Unshoes ‘PT Sleek’

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 2 Comments
The Unshoes "PT Sleek" fresh out of their package. 6mm outsole and 4mm footbed.
The Unshoes “PT Sleek” fresh out of their package. 6mm outsole and 4mm footbed.

Greetings Adventurers!

I am trying out a new pair of trail sandals, the Unshoes ‘PT Sleek‘ and thought I would post some photos of them. I will also use this post in the future for reviewing the sandals, once I get some usage on them.

I have been a big fan and wearer of the Luna Sandals “Oso” for three years, but somewhere along the way I decided I wanted to go with an over-the-toe style instead of between-the-toe style sandals.

The Unshoes ‘PT Sleek’ is basically the same as their much more popular ‘Pah Tempe’ except it has narrower webbing. That said, the webbing on the PT Sleek is wider than what the Luna sandals have (bummer) so I can only imagine that the Unshoes Pah Tempe must be along the same size webbing as what Teva and such must use.

I went with a 6mm outer and 4mm inner, so I could have as thick of shoe as possible. To compare, the Luna Oso is 11mm thick and it has served me well on trails for the last three years.

The weight of the PT Sleek in the configuration I have them are 165 grams (per sandal), which is 5.82 ounces – not bad for a 10mm sandal, and a smidgen lighter weight than the Oso (185g.)

The last photo shows the Unshoes PT Sleek on my left foot, and the Luna Oso on my right foot.

I do not have any thoughts on them at this point, I just got them. I will update this article once I get some use on them.

It took 10 business days from the time I bought them to them showing up.

Unshoes sandals are hand made in Cedar City, Utah, USA.

Two Week Later Update:

Well after two weeks of trying to get them to fit me correctly, these sandals are just not working out for me. No matter what I have done to try to keep my foot secure, I have just not been able to get them to stay secure on my feet. I have been emailing back and forth with them and nothing seems to work. Because they were taken outside twice (once to take the photos used within this article, and once to take photos that I sent to them to show how I had the straps tightened), with less than 20 feet of walking outside, they deemed them as no longer being “in new condition” and thus would not take them back in exchange for a larger pair without there being a “partial credit toward a new pair” – wow, just wow. So yeah, I will have zero future business with this company.

Black Rock Gear ‘Synthetic Beanie’

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 8 Comments

Black Rock Gear Synthetic Beanie

Greeting Adventurers!

I am now super happy to announce that the Black Rock Gear Synthetic Beanie is available to buy!

In September of 2015 a conversation between myself and Evan, the owner of Black Rock Gear, started happening about the possibilities of him and I working together to bring to market a synthetic version of the crazy popular Black Rock Gear Down Beanie.

The concept was simple:

keep everything that is awesome about the animal down version of the BRG beanie, but introduce a synthetic insulation version.

The “why?” is simple too:

  1. it would allow BRG to have another product in their catalog
  2. because some adventurers find themselves in situations where synthetic gear is of additional benefit
  3. because some folks have either medical and/or ethical issues regarding animal down products
  4. because, well, I wanted one as I have switched to using synthetic gear (with exception of feathered friends down booties) and while Evan was able and willing to make a one-off for me, when I posted photos of it, a fair amount of people showed interest in buying one – enough so that Evan/BRG felt it was worth try to bring to market an initial production run of synthetic beanies.

Continue reading “Black Rock Gear ‘Synthetic Beanie’” →

Gear Updates: May 2016

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 8 Comments

Here are some updates on different gear that I have been using and testing. As previously mentioned in a few different past articles, instead of waiting until I have 200, 500, 1000, or even 1500+ days of use with a specific piece of gear to write up a detailed review, I would instead post minor updates on the gear in shorter durations, so, here are some gear updates.

Continue reading “Gear Updates: May 2016” →

Gear for sale, cottage updates, ramblings

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 7 Comments

Greetings adventurers,

Hope everybody is having a wonderful May. Crazy that the year is almost halfway gone.

First up is some gear for sale. I have listed all of this gear within the facebook “SUL/XUL Gear Swap” Group, but wanted to post it here for those that do not do facebook.

If you are wanting to buy any of the below gear, please contact me.

Continue reading “Gear for sale, cottage updates, ramblings” →

Mountain Laurel Designs – FKT Quilt

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 12 Comments
mld_fkt_quilt_snaps
The MLD FKT Quilt does away with velcro at the footbox, and opts for snap buttons to save weight.

Greetings Adventurers!

The Mountain Laurel Designs “FKT Quilt” is a synthetic quilt that is uniquely designed to help fill a niche in the quilt market, with a double layer of insulation on the lower half, and a single layer of insulation on the top half, thereby allowing you to leave at home your insulated leggings and insulated booties, for those colder nights.

I have been using the FKT Quilt since it was released. The idea and concept appealed to me so when it was time to acquire another quilt, something able to be used in warmer weather than the MLD Spirit 28 I have and reviewed, I just had to get one and give it a try. So has the idea/concept worked out for me? What are my thoughts on it?

Continue reading “Mountain Laurel Designs – FKT Quilt” →

ZPacks Ventum Wind Shell Jacket

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 8 Comments
The ZPacks 'Ventum' Wind Shell Jacket packs down to about the size of two AAA batteries!
The ZPacks ‘Ventum’ Wind Shell Jacket packs down to about the size of two AAA batteries!

Greetings Adventurers!

I have a rather long history of writing about wind shirts and have been a huge advocate of them over the years – even in times when big name hikers were saying they have no place in a hiker’s backpack – yet through it all, when I hit the trail, be it for a long hike, a day hike, trail running, or just a speed walk through my neighborhood, a wind jacket is something that goes with me. Really, why not. They are stupid light, pack down crazy small, and perform the job which they are designed to do.

The wind jacket that has been going along with me, for almost a year as of the time of this article (May 2016), has been the ZPacks ‘Ventum‘ Wind Shell Jacket. On my calibrated scale the wind jacket from ZPacks is an amazing 54 grams (1.9 ounces) and that is with a hood and a full zipper!

Continue reading “ZPacks Ventum Wind Shell Jacket” →

Suluk46 – Miksa Pot Lifter

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 7 Comments

Suluk46 - Miksa Pot Lifter

Suluk46, one of my long time sponsors, has brought to market a very neat, finger size, extremely light weight pot grabber, called the “Miksa Pot Lifter“.

It hits the scale at only 6 grams (0.21 ounces)

To compare this to others on the market:

MSR ‘LiteLifter’: 28 grams (0.98 oz)
Vargo ‘Titanium Pot Lifter’: 23 grams (0.8 oz)
GSI ‘Microgripper’: 14 grams (0.5 oz)

You can purchase this little guy, and a lot of other truly exceptional extremely light weight backpacking products at: http://www.suluk46.com/products.html