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Gear Reviews Entries

Samson Zoom H4n: Review & Repair

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

In January of 2010, I bought my first sound recorder: a Samson Zoom H4n. At the time, I knew essentially nothing about field recording—I selected the device based on the recommendation of several musician friends. I didn't think of it at the time...

Satellite Internet: BGAN Explorer 110 Review

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Background Before we left on this adventure, I made a commitment to my clients that their level of support wouldn't change while I was abroad. I bought our BGAN Explorer 110 from Globalcom in October of 2009, just before we went to Tunisia, thin...

MobilityPass: Global Internet & Cellular Service

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

MobilityPass claims to offer cellular phone and internet access with a single SIM card in more than 100 countries– they also advertise free incoming calls for many of them. Wanting to provide the best possible support for my clients, they were one...

Navigation: Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx

Friday, April 30th, 2010

The Garmin 60 series has been on the market since 2004. My very first GPS was the now discontinued 60CS model. I used it with great success for many years on road trips in the USA, both in a car and mounted to the handlebars of a motorcycle. The...

Therm-a-Rest ToughSkin Failure

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

About a week ago, one of our Therm-a-Rest Toughskin sleeping mats started failing. The outer fabric began to delaminate, pulling away from the foam inside creating a bulbous air pocket. When you lay on the mat, the added pressure causes the fabri...

Velocity Rims: Part 3

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Our rims are finally here! Tara and I tore into the boxes at the post office this morning as soon as they opened at 8:30 AM. We could hardly believe what we saw when we removed the cardboard packaging. Velocity has replaced our failing rear rims...

DSLR Camera Case: ThinkTank Digital Holster 10

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

Bringing a digital SLR on our world tour was a last-minute decision. About a month before we left, my friend Ian Meyer convinced me that we'd be fools to leave without one. At the time, my main concern was how we'd carry yet another heavy and exp...

Velocity Rims: Part 2

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

UPDATE: It turns out our problems had nothing to do with the braking surface at all. The rim was splitting in two right down the middle. I didn't see this until I removed the rim tape. Click here for a continuation of the story. Roughly one...

Cookware: GSI Outdoors Pinnacle vs Glacier

Monday, November 16th, 2009

There are a lot of options to choose from when considering what cook-set to bring on a world tour. Stainless steel for "expeditions", aluminum for pretty much everything, titanium for the weight weenies and various teflon coatings for all. Add to...

Merino Wool

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

It keeps you warm when it is cold. It keeps you cool when it is hot. It dries almost instantly. You can sweat in it all day for weeks at a time without washing and still it won't smell. I remember being horrified when Tara informed me that all ...

Camp Chair: Walkstool Comfort

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

My dad took our family camping every summer when I was growing up. While researching what gear to bring on our trip I thought about those outings a lot. Planning a nomadic life turned out to be a surprisingly daunting task, and camping with my fa...

Exped DownMat vs Therm-a-Rest ToughSkin

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

UPDATE: One of our ToughSkin sleeping mats de-laminated. Click here for more information. It was clear when we started preparing to cycle around the world that doing so would require giving up countless luxuries. During our research we quic...

Snowpeak Titanium Single Cup I

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

The Titanium Single Cup I is just that—a cup and most certainly not a mug. For some reason this very important detail escaped us as we were doing research, and we decided to purchase two of them. We chose them because we were foolishly concerned ...

Power Grips

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

Power Grips are a very simple foot retention system originally designed for mountain biking in the 80s. They are nothing more than a pair of one inch wide straps that mount diagonally across your pedals. The straps themselves are made of a durabl...

Terry Liberator X Gel vs. Brooks Champion Flyer S

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Before riding a touring bicycle, the longest I'd ever spent in the saddle was riding back and forth to work on my beach cruiser. I didn't know what a saddle should feel like. I chose the Terry Liberator X Gel because Cindie from Down the Road had...