GearFlogger

Lems Trailhead V2 Shoe

Lems has long been a leader in minimalist shoes, and one thing about the company that's always impressed us is that they don't just pay lip service to innovation, they're constantly refining their models to improve performance instead of only introducing new models.

The Trailhead V2 is like that. It's a update to their original popular Trailhead shoe that incorporates feedback from customers, such as a slightly wider toebox, more flexible insole and better heel lockdown. All the improvements are immediately noticeable, especially the heel lockdown; the Trailhead V2 has excellent heel stability and control over all terrain, making it a pleasure to hike in.

The Trailhead is still a bit slimmer than another popular Lems shoe, the Primal, but for our smaller and narrower feet they felt perfect. The laces lock down solidly, and with the wider construction stability is fantastic. The sole is designed for improved trails and hard surfaces, but the construction is rugged enough you'll find yourself taking the Trailhead on any light-duty hike in front of you. Lems didn't forget the good looks either, and the styling works perfectly for any combination of work and play.

The heel drop is just 4mm, more than a zero-drop but a lot less than a standard shoe. The advantage of a bit of drop lies in more cushioning, which in the case of the Trailhead V2 means all-day comfort. If you're looking for a shoe that does everything short of all-weather off-trail hikes, check out the Trailhead V2, and let your piggies splay!

$130.00 at Lems

Casio PRO TREK Vivid PRG330 ABC Watch

We've found Casio's PRO TREK watches to be everything you need for timekeeping and ABC (altimeter/barometer/compass, but c'mon - you knew that!) applications in the backcountry. We've lived with and love the Night Safari Concept model, and we're looking forward to reviewing the WSD-F21HR model with the long-awaited heart rate tracking functionality, but we have a new daily-wear PRO TREK model that has captured our hearts.

That watch is the endearingly named PRG330-9A - OK, maybe Casio needs to work on those names, especially since there are three dozen and counting variations just in their PRO TREK line. What we've got here is a basic (basic for the PRO TREK line, anyway) digital-only watch - look ma, no hands! - with your choice of the three colorful bezels at left plus black and pink, hence the Vivid moniker. Despite anchoring the lower price points in the PRO TREK line, we believe the PRG330 is all the watch most people will ever need, and it even comes with some benefits that more expensive models don't.

The first thing you'll notice is that the PRG330 is significantly smaller than the other PRO TREK models. While still not really small - we did say small-er - it's what most people would probably consider a "normal" watch size. That doesn't mean Casio left out any features, however: the PRG330 is still a triple sensor ABC design, with the newest and best-est hardware. The altimeter measures to the nearest meter at one second intervals, the barometer alerts you to sudden pressure changes and can display trends in a tidy little graph, and the compass will measure your bearing continuously for 60 seconds in single degree increments while correcting for declination and displaying a directional pointer. There's even a thermometer that measures from 14 to 140F. We're looking forward to an Alaskan winter to test out that bottom end! All the timekeeping niceties are there, including world time and sunrise/sunset.

There are some areas where the PRG330 beats out its more functional siblings. Besides the convenient smaller size, it has clearly marked icons on the inner bezel that tell you what the buttons on the outer bezel will do for you. This is crazy useful, especially if you switch watches much and have to try to remember how to activate all those fancy features anew. With the PRG330, just scan the icons to jog your memory. It's brilliant, really. Another feature that has the PRG330 punching above its weight class is solar power. Yes, the watch charges in direct sunlight quite nicely, and will even charge albeit sluggishly under indoor lighting. To make the most of the power it has collected, the PRG330 is packed with smart features like auto-on LED backlighting that knows to stay off in bright light.

The strap is resin, not the fancy glow-in-the-dark silicone that's on some of its higher-end siblings, but it's quite comfortable and still has the thoughtful design touches Casio is known for. Where the band comes off the watch there are soft little wedges that eliminate the gap most people get in that area, for example. And like all the PRO TREK watches, the PRG330 is plenty tough, with water resistance down to 100m. Overall we reach for the PRG330 more often than our other watches for everyday carry, and we see it as the right watch for most casual backcountry use as well.

$124.99 at Amazon

Lizard Skins Micro Cache Saddle Bag

Here at Gearflogger HQ, a new mountain bike usually gets two things added right away: a bottle cage and a saddle bag. We were psyched to test the Lizard Skins Super Cache Saddle Bag, but what we actually ended up with was a Micro Cache. Read on to see why that's important.

Lizard Skins makes many useful accessories for cyclists of all types, and some of their products - especially their grip tape, which we'll be reviewing shortly - have applications in a lot of other sports. But back to the saddle bags! Lizards Skins makes three different sizes of the Cache saddle bag: micro, normal and super. So we wanted to review the Super but ended up with the Micro, and here's what we learned.

The Micro is small. Like, really small. Too small to fit an iPhone X without jamming it in there. The Micro will fit a bike tool, small spare tube, CO canister and tire levers if you arrange them very carefully, and if you insert all the gear before you put the bag on the seat post. The Micro even has not one but two pockets on the inside, a longer mesh one on the top and a very small neoprene one on the bottom that doubles as extra water protection for contents in the main area.

So basically it's like a wallet, although if you want to actually carry a wallet with the other stuff mentioned above you'll want to step up to one of the larger sizes. Construction on the Micro Cache is top-notch. While not actually waterproof it will resist basically everything short of total immersion, even the zipper is water resistant. It also cleans up nicely, and the materials seem plenty tough enough for the long haul. The profile is narrow enough it won't interfere with your hammies, and it's got a strap on the back to attach a tail light. It goes on and off the saddle easily enough, and you can use the seat post loop to attach it to a belt loop or pack to carry it along after your ride. We found the Micro Cache to be a great little bag overall, as long as you're mindful of the size constraint. Of course you've read our review first, so now you've no excuse!

$22.99 at Amazon

Coleman RoadTrip 285 Grill

We're big fans of the Coleman RoadTrip grills. They've always performed great for us, grilling up meals for anywhere from two to ten people at campgrounds all over Alaska. This summer we tried out the latest iteration, the RoadTrip 285, and found it continues a great tradition.

Folding grills are just a good idea to begin with, and Coleman has been refining their version for quite a while at this point. The 285 assembles in about 15 minutes. In use it rolls over to your picnic table easily, the locking lid keeps it all together and when you're ready for action it folds and unfolds smoothly and is secure when standing. Two small work surfaces pop out on either side to hold light items, however there are no hooks like on the front of the LXE version for hanging grill tools like brushes and spatulas. Tying off a short piece of cord with a hook solves that problem, and you can hang tools off the handles on either side so they rest on the edge of the tables if they're pulled out or just hang straight down if they're not.

What's new with the 285 are a thermometer in the lid so you can more accurately monitor temperature, and a three-burner 20,000btu configuration for finer control over different areas of the grill. Like prior versions the 285 gets up to temp quickly and gets more than hot enough to fill up the available cooking area with a full complement of whatever calories you please. Like prior versions there are options to swap out the grates with a full or half griddle or stove grate, so bring on the bacon and eggs! Clean up is eased by the water pan, which removes quickly for cleaning and filling. You can even hook it up to larger propane tanks with an optional adapter.

The RoadTrip isn't particularly small - it won't fit in the admittedly tiny pass-through storage on our R-Pod 177 - but it is portable enough for just about any form of car camping. It also rewards careful handling, so don't throw it around like it's a piece of climbing gear. If you treat it nicely it will bring great food and good cheer to your campsites for years to come.

$229.08 at Amazon

Climbing: From Rock to Ice, by Ron Funderburke

Most, maybe all, ice climbers start learned to climb on rock. It just makes sense, since learning to climb is intimidating enough without the added stress of more and more complicated gear, freezing temperatures and a climbing surface that can change by the day. Ron Funderburke is eminently qualified to guide us through making the rock to ice transition, having penned guides on various other climbing transitions such as gym to rock, toproping to sport, and sport to trad.

Climbing: From Rock to Ice is a small-format book, 4.5x7 inches, and slim at about 150 pages. The text and photos feel a bit small and cramped, but for a very low price you're getting a lot of good information. Funderburke covers the usual areas of technique and gear as well as strategy and tactics, such as route planning. Energy management is a theme that runs through the book, appropriately enough given the generally more cautious approach ice climbing demands from a climber.

We really liked the chapter on interpreting ice, which is a big part of ice climbing that starts the minute you lay eyes on the route. This is probably the area that most new-to-ice climbers will need to work on, as evaluating ice is significantly different from evaluating rock routes. There's also a nice appendix on sharpening crampons and ice tools.

A few areas that could have used more attention: first, the topic of ice screws. We'd like to have had a more detailed treatment of materials (titanium is not mentioned), the use of the speed handle versus not having one, the use of particularly short and long screws, angle of placement (many people want to place a screw slightly down, which is weaker than slightly up) and how to sharpen your screws. A second area is the fundamental movement technique on steep ice, tracking, which could also have used more detail and a more clear sequence of photographs, as well as a comparison with the old square technique. Finally, the v-thread anchor is mentioned only in passing at the end, but in our opinion it's a skill that every ice climber should practice up front just in case they need it.

Perhaps a future edition will move to a larger format with expanded photographs and more advanced topics, but for now Funderburke's book is meant as an overview and introduction and it succeeds at that. At the low price point there's no reason not to have it in your collection.

$11.60 at Amazon

Wavian Steel Jerry Can

The humble jerry can is one of those iconic objects that has been around longer than anyone alive today can remember, with the possible exception of Kane Tanaka. The word Jerry has been used to describe Germans since World War I, and is most likely a bastardization of either the word German or the word Jeroboam, the latter of which has its own interesting story, for Jeroboam was a man who "pisseth against the wall." But we digress, and we do so with apologies to Mr. Geils and his fine band.

There have been many attempts to improve on the original jerry can, some of which we like, but it still pretty much exists unchanged because it just works, dammit. Wavian cans are the gold standard, and if they're good enough for the Wehrmacht, NATO and the United States Army then they're good enough for us. In fact, Wavian cans are still made in Latvia where the factory was moved to from Germany during WW2.

The Wavian jerry can is EPA, CARB and DOT compliant and comes in 5, 10 and 20L - that's 1.3, 2.6 and 5.3 gallons to those of us who like our coffee black and our tea in the harbor. Joking, we love our former colonial overlords friends across the pond! It's available in colors specific to the contents and comes with Wavian's patented safety spout for gurgle-free pouring. The spout has a plastic clip to secure it to the handles, and the bayonet cap is captive and requires a certain level of commitment to open. Word to the wise: as with any sealed container, changes in temperature and altitude can build pressure so release the cap slowly to let the pressure bleed off without geysering.

Wavian jerry cans are welded steel with a rust-proof lining and three grab handles on top, and because of their ubiquity there are a lot of ways to mount them to a vehicle. Our favorite for the Gearflogger Jeep is the Moryde side mount tray. One day we'll get around to testing some RotopaX, but for now the good ole jerry can is riding shotgun for us and we're pleased as punch and feel the need to pisseth not.

$79.99 at Amazon

myCharge Camping Lantern

It's hard to beat myCharge portable power banks, especially when they make them even more useful by adding lighting. The Camping Lantern by myCharge flips that on its head, starting with the light and adding the power bank.

The myCharge Camping Lantern is smaller than 4 inches square and just under an inch thick, with a helpful folding stand. Four pinhole lights on the back tell you the battery status with the push of the side button, which also cycles through four brightness levels. A longer push on the button while the light is on switches between cool and warm lighting modes, a really nifty feature; the warm light is perfect for area lighting, while the cooler light works very well for reading or detail work like repairing gear. Holding the side button down when the light is not on will activate a strobe for emergency signaling or a flash rave dance mob.

The lantern is rated at 9 hours on the brightest mode and 41 hours on the dimmest mode, and is charged via the ubiquitous - and included! - micro USB cable. And lest we forget, the Camping Lantern is also a 10,000mAh power bank with two USB charging ports, which can be used at the same time. About the only way this could be more useful is if it had a solar panel on the back - oh wait, myCharge already makes something like that. Hmm, maybe a fold-out hand crank to charge it? Doesn't matter, the myCharge Camping Lantern does exactly what it's supposed to, and works splendidly for multiday trips.

$59.99 at Amazon