Archive for the ‘Outdoors’ Category

Geocaching with the Geomate Jr.

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I recently began geocaching. It’s a lot of fun, keeps me out of the house, and I’ve been places I’d never have seen without it.

To do geocaching, you just need a GPS device and a coordinate. The GPS device I started with was my cell phone but I wanted something durable that I didn’t need to worry about dropping. My phone wouldn’t survive a drop from 4 feet, The Apisphere Geomate.jr sure will.

Over 250,000 caches, 2 aaa batteries last 12-hours. The accuracy is as good (if not better than), my phone. The build quality of the Geomate Jr is impressive. Simple, shock resistant, and very smooth. Best of all, Made in the USA.

Happy Geocaching.

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FOUND: Axe made in the USA

Finally!! I’ve been searching all summer, maybe longer, for a Maul Made in the USA.

Council tool, a 123 year old company manufacturing out of Lake Waccamaw North Carolina, makes a huge selection of axes.

Take a look at this beauty. General purpose, RC 45-55, Natural steel finish. I need one of these for my truck.

Not to mention the rest of the stuff they make:

Get ready for splitting wood for your fireplace or stove. It’s going to be a cold one this year.

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Your Mission: Buy one thing Made in the USA

Next time you are out shopping, look at all of your options and try to buy at least one thing that is Made in the USA.

It seems there are always options out there. I was buying some fishing tackle this weekend at one of those giant outdoor shops. They had an amazing selection of everything. For example, fishing hooks primarily were made elsewhere.  I happened across some, for the same price, Made in the USA. Bobbers were another example. There were all kinds made in the US, and at very competitive prices (even cheaper than foreign made stuff in some cases).

I am a big stickler for quality. I generally will put Quality over Origin. But 9 out of 10 times I’ve found the USA made products wins in that category, anyway.

∞That’s your mission if you choose to accept it. Let us know what you bought instead of something else.

Found this Week – Made in the USA – Week 23

I’m a little late in posting this.

Costco had a package of Maglites the 2-AA LED, and a 3-D Cell LED. I have this weird thing for flashlights.. so I had to get them.

My hose nozzle cracked last winter so I needed a new one. Gilmour has a Zinc Pistol Grip Nozzle for a reasonable price at Lowes.  Be sure to check the label, Most of Gilmour’s products are made overseas. They do all seem to be of reasonably good quality.

Starting today I’ll be providing you with missions for the upcoming week. Click here for your Mission.

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Pelican Cases and Lights

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I checked out a Pelican case at a local Outdoors store (Alpine Shop).  The Pelican cases are very well built and have some great features. For example The Pelican i1010 Waterproof Case for an iPod has the usual crushproof and water resistant case with a headphone jack built in. So you may listen to your tunes while in a kayak or hiking, without worry.
They also carry a full line of cases for anything you could imagine (within reason). I have a DSLR Camera I’d like to take with me on a trip to Japan. The Pelican 1300-000-110 Small DSLR Camera Case ought to work perfect.

Another great selling point, everything is backed by Pelican’s Legendary Lifetime Guarantee of Excellence, “You break it, we replace it…forever.”™

Pelican Products are made in Torrance, California.

Buy Pelican on Amazon

Pelican

(more…)

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Update on SilBlade Windshield Wipers

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I had a race this weekend and I came in dead middle. My class was running only 3 cars, I came in second. Everyone running consisted of roughly 100 people, I came in 50th. I hit no cones. It was pouring down rain half of my runs.

Luckily I had SilBlade. Even when the wipers weren’t on I had a relatively clear view in front of me. They seem to have some additive on the blades that bead up rain on the windshield.  I must say, I wasn’t too keen on this at first. However(and there is always a however in life) I fell in love with the beading rain, and the SilBlade, this week.

Normally when it rains, I have a thin layer of water streaming down my windshield. This is not good at high speeds when you need to see where you are actually going.  Even with a light mist, the ability to see out the windshield is greatly improved.

Now to the wiper. I say wiper because I purchased only one. What can I say, I’m cheap and I wanted to compare directly the difference. The SilBlade wiper glides smoothly over the windshield weather it’s wet or not. While my passenger side blade is chattering due to lack of lubrication, the SilBlade on the driver side is perfectly wiping the light mist away. That sold me on this blade instantly.

Get your SilBlade on Amazon

To give you an idea of what it was like sunday, here is a video of a fellow autocrosser…  And this was the dry part of the day.

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Equinox Outdoor gear – Sleeping bags, Hiking packs, etc.

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I’ve been looking for a new sleeping bag for a few months. My current bag(eggplant) is from when I was like 10 and going to summer camp. Eggplant protects to temperatures down to 65 degrees. Enough about this, Let’s talk about Equinox.

So, I ran across Equinox on the PennPortal blog, Equinox makes Hiking/Day bags, cargo bags, Sleeping bags, many other outdoor living accessories. They are made in Williamsport Pennsylvania, for over 20 years.

I’m going to go with the Forest Green Koala camp bag. (I’ll skip the Eggplant this time)

Equinox Outdoor gear found via PennPortal

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Found this Week – Made in the USA – Week 20

This week I hit a couple stores buying some things for a couple projects I’m working on.

A lot of OfficeMax Paper products are Made in the USA. It seems Scotch Tape is Also.

Bill @ Bye, American ran across a few LawnMowers, the Jiffy Steamer, and John Ratzenberger’s (Cliff!!) Show.

I got to shoot my Henry Rifle on Saturday. It was awesome, Got a bulls-eye at 50 yards with NO SCOPE (Lucky Shot).  I was hitting the target most of the time, The trigger is great, Leaver Action perfect.  What a wonderful Firearm, I’m very proud to own it. Article coming Soon.

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Igloo Coolers

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Finally broke down and bought a 38-qt Igloo Wheeled Cooler.  I had some stuff in it and lifted it right out of my car with the handle.

Very durrable, I need to fill it up now. I can’t wait to put “Food” it it and go camping.

Igloo Coolers

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Found this Week – Made in the USA – Week 16

Found some Great things this week. I was gearing up for the year outside, I needed some supplies.

Hit a couple stores and this is what was found.

  • Suncast Hose Reel – View Suncast on Amazon – I bought a SHA150, sub $30, It’s fair quality but I hardly use the hose through out the year so it will hold up fine.  If you use your hose much, Pickup one of their heavier duty models. They are built much stronger and will run you between $50-100.
  • Flexon Hose -View Flexon on Amazon – Nice hose, My current hoses were just too weather damaged. Picked this up at Big Lots for a steal, $15 bucks for 50 ft. The connector is great, easy to attach to the spigot.
  • Anchor Hocking Co – Glassware – $5 bucks for a pitcher, another Big Lots score. I’m getting things together to brew beer. This may come in handy when I experiment with keging my beer.  Visit Anchor Hocking on Amazon

My Dad is in the market for some new summer work boots. While we were out we hit a local “Chain”, they have two stores. Chuck’s boots, has an awe inspiring selection of boots(seriously we were there for at least an hour and didn’t make it through Everything). Everything made in the USA is marked with a US flag.

Post a comment if you have used any of these Products. We would all love to hear your experience.

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