MSR Whisperlite Universal

Stay tuned for a review coming soon.  This may end up being the ultimate travel stove.  Small and portable, it can run on both canister fuel and liquid fuel, including white gas and unleaded. As you travel the world, having the flexibility to use multiple types of fuel is ever so critical.  I will put it through its paces over the next 2 weeks and then report back on how it works.  ​

The stove can be purchased at Amazon using this link​

Mountainsmith Bags

After more than 10 years of hard use, hiking, biking, kayaking, and trekking, my Mountainsmith Day TLS Bag finally bit the dust.  I have at least 3 products from these guys and they are all more than 10 years old.  The fact of the matter is, even my Tour bag was still useable, but the corroded zippers were just becoming too much of a liability with camera gear in the bags.  So, off to the store, and wala, a brand new Day Tour bag with the very cool strapette option.  ​

The Day Tour is a big bag, and for me, without using the shoulder strap, fully loaded it is uncomfortable.  However, by using the shoulder strap as a sling, this allows you to tension the bag across one of your shoulders and take some of the weight off of your hips.  This has always been a great way to carry the bag, but now, with the addition of the strapettes, the bag is even nicer.  These straps basically convert the bag into a hip backpack.

I guess you could argue why not just get a backpack, which is a perfectly reasonable question.  However, I don't like to carry my camera gear in a backpack for accessibility reasons unless I am really hiking into a remote region carrying big gear.  I love to just un-clip the belt strap and have my gear right on my hip.  I also don't like backpacks when riding my bike.  I find that I just get way to hot, so I avoid them at all costs.  ​I also find that the Mountainsmith bags don't look at all like camera bags, which makes you much less obvious when in populated locations.

With the addition of these strapettes I find a very reasonable compromise to my gear carrying needs.  I can now load a bit more gear in the bag because of the straps.  I don't get the unclip and swing feature, but it is simple to just remove one arm from the double straps and have the bag hanging at my side.  ​

A typical outing in this setup has me comfortably carrying:​

• ​Crumpler camera insert (love these things) to organize and protect
  
• Camera Body​ w/lens
  
• ​Two spare lenses
  
• Batteries​
• Memory Cards​
• Light​
• Manfrotto mini tripod​
• Cable Release​
• ​Rain Shell and Patagonia Puff
  
• Snacks​
• Water Bottle​

​These bags are just bomber, and I am optimistic that this new one will last me another 10 years of good hard use.

350g Cook Kit

I am pretty excited to have gotten the weight of my cook kit down to 350g. This kit will represent my 3 season cook kit.  It is made up of a Snow Peak Ti pot; the Trangia Spirit Burner; the Trangia Triangle Wind Screen; and a home made Pot Stand.  Testing boil times yesterday with 20oz of refrigerator water did not deliver stellar boil times, somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-8 minutes.  For water that was at ambient temperature, I believe the times would have been in the 4-6 minutes, perfectly acceptable in my book.

The Trangia Spirit burner runs off of readily available denatured alchohol or one of the many other variants of accetpable fuel.  Winter camping is most likely the only time that I will not use this kit, especially for those scenarios where snow must be boiled.  Having spent the last 3 years using canister stoves, I am really anxious to go with a simpler, cheaper and more environmentally friendly way of cooking.  While I had delusions of going solely with wood, I will leave the Kelly Kettle for special outings.

In addition to the light weight, the total cost of this kit is quite small.  The Trangia Spirit burner cost me $20 and the triangle came in at $14.  I bought a $2 piece of steel rod to make my custom pot holder.  The Ti pot is the most expensive piece of kit, but that was provided to me by Snow Peak, and by no means is a Ti pot required.  Searches on the net reveal a whole host of DIY or inexpensive pots that do a perfectly fine job.

Advantages:

• Low cost
• Fuel readily available - Pharmacy, Hardware Stores, Gas Stations, etc.
• Approximately .8 ounces per 20 ounce boil, less if you cook with a cozy and just heat your water.
• No moving parts to break or foul
• Minimal waste

Disadvantages:

• Slower boil times
• Not suitable for extreme cold weather

Bikepacking Setup

Here is a video that describes the setup of my Salsa Fargo on my first Micro Adventure of 2012, a bikepacking tour of the English countryside.  I will have follow on articles about certain pieces of new kit that really worked fantastic.

Hard Drives on the Road

One of the challenges of being a photographer and an adventure traveller, is how to safely store your electronic media.  Over the past 3 years I have tried numerous solutions, and while some have worked, some have been catastrophic.  The most damaging incident to date was a complete failure of 3 waterproof items as I was paddling up the Atlantic Coast.

First, my dry bulk head on my kayak failed, filling with water.  Next up, the two dry bags that stored my computer and external hard drive both failed. The end result was a dead computer and dead hard drives, both irreparably lost.  From that point on I have been searching for some form of solution that would provide me with adequate protection of both my gear and my data.

500gb drive next to pen w/cableEarlier this year I discovered a company called IoSafe, a relatively new company that makes ruggedized hard drives.  I was very impressed with the details and reviews, and after locating a good deal on Amazon, I was able to acquire several of their 500gb drives.  These drives are brilliant, built out of a solid block of Aluminum they offer the following:

• Crush proof
• Drop protection
• Immersion protection !!
• Multiple data connectors, USB 2.0, FireWire 800
• Data Recovery Service

Three drives stacked. Pen and small NEX lens for scaleThe drives are not light as standard 500GB external drives, but are clearly designed to take abuse.  The moment you pick them up you will not worry about how you treat these drives, safe in the knowledge that they are incredibly rugged and durable. The drives come standard with a data recovery package that you activate once you put them into operation.  This is another worthwhile item for those of us entrusting our hard drives to safe guard our digital media.

I have now had my 3 drives for 3 months and am able to say they work fantastically.  The drives use a standard Micro-B USB cable for connection purposes.  My 3 have worked as advertised, seem relatively fast, with no issues to date.  I noticed that they now have a 500gb version with a FireWire interface which will make them even faster for users requiring maximum speed.

One last thing to note about these great drives.  On one occasion I needed to contact IoSafe about some questions I had.  Much to my surprise, the person that chose to respond to me was the CEO of the company.  I was taken back by this personal response; something that is sorely missing in today's modern 'out-sourced' world.  Thinking I was getting some form of automated response, I began a dialogue that proved I was indeed speaking with the CEO.  To prove this was not a single instance, I had some questions last week that I addressed directly to the CEO, and once again, my questions were answered near instantaneously. 

These events have nothing to do with the ruggedness or durability of the drives but they do certainly speak to the commitment of a small company trying to produce an excellent product.  I could have written about these drives when I first purchased them, but I wanted to actually use and evaluate them before sharing my thoughts.  The drives and the company have not let me down and I highly recommend the products.

You can purchase them directly through IoSafe or through my Amazon link, ioSafe Rugged Portable 500 GB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive (PA50500U1YR) .