Cold weather is quickly creeping upon us, and the best way to keep warm is to keep your noggin’ covered. The Outdoor Research Mainstay Beanie is a fun pop of color and poof for retaining heat on your head. I was instantly drawn to obnoxious brightness of the black/lemongrass combo.
If you’re looking for a lightweight snack on-the-go and you’re not allergic to nuts, the Pistachio Chewy Bites are for you.
When the Outdoor Research Echo Ubertube showed up in my #ORInsightLab package, I was skeptical. What the heck was this long, stretchy tube going to do for me? It took some time and consulting with fellow #ORInsightLab-er, Landon Faulkner, but the Echo Ubertube proved me wrong.
At 0.7 oz and highly compressible, this takes no space in your pack and adds no weight. It’s good to have it ’til you need it. Its possibilities are endless!
![[sn] super.natural W Base Tee 140](http://www.littlegrunts.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SuperNaturalBaseTee01.jpg)
![[sn] super.natural W Base Tee 140](http://www.littlegrunts.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SuperNaturalBaseTee02.jpg)
![[sn] super.natural W Base Tee 140](http://www.littlegrunts.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SuperNaturalBaseTee03.jpg)
![[sn] super.natural W Base Tee 140](http://www.littlegrunts.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SuperNaturalBaseTee04.jpg)
![[sn] super.natural W Base Tee 140](http://www.littlegrunts.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SuperNaturalBaseTee05.jpg)
[sn] super.natural is an emerging player in the natural fibers garment game in the United States.
I got my hands on the [sn] super.natural W Base Tee 140 to test over the last month. This shirt has seen my office, airplanes, rafting in Idaho, the Eastern Sierra, and more. Launched in 2012, this brand is a fairly new player in the outdoor garment game, but the quality is fantastic.
The 140 weight base tee is super lightweight! It wicks away moisture and sweat to keep you cool, and dries extremely quickly. The merino wool gives this anti-microbial and anti-odor properties, making it okay to wear consecutive days on the trails or to the office without smelling absolutely horrible.
Despite the lighter weight, the merino wool-synthetic blend stands up to wear-and-tear of constant use. No holes from buttons on jeans, rock abrasions, backpacks, weekly washings, or kitten claws, yet!
My only complaint about this shirt? The tag and logo decals are like those DIY iron on t-shirt ones that you made shirts with in high school. They all started to peel off after the first wash. The decals leave behind an imprint of what used to be there.
I’m such a sucker for merino wool performance shirts, so I’ll definitely be stocking up on this brand. If you’re a fan of the Icebreaker Tech T Lite, this is comparable, and slightly more affordable.
The German brand launches in North America this fall. [sn] super.natural will available at Nordstrom and on Amazon. The W Base Tee 140 retails for $50.
This was sent to me for review.
I first got wind of LifeStraw when bloggers were reviewing them left and right and sharing all over social media. I didn’t really get it. As hikers, backpackers, adventurers, we’re used to carting water all across the wilderness. But what if we didn’t have guaranteed reliable water sources to slurp from? The straw is useless.
I was so excited to see that LifeStraw sent some of their LifeStraw Go bottles to Idaho for #HellHikeAndRaft. Thanks to Tara’s lightning quick snatching skills, I was able to get my hands on one of these babies. I can easily say that this is my most favorite piece of gear from the trip. It’s so easy to scoop water and not have to worry about filtering it! I’m a wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-because-I’m-thirsty-and-or-hot type of person, so this was great to have for ultimate laziness.
The bottle holds 650 mL (22 fluid oz) of water for on the go use. The plastic is BPA-free, with a soft, rubbery, flip top bite valve for comfortable drinking. The filter has a lifespan of about 1000 liters of water, and filters down to about .2 microns. It will remove 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria and 99.9% of waterborne protozoan parasites. If you’re an average adventurer in the North American backcountry, this should be perfect for you. But elsewhere? You’ll need to be wary of viruses in your water.
I found that the straw had a tendency to leak if placed upside down or on its side. This wasn’t isolated to my own bottle, which is quite a bummer. The carabiner is a little flimsy, and the gate tends to pop out past the nose. Not really a deal breaker, just annoying. There’s no lid or cover for the mouth piece. If you’re traveling through a dusty area, or if you’re prone to rolling around in dirt like me, your mouthpiece is going to get dirty.
Lastly, the biggest downside, once you’re at that 1000 liter mark, there’s no way to replace your filter! Granted, the average weekend warrior will go through 1000 liters of filtered water pretty slowly, but once you’re there, you need to buy a new bottle. It’s not cost or waste efficient. But maybe by a thousand liters, they’ll have replacement ones.
Update: The folks over at Eartheasy have let me know that replacement filters are now available for $18.95! Wahoo!
All in all, I think it’s a pretty nifty product. I don’t quite have anything like it, and never thought of picking up anything like it. Now that I have it, I’m super excited about it. And as an additional bonus, for every LifeStraw product you purchase, you help deliver clean, drinkable water to kids in Africa. A product that is good and does good gets a million points in my book.
Buy through LifeStraw or Amazon for $34.95.
