Outdoor Retailer Show: Blow Up Tent

Forget the idea of a pup tent or other pop-up tent. Instead consider this blow up Inflat-a-Tent, which was introduced at the recent Outdoor Retailer Show from Kelty. As with other air pole designs the new Kelty tents go up quickly and without the need for a ton of metal poles. The Mach 6 reportedly can be inflated in just 30 seconds and yet offer space for up to six people. It will available next spring.

Kelty Official Website

Outdoor Retailer Show: Fenix Bike Light Truly Lights the Way

There are many bike lights on the market, but Fenix offered a truly bright idea at the recent Outdoor Retailer Show. The company spotlighted its new 800 lumen handlebar-mounted light, which can run for up to three hours on high from an internal rechargeable battery. That’s enough light to truly help riders find the way home in the dark.

The company only previewed the light system, which will make a more formal and official debut at next month’s Interbike Trade Show in Las Vegas.

Fenix Official Website

Thursday Reading List (1/26/2012)

Outdoor Retailer Show Growing!

Welcome to the Thursday reading list. The trade shows continue, we’ve already seen new products come out of the Consumer Electronics Show and SHOT Show and it seems that this week’s Outdoor Retailer Show is outgrowing its home in Salt Lake City reports KSL.com, which noted (video above):

The Salt Palace Convention Center has expanded twice to host the show. The outdoor industry, and all the products associated with it, just keeps growing, and more and more companies want to be a part of this show every year. It’s kind of a nice problem to have, companies say.

Outdoor Retailer Show: Suunto Shines With New GPS Watch

Suunto has long been on the cutting edge with unique watches, and at this week’s Outdoor Retailer Show the company offered the Ambit. While not exactly cheap – at $600 it isn’t quite in the Rolex space for expensive timepieces – and frankly we’d like to see a Rolex that could do as much as this one. It features built-in GPS, and an accelerometer so you can know where you’re going and how high you’ve climbed.

It also can track heart-rate, speed, pace, elevation, distance, temperature, barometer and work as a compass and of course as a clock and alarm. This one shines!

Suunto Official Website

Press Release after the jump

Outdoor Retailer Show: High Teko Socks

Numerous companies do socks, and throughout the year we see a lot of socks, but Teko Socks, which was founded in Boulder, Colorado in 2004, works to make a leave a smaller footprint of sorts. The company, which showed its latest line at the Outdoor Retailer Show, uses proprietary fiber combinations mixing traditional organic wool inter-weaved with polyester. The result says the company is a sock that is comfortable and functional, while also being sustainable and have a low ecological impact. Sounds like a step in the right direction!

Teko Socks Official Website

Outdoor Retailer Show: Trail Maps for the Head

Many people claim to know a trail like the back of their hand, while others claim to have trails on the brain. Now thanks to Buff, maker of headwear, wearer’s can truly have the trail on the brain – or at least head. At the Outdoor Retailer Show they showed the new trail maps line of Buff headwear. Heady indeed!

Buff USA Official Site
[Via Gear Junkie: Gear for 2012: Outdoor Retailer Trade Show]

Outdoor Retailer Show: Sherpa and Yeti Bring Power

We know that Sherpas can carry a lot of stuff, and we expect a Yeti (that would be the Abominable Snowman) would certainly be seriously tough too – but now the Sherpa 50 and Yeti 1250 will bring portable power as well. We missed Goal Zero at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month unfortunately, but the company also hit the Outdoor Retailer Show and showed off its new products that bring portable power.

The Sherpa 50, which won a CES Innovation Honoree for Portable Power, can charge consumer devices including phones and laptops. It weighs just 14 oz., and can provide DC and AC (with inverter) outputs, as well as USB ports that output 1A of power. It can fully charge via a solar panel in 5-10 hours or within 2-3 hours via a wall outlet, and in turn, can power a smart phone for 10 hours, and can ensure that writers (like us) can keep typing even when there is no power in sight. At about $249.99 that’s not a bad price to pay to have power on the go. The Sherpa will be ready to pick up the load in June 2012. Continue reading Outdoor Retailer Show: Sherpa and Yeti Bring Power

Outdoor Retailer Show: Self-Adjusting Headlamp

There have been several products that allow wearers to cast a little illumination on the path ahead, and at the recent Outdoor Retailer Show the NAO was one that turned heads – and still cast the light where it needed to go. The soon-to-be-released NAO headlamp from Petzl features an integrated light sensor that is mounted near the LEDs on the front. It reportedly analyzes ambient light and then “instantly and automatically” adjusts the light-beam output to suit the conditions. We call this a bright idea indeed!

[Via Gearjunkie: Intelligent Illumination? Headlamp ‘Self-Adjusts’ its Beam]

Outdoor Retailer Show: InstaFire Creates Instant Fire

httpv://youtu.be/lbRRtaj-vEA

In this high tech age there is no shortage of ways to stay in connected, but there is no app for making fire. And while there are high-tech fabrics and materials to keep warm, sometimes a fire is necessary to survive. At this week’s Outdoor Retailer Show in Utah, InstaFire demonstrated its fuel, which makes an optimal fire starter that can burn in severe weather. This fuel source, which has no harmful chemicals or vapors and can even be stored near food, will light and burn in wind, rain, sleet and snow. It has a 30-year shelf life as well, so it will be there when you need it. Burn baby burn!

InstaFire Official Website