Outdoors

Water purifier manufacturer SteriPEN has updated its lineup of portable products, with a UV-based unit called the SteriPEN Freedom. Billed as the smallest, lightest and first rechargeable UV water purifier on the market, it disinfects up to 16 oz (0.5 L) of water in 48 seconds. Read More

If you’ve done much camping, chances are that you’ve probably seen fellow campers sitting around the chilly campsite first thing in the morning, wearing their sleeping bag like it’s a dressing gown. Well, Chilean graphic designer Rodrigo Alonso Schramm has taken the wearable sleeping bag concept one step farther, and created one with arms, legs, and a hood. Sold as both the Selk’Bag (in homage to the nomadic Chilean Selk'nam people) and the Musuc’Bag, it could be just the thing for those times when you feel like getting up, but don’t want to get out of bed. Read More

Designed and built by a German-based industrial designer Daniel Straub, Sealander is a clever two-in-one vehicle that combines features of an electric power boat and a camping trailer. And it's not just a blue-sky concept - a prototype has been built and successfully tested on the road and on the water and Sealander is now reportedly being prepared for production. Read More

Creek Stewart is a survival instructor whose main interest lies in building compact-sized and clever survival kits. One of his latest projects is to modify a pump-action shotgun and cram it full of survival stuff, essentially creating a combination of a weapon and survival tool ... perfect in case of a zombie apocalypse. Read More

French designer Pierre Stephane Dumas has created a range of portable transparent huts, offering a quiet space to retreat to. The idea behind his Bubble collection was to create a temporary leisure accommodation that had the least impact on the surrounding environment, whilst also giving the impression of being amongst nature. The range includes the BubbleTree, CristalBubble, BubbleLodge and BubbleRoom, which are all suitable to spend a night in, without disturbing the natural surroundings. Read More

NAU, the design studio behind the 360-degree Immersive Cocoon we checked out earlier this month, has penned this streamlined, zero-local-emission Ecco Camper concept with a view to inspiring a new way of getting away from it all in the 21st Century. Read More

While some people like to show off how they can survive on just wieners and beans when they’re camping, others go to the opposite extreme, and set up miniature kitchens that they use to cook full meals from scratch. People in that second group, however, generally have to cart around several cases of gear, that they have to assemble and tear down for every meal. What they need is a self-contained portable camping kitchen, where all their gear can be both stored and used ... and that just happens to be what Kanz Outdoors’ Field Kitchen is. Read More

When you cast a fishing lure out into the water and it goes beneath the surface, it enters a dark, mysterious world that you can only imagine. Perhaps that’s overstating things a bit, but the fact is, you can’t see where it is or what’s around it. A fish finder can provide you with some basic information (if you’re in a boat) but it doesn’t actually show you what it looks like down there. That’s where the FishEyes Rod and Reel with Underwater Video Camera comes in. Its built-in color LCD screen provides you with a live image of your lure, and any fish that happen to be near it. Read More

Two years ago, we had a look at the Scarpar - a twin-tracked, high speed all terrain powerboard that seemed like a promising power toy. Well, we've just spoken to Scarpar CEO Andrew Fern, who has confirmed that this unique vehicle is going into production later this year, and he's taking deposits as of now. Basically everything on the board has been changed since the last prototype we saw - it now runs an independent electric motor in each of the two articulating tracks, and the hand-held throttle and brake unit is now wireless. And as Fern describes after the jump, getting it to a production-ready point has been a herculean effort; his design team more or less had to create their own realm of engineering theory to deal with such an unprecedented set of vehicle dynamics. The following interview is a fascinating look into the development cycle of a new product. Most importantly though, the Scarpar still looks like extreme fun, and a remarkable way to launch yourself into the foliage. Read More