 |
|
||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
 |
Outdoors Travel Catalog Having grown up in Milwaukee, I have been fortunate enough to live in a community with a store like Laacke & Joys. Laacke & Joys has been in business for over 165 years and has designed and manufactured its own camping equipment under the Wildwood brand for over 100 years. They also design their own travel bags, medical equipment and industrial products. They have a complete line of everything including sports, recreations, specialty items, equipment for children, ....and more expertise on the subject of outdoor fun and adventure than all of Wikipedia. Laacke & Joys-165 years of experience These are the people I would call and have always gotten great advice and great service. With that said, here is a guide to some resources on the internet that can be of great value. Backpacks The Long Trail 90 and the Summit 45 by High Sierra   The Long Trail 90 is a top of the line production model for the serious backpacker. It has a nice frame to adjust weight on a long haul, has good volume, and external pockets for access to trail tools. Most importantly, it is designed to pack a load for different trail conditions. On vertical climbs, you want the weight closer to the hips to lower the center of gravity and improve balance. For long hikes, placing the weight towards the top of the pack helps the frame adjust the weight to hips making the load easier to carry. The Summit 45 is a more economical version of this design family. The Long Trail 90 retails for about 250.00 and the Summit 45 retails for about 160.00. However, we find that you can find a better deal on almost all basic luggage, packs and bags on Ebags.com. These same models sell for 109.00 and 64.00 respectively from Ebags and they include free shipping. We think Ebags is a very good place to start for any of your luggage needs. They have a user friendly page to search for what you are looking for, carry brand names and popular models of backpacks and all sorts of luggage, and have the closest thing to wholesale pricing you can find in a retail market. If there is a make and model of a Backpack, day pack, handbag, messenger bag or luggage item, google try googling that item.....Ebags will most likely have it and will be consistently in the top 3 sellers with the best price. If you try googling 10 different styles, ebags will consistently show up with the best price each time and no other seller seems to have that kind of consistency. In addition, Ebags included free shipping while many fly by night companies on-line reduce the price of a backpack but increase the shipping charges to make up the difference. What you can't find at Ebags Osprey 85 Argon & Arc'teryx 55  
Osprey Argon 85 Voted Expedition Master- Backpacker Magazine's Gear of the Year Awards 2009 Continuing
the deluxe custom fit legacy with Recurve suspension and BioForm A/X
components, the Osprey Argon for men is the most customizable and
comfort oriented packs. Features include a 40d Sil Nylon AquaSource
that converts to a hydration pack with padstraps, vertical zip access
into main body, wide mouth sleeping bag compartment, top lid that
converts to a lumbar pack with AirScape lumbar, and zippered easy
access side pocket.
Arc'teryx Naos 55 Backpack When Backpacker magazine bestowed a 2006 Editors' Choice Award on the Arc'teryx Naos 55 Backpack, they didn't just admire the ingenious construction within the confines of some trade show booth, they took it out into the real world to make sure it lived up to the hype. Testers used it in the backcountry and concluded that the innovative design is truly remarkable. The Load Transfer Disc™ really does allow the hipbelt to pivot freely so that the hips and buttocks are not locked into a rigid system and forced to slightly lift the pack with every step. They also learned that the weatherproofing truly does compare favorably to a drybag, and that the bonded Advanced Composite Construction is not just some fancy name but a durable way to laminate the pack bag, shoulder harness, and hipbelt together into a low-profile, weight saving package. The Arc'teryx Naos 55 Backpack is a great all-purpose pack. The side compression straps hold skis securely, the incredible suspension is worthy of extended outings that start out with the pack crammed beyond capacity, and the watertight construction is great for canyoneering routes where wading, swimming, and rappelling through waterfalls is expected. Solid Basics at Solid Prices    Leki Spring Sale - 20% off coupon #LEKI03 A top of the line backpack has many features for the serious minded enthusiast, but is it what you need if you need a basic functioning pack that is rugged, can take a lot of abuse, and is functional under a variety of conditions? I think the answer is no. First of all, a well designed sports pack is concerned with balancing the load for optimum performance on the hike. This means packing the load in a specific way. (Top heavy for long hikes, and bottom heavy for vertical or alpine climbing or hiking). Not all camping needs such specialized design details in the pack. Additionally, nylon is one of the toughest materials around, but a cut or puncture in a high end pack means that it will begin to rip and tear....and it very difficult to patch or sew. An expensive backpack may be rugged on the trail or at the top of Mount Everest, but it is not something you want to risk to a baggage handler at the airport or throw in the luggage bay of a bus. Sometimes the simple, basic, and time tested design is best for all around use. OutinStyle is an outdoors company that sells a civilian model of the military "Alice Pack". It is made out of nylon denim, so its cloth-like weave can be more easily sewn or patch if cut or punctured from rough treatment. The style is pure function....A roomy cubic pack with several exterior pouches for easy access to needed supply kits without having to take out everything in your pack. The design solves a basic problem over a wide range of conditions....It can hold a lot of stuff and make it easy to access what you need while on the go. With a higher end sports model, you will need extra packs and fanny packs. OutinStyle sells the Civilian Alice Pack for about 70 dollars with the frame and just over 50 dollars without the frame. In addition, they carry a number of excellent day packs, rucksacs, and Mini Alice packs for day hikes and picknics starting just below 20 dollars. They also have a good selection of good, basic, well priced gear that is rough and tumble and well suited for a variety of travel conditions. OutinStyle also has a number of interesting items in its inventory like the child play tents. About 50 dollars, they are cheaper than many backyard play sets and can inspire hours of adventure and fun for a child and his or her friends....and it creates a space for the toys so they don't litter the yard. One of our good friends recently was laid off after the company he worked for went out of business. Unable to take his family on the vacation he was planning, he spent some of the savings on a play tent for his kids this spring....and is planning some backyard camping with them very soon. The kids seem to love it and gave high marks when we surveyed them, so these tents come recommended by those that use them. Sometimes you can get a lot of mileage out of very little, and your own ingenuity. That is what this web-site is all about and one reason we like OutinStyle as a place to find affordable all around tools. If you are a serious backpacker, you will want well designed equipment for your adventure needs. Outinstyle has that too, but we like this company because they have not forgotten that being brilliant on the basics, and a good all around design that works is important. Outfitting Children Finding outdoors gear that properly fits children and young adults can be a challenge. When you do find something that fits, your choices are very limited. UpsideOver specializes in that very problem. Here are 2 backpacks that come in sizes for younger members of a household who are old enough to meaningfully participate in an outdoors family adventure.  We really like this frame backpack for a child. It is roomy to hold gear and sloped to adjust a load for either a long hike or can be rigged for alpine adventures. Best of all, the frame and the backpack separate and the pack makes an excellent book bag in the high school years. Its a top quality pack that play different roles as a child ages.   This backpack is also designed for a child, along with a child carrier that is well suited for a longer hike. As you can see, the backpack has the same design and construction as any name brand pack and is framed. It would be a great pack to help a child keep up with the adults on a long trek as it is designed to make carrying the weight as easy as possible, and can be more of a custom fit for a child than the external framed pack. The Sherpa child carrier is framed and well suited for the comfort for the child and the adult as well as having space to carry gear. It can really help when one has very young ones to take along. Upside over also has jogging strollers and other gear to ferry children in all kinds of weather.   Upside Over has all the proper safety equipment and rigging for any outdoors activity in child and younger persons sizes. Upside Over has safety equipment for boating, swimming, rock climbing, skiing, anything your child can imagine. Pictured here is a ski bag. Its a small bag that can tote skies and equipment, and can carry liquids so one does not dehydrate on the mountain, and can carry lunch, first aid kits, cell phones, etc. Now the design of a simple ski bag may not seem like a big deal, but it really can be. I am the only person I ever met who fell off a ski lift. I was 14, and I had a day pack that I used to bring to school to carry stuff on the slope. When the lift came to the top of the hill, the extra straps got caught in the chair and dragged me through the safety gate, where I hung from the bag until the straps broke, and fell 20 feet into the emergency landing area which was a pile of snow up to my hips....and all the operators of the lift did was yell at me to throw them the breaker line to start the lift again. It took me hours to get out....and believe me, there is nothing so humiliating to either a child or an adult as having fell off a chair lift because of equipment not designed for the slope. Of course I never told my parents because of how humiliating it was, but of course the ski club called my parents to make sure I was okay, and of course they freaked out, and the whole ski club got a safety lecture because of me and I still have friends that make fun of me to this day. Looking back, I am glad I did not break my neck, but at 14, I wish I had broken my neck to save me from all the ribbing my friends gave me for the feat. Also pictured is a dandy piece of equipment we also never had back in the day. Its called a running bike and its for children ages 2-4 who are too small to ride a regular bike. The child can play with the running bike, and walk it around. As they gain balance and coordination, they can pull their feet up for a few seconds and safely learn how to balance a real bike at their own pace, making the transition to a real bike very natural and much safer. |
 |
 |
||
| Site Map |