Gear Reviews

Range Meals Bars are highly caloric and flavorful meal replacement bars for easy sustenance during calorie-intensive outdoor pursuits. Packing a walloping 700 calories (5.7 oz), these bars contain gluten-free and non-GMO ingredients, ideal for people who have dietary restrictions or want to …

The North Face Venture 2 Rain Jacket is a value-priced but fully-featured waterproof/breathable rain jacket that can be used year-round for hiking and backpacking. The Venture 2 has a fully adjustable hood, 8″ long pit zips, velcro wrist cuffs, two side pockets, …

Montane Terra Pants are the most popular technical hiking and adventure pants in the UK. While they’re amazingly lightweight and comfortable, the Terra Pants are too warm for late spring or summer hiking in New England where you’d sweat to death if …

The Exped Schnozzel UL is a large 42L pump bag and roll-top stuff sack that can be used to inflate Exped,  Sea-to-Summit, and REI inflatable sleeping pads which have a flat inflation valve. The Schnozzel Pumpbag UL is also available in a …

Sealskinz Waterproof Cold-Weather Work Gloves are multi-use winter gloves perfect for splitting wood, shoveling snow, downhill skiing, ice climbing, and winter hikes. You can tell they’re intended for winter sports because they have loops on the back of the index finger to …

ULA Equipment’s Rain Kilt is a lightweight and breathable alternative to rain pants that will keep your lower half dry in rain without overheating you. It’s great for use in the summertime when hiking on brushy trails with wet ferns, leafy shrubs, …

The Nite Ize Radiant 170 Clip Light turns any billed cap into a headlamp. Hat clip lights used to be all the rage with hikers, but until now they’ve been eclipsed by bigger, brighter, and rechargeable headlamps. But if you live and …

The Hanchor Marl Backpack is a 55L backpack that weighs 2 lbs 5.5 oz and includes load lifters. It is constructed primarily of X-Pac VX21 and comes in four different torso lengths and four different hip belt sizes. At $308, including international …

Evernew water bottles are transparent soft bottles that can be collapsed when not in use. They’re available in four sizes: 600 ml, 900 ml, 1.5L, and 2L and can be used to haul clean or “dirty,” pre-filtered water. They weigh 0.9 oz., …

The Decathlon Quechua MH100 Hiking Fleece is an inexpensive lightweight quarter-zip polyester fleece pullover (hoodless) that can be worn by itself for warmth or layered under a wind-resistant garment like a wind shirt or a waterproof garment like a rain jacket/shell. While …

My warmest winter hat is a Mountain Hardware Dome Perignon beanie. It’s a timeless classic in hiking and mountaineering circles. This is the hat I put on when I’m hiking back down a mountain in winter and I feel the cold wind biting …

Outdoor Research Transcendent Down Gloves provide great warmth and excellent dexterity, which can be a difficult combination to achieve in an insulated winter glove. While mitts and mitten shells are a winter hiking essential, they don’t provide enough dexterity to hold an ice …

UltraliteSack’s Ultralight Compression Sack is a roll-top compression sack made with Dyneema Composite Fabrics (DCF). It’s available in three volumes: small (5.5L), medium (6.8L), and large (9.5L). I’ve been eyeing the product photo that Garage Grown Gear had for it on their …

The North Face Tech Glacier 1/4 Zip Fleece Sweater is one of the most popular fleece garments ever made. It’s been one of the North Face’s most popular items for years, but it’s also a very respectable fleece pullover than can be used …