Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Have pen will stylus

This week on Project Kickstarter we highlight Designer Don Lehman of Chicago, IL. His project’s premise is simple but incredibly helpful for anyone with a touchscreen enabled device, like the iPad. Centered around artists, designers and architects, the More/Real Stylus Cap takes an everyday object (like a Bic or Sharpie) and enables it for use [...]

In the raw

Unadulterated, wholesome, whole-food goodness—Larabar was birthed from a Rocky Mountain hike back in spring of 2000. We often keep one on hand for a quick energy boost, and feel good knowing that we don’t have to have a PhD to pronounce its ingredients. The key to Larabar’s success is in its simplistic, raw composition, using [...]

Newsworthy Radiohead

After revitalizing the way we acquire music with their digital “pay-as-you-please” Fall 2007 release, In Rainbows, we were left wondering how Radiohead could ever transcend expectations. Nearly four years later they are sticking to their upscale packaging with the world’s first “newspaper album” comprised of vinyl, CD, digital download, artwork galore and nothing left to [...]

Tacti-cool

Triple Aught Design produces gear fit for the mountains of Afghanistan and the afternoon commute. You can blame founder Patrick Ma for the perfect balance – with his military background and a never-ending-commitment to product testing in the Western state proving grounds. The newly released Ranger Hoodie LT ($220) is no different and evolves on [...]

For most, the depths of winter take a mental toll. So to help you get by, we’re highlighting one new product per week, over the next five weeks, to help combat the winter doldrums — courtesy of Hyundai. These posts will be differentiated from our normal stream of finds and we’d strongly recommend giving each [...]

Major Indulgence

Shaving is making a comeback. Good shaving, that is. The use of bargain shave gels and foams is taking a back seat to more sophisticated products that are also better for your skin. Okay, so you don’t have time every day to lather up with a badger hair and ceramic brush, but you do have [...]

GP goes on location for our first travel gear review

Want to be taken away? Well, you must consider Vietnam. Take everything you’ve come to know or partially understand about the country as you’ve seen through the mass media and turn it all on its collective head. This picturesque sliver of a country is a true escape from some of what we’ve come to know [...]

On the Scene Caffeine

A reader recently wrote us to ask if we knew of any solutions for making coffee at a picnic. It seemed a bit strange considering we’re in the middle of February, but we can’t blame people for planning ahead. While the GSI Mini Espresso Maker is ideal for roughing it, the Handpresso is a slightly [...]

Definitely Not a Canadian Tuxedo

Fresh off the newly launched Perfecto collection designed by Greg Chapman, the Deck Hand Toggle Coat ($450) wipes all of the jean jacket’s previous fashion transgressions clean in our book. The coat is made in Schott’s Jersey factory and features a selvedge denim exterior with chambray lining and contrasting stitching. Thanks to a slim cut [...]

The relentless pursuit. A painful obsession.

This story begins more than a decade ago. Two, really. All the way back to 1993. When you say it, 1993 doesn’t really seem like all that long ago. But it was a year full of memorable events. Lennox Lewis beat Tony Tucker for the heavyweight title, Intel announced the groundbreaking Pentium processor and NBC [...]

Hassle Free Buds

Claiming any pair of headphones is tangle-free takes some cojones. Wires are wires after all, and the universe tends towards entropy (seriously: that’s the second law of thermodynamics people). Still, the Swedes are particularly talented at leveraging design, and in the case of the a-Jay Four ($75) ear buds, a unique a 5mm flat cable [...]

Handy in a Pinch

Some tasks call for delicate tools, others don’t. The PockeTweez ($25) was designed by construction industry veterans who worked around Oregon’s milling industry and admired the hand-crafted tweezers employees made from planer blade stock. Unlike your typical drug store variety, these tweezers were stout and sharp as hell, which made them great for removing splinters/silvers. [...]

Casual, Italian-Style

This Double Ring Suede Belt ($100) from Steve & Co. is an excellent option to have on hand for weekends. It’s more casual than the standbys you use for work, but thanks to the use of high quality suede, the belt easily avoids crossing the threshold of flag-football-harness-turned-frat-boy-fashion-staple. Available in classic brown as well as [...]

Sure, your iPad dock can play tunes. Maybe it even does so with gusto, but the Alesis iO Dock does far more. The dock enables the iPad to function with pro audio gear and instruments instantly transforming it into a portable production station for musicians, recording engineers and music producers. An abundance of inputs including [...]

Denim strike

Since 1999 (well before any “heritage” movement) Left Field has been domestically churning out tough-as-nails workwear. After wearing some of their goods in the past year, we can attest to the rough and tumble quality of their goods. Their newly released Nisshinbo Mills Slim-Straight Jeans ($210) build upon the impressive product line. Hand made in [...]