Clever new outdoor products
Last week in this column I mentioned gear from the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, a major exhibition in Salt Lake City held this month. I spent three days trekking the trade show floor to see thousands of new products set to debut in 2015.
These six items below, my “Best In Show” picks, stood out as some of the most worthy.
Leatherman for kids
Little ones are not overlooked by Leatherman, which this year made a multitool with a removable knife blade. It’s built for kid-size hands and marketed as a “training tool” that’s also cool enough to inspire confidence and pride. A parent can add the knife blade when a kid is ready. Meantime, the Leap performs a dozen tasks with its pliers, wire-cutter, screwdrivers, small saw, tweezers, and soda bottle opener.
Glowing tents
A string of lights in your tent that power on with the flick of a switch: It’s a pretty simple concept, but one that Big Agnes nailed right on the head with the MtnGlo series. The company added the lights to several tents across categories from lightweight hiking to car camping. The thin, LED strings add little weight and can barely be felt through the fabric of the tent wall.
Twin-gate carabiner
Two independent gates on these climbing carabiners from Grivel add safety and eliminate a need for a locking mechanism. Grivel calls them the safest carabiners ever made. A rope clips easily through the double gates, which snap in different directions, but a rope cannot unclip itself when twisted, a rare but present danger with traditional carabiners.
Chambered pads
Two inflation chambers and an extra comfortable new kind of design that mimics an at-home cushy spring mattress makes these sleeping bag pads from Sea To Summit stand out. One benefit of two inflation chambers? The top and bottom of some pads in the line can be inflated to different pressures, with a hard bottom to cover rocks and roots, and a soft top for comfort.
Zippy dry suit
Equipped with gaskets at the neck and wrists, a dry suit is about as confining as apparel can come. Kokatat adds some relief with its zip-in-two Idol dry suit, which has a zipper around the middle. It sounds like a simple innovation. But the feature should be well-received by boaters who want more comfort and versatility in their cold-water suits.
Speed climb boot
Made for professional mountaineers, the S-Lab X Alp Carbon GTX from Salomon is a new kind of mountain boot. A waterproof upper, lightweight build, and a flexible (and patented) carbon-fiber chassis that adds lateral stability make these modern-day mountaineering boots unique. An integrated gaiter keeps out the snow and ice. You can add crampons when the terrain gets steep.