GearFlogger

NiteRider 40 Rear Bike Light

For some time now the new normal has been bikes sharing the road with cars. It's time we all just accept that resolve to coexist, at least until driverless cars let everyone chillax. Part of cycling at night and cycling with cars is assuming responsibility for your visibility, and NiteRider is here to help.

NiteRider, aside from having a truly cool name with a great 80s reference, builds quality lights. The ultralight Sentinel 40 uses a bright red LED bulb and a micro-USB-chargeable lithium-polymer battery for 4 to 36 hours of flashing operation, depending on mode.

And oh the wealth of modes. Press the left button to cycle through rapid-fire pulse, slow pulse, constant bright and constant dim. Press the right button to activate the secret weapon, ten foot long laser - frickin lasers! - lane markers, which you can also cycle through slow flash, fast slash and constant modes. The combination of light and laser is extremely effective at dissuading cars from harshing your vibe by riding your ass.

The Sentinel 40 is built like a tank, with a pocket clip that can also be slotted into a simple and effective seat post mount that uses a thick rubber strap to fit any seatpost quickly and easily. The micro-USB cable is included, and the port on the bottom is covered by a thick rubber plug to keep the outside out. The whole thing is just really well put together, and if you're looking for a gift for yourself or a loved - or even liked! - one, you can't go wrong with the Sentinel 40.

$50.00 at REI

Territory Ahead Go Anywhere Cargo Pants

A good pair of cargo pants is mandatory for the male wardrobes. OK, I have no idea if that is actually true, but it sounds plausible. Territory Ahead makes clothing that balances practicality with some travel-inspired flair, and their Go Anywhere pants are a stylish if expensive option.

The Go Anywhere pants are well built, and the ten pocket options are a little different from normal. The rear pockets are open; the left one has a narrow inner pocket just big enough that an iPhone 6 Plus will fit, and there is a small zipped credit-card sized pocket on the outside of the right rear. The front hand pockets are also open, and on the left is a small watch pocket with a clip for keys. The left cargo pocket has a flap over it, but closure, and the right cargo pocket is open, with another zipped iPhone 6 Plus sized pocket on the outside.

It's a nice configuration with some thoughtful touches, like the patterned stitching under the flap on the left cargo pocket, the key clip and the front button. Inside the waistband on either side are elastic tabs that give you a little extra room, for example after Thanksgiving dinner. If you're a skinny type, you might want to go a size smaller as the pants seem to err on the side of a little extra around the waist, maybe because of the extra expansion available from the elastic.

Wearing the Go Anywhere pants is comfortable, and the feel is very nice thanks to the 8.8 ounce washed cotton-nylon canvas. The fit is overall very good, although everyone is different and I noticed there was for my body type a lot of drag on the front thighs if I took a high step. Really the only thing that would give me pause on these pants is the price, which is a bit on the high side for cargo pants, but if you like a little extra style with your workwear Go Anywhere has a little something different for you.

$99.50 at Go Anywhere

Yosemite in the Fifties

It's been a few years - OK, it was way back in 2007 - since Patagonia published Yosemite in the Sixties by Glenn Denny. Now they take the way-back machine even further with Yosemite in the Fifties: The Iron Age by John Long, Dean Fidelman and Tom Adler. It's a book about a time before the widespread commercialization of climbing, for better and for worse, and although it reads a bit nostalgic with nary a villain in sight the narrative and photographs will draw you in and make you for a little while feel a part of what was perhaps a better time.

The narrative is top notch, as expected when the two primary authors are both original members of the storied Stonemasters from the 70s and accomplished authors in their own right. Long in particular has always been a favorite author of mine, and I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed to see much of his irreverence missing from this book, replaced by a more conventional tone.

But this is a serious book, full of colorful if staid vignettes of familiar and eponymous names like Chouinard, Salathe, Steck, Robbins and Harding. It is also hypnotic in its predominantly black-and-white photography, which root the subject firmly in its time: the now-vintage automobiles, plain white t-shirts, knapsacks and hemp rope. There is drama in the race to summit Half Dome, tragedy in stories like those of the ever-inventive and ill-fated Bill Feuerer, and triumph aplenty as men who would not be denied threw themselves at granite walls and raised their chins and their fists on the summits.

In short, it's a great and instantly classic addition to the climbing canon. As a gift to yourself or a climber in your life, especially if they are "of an age," you can't miss with Yosemite in the Fifties.

$40.65 on Amazon

Ring Wi-Fi Enabled Video Doorbell

I so wanted to like this product: a nice-looking doorbell that can run on batteries, detect motion, record video, enable two-way audio, and send alerts to an app so you can manage all this on your phone. Sounds great for someone who is away from home, say playing in the outdoors. In practice, not so much.

The Ring installed easily enough, although the screws included are cheap and I twisted the head off two of the four. In short you charge the device for a few hours, install the app, use the app to walk you through network connection adn physical installation, which itself is pretty simple: screw the backplate to a surface, clip the main body on, tighten two security screws, and you're off and running. With the exception of the broken screw, all this went fairly smoothly, and you can clearly see they've put some effort into making the process as painless as possible.

Using the device was not so great. Lag was a few seconds, the traffic kills your network, video is only saved if you pay them $3/month or $30/year, and the motion detection was so buggy I finally switched it off. I also wish the Ring had a way to gauge the wi-fi signal strength at the device through the app. I had to hold my iPhone next to it to see that it had adequate signal while troubleshooting. I didn't leave it up long enough to test the battery life, but when they run out you do have to remove the unit and bring it inside for a recharge via USB. There is an option to connect it to a hardwired doorbell connection, but we didn't have that option. Battery life also sucked, declining to 70 percent after just three days, although temperatures were cold, ranging from zero to 10F.

I can see where if you have a great signal, a speedy network and a perfect IR background for the motion detector to work against it might be worthwhile. On Amazon it has thousands of reviews, and it seems to work great for maybe 2 out of every 3 people. For me, $200 is too much to pay for what feels like a 1.0 product release, especially when I had to shell out an additional $30 for a chime so I could hear the doorbell like a normal one, without the phone handy. Oh well, we'll try again next year.

$199.00 at Amazon

The Ultimate Winter Survival Handbook

Outdoor Life has a number of encylopedia-style outdoor titles. I like to think of them as my bathroom books, and I mean that with the highest esteem. None of the books go into great detail on tools and tactics, but they are all great surveys of a broad range of topics relevant to the title, and they are all entertaining reads.

The Ultimate Winter Survival Handbook covers 157 different tips and tricks. I found the most useful pertained to winterizing cars and homes, although living in Alaska allows me to find a few omissions: the most effective things to increase your home's energy efficiency are foaming your rim joists in the crawl space and blowing in insulation in the attic, for example, and these aren't mentioned. Winter driving, cycling and running are all mentioned, but not studded tires, fat bikes or shoes with ice cleats. And the section on ice axes actually shows ice tools. You get the idea.

Beyond these omissions and the rare outright error, the information that is included is generally solid if somewhat superficial. The Ultimate Winter Survival Handbook is great for reminding yourself of things you need to do and things you forgot to do, and points the way toward further research. And best of all, you can read a few tips at a sitting while you're warm and, hopefully, comfortable.

$14.66 at Amazon

Fiskars X27 Super Splitting Axe

In some places (hello Alaska! Woot woot!) winter ain't coming, it's here. That means the usual litany of preparation, including splitting firewood, a privilege with the added benefit of the possibility of self-inflicted grievous bodily harm.

To make it safe get a well-designed splitting axe like the Fiskars X27. Available in four lengths from 17 inch hatchet to the most efficient and effective 36 incher - seriously, go big or go home - the X27 makes short shrift of that cord of hardwood that's been staring you down all summer.

Take off the included handy blade guard with built-in handle and heft the X27 to feel the quality. The hardened forged-steel head has most of the weight while the synthetic handle absorbs vibration better for more comfort during extended wood splitting sessions. It's also tougher than nails; it's really hard to even chip the X27, despite taking quite a few strikes to work out the kinks in our technique.

The X27 has a "low friction head" whatever that entails, but we can report it doesn't stick much at all. That makes a big difference over the course of hundreds of swings on a winter morn. Really, the X27 is all you could possibly want in a splitting axe, complete with lifetime warranty.

$54.97 on Amazon

Stearns Hybrid Fishing and Paddling Vest

If you're heading out on the water a personal flotation device AKA life vest AKA life jacket AKA Mae West is mandatory. For most of us a Type III, technically a "flotation aid," will be a reasonable compromise between security and mobility. This is not the kind of thing you want to get from a generic label, and no brand is more trusted to get wet than Stearns.

Stearns makes life jackets for military, industrial and recreational users, and their Hybrid Fishing and Paddling vest is a hands-down winner. Also sold under the Coleman brand, the Hybrid vest is great for medium to long distance paddling where you want a comfortable cut and also a bunch of storage options, and oh yeah maybe you want to do a little fishing along the way.

The Hybrid is a foam vest, bulkier than inflatable models but less expensive and absolutely reliable, even if you're more unconscious than usual. It's cut high in the back for comfort in the cockpit, and the design also aids in maintaining a face-up posture in the water should it come to that. There are seven pockets on the front of the vest: on the right side a medium open mesh and a small zipped; on the left side another medium open mesh and a medium zipped; and in the middle a large flip-down "work station" suitable for working up flies and hooks, and on the outside of that two small open mesh pockets.

Beyond the pockets there are multiple fabric loops to clip things to, and even a key ring on a spring cord on the right shoulder for fishing pliers, a whistle or general retainer use for things that shouldn't go overboard. It's a plethora of pockets that's useful not just for fishing gear but for safety and survival materials (bear spray on the Kenai!, comfort items or anything else you can think of. The Hybrid is a truly versatile vest, and it just gets better: the fit can be dialed in from small to large, and it wears all day comfortably. All of this, and a price that won't break the bank. Without a doubt, the Stearns Hybrid vest is our go-to for water safety.

$62.18 on Amazon