Back from OR
I skipped most of the first day, but even that didn’t save me from the brain-numbing effects of covering the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show.
Thousands of gear junkies wander the vast hall of the Salt Palace perusing the latest and greatest gear for all manner of outdoor recreational activities. Most of the stuff displayed in the 2,500-plus booths won’t be available to the general public until early in 2009, yet the nearly 20,000 people at the show have drooled on the new stuff already.
Sounds cool, eh? Well, in reality OR is nothing more than intensive Aversion Therapy for Gear-Geeks. (definition here).
In the months ahead, I’ll provide details about some of the best of the best from the show, but in the meantime, think about this:
- Osprey has a new ultralight pack series, with each of the packs (up to 50 liters) weighing less than 2 pounds, but which feature FULL, functional suspension systems
- Primus offers a fourth version of the Eta-series stoves — the Eta Pack-Lite. Looks perfect for two or three hikers. Light, efficient and compact. Fills a gap in the “fast-and-efficient” stove category (created by JetBoil). We’ll see how it does against the new JetBoil Helios.
- ThermaRest has new super light pads, but looks like they have minimal insulation. Lighter than Big Agnes’ AirCore, but not as insulating. We’ll see how they perform in the weeks ahead.
