Are you an Audiophile? Are you a bike commuter, mountain biker, or festival goer? If so, this could be the next big thing for you.
The Skullcandy Link Hydro Pack is a backpack that is completely wired, with speakers on the shoulder straps, a built-in mic, internal laptop case, and a half-gallon hydration bladder. You can put your cell phone in a side pocket, plug it into the wire , do the same with your mp3 player, and take off. As you ride or roam you can answer the phone by pushing a button on the shoulder strap and just talk, no headset required. You can also jam to your favorite music with headphones or through the shoulder straps. Volume can be adjusted, and you can switch back and forth between phone and mp3 using the controls as well.
I used this on my commute last week and flatted out on my bike. I hopped off to change the tire and sat the pack on the ground. I turned the headphones off and turned the shoulder speakers on and listened to music while I changed my tire… or didn’t change it. I forgot my tire changing tool, so… I listened to music while I waited for my wife to come pick me up. It was sweet.
My only worry with this backpack is that I wouldn’t take it on a plane since as it goes through the xray machine at the airport it might look slightly suspicious with all the wires inside. But, for any other use, this thing is amazing. Pretty soon all our electronics will be wired into our clothing and run through solar panels made into the material on the shoulders. I’m calling it, you heard it hear first folks…
Retails for $139.95
Comes in Orange/Grey or Camouflage (you won’t be sneaking up on anybody while rocking Metallica though…
Outdoorzy is headed down to Fayetteville Tennessee today to hang out at Dirt Sweat and Gears. We’re a sponsor at the race and will be giving away swag, camping out for a few nights, listening to bands, watching the race, and rubbing elbows with the mtb community. It’s one of the premier mountain bike races in the southeastern US.
Dirt Sweat and Gears is the big mountain biking event in the Southeast US each year. And the Outdoorzy team will be in attendance. It will be happening the first weekend in May, and we have it marked on the calendar and we can’t wait to get down there and have some fun. There will be musical performances, tons of free swag (including bike give-aways), lots of outdoor loving people, oh yeah… and lots of mountain bike races!
Outdoorzy will be giving away loads of gift cards to the Outdoorzy Store so you can load up on cycling gear and any other fun summer outdoor gear and clothing you need. Not to mention lots of other gear and freebies. Just drop by our tent and check us out. It won’t be hard to find us, we’ll be the ones with the big Outdoorzy.com banner. There will be plenty of other vendors there as well.
If you’re looking for something to do that weekend and you’re within driving distance come on up and check out all the excitement in Fayetteville Tennessee.
This is a question we should all be asking ourselves as we prepare for the upcoming warm weather and all the outdoor fun we’re going to be having. Fist Aid Kits are perhaps the most important piece of gear you’ll take with you into the wilderness.
So what do you need inside? This really all depends on which outdoor activities you’ll be partaking in. Different activities will have different sets of hazards. If you are fishing, you may need to bring along first-aid for cuts or pricks from those hooks. If you are camping you may want to be sure you have everything you need to treat burns since you’ll most likely have a fire and be cooking. Backpacking and hiking often see twisted ankles. And so on…
If you already have a First Aid Kit, now may be the time to pull it out and restock. You can replace bandages alcohol pads and ointments you depleted last year. You will also need to check the expiration dates on any medications.
Here are some excellent First Aid Kits, ranging from basic needs (lightweight) to more advanced kits.
I am your typical weekend warrior. I work all week to play hard on the weekend. I used to do a lot of backpacking, but now
I am the fly fishing river warrior. The one thing that has not changed with the switch from backpacking to fly fishing / kayaking is restroom breaks. For guys most of the time it is easy, but there are those instances when guys and gals are looking for that tree to hunker down by.
Last month I received The Outhouse from Sea To Summit for review. Simply put, The Outhouse is waterproof dry bag for toilet paper. The Outhouse retails for about $14.95, which makes this very affordable, so you can throw away that old zip lock bag. The bag is made of rip-stop nylon with an interior material to prevent water coming through the bag. Attached to the top of the bag is a cord that allows the user to hang the bag near the “dumping” ground or around your neck.
Inside the bag there nylon tubing that has a hard insert that the toilet paper slides into that is similar to a home toilet paper dispenser which makes it easy to pull off the TP when needed. Plus this allows the bag to stay open while hanging and the TP will not fall out of the bag and roll away from the user, which could create an awkward moment for a fellow hiker. At the bottom of the bag, there is a closure similar to all dry bags; a nylon buckle and hard plastic piece to turn over and over to seal the bag.
I tested this product in shower to see how it would withstand a “rain shower”. I mistakenly used a double roll of TP, which made the bag hard to seal and after the shower, water was inside the bag and the TP was slightly wet. After realizing my mistake, I replaced the double roll with a single roll and The Outhouse perform exceptionally well in the “rain shower”. I tested the The Outhouse hanging while open and sealed tight. The Outhouse is now a permanent fixture in the boat bag.
The Outhouse would work great on multiple night backcountry trips where a “restroom” is established. You can leave The Outhouse in the elements and not have to worry about water ruining the precious paper.
I used to hate coffee. I loved the smell, but just couldn’t understand how people drank it like it was going out of style. Enter marriage. My wife absolutetly loves her java. So I began experimenting with foo-foo coffee at Charbucks and other coffee shops. Now I actually like coffee, and drink it most days. Granted, it is about 20% sugar and cream when I partake.
So I’m planning a solo backpacking trip for a week this summer and got to thinking, can I have coffee? Is there such a thing as ultralight coffee? After a little research I found that there are several methods for camp coffee. These include bringing a small percolator, using brewing bags, or making cowboy coffee. The percolator isn’t exactly ultralight. I read some bad reviews on the brewing bags, saying they were pretty crappy when it comes to taste. Then cowboy coffee is where you bring some water to a boil, drop your grounds in, wait til they settle, and try not to get a mouth full of sludge toward the end. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind.
So I went into my kitchen and started playing. The solution I came up with worked pretty well. I’m sure this has been done plenty of times before, but I didn’t find anything about this method, so I’ll just pretend like I’m the first person to think of this.
Step 1 - Put your coffee grounds into a coffee filter.
Step 2 - Place the filter into the top of the bottle.
Step 3 - While holding the filter in place just inside the bottle, slip the sipper into the opening to secure the bag.
Step 4 - Slightly tilt the sipper so the drinking side is lower (causes a slide for the hot water to fall down)
Step 5 - Slowly pour your boiled water into the bottle. It will drip down over the grounds making the coffee.
Okay, so this isn’t rocket science. And BlowSnow will most likely point out that I’m nowhere as great as his hero Eli Whitney. But, this is an effective way to make coffee and the only extra items you probably wouldn’t have had with you in the first place are the filter and coffee. Weighing in at practically nothing.
Just be sure to put the sipper in snuggly. If it falls… you get cowboy coffee anyway.
straps, a built-in mic, internal laptop case, and a half-gallon hydration bladder. You can put your cell phone in a side pocket, plug it into the wire , do the same with your mp3 player, and take off. As you ride or roam you can answer the phone by pushing a button on the shoulder strap and just talk, no headset required. You can also jam to your favorite music with headphones or through the shoulder straps. Volume can be adjusted, and you can switch back and forth between phone and mp3 using the controls as well.
machine at the airport it might look slightly suspicious with all the wires inside. But, for any other use, this thing is amazing. Pretty soon all our electronics will be wired into our clothing and run through solar panels made into the material on the shoulders. I’m calling it, you heard it hear first folks… 
