ENO Hammock & Slap Strap System

ENO (Eagles Nest Outfitters) has a lot of cool sleep gear for the outdoor enthusiast, hiker, camper, and adventurer. Before I looked at ENO's website I really never thought of using a hammock on a regular basis but ENO hammocks are really something I've found useful. I've been testing out the Double Nest hammock which is made for two but works well for one person too. I've also been using the slap strap suspension system which makes hanging the hammock super easy and fast.

Double Nest Hammock w/Insect Shield

One of the really cool things about this hammock is that it now comes with Insect Shield. Insect shield is a treatment that is applied to the hammock that lasts through 6 months of exposure to the elements. When applied to clothing it lasts through 70 washings. I found that when i was using the hammock in dense wooded areas I may have a few fruit flies in the area of the hammock, but no other insects. I had no insects land on me. This is definitely an added benefit of this hammock that I really like.

This hammock packs down into it's stuff sack which is attached to the hammock itself so you don't lose it...yet another cool feature. Once packed into its stuff sack and cinched down it fits in the palm of your hand. This is made possible with the use of high strength, breathable, woven nylon.

You don't have to worry about this hammock giving out on you either. ENO uses Super Strong Nautical Grade Line and triple interlocking stitches with high grade nylon thread. This particular hammock has a max. weight of 400lbs. The carabiners that are included with the hammock are also very durable.

Dimensions: 6' 8" x 9' 10"
Weight: 22oz
Colors:Khaki/Olive, Orange/Grey, Powder Blue/Blue, Navy/Olive

MSRP: $84.95

Slap Strap

The Slap Strap and Slap Strap Pro are great ways to make hanging your hammock easy and quick. For one...there's no tying ropes so you don't have to be an expert in knots and the Slap Strap is much friendlier on trees or whatever else you're hanging from than rope.

It can be attached to anything by just wrapping it around the tree, pole, or whatever and then feeding it through the loop on the end of the strap. This means it'll fit most any size tree you'd want to use with your hammock. The straps have 6 loops all the way down to the end so that your hammock carabiner can be attached to any of the loops depending on how far far away your two attachment points are. Also, you don't have to find two trees that are fairly close together ...you get up to 20 feet between trees to attach your hammock.

Se the below pictures on how to use the slap strap...

Take down is quick as well. No messing with knots...just disconnect your hammock and unwrap the strap...it's that easy!!

The slap strap systems include a sack that is made out of the ENO hammock material.

Dimensions: 7' 6" x 1"
Weight: 12oz
Materials: One Inch Soft UV Treated Nylon Webbing

With this strap hanging the hammock is so easy. If you buy a hammock, definitely spend the extra money to get this item! It can also be used with any other hammock, or tarp. Also check out the Slap Strap Micro if you want less weight and material.

MSRP: $19.95/pair

If you hike, camp, or just enjoy time outdoors check out Eagles Nest Outfitters...their sure to have something you'll like!!

Squishy Bowls by Guyot Designs

These Squishy Bowls, by Guyot Designs, are absolutely awesome. I got a pack of two...one is smaller and is actually considered a cup...but I have used both for bowls. The idea behind these bowls is that they're a light weight and flexible option for eating and cooking from that are great for the lunch box, day pack, and any other "on the go" use you can think of.

Made of food grade silicone, these bowls can be squished down and then they pop right back to their original shape even after extended periods of storage. I actually store the large one squished up inside the smaller one. This allows them to be packed anywhere in your pack without taking up much room and conforming to any smaller area of your pack.

These bowls can also take a lot of heat (up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. They are microwave and dishwasher safe and I've used them quite a bit to make a quick bowl of Ramen noodles in the microwave and added boiling water to them for oatmeal. They haven't deformed or shown any signs of damage whatsoever.

As I said, they're dishwasher safe, but cleanup is a breeze. The outside of the bowls have a very slight texture to help grip the bowl, but the inside is nice and smooth which helps to make cleanup easy. plus, since they're flexible you can turn the bowl/cup inside out to help clean it easier.

Available in many different sizes and colors, you're sure to find one that will come in handy for you.

Colors: tomato, tahoe blue, lime, slate, tangerine

Details:
Bowl:
Capacity: 16oz/500ml
Weight: 3.3oz/93g
Cup:
Capacity: 6oz/200ml
Weight: 1.7oz/48g

MSRP: $11.95 – $15.95 (color dependent)

Maya Sticks

Maya sticks by light-my-fire help you do exactly that...light your fire. They're made of Pino de Ocote, a fatwood pine cultivated in the highlands of Guatemala and Mexico. Maya sticks are easy to light, even when wet, and stay burning hot for a decent amount of time to get a good fire going.


You can use one or two of these sticks to easily light your camp fire, or, as suggested by Light-my-fire's PR rep, shave off some of the fire stick to make a small tinder pile and light that. This tends to help save on sticks because half a stick shaved down really worked well. This past summer I used these while camping to start our camp fires and they're really a handy item to have in your camping gear. I'll continue to use them this winter to start our fireplace in our family room.


There's not a whole lot to tell about this product, other than the fact that they work good and are handy to have to get a good fire started when good, dry tinder and kindling wood may be hard to find.

Buy them here!

Proforce Softie Elite 1 Sleeping Bag

Proforce Equipment is the military branch of Snugpak, which is a civilian provider of high quality camping clothing and gear. A company originating in the UK, Proforce uses high quality materials in their gear which is state of the art in not only quality but performance. I have been very impressed by their gear.

One product that I have been using is the Softie Elite 1 sleeping bag. This sleeping bag is designed for warmer climates and use. It has a comfort rating of 44°F/7°C and a low rating of 35°F/2°C (these ratings are assuming the use of a sleeping mat and being inside a tent or under some other kind of shelter). I've used this bag into the high 40s low 50s so far and can say that it definitely works.

Not only are the Softie Elite bags warm, but they're very packable. This bag packs down into it's stuff sack and fits in the palm of my hand. It easily fits in a side pocket of a good pack and takes up only a fraction of the room of a normal sleeping bag.

Snugpak uses several different materials in this bag to gain such good insulation with such little weight and space. One of these insulating materials is Softie Premier insulation. Softie premier is a polyester filling that is kind of like down filling, only with a fraction of the weight and space. Some of the fibers in this filling are crimped, some curled, and some left as they are to give a random effect similar to down insulation. This fill also maintains it's insulating properties even when wet.

Another material in this bag is what's called reflectatherm. Reflectatherm is a highly breathable, metallisized fabric designed to reflect heat and retain warmth. It adds an additional 15% of heat to the bag.

The inner and outer material on the bag is called Paratex light. This is a windproof, lightweight, water repellent nylon fabric which is breathable and moisture wicking. This is a very soft material that is also a ripstop type material.

The way sleeping bags keep you warm is by using your body heat to heat up the air inside the sleeping bag. This bag has several good features to regulate the heat inside your bag. Here are some of the other features of the Softie Elite 1:

1. Stuffs down into it's included stuff sack, takes up little room and light weight.
2. Mummy shape helps to retain heat.
   
3. Has a baffle system which expands to help regulate heat inside the bag. When it's warmer out you expand the baffle so that there is more room in the bag. By doing this you stay a little cooler because your body is heating up a larger space, therefor keeping your body cooler. This also expands the bag to give you more room if needed. When not expanded the baffle helps keep drafts from coming through the zipper.
   
4. The bottom of the bag can be folded up for shorter individuals (like me) to maintain better warmth. By folding the bottom of the bag up and attaching it using the 2 attachment points it makes the inner space of the bag smaller, therefor allowing your body to be able to heat up the inside of the bag better. If you have unused space in the bag (ie: extra area in the bottom of the bag) it's harder to keep the air inside the bag warm via body heat. On the opposite side, in warmer climates you can leave the bottom unfolded to keep the air inside the bag cooler.
5. An adjustable "hood" is included on this bag to maintain your body heat by covering your head. A good majority of heat escapes from your head, so by snugging this don on your head it'll help to retain body heat.
6. Available for left handers or right handers, putting the zipper on the proper side. Something you don't see a lot of.
   

A couple of things to note about storage of your snugpak bag is that you don't want to store it in it's compression sack. Unpack it and store it unpacked, preferably hanging. This allows the fibers to expand between uses. Also, one thing I've always made the mistake of doing is rolling my bag to get it into the stuff sack. Again...a no no. By rolling the bag you can tear and separate the fibers of the insulation doing damage to the bag and possibly reducing it's effectiveness. A good thing to know!

I'm sure I skipped a feature or two, but this line of bags is absolutely awesome. Not only for the average hiker/camper, but for military this bag provides protection from the elements without taking up a lot of space in your pack where you can keep other essentials for combat. And the low weight is a definite plus when you're carrying your gear on your back.

I think snugpak is really on to something with their gear and I highly recommend their stuff. At a reasonable price you can't go wrong with quality like this.

Colors Available: OD green, desert tan, black, mustard yellow

Length: 86in.
Carry weight: 36 oz.

Available at U.S. Cavalry for $112.99 (at time of posting)
Brigade Quartermasters for $109.99

Outdoor Meal Kit

This is another great product by light-my-fire. The outdoor meal kit is the Swedish update to the mess kit. It's good for use while camping and hiking and also fits in just as well at home or the workplace. This kit provides plenty of unique features and uses. I have been using it for a while now for camping and taking food to work. I have used it in the microwave as well as the dishwasher and it shows no wear. Here are the features of this kit:

1. Dishwasher safe
2. Floats
3. Microwave safe
4. Main container retains all other pieces. Both the top and bottom of the main container can be used as a plate. Bottom of the container can be used as a bowl.
5. Bowl included that can be used as a spill proof cup. The top provides a waterproof seal and has a small hole in it to drink from. This bowl/cup also has measurements in it for 100, 200, and 300 ml, They are marked with a 1, 2 and 3. This cup also has a small handle that makes it easy to pick up.
   
6. Includes a strainer/cutting board. This is nice and thick and is a great addition to this kit.
7. Includes a smaller waterproof bowl/container which is good for keeping spices or anything else you want to keep moisture away from.
8. Included spork is very handy. One end is a spoon, the other end is a fork with serrated knife. The knife is actually very nice and works well. I have several of these sporks for camping and one I keep with my work gear for times when a spoon or fork is needed but not available. See my review for more details.
9. Harness available for attaching this to your pack and keeping the container closed.

I like this item and think that it's a really god item. The quality is outstanding. This kit has quite a bit that you can use all in one small package. There is even room inside for additional items. I keep my firefork and firesteel in the main compartment as well. A fairly simple kit, but with a lot of innovative and unique features!

MSRP: $19.95

Grandpa's FireFork

This is a really creative idea that the Light-My-Fire company brought back from an old fashioned way of making a camp fire fork....by bending a piece of wire around a stick. You then squeeze the ends together and place a stick through the hole created by the wire and let go of the ends and a spring like action holds the fork on the stick. I really like these things and have been recommending them whenever I see someone using a camp fire fork. I have used this product this summer and find it very usefull and durable...good stuff!

The main reason I love these things is that they pack up real small and you just use a stick that is available in the area instead of having to lug around a bunch of premade stick/fork combos. They're especially good for backpackers who need to pack light.

This fork comes with a safety cap to keep the fork in it's propper shape and to protect against accidentally poking yourself or other gear.

MSRP: $4.95

Wingnut Gear Wallet

I bought this wallet about 8 months ago and have been using it on a daily basis ever since. This wallet is made by Wingnut Gear, which produces products of bycicling and outdoor sports. This wallet has 4 compartments that the manufacturer claims to be watertight. It also has 3 additional pockets for credit cards, a main money compartment and an ID window on the inside. The watertight compartments are sealed using a ziplick type seal and the pull tabs for opening these compartments are reflective. I'm not sure why they are reflective. The material is very thin but feels durable and is a ripstop type material. The wallet also comes with a lanyard that attaches to the wallet and can be used to carry the wallet around your neck if you don't have pockets or to attach it so you don't lose the wallet.
As you can see from some of my other pages, I like to test gear if possible before having to use it in a real life situation. I performed 3 tests on this wallet to test it's water resistance. I put pieces of paper in the waterproof pockets and then checked if they were wet after each test.
Test 1: I briefly held the wallet under the shower head to simulate getting caught in the rain the then getting in out of the rain. The water beaded up and ran off the material. The paper was dry.
Test 2: I dunked the wallet for a short period of time....only a few seconds, but it was totally immersed. The paper showed a small amout of water leakage.
Test 3: I let the wallet sit in water for approximately 15 minutes. The paper was wet and the water had soaked through the material.
I would classify this as water resistant, but definately not waterproof.
One of the compartments has the ziplock area seperating from the material, but it is designed in a way that this doesn't affect the water tight properties of the compartment. Asside from that, this wallet is very durable, and I was surprised when I put all my things in the wallet that it seemed thinner than my previous wallet. Overall, a good wallet for the outdoors type.

Light My Fire Spork

This is a cool little accessory that I picked up at Wal Mart for a few dollars and is an excellent piece of gear. It is made by Light-my-fire out of sweeden. It's a fork, spoon, and knife in one. I was surprised to see just how good the knife was as I expected to have to use a pocket knife to cut with, but it cuts great. This spork won't melt in boiling water, is Teflon friendly, dishwasher safe, and comes in several colors.

I have been using this spork for 2 years while camping and I keep it as a backup in my work bag in case I need it, and it's come in handy. For camping it's very easy to carry this instead of all 3 utensils and it's easy to clean up. There's not a whole lot to describe about this spork, but for the price I highly recommend picking up a few. There are now serving size versions as well. A total of 3 sizes are now available.

Light My Fire USA sells tons of innovative camping and adventure gear. Look them up and definitely consider their products!!