Category: Articles

Note: this item was provided for review.

I love a good heavy work shirt. I’ve come to find that this type of shirt, something which sits just shy of an overshirt/shirt-jacket, is insanely versatile and a type of shirt I constantly reach for. Perhaps it’s the climate I live in, or perhaps it’s that I work from home, but whatever it is, I’m a fan. So when Haven was getting ready to release their fall lineup, and offered to send me a Travail Shirt in Cotton Corduroy — I jumped at the chance.

My last go with Haven was with a Polartec Alpha Fleece which was hard for me to review because my wife kept swiping it to wear. I’ve hidden away this shirt better, and I have to say, I would be shocked if this was not one of my most worn items through the next several months.

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I don’t wear much ’technical’ type of clothing anymore, but I found myself with a good reason to want something. While planning my packing list for my trip to Japan, I realized that all the pants I was packing are linen. But I wanted something a little less airy to fly in, something very comfortable, and something that I could toss on if needed while traveling — and which are inherently durable. I quickly honed in on wanting chinos, and even more quickly realized I wanted something that looked like Officer chinos, but with a bit more comfort for sitting in cramped quarters for over 10 hours straight.

That led me to these Gentry NT Officer’s Chinos from Triple Aught Design. They looked pretty good, had just enough added technical features to lend comfort to them. So I went for them, and I am glad I did — these are pretty solid chinos overall.

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Note: This item was provided for review.

Finding a good iPad stand is quite hard. I apparently type with thunderous strikes, and thus I tend to shake about even the best stands on the market. A good iPad stand is something you never fight against, rarely think about because it stays out of the way, and are never trying to bounce your head around like you are watching a tennis match to keep in bounce with the display — it’s sturdy.

Benks has created a very good iPad stand — perhaps great.

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For several years now, when I travel, I have been taking slippers with me. Hotel rooms and Airbnbs have gross floors, and it’s not logical to assume that they’ve been anything more than vacuumed or dust mopped between guests. Which means if the guest before you stepped in dog crap and wore those shoes into the room — well that doesn’t really vacuum out, now does it?

There’s a million reasons, even in an extremely clean country like Japan, to assume the floor is dirty. I never used to think about this, so sorry if you had never thought about it either, but here we are, and travel slippers are a must bring for me — even for a single night. I’ve tried loads of different ones over the years, but on this last trip I bought everyone in my family these Montbell ones — they are perfect for this use.

Comfortable, versatile, easy to wash, and easy to pack.

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When I first saw this bag, it was next to the XL model I wrote about previously. I was torn, as this is the size and model I would normally pick for my day to day gear, but I also knew that it would be slightly too small for me to carry for the next 12 days of our trip. So do I buy the larger one and be happy now, or the smaller one and be happy later? As is always the correct answer, the answer to this conundrum was “both”.

Though, the excuse was that my wife also was looking to get something slightly larger than the bag she was carrying, and this Tanker Sling Bag W zip (L) (item 622-08633) caught her eye. She simply said “ok, get both, I’ll use this for the trip and then you can have it.”

One day later: “You know this bag is mine now, right?”

A day after we got home she handed me this Tanker, and said: “You can use this until we go on a trip where I need it again.”

My dear reader, I do not know if this is my bag, her bag, or both of ours? I am going to say it’s hers, I’ve played this game before.

The thing is, it’s a really damned good bag. Which is why we bickered over it. And why I’ll probably buy another. Which, is also why, you should buy one.

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In my search for a good looking, but performance based chino, I picked up Triple Aught Design’s Agent LST Chino to give them a go. These are very comfortable and very light, but they don’t pass for a standard chino pant.

There’s something here, I am just not sure where these work best. I’ve been using them for days when I know I won’t be leaving my desk all day.

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Note: this item was provided for review.

I was quite happy testing the Savant from Pioneer Carry, so when they offered to send over the 2.0 variant of the Duration Pack, it was an instant yes from me. Even more so after I saw the new green colorway they have for it — I love green bags.

The Duration Pack is designed as a travel personal item, and is well sized and laid out for just that — though it will work quite well for people using it for the office as well.

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Note: this item was provided for review.

As spring gave way to summer, the jackets went into their dust covers to hide from the heat — and I lost substantial pockets. This happens each year, and each year it takes me a few weeks to find my footing and realize I need some small bag to carry my gear in. I always start too large, but this summer I decided I would switch to carrying a sling full time, and ditch any grand ideas of not needing one.

I’ve been rotating through a bunch of options, so the offer to test the Safari Sling from Pioneer Carry was one I was not going to pass up. This is a small, if not tiny, sling which is about as minimal as I can push myself. It looks solid, has fantastic materials, and in practice is quite great.

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Something I learned rather quickly after leaving the gray of the Pacific Northwest many years ago, was how transformative keeping the sun off your skin is, and how much that can help you stay cool. In order to achieve this for your head/face/neck/ears, you effectively have two options: hat or umbrella. Preparing to head to Japan in the dead-heat of summer, we geared up with sun protection gear, and I picked up Montbell’s Travel Sun Block Umbrella 50 for my wife to use.

By day three of the trip she had moved from her sun hat, to this sun umbrella and she never looked back. By day 12, I bought one for myself, as I was getting jealous with how well this umbrella works. This is primarily a sun umbrella, but Montbell does note it will shed rain (but I think this means don’t buy it for heavy sustained rain).

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“We are close to a Porter Stand location, I am going to pop in and see what they have, catch up with you in a few.” Off I went to see what bags I could see, determined to pick up my second Porter bag in Japan, and to find something that doesn’t dupe bags I already had. I wandered the small store — the staff always gets excited when they see you have a Porter bag already, they thank you, it’s sweet — and I kept pulling myself from the Tanker lines.

Brown, huh, that’s not a standard looking color. Feels like cotton, cool.

I asked about the bag, the staff came over and pulled the stuffing from it and encouraged me to try it on, to pack my stuff in it. I was pretty sold from the feeling alone, but it was small and small bags can be tricky — they have to be the right kind of small. Then my newly minted good pal, the salesclerk, said the magic works “we have a larger size in the back, shall I get it for you”.

This is Porter’s Smoky line, and specifically the generically named “Shoulder Bag” — this comes in two sizes, this is the larger of the two. It’s also one of the best bags I own, and it’s a lot easier to explain why this one is so very good.

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Billed as a versatile backpack for peak bagging, day hiking, everyday carry, and travel — the Wy’east backpack has a lot of ground to cover in a very lightweight and low cost platform. It looks good, and is well reviewed.

In my testing, it falls short, which is a shame for how much promise the bag has — it’s missing a few things which would make it great.

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