Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Blackpack

Established just last year in Los Angeles, Ignoble is a singularly focused brand. Black backpacks. The two brother team have a shared love of black fabric and clever designs. Their first and only (so far) backpack, the Mona Cocoon Bag ($220) is a culmination of those passions. Utilitarian and stylish, the Mona is crafted by [...]

The Legal Alternative to Robbing a Blockbuster

The Fox 75th Anniversary Collection ($358) is one of the easiest ways we can think of to buy a movie collection overnight. This mega box set contains 75 films produced by the studio and is divided into three volumes, each covering 25 years of production. Obviously there’s plenty worth watching — 46 have won at [...]

A Year Ago on Gear Patrol

Fractals will cower with fear

Are your job tools less hammer and nail, more Maya and MathWorks? Do you have nightmares of Photoshop status bars and history cache? Is your day’s productivity counted in fractals rendered? Well, if you’re a Mac Pro user then your graphics card has landed. The insanely fast Fermi architecture based NVIDIA Quadro 4000 ($1,200), not [...]

High-Style Hydration

Plenty of gadgets get the sexy factor right, but in all of our product trawlin’ years we’ve never seen a humidifier look this good. Built like the lovechild of K.I.T.T. and a high-end subwoofer, the William Ultrasonic Humidifier’s ($230) 1.5 gallon tank can fill rooms up to 1,000 sq ft in size while measuring an [...]

Sun Protection Factor Zero

3 long years after the fifth-generation Camaro, the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible ($30,000+, February) is finally arriving and its doing so completely swathed in style. The convertible inherits the hardtop’s choice of a 3.6 liter 312 HP V6 or the sublime 6.2 liter 526 HP V8 with six-speed automatic or manual, but Chevy has infused [...]

Carbon Evolution

Built for maximum stiffness without sacrifice of saddle comfort, the carbon-laden 2011 Masi Evoluzione is designed to devour miles, and look good doing it. Built around an all-new medium-modulus carbon fiber frame and fork that utilize Masi’s Total Overdrive System, a combination of oversized chainstays, BB30 bottom bracket, and tapered fork steer tube. The Evoluzione [...]

If His Albums Were the Blueprint, Consider this the Drafting Table

Hip-hop may not be for everyone, but that hasn’t stopped Jay-Z from becoming a household name. Though his rise to fame stems through rapping, Mr. “I’m not a business-man. I’m a business…man” has earned praise from plenty of those outside the game, including Warren Buffet. So when a mind like that puts its attention towards [...]

Tony Hawk Meets Tank

The 2011 MXB Shocker Motocross Board ($2,999) is designed to be a different kind of fun on wheels from the usual small-motored toys guys often buy. Weighing 74lbs and featuring a 48-volt brush-less motor capable of producing nearly 5 lb/ft of torque and reaching a top speed of 35 mph (with tweaking), think of it [...]

A Year Ago on Gear Patrol

Shoes to Aspire to

Based on Northampton, UK, 150 year old John Lobb Bootmakers is steeped in English heritage with an equally momentous crafting process. Each pair of shoes require no less than 190 painstaking steps which takes place across several “Rooms”. For example, the Clicking Room is the beginning of a shoe’s evolution where artisans hand-cut full-grain leather. [...]

Hard Working Roadie

Weighing in at a mere 235g (for 1/2 pair size 42), the completely redesigned Specialized BG S-Works Road Shoe ($350) has become a favorite amongst pro riders searching for the best in comfort, fit, and efficiency. So, what better way to check in on the fervor than don a pair ourselves?

Over-engineered. Enough Said.

Knowing that titanium is used extensively in this knife, the first surprise one encounters with the Benchmade 755 MPR ($235) is its weight. That is until you notice how incredibly thick the M390 super steel blade (a whopping .164”) and similarly sized blades (.1”) are. If you’re not up to snuff with your steel grades [...]

It's a Concrete Jungle Out There

Residing in a concrete jungle doesn’t preclude one from being an outdoor enthusiast. In fact, miles of asphalt and cold steel can be a veritable playground for the right activities. Forget social climbing and the rat race. Go native. If, on the other hand, you prefer to spend your time in the great outdoors, well, [...]

A Year Ago on Gear Patrol