[Photos] Ultimate Direction PB Adventure Vest 3.0 & Groove Stereo Waist Belt

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 4 Comments

I just got these yesterday, woot!

Below are photos of the 2016, version 3.0, of the most beloved Ultimate Direction PB Vest and the new Groove Stereo double water bottle waist belt.

Loaded them up and went on an eight mile (12.8km) run around my area last night. I have 1000+ miles (1600+km) on my original PB Vest (also shown below, the red colour one) and it is still going strong, but an additional 5 liters of volume on the new version pretty much made me go buy it. It is going to take some getting use to, a few significant changes to it.

I will share additional thoughts in the months ahead after I get some miles on it. As for the Groove Stereo, well, that darn thing I have to say highly impressed me. Cannot lie that the price tag was a sticker shock, as they say, and I was crazy hesitant to buy it, but I really, desperately, wanted to see how it would pair up with the new PB vest, specifically if they would hit each other or not while running down the trail.  Thankfully they do not. But anyway, yeah, that double water bottle waist belt, just in the eight miles I did, impressed me big time. What a sweet method this will be to carry a serious amount of water. My ZPacks multi-pack might have finally meet some real competition!

Anyway, enough yapping, here are some photos for ya. I will likely get a video out on these two new items in the months ahead. I am not a big video guy anymore, but I will try to get something pushed out to my youtube channel, and I will absolutely be sharing more about them on my facebook page.

Ultimate Direction PB Vest 3.0, 1.0 and Groove System
Ultimate Direction PB Vest 3.0, Front
Ultimate Direction PB Vest 3.0, Back
Ultimate Direction PB Vest 3.0, Full Spread
Ultimate Direction Groove Stereo
Ultimate Direction Groove Stereo (folder under harness strap system)
Ultimate Direction Groove Stereo (with mophie juice pack for iphone 6+)
Ultimate Direction Groove Stereo (with mophie juice pack for iphone 6+)
My ZPacks Ventum has found a home inside the Ultimate Direction Groove Stereo. What an amazing combo for trail running!
Ultimate Direction PB Vest (version 1.0)
Ultimate Direction PB Vest 3.0 — with hard water bottle in burrito pocket
Ultimate Direction PB Vest 3.0 — with soft water bottle in burrito pocket

 

Updates:
 March 16, 2016 – Added two additional photos to show soft and hard water bottles inside of the ‘burrito’ pocket.

Kora ‘Shola 230’ Leggings

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 11 Comments

Kora Shola 230 Leggings - 000Greetings Adventurers!

Recently I was able to acquire a pair of Kora ‘Shola 230’ leggings. This will be an on-going article as I use them over the next few hiking seasons.

Kora, a company based out of Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, manufacturers base layer garments made from Yak wool, rather than the all so popular sheep wool. The company goes into great detail of the superiority of Yak wool over sheep wool on their Yak Wool Fabric page, it is very much worth checking out.

Statements such as this are enough to get the attention of most folks:

It’s 40% warmer weight for weight, 66% more breathable and is 17% better at transporting water vapour away from the skin. Just like merino, it’s soft and naturally odour-resistant.

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Cottage Updates: February 23, 2016

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 9 Comments
Suluk46 – Tulimak Backpacking Tables
Suluk46, Tulimak Backpacking Table

Howdie Adventurers!

Below are a few cottage updates that I thought I would share. I am sure there are more, these just happen to be the ones I know about (and have remembered) – some are about new gear and some are directly related to the companies.

Suluk46:

First up, Suluk46, one of my sponsors, has introduced a small table made from 6061-T6 aluminium, called the “Tulimak Backpacking Table” – which came about as a result of Steve (owner of Suluk46) and myself talking about, back in June of 2015, perhaps manufacturing them, so it is great to see Suluk46 has brought them to market!

There are two models, one with full length slots and one with half length slots.

The full length slots version is 101 grams (3.6 ounces)  and the half-slot version is 141 grams (5.0 ounces)

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Ramblings: February 02, 2016

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ Leave a comment
Six Moon Designs 'Cuben Haven Tarp' + Haven NetTent + 4 Suluk46 stakes + 2 Groundhog stakes + SMD carbon fiber poles
Six Moon Designs ‘Cuben Haven Tarp‘ + Haven NetTent + 4 Suluk46 stakes + 2 Groundhog stakes + SMD carbon fiber poles. A new double wall shelter setup I am using.
Check out more photos here and here, over on facebook.

There have been a few exciting updates within the cottage industry over the last two weeks, as well as some hopefully insightful other topics, to share in this Ramblings update.

Sawyer:

I would like to share that I have joined a small group of other hikers and adventurers, that I highly respect, that are Sawyer Ambassadors! You can check out my bio on their website.

I have been a huge fan and user of the Sawyer products for years.

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Questions & Answers, #003

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 4 Comments

Questions & Answers

I hope some of you enjoy this third Q&A post. Instead of digging into my older emails I am just going to post some questions I have received over the last month, since my last Q&A.

 

slackpackhiker: Hey John, As a brand new backpacker hiking the AT April ’16, I’ve appreciated learning lots from your various posts. I’m very much leaning toward the ZPacks Zip Haul pack, there’s so much to like and I certainly like the clean look, but I’m concerned about carrying damp stuff w/o an external net. What’s the best way to hike with damp items?

When I designed the Front Panel Loader (later renamed “Zip” by ZPacks) it was intentionally designed without a mesh front pocket.

Why? Because it has a dedicated front pocket on the outside of the front panel. The idea of going with a mesh outer pocket went against the design that I was after with the FPL/Zip.

My original desire with the FPL was to be a pocketless backpack. Check out this previous article for more on why.

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Ramblings: January 20, 2016

~ John B. Abela (HikeLighter.Com) ~ 2 Comments
Outbound Clicks from HikeLighter.Com
Outbound Clicks from HikeLighter.Com

Another week, another Ramblings post.

Thought the image I have attached is rather interesting. It shows how many people have gone from HikeLighter.Com to different websites. The first one (wordpress media) is folks clicking on photos, so ignore that. And clearly I have linked to a lot of products at amazon. And the docs.google is to my gearlist. But putting aside those three things from the list, it looks like zpacks is by far in the lead of what people seem to be interested in. Granted I have published more about their products than anybody else in the list, but still, almost 2x as many clicks. wow. SMD use to be in second place, mostly due to my Skyscape X article, but that seems to be a shelter most folks have lost interest in. Use to be a time when it would sell out in 24-48 hours, but not anymore. Unlike other companies, SMD has always priced their CF products at a point where they should have been priced at and not marked low just to help sell them. Could be the price tag on the SMDSX has hit a price point that shies folks away. Or, maybe it was the change in pole configuration due to that patent by LHG. No idea, just continue to be surprised that it is not selling like it use to. I think if SMD could get some real bathtub walls on the shelter, it could be the only shelter on the market to give the ZPacks SolPlex a real run for its money. Once I get some miles on the SMD Flight 30 and Fusion 65, and publish some thoughts on them, I suspect SMD will move back up the list. My recent review of the MLD Spirit Quilt accounts for it taking over second place. Montbell is of course on the list due to the Dynamo Wind Pants.

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