It took a while for me to figure out what I was going to do about replacing my Danner 453 GTX’s, since the fit on those was great, and they had a good balance of low mass, good traction, and good support. They served me well in environments from desert to snow, being neither too hot nor too cold. I wanted the replacements to likewise have a mixed suede (or Nubuck) and Cordura upper to provide better ventilation than an all-leather one. The breathability outside of the Gore-Tex membrane is critical in allowing moisture to escape and for the waterproof-breathable system to work efficiently (I’ve got a pair of steel-toe Danner 453’s which are all-leather, and they are significantly hotter than the Cordura/Nubuck version). Reducing this moisture buildup is critical in keeping feet dry and cool in warmer conditions and dry and warm in cold conditions. I wanted a more aggressive outsole tread than the Danners had. Okay, granted the Danners were really worn out, but the sole blocks were very low profile to begin with. I also wanted something that wasn’t made in The PRC. Continue reading ‘Scarpa Kailash GTX 2012’
Archive for the 'Gear' Category
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Well, as per GoPro website and the usual first fix for anything computer related, I “rebooted” the GoPro and the WiFi Back. I’m not sure if that fixed anything but I did a little test by putting the camera on the roof of car outside then going for a walk down the street. To get the advertised range of 200 yards, you need to have a totally clear line of sight. I actually was able to go out to past 300 yards and still get spotty control. But once you get things in the way, signal is drastically affected. With the camera in my room I totally loose signal by the time I reach the end of the garage, perhaps 20 yards. Single wall redwood tongue & groove construction house. I’ll have to see if the reboot will help out at the rally cross site. The site is open dirt, but with Jersey barriers in areas. There were times when I couldn’t get 10 yard range. I wonder if there was some kind of electrical interference going on, maybe the spooks, or Pearl, or aliens.
Oh, and another thing, the open air cutout extension back seems to reduce sound sensitivity more than the regular open back. Hopefully they get Bluetooth working for external mic, there actually is an icon for it now in the camera setting, but it doesn’t do anything currently. Although that’ll be yet more battery drain.
Survived this Sunday’s Rally Cross in one piece, although same can’t be said of others! Broken radiator, dropped muffler and overheatage. It turned into an overcast day, but still hot, I’ve got a headache going right now still.
So after the first day of usage of the GoPro Wi-Fi Back I have mixed feelings of it so far. When it works, it’s great, but I seem to be experiencing some struggles. First off was the remote fob battery was almost dead even though I swear I had charged it the day before. Luckily the USB on my car stereo can charge it, although the controls act a little funny when the remote is plugged in, I guess it’s a combination that isn’t expected to be used. The number one problem I’m encountering is loss of wifi connection. The supposed ideal range is 600 feet, I was no where near that far and losing connection. There was a portion in video where you can hear me comment “hello” and pick up the camera before connection was reestablished and the camera turned off. I’m going to have to get in touch with GoPro about this, it seems really bad.
The belt clip broke on my Otterbox Defender case for my phone so the last few weeks I’ve been living with sticking my phone in pocket, which has been a pain. I poked around to see what was available now in ruggedized iphone cases and came across this. The Lifeproof case is touted as water, dirt, snow and shock proof. The waterproof kind of means the next two “proofs” are a given. What is nice is the surprisingly slim profile of this case. It’s actually thinner than the Otterbox and about the same in other dimensions except length! Continue reading ‘Lifeproof Iphone 4 Case’
Hot out of the labor camps of Chine, I got my hands on the GoPro Wifi combo kit. The WiFi Bac has been in development for a long time, it was talked about by GoPro many months ago and now finally has made an appearance in retail stores. Some people have been able to get some that were “accidentaly” released by Beast Buy. BB supposedly has an exclusive with GoPro to be the first to sell them so had them ahead of time but were not supposed to sell them before the official date. No worries for GoPro, being perhaps clever the camera requires a significant firmware update so all these people who got them ahead of time had useless little plastic bits with buttons you could press, make symbols on little displays, and plug them into USB ports and make them warm.
Dave at Mojo Tactical actually got these in at the end of May, but I didn’t get in there until this past Friday. This Weyland Corporation patch from Orca Industries in desert colorway references the early iteration of the sinister company in the Alien/Predator/Prometheus canon. From Aliens on, it’s the post-merger Weyland-Yutani Corporation, so this is from the Alien versus Predator to Alien timeline (which Prometheus falls in the middle of). Again, like most of Orca’s homespun patches, I don’t know if this is licensed or not. Still cool though. Patch measures 3″ x 1″. The hook-and-loop backing on this one isn’t as tenacious as it should be, especially at the acute top corners. Wear yours to the movie premiere!
$8 USD plus sales tax.
Recommended for fans
Dave at Mojo Tactical just got these in last Friday amongst a few others. Ckucke told me at lunch today that Dave told him to tell me that he got even more patches today, including Weyland Corp and more Hello Kitty patches! Check out the Mojo Tactical Facebook storefront to see what’s available.
Vince will probably get a kick out of this. Dave at Mojo Tactical has them in stock. A cursory internet search indicates that they are from Orca Tactical, but I’m guessing they are not licensed. Quality is good. They are available only in the desert tan colorway.
I was a bad boy today. Mojo Dave had a nice Jones Tactical belt in Multicam in large, so I jumped on it. I’m not going to get too heavy into the technical details, since you can go to the Jones website or probably find a boatload of reviews online. It is 1.5” wide. My waist is 34, and there is like another inch, maybe inch-and-a-half left on the loop Velcro for the adjustment tab. The body is made from heavy coyote brown webbing overlapped on both sides with printed Multicam webbing with the joint nicely hidden and finished. The adjustment webbing is 1” printed Multicam webbing with Multicam printed loop Velcro under the tail. The buckle is a 1” Cobra buckle. At $75 USD, it is quite spendy as belts go, more toward the price range of some designer Italian trouser belt than a run-of the mill single-layer scuba webbing tactical belt. The material and build quality justify the price in my opinion. Continue reading ‘Jones Tactical Cobra 1.5” EveryDay Belt’
I needed a mortar and pestle to grind up spices for masala chai, and I just so happened to see one in the knife display case at McBike, so I picked one up. The price was right at $29.98 USD plus sales tax, which is pretty much what it goes for online (MSRP is $50). The mortar body is made from a white glazed ceramic and measures about 10cm in diameter and about 6cm high. The glaze is absent from the foot of the bowl as is normal with ceramic ware. It would be nice if there was a ring of silicone there to keep it stable on a countertop, but the size and shape make it perfect to hold in the hand while using. The inside of the mortar is ridged like a traditional Japanese suribachi, but the ridges are glazed over to provide a slightly less aggressive surface. The nihongo labeling on the box identifies this as a “mini-suribachi”, but the overall shape is more hemispherical rather than the conical shape of typical suribachi. Continue reading ‘Kai Select 100 Mortar and Pestle’