Outdoor Gear Reviews | ub Outdoors

October 9, 2011 in Fitness & Nutrition by Carl H. Martens

When is a water bottle more than just a water bottle?  AVEX is a company that has introduced a line of water bottles and travel mugs that feature revolutionary Autoseal technology.  Their products are priced at a great value and could easily sell for more when comparing to other similar products.  There isn’t a whole lot one can say about a water bottle, but we’ll do our best.  We think you will be intrigued enough to purchase one and give it a try yourself…for right around $20 you can’t go wrong. 

October 7, 2011 in Backpacking & Camping by Carl H. Martens

If there is one company that shares my beliefs and values, I would say GoLite mirrors them quite well.  Let me share with you the beginning excerpt from their Values page on their website.

Therefore I GoLite. This is our motto. This is what drives us. Less is more. Less is liberation. Less is our passion. But we didn’t invent this philosophy. You did.

You want to get away from all the stuff—the blaring music, the gadgets, the never-ending load of work and the glut of more, more, more. So you go light. You head out on the trail, because you want to experience nature on its own terms.

You value adventure over advertising. Memories over souvenirs. You don’t want to clog the planet with more stuff. You just want to have pure, simple, heart-pounding fun.

Therefore you GoLite.

Does that resonate with you?  Do you feel that sometimes less can be more?  Do you ever want to just get away from the fast paced rat race we compete in?  My guess is that your answer is yes.  If your answer is yes, then like myself, I think you will appreciate and desire the product lineup from GoLite.  Undoubtedly one of my favorite brands in the outdoor industry.  I’ve always been impressed by their approach when designing and developing products.  The Shangri-La tent is no different.  It is a fresh approach to probably the oldest and simplest style tent/teepee. 

October 4, 2011 in Cycling by Carl H. Martens

“Welcome to rack love.”  Those are the words you will see when you go to Kuat Innovations website.  Those are the words, that once you own a Kuat Innovations bike rack you will understand and affiliate with.  Nothing could be more true.  Kuat Innovations (pronounced Koo-at) gets its name from it’s original two founders; Luke KUschmeader and Brian ATkinson.  No surprise that creativity and ingenuity started with the company’s name!  It didn’t stop there.  How do you make a bike rack more than a bike rack?  Kuat has and that’s why they’ve coined the phrase, “welcome to rack love”.  Let us formally introduce you. 

September 30, 2011 in Backpacking & Camping by Carl H. Martens

The Bleuet name has a rich outdoor heritage, and it is known for its high quality, reliability, and performance for over 50 years.  Given their lineage, we were excited to receive the first two products available now in Sporting goods retail stores; the compact light folding steel pocket stove and the new and improved longer burning solid fuel that is light weight, safe, and highly efficient. 

September 27, 2011 in Uncategorized by Carl H. Martens

When hiking any great distance and more gear than your arms can carry, you turn to a backpack.  Backpacks aren’t just for hiking.  Heck, we use backpacks as soon as we start riding a school bus.  Everyone has owned a backpack at some point in time and probably still owns a backpack.  They’re great!  Carrying things on your head is a difficult task and I’m always amazed by the talent I see in National Geographic photographs.  Backpacks…that’s the way to go.

We were excited when we came across the concept of a carback carrier.  A carback carrier is essentially just a backpack for your car.  Brilliant right?  The immediate recognized benefit is that it won’t affect your gas mileage like a car top carrier would.  When we first saw the Rightline Gear Cargo Saddlebag we were confident that this product would be on our list of best new discovered products for the year.  That’s saying a lot because we were well into the year already so there were quite a few products/gear that had come before it.  Who wouldn’t think that though?  I mean, it is a backpack for a car…how cool is that?