Spring is a great time to be on the lookout for new travel gear. You’ve got discounts on winter gear and last year’s ranges all over the shops; summer stuff just coming out; and now blessed with longer days, it’s time to get planning and prepping for holidays and more active weekends.
If, like us, you are always tempted by the latest gadget, gizmo or innovation, you’re probably not going to find it here… That’s because we’re not featuring new travel gear just because it’s new, we’ve included it here because we think it’s good and will be perfect for adventure holidays worldwide.
New Travel Gear for Spring 2012
Here’s a quick round-up of the products we’ve seen recently that match innovation with practicality and have us flexing our credit cards.
Gerber Steady
Gerber has a great reputation for well-made multitools and knives – and had it long before it adopted Bear Grills as its mascot. The Gerber Steady is an odd product, but a clever one. Mixed in with 12 tools and components is a neat bi-pod, which when extended turns the tool into a tri-pod for your camera. Could also be a stand from which you could watch back movies off a smartphone.
Haglofs Gram Series
Great for spring. This range of packs by Haglofs is all set up for the lightweight, fast and active types – which we like. With all light gear you face the inevitable trade-off between weight and strength. By using polyester ripstop fabric (from recycled plastic bottles) there’s no compromise.
Integrated hydration pouch is expected in this kind of daysack, quick drying back and clever access has us interested. And overall, it looks well thought out and technical enough for ultra-types. Our favourite: Gram Comp 25
Steri-Pen Traveller
We previously featured these, in their former, fatter incarnation – but never received the test product (hint). Absolutely vital if you plan to trek in Nepal and other more remote regions. Cleans up half a litre of water in less than a minute and can do this 3,000 times before needing replacing. But can it get rid of that horrible brown colour?
Pan Am Travel Bags
All about the style really. So you’ll either love these or hate them. Secret agent model is all set up to handle laptops and media items – so idea for adventure travel not as dated as it looks.
The North Face Jammu Jacket
Forget brittle, birdwatcher waterproofs, new materials are helping manufacturers make jackets that are both soft and waterproof. The latest example here from The North Face has a helmet-fitted hood and those all-important ‘pit’ zips to help you vent off when the heat builds.
Using a fully waterproof and breathable fabric called Neoshell – from Polartech – you should be getting the best of all worlds. By taking design cues first trialled on the sides of a mountain and passing them on, albeit in its most expensive products, they’re tempting us to empty our pockets for an all-weather, all-rounder. Be good to see this tested in heavy rain, though.
We hope you found this guide to new travel gear for spring 2012 interesting. Check out hundreds of adventure sports gear articles in our blog.
