If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, chances are you saw the 9 billion posts we sent from Outdoor Retailer in Salt Late City last week. If you aren’t following us, that sucks, because you missed out on some sweet time travel. We stepped right into 2015 and spent three days exploring every square inch of the show, testing out next season’s coolest gear and bringing it straight to your eyeballs.
If you were lazy and weren’t checking FB/Twitter OR you’re making the mistake of not following us and ended up missing out on all the madness, don’t worry. We’re going in depth right here on the blog by reviewing the gear that caught our eyes the most. As always, you guys are the experts too, and we want to know what you think of what’s new for 2015. SOOOOO… keep reading, then give us your opinions via comments on the blog right here, or hit us up on social media. We don’t care how you do it, just let us know what you think so we can get you all the gear you want for your 2015 adventures.
1. Sea To Summit “Dual Chamber” Sleeping Pads
After literally sprawling out onto these pads one by one, we were pretty into them for a number of reasons. Most notably, the dual inflation chambers. These give the pads a ton of flexibility because they can be inflated at different levels — more inflation on the bottom chamber so that it’s tough on uneven surfaces, and less inflation so the top chamber you’re actually sleeping on is soft and cushy. Also, they’re super lightweight and durable. The perfect pad.
2. Sea To Summit “X-Pot”
Here’s another cool one from Sea To Summit. What makes this little 2.8-liter pot completely brilliant is the fact that it actually collapses flat, taking up barely any room in your pack (and we all know that pots love hogging space). How this is achieved is by combining heat-resistant silicone as the main body of the pot, while the bottom is constructed from aluminum. The pot also features little handles so it can be picked up with bare hands while it’s hot. Including its’ lid/strainer, the total weight of this little guy is only 10 ounces. Amazing.
3. Arc’teryx Footwear
Five years in the making, Arc’teryx’s new line of footwear consists of five styles for men and and three styles for women, separated into low-cut and mid-cut hiking boots. One of the most intriguing things about this line is that there are no tongues or seams on any of the models. Instead, there is a synthetic outer shell that’s water-resistant and flexible, and a cozy inner shell constructed from a Gore-Tex Performance Comfort Stretch membrane. On many of the models, this inner shell is even removable for cleaning. Not to mention that every shoe in this line looks incredibly sexy. We salute you, Arc’teryx. As always.
4. Thule Ski & Boot Bags
Thule is known for its’ kickass design and durability, and that’s one of the main things that excited us about their new line of packs and ski bags. While they’ll be competing against well-established brands in the packs market, these were some of the best ski specific bags we saw all week. Not only do they look awesome, but they have a boot bag that attaches to the front of the ski carrier so that you can haul all your crap at once. They also come in a few different colors. Don’t know about you, but we can’t wait for ski season to finally come back around, especially after feasting our eyes on these babies.
5. Brunton GoPro Hero3+ Battery Pack
This sweet new gadget from Brunton gives your GoPro Hero3+ four extra hours of charge while you’re out in the wilderness and away from outlets. Perfect for long backpacking trips where you want to keep capturing the adventure but require a convenient and light option, this dude comes in at just under four ounces and attaches right to the back of your GoPro. Pretty awesome, huh? We think so.
Last but (definitely) not least…
6. This Floating Beer Pong Table
Bring the frat party to the pool with the Pongo Bongo beer pong table. It isn’t really different from any other floating beer pong table as far as we could tell… we just like the colors. And we also like beer.
So there you have it — some of our favorite gear from OR summer 2015. Don’t forget to leave us a comment or question either here or on our Facebook or Twitter — we want to know what you think!
Happy trails, guys.
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