Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Lightning by Way of Monsoon

Infusing urban wear fit without adjusting the outdoor gear technicals the Patagonia for Apolis Activism ($148) jacket marks another successful Apolis collaboration. Its inspiration: to find the perfect outerwear to stand up to the monsoon weather during their Vietnam expedition. The jacket features a h2no waterproof shell, adjustable hood, microfleece neck and chin, water resistant [...]

The 2010 Paris Motor Show had landed and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to for a man to assume an amplitude of impossibly sexy cars, leggy models, and enough bespoke suits to make the men of Positano blush. Well, if this year’s display of supercar prowess is anything more than a declaration that the recession is [...]

Tops at Tailgates

The National Football League is in full swing and, if you’re like us, you are sprinting towards mid-season-tailgating form. So let us be the first to tell you that La Caja China #1 Aluminum grill ($320) is the surest way to obtain pro-status. Because a sizable crowd makes any tailgate more fun, La Caja China [...]

Italian Design, German Engineering: The Best of Both Worlds

TX watches are designed and constructed in Europe, the standard for and origin of quality watches. The TX brand is a member of the Timex watch family. They are undeniably good looking and come in a number of styles that range from very sporty orange rubber bands to sophisticated black leather. A particularly good-looking watch [...]

Hart Steel from the Heartland

What man hasn’t had a draw to straight razor shaving. Maybe its the simplicity, maybe its the timelessness, maybe the “green-ness,” but we’d guess a large portion is because it’s flat-out badass.

A Year Ago on Gear Patrol

Time flies when you’re having Rum

“A rum to put a beast in your belly”, The Kraken has washed onto the market and is bringing out the inner pirate in us all. An alternative from name brand rums, the Kraken ($20) provides a flavor that’s richer and stronger than the captain, and weighs in at a hefty 94 proof. Caramel sugars [...]

Light, Bright

Why is it that most men tend to scrimp on gear for personal safety? Consider the flashlight you (hopefully) have at home or in your car. You’re lucky if the battery is still good, and even if so, it probably won’t generate enough lumens for you to see much in the dark. The E2D LED [...]

A Worthy Fall Mainstay

Urban Daddy brand manager and Kempt writer Randy Goldberg alerted us to this great looking fall basic. Available in heathered brown and black colorways, the Life After Denim’s Military Blazer ($138) is surprisingly affordable given its distinct styling. The additional buttons also make it slightly more capable of keeping you warm as the season progresses [...]

Analog Meets Wireless

A lot can happen in a year. In the case of the industrial minds at Neuhaus Audio Labs, rolling out a new iteration of their acclaimed T-2, which we tested last year that we not only loved, but have used as our reference unit for speaker and headphone tests here at GP HQ. The new [...]

A Year Ago on Gear Patrol

One tell-tale sign that summer is over is that the season’s blockbusters are now making it to Blu-ray. We had the opportunity to review Iron Man II before its public release and thoroughly enjoyed it as a super hero action flick. Now the Iron Man 2 Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD ($25) is finally out for those of [...]

Because Live View Sucks

One of the biggest problems with aspiring cinematographers armed with DSLR’s is the lack of a proper viewfinder. The solutions focused Red Rock Micro plans to fix that with their microEVF ($595). Using your DSLR’s HDMI output, the microEVC electronic viewfinder equips you a low-power consuming LED backlit 1.2-million LCD display and flexible eye-piece. It [...]

50 Going on 5

Back in the 1960′s a brand out of Jackson, Wyoming was born. Rocky Mountain Featherbed Company. Its signature piece, a beige cold weather vest with leather yoke. After its cold-weather outfitting heyday, the brand went largely unnoticed the 80′s when it was procured by a Japanese vintage collector. Fast forward to 2005 with a brand [...]

Shake It Like A Polaroid

The Impossible Project has beautifully reinvented once-defunct Polaroid film. But if you’d prefer an instant camera experience that is more reckless fun and less artistic investment, grab a Fujifilm Instax Mini ($66). Instax pics are credit card-sized as opposed to Polaroid’s traditional 3.5” x 4.25” and consequently aren’t as much fun to shake, but at [...]