outdoor

Whilst most of the Northern Hemisphere is rugging up from the cold weather and dreaming about summer and sun, here are some outdoor ideas to add to your wish-list this year. Be it an indulgent lounge chair or your ideal cocktail bar, these designs will revive your backyard in time for summer. Read More

The Ambit watch is Suunto's latest GPS-enabled watch, following up on the X10. The package is designed to provide outdoor athletes with a suite of tools - GPS, sports computer, heart rate monitor - to train and adventure successfully. The data gathered can then be shared at Suunto's online training community, where there are more tools and features. Read More

In the wilderness, few things are as important as a fire. Unfortunately, getting a fire going - even with all the right equipment - isn't always easy. Insta-fire makes it easier. The fire-starting mixture burns hot and long enough to eliminate the need for kindling and possibly even fuel. It's also versatile enough to light in wet conditions. Read More

Outdoor clothing manufacturers are determined to solve the one problem that the world's ultimate insulator has: ineffectiveness when wet. Sierra Designs and Brooks Range are both introducing specially treated down jackets, that they claim work effectively in both wet and dry conditions. Read More

Laptops and now tablets are essential to our daily lives – both business and leisure – but take that computer outside beyond a sidewalk café, and you'll realize this device is really out of its element. For those who work in the field, more than just a plastic or thin metal shell is required to protect their hardware. The R13C convertible computer from GammeTech has all the features to pass Military Standard 810G certification, and then some. Read More

This stunning alpine modular lodge is the creation of Italian design firm LEAPfactory. Dubbed LEAP (living ecological alpine pod) the modules are built entirely off-site, ready to be transported by helicopter to the summit of choice. Breaking away from traditional alpine structures, the pod is fitted with high-tech features and "at the end of its life cycle [it] can be lifted away by helicopter without leaving any permanent trace of its presence in the natural environment" says LEAPfactory. 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

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

Once when I was a kid, I unwisely agreed to deliver newspapers for a friend of mine while he was away. The first time I tried to lift the gargantuan sack-o-papers, it was so heavy that I ended up pinned on the ground underneath it. Much to my humiliation, I ended up having to load the newspapers into our wheelbarrow, and deliver them that way. Well, it now turns out that I was simply ahead of my time – German outdoors company MONOWALKER recently unveiled its novel pack system, which includes one configuration that is not unlike a towed one-wheeled wheelbarrow. Read More