Posts Tagged waterproof
Mountain Hardwear Zeus Waterproof Winter Gloves
Want some winter snow gloves that will take anything you throw at them? Waterproof gloves that stay dry on the outside but wick away any moisture on the inside?
These Zeus gloves from Mountain Hardwear perform well on those standards, but are flexible enough to do more than hold onto a ski pole. They’re outfitted with OutDry, which is one of the many breathable waterproof membranes out there competing with traditional market leader Gore-tex. In my wholly unscientific but real-world tests, the combination of OutDry and the waterproofing coating on the fabric did a great job. My tests are putting my gloved hands underwater for several minutes and making sure no water gets through, then putting a wet hand inside the glove and seeing if it dries eventually from the wicking properties. On both counts, these Zeus gloves from Mountain Hardwear passed with an A, so you can be sure they’ll come through for you on the slopes or in Iceland in the winter.
I wore these around in windy weather in the mountains last February (before they hit the market), then recently in Utah during a slushy snowstorm. Snowball throwing and all.
These gloves are bulletproof tough, with Kevlar stitching, Cordura nylon fabric, and goatskin leather at the stress points. They come down far enough that snow won’t get in past the cuff. They have loops to help pull them on and clips to hold them together for carrying. Despite the toughness and fleece lining, they come in at 7.5 ounces and smash down pretty flat, so they’re no burden to pack.
The Zeus gloves come in black or red and list for $95 at the Mountain Hardwear site. You can also check prices with these direct links to Backcountry.com, Altrec, or Moosejaw. No, that’s not cheap by any means, but these are guaranteed for life against defects and they could last you a lifetime—or at least enough winters that you’ll get tired of looking at them.
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Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear on February 1st, 2012
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
Eagle Creek Conor Flashpoint Waterproof Daypack
Most daypacks are designed to withstand a little mist or drizzle, but that may not be sufficient if you’re a flashpacker with a couple thousand dollars worth of gear on your back. In this digital age, that’s not an unusual premise: add up the value of a camera, smart phone, and netbook or iPad alone—all items that do not take kindly to getting wet.
Eagle Creek has a whole line of rugged backpacks meant for being your weatherproof bag for laptops and more. They’ve got the Checkpoint Friendly fold-out laptop section for airport security scans, plus lots of gadget pockets for all the little gear items you have along. With this Conor Flashpoint one I was able to stuff in everything I needed for the day, including my super-zoom camera in its case, plus a water bottle on the side in the carrier.
I left my laptop in the van for this hike to a waterfall in Chiapas, Mexico a couple weeks ago, but I did have a camera, a phone, and a notebook in there when this photo was taken. It was drizzling rain there already, but then when we got close to the Cascada El Chiflón falls, we went from being a little wet to absolutely drenched, just from the spray coming off the falls. (They were so powerful, after days of rain, that a one-ton or so boulder was swirling around in the surf below us.)
This backpack came through that daunting test just fine. The inside stayed dry. The Conor Flashpoint is billed as “weather resistant,” not waterproof, but it’s got the kind of treated material you see in packs from North Face and Brooks-Range that are meant to keep out the elements in climbing expeditions. The seams and zippers are sealed, so the water stays on the outside until you open the bag up. I can’t testify that it’ll keep your things dry forever, but in my hour in the elements it was fine. Under normal conditions, you would probably find shelter or an umbrella by then.
This daypack has all the features you would expect in terms of ample pockets for gadgets and pens, several compartments, and side pockets. The mesh backing will keep you from getting an overly sweaty back and there’s a sternum strap if you’re carrying a lot of weight. I found it to be quite comfortable without that thanks to the ergonomically curved shoulder straps. This bag isn’t all that large—28 liters/1700 cubic inches—but it holds a laptop up to 17 inches. It weighs in at just over two pounds.
Other nice touches include zippers that can lock and a handle on the top for picking it up without slinging it over your shoulder. There’s also a flap on the back that allows you to hook it onto a rolling suitcase handle as you move through airports.
See more at the Eagle Creek laptop solutions page, where you will also find their waterproof Cicada packs that have an extra flap of protection, zipping out like wings. The Eagle Creek Conor Flashpoint pack lists for $145 and comes with a lifetime warranty. It’s only available in black. Check prices online at Magellan’s, Altrec, or Amazon.
See more Eagle Creek gear reviews and other daypack reviews.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, Business Gear, General Gear on November 2nd, 2011
Rockport Zenacity Unique Waterproof Shoes
When the walking shoe company Rockport sent me a pair of their bold-looking Zenacity shoes and told me they were Gore-tex waterproof, I don’t think they expected me to drag them through the mud and muck for four hours. But hey, that’s how we roll here at Practical Travel Gear.
So the photo above is how they looked through most of the hike through the jungle in Chiapas, where days of solid rain had turned the trail into a big mess and the streams were lapping over the footbridges. (Below you can see a picture of what these fine shoes look like when not subjected so heavily to the elements.)
Until the water got too high at one point and sloshed inside, these lightweight Zenacity shoes were performing great. My socks stayed dry the whole time and my feet stayed cool. These being Rockports, they were quite comfortable for all-day wear. We review a lot of travel shoes here, but I haven’t seen any that look quite like these and I enjoyed wearing something around that stood out in a sea of sneakers and hiking boots from the others in my group.
The usual Gore-tex properties apply here: waterproof on the outside, but sweat molecules can escape from the inside. Adidas is also in the mix on these, with their technology built into the cushioning. They were using an old typewriter with a sticky caps lock button apparently to come up with adiPRENE, geoFIT, and truWALK names to brand the various contributions. It’s basically shock absorption, cushioning around the edge, and full-range motion enabling in your stride. Silly names aside, these are very comfortable shoes straight out of the box. No wide size though—only regular—but they’re not very narrow.
Like Superman faced with kryptonite though, these shoes lost their powers when they got wet inside. The inserts fell apart and both they and the shoes themselves literally took days to dry in humid San Cristobal de las Casas. They were fine after drying and I was going to stick my own orthodics in to replace the inserts anyway eventually, so no biggie. But just be advised: these are meant more for a stroll down sidewalks in the rain than they are for rough conditions. I should have known that: they’re too pretty for the jungle.
If you use them in normal travel conditions instead of extreme ones, these should be great shoes for the long haul. If they hadn’t gotten wet inside, all would have been fine and I plan to keep using them on trips where the walks will be more sedate. They come in three colors and all of them look good. There are also two modifications of this Zenacity design, but I like this “molded” one the best.
The Rockport Zenacity molded shoes with Gore-tex don’t come cheap. They list for $160 and for now anyway, they’re not discounted anywhere that I can see. You can find them in department stores like Dillard’s and on the Rockport site, but follow this link to search Rockport Zenacity prices online
See more travel shoes reviews from this gear blog.
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Travel Light on October 27th, 2011
Viper Trail Ultra Shoe From Hi-Tec
We review a lot of travel shoes on this gear blog because shoes are the things that can make or break your “packing light” success. They can turn a trip easily done with a carry-on into a trip that requires a bag you have to check.
If you’re going to do some outdoor adventures on your trip though or you are hitting the road for months on end, you need some serious hiking shoes, ones with thick soles that will enable you to take on boulders, roots, cobblestones, and rainy days with ease. Like these Viper Trail Ultra WPI low hiking shoes from Hi-Tec.
I have fond memories of Hi-Tec because when I was an English as a Second Language teacher for a year in South Korea in the late 1990s, Hi-Tec hiking boots were the easiest to get because they were made there. I bought a pair soon after arrival and used them to scale multiple mountains up and down the peninsula. (Many Korean men would do these hikes in dress shoes, drunk on soju as they came back down the mountain, but that’s a story for another time…)
The company has now been joined by a bazillion others fighting for shoe display space at retailers, but they’re still going strong and making great shoes for the outdoors. I’ve been wearing these Viper Trail Ultras regularly since January and they have performed quite well. They’re super rugged, with a Vibram sole that hasn’t worn down at all despite plenty of time on sidewalks, and a rubber toe guard that has come in handy on uneven surfaces.
Breathable, Waterproof, Rugged
They have breathed well in 90-degree heat and although I only got to test the waterproofing once, my feet stayed dry in the rain. Hi-Tec uses its own proprietary waterproofing technology rather than one of the brand name ones duking it out. Instead of the typical membrane booty that can end up making your foot feel restricted, their shoes use ion-mask technology, which is sprayed on in a sealed vacuum chamber in molecular-sized droplets. (Follow that link if you want to see a demo.) Soon it’ll be rainy season where I live and these will be my shoes for downpours and puddles.
I like the looped lacing system, the thick tongue that stays in place, and the solid supportive footbed that absorbs all the pounding. The little loop on the back is handy when pulling them on.
These shoes aren’t light and they don’t squish down small when you pack, so you’ll have to make some room or wear them on your travel days. When you’re spending a lot of time hiking around or getting caught in the rain, however, you’ll be very glad you brought serious shoes for conditions that would shred more wimpy contenders.
The Viper Trail Ultra shoes come in two color combos and list for $105, which is in line or below many competing models. They’re often on sale though, so check prices and get them at Amazon or at Sierra Trading Post.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear on May 4th, 2011
