Practical Travel Gear

Practical Travel Gear Has Moved

2009-07-03T09:11:00.004-06:00

I've been cross-posting my reviews for two months now, but it's time for a clean break. The new and improved Practical Travel Gear blog moved to its own domain in early May '09, with a more professional and clean design. I also have two other contributors checking out gear first-hand, so there are four or five items on a weekly basis, even when I'm out of the country on assignment.See it all at

Power to Go from Chargepod Fueltank

2009-06-25T10:33:00.005-06:00

I’ve long been a fan of the Callpod Chargepod, a device that allows me to leave a whole collection of chargers and cords at home. (God forbid the electronics companies can manufacture standardized connectors for the simple task of delivering A/C power to a battery.) You just pack the mini hockey puck, one cord, and the little adapters for each device. Then you can recharge everything

Good Hats with Even Better Names from Nobis

2009-06-17T21:51:00.003-06:00

My travel wardrobe changes a lot depending on the kind of trip it is, but I always carry a couple hats along, including some kind of baseball hat or cap. The people at Nobis let me try out something from their spring line though and I’m waltzing around a city in Mexico with Oliver Closeoff. Yes, all their hats have names, and great ones too. Oliver is pictured above. After the jump you can see

ExOfficio Pants Keep the Bugs Away

2009-06-10T13:34:00.004-06:00

It’s always great when summer arrives, but not so great when the mosquitoes arrive. If you travel to a tropical country, it’s always mosquito season, plus the bugs carry nasty diseases, so three months of annoyance turns into year-round danger.Thankfully it’s easier to keep the bugs away than it used to be if you pack the right clothing. This pair of ExOfficio Altyn Insect Shield Pants is going

Traveling with Timberlands

2009-06-03T10:04:00.004-06:00

Timberland has a special place in my heart. I took a pair of their hiking boots around the world with me on my first round-the-world journey. Ply me with a few drinks in a bar and I’ll tell you the tale of chasing an Indian teenager down the fort ramparts of Jodhpur after he snagged them outside of a temple at the top. But that’s for another time… On two recent trips I’ve been trying out two

Wireless iPod Speaker from Cy Fi

2009-05-27T19:01:00.003-06:00

Whenever I hear the words “wireless” and “speaker” together, two bad visions come to mind. One is the set of Advent wireless stereo speakers in my daughter’s playroom: if you even look at them funny, they lose the signal and sound like crap. The other vision is a party I was at a few years ago where the host spent half the night moving around a set of those all-weather wireless speakers like you

Lightweight ExOfficio Cruz'r Shirt for Men

2009-05-20T12:41:00.004-06:00

For looking good during your travels and having a sink laundry option for packing light, this men's Cruz'r short-sleeve shirt from ExOfficio is a dream.When I was a hard-core backpacker setting out on year-long travels through the world's cheapest destinations, clothes were a secondary thought. After all, you can revamp your wardrobe in Bangkok or Delhi for next to nothing when you get tired of

Sansa Slot Radio Pre-programmed MP3 Player

2009-05-13T09:36:00.003-06:00

The Sansa slotRadio is a strange concept, but it works brilliantly in practice. It’s a pre-loaded MP3 player with 1,000 songs, plus a radio, all in a tiny clip-on package. Put a new chip in the slot, you’ve got 1,000 new songs instantly.I love my iPod Classic, especially when I’m on a long flight or I need to keep my daughter entertained while traveling. The thing is, as user-friendly as the

REI Adventure Pants Review

2009-05-06T06:32:00.003-06:00

Walking through your local REI store can be like a traveler's version of a trip to Tiffany's. When I stopped in two weeks ago to use my annual rebate check and a "20 percent one full-priced item" coupon, I had trouble actually using the latter. After perusing racks of $95 slacks from Columbia, $80 t-shirts from Mountain Hardwear, $200 sunglasses from Smith, and $18 socks from a whole slew of

Keen Recycled Materials Harvest Grand Bag

2009-04-28T13:50:00.003-06:00

Now that the Earth Day media (and blogger) bandwagon is done for a year, you will see the predictable drop-off in stories about green travel and eco-friendly gear. The world keeps turning and deteriorating though, so we'll keep talking about what does and doesn't help the planet when you are on the move.I've been trying out one of these cool recycled materials bags from the Keen Harvest

Practical Travel Gear is Moving

2009-04-26T14:01:00.004-06:00

After nearly four years in this Blogger house, it's time to pack up the moving truck and take the Practical Travel Gear blog to a new home. This gear blog is getting a little tired of being single as well, so it has invited two other people to co-habitate the new digs.As you've probably noticed, my posting schedule on here can be a bit erratic at times, partly because I spend a good bit of time

The Best Rechargeable Batteries

2009-04-20T07:27:00.004-06:00

Earth Day just passed. Are you still using regular throwaway batteries?With a portable battery charger and a set of rechargeable batteries, you can help the planet and save money long-term as well. A minuscule fraction of batteries get disposed of properly, which means a lot of acid and toxic minerals going into landfills every day. In developing countries, you'll also see them tossed by a

Keen Sayulita Smart Travel Shoes

2009-04-14T08:10:00.004-06:00

Shoes are always the big obstacle when you're trying to pack light, especially for men. While we're content to make due with less, there's no equivalent to "little black flats" in the male shoe wardrobe and we can't get away with flimsy little sandals when going out to a nice restaurant. So the challenge is to find a pair of travel shoes that look decent enough for a variety of situations, as in

Heys Travelmate Sling Bag

2009-04-10T11:32:00.002-06:00

Heys is a travel gear and luggage company best known for its very hard but lightweight rolling suitcases---those colorful ones you see whizzing by you in the airport. But they also make a lot of practical travel accessories and bags that aren't hard-sided, including this cool little Travelmate bag that slings over your shoulder.Think of it as a miniature daypack, a travel purse, a hands-free

TSA-friendly, No-metal Belt from Beep Free

2009-04-07T07:15:00.007-06:00

With as much travel gear as I review on here, you'd think more gear would be the last thing I'd request as a birthday present, but I needed a new TSA-friendly belt. So when I told my mom that, she tracked down this model from a company that specializes in these things and scored me the Beep Free Belt.See, the only no-metal travel belt I have is the Eagle Creek All Terrain belt with a hidden money

A True Carry-on Bag: Tom Bihn Aeronaut

2009-04-05T18:13:00.006-06:00

If you've ever stood in a line of people in the connector between the airplane and the airport, waiting for your gate-checked bag to arrive from the luggage hold, you know that the phrase "carry-on bag" is not a strict one. The Eagle Creek 22-inch Hovercraft bag I reviewed earlier, for example, is technically a carry-on, but only for the largest jets. And if a gate agent ever made me stick it

Portable iPod Speakers that Really Crank

2009-03-31T21:38:00.005-06:00

I've tried out quite a few portable speaker contraptions for an iPod or MP3 player and most of them weren't even worth mentioning on here, especially when it came to sound quality. The Altec Lansing Orbit speaker is pretty decent and is easy to pack, but with only one speaker you're obviously not getting stereo sound.This iHome2go IH13 combination water-resistant case and speakers is better than

Packing Cubes From Tom Bihn

2009-03-27T08:11:00.007-06:00

Here's another option for packing cubes and I like the looks of these.The Seattle-based Tom Bihn company is mostly known for its fantastic travel bags. Rugged and Made in the USA, they inspire fanatic devotion. I'm about to become a devotee myself I think. I'll be trying out their Aeronaut carry-on bag for a four-night trip next week and am actually looking forward to packing.The company also

Cute Portable Digital Picture Frame From Royal

2009-03-25T07:18:00.004-06:00

Bring your favorite pictures along for ten bucks or less!Over the years, as a traveling dad, I have found it extremely useful to pack plenty of diversions for the kid or kids tagging along. I haven't sprung for a Sony PSP or a Nintendo DS because I know how addictive they can be even for adults. But I share my iPod classic with my daughter so she can watch cartoons and listen to her favorite

A Bracelet That Could Save Your Life

2009-03-22T22:17:00.005-06:00

Imagine you could wear something around your wrist that could save your life. Imagine that instead of some woven backpacker bracelet you won in a backgammon game in Dahab or that you bought in Panajachel for 25 cents, you wear a bracelet woven from 18 feet of super-strong parachute cord. How cool is that?OK, so you've got to spend $19 on it unless you have the time and concentration to weave one

Travel Gear on the Wish Lists

2009-03-17T06:31:00.003-06:00

Every once in a while I pull up the stats on this travel gear blog to see which posts are really getting checked out by the most readers. Which gear items are people researching and drooling over? (Okay, so maybe "drooling over" is the wrong phrase to use when talking about travel underwear, but hey, you like it a lot better if someone else spends $20 on it instead of you, right?) Since I'm on

Which Noise-canceling Headphones Really Rock?

2009-03-12T06:29:00.006-06:00

"How do you like those headphones?" I will ask the biz travel road warrior beside me on the plane. "Aww man, they're the Bose ones. So they're awesome." This exchange has become a private joke for my own amusement. If you paid $300 for something that others have bought for $100, it simply has to be awesome, right? Otherwise you were duped.But of course when I probe further, none of these

Altus Lumen Multi-use LED Light

2009-03-08T20:41:00.006-06:00

Flashlights are fine when you've got a free hand and headlamps are good when you're walking around in the dark, but neither is much help if you want to play a game on the guesthouse bed or work collectively on something. This Altus Lumen PAD-L LED light is a great solution and is small enough to carry on any trip.The design of the PAD-L is all about flexibility to put the light where you need it.

Your Own Pics on Postcards from Hazel Mail

2009-03-04T09:23:00.005-06:00

How many times have you rummaged through the postcard rack in some tourist town and thought, "My own pictures are better than these." And have you dropped into the post office in say, Cusco, and been flabbergasted at how much it costs to send off those postcards you just bought?I've been testing out a pretty cool solution from Hazel Mail that brings postcard mailing into the digital age. Here's

Design Awards for Gear that Works

2009-03-02T10:48:00.003-06:00

I almost fell off my chair when I looked at Travel + Leisure's 2009 Design Awards in their March issue. They managed to slide in a few expensive items from potential advertisers as "honorable mentions," but amazingly the most expensive gear item winner was a $225 bag and two items were under a hundred bucks.The bag was in the "best luggage" category and indeed it does look pretty cool. It's the