GearFlogger

Espro Travel Press

We're coffee hounds here at Gearflogger, and we've been seduced time and time again by the promise of a travel press that would deliver the buzz wherever, whenever. None have impressed us enough to stay at the front of our already overloaded gear shelf, but lo! What is this? The Espro Travel Press, a really sweet little companion that does triple duty and does it very well.

The Espro is built around a 12 ounce stainless steel insulated double-wall vacuum bottle, finished in a handsome matte black that feels great in the hand and also resists fingerprints and cleans up easily. It's got just a tiny bit of hourglass shape to it, and at 2.75 inches in diameter will fit in any normal cupholder. It's easy enough to rinse everything out after using, and we found it kept hot for a couple hours and warm enough to drink for a couple more.

There are two lids, one a normal spill-proof cap (yes, we tried unsuccessfully to make it leak) and the second a french press assembly with two - count 'em two! - filters. Use both filters to press coarse grind coffee, and just one to make tea. The resulting coffee was significantly more sediment-free then from our Bodum french press, and just in case you want it even smoother there are paper filters included to put between the steel ones.

The only dings are that you can't easily add cream or sugar after pressing, and you have to take the lid all the way off to drink. But if you like your coffee black like we do, or you'll have access to cup when you get where you're going, you'll absolutely love the Espro. It's a high quality, well-designed insulated travel mug + coffee press + tea press that is an elegant solution for both travel and backcountry coffee snobs.

$28.99 at Amazon

Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight & Watertight .9 and Pocket Survival Pak Plus

When it comes to medical kits, we've always believed its better to piece together your own instead of buying a premade kit. But of course there's always the exception that proves the rule, and that exception is Adventure Medical Kits. There are three major reasons for this: AMK makes a metric crap-ton of kits tailored to just about every possible scenario, they use high-quality components, and they don't extort a ridiculous premium for pulling it all together into a very nice package. At the very least, if this is your first medical kit rodeo you can start with an AMK package and build it into whatever your heart desires.

For 80 percent of us, one of their Ultralight & Watertight series of medical kits will do the trick. From the pocket-sized personal .3 to the hardback novel sized small group (1-4 people for 1-4 days) .9, the U&W kits contain a complete assortment of treatments for blisters, burns, scrapes, fractures, sprains and STDs. Wait, not the STDs, you're on your own there, and shame on you for not using protection! Paging Dr. Penicillin.

We like the .9 because it's really not all that much bigger and includes some important extras like diamode (for diarrhea), a trauma pad and extra wound closure (butterfly) strips. A lot of the stuff is double-bagged to extend shelf life and provide additional waterproofing should the waterproof bag itself be compromised. The next step up would be to add dental wax, a splint, tourniquet, chest seal and QuickClot. If you know you need these things AMK has a wide range of trauma kits too because of course they do, or if your needs are very specific you can read up and piece together your own. If you get to that point you should really consider getting some advanced training if you don't already have it, something like the 16 to 20 hour Wilderness First Aid course offered by NOLS.

Other things to think about are survival items like basic repair supplies, water purification tablets, fire starting materials, signal and lighting tools and a knife. Oh wait, AMK has you covered there as well with a slew of kits for urban and wilderness survival. You do have one in your car, right, along with an emergency jump starter and related useful items? The AMK Pocket Pak Plus is a bit spendy, but you get everything you'll need in a pinch including a tiny but nifty Doug Ritter RSK MK5 survival knife, worth at least $20 all by itself. All in all, if you've been putting off taking responsibility for taking care of yourself in the backcountry, your excuses have run out. Start with AMK and you'll never look back.

$29.99 at Amazon

Acurite Pro Weather Station

Spring weather is unpredictable weather. Or (cue dramatic music) IS IT? Even as weather gets weirder, prediction tools are racing to keep up, and this is one area where you are most definitely encouraged to take matters into your own hands. Acurite is a company that really wants to help you do this, and their version of a BFG is the Pro Weather Station with PC Connect.

Available in standard and pro sensor models, the Acurite consists of a main unit that looks like a cool spaceship prop. It connects wireless to your computer, tablet and smart phone, and to your own page on Acurite.com Did we mention it's good to -40F? It will measure rainfall, wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity, and barometric pressure. It tracks patterns and tells you highs and lows and lets you share data with social weather networks like Weather Underground if you want. Hell, uber-geeks can even export the data to CSV and run their own analyses.

You can calibrate some settings manually, or let the device calibrate itself over a couple weeks. It's best to mount it up in the air a bit to get more accurate wind readings undisturbed by the roof, etc. Since the outside unit runs on 4 AA batteries you'll want to rig it so that you can get to it once a year or so to replace the batteries. The inside color display unit is normally plugged in, but also has a battery backup. There is an option for a pro sensor, the only difference being that it apparently has dual solar panels instead of a single panel. Since the solar panels are only used to bring air across the sensors this is not particularly critical.

The Acurite is a great unit for the weather hobbyists among us. It's definitely a project to set up and learn, but less so than a new home theater system, and if you're the type who loves gadgets it can even be fun figuring it all out. For them, and for all those of you who are regularly frustrated by the inaccuracy of supposedly local weather reports, the Acurite Pro Weather Station will give it to you straight.

$169.95 at Amazon