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A GearJunkie Top 5 + Coors Banquet

What do you get when the outdoor's foremost authority on outdoor stuff cracks open a brew?


You get GearJunkie on Gear & Beer!

Today Sean McCoy from GearJunkie.com joins Colin to run down the top 5 products he and the GJ team saw at the Outdoor Market Alliance Media Show last week (Colin was also there).


The two talk about new stuff from:

  • Therm-a-rest

  • Osprey

  • Vasque

  • Mountain Hardwear

  • Thule


And they start it all off by pairing this gear with an ice cold Coors Banquet. Because after all, this event was held just outside of Golden, CO so... you know, why not?


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Episode Transcript


Colin (00:02):

Welcome to Gear and Beer, the podcast for Gearheads beer buffs and adventurers with discerning tastes and the latest addition to the Rock Fight Podcast Network. I'm Colin True and I'm excited to welcome you back to Gear and Beer. The response to the launch of this show was incredibly positive, so we took the past month to dial in our tasting menu and expand our offering to include more gear and more beer based topics and conversations. And we're kicking off the new gear and beer with the current raining champ of the outdoor gear scene Gear Junkie. Yeah, today we're welcoming Sean McCoy from Gear Junkie and all Gear Digital to Gear and beer and what we're looking to make a regular thing as we tap into the latest gear reviews from the Leading Gear Review website. Sean, welcome to the show, man.


Sean (00:43):

Hey, thank you Colin. Super excited to be here.


Colin (00:46):

Yeah, man, it's great to have you on. Justin's not here today, unfortunately, so you have some big shoes to fill for Mr. Hausman. I don't know how well you know Justin or not, but he, he's a verbose dude.


Sean (00:56):

Yeah, I'll do my best. I can talk gear. I'm not sure if I can be Justin, but we'll see how it goes.


Colin (01:03):

Well, today's episode we'll be covering a recent article that ran over on gear junkie.com covering the best products to come out of last week's Outdoor market alliance media show. We were both there, saw a lot of really interesting things and you guys did an awesome little writeup of it. We're going to go through that list. Before we get to that though, a couple of quick housekeeping items for our gear and beer listeners, if you can. Please be sure to follow and rate gear and beer wherever you're listening to this whatever podcast app you're listening to us on. If Apple Podcasts is your preferred podcast app, think about leaving us a written review. If you do and you send us a screenshot of that review to my rock fight@gmail.com, we'll send you a gear and beer and rock fight sticker, and if you haven't had enough of my voice, be sure to check out the OG Rock Fight podcast, the aptly name, the Rock Fight. Wherever you're probably listening to this podcast, you can find that podcast too, but that's not what we're talking about today. Today we're talking about gear and beer, and let's start by cracking open the beer, Sean, as the guest on Gear and Beer, it was up to you to decide what pairing mattered most to this conversation about the best gear dubbed by your team at a media event. So what beer did you choose?


Sean (02:08):

Alright, well, I dug hard for this one, and I've been really thinking about beer a lot over the last month. I did some traveling. I've always been a fan of IPAs. I live in Colorado. I like hop beers, but I've also sort of gotten into a little bit more of the pilsner world lately, especially traveling through Europe, being able to drink those lower alcohol beers and not be drunk. I kind of am getting a little bit more sober with my older age, but I still like beer and I still like a little alcohol, so I kind of compromised being, we were just down the street from Golden Colorado. I was like, why not go with an old school classic? So we busted out the Coors Banquet. Now I


Colin (02:51):

Went with the stubby bottle. You like you have a can. Yeah,


Sean (02:53):

You went with a stubby bottle. I had an emergency beer run I had to make. It's been a busy, so I got the closest thing and Kim will do the job


Colin (03:03):

In honor of our cone. Justin, who's not here, I did a little research. It's 150 year old recipe on the Coors Banquet, 5% a BV and the bottle. The one I have is, did you know it was introducing 1936 as a way to save shipping costs and pack more beer into trucks?


Sean (03:19):

That is fantastic.


Colin (03:20):

Yeah, I thought I'm like, oh, they just use a small bottle and thought, but there was actually a reason behind it.


Sean (03:25):

Great, great. Well, it's been a day so far for me. Let's crack 'em open if you're listening to this. Let's get it. Oh,


Colin (03:34):

That was fun. I was a twist off. I bought a beer a bottle of a twist off. All right. Hey, cheers man.


Sean (03:39):

Cheers. That tastes good.


Colin (03:45):

That tastes really good. I've always been more of a Budweiser guy than a Coors guy or a Miller guy, but this actually is kind of hitting the spot. It's a little warm where I am today, so it is kind of hitting the spot right there. Same


Sean (03:55):

Here. I think we're at about 95 today, so Wow. It'll do very well.


Colin (04:01):

Alright, man. Well, we got our beers. Let me paint a picture for you, Sean. Our beers are cracked. We're leaning back in a camp chair. We're ready for the kind of conversations you have with your pals when you're out on the trail. We're back at the trail head. We had to put in by the fire on the beach because here in Gear and Beer, we don't talk about stack height geometry with underfoot unless as our friend Justin Hausman says, unless we do, because sometimes we do, but we mostly talk about the experience, our likes and our dislikes. How often are you out there with your pals being like, what is the actual geometry of that bicycle you're riding? You're like, nah, hi, do you like your bike? That's usually, I never have


Sean (04:33):

The specs. I can never remember that stuff. That's why I write everything down.


Colin (04:37):

So today you brought us five products that Gear Junkie really liked at the recent Outdoor Market Alliance Media show in Denver. If you want to know more about that show, listen to the Rock fight. I did a whole breakdown of the show this past week. I'll link that in the show notes, but let's roll through it. We have five products that go through, so what's number one on the list?


Sean (04:55):

Yeah, well that sounds great. Before we jump into it, let me give you a little background about how we pick these products because I think for a lot of people you see these five arbitrary products on an article and think Why these five? We've been doing buying Best in Show sort of stories for I would say 12 or 13 years now since the early days of Outdoor Retailer and early on we developed kind of a litmus test on gear that it needed to bring something that hopefully hadn't necessarily been done before, or if it had been that this does it significantly better, try to find little revolutions in gear versus slight evolutions. It can be really tough because I would argue generally that gear has gotten very good. There aren't a huge, a lot of places where there's just these gaping holes with garbage. There were 20 years ago.


Colin (05:52):

That's why I'm always big on the no metrics or the specs thing, kind of like, yeah, it just all works. Everything works right,


Sean (05:59):

And if it's the right product for the right person, which is always the goal in my mind, is marrying these two, are you the person for this gear? It usually works great if you get the wrong thing for you the job, it's going to be horrible, but generally it does its intended job well. So our goal is always to find things that do it a little better, a little different, and maybe make a slight revolution in the world or make gear a little bit better for everyone. So yeah, jumping right in. If you're ready, we can look up. The first one we talked about was the Thermo Rest Boost sleeping bag. Did you see this at the show?


Colin (06:34):

I did see this. So this is a new, first of all, I am a little out of loop. I didn't know that Therms had actually entered his sleeping bag market. I just still thought them mostly as pads. It sounds like. I think whoever we spoke to said it was been three or four years maybe. Does that sound about right to you? That they've actually been making bags?


Sean (06:49):

It's been in, it kind of makes


Colin (06:50):

Sense. I might've been


Sean (06:53):

Five years, but it's somewhere in that ballpark. It hasn't been that long and they didn't have a very big lineup of them for a while.


Colin (07:02):

This thing was


Sean (07:02):

Think you're definitely expanding now.


Colin (07:04):

So did you see this as gimmicky or cool because the thing with this bag was that it has a zipper down the middle that could basically you create some versatility with the temperature range of the bag.


Sean (07:15):

Yes. The bag is both gimmicky and cool in my mind. We argued about this a lot as editors. Obviously most people aren't familiar with the bag, so like you said, it has a zipper that runs right down the center if you were sleeping on your back and the hood was pointed upwards. So as you zip that zipper down, it opens the channels or the baffles in the center that hold the down, and by doing so, the down becomes thinner over the center of the sleeping bag. The concept is that then because that down is thinner, the sleeping bag's temperature rating is lower. So basically the theory is that it changes between a 10 degree and a 20 degree sleeping bag or a 20 degree and a 30 degree sleeping bag, which is basically the two options that they're offering right now are in that neighborhood. It's not exact, but that ballpark.


Colin (08:18):

It's a couple of models, I think with a variety of ranges, but yeah.


Sean (08:21):

Yep, yep. And they're all actually aimed at kind of a mid price to lower price for down price range. This isn't a super high end, super lightweight sleeping bag. It's six 50 fill down, so very good, very serviceable, but not cutting edge.


Colin (08:38):

I think that makes sense, right? I think about who would actually buy this and really use it, and I could see it's, I don't know, it's the person who only wants to have one bag probably isn't looking for an ultra like kit, just looking for the versatility and just a hardcore backpacker is going to have their bags that they prefer. They're going to get really dialed in on their sleep systems and what they wear when and how and things like that. And this would probably almost be not too much, but something they wouldn't even be interested in. But that kind of more recreational person where it's kind of like, Hey man, there's that mountain bike event in October and you want to go to it, it's going to be a little colder than you're used to camping and this is going to give you a little bit of versatility there. I could see that actually paying off for someone like that,


Sean (09:18):

And that is exactly the market that Thees is targeting with this bag. They're very much know that this isn't the cutting edge performance. It's aimed at the camper slash occasional backpacker. It's light enough to backpack with, but not the top tier stuff. I argued very hard that this was a gimmick. I really grilled the person and that from Thermarest and their rep. I apologize, I forget both the man's name. I forget too. Actually, I forget his name and I forget at the moment everything I grilled them about, but I was rough and over the conversation I was swayed. Oh, okay.


(10:09):

I still think for me, this isn't a product that I would jump at, but I do think that a lot of people will find benefit here and it does something in a different way than it's been done before. Obviously to me, buy a warmer sleeping bag than you think you need. Zip it open if you get a little bit hot. That's the way I do it. I'm living in Colorado most of the time. I use a 20 degree bag in the summer and maybe a zero or 10 degree bag in the winter, and if I get hot, if it's 80 degrees out, I'll just zip the bag wide open and lay on the ground with it like a blanket. If it's really hot and I'm backpacking, I'll be bringing a 40 degree bag and just be a little chilly.


Colin (10:53):

Throw your puppy on while you're in there.


Sean (10:55):

Exactly, exactly. But I think this offers versatility. It does it in a different way than people have done it before or I think it's a neat idea. Generally it is kind of a cool idea.


Colin (11:11):

So it's available in January. I didn't see a price in the article when I didn't get a price when I saw it. I'm not sure if they had a price


Sean (11:16):

Out there. Don't remember. I don't think they had the price out yet.


Colin (11:19):

Yeah, I don't think they did it either,


Sean (11:20):

But it was aimed at a more mid-tier pricing, if I remember correctly.


Colin (11:26):

What has the track record been? This is the first thermos bag I was aware of. Do they have a pretty decent track record with the bags they've made so far? I'm putting you on the spot for that, but what do you recall from previous reviews?


Sean (11:38):

I've only used one of their bags. It's a 20 degree down bag. I want to say it's about a six 50 or somewhere in that ballpark filled down. It's been good. Yeah,


Colin (11:49):

It's like everything works again, right, so it's fine.


Sean (11:51):

Yeah, it works fine. It's not the best sleeping bag I have, but it's also not the most expensive, so it's good. And I think I expect this to be a pretty solid bag. It should appeal to a lot of consumers. I think you're right. One little bonus here that we didn't mention, it has two holes where the arms where you stick your


Colin (12:12):

Arms out. Oh yeah. This actually, I thought was, I'm so glad you brought this up. I thought it was actually the coolest feature of the bag.


Sean (12:17):

It's pretty nice that you're able to zip open two holes, kind of where your armpits are about in that neighborhood when you're sleeping in the bag, so you can stick both of your arms out, which can be nice. I don't know, it just you get claustrophobic sometimes or you need to pick something up and don't want to take the hood down. It's just a little versatility and also will make the bag cooler again, if it's


Colin (12:38):

Hot, it's cooler, but then you can still keep some of the sleeping bag up and around your neck where usually, like you said, if you get hot, you just got to end up throwing the bag open and then you play the game where, okay, now I'm cold. I'm zipping myself back up that whole game.


Sean (12:48):

Yep. Yeah, it's a cool looking sleeping bag. We haven't tested it yet. This is one that I'm sure we will be putting through a test once it gets a little closer to see the product launch.


Colin (12:58):

Alright, next up we had an Osprey photo lid, which actually I met with Osprey, but I didn't get to see this product. So this was their entry into the photography space, according to the article, apparently after years of being asked.


Sean (13:10):

Yeah. Yeah, and that's pretty much, it's a simple product. I feel that Osprey, it's just knocking one out of the park. There are how many millions of Osprey packs in the world and this lid is compatible with pretty much all of them. Any pack that carries a lid, so any of your hiking packs, winter packs, most packs that have a lid this will work with. So if you're a photographer, it gives you a padded space for your body, a lens attached, and then maybe four to five other lenses and accessories. It's exactly what you need pretty much as a hiking photographer and not much more. It's like a no-brainer in my mind. Yeah, I mean it's


Colin (14:00):

Pretty classic when you open it up, but what's in the actual bag, but then in terms of compartments and things for your camera or lenses or whatever, but your point is the versatility. It can go on pretty much any osprey bag that can accept a lid, you can replace the lid with this and it sounds like it's something that has been in demand from photographers, from Osprey for quite some time,


Sean (14:21):

And I think a lot of recreational photographers and probably some pros, I mean I look at it and for myself, it's such a nicer way to do it than packing a photo cube or a separate camera bag or having, you could also carry a chest rig, which Osprey is now also launching that will mount on the front of your camera or the front of your chest on your pack. It's kind of an either or depending on who you are and how you like to pack. You could use either one. I think they're both going to be really good options though. The opportunity to carry a camera in an accessible space, and then also to remove it from your main pack as a day pack. You can carry it as a hip pack


Colin (15:06):

And it's available now it looks like for 120 bucks. It's actually looked it up. You can find it on Osprey's website. So that is in market now, so hey, anybody listening in, your photographer, check it out. I think the cool thing that I learned about Osprey, which it's so funny because I rail, especially over on the rock fight about some of the hypocrisies that some of the brands bring forward in terms of what they make in their sustainability goals, and one thing I think was really cool that I learned from the folks of Osprey is they've been around, they've been the number one pack line for however many years now and they've never diverged from that. They're a PAC brand and yeah, we didn't decide, we didn't want to go into other categories and how easy, I mean you worked around gear brands for a long time. How easy would it have been for them to have been like, I think we can make a jacket. All of a sudden now we've got Osprey apparel and it's such a cool thing that they're just so hyper-focused on pacs.


Sean (15:55):

I think it's fantastic. I'd like to see more brands be able to do that. I understand that the need for growth is a factor of business. It's kind of a fact of life a lot of the time, but it's beautiful. They do packs and their packs are excellent, and I think along the sustainability line, it gives you the opportunity to continue using the same pack you have. I have a pack from Osprey that's solidly 12 years old and has had a lot of use and abuse. I could go strap this onto it and have a camera bag that I could use for days that


Colin (16:30):

I want to use and they easily can be like, well, if you want to use this photo thing, man, you got to get the new version of your old pack. It won't work on the old one. Right.


Sean (16:38):

One downside worth noting is you do lose the brain of your pack, so when you have to take the other one off, you're going to lose that. That is kind of an important piece for a lot of people. So you would have to figure out another alternative, probably a packing cube of some sort that you throw inside. I think that could be a good answer though.


Colin (16:58):

Where do you put your beef jerky?


Sean (17:00):

Exactly.


Colin (17:05):

All right, everyone, before we keep going, I need to tell you about our amazing teammates at Darby Communications. If you run an outdoor, an endurance or an active lifestyle brand, there is no better PR or digital marketing belay partner or drinking buddy. Then Darby. They can help your business reach new heights and they might just keep you from falling on your ass. I mean, since we started working with Darby, more and more people have been reaching out to us here at the rock bite because of that messaging. Look guys, if they can help us, they can help anybody, hit them up@darbycommunications.com. Do it today. Alright, the next one we had was the Thule Revert vertical bike rack. It's the latest from Thule. It's a hitch mount. Bike rack can hold either four or six bikes vertically, but they're kind of interesting new innovation. When I saw you at the show, this is the one you were telling me about. So what's this new innovation that they have on the revert vertical bike rack from Julie?


Sean (18:01):

Yeah. The biggest positive on this one is the ease of loading and unloading. You can more or less ride your bike onto the rack and I say ride, but lift it onto its rear wheel. You coming in


Colin (18:17):

Like 50 miles an hour just charging towards the


Sean (18:20):

Rack. You have to have it up rear wheel on the ground, rolling it forward and then the front wheel wheel drop right into the slots. If it's lowered down, it pretty much is the height of most bikes. It makes it easy to load and if you do have to lift it, it's not very far. So loading, it's very easy. I think that's a big positive. And then there are hydraulic dampers that assist lowering and raising the rack so it comes down, moves back and forth really easily. It's kind of a one-handed motion and it doesn't require a lot of strength. It doesn't require a lot of mobility. If you can get the bike up onto it, you pretty much just push a lever and it'll move up or down. And I think the other angle of it is that Thule just builds quality products in general of the stuff that we've tested. It's usually really good. It's the first big entry into this area and it's going to be competitive. So it's a solid bike rack and I think that the assist up and down is nice.


Colin (19:23):

So this is a next year product right from Julie. This is a 2025, so we don't have pricing or when it's even going to be available


Sean (19:30):

Yet. Don't have pricing. We were guessing, I think my guesstimates was the low thousands or maybe just under that, but I don't know. They didn't give us a very solid number on this. So did the bike


Colin (19:42):

Rack evolution, I mean you're old enough to remember too, right? I mean just where it was like, oh, you had a roof rack, that's what you had.


Sean (19:47):

Yeah, or else you had some other kind of weird thing that was strapped on your car with 50 ratchet straps and so you'd usually put some of those hose clamps on there somewhere, just make sure things didn't fly off. I mean that's a long time ago, but yeah, probably about the same time as mountain bikes got shocks


Colin (20:06):

Started


Sean (20:07):

Getting better. Yeah,


Colin (20:08):

I definitely drove into the garage a few times with bikes on the roof. I'm not ashamed to admit it, I did it. Yeah,


Sean (20:14):

Yep. Now you can put 'em on the rack and put something else on your roof to run into the garage. Still


Colin (20:18):

Run into your house.


Sean (20:19):

You hit the house with a tent.


Colin (20:22):

Yeah. Oh, that's a good point. I had a moment where I did consider should I get a rooftop tent and then I started looking at them. I'm like, why do I need this? I could sleep on the ground. It's fine.


Sean (20:31):

Yeah, yeah, they have a place, but I was one of the earliest adopters of a rooftop tent and then I was one of the earliest exits from that I think.


Colin (20:40):

No, I think you're right. I could see the scenario and be like, this would be great to have, but just cruising up to the local campground for a one night camping trip. It's fine. I can just set up a tent on the ground. It'll be all right.


Sean (20:51):

But


Colin (20:52):

Hey, before we move on, man, how's your beer? I'm going to have a little sip.


Sean (20:55):

It's really, really good. It makes me burp a lot though. Some beans slow.


Colin (20:59):

Alright, this is one that I think I definitely, I want to hear what you've to say. I think this is an really interesting product. This is number four on the list was the VASc Venture, GTX. So it's a new shoe by VASc that was conceived as a shoe that could last the distance of the PCT, all 2,600 miles of it hasn't been tested yet. They were open and audits about that, that they have not had somewhat actually do that. But that was the brief when they're like, then this shoe is going to mean you put it on in Mexico and you can wear it to Canada,


Sean (21:30):

Wear it to Canada over all that rugged terrain. So I guess


Colin (21:34):

What did you guys like about it that made the list? Was it just the unique, I mean, I think there is something to be said for, I love the brief. I love the idea.


Sean (21:42):

I think that in my mind the brief was fine. It was holding the shoe in my hand because when I picked that shoe up, it really felt tough.


Colin (21:54):

It felt bur, yeah, I picked it up as well. Yeah,


Sean (21:57):

There's something about it. It doesn't feel like your typical, certainly doesn't feel like a trail running shoe and it doesn't even really feel like a hiking shoe. It's kind of tougher. It's got that TPU coated mesh on it that is, it just feels like you could rub it with a knife and it wouldn't cut. It's all welded and bonded. The foam underfoot looks like it's a little stiffer than what you'd usually have and just overall the design feels extremely robust. I don't know if that means it's going to last for 2,600 miles up the PCT, but I think it will have as good a chance as any shoe that I've held


Colin (22:39):

I guess. But who's asking for that I guess is the question. I come down to a right. That's what I come back on. Like I said, I love the brief. I love, like you said at the beginning, everything works. So the idea of having some innovative things or people trying stuff, dude, vast kudos to you for doing it, giving it a shot, but to your point, it was burley. My thought was like, oh my God, is this going to break my foot when I eventually get it inside of it, it's a little stiff.


Sean (23:02):

I think that there's going to be, a lot of testing will come down to make sure that this is a worthwhile shoe. It's compelling for


Colin (23:11):

Sure. I think the compelling thing is how do you take something that is because it is a, it's like a trail runner silhouette in a way, but that they do last longer. Actually started recently wearing topos because I got really sick of getting a pair of ultra loan peaks and having them die after 150 miles, mostly because the outsole would wear off. So I think that is something that's going to need to get solved in the running in general market of how do you make things last longer? Because if you run a lot, even if you're getting three, 400 miles out of a pair of shoes, that's not going to be that long. It's pretty wasteful.


Sean (23:44):

You go through fast, go through 'em 'em fast. I think that this is one that I could imagine wanting this. I don't know. I've never heard specifically through hikers desiring this shoe, but I can't imagine that they wouldn't. If it works well, and that's where the proof is. If it does work well, I mean we're talking, a pair weighs 11.7 ounces or 12.9 ounces for men's. That's pretty good, pretty good. Not the lightest, but certainly competitive. 220 bucks if you can buy a single pair of shoes for $220, I mean most people on the PCT aren't earning a ton of money at that time, so not having to spend, well that is a spend an extra 500 to 800 or to a thousand dollars for shoes over the course of the summer is a bonus. So I think it could be great.


Colin (24:34):

We reviewed a few weeks back on Gear and beer. We did Obos, the Cabo Wind Windlow, which I like trail runners. I did not like boots, I did not like hiking shoes and that shoe really impressed me in that it wasn't for me. I put it on and it looked like a trail runner kind of masquerading as a hiking shoe, but it performed a hiking shoe and I was really impressed with the fact that it wasn't just a lightweight hiker that kind of felt like a sneaker or a trail runner. It felt like a different kind of thing. I think the best case scenario maybe for the venture GTX is that it's kind of like that. It's a more durable version of that because they use some pretty lightweight materials in that Obos model. This was where it's like, ah, this is actually going to last. The upper is going to outlast that oboes model. The one beef I would have is say to your point about the through hiking crowd, is that putting Gore-Tex in it probably immediately removes it from contention for the Throughhi crowd.


Sean (25:29):

That was a piece of the puzzle that I was a little worried about too. So I would say I'm on the other side of the coin than you. I'm more of a boot person. I like trail runners when I'm trail running. I like them when it's really warm, but otherwise I like hiking in Boots. You like boots? Yeah. I spend a lot of time off trail. I like the protection. I just did the Tour de Mont Blanc and hiked in actually rather heavy boots, relatively the Sportiva Triangle Cube I think it is, and it was awesome for me because there was a lot of snow on the trail. We were wearing traction devices a lot. I didn't have to wear Gators. I was able to cross stream without getting wet feet my pants on. I mean there's definitely two sides to that coin and I feel like for me, I look at this basket and I'm like, oh, it's a lot like a hiking boot, but low and light. So it's kind of that it hits that middle ground where I think a lot of people who do long distance hike might like this. The Goretex, I think they need to launch a non goretex version for those who want a quick drying shoes. These are going to dry slower. They're going to get swampy in hot areas. I can't imagine walking the desert in a pair of Goretex shoes. No, no, no, no. It seems hot, but we'll see. We'll


Colin (26:44):

See. This is coming out next spring. Spring 2025 for 220 bucks, which as the super shoe category kind of evolves. That's not bad. I mean, I'm starting to get it comfortable with the higher price points on more kind sneaky looking shoes. That would've seemed like mind boggling expensive not that long ago, but two 20 sounds about right.


Sean (27:07):

Yeah, it does. Inflation is real and it's one of those places where, I mean I am looking at hiking boots and high end, like the Italian boots, hunting boots, stuff like that. And you're looking at 450, 500 bucks is kind of the entry into that zone right now


Colin (27:23):

And this really is going to last upwards of 3000 miles. Then two 20 is actually a pretty good deal. Alright, last thing on the list. The Mountain Hardware Storm Whisperer, which is a combo puffy and waterproof shell that's super lightweight. This is going to be available in September. What did you guys think of this one?


Sean (27:42):

This is one that I did not offer a lot of feedback on. The Ghost Whisperer is it's a benchmark. It's a absolutely beloved piece of gear, and this is just basically riffing off of that. There have been waterproof IES on the market for quite a long time. It is not a new product category entirely, but this is the first time Mountain Hardware has really moved into this category with this line and it does look fantastic. I mean it's what, one pound, 2.5 ounces, that's pretty light. 800 fill down protect shield, waterproof shell, so it's a lightweight waterproofing. It's kind of that one jacket safety device that you can bring with and no matter what the weather does, you're going to be outright.


Colin (28:41):

Yeah, you have it in your pack if it's summer and you're wearing it or you have it in your pack if it's winter. Right. I could see a lot of uses for something like this, especially from that kind of emergency piece point of view.


Sean (28:50):

Yeah, it's not that different from having a puffy jacket. It's a little heavier, a little bit bulkier, but not a lot and it gives you a shell also. I had a piece like this, gosh, it had to be close to 10 years ago now from Columbia. It was one of their high-end pieces back in the day that was made with a, gosh, what was that? They called it a permanent beating surface or something along those lines.


Colin (29:18):

Oh, the dots on the outside.


Sean (29:20):

It wasn't the dots stuff. It was a external waterproof, breathable membrane and I have not noticed lately whether that is even still offered that much because it was really quite awesome, but it never caught on and it was a puffy like this that you could wear it in a rainstorm and it would be warm and dry and if this accomplishes that same thing at a lighter weight, it will be really fantastic. I loved that jacket. I still have it and wear it when I'm going out and just want to carry one jacket that can do everything and also kind of skimp on the carrying a shell and a puffy, which I think generally is probably a better idea for most people, but if you're really trying to trim your packing and be really efficient in that, this is that opportunity where you can bring one thing, it'll do both. I guess if you do burn a hole in it, you're burning a hole in two jackets in a way. I know that's true. It's going to be, I don't know. It's cool and I think it will be a solid product just knowing Mountain Hardware and way. Yeah,


Colin (30:29):

Hardware's been on a surge lately. They're coming back hard. I guess my only real note from the article was I was curious about it, said it was breathable and I'm like, well, do we care if it's waterproofing and down?


Sean (30:39):

Yeah, exactly. Does the breathability matter a lot?


Colin (30:42):

Not really.


Sean (30:43):

It might be, Tex tends to be, and we don't have the stat in the article, but it tends to have a modicum of air permeability and if it does, that really helps move the moisture through quickly.


Colin (30:58):

What is the waterproof element? Is it a membrane or is it like a coating? Yeah,


Sean (31:01):

Yeah, it's a membrane. It's a membrane, so it's like it would be similar to a goretex. Yeah, right, right. I don't think it's quite as, I don't know what the water column rating is on it.


Colin (31:13):

It's fine.


Sean (31:14):

Not sure. It probably doesn't matter. I'm going to guess it's actually waterproof though. If they wouldn't make that claim. If it's not, I'm pretty sure it's seam sealed as well in whatever way it


Colin (31:23):

Needs to be. I think we need to have a waterproof jacket conversation. It's kind of like count and kills. It's like, well, no, it doesn't. There are certain specific scenarios when Sure it does. It's like waterproofing too. When I was at Polar Tech and we always had the, well, Neos Shell is 10,000 water column and it's like, well, it's not 20. Well, okay, you're right. Should it be the emergency backup in your pack on a backpacking trip? No, but I tell you what, if you're riding a bike, I guarantee you this is what you're going to want to wear over a hardcore 20,000 water column shell.


Sean (31:53):

Each thing has its place.


Colin (31:54):

It all has its place. So is there anything else you want to throw in there or is there something that you wanted your itching to kind of mention from the honorable mentions?


Sean (32:03):

I could run through these real quick. We had a few other things that we wrote about, I think just brief mentions here. We had a thermal rest loft sleeping pad. We mentioned this because it's thick, it's comfortable and it's quite light while still having an R value of 4.7, so four backpackers. This is going to be one to watch. It's a neat pad and it's going to be good. So I would definitely keep an eye out for that Thermarest loft sleeping pad and I don't know when that hits the market. I think it's coming soon. All of these are going to be coming soon unless I mention otherwise. The next one on the list is the Black Diamond Solution hoodie. This is kind of the balance of lightweight pack ability and warmth, so we liked this one too. Uses PRI off active insulation. Good stuff. It's coming out in August even though it's a spring 2025 product. And then the last one, which I actually like this a lot I think could have been a winner as well, is Proti Go or Prodi or something like that. Something


Colin (33:17):

Italian. Yes,


Sean (33:19):

It is a trail running shoe coming out in spring 2025. It is called a super shoe for the mountains. It just basically has a high rebound foam


Colin (33:31):

Carbon plate.


Sean (33:33):

No, no carbon palate. Oh,


Colin (33:35):

I thought there was my bad. I thought there


Sean (33:36):

Was a carbon. Yeah, I don't think it has a carbon plate. The big difference in the concept is that this nitrogen infused TPU is not as rowdy as some of them. It still gives you a good response, but it allows you to maintain troll. That is one of the downsides that people forget about with super shoe style running is that if you're doing crazy fast technical descents on rocky terrain, you don't always want to be launched off of things. So that's the main point is that this is a very technical shoe, very capable on tricky terrain. It's meant for places like the Dolomites and the Alps where you're running in spicy stuff but still gives you a huge amount of energy return. We haven't tested it yet. It's 195 bucks for an 8.9 ounce shoe.


Colin (34:27):

Yeah, it was shockingly light for as burly as it looks.


Sean (34:31):

Yeah, it's probably going to last three, 400 miles. Maybe this is a race


Colin (34:36):

Shoe, not the length of the PCT.


Sean (34:38):

Absolutely not. This is not an everybody's shoe. This is not an everyday trainer. This is a hauling butt racing shoe, but it looks fantastic. So I hope I can get my hands on one of those in sometime near future.


Colin (34:51):

I do want to call back to our beginning conversation about the innovation and how things just generally work and I think as a general rule, I stand by that. I will say though, meeting with the Thermos folks and talking about two of their products here on this pod, but even the Xed folks that we met with also at the Optor Market Alliance, just that category. I mean yeah, sure, go back 20 years. We had pads to sleep on that were pretty comfy. You could have a relatively pleasant experience sleeping out in a tent or whatever, but that category and where it has gone to of just the burs and thickness and comfort of these pads that are also, some of them are backpacking pads, like you said, is amazing. That to me is maybe one of a category that is kind of simple and maybe could be seen as boring by some folks, but when you talk about the value it brings to the people who would use those things, that's kind of an incredible category.


Sean (35:37):

It sure is. I'd say it's boring until you spend a night with a bad one.


Colin (35:41):

Right? Until you're tossing and turning on in your tent on an old who's the foam? Like a Z foam? Was it Z foam? Yeah,


Sean (35:51):

A little. I mean those things, they work, but they are not. They work's comfy,


Colin (35:55):

But they're not these.


Sean (35:58):

Alright


Colin (35:58):

Man, we can wrap it up there. So if you're listening to this, you want to read the original article, you can head over to gear junkie.com. I've linked that directly in the show notes. Sean, as we finish up our beers here, what can you tease the audience about Anything coming down the pike over@gearjunkie.com that you want to let 'em to know about in the coming weeks? Anything exciting?


Sean (36:14):

I know we got a lot of stuff coming down soon. There's going to be coverage of a couple of big, obviously we've got some major races in the trail running world coming up UTMB right around the corner. That's right. It's going to start looking at, there's a lot of hunting gear going to be starting to come out soon. We're about a month out from archery season, so there will be quite a lot coming in the world of hunting, archery tests are underway. Archery equipment in general, some rifle scopes, a lot of binoculars in testing, so there's going to be a lot of that kind of hard goods for the next couple months. We're at the end of the summer push and start to shift gears into fall and then real quick after that it's going to be time to look at snow.


Colin (37:03):

Yeah.


Sean (37:03):

Sneaks up on you when you're in these product cycles that are running a few months ahead like this.


Colin (37:07):

I was thinking that this morning, even down in Southern California. I'm like, it's not going to be that long before it's got crunchy leaves not that warm out anymore, so enjoy it while I am going to enjoy the heat while it's here.


Sean (37:18):

Yeah, yeah. Always do because next thing you know it's going to be gone and then you're going to be enjoying those fall colors.


Colin (37:24):

Well, gear and beer is a production of rock Fight LLC. Our Producer Day was supposed to be David Carav, but he couldn't make it, but we'll still give him a shout. Anyway, David, you should have been here. Our Directions by Sarah Genser. Colin, true. Big thanks to our guest today, Sean McCoy from gear dunky.com. Thanks for coming on, Sean.


Sean (37:38):

Thanks. Have a great time


Colin (37:40):

Here to take us out and dust off the old gear and beer theme song. It's the Voice of the Rock Fight podcast network it's Krista makes. He's going to sing the gear and beer theme song like I said, and we'll see you next time.


Chris DeMakes (37:57):

We have experienced, just like on the trail, we review outdoor adventure gear pair with the perfect beer. Now let the games begin. So glad that you are here at the break. The trail we going to in the ending by the beverage where we can celebrate our wins, those losses we hold so close. Bottom line here is you'll get.

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