Posts Tagged GoLite
Walk Like a Gecko: GoLite Flood Lite Sandals
Comfortable, adjustable, and with a great unique sole design, these Flood Lite sandals from GoLite are a great addition for travelers.
GoLite may not be a household name, but if I had to pick one shoe I saw more than any other on the feet of buyers at the last Outdoor Retailer show I attended, it would have to be the GoLite Lime Lite shoes I reviewed last year. I’ve since seem them on the feet of three different travelers in two countries, so I think it’s safe to say that when people buy them, they like them.
I’ve been just as happy with these Flood Lite sandals I’ve been wearing around since the cold weather said goodbye. From the top they’re not all that different from ones you’ve seen from the likes of Teva or Keen. They’ve got adjustable Velcro straps to make them conform to your feet, a comfy footbed, and a cover across the front to keep you from banging your toes on a rock. There are two tabs to grab to help put these on: one for the top of your foot, one behind the heel
The real differentiating feature on these Flood Lites though is the grippy rubber sole. It’s meant to mimic the feet of a gecko, which is kind of cool looking, but it also grips the surface incredibly well. You won’t be climbing the walls like a cute lizard, but you can cross streams or traverse slippery wet rocks without slipping and falling.
These sandals, with leather under your feet and a contoured EVA midsole, are super-comfortable. The stretchy nylon fabric against your feet is soft and dries quickly. These took no time at all to break in and have not produced anything close to a blister, even after 8 hours of walking around, up and down hills. With lots of leather on the top instead of multi-colored fabric, they look nicer than a lot of similar competing sport sandals.
The Flood Lite sandals come in brown, fossil, or black and list for $85. You may find them for a bit less online. There’s a more streamlined women’s version of this sandal called the Stream Lite.
Get the GoLite Flood Lite sandals at Altrec.com or at Amazon.
See more reviews of GoLite products and travel shoes.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear on June 30th, 2011
Magellan’s GoLite Rolling Tote
Fluctuating fuel costs and economic fears have airlines scrounging for dollars at every turn. Travelers pony up big bucks to check their heavy bags (although savvy elite frequent flyer members avoid fees by concentrating travel on one airline) and often pay overweight fees. Some European airlines make it a practice to even weigh carry-on bags charging extra for every pound or forcing them into the hold (a big pet peeve of mine).
I have learned to avoid the hassle by weighing my carryon bag empty to know how much more I can put in, and with Magellan’s GoLite Rolling Tote, I can pack more than other bags. Its lightweight 5 lb 2oz construction consists of a sturdy featherweight soft shell frame and when empty can be lifted with a pinky finger. Even the handle and its base have one metal rod rather than the traditional two to lighten the overall poundage. Campers will love the two backpack straps that keep both hands free. Business travelers like myself can simply tuck them away when not in use.
PracticalTravelGear’s Kara Williams has reviewed these great bags from a mom’s perspective. We hope this business travel perspective will help help on-the-go executives too.
Numerous storage pockets make it convenient for keeping shoes and toiletries separated from dress shirts and expensive electronic devices. When the bag is open, two fabric flaps can zip each side closed to separate items from being wrinkled or touching each other (perfect for dirty clothes). Most bags have some sort of strap that can be buckled to keep things in place, but it does not always prevent things from getting wrinkled the way this GoLite bag does.
The durable wheels can traverse over cobblestone streets and bare the brunt of baggage handlers on regional jets. Two large zippered exterior pockets are perfect for small items or things that I may need to reach in a jiffy.
Green travelers appreciate the recycled nylon material that also does a good job of keeping things dry when the bag gets lightly wet on the tarmac or while waiting for a taxi in the rain.
A lifetime guarantee insures that the bag is a marvelous value, which helps to avoid buying a new bag every other year. It comes in black, red, and green (the latter two make it much easier to spot when the ramp agent brings up all those bags from a regional jet’s belly).
Magellan’s is a reliable travel supplier that knows its stuff. This GoLite rollaboard is one of its best creations to help frequent travelers tackle the rising fees of airlines and their poorly calibrated, greedy scales.
Get the GoLite Rolling Tote at Magellans.com.
Posted by Ramsey in Business Gear, Travel Light on April 25th, 2011
GoLite TraveLite Wheeled Carry-On
We know GoLite Footwear here at Practical Travel Gear, having reviewed a couple pairs of trail shoes over the past year. GoLite, under a different company umbrella, also manufactures a ton of outerwear, activewear, sleeping bags, tents and backpacks, as well as roller bags for travel.
On a recent trip — where I drove by car, not flew by plane — I used the original TraveLite Wheeled Carry-on that weighs an incredibly light 5 lbs. 8 oz. empty. Made from recycled content nylon and polyester, the fabric is indeed super thin — but durable. I actually overpacked this bag — stuffed it full with sweaters during the country’s crazy frigid temperatures last week — and it never felt unwieldy. The bag is a narrow 8 inches deep, by about 13 inches wide and 21 inches tall; packed full (okay, overstuffed) it expanded a bit deeper, but still perfectly appropriate to fit in an overhead bin (the soft-sided material means it really could be squished down a bit).
The bag flips open “book style” to reveal two roomy sections that each zipper shut with thin covers. The front exterior panel features two vertical compartments for stuff you might want to access quickly on a plane (the exterior zippered pockets aren’t quite wide enough for a standard hardcover book, but a smaller paperback would fit). On my road trip, that’s where I stuck all of my last-minute items, chargers, reporter notebooks and the like.
I like the cushioned, T-bar handle and the sturdy wheels. The bag also comes with zip-away backpack straps — which, honestly, I don’t see myself ever using. I’m pretty sure I’d look like a dork making my way through an airport carrying a big bag with wheels on my back. But, I suppose if I had to run somewhere fast while toting this bag — or if I had to make my way over cobblestone sidewalks somewhere — I could get there faster using the bag like a backpack. It can also be carried by hand with a cushioned side handle or top handle.
The GoLite TravelLite Wheeled Carry-On comes in black, pinot (red) and coriander (pretty kelly green) and retails for $175 on the GoLite website or other online sites like Amazon.com. Also see the slightly larger TraveLite 22-inch Wheeled Carry-on with an awesome padded pocket for laptops (exterior compartments zipper horizontally rather than vertically like the one I have). For still bigger bags that are also lightweight, check out the GoLite 25-inch Wheeled Upright or 30-inch Wheeled Duffel.
Get the GoLite TraveLite Wheeled Carry-on at eBags
Related posts:
- Eagle Creek ORV Trunk 22 Carry-on
- Land’s End Flightwise Carry-on Wheeled Duffel Bag
- Tom Bihn Co-Pilot Personal Carry-on Bag
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Posted by Kara in General Gear on February 8th, 2011
Men’s GoLite Timber Lite Hiking Boots
The kids and I are typically chief product reviewers in my household, but every so often my husband gets to check out gear for this blog. That’s the case with these new Men’s GoLite Timber Lite Hiking Boots. He’s worn them hiking around Colorado over the last month or so, and has lots of good things to say about the boots, with a couple of caveats.
First, the boots are extremely lightweight — in his 10.5 size, they only weigh about a pound per pair (15 oz. for size 9, according to marketing materials). He says that just makes hiking more pleasant all around; after all, feeling light on your feet gives you more spring in your step and energy to go further and faster (not good for me, his hiking partner, who is decidedly a slower-paced trekker).
Another key selling point: the fact that the leather boots are waterproof. My husband says these will likely be his everyday boots this winter — ones he’ll wear to work in light snow, and what he’ll pack for any mountain weekend trips we take in the coming months.
A few features contribute to these boots’ comfort: the BareTech Technology means there is no heel lift (husband attests to this) and the asymmetrical upper design works with the natural shape of the foot. With the Soft Against The Ground design, the soft part of the sole is against the ground, absorbing the bumps of the trail, whereas a firm platform between the midsole and footbed acts as a chassis, allowing the foot and body a smooth ride (this literally turns the boot construction upside down). The Precise Fit System provides instant width adjustment for the boot: leave the insole as is for a medium-width foot; attach a pad for a narrow foot; remove a pad for a wide foot. Easy peasy and it allows the user to totally customize the boot for his feet. Very cool.
Now the one problem my husband had with the Timber Lite boots were the metal “lacing hooks” found at the tops of each of the boots. He said they have a slight V-shape, and so when he hooked the laces around the “V’s” they’d sometimes get stuck and not lie properly (if that doesn’t make sense, just understand that lacing the boots all the way up was not easy, verging on frustrating). Further, he found that the rivet in the interior of the boot, on the opposite side of the metal hooks, actually hurt his ankles when he tied the laces all the way up and securely (granted, the man has some bony ankles and should probably be wearing thicker and taller socks with the boots).
To solve the problem of the annoying lace hooks, my husband drilled them out of the boot. Yep, he’s a do-it-yourselfer like that: just went down to the tool room in our basement, made a lot of noise — hopefully while wearing protective eyewear, and returned upstairs with boots he proclaimed “much better.” The drilled-out rivets/hooks simply became ragged-looking eyelets through which he can snugly lace up the boots.
While I don’t necessarily recommend taking a drill bit to new shoes, I do recommend you try on the GoLite Timber Lite boots with the boots full laced and walking around the house or store, before taking them outside and realizing the fit isn’t quite right.
The GoLite TimberLite boots come in Black/Charcoal (pictured at bottom) and Mocha/Grapeleaf (pictured at top) and retail for $130. Find out where GoLite shoes are sold near you via the store locater on the GoLite website. Or find them on websites like PlanetShoes.com or Amazon.com.
Related posts: GoLite Women’s Trail Lite & Men’s Lime Lite.
Posted by Kara in Adventure Gear on October 22nd, 2010
GoLite Women’s Trail Lite Multi-Purpose Shoe
I do a lot of hiking around my Colorado home, and low-cut hiking boots (a.k.a. multi-use trail shoes) always accompany me on my travels when there’s any chance I might be doing some off-road walking or mountain wandering. These GoLite “Trail Lites” are my latest go-to shoe for such excursions, namely because they are so stinkin’ comfortable.
Like the men’s GoLite Lime Lites my colleague Tim reviewed a couple months back, the women’s Trail Lites have this awesome Paw Pad Suspension System outsole (see the rubber lugs/nubs on the bottom of the shoe below ) combined with some “soft against the ground technology,” that totally puts a spring in my step when I’m walking on a gravel road, dirt path or on a sidewalk. Marketing materials explain that the shoe “incorporates a stable platform directly under the foot and suspends it on soft foam that lies between your stablized foot and the ground.”
Indeed, my foot totally feels “suspended” in these shoes; I feel like I’m walking on air. Sounds, cliché — but it’s true. Between the 30+ nubs on the bottom of the shoe that seem to give me some lift and this cool technology, I truly feel like I should be bouncing around the trail, not walking. The shoe actually energizes me. I love that!
The shoes come with different inserts that can help you adjust the width of the shoe for an ideal fit, but I always pull out the manufacturer’s insoles and replace with my soft orthodics, so I can’t speak to how these work. The shoes nearly fit perfectly right out of the box: on day two,t I got a blister on one heel, but I think it was because I was wearing cotton socks with them. Since that day — about two months ago — I’ve worn a thin wool or other non-cotton sock with the shoes and have had no problem (whew — I was a little worried when the blister appeared).
Regarding style, I like the look of this shoe, but I don’t love it. I prefer the more rugged “hiking” style of my Teva Dalea eVents, actually; these Go Lites look a bit more like a “walking shoe,” especially when they are on my feet. I’m reminded of a style I might see at the Naturalizer store, rather than in an outdoors store. If I could combine the look of the Teva shoe with the feel of my Go Lite, that would be my perfect off-road, multi-use shoe. Alas, my Tevas are a bit stiff and these Go Lites aren’t as hip as I think they could be.
That said, I’ve worn the Trail Lites in desert sand and backyard mud — in rain and in late-spring snow — over the last couple months. They’ve held up well in all sorts of conditions, and I’ll continue to put them to the test this summer, for sure.
The women’s Trail Lite retails for $99.95; order online at Amazon.com.
Posted by Kara in Adventure Gear on May 21st, 2010
