Great gear for summer

June 28, 2009

Great Gear
for Summer!
By Kristi Kates 6/29/09
 
It’s finally summertime, which means it’s time to equip you and yours with
the best of this season’s summer gear. Whether you’ve decided to take a
summer vacation or a staycation, we’ve got first-hand reviews of all the
products listed below to help you choose.
 
STAYCATION SUPPLIES
Wherever you’re going to be hanging out outdoors, you’ll need shade. The
Instant Sun Cabana ($99.95, www.excaliburelectronics.net) is perfect for
just that purpose; its white and turquoise nylon pops up into a dome
that’s big enough to enclose two lounge chairs, and light enough to
reposition as the sun moves. The only catch is that while its concept is
great - it’s designed to fold up into a relatively small disc for storage
- getting it folded is another story. Our demo model looked great while it
was set up, but folding it takes practice, so be prepared.
Once your cabana is ready, set up that chair and crank up the tunes.
Instead of dragging your entire stereo outdoors, try the great IRA
Wireless Radio by Myine ($129.99, www.myine.com) This tiny black unit,
about the size of three decks of playing cards, accesses hundreds of
internet radio stations via wifi - all you have to do is hook up a couple
of powered speakers, and you’re ready to go. We found it super-easy to
use, and the miniature remote lets you scroll through everything from
music to talk radio to podcasts, all broadcast crystal-clear from
stateside, Europe, or beyond.
If you’d like to include your pets in the backyard fun, the Pet’s Eye View
Camera ($39.99, www.unclemilton.com) lets your dog or cat “film” their
very own reality show. Snap the small plastic time-lapse camera to your
pet’s collar, and set ‘em loose. The camera takes photos at intervals that
you choose, then download the pics to your computer via USB and see what
your pet’s been up to. Our test showed some hilarious ground-level images
- just be careful your pet doesn’t dunk the camera into its water dish.
You can find out what’s happening with your neighborhood’s avian life,
too, with the Wingscapes Bird Cam ($249, www.wingscapes.com or at Wild
Birds Unlimited in Marquette, MI at http://marquette.wbu.com.) This
sturdy, serious-looking square unit attaches to a tree or to the pole of
the birdfeeder itself, and its motion-sensitive camera catches your
birdfeeder visitors at their unaware best; even Martha Stewart is a fan.
It was fascinating to see how many different species stop by - and the
photos are such high-quality, they’ll make great summer wallpaper for your
computer screen or cell phone.
When it’s time to wind down your evening, pull out your Coleman Pack-Away
Portable Fireplace and Grill ($89.99, ww.coleman.com). This striking unit
is perfect for summer or even fall fun, taking up a small yard footprint
with maximum impact; we were impressed with the fact that we could either
use ours as a fireplace (with its decorative ember screen), or to safely
cook food via the included grill insert. The other nifty thing is that you
can dust it off and pack it up for the road trip you’re planning to take
the next day, as the entire thing folds easily into a compact round black
canvas case with a convenient carrying handle - about the size of a small
car tire, but a whole lot lighter.
 
EQUIP YOUR ROAD TRIP
And now onto that road trip! Before you go anywhere, you’ll want to check
the weather - and the LaCrosse Color Weather Forecast Station
($79.95,www.lacrossetechnology.com, or at Best Buy and ABC Warehouse
locally) has got all the weather details. All you have to do is place its
wireless module outside in a protected area, and it will beam back the
current conditions and forecast to your desktop or kitchen counter. The
model we got looks awfully pretty doing it, too, with a full-color backlit
static display and moving overlay indicators for temperature, humidity,
time, date, and forecast icons so you can plan your day with sunscreen or
umbrella.
What’s a road trip without snacks? The Wagan 2260 6-Liter Thermo-Electric
Fridge/Warmer ($39.99, ww.wagan.com, or Costco and Walgreen’s) can both
cool and heat via your car’s lighter, so you can start the day with a cold
beverage, and keep dinner leftovers warm for a late-night driving break.
Our sample could use a few tweaks in the design department - the
cupholders seemed flimsy and the cord-storage compartment often popped
open on its own - but it heated and cooled well, and the top includes a
padded armrest.
To keep a record of your travels, we’ve got two terrific choices for you.
The first is the choice of celebs - many of them are already carrying one
of these around, and you’ll want to, too; it’s the Flip MinoHD video
camera, and it records 60 minutes of HD video with the ease of
one-button-record. The compact unit is very well-designed, weighs only 3
ounces, and we found it loads of fun to film with. The content easily
loads onto your computer with the built in flip-out USB, and the quality
of the video itself is top-notch, with true color tones and sharp HD
images. ($229.99, www.theflip.com or at Target stores.)
If it’s amazing still-images you’re looking for, you’ll want to pick up
the Pentax Optio W60 Waterproof Camera ($299.95, www.pentax.com or at
Meijer, WalMart, and Sam’s Clubs locally.) This pocket-sized, narrow
camera has 10 MP, a 5x zoom, and a huge 2.5” backlit LCD screen, and takes
incredibly detailed photos through a wide range of situations and light
conditions, including night, action, macro, and even a special setting for
gourmet foods. The Optio is indeed waterproof (and coldproof), too - we
thoroughly dunked our test unit on repeated occasions, and not only did it
keep working just fine, but the underwater photos it took were quite
impressive; this is definitely the go-to camera for all summer (and
winter) photo occasions.
In addition to things you want to photograph, chances are you’ll run
across plenty of memorable sounds in your summer travels, too - from
concerts and lectures to wildlife. Well, Samson has the answer with their
Zoom H2 Handy Recorder. This serious-looking and smart recorder captures
stereo sound in 360-degrees onto SD cards, for super-quick downloading to
your computer and easy editing, too. Our test recorder was used to capture
guitar playing, an outdoor lecture, and a parrot “talking” indoors - and
we were mightily impressed with the clarity and dynamic range of this tiny
but impressive unit ($199, www.samson.comor at Best Buy stores locally.)
And once the night arrives again, you can trek through the trails of the
great outdoors with the top-notch Coleman LED Quad Lantern ($70,
ww.coleman.com), a 2009 Camping Life Editor’s Choice, which consists of
four smaller, detachable LED lanterns that easily snap into a sturdy,
bright-red central body, making for a portable, multi-purpose unit that we
found to be super-handy and reliable.
NECESSARY TUNES
Whether you opt to stick close to home or venture across the world, you’ll
definitely need some portable music to accompany your excursions.
We carted our Philips GoGear Spark ($49.99, www.philips.com) around for a
week in a variety of everyday situations; this little square MP3 player
lets you carry a good chunk of your audio collection with you, and it does
it with a stylish, full-color screen that displays album art and even your
own photos; the only detriment is that it’s limited to MP3 files, so don’t
expect to bring your MP4s along. However, the sound of the GoGear Spark is
full and not muddy at all, and it’s so light you’ll barely notice you’re
carrying it.
For listening to those MP3s (or other audio files), a trio of the latest
in headphone gear offers something for every need. First up, air travel -
with airplanes becoming more crowded, noise-canceling headphones are a
necessity.
Able Planet’s Clear Harmony Active Noise Canceling Headphones ($299.99,
www.ableplanet.com) feature luxuriously padded earpieces and clear sound
as well as a strong ability to fend off the noise; with our test pair, we
couldn’t hear spoken conversation or loud hand claps, yet the music we
were listening to still had plenty of presence and depth. They also arrive
with a very nice hardshell carrying case that stores extra batteries and
an included airline adapter plug.
JVC’s HA-NC80 Noise Canceling Headphones ($59.99, www.jvc.comor locally at
Best Buy and ABC Warehouse) also fared very well on our road-test; with a
comfortable headband and two modes - a “wide” mode for jet noise, and a
“low” mode for the lower frequency range found on trains and buses - they
also cancelled out most extraneous speech and hand clapping, and fold
deftly into their own carry bag. Either of these would be an
unquestionably worthy choice for plane, train, or auto travel.
If you’re looking for a headphone that’s less serious but still fun, our
third choice, the iFrogz EarPollution Headphones ($34.99,
http://ifrogz.com/earpollution), may not offer noise canceling, but they
do present solid sound and something completely unexpected - you can go
online and design your own set, with 200,000 possible color combinations
in all. We made our custom set in a city-wise black and chrome, and at
their low price, you can design sets to match every one of your summer
outfits for casual listening.
If you want to share your music with friends, simply plug your GoGear - or
any MP3 player, for that matter - into the cool portable Altec Lansing
Orbit MP3 Speaker ($39.95, www.alteclansing.com). The Orbit - just like it
sounds - is a small round speaker that offers up surprisingly robust sound
and ease of use,and we found it would run for the greater portion of a day
via three AAA batteries. The attached cord plugs in via your headphone
jack, and the fitted, zippered case makes the Orbit super-portable,
ensuring you can take your music along even in the most compact luggage.
And finally, the TriSpecs ($199.99, www.trispecs.com)will round out your
arsenal of trip gear nicely, by serving a triple purpose; wear the
TriSpecs, and you’re getting sunglasses, stereo headphones, and the
ability to link up with your Bluetooth devices all in one fashionable
item. The men’s pair we tested, in a glossy white finish, found our test
subject’s cell phone Bluetooth link immediately, allowing him to answer
the phone and listen to MP3s, all while simply utilizing the glasses’ own
retractable earphones and on-sunglass controls like a futuristic James
Bond - and they’ll even protect your weary eyes as you sit in your
backyard, recovering from all of this great gear-enhanced summer fun.
 
All prices quoted are MSRP; you may find better prices and/or deals at
local retail outlets throughout the summer.