GearFlogger

BOLT Locks

One of the best things about Jeep Wranglers is the amazing amount of things you can bolt on. There are multiple 300 page catalogs just for Wrangler accessories, giving you the ultimate flexibility in customizing your Jeep for whatever you want to use it for. The only downside: the anxiety of parking at a remote trailhead with all that cool and useful stuff in plain view.

BOLT Locks are a particularly awesome solution. BOLT locks are made by Strattec, the largest maker of automobile locks in the world, and they all have one simple feature: you use your normal ignition key to lock and unlock them. The first time you use a BOLT lock it sets the lock to your key and your key only. It's that simple, and it just plain works. No more filling up your center console with spare keys, or worse, getting somewhere and realizing you forget the one key you need to get your bike off the rack.

We've been using the BOLT Hood Lock (not pictured because, hey, it's pretty boring to look at) on our 2012 JKU for a couple years now, and it has never had a hiccup. Since Jeep Wrangler hoods from the factory aren't locked being able to add this simple feature means no worrying about your expensive deep-cycle battery walking away. Speaking of which, all BOLT locks are very weather resistant and have features to defeat attempts to pick or bump them.

Another fantastic BOLT product - and really, they're all fantastic - is the J-Mount for Hi-Lift Jacks (left side of picture above). It's available for both driver and passenger sides, and attaches using the existing bolts just ahead of the door, assuming you don't have a snorkel or some other accessory (some light bar mounts, for example) using those bolts. For when you're wheeling it's hard to beat being able to just jump out and dismount the Hi-Lift in 30 seconds or so. The J-Mount keeps the jack out of the muck, just get a neoprene bootie to keep it clean and you're good to go.

Other BOLT products that we're using and loving are the 5/8" Receiver Lock (lower right in picture) - no more second key! - and the six foot Cable Lock, perfect for bikes, gas cans, kayaks and anything else on your external racks. For performance, security and just plain convenience BOLT Locks have earned their universal great reviews. Highly recommended.

J-Mount $125.32 at Amazon
Hood Lock $55.50 at Amazon
5/8 Receiver Lock $31.49 at Amazon
Six Foot Cable Lock $38.99 at Amazon

weBoost Drive Reach Cell Phone Signal Booster

There are those like and those who need reliable communications in the backcountry. While professionals rely on radios and sat phones, the rest of us have cell phones, not always a bad thing thanks to the wide coverage in so many parts of the world. But quantity does not automatically beget quality, as anyone who has experienced dropped calls and terrible call quality with three solid bars can attest. Luckily weBoost can bridge the gap with a range of solid cell phone signal boosters. We tested the Drive Reach and found it to deliver consistently better call quality.

The weBoost Drive Reach is a big leap forward for 4G LTE cell boosters, the efficacy of which depend quite a bit on raw power. Cell phone signal is measured from -50dB (perfect signal) to -120dB (dead zone). The Reach has up to 50dB gain for incoming signal - the FCC max for mobile boosters - and 29.5dBm in uplink power for transmission. Keep in mind that every 3dB increase doubles the power because decibels are on a logarithmic scale. Before you get to the installation, remember to register your device with the FCC. It's free and just takes a minute.

The Drive Reach is clearly a quality-built product with about as simple a setup as possible, and you'll spend more time thinking about where to put the components than actually installing them, which takes about 15 minutes once you're ready. They lay out the sequence in clear stickers on each component so you can't mess it up: install magnetic exterior antenna, install interior antenna with included double-sided sticky Velcro, install amplifier and plug into cigarette adapter. Done! We mounted the exterior antenna above and ahead of the lip of rear hatchback on our 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the interior antenna on the right side of the driver seat, routed the exterior cable through the weather seal on the rear hatch and the interior cable we just duct taped to the floor in the center of the rear cabin. Both cables end up with the amplifier in the rear cargo area, just leave room around the amp for airflow to control heat. The amp has a convenient bracket with screw holes, but we didn't need to use them because there are also two very handy Velcro strips that grab the carpet liner securely. The Jeep's cargo area has a cigarette adapter so we just plugged it in. The adapter itself even has a USB pass through port, so if you need to mount it up front you get some extra flexibility.

After installing put your phone in field test mode to see your signal strength in dB, because the bars that supposedly show signal strength really don’t mean jack. On iOS 12 open phone app > dial pad > type in *3001#12345#* > hit send to open a hidden menu. Go to LTE > Serving Cell Meas > look at the rsrp0 number to see the strength of the closest cell tower in dB. On an iPhone this mode used to replace the useless bars with a useful numerical decibel reading where -50dB is a perfect signal and -120dB is a dead zone. However since iOS 11 you now get this funky menu setup that has a lot more information but is difficult to read, not least because the list of data that includes the critical rsrp0 number keeps automatically resorting every second or so. If you’re specifically interested in data up/download speeds get the Speedtest app by Ookla to test your speeds before and after boosting.

Signal strength generally depends on the location and power of the nearest cell tower, which you can find at least roughly with a number of apps and websites. Performance of the Drive Reach depends on signal strength: the higher the signal strength, the more you'll gain, it's just the nature of the thing, and weBoost recommends a base signal strength of -100dB to operate. We still saw small gains of 5 to 10dB, although somewhat inconsistently, at a base strength of -110 to -120dB. At around -90 to -100dB we saw consistent improvements of at least 10dB, and sometimes up to 30dB.

What's this mean in layman's terms? We made more connections, and the connections we made had generally better voice quality and fewer dropped data packets. This means you will get usable signal in more places and better quality on the signal that you're using. The cost of the Drive Reach puts it beyond the budget of most casual users, but for those of us who frequently need reliable comms on the fringes of normal cell service, the Drive Reach is absolutely worth the investment.

$499.99 at Amazon

SPOT X Two-Way Satellite Messenger

So a satellite phone, a Blackberry and a GPS walk into a bar. It's $1 shot night, they get plastered, have a three-way and somehow produce a child. That child is the SPOT X, one of a handful of satellite messaging devices that will track your travels, provide text-style two-way communication and, should something go terribly awry, allow you to call for extraction just by holding down the big SOS button.

We normally like our reviews to stand on their own, but since there are really only two major players in this product space, Garmin and SPOT, let's just get the inevitable comparison out of the way up front. Compared to the Garmin inReach devices, the SPOT X has three clear advantages: cost, standalone functionality and battery life. The SPOT X is quite a bit less expensive both for the hardware - $350 for the inReach Mini and $450 for the Explorer, versus $199 for the SPOT X. On the service side, prices for both start at $11.95/month for a year or $14.95/month to month with a $19.95 one-time activation fee. However the Garmin base plan includes only ten text messages while the SPOT X includes twenty, and SPOT X charges 25 cents for extra messages versus 50 cents for Garmin. SPOT X also includes tracking in its base plan, unlike Garmin.

The second point in favor of the SPOT X is its standalone capability, starting with the fact that it comes with a dedicated phone number so your people can text to it just like they text to any other phone. The SPOT X has a dedicated keyboard as well, and it even supports illumination for night use, although it's a bit clunky and the tiny keys are not really usable with gloves on. On the usability side, the SPOT X is fairly straightforward, although with any piece of equipment that crams a lot of functionality into a tiny non-touch screen, you'll want to read the quick start guide first and eventually the detailed instructions.

The third point is battery life, which at about 240 hours is head and shoulders above the competition. This will decline somewhat if you decrease the tracking interval, but it's still great. Know that the SPOT X doesn't use standard replaceable batteries so on a longer trip you'll need to bring a solar panel and/or some kind of power bank, which wasn't a big deal to us since we usually have one along anyway.

So if you're focused on cost and/or you can't/don't want to bring a smart phone into the backcountry with you, the SPOT X is a solid choice, albeit one that comes with a few caveats. First, although the tracking feature works to accurately show you your location, altitude and time, and you can even connect it to social media accounts, it won't tell you your distance traveled. The SPOT X also doesn't support maps on the device, limiting you to basic waypoints and compass headings, although this feature makes good use of the small screen and is surprisingly usable, even telling you the distance to destination.

Other minor nits include the fact that if you send updates to an email address, you're still limited to 140 characters, and that includes the reply. So when your significant other replies without deleting the text in the original message it will fail to send but s/he won't know why. Finally the fact that the SPOT X doesn't work with a smart phone is both blessing and curse, since you can't crossload contacts or use maps on your phone. There is an app, but we couldn't get it to download messages or anything else even though it was logged into our account at www.findmespot.com.

Overall the SPOT X is a solid contender based on those three factors: cost, standalone use and battery life. It brings a certain peace of mind to backcountry travel, both to you and the people in your life who even if they don't care about your latest epic adventure still like knowing that you'll show up to the next BBQ.

$199.99 (on sale from $249) at REI

Bullfrog Sunscreen & Mosquito Repellent

Bullfrog knows sunscreen, and being in Alaska we know mosquitos, so we were happy to have a chance to test Bullfrog Mosquito Coast Sunscreen and Insect Repellent, as well as their Land Sport Quik Gel. Both products are SPF 50, and the Mosquito Coast is also available in a pump in addition to the aerosol we tested.

First, the Mosquito Coast. We were out in the sticks bushwhacking our way to a canoe on the shore of a lake - in other words, perfect mosquito country - and the Alaskan bloodsuckers were coming in heavy. I hosed down with the MC, wondering if I was about to regret my choice to go DEET-free, but to my relief it provided good protection. When we reached the canoe, my thinking-impaired "friend" proceeded to dump me in the water as we attempted to launch. This gave me an unexpected opportunity to test the water resistance. After a couple hours on the lake we hauled out and the original application was still mostly effective, but I did notice a few more getting through so I re-applied and all was good.

The Mosquito Coast goes on a bit filmy with a lightly pleasant smell, but not enough to be a bother, you just end up with a bit of a moist sheen that actually feels like a moisturizer, which makes sense since there's aloe in it. The active ingredient is a long chemical name, also known as IR3535, but it's been used in Europe for a couple decades and is deemed safe. There are some cautions about using it combined with sunscreen as sunscreen needs to be re-applied every couple hours and that might be a bit heavy on the dosage for this chemical. It is effective however, and we have no problems recommending it for short-term usage.

The Land Sport Quik Gel was also effective. It goes on kind of like a hand sanitizer and is a bit on the tacky side, but it applies more quickly than lotions and was effective to its advertised 80 minute limit. It's also oil, paraben and PABA free like the Mosquito Coast. Bullfrog makes this in a stick and lip balm as well, which are TSA-friendly for you frequent fliers out there. At the end of a few weeks of testing we're happy with both products and have no hesitation to recommend, especially if you're heading into mosquito country.

$50.81 for a 3-pack of Mosquito Coast at Amazon
$12.49 for Land Sport Quik Gel at Walgreens

1MORE Stylish True Wireless Earbuds

OK, we'll admit to some troglodyte-like tendencies, one of which is we've been slow to adopt wireless earbuds. We heard about the problems with early versions and frankly, the prices Apple charges are way too high. So we were happy to have a chance to test the latest tech from 1MORE, a well-reviewed brand that promises better quality for less.

We've heard that before, and we're pretty cynical here, but when we unboxed the Stylish True Wireless earbuds we were immediately impressed with the quality and presentation of 1MORE. The slickly designed case doubles as a charging station with included flat micro USB cable, and the earbuds boot up, tell you their charging status and pair automatically after the first time. You can even pair the buds individually.

The earbuds include three different sizes of silicone earpieces and o-rings. They fit comfortably and securely, and buttons on the buds allow you to play/pause, skip tracks and answer/decline phone calls. We tried them on a phone call first, and they worked perfectly. The person on the other end remarked on the sound quality, and we were outside in a somewhat noisy environment with various competing background noises.

Then we fired up a summer soundtrack and... wow. The sound quality brought us back to the very first time we used a high quality set of over-the-ear headphones, an eye-opening experience as we heard every bit of the music from the highest highs to the lowest lows. The 1MORE earbud sound quality is the audio equivalent of looking at a richly detailed, large format photograph, where your eye is constantly wandering and discovering new details. The bass is so powerful we assumed the high end would suffer, but it was there too and just as wonderful.

So, we're sorry Apple. There's no reason to pay their tax when you get as good or better design from 1MORE and astounding sound quality to boot, and all at a much lower price point. The Stylish True Wireless earbuds are indeed stylish, as well as comfortable and a pleasure to use. Highly recommended.

$99.88 at Amazon

Made Good Snack Bars

Sometimes we all need a little snack, but for folks with allergies it can be a real hassle to find a snack that isn't going to trigger a bad reaction. Made Good Foods has snacks that take away that concern, so you can avoid the hangries without fear of getting taken out by a stray peanut.

We tried Made Good Crispy Squares in caramel and strawberry flavor, as well as their Sweet and Salty granola bars. All are vegan, organic, gluten free and made in a dedicated peanut- and tree nut-free facility. Also, no soy, dairy, egg, sesame or fish/shellfish allergens.

The squares are basically rice krispie treats with a dose of veggie ingredients. In other words, tasty. We really liked the strawberry, and the caramel didn't sit on the shelf long either. At 80 calories a bar and 7g sugar they're not going to keep you going for long, but they're a perfect quick fix for adults at the office or kids at school. The 100 calorie granola bars (6g sugar) don't actually have any granola, but are made from oats, rice and veggie sources.

Both squares and bars have a mild and pleasant taste and go down quickly. With more schools and even other public places requiring allergen-free foods for everybody, Made Good will quickly find a place in your lunch box.

$26.94 for 7-package variety pack at Amazon