Posts Tagged green gear
Brunton Restore Portable Solar Power Supply
If we’re not all charging up our music players and cell phones with solar power, it’s not for lack of trying on the part of device manufacturers. Some of these solar devices actually work quite well too, like this portable power supply from Brunton.
The first idea here is you can charge it up at home or in a car ahead of time, like the iGo Power Extender and CallPod Fueltank Charger we reviewed before. Then you take it with you on a trip, using it to charge up your devices when you can’t get near an outlet, like on a plane or bus.
This goes a big step further though. The second idea is to use it as a solar charger when you are on a long camping or mountaineering trip off the grid. With the Brunton Restore and ample sunlight, you can restore your devices to full power. If it’s fully charged, it’ll reload your iPod or regular cell phone two or three times. It’ll fully charge a smart phone or gaming device one or two times. It has enough juice to recharge four AA batteries and can recharge your Bluetooth headset seven to eight times. For an iPod, one hour of sun equals six or seven hours of music—that is far superior to what most other competitors promise.
I left the unit in the sun for seven hours and it was all charged up—I could tell from the handy 4-light LED system. I was then able to fully charge my iPod twice and a half-empty phone and still have juice left in it.
This Brunton version is a bit heavier than some others I’ve tried, at 7.2 ounces, but it’s rubberized and really solid. It feels like it could be dropped off a roof and survive. It’s water resistant too. It flips open too and exposes two rather large panels, making it easier to operate (especially with one hand) than the three-panel Solio charger I’ve tried before.
There’s a handy design to this whereby you can plug in a USB cord to charge up anything attached to that, or you can pull out the male USB plug and insert it into the device. Or pull out the other end of the cable instead and it goes into a mini-USB slot like you see on Google phones and the SlotPlayer for example. There’s an adapter for micro USB as well, which other devices use. So basically you’re okay charging up any music player, communication device or camera, provided it uses some version of USB.
“But Tim, my damned Nokia phone and my damned Samsung phone need different adapters than these!” Well, there’s the biggest drawback with this. Eventually we’ll get to a happy place where every device shares the same standard charger setup, but until that time you have to keep fooling with tips and adapters. Brunton doesn’t offer any help in that department, so if your device doesn’t come with some kind of USB charger, you’re SOL unless you can find some adapter on eBay that will do the trick. For Apple devices, you’ll have to bring along the USB cord to connect the device to a USB port on the charger.
The Restore retails for around $90, but the packaging says it’ll give you the output equivalent of 1,372 AA batteries. You can use this charger 500 times before the internal battery will wear out, which is probably plenty for a lifetime unless you’re a hermit moving to Death Valley. If you’ll be in the wilderness or you’re just a backpacker who will be in a place where sunshine is far more prevalent than reliable electricity, this is a solid solar charger that really works.
Get the Brunton Restore Portable Power Device at REI.com
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, General Gear on March 4th, 2010
Beyond Coastal Sun Care – Sunscreen, Lip Balm, Face Screen, Moisturizer
I avoid using sunblock that a) smells like a pina colada, b) washes off too quickly while swimming or c) dries my skin out. Beyond Coastal sun care products fit the bill as far as my “don’t” criteria go. In fact, Beyond Coastal sunscreen, lip balm, face screen and moisturizer are chock full of good stuff: natural ingredients like aloe vera, jojoba oil, cocoa butter, safflower oil, green tea and Vitamins A, C & E. And there’s none of the bad stuff: products are fragrance free, petroleum-oil free, paraben free and they’re made with no harsh, drying chemicals.
Another big bonus for folks who do a lot of ocean swimming on their vacations: Beyond Coastal natural formulas won’t harm marine environments. And the sunscreens come in 2.5-oz containers for carry-on travel.
I tested Beyond Coastal products during January trips to Jamaica and Lake Tahoe. Here’s the skinny (retail prices are from GearPipline.com, for the 2.5 oz variety, where applicable):
Daily Active Sunscreen: SPF 15 I used this version of the sunscreen — on my face and body — for walking around town. Like its marketing message promises, the silky lotion goes on smooth and absorbs quickly. It protects against both UVA and UVB rays, just as all the other Beyond Coastal sunblocks do. I like it. $9.99
Active Sunscreen: SPF 30 This is what I used on my face for skiing and snowshoeing on sunny days, and what I put on before playing in the ocean. With the higher SPF, it obviously protects you longer before having to re-apply. Like its sister SPF 15 lotion, it’s non-greasy and fragrance free. $9.99
Natural Sunscreen: SPF 30 My husband rubbed this sunscreen all over his face, arms and chest one day while were in the Caribbean. When I saw him afterward he got a, “Dude. “What’s with the ghost look?” This formula contains zinc oxide and titanium dioxides (the products above do not), so it leaves behind a white sheen unless you rub it in really, really good. It’s the least favorite Beyond Coastal product I sampled (since I’m pale enough as it is), but I’d wear it on a snorkeling trip since the natural ingredients are safe for reefs and marine life. I’d also use this sunscreen on my kids — they don’t care what they look like, and I appreciate the natural ingredients on their sensitive skin. (There is a Beyond Coastal made-for-kids product with extra cocoa butter and shea butter.) $11.99
Natural Lip & Face Screen: SPF 30. This solid product comes in a handy little 1-oz tin. Its active ingredients are also zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, and it’s peach-white color and waxy consistency don’t translate very well on the face, since it leaves that white residue behind. I’d only use this product if I were outside skiing under harsh conditions (lots of wind) or planning a day-long excursion on the water and wanted extra protection for my nose, lips and ears. $9.99
Natural Lip Balm: SPF 15. I love, love, love this lip balm. It does have some zinc oxide in it (but no whiteness on my lips!) for natural protection, but it also has a citrus flavor that makes it good enough to eat. The mix of oils, butters and even honey in this product create a consistency super smooth and soothing; I just feel like my lips are uber-protected when I smear this stuff on them. It comes in an oversized .25-oz tube ($4.99), as well as a standard .15-oz tube ($2.99).
After-Sun Moisturizer. I find most tiny-bottle, freebie hotel moisturizers are too runny and they smell too perfumey, so I always pack my own. This product has all sorts of awesome hydrating and nourishing ingredients: Vitamin B5, algae extract, safflower oil and aloe, among others. And it’s thick, but not too thick. Yummy stuff. $9.99
Search this store locator to find Beyond Coastal products in your local neck of the woods. Also check out Backcountry.com, where different combinations of ideal-for-travel trial-size kits are sold.
Related posts:
Posted by Kara in Travel Light on February 12th, 2010
Stuff Sack Eco-friendly Items From ChicoBag
Sometimes we get our hands on something that is downright perfect for our reviews on Practical Travel Gear: lightweight, easy to pack, eco-friendly, useful, and inexpensive. What else can you ask?
So naturally I was all over the items from ChicoBag: various kinds of bags that weigh almost nothing, pack up small, and use recycled materials. The company started out with the ever-more-common (thankfully) reusable shopping bag that packs down into its own pouch, but they have taken it many steps further.
This past week I’ve been trying out a cool messenger bag that slings over my shoulder when I’m riding a bike or walking to the store. It packs into a pouch (with room to spare) that’s a good bit smaller than a mass-market paperback book. It has a carabiner on the side for hanging it. When you unfold it, however, it’s a fully functional messenger bag with a strong and roomy interior, a front zipper pocket, and two stretchy side pockets that will each hold a water bottle. The strap has two adjustment buckles.
It proved itself to be quite strong in my tests and it’s made from durable recycled PET ripstop fabric. Fabric you can wash in a machine I might add. That’s just the start though on an item that is comprised of 80% recycled materials. We’re talking fabric and webbing that are 100% Recycled PET, airmesh and strap liner that are 100% Recycled Polypropylene, a carabiner that’s 97% Recycled Aluminum, and hardware that is 100% recycled nylon. (Apparently the zippers and flap magnets are the weak point making up the lost 20% in the reuse chain.)
I haven’t traveled anywhere with this bag yet, but it’s coming with me for sure on my next trip. For anyone who doesn’t normally take their laptop outside of the hotel room, this would be a great bag to bring along for daily sightseeing. When you’re heading home, just pack it up in its pouch again. It only adds a mere 5.6 ounces to your load and can even fit in a little bike seat pocket.
ChicoBag makes lots of other cool items too in a variety of fun colors. I tried out a water bottle carrier made of the same materials and packing up into a much smaller integrated pouch. Later this year the water carriers will go on sale at some retailers packed together with a Kleen Kanteen water bottle, around $20 combined. The carrier has a pouch for money or ID and another for “pen, chopsticks, and lip balm.” Chopsticks? Well, okay, if you say so.
All of their products come with a one-year warranty and are attractively priced, like only $18 for the messenger bag and $20 for the daypack pictured here. Most of their fun recycled material shopping bags are $5-$10.
Who says you have to be rich or inconvenienced to pack light and lower your impact on the planet? See all the available styles, colors, and prints at ChicoBag.com.
You can also find their products in stock at REI and Amazon.
Related reviews:
UltraSil Daypack
Flip and Tumble Bag
Tom Bihn Packable Daypack
RuMe Reusable Bags
Posted by Tim in General Gear, Kids and Family, Travel Light on February 3rd, 2010
Live From the Outdoor Retailers Show
Recently John brought you the latest in electronics and gadgets from CES. Now I’m wallowing in a sea of fleece and waterproofing to bring you the latest in travel gear from the Outdoor Retailers Winter Show. Here the gear manufacturers strut their stuff and the retail buyers decide what’s worth stocking. Fortunately, they also allow a few of us writers and bloggers in the doors to report on what’s new and notable.
Hats from Mountain Hardware
My first impression was, “What recession?” While this industry has felt some pain, overall the likes of Keen, Patagonia, Columbia, Teva, Kelty, and Mountain Hardware are looking amazingly healthy. It makes sense when you think about it: camping and hiking are still pretty cheap recreation options compared to a lot of other things a couple or family could spend their money on.
This industry has some problems though, which were outlined in no uncertain terms in a kick-off breakfast I attended. To paraphrase, the majority of people who frequently enjoy the outdoors are white, male, and relatively well-off. Women are gaining, minorities are going from next to nothing to something, but overall there’s a lot of work to do to make the outdoors look anything like the demographics you find in American cities. The good news is, lots of really dedicated foundations and organizations are doing great work in getting kids off the asphalt and into nature. Let’s hope they keep the momentum going.
In terms of products, I’m super-encouraged by what I am seeing here. There seems to be a serious movement toward the principles we espouse here on a weekly basis. Products are being touted as affordable, multi-functional, and durable. Instead of ever-more-specialized expensive niche items, I’m seeing a shift back to items that really pull their weight and can do more than one thing. In other words, Practical Travel Gear. Everything is getting lighter, more eco-friendly, and more useful to the average traveler, which is a beautiful thing.
Sure, there are still $800 jackets, $500 sunglasses, and skis that cost more than most people make in a month, but those products are increasingly in the minority. It’s all about you getting your money’s worth. That doesn’t mean everything is manufactured in China with crappy materials and shoddy workmanship: a much larger number of products than I expected are being produced in the U.S. or Europe. But everyone is keenly aware that you need to feel good about what you’ve paid for that item for years on end. On that score, things are looking very bright.
New Camelback Water Bottles
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on January 22nd, 2010
One Serious Outdoor Watch – Pathfinder PAW2000
It’s not often here on Practical Travel Gear that we review a watch that sells for more than $250. But here’s something even more strange: I was wearing this on an airplane when I saw it on the cover of something I usually laugh about—the SkyMall catalog!
I’m not sure what that says exactly, but I’ll chalk it up to the fact that this Casio Pathfinder PAW2000 watch has an incredible amount of gadgetry built in. It’ll tell you which direction you’re going, read the temperature, tell you how high you’ve climbed, give you the barometric pressure, time your ascent, give you a heads up on when sunrise will be, wake you up in the morning, and oh yeah—tell you the exact time and date in multiple spots around the globe. All well and good, but it also does all this while recharging on solar power and being water resistant to 100 meters.
“Holy crap,” I thought, “this is going to be a royal pain in the rear to use.” That’s my usual reaction to digital watches with lots of functions and multiple displays. I usually get so frustrated with them that I end up gravitating back to a plain analog watch with one button and a dial. The hassle is not worth it.
Fortunately, I figured this one out without taking a semester to study the manual. It’s still a sizable manual, don’t get me wrong, but this watch feels like it was designed with the input of real users rather than just a team of engineering geeks. For one thing, the buttons are marked by what they do. To get altitude you just press the “ALT” button. To work the compass you press “COMP” and to light up the display you hit “LIGHT.” No, it won’t make Steve Jobs drool because of its sleek coolness, but it’s functional and clear instead of baffling. And here’s the cool part: to get back to just a regular time and date display, you can hit the MODE button or…just wait. After two minutes of no button pushing, it returns to the default. No fumbling around just to see what time it is.
Despite all this, it’s not very clunky though. It weighs noticeably less than some of my analog watches and is significantly thinner than many other sports watches. It’s comfortable to wear, though I have to say the resin strap doesn’t feel as durable as the watch itself.
But what about all those fancy functions. Do they work?
Well, I took this on a trip to the mountainous Coffee Triangle region of Colombia and since I had no idea where I was or where I was going half the time, I was able to try the Pathfinder PAW2000 out across the board. In my tests, the altimeter worked especially well, being within 10 meters of the official measurement in spots where that was known. The electronic compass also was accurate enough that it could have gotten me out of a jam if I got lost in the woods. I can’t read a barometer in the best of circumstances, but I could tell it was adjusting to changes in the pressure and cloud cover. If you do find the readings on any of these things are off, you can make some manual tweaks to adjust. The solar recharging, alarms, stopwatch, and atomic time updates were flawless.
The one clear failure wass the temperature gauge. It wasn’t even in the ballpark, telling me it was 95 degrees F out when it was really 65. I went back to the instructions to see what was wrong and found the following advice. “Remove the watch from your wrist, place it on a well ventilated surface out of direct sunlight, and wipe all moisture from the case. It takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes for the case of the watch to reach the actual surrounding temperature.” Sure, that would be fine, if only it wasn’t…a wristwatch! Maybe a detachable thermometer next time?
But hey, with a list of features this long, one minor dud isn’t a real setback. Chances are you don’t often need a watch to tell you whether it’s freezing outside or balmy. Everything else comes through strong and this is the first multi-function electronic watch I actually want to keep wearing.
See the official Casio Pathfinder watch site.
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear on December 10th, 2009
