Shortest review ever: Broke while installing – hell I was just seeing if the strap would make it over the butt of my halibut rod. Better to break in the grass than on the ocean though, would suck to lose that setup.
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Sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time saying the right thing. Right after I posted Gear Lust: Waterproof Cameras I was contacted by Staples and told they wanted to send me a ‘ruggedized’ camera for some real-world testing. “Word?” I explained to them that I’m not a photographer like Tim Zimmerman and thus won’t be able (nor want) to do an in-depth, nerd out to pixels under a microscope dpreview-esque review, to which they replied they were OK with and wanted the Joe the Plumber version anyways. The deal was signed in blood and a week later an Olympus TG-820 shows up at my doorstep.
 Blue TG-820 in all her beauty FIRST IMPRESSION DAMN, this thing is heavier than I expected. Nice looking piece of kit, between the brushed and anodized blue case and large screen on back. TESTING CRITERIA As most consumers looking at this camera will likely be using it as a phonecam replacement my testing criteria was simple: bring the camera with me for a week and snap photos using it when I’d usually reach for the iPhone (or in places I wouldn’t want to bring the iPhone). Genius, right? Took me hours to come up with that. THE PHOTOS All shots are straight out of the camera, no sharpening or other post-processing. The first shot I took as I was in the backyard was a quick P&S of the dog and was impressed with the output. After a few more shots in full light I was stoked. The TG-820 definitely takes great photos in fully lit situations, and zooming in on Jasmine’s schnozzle you can see it captures a decent amount of detail.  I’ll see that rope again…  Cheers at Oregon Brew Fest. The light was a bit odd in the tent and I’d say the camera captured it relatively accurately.
 The ladies getting wet  Tomato plant shot using macro mode  Zoom (but not full size crop) VIDEO Shooting video with the TG-820 is easy, just push the orange button on the back and you’re recording. When the focus nails it the video quality is good enough for the web (aka 99.99% of all uses this camera will see), but the focus does tend to wander a bit in video mode. Also the camera does pick up quite a bit of camera noise and hand holding noise, most likely due to the microphone placement. I found that some of the vids I shot were unlistenable due to the sound of my hand holding it scraping against the mic area. Like with old school DV cams can probably just put a band-aid over it to ‘soften’ the noise it picks up. The vid below is just a quick dunk in the Pacific to give an idea of the output.
Kelp Vid from Justin H on Vimeo.  No, this is not a failed attempt at a fake tilt-shift image TAP CONTROL SUMMARY POSITIVES: NEGATIVES: I’d like to thank Staples for giving me the camera post-review. Siiiiiick. Convinced the world’s slowest mountain biker that since I shuttle us to all our rides that she should use our REI F&F coupon to pick up bike racks for the roof of the blackhawk. Hate Thule with a passion after they refused to honor their warranty on a faulty product years ago (in fact they actually accused me of lying about ever having the surfboard I said I lost since I had no receipt for it….apparently filing a report with the state patrol isn’t enough…), and the Yakima stuff looks nice but the Rockymounts (out of Boulder, CO) caught my circa-1997 Honda Civic pimping eye with their color selections.
It checked most of my needs out of the box – works with standard Yakima racks, no adapter needed for disc brakes, ability to lock, same price or cheaper than the competitors. Two things that aren’t a current issue for me but should be noted 1) Rockymounts list a max weight of 35 lbs per channel (that’s low for you downhillers) and 2) for thru axle you have to purchase a separate adapter that costs about what I paid for the racks! Lame. Anyways, order placed, two days later arrived at our local store, installed. First impression out of the box: Siiiiiiick! Nice powdercoated finish, wheel channel feels substantial. Wheel channels look short, but they aren’t (fit my 21″ frame 29er no probs). Would prefer rear wheel strap to be ratcheting as that just seems more secure (even though I know it’s not). Install process: Easy. Three screws (they include the allen key you’ll need for two of ‘em), two key insertions, done. The only issue I ran into during the process was one of the QR levers wouldn’t unlock. Pinged them via the twitters and they said to call them and they’d walk me through the removal and reinsertion process. They walked me through it, didn’t work the first time, I played with it for a bit and got ‘er. Installed impression: Looks sick. Very low profile. The little detail of powdercoated color really makes the rack and will help me find my generic Portland vehicle (Subaru wagon) from the rest of the generic Portland vehicles in the parking lot. Seems odd that the rack only locks to the crossbars in the front, with the rear being a hand tightened wing nut, though maybe they all do that? In the end one lock should be more than enough though.  Nice rack Final first impression: Thus far have only used the rack once to transport my bike to a ride. Loading/unloading is the same process as any other fork mount rack and easy unless you’re a midget. Gets to be a little difficult getting a perfect tight fit on the dropouts due to the room you have to work with to spin the plastic handle then trying to close it, but it’s a minor inconvenience. When the bike is locked on the rack it seems like there’s more side-to-side play in the fork mount than I’d expect (see shaky video above), though maybe it’s like buildings in quake zones and they are built to sway to dissipate energy? Also noticed a lot of creaks and moans coming from the rear attachment area when driving, I’m hoping that goes away with time and it’s just the parts settling in. Time will tell, and will have an updated full review once I’ve had more time to use everything. Rockymounts not available at your local shop? Check out the selection at REI and backcountry.com. (This review is only snow/outdoors related in that it will keep me from riding the next few days) Sharper than Charlie Sheen’s wit. They cut garlic lightning quick.
Lightsaber sharp. I don’t mean that in a ‘cut your dead tauntaun guts/smells bad inside’ way
I’m talking more like Darth Vader to your Obi-Wan
Kinda like Obi’s robe when he got cut down, no?  my finger went from girl to woman last night Injured reserve for a week or two
Yup, pulled the ultimate bonehead move last night, turned my finger into a flip top. Hopefully 10 piece knife set and 10 digits is just a coincidence. Ruined my night of watching free fights with some good new beer, and while Obama might be paying for my gas and mortgage he didn’t pay for my stitches and tetanus shot. Perspective though, it’s only 10 days assuming the piece grows back on, if not I guess it’s skin graft. That’ll be cheap. Word.  Mud = fun. Cutting finger tip off = not fun I’ve been refining and updating my gear lately (which is a bit odd given the lack of income), and recently acquired both the ever popular Patagonia Down Sweater and the Mountain Hardwear Nitrous down sweater. Let’s get these two into the ring and see who is left standing! Quick overview: Current champ: Patagonia Down Sweater: Challenger: Mountain Hardwear Nitrous Weigh in: Round 1: Place of manufacture Round 2: Features Final round: Fit Final score: As everyone has seen both of these items I’ll just throw a couple quick unscientific pics up highlighting the sizing (sorry can’t try ‘em on and shoot a photo for fit comparisons as I broke my tripod) differences. Note that both are size large.  Extra body width on Patagonia v. Mountain Hardwear  A little extra length in the sleeves on the Nitrous  A little extra body length is nice when you're built like an orangutan
UPDATE 10/14/11: As this post is still getting traffic but is from an old sale I put a gear finder search box up on the top right rail to help you find any items on sale. Just go up there, type in what you’re looking for and click search and a list of items and prices matching your criteria will show up. Should help you quickly find what you want at the best possible price!
2/20/11: Threw together this (admittedly ugly) widget to help you quickly/easily find either of the two down sweaters on sale. Figure the prices were changing so much was hard for me to keep up with single links. Note that the colors shown are just samples and that they will likely have a bunch more in stock. Patagonia Down Sweater Mountain Hardwear Nitrous
Been doing some serious gear whoring the past week or so as biz locally was going good for a bit. Was. Ahh well, at least I’ve got some new gear to show for it. First up, the Stoic Bombshell jacket. Stoic is the new name for the house brand gear from backcountry.com, and from what I can tell thus far this stuff is a serious bargain. As I just received my jacket a few days ago I can’t give it a full review, but as of right now my impressions are that even at full price this stuff is worth it (and this coming from a guy that can’t recall the last time he bought ANYTHING full price). The marketing department had this to say:
 Waterproof zipper close up, with wide angle lens shadow thrown in for ambiance  Wings spread  Gaping pit zips  Mesh lined pocket and headphone port  Left internal pocket detail  Removable powder skirt with attachment zipper and snaps  You can call me dirty and then zip off your skirt  Seriously well thought out jacket. Wrist cuffs with small stretch panels. Let me know if you have any questions on the jacket, want to see some additional angles/close ups, or if there’s anything in particular you want me to pay attention to while I test it out. UPDATE: It’s been awhile since I’ve done any gear reviews. Between a move back to the Pacific Northwest, working on getting a startup off the ground and enjoying the local beer scene I haven’t been outdoors as much as I’d like outside of daytrips v. last summer when I spent every weekend somewhere in the Sierra. So, first up in a list of long overdue reviews is this review of the Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 bag.  Stock photo from Mountainhardwear.com Overview A few other details (and when it comes to bags the devil really is in the details) of the Phantom 32 that may get missed when glancing the racks at your local retailer are: • Tight 5″ baffle spacing creates optimal loft Build Performance thus far  Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 with Sigg bottle for size comparison  Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 with Sigg bottle Another hesitation I had when deciding on this bag was the fact that I knew I’d be eventually relocating to the Pacific Northwet, and down and rain don’t typically play well together. I actually slept under only a small tarp (rainfly from a Hennessy Hammock I couldn’t setup due to lack of strong trees…) in a downpour and while the outside of the bag was damp due to condensation from my breath and the wind driving the rain under the tarp the DWR kept the bag from soaking through – though it’s not something you’d want to do regularly, and especially not if you were expecting multiple days of rain with no chance to dry your gear if it did soak through. Overall the bag has performed as expected, though I’ve yet to experience any nights near it’s temperature rating. The only issue I’ve got with the bag thus far is the zipper. For some reason the damn thing doesn’t want to let me out of the bag half the time, and the anti-snag panel doesn’t live up to it’s name. I’d gladly take another ounce of pack weight if it meant I’d get some stiffer material along the zipper to keep it from snagging the shell fabric as I’m worried that one day the snag is going to result in a tear. The shell fabric is wispy enough that you can hold it up to a bright light and essentially see through it.  Got this zipper snag when taking the bag out and unzipping it. Seems like a frequent occurence with this bag. That being said, if you’re looking for a well made, lightweight bag that stuffs down to the size of a Nalgene bottle that regularly goes on sale for under $225 I’d definitely recommend taking a look at the Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32. If you can’t find it locally you can pick up the Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 online at the usual suspects. Threw together the little widget below to hopefully help you find it on sale quickly. In an odd stroke of timing I was talking about wanting to try the Mountain Hardwear Koa 55 early last week. It really seems like a good mix of light (though not ultralight by any stretch) and feature filled. Fast forward to Friday and I discovered MH was doing their semi-annual warehouse sale, which also allows mere mortals such as myself to shop their employee store. As I’m a dedicated blogger I decided I should sacrifice some of my hard earned money to buy some new gear to review (read as: it was blowing 35+ at the coast so surfing/kayaking didn’t sound like much fun) for everyone. So, as I’m in the process of packing/moving and won’t be able to take the pack out for at least two weeks I wanted to post some pics up for anyone else considering the pack. Seems like there was a bit of hype surrounding this pack in all the buyer’s guides this year, but I haven’t been able to find much in the way of real-world images or reviews.  Mountain Hardwear Koa 55  Main pocket on Koa 55, with rolltop (think: drybag) closure  Small external pocket with key loop  Side access (on both sides) to main pocket  Stowaway mesh helmet carrier  Bottom access to pack. Yes, there are a lot of zippers on the pack.  Mesh backpanel. Most stoked for this as my old Gregory is WARM  A friendly little LNT reminder That’s all for now. As always, if there’s a question about the product, or an angle you want photographed, lemme know. I apologize for the pics being a bit blown out, don’t have the time to edit the levels/curves on ‘em. If you can’t find it locally, the Mountain Hardwear Koa 55 is available online at all the usual suspects. The widget below should enable you to quickly see who has it and at what price. As always I recommend you try and shop at your local outdoor equipment retailer. If you don’t support them first you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself if there comes a time where you can’t go look/feel equipment locally before buying. Reviews and first looks coming ‘soon’: It’s been awhile since I’ve fired up a review, and I’ve been sleeping on this one for awhile. Took the pics a few weeks back and just haven’t set aside the time to fire up some thoughts on the jacket. Marketing speak
Fit My biggest issue with the jacket is the fit. Given the intended use of the jacket (note that the Hardshell AX line is promoted by an image of a guy rappelling) I’d assume it to have a relatively slender, efficient cut, with some added sleeve length for when you’re reaching above your head. Instead you get a very boxy, short bodied jacket with sleeves longer than you’d expect for the body, yet still not long enough. I feel like the body length and sleeve length are non-complimentary, and both could stand to be longer (c’mon Canada, I know you’re a bunch of overgrown milk drinkers like myself!). The body could also be a bit narrower in my opinion – I feel like rather than catering to the athletic it’s built to cater to the McDonalds eaters out there.  Westcomb Mirage body shot Build For the Mirage jacket Westcomb kept it simple, including only what you need to get up and down the mountain and leaving out the extras you don’t. A few mini toggles on the hood/collar, velcro on the wrists, internal and external pockets, and waterproof zips all around. No pit zips on this eVent jacket, and in my experience their unnecessary (and I am one of the heaviest sweaters around). I know everyone says that about eVent, and I had my initial doubts given my sweaty nature, but I’ve yet to get anything more then slightly damp in this jacket – and this is coming from someone that used to drip sweat and be soaked to the bone. I’m a believer. Performance thus far As always, if you have any questions/comments about the garment drop it in the comments or email me at justin@poormansheli.com and I’ll get back to you.  Westcomb Mirage internal pocket  Hood toggle  Zipper tucked into it's cover If not available to you locally you can pick up Westcomb products at a few online vendors, though neither have a terribly deep selection. Backcountry.com and Oregon Mountain Community both carry Westcomb and are good retailers, though like always I suggest trying to give your local shop the biz first. Dying tonight in our heatwave (RIP snow) and melting on the couch figured I’d snap a few pics of the Osprey Kode 38 that recently came into my possession. I’ve only got two days on the pack so want to hold off giving any real review yet as I’m still getting used to the Kode v. my tried and true Dakine and there’s an obvious adjustment period needed. A couple first impressions/early thoughts:
If there are any angles/measurements/etc. you’d like to see let me know in the comments section and I’ll get’er done. Also, if you have any questions you’d like me to address in testing I’ll do my best. On to the pics. Front view. Pack is empty thus it looks a bit flat. Will get better pics when I drop a review.  Osprey Kode 38 front view Back view  Osprey Kode and IKEA chair caught on film in hot steamy embrace Back panel open. Threw a Downmat 7 in there to give some perspective to interior size.  Open up and say aaaaahhhh Unlike the Kode 30 the avy tool pocket on the Kode 38 isn’t zippered.  Drawcord avy tool pocket closure Interior shot of avy tool pocket  Osprey Kode chewing with it's mouth open (just like my co-workers...) Nice zipper pulls  Pull my zipper Buckles and load lifters  Osprey Kode buckles If you can’t find it at your local outdoors shop the Osprey Kode is available at a few online retailers. I’m trying something new by throwing a bunch of retailers in the below banner, hopefully helps you find the best price quickly and save you from clicking from site to site (I used to just have a big list of retailers here). Ping me with any feedback you’ve got on the widget. |
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