You need hands …
By Cam Burns |
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Sweetness and light
The Freeplay Sherpa flashlight ($39.99) and the Freeplay Ranger radio ($49.99) are two pretty cool products that even the laziest wrist will enjoy. The Sherpa is a comely fistful, about six inches long, that slots comfortably into a dark, horizon-scanning hand, and, in fact, has one of the nicest grips a lamp ever offered. It also comes with a standard household AC adapter.
The power is stored in a nickel metal hydride battery, and the bulb is a dual-density, xenon-filled little number, with two filaments designed to operate at different intensity settings (“bloody bright” and “okay, thanks, pal, now I can’t drive”). The Sherpa manual states that winding it up for 30 seconds will power the light for 5–8 minutes on the “normal beam.” We tried it — learning that on high beam it dimmed nearly immediately, while on normal beam it snuffed off within a minute or so. Not as impressive as I’d expected for a hand unit that most folks want with staying power.
You might not be carrying the Sherpa up a new route on K2, but at around 13 ounces, it’s certainly a handy — and very reliable — lamp for pretty much anything else, especially where there are no pluggable sockets.
Meanwhile, the Ranger ran longer, but that might be due to the fact that the upper side of its housing boasts a sizeable solar panel. Again, at a pound-and-a-half, it might not be the ideal choice for an ultralight Grand Canyon experience, but then again, if you’re looking for tunes, an easy workout and a fun manual dexterity challenge, this is a great little AM/FM radio and is highly recommended. By the way, though both Freeplay products are not designed to be submerged in water, they are splash resistant and can handle wet weather quite easily. For more info see www.mangointernational.biz.
Meat-y, phone home
Montana-based IST Designs offers a very neat little hand-crank for powering up flaccid cellphone batteries. Able to fit snuggly in the rosy palm of one’s hand, the lightweight Sidewinder cellphone charger has a wide, sturdy arm for serious cranking that folds neatly in on itself, making the unit streamlined enough to fit into the tightest nooks in your clothing or pack. It comes with a frustratingly short cord that plugs into one of four tiny plug adapters (supplied) that fit the power terminals on Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, Audiovox and Kyocera/Samsung phones. The unit also features a small LED light that burns off the power you’ve just twisted up in your wrist — one form of release, at least.
If you’re headed into someplace woody and know for certain you’ll get zilch reception, pop one of these guys in your pack for that extra back-up power that only a healthy, heavily thrusting arm can provide. Heck, at $24.95, and checking in at only about 5 ounces (with case and accessories), you can’t afford to not be going hands- and battery-free while driving on a regular basis. If you think I’m joking, Laptop magazine’s editors gave it a five out of five, whatever that means — and who can argue with a magazine about the tops of laps? For more info see www.istdesigns.com.
The (multi-) tool makes the man (and the woman)
Some say that the usefulness of a “tool” is inversely related to the size of the hand. I say — with a glance at my teeny manos — who gives a stuffed prawn? Instead, just give me a device I can use for serious business in the twisting, yanking and cutting department, and I’ll be happy. In recent years, the folks who invented the term “multi-tool” have revamped the company’s entire line: The men (and women) of Leatherman have retooled most of the devices the company offers, and now Leatherman has a line of workhorses for anyone interested in any kind of serious handiwork.
We checked in on the new Fuse ($49) and Charge Ti ($124) models, both respectable, representative devices from the Leathermen line and — boy, oh boy — are they sleek, sexy beasts compared to their boxy, late-1980s brethren! Both of these particular tools come with the standard selection of grips, blades, screwdrivers, scissors, bottle-openers, etc. — enough gadgetry to do a lobotomy on the summit of Everest. The 100-percent stainless steel Fuse is a more traditional pocket tool (Leatherman credits it with 13 gadgets, all told) and is thus lighter in weight (6 ounces). The Charge Ti (around 8.5 ounces), meanwhile (with its titanium handles and bronze bushings), is a Ferrari in a Chevy Nova kinda world, with all sorts of additional blades, saws and files not found in similar pocket tools — altogether, there are 22 tools on this baby!
These tools aren’t just for grumpy medical waste facility managers like me — these are sleek, stylish tools you’ll want to touch over and over again, maybe even pick your teeth with. They’ll certainly drive your screws with panache.
Like I said, your tool is an indicator of your man or womanhood — a superior one is worth the fuss! For more info see www.leatherman.com, and check out the Squirt, the Juice and the Micra, too — colorful, reliable “fixers” in an oft-gray world of dismal plumbing wrenches and crummy busted-toy screwdrivers. As Leatherman’s website proclaims: “Close inspection reveals the quality and attention to detail that make [one’s tool] more useful and effective.” ’Nuff said — or, at least, innuendo’d.
Handy, nipples or not
With today’s weather gadgets, you no longer need to bare-chestedly force your nipples through a rainbow of colors to tell the temperature and other climatological phenomena — these days, you can (as our wankingly clever headline suggests) use your hands. A firm called Kestrel, which happens to be an MG advertiser (and don’t let that turn you off their products) makes a nifty little device called the 2500 Pocket Weather Meter ($199 and 3.6 ounces with protective case) … Hmm: pocket, hand … I’m liking where this is headed.
All Kestrel’s weather meters (there are six models, ranging from $89 to $329) measure wind speeds (including maximum wind gusts), temperature, wind chill, humidity, dewpoint temperature, wet bulb temperature (in case you’re designing an HVAC system), altitude, barometric pressure, pressure trends and time — plus a few other things. The 2500 does pretty much all these, in a unit that is super-lightweight and ergonomically svelte. I’ve used Kestrel products several times over the past decade or so, when they were more clunky. Today’s Kestrels are much more shapely — they feel like something that should be grasped with pride.
The electronic controls are remarkably simple and straightforward. Indeed, there are only three buttons. Additionally, for you manual-dexterity pros, the Kestrel comes with a computer interface that lets you turn your meter into a data logger and weather station. Finally, all Kestrels come with a protective, hard-plastic sheath-style cover and a neck lanyard. Give your chest a rest, let your hands do the job, and visit www.nkhome.com for more information.
Blended by the sleight (of hand, that is)
And, to our favorite bit o’ gear this month. GSI Outdoors’ Vortex hand-crank blender is a device that’s been making the catalogue rounds pretty heavily lately, with good reason. This is a big, sturdy 1.5-liter Lexan pitcher that can handle a major margarita party on the back of Ajax (’scuse me: Aspen Mtn.) as easily as it handles a quick salsa tasting on a roadside bumper — purely on wrist action.
The durable stainless-steel base (offering two cranking speeds) nests inside the massive blender vessel and runs a set of sharp, hot dog-devouring teeth like nobody’s business. Via the included C-clamp, the entire assembly is attachable to a pair of skis, a picnic table, a shopping cart, a baby stroller or a set of unwitting Medieval braces.
This really is a remarkable bit of engineering. I read someplace that it took GSI’s designers quite a bit of work to get the cranking mechanism just right — and it shows. The Vortex can chop up fruits, veggies and ice with the greatest of ease — as the warning label rightly states: “Don’t put your … utensil(s) inside the pitcher while it’s in operation.”
The pitcher lid includes a nifty 1-ounce “shot lid” (so your two measuring/social fingers can take a break), and the instruction manual comes with recipes for a selection of adult beverages that I’ve never been allowed to sample. Price: $69.95. Great for moms on the go, not to mention moms (and dads) who are going nowhere.
And don’t forget to get one of GSI’s new seven-piece Adventure Travel Bars ($45). They come in their own nylon travel tote with two Lexan flasks, two Lexan tumblers, a fancy-cool bottle opener and a 16-ounce cocktail shaker — for shaking cock’s tails or whatever else you wanna stir up. For more info, log onto www.gsioutdoors.com.
MG’s gear columnist Cam Burns, author of 17 books (so he says), most recently, “Postcards from the Trailer Park,” has two busy hands constantly doing Satan’s weirder work. He can be reached at jonathanhemlock@hotmail.com
