewn together, with a large opening at the bottom and a slit at the top. This design allows you to slide the Chawel over your head, covering your body in full if, say, you needed to change out of a wet bathing suit on the beach and there are no dressing rooms nearby (or you are too lazy to walk to the bathhouse or you have a kid who has to get out of a sandy two-piece right now).
Each type of Chawel has a slit pocket on the side to store a wallet, iPod or other flat, small things in when you’re at the beach and want to leave your towels on the sand to play in the waves. Each Chawel also comes with attached stretchy bands so you can roll it up and secure the roll with elastic. The band can also be used when you are rolling it lengthwise into a long tube and then folding into a U-shape to create a neck roll for the plane.
Finally, a nice dry Chawel makes for a blanket on a chilly plane (I suggest not slipping it over your head while seated unless you want some funny looks). It can also serve as a sleep sack in a hostel. Or, slip it over a single, thin camping mattress for extra protection and comfort.
No doubt the Chawel is a clever product. Certainly you could sew together some (cheap) beach towels yourself to create an instant dressing room-slash-sleep sack — but are you really going to take the time to do that?
I sampled both of the Chawels after a shower at home, and I’ll be honest: the snag-free, lightweight polyester on the Sport version isn’t terribly absorbent. The terry side of the Traveller (pictured in purple at right) soaks up much more water.
I think the image on the front of the Sport towel — a headless woman in a bathing suit (when you put it over your head, she then has a face) — is silly. I’d prefer a plain Chawel to one with a goofy design like that.
Chawels come in two sizes, medium and large (large is best for adults — medium for kids or petite grown-ups). Price range from $29.95 to $44.95 depending on size and style. Purchase from the online site or a few brick-and-mortar retailers (mostly in British Columbia; the manufacturer is based in Vancouver).
Posted by Kara in Travel Light on November 22nd, 2011
Casual Leather Shoes With Gore-tex: Clarks GTX Street Lo
We’re always interested in good double-duty travel shoes that can take you from the streets to the trail to the restaurant. These nice-looking leather shoes from Clarks appear to the naked eye like some regular street shoes you’d wear to the office or the mall, but there’s more to them than that.
The GTX in the name is a clue: these Clarks Street Lo shoes have a Gore-tex membrane inside, so they’ll work fine with khakis at a restaurant, but they’ll also keep your feet dry when you get caught in the rain. That makes them a great pair of shoes to wear in the airport on the way and then use as your main pair when you’re heading to, say, anywhere between Portland and Vancouver.
I wasn’t sold on the idea of Gore-tex with solid leather—no venting—so I talked to someone at Gore to get more details. Leather is naturally permeable since it’s skin like ours. The problem comes when it’s subjected to lots of processing in the tanning and coating process. Those patent leather shoes or ones treated with wax waterproofing are going to trap all the moisture inside. So Gore works with the shoe companies in recommending certain types of leather that still let moisture escape after it passes through the Gore-tex membrane. Then each type of shoe is tested extensively in their lab to make sure your feet won’t get sweaty. (See 8 things you should know about Gore-tex.)
Granted, leather is not going to breathe as well as synthetic fabric in a trail runner or ski jacket, but hopefully you’re not using these Clarks shoes for that kind of strenuous activity. For normal walking and hanging out, these should keep your feet dry from the outside and inside.
The thick rubber sole is great for pavement pounding and should hold up to years of heavy use. I often pull out the cheap insoles supplied with many shoes and put in my own orthodics, but the “Active Air” ones included with these Clarks are keepers. They’re thicker than most, with several layers of construction, and have a little airpod system that pushes air up and onto your foot as you walk. I couldn’t feel it, but the idea is that this helps the air circulate.
These shoes list for around $150, despite being made in China, but part of that premium is the Gore-tex and part of it is the quality materials and real stitching—-not glue. The padding around the ankle and tongue are good and there’s one big bonus factor for those with larger feet who normally have problems with Gore-tex booties making the fit too narrow: these come in a wide version too. They’re on the heavy side and feel very substantial, so wear these as you travel and pack the wispier shoes in your bag.
Get the Clarks GTX Street Lo at Endless.com or PlanetShoes.
See other reviews of travel shoes and items with Gore-tex from our archives.
Posted by Tim L. in Business Gear, General Gear on November 17th, 2011
Thwart Pickpockets with P-Cubed Pants
Valid or not, many travelers worry far more about their valuables when they travel than they do in their home town, packing all sorts of special gadgets and bags designed to keep thieves away from their belongings. Some places are really safer than home in this respect, while others (hello Rome!) are known for separating wallets from pants faster than you can say “mustard trick.”
Getting robbed sucks no matter what, so we often cover theft-proof helpers on this travel gear blog and highlight when travel clothing has good security pockets that provide a layer of protection. All those are child’s play though when compared to these P-Cubed Pick-pocket Proof Pants I’ve been trying out lately.
Technically these are written as “PˆCubed” pants (as in P^3 – “Pick Pocket Proof”). But anything that makes me search for some obscure symbol in my word processing program is not going to keep that designation in the long run. Remove that silliness though and these pants are all business. An incredible amount of thought—from a designer who is obviously a real traveler—has gone into every detail of these.
I first met the head of this company at the Outdoor Retailer show in January and he gave me a full demo of how these pants work. Now normally a “pants demo” is not going to take very long, but this was like a piece of classical music: each time I thought it was over, another wave came. That’s because these pants are not your typical “wicking, with pockets” variations you see on most racks. They are built for hard-core travelers who carry a lot around without being bogged down and who are in dodgy places untouched by tour buses.
What’s in your pocket stays in your pocket
Let’s start with the pockets featured in these photos below because they’re at the core of keeping your valuables safe. Open, they function as regular pockets you can stick your hands into as you’re kicking back in a secure area, the tab buttoned to the back of them. Even then, your phone or money can be in a second hidden pocket inside. When you’re walking through a local market in Jaipur or Delhi, however, you can move the flap over the pocket and zip it up, giving you more layers of protection than even a dedicated robber-wallah can get through.
Beyond those, you’ve got rear pockets that snap closed, nice, but also have a hidden zipper pocket inside for stashing cash or valuables. When you don’t need them for that, the “cubed” pockets expand to hold a guidebook—a quite thick one at that! And then there are side cargo pockets for carrying whatever else you want to have on you. They button closed, so you can put a point-and-shoot camera in them with no worries.
I tried all this and was surprised at how easy it was to be a bag-less traveler when using these. In my pants I had keys, a phone, an iPod, a notebook, cash, credit cards, coins, sunglasses, lip balm, a pen, and a map—with room to spare. If I had really wanted to go nuts, I could have carried a water bottle with them too: the pants come with a bottle carrier that attaches to existing buttons on the pants.
Teflon-coated and tough
But wait, there’s more! These travel pants are treated with Teflon, so they’ll repel stains and a fair bit of water. (Misty rain yes, deluge no.) They’re wrinkle-resistant and so far that’s held up for me after three washings. They look good coming out of a scrunched bag. They are made from serious, thick fabric (75% cotton canvas, 25% nylon) that can’t easily be slashed by a kid with a razor blade. So they’re not as lightweight as pure nylon travel pants, but they’re stronger and more suited for travel in non-tropical climates.
There are belt loops, but also size adjustments that enable you to make them tighter without a belt—handy after you’ve been on the road for six months and have dropped 30 pounds.
All these extras don’t come cheap. You’ll pay more than a Ben Franklin for the Adventure Travel Pants version reviewed here. But these can replace a lot of under-clothing security accessories and they’re built to last you decades of solid use. I feel confident saying that when I’m 70 and fighting off the new generation of urchins in developing countries around the world, I’ll probably still be packing these.
See the full scoop on the P-cubed pants and order them direct at ClothingArts.com. They have some helpful videos there showing how all the features work.
So far they’re a bit hard to find elsewhere online, but they are available at Travelsmith. You can get a more sedate “business traveler” version (minus the cargo pockets) at Magellan’s. Search “pick pocket pants” and take advantage of this deal: Free Shipping for orders over $50.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear on November 10th, 2011
Bug Shield Pants from Columbia Sportswear
Yeah, I know: as I write this review there are poor souls clearing limbs from a recent snowstorm, but since this is a travel gear blog and there are lots of mosquitoes still buzzing around the tropics as you read this, I’m reviewing some more travel pants with built-in insect repellent. (And for what it’s worth, the temperature outside my window in Tampa is 81 degrees Fahrenheit at this very moment.)
Columbia Sportswear products have a lot going for them: they use a lot of technological innovation, they’re trying hard (especially the past few years) to make clothes that look flattering, and they’re usually in the middle of the pack in terms of pricing. They’re also very easy to find, whether that’s in your local sporting goods store or at the usual online outlets. With a fashion-focused timeline, you can also often find their clothing on sale when it’s time to move out the old and bring in the new.
These Bug Shield Travel Pants are at the top of the usual range, with a list price of $75, but check the links at the bottom and you’ll probably find some season-end sales going on. These pants are double-duty too: they do all the usual things and keep the bugs away on top of that. They’re treated with odorless Permethrin, which lasts for 70 washings. You’ll get a lot of use out of them before you hit that level. Besides the mozzies, this Insect Blocker treatment is designed to keep away ticks, ants, flies, chiggers, and no-see-ums.
I wish I’d had these on at the right time when I was in the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico a couple weeks ago. The one day I wore pants that didn’t have any treatment was the day some ants and possibly a few chigger friends decided to munch on my legs and ankles. The rest of the trip I was fine.
I brought three pairs of travel pants on that adventure and all three got soaked at some point, so I was able to see how quickly they dried. This pair did the best job of drying out in that humid climate and of course they are quite lightweight and easy to jam into a bag without taking up much room. My only complaint about the wispy-slick fabric is that it makes these next to impossible to roll up when they get wet. They were not well-suited to crossing streams when the time came. That’s the trade-off sometimes: you give up the cinch strings or buttons that would clasp the bottom—also keeping out more insects—to look more like normal pants when you’re not adventuring.
The weight is kept down by using mesh for the pockets and there are seven of those in all. Two have zippers and three have Velcro. There’s an included nylon matching belt, an idea I like a lot, and unlike on some other pants I’ve tried it can be removed if you want to put on a nicer one for dinner or use it on other pants. There’s elastic in the waistband too, so there’s some give. They come in three inseam lengths.
Otherwise, these are just want you’d expect and want for travels in warm places: wicking, sun-protective, and fast to dry after a washing.
You can get these for women, in a convertible version with zip-off legs, and in a kids’ version.
Check prices on the Columbia Bug Shield Pants at Backcountry.com and Amazon.
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Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on November 3rd, 2011
