The Gear Blog May 29th

By Claire Maxted

Gear news

30 May 2008 09:23

Hot new gear for summer!

The outdoor gear companies have been hard at work anticipating what you’ll need for your walking weekends this summer. Teva thinks it’s going to be hot, hot, hot; Vango and Big Agnes want you out camping; and Aquapak reckons you need to be prepared for rain…

1 Summer walking for ladies looks sporty, airy and comfy with two new £45 Teva water-friendly sandals. The open-toed Kayenta and the toe-capped Westwater both have a cushioned footbed impregnated with antimicrobial pong protection and non-marking, non-slip traction rubber soles for summer walking, rock-hopping and tarn-paddling.
>> (01475) 746000; www.teva.com

2 The prize for the most LEDs in one place at the same time must surely go to Vango with its massive 160 LED rechargeable lantern, which you can hang or magnetise to the top of your tent. For £40 the Light Wand promises to transform your night-time reading or stormy-day card games with a white dazzle that could probably confuse a ship if you’re anywhere near the coast.
>> (01475) 746000; www.amg-outdoor.co.uk

3 And if you’re lacking a tent to put that light inside, check out the latest Big Agnes lightweight, two-person tent with two porch areas. At just over 2 kilos (that’s like two bottles of wine) the £340 Copper Spur Ultralight is an American tent made with the wetter UK climate in mind with slightly heavier, weatherproof fabrics, less mesh and a higher groundsheet.
>> (0131) 668 4171; www.isoactive.com/bigagnes

4 British weather never reads the forecast, but at least your camera will stay dry this summer in a deluge of Noah’s Ark proportions with the new, easy-opening Aquapac SLR Hard Lens Camera Case. It’s cheating slightly for a walker’s gear news blog to encroach into scuba diving territory, but this submergible to 5m, earth-friendly non-PVC, submarine for your camera with external hard lens will guarantee you dry pics at the end of your walk.
>> (020) 7738 4466; www.aquapac.net

Out now!

Alpkit’s warmest sleeping bag ever

The latest, warmest addition to Alpkit’s cheap as chips down sleeping bag range is now back from testing and ready to buy online. At just 1.2kg, the £150 PipeDream 800 is stuffed with 800g of high-quality 750+ fill power goose down to give a comfort rating of -17 deg C.

The nearest equivalent with the same fill and comfort rating is the slightly larger Mountain Equipment Snowline for twice the price and 240g heavier, which won a Trail ‘best in test’ award in January 2004.

The bag’s pack size will be 3cm longer than its £125 little brother, the 960g PipeDream 600, at 21x24cm. It is constructed with box wall baffles, a contoured hood and a full-length YKK zip. The design is tapered at the foot end but is wider at the shoulder than conventional mummy bags, to minimise spare volume yet avoid claustrophobia.

The entire slimline PipeDream sleeping bag range offers excellent value-for-money insulation without sacrificing lightweight portability, provided the bags stay dry – bringing goose down insulation within reach of many more non-elite expeditions. 

>> 0870 250 0114; www.alpkit.com

Weird gear

Walking fridge

We’ll leave it up to you to decide whether Nike has taken the freezer cool-packs idea one step too far, but if you’re one sweaty Betty on the hill, you might want to wait it out for the PreCool vest. Store in the freezer before use and this icy layer improves an athlete’s race performance by 21 per cent says Nike’s sports research department, as hot muscles wastes less energy on cooling down if you cool them externally an hour before the event. Sadly the walking human fridge will not be seen on the UK hills this summer as this technology is sadly only available to athletes at the Beijing Olympics.

Vibram Fivefingers

We’re still wondering why this sock-bootie hybrid is called Fivefingers. Okay, they do describe this flexible, lightweight walkers’ dream shoe with Vibram sole as a ‘footglove’; but surely it should be called Fivetoes? The idea is for indoor and outdoor sports people to reconnect with the natural roll and balance of their feet; and last week, this unusual design was awarded the Italian Creativity Prize by the Italian Industrial Association. We’ve ordered a pair to watch this space to see how it fares on this side of the Channel. Have you tried them? Email us at trail@bauerconsumer.co.uk if you have a Fivefingered story to tell.

>>  www.vibramfivefingers.com

See you next week!