There’s a whole lotta hubbub about Black Friday in the outdoor industry. If you’re on one side of the issue—i.e., hating Black Friday and the capitalist excess it stands for—you are unlikely to get pumped about the rest of this article. But if you’re like me and you do research beforehand and hold out on purchases until they are on sale, then Black Friday is a great way to save on things you were planning to buy anyway. Below are six items I have either tested for this publication in the past or use on the regular in my day-to-day life. I swear by every single one, even in normal times. But this week, you can snag up to 30 percent off, making now a great time to strike. This is the stuff that’s worth waiting around all year for.

Swiftwick National Park Socks

The Product: Blister-proof socks with flair
The Deal:Ìę11/25 to 12/2, you can get 25% off sitewide

By my best calculation, I have put more than 500 miles into my pair of Swiftwick Yosemite National Park Socks and they are still the first pair I grab from my drawer when I’m headed out for a run. They were my sock of choice for a 50-mile race I ran back in 2021 because the six-inch cuff helped keep rocks out of my socks, and the Yosemite print added a little flair to my kit. In my opinion, Swiftwick socks are the best at blister mitigation, which is why this pair remains my favorite a few years and hundreds of miles later.

DUER Performance Denim Slim

The Product: The highest performing slim-fit jeans I have tested
The Deal: 11/25 to 12/1, up to 50% off sitewide

Back in the summer of 2018, we published an article boldly titled, “Duer Makes the Best Jeans. Here Are Our Favorites,” based on the fact that an inordinate number of people putting this publication together at the time were all wearing DUER jeans as our daily drivers. While I did not contribute any writing to that article, I was one of the louder voices suggesting we write about the Canadian brand due to the fact that I was wearing a pair of slim-fit performance-denim jeans at least three days a week for everything from work meetings to re-working the irrigation in my garden. Ten months later I wrote about how their fleece lined jeans “changed my life. Superlative headlines aside—I am still wearing a pair of the slim-fit performance-denim jeans the DUER sent me back in 2018. They continue to fit in such a tailored fashion that I can pull them off when business casual is the expected attire and stretch like the dickens thanks to the two-percent spandex, 28-percent polyester, and 70-percent cotton weave. So yeah, after six years, I can say that they are indeed the best jeans.

Buff Tech Fleece Hat

The Product: The ultralight, ultrawarm hat of your dreams
The Deal: 11/25 to 12/3, up to 40% off select styles sitewide

Back in 2018, I did a comprehensive test of cold weather running hats and absolutely gushed over Buff’s extraordinarily comfortable fleece option. At the time, I wrote: “the Tech Fleece elicited notes like ‘LUXURIOUS!!’ and even an ‘ooh la la!!!!’” Embarrassing number of exclamation points aside, the brushed polyamide interior was so supple on my ears and forehead that I forgot I was wearing it while running. This beanie is still a go-to six years later. Buff’s current technical fleece hat looks a little different from its predecessor, but is still extremely comfortable thanks to the four-way stretch DryFlx material it was built from (this, by the way, is an upgrade from the hat I have held on to all these years.) Forgive the brand’s intentional misspelling and credit DryFlx’s 71-percent recycled material and hearty four-percent dose of elastane for a build that doesn’t pin down your ears and provides a similar, wildly soft feel.

ARMRA Immune Revival

The Product: Stomach-settling superfood supplement
The Deal: 11/28 to 12/2, get 20% off jars and bundles with promo code MYREVIVAL20, and 10% off sitewide with code MYREVIVAL10

My wife and I are definitely planning to buy this colostrum from ARMRA when it goes on sale because we typically pay full price—and it’s always worth every penny. I am always skeptical of superfoods that use as many superlatives as ARMRA does, but we have been using this stuff daily in our household for months and have noticed serious benefits to our guts and digestive systems. I will spare you details, but can say with confidence that Immune Revival helps keep our stomachs feeling good and settled—something I’m grateful for both while running and during everyday life.

KT Tape Pro

The Product: Stretchy support tape for muscles and joints
The Deal: 11/19 to 11/30, get 25% off sitewide

I am falling apart at 41 as a result of treating my body like it was invincible in my 20s (and most of my 30s). In the past six months, I’ve watched a massage therapist, chiropractor, and physical therapist all wrap up different parts of this breaking body using KT tape, and every time, I’ve walked out of their offices feeling like I had a little hug supporting my injuries. It’s a great way to help relieve pain and speed up recovery. I even have a roll of KT Tape at home that I bought to treat my own plantar fasciitis. KT Tape is comfortable going on, stretchy as hell so it doesn’t feel too binding, and comes off without much hassle.

Kane Footwear Active Recovery Shoe

The Product: Cloud-like slip-ons for post-workout recovery
The Deal: 11/20 to 12/2, BOGO 25% off

I named the Kane Revive Active the most versatile recovery shoe in a recent footwear test because it helped me cushion and support hammered legs but still wore like a regular shoe in all the ways I wanted it to. The footbed texture and smooth ride made the Kanes feel like a recovery shoe, while plentiful heel support, decent breathability, and a more streamlined silhouette made them functional enough for running errands. This is actually my second pair of these funky-looking recovery kicks—and likely won’t be my last.

The post The 6 Sales Gear Guy Is Shopping This Black Friday appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

In the chaos of year’s end, it’s easy to forget to prioritize yourself. After all, few of us have time for serious goal-setting or self-care amid the airport runs, in-law-wrangling, and countless other rings of the family circus. Inevitably, the New Year sneaks up on us before we have any time to plan or ponder. By the time we figure out what we want our resolutions to be and what stuff we need to make them happen, we’re already a month behind.

Don’t let that happen this year. Instead, take a few minutes right now to set some intentions for 2025. Then, take advantage of deep Black Friday discounts to order what you need and set yourself up for success. To give you a head start, we pored through press releases and deals lists to round up the ten best deals on the market.Ìę

Looking to reduce stress in 2025? Drink Less? Get strong? Sleep better? Finally get over that niggling injury? We’ve got you. Find time for yourself this holiday season with these top wellness-focusedÌęsales.

1. Drink Less

Athletic Brewing Non-Alcoholic Beer

On sale November 25

With NA options this good, you won’t want to stop at Dry January. Athletic Brewing has made a name for itself with its wide range of athlete-friendly recipes and creative flavors (think: crisp IPAs, fruity sours, or darker brews perfect for the cooler months).ÌęFrom Monday, November 25 ,Ìęthrough Monday, December 2, customers who join the brand’s will receive 30 percent off their first order. That’s $10 to $11 per six-packÌęrather than the usual $14 to $15. Better yet: you can order up to eight sixers. Buy in bulk, and the savings add up fast.

2. Start Meditating

Manduka enLight Meditation Cushion

On sale November 25Ìę

In theory, meditation is something you can embrace anytime, anywhere. In practice, it’s often hard to make yourself do it unless you have a set routine—and a designated spot. Enter the enLight Meditation Cushion. Simple, comfortable, and elegant, this pouf is both a visual reminder of the commitment you’ve made to yourself and a portable self-care routine. The microfiber cover is incredibly soft, and the wool inner pillow is springy and non-allergenic. It also comes in a range of colors to fit unobtrusively in any room.

3. Do More Yoga

Liforme Radiant Sun Yoga Mat

On sale nowÌę

Consider this mat your yoga cheatsheet. Liforme’s mats are all equipped with subtle, printed,Ìęsymmetrical guidelines to help you dial in your body awareness and make sure you’re stretching evenly on both sides. That slight aid can be an enormous help, whether you’re new to yoga or looking to advance your practice. The non-slip surface is ideal for sweaty hands and feet, and the natural rubber base and eco-polyurethane top are both environmentally friendly.

4. Explore Wilder Places

Garmin Fenix 7X Pro Solar

On sale now

If you’re looking to spend more time in nature—and get lost less—you can’t do better than this ruggedized, high-powered, expedition-ready watch.ÌęThe Fenix 7X Pro Solar lets you download maps directly to the device. The watch uses satellites to triangulate your position and show you where you are on the map —which means you’ll always know your exact location, even when you’re off-grid and out of service. A bevy of fitness settings lets you gather data on everything from your sleep and recovery to your performance on off-trail backpacking trips and technical tail runs alike. It also has a built-in flashlight and some of the best battery life in the business: up to 37 days.

5. Sleep Better

Dream Silk Sleep Pillowcase and Mask Bundle

On sale now

Imagine if every side of the pillow was the cool side of the pillow. That’s sleeping on silk for you. Silk is something of a supermaterial. First, it naturally regulates temperature. And unlike cotton, it won’t suck the hydration out of your skin or hair while you sleep. The smooth texture helps prevent hair tangling and breakage and naturally wicks moisture. Dream takes all of those benefits up a notch using extra high-quality silk infused with antibacterial silver ions. Between November 18 and December 19, you can get both Dream’s silk pillowcase and silk sleep mask (either bundled or separate) for 30 percent off. The brand’s best-selling , which claims to promote nasal breathing and help stop snoring—is also on sale for 30 percent off.

6. Recover From an Injury

Hyperice Hypervolt 2 Pro Massage Gun

On sale now

Percussive massage can help warm up muscles, break up knots, and be an invaluable part of a physical therapy or recovery routine. So, whether you’re looking to rehab a current injury or prevent a future one, consider the Hypervolt 2 Pro as part of your plan. The handheld massage gun has five different head attachments and a powerful motor, which means it’s strong enough to loosen up even the stiffest muscles. And from November 21 to January 8, it’s $70 off.

7. Get Stronger

Momentous Protein Powder

On sale November 25

Momentous gets all its products NSF- and Informed-Sport certified. So,Ìęif you’re new to the space and worried about safety and purity, this is a great place to start. Athletes who are into creatine (a well-studied supplement used to bulk up and enhance recovery) should opt for the ($97), a combo pack featuring protein, creatine,Ìęand omega-3. Or, if you’re just trying to up your protein intake without breaking the bank, choose between Momentous’s whey and plant-based protein powders ($30 to $49).

8. Reduce Stress

Plunge Evolve Air Pro Inflatable Cold Plunge

On sale nowÌę

Cold-exposure therapy is having a moment, and not just due to the Wim Hof Effect. Emerging research shows that frigid dips and improve mental health. And these days, you don’t even have to go to a fancy health spa to reap the benefits. On sale throughout the month of November, the Evolve Pro Air lets you practice a cold-water immersion routine at home. The inflatable pool is made of a durable, insulated material and only takes 15 minutes to set up. You can fill the basic version ($1,012)Ìęwith ice or purchase the version with a chiller ($2,967) to keep the water at a steady 37 degrees Fahrenheit. If contrast therapy is more your game, you’ll also want to look at Plunge’s sauna options: the ($8,917) offers a compact design and has a traditional stone heater that gets up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

9. Get Faster

Polar Pacer Pro

On sale nowÌę

The Polar Pacer Pro was built for speed. Whether you’re looking to finish your first 5K or shave minutes off your marathon time, this lightweight sports watch has everything you need to understand your performance and dial in your training. Keep it simple by tracking your splits and mile times, or dive into the nitty gritty of your running economy, heart rate, and V02 max. Built-in cycling and running tests let you establish your baseline and track it throughout the year, and advanced analytics will alert you if you’re overtraining and at risk of injury.

10. Optimize Performance

Whoop 4.0

On sale November 25

At long last, the fitness tracker with the enormous fan following is on sale. The Whoop 4.0 is designed to monitor everything from sleep and recovery to stress and physical strain. It lets you quantify how you’re feeling—mentally, physically, and emotionally—and offers insights to help you get back on track. From November 25 to December 3, you can sign up for 12 months of Whoop analytics (the Whoop 4.0 tracker device is included for free) and save $40 on the annual fee. Sign up for two years and you’ll also save $40 on the total.

The post 10 Black Friday Wellness Deals to Give You a Head Start on Your 2025 Resolutions appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

A very cold and wet camping experience a few weeks ago reminded me of the importance of a good heater in your rig. Upon arriving at camp, I discovered that one of my water jugs had leaked about two gallons of water onto the truck bed’s . Shortly after that, it started raining, which turned to snow a few hours later. The precipitation didn’t let up for two days. It was the first winter storm of the season, and the humidity and cold temperatures made it impossible to dry out the moisture in the BedRug, not to mention all my wet clothing and gear. Like an idiot, I’d left my portable diesel heater at home, thinking it wouldn’t be cold enough over the weekend to need it. I was seriously mistaken.

In my view, the whole point of a built-out adventure rig of any kind—be it a van, travel trailer, or truck camper—is to keep you more comfortable than a simple ground tent would. A huge part of that is providing a warm and dry space to be during inclement weather, which is where heat comes into play.

Sure, a good sleeping bag is really all you need to stay warm and survive cold nights, but we aren’t talking about survival here. We’re talking about thriving, and extending your camping season well past what you’d likely suffer through in a tent. I’ve been testing various budget-friendly heaters in my truck camper over the last year in an attempt to find a safe, reliable solution that’ll keep me warm all winter long.

There are a few main types of heaters: electric, propane, and diesel or gasoline. (You can read more about the pros and cons of each one below, if you’re interested.) To determine the best options, I tried four of the most popular models on the market. The electric heater—a small Honeywell-brand space heater called the Heat Bud—isn’t reviewed here because it simply didn’t heat my camper effectively. It also pulled too many watts from my to make the meager heat worth it. All in all, I wouldn’t recommend a small electric heater for your van or truck camper. The propane and diesel heaters I tested, however, are certainly worth considering. Here’s how the rest of the test shook out.

The ResultsÌę

• Best Value: ($65)
• Best Propane: ($360)
• Best Diesel: ($116)
• Types of Heaters
• A Note on Safety
• Takeaways

Mr. Heater Little Buddy

Ìę

People have been using Mr. Heater’s Little Buddy (and its more common, bigger brother, the ) portable heater to heat tents, campers and more for decades. They run on one-pound propane cylinders, are simple to use, and put out a good amount of heat for their size. The Little Buddy puts out 3800 BTUs. (For comparison’s sake, the electric heater I tested—the —puts out just 853 BTUs.) It can run for 5.6 hours on a one-pound propane cylinder and heats up to 95 square feet. The larger Buddy puts out up to 9000 BTUs—more than twice as much heat—and will heat up to 225 square feet. The Buddy chews through fuel, though: it will burn for just 2.4 hours on a one-pound cylinder of propane when running on high.

While Mr. Heater says these are safe for indoor use, I personally have never felt comfortable running them overnight. Such propane heaters don’t have any way to vent exhaust, so all the byproducts of combustion, including carbon monoxide (CO), fill up the space they’re heating. That means you have to open windows to ensure your rig is properly ventilated—not ideal if it’s frigid outside and you’re trying to keep heat in. These heaters have built-in Oxygen Depletion Sensors, so in theory they’re supposed to shut off if there’s not enough oxygen in the space. They also have an exposed flame, so you have to be careful to make sure there are no flammable materials nearby (although they do have built-in tip-over protection that shuts down the heater if it tips over).

In my experience, the Little Buddy did not put out enough heat to warm the camper sufficiently in temperatures below 40 degrees, and was better suited to keeping me warm while I was sitting around before hopping into bed. The Buddy’s 9000-BTU output was a better match for the Tune M1’s size, but the safety concerns and the 2.4-hour runtime meant I only ever used it while putting clothes on in the morning or just before bed. To me, that’s not sufficient, especially if you’ll spend hours inside your camper, either riding out bad weather or just killing time before bed. Winter nights are long, after all. I also found that these heaters do, in fact, add a lot of moisture to the air; I wound up with condensation on the walls of the camper after using both.

CAMCO Olympian Wave-3 Catalytic Safety Heater

Ìę

The Wave-3 sounded like a nice compromise between the Heat Bud and Buddy heater: it ran on propane, but could allegedly be run safely for long periods of time. While this heater is not a forced-air furnace with an exhaust vent, it’s supposed to be much safer to use indoors than say, a Buddy (although it does still require ventilation in the space). That’s thanks to a chemical coating on the heating element that supposedly retains harmful gasses. It’s particularly interesting because it can be hard-mounted in a camper or used as a portable heater with the .

It puts out up to 3000 BTUs, is rated to heat up to 130 square feet, has a safety shut-off valve, doesn’t require electricity since there’s no fan, and uses very little propane. I loved that it was totally silent, and I was also able to hook it up to a rather than rely on the disposable one-pound bottles. Doing that, I was able to run the heater on high for around 30 hours before running out of fuel.

I still never felt totally comfortable leaving it running overnight while I slept since the exhaust isn’t vented to the outside, but I have run it for six hours while riding out a storm in the camper. I found that it can create condensation on the walls of the camper, but it was less noticeable than with the Buddy.

The biggest downside to the Wave-3 is that because it is a radiant heater rather than a forced-air furnace with a fan, it warms the surfaces (or people) it’s pointed at rather than heating the air itself. While that might sound great, I found that in practice it doesn’t always work—you can feel the warmth from the heater when sitting next to it or getting dressed, but climb up into bed away from where the heater is pointed and it’ll be quite chilly. If you just want to use a heater to take the edge off while hanging out inside your camper, the Wave-3 (or larger , depending on how big your rig is) is a great choice, and hard to beat from a price, efficiency, and size perspective. If, however, you want to heat the entire space in your rig and be able to hang out inside without a jacket on, keep reading.

Vevor 12V 5KW Integrated Diesel Heater

Diesel heaters have become tremendously popular for winter camping over the last five years or so. Brands like Webasto and Espar have been popular in van builds for some time, and I first used a to heat a teardrop trailer I owned several years ago. I had great luck with that heater, and it was a little too powerful—it could cook us out of the tiny teardrop.

Chinese-made versions of Espar- and Planar-style heaters available on Amazon used to be riddled with problems, and people complained about them breaking all the time. However, they’ve gotten significantly better over the last few years and you can find them for much cheaper than the name brands. I decided to try a Vevor 5KW model, which seems to be the most well-regarded one of the bunch.

The Vevor is an integrated heater, meaning the fuel tank, heater, and all the components are housed together in a box. It came mostly assembled, and all I had to do was crimp two wires to , connect an exhaust and an air intake hose to the unit, fill it with diesel, and turn it on.

The beauty of this being a portable unit is that you don’t have to do a complicated installation inside your rig—just plug it into your 12v power source, set it outside the camper, run the hose in and you’ve got heat. That’s particularly nice because you don’t have to worry about exhaust leaking inside the camper, or the noise of the fuel pump or fan.

I first used this heater on a late-season Barbary Sheep hunt last January. Temps were in the teens overnight, and a buddy and I stayed warm in the Tune despite having to jerry-rig an entry port for the heat hose to enter and not having the camper’s insulation pack (basically an insulated cover that helps seal in heat)Ìęinstalled at that time. From that first use, I’ve been sold. I’ve found that when running on high, it’ll easily keep the Tune 40 degrees warmer than the ambient temperature. On a recent night that dropped into the 30’s here in Santa Fe, I let the heater run all night on high and it kept the inside above 80 degrees. None of the other heaters I tested could come close to maintaining those temperatures.

The Vevor packs enough punch for the coldest nights I’ve camped in. It’s also incredibly efficient. It uses about a gallon of fuel per night, and only pulls 40 amps once it’s running, so my Goal Zero Yeti 1500x can power it for about 40 hours. That leaves plenty of battery left to run other things in the camper like lights, the fridge, and a vent fan.

The biggest downside to a diesel heater is the fact that, unless you drive a diesel rig, you need to carry an additional fuel source with you. I don’t mind, and the dry heat this thing puts out is worth the extra hassle there—I haven’t experienced any condensation inside the camper when using this heater. One thing you have to watch out for is the cap on the fuel tank—it’s vented, so if you fill the tank and then the heater is rocking around in the back of your truck, some fuel will spill out. I typically fix the issue by putting a piece of tape over the hole or a latex glove under the cap until it’s time to run.

I haven’t had any issues with the Vevor heater over the six months I’ve been using it. Some folks claim Vevors need to be cleaned more frequently than the more expensive units, and that some of the parts like small gaskets and fuel lines aren’t particularly durable. At $116, though, you could buy 12 of these units for the price of , so I’ll take my chances.

Types of Heaters

First, a quick primer on heaters. The types most commonly found in campers and RVs run off one of three fuel sources: propane, diesel or gasoline, and electricity.

Propane

Propane furnaces have been a mainstay in the RV industry for years. Recently, however, propane-fueled heat has gotten a bad reputation for producing a lot of condensation, but that’s only true of non-vented propane heaters (more on that below). Most quality propane furnaces installed in travel trailers or vans have an exhaust pipe that vents all the byproducts of combustion—including moisture (and carbon monoxide)—away from the living space. All that to say, a quality, vented propane furnace like a Propex or Truma does not produce “wet heat,” and is a great solution for anyone who already uses propane for other camping needs, like cooking. I’ve also found that they work well at high elevations, which can’t always be said for diesel heaters.

Diesel

Diesel heaters have become incredibly popular in recent years due to their size, low cost, ease of use, and in some cases, portability. They’re known for being incredibly efficient, and for producing a ton of “dry heat.” Gasoline-powered versions of these heaters also exist, which mean you can tap into your vehicle’s fuel tank whether you drive a vehicle with a gas or diesel-powered engine. If you don’t drive a diesel-powered vehicle, choosing a diesel heater means you’ll need an auxiliary fuel tank and will be forced to carry around an additional fuel with you. Some diesel heaters also struggle at high altitudes.

Electric

Electric heaters, like space heaters you’d use in your home or office, or heating modes found on many RV AC units, are common. I’ve found these only work for taking the chill off of a cold morning, and don’t provide enough heat to stay comfortable in really cold conditions. Unsurprisingly, they also require a lot of electricity to run, which means you have to be connected to shore power, run a generator, or have a massive, expensive battery bank in your rig.

A Note on Safety

First, it should be noted that each of these solutions could work for your rig depending on how well insulated it is. I’ve been testing these in my Tune M1, which has very little insulation, but if you’ve got a composite camper with a crazy high R-Value, you could likely get away with a less powerful heater.

It should also be noted that anytime you’re using a heater of any kind in a camper, you should have a working carbon monoxide (CO) detector—and a propane detector if you’re using a propane heater—as well as a fire extinguisher. Both these detectors will alert you if gas levels get too high inside your rig, and could save your life if something goes wrong. You can’t be too careful with this stuff.

Anytime I’m winter camping, I also always bring a zero-degree sleeping bag as a backup in case the heater fails.

Takeaways

If you plan to use your rig to chase snow this winter, have a late-season hunt coming up, or just want to extend your camping season, you’re going to want a good heater. If you’ve got a power source and don’t mind bringing along some diesel fuel with you, I highly recommend the . If you want something totally silent that doesn’t require power and are ok with the additional ventilation requirements, the is a big step up over a Buddy-style ceramic heater and, in my view, worth the extra money.

The post The 3 Best Propane and Diesel Heaters for Your Rig appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

I take gift-giving very seriously. Every year, I spend weeks strategizing the perfect present for friends and family. Each gift has to be unique and something they probably wouldn’t buy themselves but still something they’ll use religiously.

Between skiers, runners, and gym rats, I’ve got a lot of outdoor athletes on my list. Here’s what I’m buying for their stocking stuffers this year.

If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside. Learn more.

For the Gym Rat

Smokin’ Buds True Wireless Earbuds ($25)

As anyone with dogs or toddlers knows, earbuds often disappear, and you can never have too many. With a 20-hour battery lifespan, different audio modes for various types of sound, and built-in microphones, Smokin’ Buds are good for blasting a favorite playlist at the gym—and taking calls, listening to podcasts, and watching movies in day-to-day life. Plus, they’re water-resistant and ready to handle a good sweat from a tough training day at the gym.

For the Runner

Amazon Basics High-Density Foam Roller ($8)

șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű editors test a lot of gear, and after nearly a decade of working for this publication, my home’s closets are littered with fancy foam rollers. But my favorite of the bunch doesn’t have varying foam densities or fancy pressure points; it’s a simple, smooth, black cylinder that gets the job done without unnecessary bells and whistles. The roller I’ve been obsessed with for the past five years has since been discontinued, but I found a comparable and equally affordable option in Amazon’s collection that I’m gifting to a couple of the runners in my life this year.

For the Skier

Patagonia Gear Patch Kit ($19)

Who needs a new hardshell when you can repair the one you’ve already loved for years? Patagonia’s Worn Wear Patch Kit comes with four sticky patches that adhere to all kinds of outdoor fabrics, from nylon and vinyl to rubber and plastic. The kit is perfect for any skier to mend a jacket on the fly but can also be used to patch up tents, sleeping bags, and all kinds of apparel.

For the Yogi

Hugger Mugger Yoga Wipes

Nothing throws off a practice faster than a stinky mat. Give the gift of freshness this holiday season with Hugger Mugger’s yoga mat wipes. Add water to the compact pods and they expand into towelettes. They’re made with bamboo and scented with lavender essential oils. Bonus: They can also be used to clean your face or feet.

For the Hiker

Hiker Micro Crew Cushion Socks ($25)

I’ve always been a sucker for Darn Tough’s bold color schemes and Goldilocks thickness: bulky enough to feel substantial but thin enough to fit into any pair of shoes or boots. I’ve even been known to throw them on beneath road running shoes for chilly winter jogs. A blend of 61-percent merino wool, 36-percent nylon, and 3-percent Lycra spandex make the Hiker Micro. Like every Darn Tough sock, if these don’t turn out to be the longest-lasting pair of socks your giftee has ever worn, they can ship them to the company and receive a in return.

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You can save hundreds—if not thousands—of dollars on technical outdoor gear if you master just one simple aspect of gear maintenance: zipper care. Even just doing the bare minimum to maintain your zippers can add five or more years of life to backpacks, fancy Gore-Tex jackets, and pricey tents. And the longer you can go without having to replace these things, the more cash you’ll have in your pocket for more important things—like gas money, plane tickets, and breakfast burritos.

Over the years, I’ve interviewed hundreds of gear experts for this column, and zippers have come up dozens of times—particularly when speaking with repair specialists—as the most important individual detail on the pieces of gear they live on. It makes sense: Zippers are a major point of weakness on most gear, and they can break easily if they’re not used correctly. Repairing them is difficult to do at home and expensive to outsource. If an ember flies onto my rain jacket and burns a hole in the shoulder, I can repair it in minutes with some and/or one of my beloved . If I break a zipper, I usually just panic.

But while it’s important to respect zippers, it’s also important not to fear them. After all, they’re simple machines that have barely changed over the past 120 years. To help demystify them, I called three of the most reputable materials and components experts I know, and asked them to share their secrets.

Here’s what you need to know about zipper care, use, and maintenance to keep your gear going year after year.

The Experts

is currently the director of research development and design for BioSkin, which makes medical braces. Before that, he spent 20 years designing gear for the likes of Cascade Designs, REI, and military uniform company Massif, where he specifically focused on trims and zippers.

has been one of my most trusted—and refreshingly candid—materials sources for a decade now. He’s served as global director of product merchandising and design for Mountain Hardwear, and as a senior product manager for brands like The North Face and Simms. He is currently the Global Chief of Outdoor Product at global clothing sourcing company Asmara Group.

has been a lecturer at the Royal College of Art in London—specializing in performance sportswear and design—for nearly 13 years. Ross is an academic through and through and knows an astonishing amount about the history and functionality of zippers.

A Brief Glossary

Tape: The cloth on either side of a zipper

Teeth: The rows of little knobs that come together to create the zipper chain

Pin: The pointy piece of metal or plastic at the bottom of one side of your zipper. This is the piece you have to slot into the little box at the bottom and line up to start the zip.

Pull:ÌęThe floppy metal or plastic tab you grab with your fingers to slide your zipper up and down

Slider: The chunky piece of metal or plastic the zipper pull is attached to. The slider goes up and down along zipper tape. Its job is to connect or disconnect the teeth as you zip and unzip.

Pin box: The pin box is the little square at the bottom of the zipper that keeps the slider from falling off. You have to insert one side of the zipper tape (the side with the pin) into this box in order to start the zipper.

Zipper Buying Tips

Look for a “YKK” on the zipper

All three of my experts specifically—and sometimes begrudgingly—agreed that YKK makes a fantastic zipper. This is a brand that can be trusted for quality.

“You’re going to mitigate 80 percent of your headaches by going with YKK because they’ve just got it dialed,” Fry said. “It’s high quality. The execution is the same almost everywhere in the world. So whether you get a jacket that’s made in Indonesia, China, or Canada, it’s going to have the same quality of feel and behavior.” Fry said. Put simply: If you buy a jacket with a generic zip rather than YKK brand, your chances of failure are higher.

Test the zipper before you buyÌę

If you can, get the garment in hand and get a feel for the zipper before you pull the trigger on a purchase. The zipper action should be smooth. “It should feel like liquid,” said Fry. And if it feels like it’s catching or halting? “Then it’s probably non-branded and it’s going to break,” he said.

Bigger is better

If you’re looking at two competing products and one has a larger main zipper, it will probably last longer. “Bigger is always better, always, every time,” Fry said. Every time you use a zipper, it wears off little bits of material. Smaller teeth fail faster because they have less material to spare, and the teeth deform or round off—and stop catching—after fewer uses.

The difference in the weight between a #5 zipper (a zipper with teeth that measure a five millimeters in diameter when closed—the kind you might expect to see on a lightweight rain jacket) and a #10 (the kind of zipper you’re probably used to seeing on your carry-on luggage) is remarkably insignificant. But that #10 zipper is going to last a great deal longer.

Best Zipping Practices

The best way to keep your zippers in good working order is to treat them with respect. Here are our experts’ tips.

Don’t use zippers to force something shut

One of the greatest sources of user error, particularly on luggage and backpacks, is trying to use the zipper itself to leverage a piece of gear closed. “They’re not meant to be the closure device,” Fry said. Pulling a stubborn bag shut puts a lot of force on the slider and teeth. Zippers weren’t designed to withstand that force.

“Zips work really well going one-dimensionally, so straight up and down,” Ross explains. Any amount of curvature introduced into the system is going to make the zipper significantly more likely to fail. A light curve, like when I zip a sweatshirt over my tummy after I have joyfully eaten an entire large pizza, is going to make it about five percent more likely to fail. If I were to put a basketball under my sweatshirt and zip it closed, the zipper is much more likely to bust. So, if you spot a bulge in your pack, fix it before trying to zip it shut to help mitigate this problem.

Brute force will only make a stuck zipper worse

“If you’re feeling resistance [in your zip], the number one thing to do is to stop and examine it,” Ross said. Zippers should run smoothly, so any type of resistance at all—even just light sluggishness as you pull up or down—is worth looking at. While this sounds very straightforward, I have to admit it’s hard to follow. In my haste, I have injured many a zipper. Ross has, too. “I’m a bloke,” Ross laughs. “If I get resistance, I pull harder.” But in this case, he recommends you do as he says—not as he does. Yanking a zipper shut is more likely to break teeth or jerk the slider off the track. And just as getting stopped for a speeding ticket makes your commute a whole lot longer, breaking your zipper is going to add more to your packing time. Slow down, and do it right the first time.

Fry also highlighted the importance of using a soft hand when zipping. “Really make sure you take the pressure off of the zipper so that the zipper slides easily,” Fry said. “If you’re struggling with the zipper, it’s probably going to break—either that time or the next time you use it.”

Take extra time to seat your zipper

Munter takes extra care to properly seat the pin of his zipper into the box every time he zips up a jacket. If you rush the seating or don’t get the pin in all the way, it significantly increases the chances that the teeth won’t come together in a uniform manner. That makes them more likely to warp. Little micro-warpings in the teeth often lead to unfixable problems in a zipper over time.

This extra thoughtfulness around engagement in the beginning of the zipping process goes for the slider, too. Munter likes to pinch the slider against the pin box and bring it below the pin before slotting the pin into place. This creates compression that will set the start of the zip up perfectly. “If you start all good, then you’ll function well,” Munter said.

Easy Maintenance Tricks to Make Your Zippers Last

Slowing down and respecting your zips isn’t the only way to keep them going strong. They also need a little TLC every once and a while. Here’s how to keep your zippers running smoothly for years to come.

Clean your zippers

“Gunk gets in the way [of the teeth] and wears your zipper down,” Munter said. Over time, dirt and grit gets clogs the spaces between the teeth, preventing them from sliding together. Dirt can also create abrasion, which chips away at your zipper teeth. The answer? Regular cleaning.

According to Munter, washing your zippers with water alone isn’t enough; to really get dirt and grime out of the tiny crevices, you’ll need an emusifier, like a soap or detergent. While running a jacket through the wash after using it will take care of most of the grime, it is worth getting in there with a brush and soap if you absolutely hammer a jacket with dirt on, say, a climbing trip. If the zipper you want to clean is on a tent or large bag that you wouldn’t want to run through a washing machine, Munter recommends scrubbing your tent or pack with a brush and soapy water.

Size up (or pack less)

We’ve already established that zippers are terrible compression devices. The best way to remedy this is by sizing up. For jackets, think about purchasing a size big enough to comfortably pile on layers underneath it, Ross said. As for packs and suitcases? If you find yourself aggressively zipping it closed, it’s not big enough. Pack less, or buy a bigger bag.

Wax your zippers

Fry learned an invaluable zipper care lesson when he worked at Simms and watched them wax the waterproof zips on waders.

“Seems silly, but anytime you’ve got a big chunky zipper, a little bit of wax can go a long way,” Fry said. “You don’t need to have liquid lubricant stain your fabric, but a hard block of a candle wax [does the trick]. As you move the zipper slider up and down, it heats up and melts the wax into the base the teeth.”

You don’t need much: A single swipe along your zipper has the dual benefit of seriously lubricating the zipping process as well as keeping out sand and grit. Both will improve your zipper’s longevity for years to come.

The post How to Never Break Another Zipper appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

If you’re reading this, you likely already drive a truck, or you’re in the market for a heavy-duty vehicle to support your adventures. Chances are also good that you’re familiar with terms like “payload” and “gross vehicle weight rating,” and maybe even refer to the latter as “” in casual conversation. Well, I’d like to introduce you to a term you may not be as familiar with: “payload police.”

Payload police is something of an internet phenomenon. The concept seems to have stemmed from a place of genuine concern for the safety of folks overloading their rigs—and for other drivers sharing the road with those vehicles. But, as with most things on the internet, it’s morphed into a strange subculture of shaming others for not building an adventure rig “correctly.”

These days, if someone posts an Instagram photo of a heavily modified pickup—or even just a simple truck with a camper in the back—some of the first comments will most assuredly be “How far over GVWR are you?” or “What’s it weigh?” Spend a little time , and you’ll no doubt start thinking your truck is too small for the job. Spend a lot of time on these threads, and you’ll probably become convinced you need a three-quarter-ton truck no matter what you plan on using it for. It doesn’t stop there, either. Hop in a three-quarter-ton forum, and you’ll find everyone thinks they need a one-ton.

The dirty truth is that all truck owners think they need a bigger truck. (I know there’s a joke here to be made about bigger not always being better, but I’ll resist the urge.) And while some folks would actually benefit from a one-ton vehicle, not everyone needs to go so far. So, what’s the answer? How big of a truck do you actually need?

Step One: Get Off the Internet

If you’re worried about overloading your rig, you have two options. If you don’t yet have the rig, do a lot of research before you buy and purchase the right truck for the job. And if you already have a truck, modify the one you have accordingly, and resign yourself to the fact that your rig might end up weighing a little more than the GVWR listed on the sticker. Most of all, quit spending so much time in the forums and on Instagram screaming about payload, and go use your truck.

At this point you might be gasping in your chair: Go over the GVWR?! Egads—won’t something terrible happen if I do that? For some context, I called up , who’s been a fixture in the overland industry for years and now runs one of the best overland and off-road shops in the country, Basil’s Garage. In addition to working on rigs of all shapes and sizes, Lynch has also owned his fair share—ranging from an F250 with a home-built flatbed camper, to a first-gen Tundra built for high-speed desert romps. In fact, a of his is what inspired this piece.

 

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“Yes the Tacoma is technically overweight even with very minimal stuff in the back of it,” Lynch says, “but you also see them loaded up all day, every day, and very rarely do people have problems with them.”

Lynch and his team take a nuanced approach to building rigs. They start by considering a truck’s GVWR and payload capacity, and they try to make sure their customers are using the right vehicle at the beginning of a build. Lynch often sees customers purchase the wrong truck—either a vehicle that’s way too overpowered for their intended use, or one that just doesn’t have the payload capacity to handle build they want. If you’re building out a rig, Lynch says, consider consulting with your shop or vehicle outfitter before purchasing a truck. That way, a professional can help guide you in the purchase.

But, at the end of the day, Basil’s Garage will help build just about anything.

“We build a lot of campers on the backs of larger, three-quarter-ton and one-ton trucks and everyone’s like ‘Ah, it’s still over payload.’ But then you also see a contractor’s truck that’s twice as much over payload and has 150,000 miles on it going down the street just fine,” Lynch says. “There are a lot of overweight vehicles out there, and you don’t see them snapped in half on the side of the highway.”

Step Two: Think Carefully Before You Modify

Legality is a funny thing. While you can’t legally increase a truck’s payload in the U.S., you can do it in other places around the world. Take Australia, for example, a country known for having lots of cool rigs, and also a lot more regulations on 4x4s and off-road vehicles than we do over here. For instance, in Australia, you’re typically not allowed to lift a vehicle more than about two inches and your tires can’t stick out past the wheel wells. You can also get ticketed for driving a vehicle that weighs more than its gross vehicle mass (GVM) rating. And yet, unlike Americans, Australians are allowed to increase their vehicle’s GVM. Down Under, you can purchase a kit that consists largely of new suspension components like springs and shocks. Some upgrades also call for new tires with a higher load rating.

Companies like ARB and (which also make suspension kits for U.S. vehicles) invest in serious engineering and get their kits certified with Australia’s Federal Department of Infrastructure and Transport. So, once you add a kit to your rig, you can legally get your vehicle re-registered with a higher GVM.

In Australia, a GVM Upgrade kit can legally double the payload capacity of a 200-series Land Cruiser from 1,422 pounds to 2,888 pounds. Each kit is vehicle-specific, and not all provide gains at that magnitude, but many are still significant.

 

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The bad news is that there is no legal way to increase the payload capacity of your vehicle in the U.S. However, the physics don’t change just because we live across an ocean.

“Legally, if you’re overweight in the U.S., there’s no way around that,” Lynch says. “But, there are lots of amazing products out there that you can combine together to make a truck safely carry a decent chunk of weight over what it’s legally supposed to carry.”

So, if you plan to add a lot of weight to your rig by bolting on accessories or carrying a camper in the bed, make sure to budget for any potential modifications. Updating your suspension setup, regearing the axles to run larger tires, and getting a brake upgrade can easily cost more than $10,000. Then, of course, there’s the matter of legality. Be sure to weigh the costs of those modifications against the hassle of trading in your current truck for something bigger.

Step Three: Consider a WorkaroundÌę

If you make the appropriate modifications to your rig and you’re still worried about it weighing more than the magic number printed on the door jamb, here may be some workarounds available. In some states, you can . Another option is to remove weight from the vehicle. Doing so will reduce your curb weight, technically giving you more payload. My friend Richard Giordano, an experienced overlander who travels full time out of his truck camper, recently with his Toyota Tundra. He removed the rear seats and opted for a lightweight aluminum bumper and aluminum skid plates rather than heavy steel versions.

“A lot of the time, simpler is better. Keeping lift heights low and tire sizes small is a really good way to keep [your vehicle] drivable even with the extra weight of a rig,” Lynch says.

I’d also encourage you to use one last tool: common sense. Does your truck’s rear suspension look perky, or is it sagging under all the weight in the bed? Does it feel easy to tow your travel trailer, or do you feel like you’re taking your life in your hands every time you hitch up? Consider what you’re hauling, and how often. Don’t put a 3,000-pound camper in the back of a Tacoma and expect your truck to handle well. By the same token, don’t buy an F350 and expect it to handle like a Tacoma. And, no matter what you do, don’t fall victim to the constant, unsolicited shaming of the payload police. This is your rig. You get to choose how you haul with it.

The post Do You Really Need a Bigger Truck? appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

If you’ve read or watched any of my other work for șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű, you know I’m a huge fan of pickups for adventure rigs. They’re capable, comfortable, and supremely versatile.

You can leave a truck bed open and empty for hauling dirty stuff regularly, or build out the back with an entire custom camping setup. I’ve done both of those things, and my current truck, a 2018 Toyota Tundra, has served as a revolving door of various bed setups since I bought it in 2022. I’ve tried a tonneau cover, a , a Leitner bed rack, a Frontrunner bed rack, and a traditional fiberglass camper shell. I’ve also hauled two different full-sized truck campers, and had a lightweight shell-style camper on the back with various storage solutions inside.

I ran Decked Drawers for years in the Tundra and my two previous trucks, and loved them. I’ve written about the older model several times, but to recap, they’re a great way to organize all the crap in the bed of your truck, and keep your gear out of the elements if you have an open bed. They’re bombproof, have an incredibly high payload rating, and you can purchase a variety of accessories like boxes, bags and dividers that help make organization even easier. So, if they’re so great, why did I pull them out of my Tundra last year? I got a Tune M1 camper on the truck and needed more room—I was too tall to stand up straight inside the camper when the drawers were installed. That’s part of the reasoning, but frankly I also wanted to test out some different options and see if another system might suit my adventure rig needs better.

No. 3: Keep it Simple

Dometic GO Hard Storage 50L

The first system I tried wasn’t really a system—I went back to using storage bins. Drawers are handy and a very cool thing to have in the back of your truck, but there are some downsides: they’re heavy, they take up a ton of space, and, as the old saying goes, if they’re there, you’ll find a way to fill them. I often found myself leaving things in the drawers that didn’t need to be there all the time (think camping gear, an excessive amount of tools, extraneous recovery gear, etc.) just because I had the space. All that stuff adds up, and you can easily find yourself with an additional 200-plus pounds worth of crap living in your rig, which affects gas mileage, wear and tear on the truck, and more.

The funniest part is that I found myself constantly taking things out of the drawers and putting them away in (wait for it) bins in my garage. I have a lot of gear-intensive hobbies, like mountain biking, hunting, skiing, and fly fishing, and after a while I got tired of constantly moving gear from one bin to another in the back of the truck. So, I thought, why not just move the same bin to the truck and then to the shelf when I’m done? Because I (and the overland industry) had convinced myself that drawers were a necessity, that’s why.

In making my transition, I tested several different storage containers in an attempt to find the perfect bin: it needed to be durable but lightweight, large enough to fit all sorts of bulky gear, and reasonably priced. I tested options from , , , , and more, but my favorite is the . It’s a simple, dust-proof and waterproof aluminum storage bin with built-in handles and tie down points, and durable, easy to use rubber latches. You can lock them shut, they’re stackable, and they’re durable enough to use as a step or seat around camp.

The best part is they only weigh about nine pounds on their own, and cost $150, which is a bargain compared to some of the marketed toward more “hardcore” overlanders. I’ve found the Dometic GO 50-liter bin to be extremely durable, and just the right size to pack whatever I need. It’ll easily hold a camp stove like a , plus enough cookware and cups for four people, or a tent and a couple sleeping bags.

No. 2: The Splurge

TruckVault Base Camp 3 Storage System

Though I’d found my perfect bin, I kept wanting to try a stacked drawer setup that would let me have some built-in storage while retaining bed space and standing height in the camper. So, I decided to try another, built-in storage system I’d been eyeing for a long time: system. TruckVault is known for its bombproof, custom drawer setups for trucks and SUVs, and for its security-oriented storage solutions for military and first responders. If you’re concerned about gear getting stolen, TruckVault is who you want to talk to.

Recently, the brand introduced its line, marketed toward overlanders and outdoor enthusiasts. I went with the Base Camp 3 because it has stacked drawers on one side, and a removable sleeping platform in the middle that allows me to simply slide it out of the way to fully stand up and walk around in the camper without hitting my head. Like the rest of TruckVault’s products, the drawers are also lockable, which is great for securing expensive gear. With my truck’s tailgate locked and the drawers locked inside, I never worry about things getting stolen from the back.

Each system is built specifically for your exact truck, and once you select the drawers and options you want, the resulting system is shipped pre-built. That meant installation was incredibly simple. You just have to drill a few holes in the bed and install rivnuts, and then bolt the drawers down. Everything fits like a glove, and the fit and finish, as well as function of the drawers, is second to none. Overall, the installation was far easier and less time-consuming than installing a , which I’ve done three times now. The TruckVault drawers are also easy to remove with two people, since it just involves removing a few bolts.

What’s cool about TruckVault is that in addition to the base models they offer, you can customize everything. In my case, I opted to put the stacked drawer on the passenger side of the truck bed, and rather than one long sliding drawer on top, I had them divide it between a shorter drawer and two “cubbies” that I could access from inside the camper. That has worked great for me because it allows me to easily grab gear from the drawers while I’m outside of the truck, but I can also keep things I need quick access to at night in the cubbies. That means that, unlike with the Decked system, I don’t have to get out of the truck and open the drawers to grab my headlamp or earplugs in the middle of the night.

Since my camper has a bed above the cab, I don’t often use the lower sleeping platform as a bed. But I do love the fact that I can use it for guests if I need to, or store things like my bow case underneath it, away from prying eyes. It would be an incredible camping solution under a regular camper shell, and I’ve found that the platform—in combination with the cubbies underneath—to be a much more effective use of space than drawers alone. While I’m a huge fan of the setup, there are downsides: my system came in at 343 pounds, and it ran me $4,660 shipped.

That’s a lot of weight and money, but what you get is a very high quality, bombproof storage setup that’s easy to install and can be customized to your exact needs. If you’ve got the dough and the payload capacity, there’s no better setup than the Base Camp line.

No 1: The Goldilocks Setup

BamBeds Lengthwise Bed PlatformÌę

In my quest to find the perfect storage solution, I also tested a truck bed platform system from a new company called . BamBeds systems are sort of the antithesis to the TruckVault setup I tested, and are great for very different reasons. The company makes wooden platforms for the back of pickups that allow folks to sleep on top and store gear underneath. It’s a simple concept that DIY truck campers have been doing for decades now, but BamBeds is the perfect solution for anyone with a truck who doesn’t have the time, tools, or skills to build a platform themselves. A runs just $500, and consists of three birch panels custom-made to slide into the truck bed above the wheel well and rest on the stock ledge. The brand makes a host of accessories like , and it caters to the DIY crowd by offering a for other additions, like foldable mattresses or bins that are just the right size to fit the system.

The works a bit differently due to the nature of the bed, and it consists of three modular sections of plywood that run lengthwise, plus support legs underneath. You can remove the center panels for more standing room if you need it. The platform itself supports up to 1,500 pounds, and everything installs quickly without any tools, thanks to the ingenious rotating locks they designed for the legs.

The whole thing also only weighs about 100 pounds, so it’s a heck of a lot lighter than a dedicated drawer setup and far easier to remove. I’m a big fan of the sleep platform as a no-nonsense storage solution, and I actually think it’s a better option than dedicated drawers for most people.

The only downside to the system I’ve been testing is that, since it requires support legs, anything you put underneath the platform has to fit between the legs. That gives you less flexibility than having the unencumbered width of your truck bed like you would with a Tacoma-sized BamBed. Overall, though, I think BamBeds are a simple, lightweight and affordable storage solution for anyone with a truck, and you’d be hard pressed to DIY something as high quality without some serious woodworking skills.

The Bottom Line

So, what did I end up running long term? I have yet to answer that question. The is damn near perfect for my needs, but it does add a lot of weight to the truck and suffers from the “if you have the space, you’ll find a way to fill it,” issue that all drawer systems seem to enable. The is a simple, versatile platform, and if I drove a Tacoma or a newer Tundra, I would definitely run it because the design allows for more unencumbered storage. For most users, this is likely the way to go. Long term, though, I may end up running just the one driver-side drawer from the Base Camp 3 and leaving the other out, or perhaps building a custom galley or storage cabinet out of 80/20 aluminum. For now, though, it’ll be some combination of the above—and, of course, a few for good measure.

The post Tested: The Three Levels of Truck-Bed Storage Nirvana appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

The first Gear Guy video I produced for șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű in 2013 is, to this day, my most ambitious. It was also the scariest thing I have done while testing gear. I have always taken pride in testing gear rigorously enough to put myself in danger at times. On other assignments for this publication, I have ice climbed on thousands of feet of exposure on mixed routes in Chamonix, shivered next to a feeble fire in shorts through a night when a freak , and triggered a loose wet slide avalanche that I outskied on Mt. McLoughlin. Those moments stick out as scary, but they pale in comparison to the cold, butt-puckering, fear I felt while I faced the camera and delivered the lines “…and punished it” while my dear friend Saylor fell a 50-foot tree onto a Ìębehind me.

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We dropped the dead tree legally and in an environmentally sound manner, but I still regret the decision because it was just so fucking dangerous. I could have been crushed if Saylor messed up his chainsaw work by an inch. I wanted to pretend it was no big deal, so I didn’t look back at the tree while speaking into the camera. Our camera operator, Pat, told me he would yell “Bail!” if the tree looked like it was coming our way. When I heard the crack that let me know the tree was on its way down, life moved in slow motion. I could see the shotgun mic on Pat’s camera jiggling from his shaky nerves.

The tree hit its mark beautifully and the cooler beneath it survived the ridiculously massive impact. The middle of the lid was a little warped from the hit, but the hinges still worked and the body held strong. My buddy Saylor used boiling water and a rubber mallet to restore the cooler to near-new—and used it on river trips for half a decade after the test. I haven’t been able to top that level of gear testing since then (nor would I want to now, as a forty-one-year-old father).

Professionally testing outdoor gear for the ten-plus years since then has been a dream job. Also: professionally testing outdoor gear limits the number of topics outdoorsy acquaintances want to talk to me about. I have lied about my job at parties because I knew that if I mentioned what I did for work, the night would descend into backcountry ski touring binding talk and I would miss an opportunity to connect in any real way. I have answered thousands of questions about gear over the last decade.

But the one question I have been asked the most, by far, is: “Is the Yeti [insert product] worth the money?” I have been texted the question so many times that I had to type an automatic answer on my Notes app about roto-molding and insulation to be ready to copy and paste.

So, Are Yeti Products Worth the Money?

Yes. If you are here because of the headline, my TLDR is Yes. Yeti products are worth their high price tag. The rest of this article is more of an answer to why I think the super-premium, ridiculously overbuilt products are worth the money. That “why” isn’t simple.

First, I want to address the large mythical snow monster in the room: I have not paid for any of the Yeti products I have tested over the years. I have also held on to many of the ones I did not destroy while testing and still use them to this day. Many would say that the fact that I haven’t paid for these products would discredit my belief that the high price tag is warranted.

I have never, however, paid out of my pocket for any products I have tested for șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű (I would hemorrhage money if that were the case). The fact that I have tested them all for free gives me freedom to address the price based solely on the merits of the product. The fact that I have not paid for the products does make the conversation about price more philosophical since my own bucks aren’t in the game.

Yeti Products I’ve Tested

After a decade of dedicating my life and career to testing gear, I have gone the deepest on Yeti products, investing hundreds of hours to test dozens of products—and opining on their value. If you have not been closely following my column for șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű (don’t worry, my parents still tell their friends I work for Outdoor Magazine) here is a list of 15 times I weighed in on whether Yeti products are worth the price, and my verdict:

• Original Tundra Cooler review (): Oh, hell yeah.
• Rambler 18oz Water Bottle (): Body is worth it, lid isn’t.
• Rambler 10oz Stackable Lowball (): Worth twice the price.
• First generation Hopper Tote (): Kinda OK?
• V Series Cooler (): Not really
• April Fools Casket ($4,114): Har har, but, well, yes?
• LoadOut GoBox 30 ($250): It depends (sorry)
• Roadie 48 Wheeled Cooler (): Yup.
• Rambler One Gallon Jug (): Totally.
• Rambler 36oz Water Bottle (): Sure.
• Roadie 24 Hard Cooler ($250): Yeah.
• Rambler 16oz Stackable CupÌę(): Absolutely.
• Tundra Haul (): Sure.
• 1Rambler 10oz Stackable Lowball—again (): Best for Rowdy Campers (only $20!).
• Hondo Base Camp Chair (): No.

As you can see, the overall result leans pretty heavily towards yes, the two exceptions being the V Series cooler and the Hondo camp chair. But to be fair, the V Series cooler got a rough treatment. And while I was diplomatic about my assessment of the original Hondo, I could have been quoted at the time saying, off the record, “Only an asshole would buy themselves a $300 camp chair and watch their family sit in cheap ones, or pony up $1,200 for camp chairs for everyone.”

Since Yeti products test so well, it’s tempting to want to jump to a simple answer to the “why” question. If the end product is usually better than its competitors, it should be worth more. While that could offer a clean answer for individual products (particularly when comparing their first-generation Tundras to just about any other cooler on the market) it isn’t a satisfying answer when you look at Yeti as a company that posted 68 million dollars in sales internationally in Q3 of 2023 and now makes dozens of products beyond just coolers. I feel like completely focusing on individual performance to gauge value would demand a value call on each of the dozens of products they offer. But, before I take you all too deeply into those weeds, let’s take a quick refresh on the Yeti brand as a cultural phenomenon.

Behind the Brand

Brothers Roy and Ryan Seiders founded Yeti in 2006. The brothers were anglers and hunters based out of Driftwood, Texas, and their father, Roger, had seen success inventing super durable, high-performance, two-part epoxy fishing rods that sold at a premium price point. Because Roy was initially in the boat business, he wanted to make a super durable cooler that could also serve as a casting platform—something that would be virtually indestructible and irreplaceable. To achieve that goal, the brothersÌęeventually landed on using on the exterior of the coolers—the same technology that made whitewater kayaks exponentially stronger in the 90s—and jamming them full of a shit ton of insulation. The result was insanely durable and lightyears better than most of its competition. It was also way more expensive.

I brought up covering Yeti coolers in an editorial meeting in 2011 while I was a junior member of the staff at șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű. My pitch was clumsy and utilized my signature brand of rapid-fire, sweaty upper-lipped excitement—and I got crickets.Ìę I remember one editor, who happened to be one of my idols, looked down and shook his head in painfully visible disappointment. At the time, they were just coolers. Or were they?

Whether or not people asked for a $400 cooler, they have proven willing to pay for one in the past 14 years. I feel personally vindicated by Yeti’s bonkers success. In 2023, Yeti launched 15 new products. Their investor report for Q3 expected that for the 2023 year, they would have, “Capital expenditures of approximately $55 million (versus the previous outlook of $60 million) primarily to support investments in technology and new product innovation and launches.” Yeti now has dozens of communities of superfans ranging from Grand Canyon raft guides to octogenarian golfers. The company’s main business campus takes up 175,000 square feet. In other words, Yeti is massive.

Superior quality is a huge part of the story of Yeti’s success. I don’t think it is the entire story, but it most certainly is the foundation on which this juggernaut was built. I had heard of a low-key secret testing facility that Yeti had built to stress test their products somewhere in the mid-aughts and had pitched touring it for years. Last fall I had an opportunity to go see it and judge for myself how much effort they put into making sure their products could withstand abuse.

Their Innovation Center is an unmarked warehouse attached to office space, part of a sea of barely distinguishable buildings outside of Austin, Texas. When I entered, I was greeted with the noises of Yeti products getting their asses lightly and repetitively kicked everywhere. The first noise I heard was a Roadie Haul handle being extended and dropped by a robotic hand named Tripp every ten seconds. Tripp is one of the three UR5 Robotic arms that are in near constant use and are named for the heroic interns of yore (in this case: Tripp Arnold) who were employed to hand zip the original Hopper Soft Coolers 2,500 times, keeping track with a baseball clicker.

Throughout my two-hour tour of the facility, I saw dozens of machines that gave me more existential fear about robots replacing my job as a gear reviewer than any AI writing software has. There was a machine that dropped coolers from very precise heights over and over again. A robot that opens and closes four cooler lids at a time. A carousel that took rollie coolers on a circular course over obstacles like slatted decking and climbing holds before giving the wheels a stamp of approval. All told, there are 21,120 square feet devoted to testing Yeti’s vast range of products.

I have toured factories before—I’ve watched Keen employees carefully place soles on work boots and the folks at Benchmade expertly craft kitchen knives in state-of-the-art facilities here in the US. I have never seen anything close to this type of rigor on the industrial testing side, though. This whole space, the size of many factories, was devoted solely to testing and prototyping the gear. It was truly incredible and I desperately wanted its awe-inspiring magnitude to directly assign value to the Yeti products I have spent so much time testing.

In service of that goal, I badgered Matt Bryson, Senior Manager of Innovation and Validation Engineering at Yeti, for superlatives throughout the tour. “What’s the most weight you have placed on a product?” “Are there any products that took an incredible beating but failed at the last second?” “What is the craziest test you have performed on a product?” His answers were both incredibly smart and very unsatisfying in the way only a hyper-intelligent corporate product specialist can deliver.

“You don’t know what somebody is going to do with a product. It could be wild, something that you never even thought of. We have to prepare for anything. Since you don’t know everything someone can do, we typically over-index on everything,” Bryson said. “You can break anything. There is a point we call something abuse. You can’t set a cooler on fire and expect it to still work. We balance that fine line between heavy use and abuse really well.”

For the record, I think that is a fabulously smart answer. But it wasn’t enough to satisfy my obsession. I was begging him to give me a quote that would not only answer the “why” for this article, but for me, personally, as well. Honestly, I wanted the onus to be on him to assign value to this iconic outdoor gear category.

I was asking for more than manufactured tests could deliver. I was asking not just for impressive proof of the Yeti products’ performance and durability, but a statement that would sum up their significance in people’s lives. Honestly, though, a real-world scenario months before my visit had given me the answer. A solid cooler did benefit my life in ways that actually matter.

The Impact of a Well-Built Product

During a decade of testing, I have tested the crap out of Yeti products I have written about. I have thrown them from cliff tops, drug them behind moving vehicles (please note the plural), and filled one with hundreds of pounds of a fabrication shop’s debris and dropped it from a fully extended forklift. I have burned through at least six kitchen thermometers and hundreds of pounds of ice performing backyard thermoregulation tests.

While I took pride in the rigor of these contrived tests, it had been years since I depended on a cooler to show up for me performance-wise. Due to my life as a dad and waning desire to take risks, it had been a while since I had a real-world stress test scenario. Until last summer.

Last August, my then five-year-old daughter Josie and I found ourselves lightly stranded on the far northern California coast when wildfires shut down the highway that is the most direct arterial from the beach to our home. The town adjacent to our campsite, Crescent City, lost power for over a week. I heard reports from town asking people to stay out to keep the scarce resources open for firefighters.

I had a special week planned with my kiddo, however, so I checked in with the camp host to make sure that we weren’t taxing community resources if we kept to our site and the beach, and decided to wait until we ran out of ice or the road opened back up to head home. To be clear, this was not a real emergency—we could have driven the ten-hour drive home on the detour routes. The length of our trip, though, depended on the performance of our cooler.

Yeti Roadie 48 Wheeled Cooler

We had brought two coolers, an and a . Both coolers had an even distribution of food, root beers, and La Croix’s, and each held a block of ice tucked into their right corner. I used the ice-maintenance tools honed over 20 years of multi-day rafting trips (basically, keep the fucking cooler shut!) to maximize our ice use, and we went about our solitary business.

It became clear on day two that the Yeti Roadie was doing its job better. I began moving prize cooler items—the block of Tillamook Cheddar, ravioli, Kerry Gold butter—over to the Roadie to hedge my bets against losing them. Every morning, Josie and I would eat the highly processed donuts in our sleeping bags (I called it her raft guide training), walk outside, take a super quick peek at our ice situation, and then make the call if we would take the long route (lengthened by about five hours from shut down roads) home or stay and surf for another day.

That trip was the most magical one of my year. I kept my phone charged using a solar panel and bank and we checked in with my wife in the mornings and evenings. Otherwise, it was just Josie and me. I talked and played with my five-year-old in the sun for hours with zero distractions. One day we played on the beach for nine hours and saw three other humans and two dogs.Ìę Another day, we didn’t leave a 200-foot radius and remained completely entertained with conversation, art projects, and learning tricks on her new bike. I spent as many uninterrupted and fully present minutes with her during that trip as I normally would in weeks—maybe even months.

Every morning I would silently pray that we’d still have ice in the coolers. By day five, the ORCA’s ice disappeared. On day seven the Yeti cooler still had a baseball-sized chunk in it. Josie and I could have easily stuck it out for two or three more days if we didn’t get called back home by a surprise visit from relatives.

I arrived at my parents’ house in Ashland utterly exhausted, with a truck bed full of camping supplies and a spectacularly dirty and happy five-year-old. I gave the dinner party a light recounting of the previous week’s challenges—an adventure that was really just an inconvenience mitigated by good gear. Somewhere in the middle of my story, Uncle Bob made eye contact with me over his slice of pepperoni pizza, and I saw it coming.

“I’ve gotta ask, Joe. Are those Yeti coolers worth the money?”

I invited Josie to sit in my lap and looked down at our dirty feet.

“Yes, Bob,” I replied. “Yes, they are.”

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The main reason to buy a custom surfboard is because you can’t find the board you want on a shelf. A custom surfboard is a big step in a surfer’s journey, and it can bring noticeable, tangible benefits to the way you surf and how much fun you have. Ideally, you’ll end up with a board that is a sublime match for your body, style, goals, and the waves you frequent. But it can also be an overwhelming experience (and a not-insignificant investment in time and money), so you want to get it right.

Luckily for you, we’ve got it covered. I worked with two legendary shapers—Britt Merrick and Guy Okazaki—and went through the custom shaping process (twice), in order to bring you this comprehensive guide to ordering a custom surfboard—complete with what to expect, the questions to ask, the information you’ll need, and the pitfalls to avoid.

Step One: Do Your Research

The first step is to try as many different boards as you can. Your local surf shop, OfferUp, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace are all great resources for this. I spent $350 on a used surfboard from Craigslist, rode it for a little while, then sold it to someone else for $350, and bought something else to play with. Used boards can hold their value well if you don’t damage them. Also, look for demo days at your local surf shop.

“I have a friend who’s a really good surfer, and for the last few years, he’s just been buying the most random boards off Craigslist,” up-and-coming Venice pro surfer told me. “But now he’s in this phase where he knows exactly what he wants because he’s tried so many boards. So now when he goes to a shaper, he has all this knowledge to pull from.”

The next phase of your research should be to talk to other surfers. Look for surfers right around your size and ability level at your local breaks and ask them what they’re on and how they like it. If you can afford it, hire an experienced coach for a session or two, and see what suggestions they might have for your next surfboard. The web is also a great resource. Both the Pyzel and Channel Islands websites have live chats with actual humans on the other end, and they are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They can help you get a better handle on what might, and what might not work for you (just be respectful of their time).

Step Two: Pick Your Surfboard Shaper

Find a shaper who will take the time to understand where you’re at and where you want to go and ensure they have the skills to make the right board for the job. A good shaper carries a wealth of knowledge about surfboard design and surfing in general. It may also give you an opportunity to work with a local who has deep insights about the waves you’ll be surfing the most, and you get to support the local surf economy.

I went into this quest knowing that I wanted two boards: A point-break specialist for some of my favorite spots in Malibu and Ventura, and a hyper-local board for the beach break I surf in Venice 80 percent of the time. After months of research, I found my two dream shapers.

Britt Merrick,

Britt was literally raised in a surfboard factory, as the son of world renown shaper and founder of Channel Islands Surfboards, Al Merrick. He would grow up to become an iconic shaper in his own right, making award-winning surfboards (including several winners) for WSL Championship Tour event winners and average joes alike. Channel Islands is based in Santa Barbara, home to legendary point breaks like Rincon, and considering how many boards he’s made for people who compete at places Jeffreys Bay and Snapper Rocks, I figured he’d be the perfect person to make my point break killer. Note: anyone can request a board from Britt, but it will most likely take months longer than usual because he has a massive queue.

Surfboard shaper Guy Okazaki at work (Photo: Courtesy Guy Okazaki)

Guy Okazaki,

When it came to finding a shaper for my Venice beach break board, I knew exactly who I hoped would make it. It seemed like 20 percent of the boards I would see at my favorite spot had a big “GOS” stamped on the deck. Plus, Okazaki has been surfing here since the 1950s, so not many people know the wave better. Okazaki was born in Hawaii, where he first learned to shape surfboards from his dad and legends of the sport, including Rabbit Kekai. He would go on to travel and surf with world champions, and he’s been shaping boards in his garage in Venice for more than 30 years. For my usual spot, Guy is as local as it gets, and every surfer I talked to raved about his boards.

This brings up an important point: You want to pick your shaper based on their strengths and based on what you’re looking for. I determined that Merrick and Okazaki were likely the best fit for my specific criteria, but if I wanted a surfboard for Hawaii, then maybe Wade Tokoro or John Pyzel would be the move.

Step 3: Talk with Your Shaper

Set up a phone call (or an in-person meeting if you can) with the shaper to discuss the board. You should familiarize yourself with the boards they make because chances are high that they will be using one of those models as a starting point.

Typically, shapers will first ask about your height and weight. Then they’ll likely ask your age and how often you surf to determine how much board you need. Next, all that time you spent trying different boards will come in handy when they ask you what you have been riding and how they worked (or didn’t work) for you.

When I asked Merrick and Okazaki what the most important factor is for determining the right board, they had the same answer: it depends on where and how you surf now, and where and how you’re hoping to in the near future.

The “where” questions to ask yourself: Are you mostly going to be surfing beach breaks, point breaks, or reef breaks? This is where a shaper with knowledge of your preferred breaks can come in handy. And what size waves will you be on, realistically?

The “how” is a bit harder to quantify. What do you want to do on the wave? What do you enjoy now, and where would you like to get in in the next few years? For example, I told the shapers that I really want to improve my carving, work on speed generation, and build confidence in steeper barreling waves. For me, these are modest but realistic goals for where I am in my evolution as a surfer.

Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Don’t let your ego get in the way. I get it—nobody wants to seem like a kook, but you have to avoid over-inflating your skills. “That’s the most common mistake people make,” Merrick told me. “If they don’t have realistic expectations and goals, then they tend to get the wrong board altogether. Usually, that means not getting enough surfboard. Especially with beginners, they get small boards like the pros, and they don’t have the paddling power, so they miss a ton of waves. You’ve also got to start making adjustments for your physicality, and age.”
2. Don’t forget to be specific. Terms like Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert, are extremely nebulous. Tell your shaper the things you feel like you’re doing well, and tell them the things you’re struggling with. Video clips can tell a shaper a lot about where you’re at, and their experienced eyes will likely spot things in your surfing that you don’t even know to look for. Get a friend to film you from shore, and show them a mix of your best and worst waves to give them the most accurate picture.
3. Don’t fall into the current obsession with surfboard volume. It’s not that volume isn’t important, but it’s not that helpful on its own. Okazaki broke it down: “Over the last few years, the first metric out of someone’s mouth has been volume, and I always chuckle, ‘Well, where do you want that volume? Do you want it in the middle, in the nose, in the tail, distributed uniformly? Do you want it on the rails or more in the center?’ And they realize that they hadn’t given that a thought. Where that volume is is really more important than what the volume is.”

Step 4: Finishing Touches

While you and your shaper talk, they’ll be taking down your decisions in an order form. This is also where you’ll make choices about which type of fin-boxes you want, and how many. You’ll decide whether you want a traditional foam or EPS, what type of fiberglass (or carbon fiber), how heavy, and whether you’d like to use polyurethane resin or epoxy. Each of these things will affect the way your board performs to different degrees, and while whole articles have been written about each of those categories, again, talk to your shaper about what they think would work best for the design you’ve agreed on.

This is also where you’ll make a decision about art. Do you want to leave the board white, or add a tint to the resin? Or a swirl? Do you have some art you would like laminated onto the deck? These things are a personal touch that make the board feel more uniquely yours, but each one of them will add to the overall cost.

Once everything is agreed on, you will plunk down a deposit (typically $100-200, though some want full payment upfront), and they will get to work making your board. Your shaper will give you a rough timeline when you finalize the details. It could be just a few weeks if they’re not too busy, or it could be three months. Resist the urge to bug them until after the due date has passed. There is no question a shaper hates more than, “Is it ready yet?”

My Custom Boards

For my Channel Islands point-break board, Merrick steered me toward his Ìęa board that was designed to paddle and catch waves like a much longer board, but surf more like a shortboard. My only reservation was that I wanted something that could handle bigger, steeper, barreling waves (dare to dream). He said no problem and borrowed the thinner rails from his , which are a bit more refined and would also help with my turns.

Merrick recommended a 6-foot, 8-inch board, which would be my biggest board in years, but promised it wouldn’t surf that way. I had him add five fin-boxes instead of the standard three, so I could ride it as a thruster, a quad, or a twin (i.e. a three-fin, a four-fin, or a two-fin configuration), depending on the day. I also had the board made with (Varial just recently, tragically, went out of business due to a supply-chain interruption, when they were priced out of their foam by the aerospace industry), glassed with epoxy resin tinted Creamsicle orange, and I had a rose emblazoned on the deck.

For my Venice board, I came to Okazaki with a laundry list of what I wanted the board to do. After hearing my thoughts and watching my flailing surf videos, he thought would be a good place to start, or the as he would come to call this latest iteration of a board he’s been evolving for 22 years.

Okazaki planned to throw in a fairly moderate double concave through the tail, and a single concave around where my front foot would be. That should enhance rail-to-rail transitions, give it a little more pop, and hopefully increase speed out of turns. Guy advocated for a swallow-tail with a prominent double-wing just ahead of it, which would allow for very straight rails for speed, but then give it a nice break to pivot off of for turns. He suggested we go with a 6-foot, 2-inch, with standard polyurethane (PU) foam blank and lightweight four-ounce PU glassing. I had him throw on the same rose I put on my CI board, plus a five-fin-box setup, and picked a Pantone color that looked like bubblegum.

The Results

A few months later, both boards have exceeded my wildest expectations.

I’ve taken my Merrick CI board to point breaks up and down the California coast, in everything from waist-high waves to well overhead. The board has allowed me to get into waves early, then pump down the line, and really sink into my carves like I’d hoped. In the few months that I’ve had it, I’ve probably caught four of the top five longest and most memorable waves of my life.

For my Okazaki board, I gave Guy such a long list of things I wanted it to do—some of which seemed at odds with each other—and somehow he did it. It has great paddle power, but I can still duck-dive it. The board can make steep, late drops, but it also has great speed down the line. Trimming around flat sections is easy, but then it turns on a dime with very little effort and takes off again. I’m riding this board at the local spot I’ve been walking to several times a week for the last three years, and I’m having more fun out there than I ever have. What’s more important than that?

Last Advice from the Shapers

“I recommend trying to stay as local as you can,” Okazaki told me. “And that’s more than just for the shaper.” One of Okazaki’s greatest concerns is the increasing acidification of our oceans. That’s one of the reasons he uses U.S. Blanks for his foam, because they operate in Los Angeles, and because of that they’re subject to the most stringent environmental standards in the nation. It’s just a 20-minute drive from Okazaki’s shop to their factory, so the carbon footprint to get a blank from them is as minimal as it gets, and they’re fully solar-powered, too. Okazaki also works with local glassers (which most shapers usually do), which again requires minimal transport, and feeds money directly into the local surf economy.

“It’s rare these days that you get a product that’s all hand-made by skilled craftsmen and women,” Merrick mused. “It’s not your tennis racket, golf club, snowboard, or basketball that just gets pumped out by machines. People should approach it with an appreciation for the art and the craftsmanship. Once people start to appreciate that they’ll appreciate surfing as a whole even more.”

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When we’re hungry for a look at the upcoming year’s brightest gear innovations, we head to the media show, a biannual hands-on preview between the people who sell and market gear and the folks who cover it. Our look at 2025’s haul did not disappoint, with fashion-forward hiking apparel, featherweight sleeping pads, and some awesome new car camping tech. Here’s what’s on our release radar for this fall and early spring of 2025.

, hands down. The major downside? They take ages to inflate and deflate. A few years ago, they came out with the Widget Pump, a battery powered pump, lamp, and powerbank all in one. It was a vast improvement, but it’s relatively slow, and doesn’t help with deflation, which often looks like a one-sided wrestling match given all of the mat’s foam and air capacity.

The Mega Pump is faster and has both functions, making the process relatively painless. With some included adaptors, you can use this pump for most non-Exped car camping pads, too. The best part? .

Seniq Apparel (Available Now)

focused on fashion-forward hiking apparel. It really stood out at OMA, where the cut, colorways, and features of apparel and outer layers are almost indistinguishable across outdoor brands. Seniq’s co-founders and lead designer are women, which is important for an all-women’s hiking apparel company, and it donates one percent of sales to outdoor equity and mental-health focused foundations. Really, though we just think this stuff looks rad. There’s a careful balance of fashion and function going on here that we’ll be excited to test out on the trail.

Rossignol Vizion Ski Boot (Fall 2024)

Skiers who are tired of wrestling to get their ski boots on and off (and let’s be honest, that’s most people) should get excited about Rossignol’s new Vizion ski boot line. A new proprietary buckle and spine mechanism on these boots allows the cuff to open much wider than a traditional four-buckle overlap boot, allowing skiers to slip into the boot easily and hands-free.

In terms of getting the boot on and off, it’s like a rear-entry boot; but once buckled up, it feels like a traditional alpine boot that you can actually ski in (as opposed to most rear-entry options). Rossignol’s new Vizion boot family ($650-850), which comprises 10 models ranging from 130 flex down to 80 flex, will hit shelves this fall. .

Thule ReVert Bike Rack (Fall 2024)

Thule is finally releasing a hitch-mount vertical bike rack that comes with the kind of smart design features the Swedish brand is known for. The new ReVert, launching in September, will come in a four-bike ($900) and six-bike ($1,100) model.

Each carries bikes via wheel baskets that require zero frame contact (so carbon frame owners can chill out). The ReVert’s Dual Tilt Assist tech in the arm is also sweet, providing weight assistance on the way up and down to make it easy to lower and raise the rack even when loaded down with six mountain bikes. Both models of the Revert can fit 20- to 29-inch wheels, though you’ll need to purchase wheel adapters (sold separately) to accommodate 20- to 24-inch tires. Thule will also offer accessory wheel baskets for plus-sized tires.

La Sportiva Prodigio Pro (Spring/Summer 2025)

We were amazed at how light La Sportiva’s new trail racer felt when we picked it up, weighing in at a scant 8.9 ounces for the men’s model and 7.9 for the women’s. Touted as a “super shoe for the mountains,” the Prodigio Pro ($195) promises super shoe performance for tricky terrain. That’s been a tough guarantee to live up to for competing models that try to use bouncy foams and plates off-road.

The shoe has a blend of nitrogen-infused TPU and EVA foam (lighter and bouncier than that in the highly-praised Prodigio), paired with La Sportiva’s signature, deep-lugged, sticky rubber sole and a crazy-looking “Power Wire” mesh upper made from polyester, TPU, and nylon. It lacks a rigid plate, allowing it to adapt to uneven surfaces underfoot, while the aggressively rockered geometry looks like it’ll keep you rolling quickly down the trail.

Diorite Gear Trekking Pole Attachments (Spring/Summer 2025)

Diorite makes some of our . They telescope out long enough to support a pyramid tent without a weight penalty and are incredibly sturdy for carbon construction. They’ve always been very field-repairable (including the tips,) but now Diorite is coming out with interchangeable EVA handles built for mountaineering and skiing.

Using some simple-but-sturdy hardware, you can attach things like Skimo picks and potentially even whippets at home without special tools. Put simply, Diorite is designing modular, quiver-killer poles that you can use year-round. That means spending less money on specialized poles and the ability to repair your set indefinitely.

MSR Switch Stove (Spring/Summer 2025)

We love integrated “Jetboil-style” backpacking stoves for their speed and wind-resistance. But you can’t do much more than boil water in those superheated cookers. MSR recognized this was a bit of an annoyance with folks who wanted to occasionally do some actual cooking on its WindBurner and Reactor stoves. The Switch is basically a WindBurner pot that’s been redesigned to work on a specialized canister-stove. (Bonus: the stove is pressure-regulated for cold weather and half-empty canisters.)

A ring on the canister stove locks into the hard-anodized aluminum pot—which has a convex bottom for maximum surface area—for the usual speedy, water-boiling purposes. Flick a few arm extenders out, though, and you can set an actual pot or skillet on top for measured cooking. While Jetboil already sells an accessory that has a similar function, it doesn’t work particularly well in practice.

NEMO Tensor Elite Sleeping Pad (Spring/Summer 2025)

In the race to design the lightest-but-still-comfortable sleeping pad on the market, Therm-a-Rest has always lead the pack. Now NEMO is taking a stab at a boundary-pushing inflatable pad with its Tensor Elite. Unlike the rest of the brand’s Tensor line, the Elite comes in just regular and short mummy sizes. Allegedly, it weighs just 8.3 ounces, has an R-value of 2.4, and packs down to the size of a pint glass. That’s a few grams shy of TAR’s discontinued, extra-lightweight (and easily-punctured) .

In the comfort department, the Elite looks better than its defunct competitor. It has 3 inches of thickness and uses the brand’s Apex Baffle construction, which is an improvement over horizontal baffles. We won’t know until testing whether the Elite is an ultralight game-changer or just another extra-delicate pad to stress about on long backpacking trips.

Deuter Hiline (Spring/Summer 2025)

At first glance, Deuter’s new mountain biking pack looks like it has the usual feature set: helmet-holder clips, bike pump attachments, and plenty of space for hydration and spare tubes. But the Hiline, which comes in 8 and 14 liter sizes, has some real tech on the inside.

It’s got a removable memory foam SAS-TEC multi-impact spine protector “for enduro fans.” The new hotness is a 3D-printed breathable back panel for airflow. Not only does 3D printing reduce material waste in the production process, but it allows for multiple levels of texture—essentially a complex honeycomb structure—that looks like it’ll work better than most airflow-improving designs on the market during intense climbs. (It could be a total gimmick, too.)

At $375 for the 14-liter version, the Hiline’s tech ain’t cheap. Deuter’s rep hinted that it might be headed for the brand’s backpacking packs, as well.

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