Wireless iPod Speaker from Cy Fi

Whenever I hear the words “wireless” and “speaker” together, two bad visions come to mind. One is the set of Advent wireless stereo speakers in my daughter’s playroom: if you even look at them funny, they lose the signal and sound like crap. The other vision is a party I was at a few years ago where the host spent half the night moving around a set of those all-weather wireless speakers like you see in the Skymall catalog because the sound kept cutting out or getting distorted.

Fortunately this cy*fi speaker is a different story: it promises “CD-quality” sound while broadcasting tunes from your iPod and my skepticism was dashed as soon as I fired it up. When I compared the sound on this nifty 4-ounce device to a couple heavier ones that plug in, the cy*fi actually sounded better, even when the transmitter was on the other side of the room or I was moving around the room with my iPod.

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Tifosi Torrent Photochromatic Sunglasses

A while back I reviewed a pair of Vogel sunglasses from Tifosi and they have become my go-to glasses for everyday wear. This Tifosi Torrent model though is the pair I pull out when it's time to go for a bike ride or a hike.

They're photochromatic, which means they'll adjust to the brightness and become darker as needed. So if you're going from indoors to outdoors and shade to sunlight, the glasses will adjust to the conditions. As always, that means they don't get as dark as standard sunglasses, but to me that's a fair trade-off and they're "dark enough" for most situations.

As with most wrap glasses, they curve a bit around the eye to block out more harmful rays and fit snugly without moving around. (One drawback: if you have long eyelashes they might rub against the lens.) These Torrent glasses go beyond in two ways though. First, the nosepiece actually gets tackier when wet, so if you're sweaty or it starts drizzling the sunglasses don't slide off your nose.

Second, they have a small vent in the top corner of each end to let air flow through. This might sound like a gimmick, but in my tests it made a difference. I usually start getting tears in the corners of my eyes if I'm skiing or coming down a hill fast on a bike from the wind, but with these on it doesn't seem to happen.

These sunglasses come with a hard zippered case that has a pocket on the inside, plus a soft carrying pouch that doubles as a lens cleaner. At a retail price of $60, these shades deliver at a high level for the price. (The polarized versions are $90.) And hey, they let you see the world through rose-colored glasses...

Get the Tifosi Torrent FC Photochromic Sunglasses at REI

See more at the Tifosi Optics website.

Be Seen at Night With Illuminite Clothing

I've been wandering the streets of my neighborhood at night this past week wearing black, but I have not been hard to see. No, it's not a tease from the Riddler, it's reflective clothing from IllumiNITE.

There's nothing new about reflective clothing of course. Highway workers have donned it for decades and every night I see someone jogging around with some kind of reflective orange vest on. This line of clothing is different though: it actually looks good. There are no random stripes of tape or big logos that might as well say "Look at me, I'm a runner!"

This clothing is cool because the designers looked at things from a different angle. The reflective parts are around the outside of your body instead of the middle of your chest and back, so everyone behind the wheel can recognize that you are a moving human and not a road sign. Plus the reflective part is built into the design instead of being an obvious add-on. There are solid sections that look normal by day but act like a collection of tiny mirrors at night, or dots that just appear to be normal design elements until the headlights hit them. You may feel like a superhero getting ready to save the world when you put on one of these pieces, but you won't feel like a dork.

I've been trying out a illumiNITE thermaGARD Early Riser fleece (pictured here). It performs as it should and then some. Nice locking zippers, a comfy fleece liner, a good fit, and a sleeve pocket for a (small) MP3 player. It's lightweight, breathable, wicking, and downright cozy.

When I've not been wondering what's wrong with the caps lock on the keyboards in their marketing department, I've been thinking of how useful this would be as the go-to fleece on a long trip. It may, for example, reduce the number of times you are almost run over by a tuk-tuk in Thailand or an auto rickshaw in India. It would be good for nighttime walking along the street in Latin American cities, where the sidewalks are only about as wide as your two shoes. It would be good for one of those "we will leave camp at 3 a.m." hiking trips where you're trying to keep track of each other with voices and flashlights.


So, while this stuff is mainly marketed to cyclists and runners, it might make you safer as you travel the world as well -- while still keeping you looking good. They make waterproof jackets, caps, t-shirts, and much more. You can get the background and specs on the illuminate.com website, but considering they have "See our 2007 collection" on the front page and it's mid-October of '08 as I write this, you should go elsewhere to buy the latest models.

Click on that women's jacket to the left or here to go to REI, where there's a big selection in lots of colors and styles.

Or you can find this line in a lot of good retail shops catering to cyclists.

Vite Plus Steel BPA-free Steel Water Bottle from Bilt

Ever since word got out that the ingredient BPA in plastic water bottles could possibly be harmful, there's been a spike in demand for alternatives. I reviewed the cool Sigg aluminum metal water bottle a while back and now there's a sleek new line of steel alternatives from Bilt.

The FDA says there's no real risk, but many consumers have obviously gone with the "better safe than sorry" approach. Now even if you think the BPA fears are a bunch of hooey and you come from the "that which does not kill you makes you stronger" camp, these Bilt bottles are attractive and functional enough that you would use them anyway. I've been trying out the Vite Plus one this week and really like it. It feels good in the hand (with finger indentations on the side), it's got good water flow because of a small valve on the top, and no additional tastes come through from the container. I haven't taken it mountain biking, but this model would be good for that since it has a pop-off covering for the spout that goes into your mouth.

If you do worry about the trace elements in a plastic bottle, the Bilt metal ones will ease your mind. Here's the official set of specs: "All Bilt Stainless Steel water bottles are made with a premium food-grade type 304 stainless steel containing 18% chromium and 8% nickel. This material is chosen for its consistent quality and performance characteristics of not leaching chemicals, staining, corroding or rusting. The inside of Bilt bottles are finished using an electrolyte charge and dolomitic sand blasting; unlike aluminum bottles that need an inner coating lacquer containing BPA."

These bottles don't come with the whimsical artistic variety Sigg offers and you can't just toss the whole thing in the recycling bin later like you can with those (part of this bottle is #5 plastic), but at $11 to $17, these less expensive Bilt water bottles are nice worry-free items that will last for years of heavy use and adventures. And they're easier to drink out of when you're in motion. Plus these have a wide mouth, so if you use this in your travels with a water purifier from Steripen, you won't have to fill up landfills with plastic disposable bottles.

Check the Bilt store locater

Find BPA-Free Bilt Water Bottles at REI

Rock On! Skullcandy Link Hydro Pack

Sometimes I review travel gear that is not exactly aimed at my demographic. Exhibit A: the Link Hydro Pack from Skullcandy. I had to check it out though, because it definitely qualifies as "double duty travel gear." More like "triple-duty" actually.

This is a small backpack and a hydration pack, which let's admit is pretty ho-hum on its own. But the kicker here really kicks: your own person stereo blasting tunes out of your shoulder straps! I've tried out a few bags with speakers over the years and this is the best one so far. The instructions actually explain things well, the speakers don't sound like vibrating tin cans (though don't expect booming bass), and the fact the pack plays music doesn't seem to make it noticeably heavier or bulkier.

First you pop in the included four AA batteries. (Please promise you'll switch to recyclable ones after these wear out.) Then you plug in your iPod, turn it on, and you're biking or walking with tunes blasting right by your ears. While it could be annoying to others if you're on the Appalachian Trail, for an urban bike ride it makes more sense than sealing yourself off with headphones. You can still hear what's going on around you. But you can plug in headphones if you want, using the same volume and skip/back buttons you would use with the speakers.

The controls are right on the shoulder straps, so you can adjust the volume right there or skip to the next track without touching your music player. You can also hook your cell phone up to it, though I didn't try this out since as usual, the supplied connectors only work with a fraction of the phones out there. (And once again, the handset makers' fault, not these guys'.)

And oh yeah, it's a hydration pack, holding a half gallon of water. Easy to fill in my tests and well, you suck on a tube attached to the water pouch, so there's not much that can go wrong if you keep it clean.

Skullcandy's marketing tag line of "Slash the silence of the great outdoors" worries me though. Call me a cranky old fart, but the last thing we need in the real outdoors is some lunkhead bombarding us with more media just as we're trying to get away from, well, constant bombardment from media. But used responsibly this would make a nice daypack to carry along on a short trip to enable an instant stereo---in your own private quarters or with willing company.

The Skullcandy Link Hydro Pack comes in orange/gray or camouflage and has a (rather steep) list price of $150. Get it for a tad less here:

Order the Link Hydro from Amazon

Review of the HYmini Wind-powered Charger

A lot of these travel gear reviews are variations on a theme, slight improvements on a standard item. The HYmini charger is a different story. This thing is a real breakthrough.

If you've been whining about how our various governments don't do enough to promote solar power and wind power, here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is. (And not a whole lot of money at that.) This innovative item is a personal charger powered up by wind. If you get the attachments you can even clip it onto your bike when you go out cycling or to your arm when you're out running. It only takes a breeze of 9 miles per hour to keep it humming.

After 20 to 40 minutes, you've got enough juice to charge up your iPod, your mobile phone, or any gadget with a USB or USB mini input. If you're in a place with unreliable wind but plenty of sun, you can supplement with the optional solar panel. To add to the eco-cred, the solar panel is housed in cardboard and the packaging it all comes in uses mostly renewable materials--no plastic clamshells from hell.

All nice in theory, but how well does it work? Extremely well, I'm happy to report. I simply stuck the thing in my office window on a nice spring day and then fully charged up my iPod. I put it back in the window again for an hour, went back to my work, and it was ready to go again. On my bike handlebars the turbine was charging up the whole time I was pedaling. Granted, the HYmini will not keep your Treo fully changed all day and night all week, but it's a nice supplement when you are between outlets or when you just need to get a near-dead phone going for another few conversations.

The only drawback is one created by the least environmentally friendly companies around: the cellphone manufacturers. As with the Chargepod I reviewed earlier, the HYmini comes with five attachments, but that only covers a fraction of the annoyingly unstandardized handsets out there. The Nokia adapter didn't work on my wife's Nokia and since I have a Sanyo phone I'm S.O.L. As best as I can tell, they don't sell any additional adapters on their site beyond LG2 and Samsung2. (Like Nokia, these guys can't even make their OWN phones work with the same chargers.) Someday the electronics industry will wake up and realize they need to become part of the solution instead of making us buy new accessories every time we get a new gadget, but they haven't gotten the memo yet.

The charger comes in black, white, or green, along with a wall plug, five connectors, and a USB cord for $50. The solar panel is another 25 bucks, the armband $15, and the bike handlebars connector is $9. So if you went for the whole shebang it would be about $100 plus shipping. Hey, there are probably cheaper ways to save the world, but how many of them can charge up your gadgets in the Sahara or Seattle? Not many retailers seem to be stocking this yet, online or physical, so order direct from HYmini.

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Wicking Shirts from Coolmax

I will admit that I took my good ole time jumping on the synthetic "moisture wicking" shirt bandwagon. I could always smell someone with one of them on from 10 yards away and didn't want to be a walking sweatbomb myself. So I stuck with reliable, sustainable cotton except for one t-shirt I bought on sale at REI that I only used when with someone who loved me.

The shirtmakers finally woke up to this problem a while back though and started building odor-killing properties into the fabric, so now it's possible to not smell like a laundry basket after every bike ride or hike. I've had good experiences lately with a "Ride On" one from Life is Good and a surprisingly supple one from Coolmax Clothing.

This Coolmax one feels like a 50/50 cotton blend rather than something you would wear to a disco in the 1970s. It's soft, it feels good, and it looks like a normal T-shirt. But it effectively wicks the sweat away and isn't stinky. It dries quickly after a washing too, which is a big plus when you're packing light.

The Coolmax shirts come in 9 colors and are only $14 if you buy direct from their site. Or you can get one of the long-sleeve compression shirts (pictured here) for $29.

They'll do custom imprinting if you want a logo for your club or business. They also sell quick-dry boxer shorts, like the Ex-Officio ones I reviewed earlier, but for $15. Good stuff, good price all around.

Super-light Travel Jacket from GoLite

I've written before about the importance of carrying a jacket in your pack, even if you're heading to Southeast Asia or Central America. It can get cool and rainy at any latitude, especially in the highlands or the desert. You don't want a travel jacket to take up much room though, which is where something like the GoLite Ether wind jacket comes in.

Weighing a mere 3.5 ounces, this wispy and comfortable jacket stuffs down inside its own pocket that's part of the jacket and then only takes up about as much space as one pair of socks. After it folds into itself there's a handy loop on the outside too, so you could hook it to a clip on some hiking shorts when on the move.

In my tests it repelled water well in a sprinkling rain and was a worthwhile windbreaker. There are a few sacrifices to keep the weight down--like only one pocket--but there is an adjustable hood and elastic to keep the sleeves around your wrist.

This GoLite Ether wind jacket is half the weight of the Sierra Designs one I got from REI, but does that make it worth twice as much money? The other one is under $30 for 7 ounces, while this one lists for $70 for 3.5 ounces. They're both made in China from 100 percent polyester, so you're basically paying a premium for the patented coating, lighter fabric, and a smaller package. If you're a runner, cyclist, backcountry hiker, or just someone with the money to keep everything as light as possible, go for it. Or if this doesn't feel like a splurge for a soon-to-depart traveler on your gift list, they will be impressed with your thoughtful gift.

This travel jacket seems to go in and out of stock at the online retailers like Backcountry.com, so try the buy links at the GoLite site if you want one of these and can't find it locally.


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Hot Chilly T for Cold Weather

I'm becoming resigned to the fact cold weather is here to stay for a while, so I've gone through the annual ritual of putting away one set of clothes and getting out the layers. One new layer I'm liking a lot is this Hot Chilly Zip-T.

It is designed to be a base layer for skiing, with a form-hugging fit. But it also works well for cool-weather running or biking. It basically functions like a heavy-duty fleece, but is slick on the outside, fuzzy on the inside. That's a good thing if you're piling on layers or trying to be aerodynamic on the slopes or on a bike.

The Hot Chilly Peachskins zip T is deceptively warm and is quite comfortable as something to wear down the block on a fall day. My only beef with it is it is designed to be zipped up all the way on your neck, so the collar doesn't quite know what to do with itself if you're unzipped. For something you're just using as a base layer, the simpler banded crew might be better (but is only a buck less - $34).

These come in six colors and Hot Chillys also makes a whole line of base layer tops, bottoms, and socks for men and women. You can find them at various retail outlets or ski shops like Sun & Ski Sports or Finish Line. Or go to the Hot Chillys site to find a local retailer.

Hoss Funky Ponderosa Biking Shorts

It helps to have some extra padding in your rear when you're going to spend hours cycling on a bicycle. Those spandex ones are not my style, however, and they really scream, "Je suis un cycliste" when you step off the bike and walk into a pub or restaurant.

So before a recent biking trip in the Czech Republic, I picked up a pair of these Hoss baggy biking shorts from my local shop, Eastside Cycles. They look like a regular pair of shorts you would wear around while traveling, with lots of different-sized pockets for beer money, a cell phone, lip balm, or whatever else you need to carry. When you walk around, you may feel like you've taken a dump in your pants because of the padding, but otherwise nobody knows you've got special cycling shorts on.

These Ponderosa shorts are rugged and comfortable, with a lining on the inside that keeps the material off your skin while cruising along on a bike. You might not be as aerodynamic as Mr. Serious whizzing past you, but if you're riding for pleasure rather than trying to win a race, these are just the ticket.

I haven't seen them online at gear stores, so you'll need to check your local bike shop or order them direct from a cycling retailer or the Hoss site. These Ponderosa shorts list for $49.95 and as this specialized gear goes, that's a good value.

Folding Bikes and Trikes from Di Blassi

Is space in your pad too tight for a bike? Do you need to throw a bike or 3-wheeler in the trunk instead of on a bike rack? Are you commuting on public transportation with nowhere to put a bicycle for after you arrive? A folding one might be just the ticket.

I get all kinds of wierd things showing up on my doorstep to try out for this travel gear blog, but thankfully most companies e-mail first before sending the sample. Otherwise I might have been phoning Homeland Security when this Di Blasi Folding Trike box appeared at the front door.

Within 30 seconds of me getting it out of the box, it was assembled and ready for prime time, even though it comes with fenders, five gears, two hand brakes, a bell, and a generator light on the front and back. I didn't see the directions in the box at first, but it didn't matter. Getting in folded back up was a little tougher. I got stumped a few times, first by the clip on the folding pedals, then on a fender that wouldn't cooperate. I found the directions (in six languages) though and it all worked out.

I felt like a retired geezer with no sense of balance pedaling it around my neighborhood, but it rode well after I got used to it and and felt solid. It should feel solid - the thing weighs more than my real bike. At 47 pounds (21.4 kgs), this wonder of engineering is not for the weak and dainty. Testing out how it fit in the trunk of a car worked up more of a sweat than riding it around. This was the trike though. The folding bike is about 10 kgs lighter.


These folding bikes are impressively easy to fold and unfold and it really is something to behold. The trike folds down to 28 inches x 11 inches x 25 inches--it even comes with a carrying case. None of this comes cheap, of course. The folding trike is about a grand and a half or you can get an electric one for $2,700. The 2-wheel folding bikes start at $645 list and go to $845. They're built to last though, so if you're in a situation where this fits your lifestyle, check into it and find a dealer at the Di Blasi folding bike site.