Explore It!

photo courtesy Petzl

Petzl e+Lite

• Pros: Incredibly lightweight; Red setting preserves night vision; Can be attached to a baseball cap
• Cons: Expensive batteries; Not bright enough for active pursuits; No “off” position between white and red LEDs
• Bottom Line: Though designed for emergency use, the e+Lite is great for just about anything except fast-paced nighttime sports as you’ll overcome its output.
• Weight: 27 grams
• Brightness: 16 Lumens
• Battery Life: 35-45 hours
• MSRP: $30

Petzl’s Web site

    It’s hard to come up with many negative aspects of Petzl’s e+Lite.
    Designed as an emergency headlight and introduced in late 2006, the small light is so versatile it will beg you to buy another and put that one in your emergency kit instead.
    In fact, it’ll probably beg you to buy a few: One for your vehicle, one for your backpack, one for your hunting gear, and pretty much anywhere else.
    Its three white LED lights give you a handful of options whether you’re changing a flat tire on a dark country road, reading a book in bed at home or trying to set up camp at night.
    But when it’s important to preserve your night vision, flip on the red LED. It emits enough light to see what you’re doing, but won’t give you that semi-blind feeling when you turn off the lamp.
    The swivel head allows you to direct light in nearly any direction you can imagine.
    You can even swivel it around towards its base (the part that touches against your head) to protect the lights when you aren’t using it.
    The thin elastic headband (about the width of a shoelace) is held in place by a traditional cord lock, and after wearing it a few minutes you’ll barely notice it’s on your head.
    And it won’t slip either.
    After wearing it on a three-mile trail run at night, I was surprised.
    While it definitely didn’t light up the trail as well as some larger headlamps, it provided enough light for a relatively flat trail at a relatively slow pace.
    I wouldn’t consider it for a nighttime active pursuit such as biking or cross-country skiing though because you’ll easily overrun its luminosity.
    And, being an emergency light, Petzl, which has its American office in Utah, covered you there too.
    In addition to the high, low and red-light settings, it has a pulsing white and pulsing red position to help attract attention when you need it.
    Even if you stash it away for years in its protective case, which is about the size of two energy-gel packets, it’ll still be ready to act.
    Petzl claims the light’s two lithium batteries will stay juiced even if dormant for 10 years.

It’s hard to escape the holiday season, and if you haven’t started shopping yet, you’re not alone.
If you’re like me, there’s always one person on your gift-buying list for whom it’s nearly impossible to find the right present.
You may not know what she already has or needs.
But no matter who’s on your list, here are a handful of lesser-known outdoors gifts – listed in order of price – that won’t break your bank. Keep in mind you can often find these products on the Internet for cheaper than the reported MSRP.

Hydrapak Gel-Bot
MSRP: $15

For many athletes carrying an energy-gel flask is cumbersome, while for others keeping track of individual gel packets is a messy chore.
Not only do you want to have that extra energy burst readily available, usually you want to either chase it with water or simply have some available.
Whether you’re a hiker, biker, runner or any other athlete that typically carries a water bottle in addition to gel, Hydrapak LLC. has your back.
The Oakland, Calif.-based hydration company produced the Gel-Bot to keep gel and water at the ready for when you need an extra kick.
The Gel-Bot looks like a normal water bottle from the outside, but has a separate gel flask inside that hangs from the cap.
The BPA-free bottle holds 24 ounces of water and 3.2 ounces of gel.
Pull the spout and water comes out. Push the spout in and suck on it to get the gel.
The company has a bike bottle that easily fits in a bottle cage, and an ergonomically shaped running bottle complete with a hand strap.

Inka Stainless Steel pen
MSRP: $20

If you’ve ever written with a pen when it’s cold outside, you’ll know it doesn’t work well.
The same thing happens if you’re writing upside down or when the paper or pen is wet.
None of those weather conditions matter to the Inka pen that is said to write anywhere.
Stick it in the freezer for an hour, and it’ll still write. Write upside down with it, and it won’t fade like the pen you snagged from the grocery store.
It’s even said to write underwater. I didn’t have any waterproof paper, but it’ll lay down some ink on foil and my hand while both are submerged.
The entire pen pulls apart to make a roughly 3-inch pen that you can screw onto the base for a full-length writing utensil.
The abundance of pieces and steps to get the full-length pen is annoying, but for short notes in any weather, it’ll do the trick.

BELA-Olhao sardines
MSRP: $30 for case of 12 ($42 for case of boneless/skinless)

It’s a little strange popping open a small tin filled with oily fish that still have the bones and scales intact.
Sure the heads and tails are missing, but the potent stench of fish billows from the small metal container as soon as you open it.
If that’s not too much for you, then you’ve picked the right nutrient-rich trail snack.
BELA-Olhao sardines are reportedly packed fresh within 8 hours after they were caught off the coast of Portugal.
Not only are they a great source of calcium, but they also contain Omega 3 fatty acids – which are said to improve circulation – and Q-10, which helps give you energy.
BELA sardines come in four reasonable varieties: In lemon- or cayenne-flavored extra virgin olive oil, in regular olive oil and in tomato sauce.
The company also sells a much more expensive boneless and skinless variety that I didn’t try.
The reportedly pesticide-free fish make a good stocking stuffer for your outdoor adventurer who isn’t afraid to try something fishy.

Julbo Looping 3 kids sunglasses
MSRP: $30

It’s hard to find a quality pair of sunglasses for kids that will protect your child from harmful UV light.
Sure you can buy a cheap $5 pair at Target with little pink flowers or blue bears, but they don’t do much other than look cute.
And because many kids spend a lot of time outside in the sun, Vermont-based Julbo Inc. created an entire line of “baby” sunglasses.
The company’s “baby” line, dubbed the Looping series, is a great choice for small kids from newborn to four years old.
Not only do they look sporty, come with a lens cleaning case and in a variety of colors and sizes, they’re also extremely durable, don’t have an “upside down,” and, most importantly, block 100 percent of UVA, UVB and UVC rays. And the lenses are the darkest Julbo offers ensuring your child is safe from bright sun.
The Looping 3, which is made for kids 2-4 years old, is new for 2008.
While the lack of hinges prevents you from folding them up, it makes for a more flexible and nearly indestructible set of shades.

Petzl e+Lite
MSRP: $30

Designed as an emergency headlight, Petzl’s e+Lite is so small and versatile it shouldn’t stay in your emergency kit – though you can keep one there too.
Put one in your vehicle, in your backpack or with your hunting gear, and put one anywhere else you may need to shed some light on a task.
Its three white LED lights give you a handful of options whether you’re changing a flat tire on a dark country road, reading a book in bed or trying to set up camp at night.
But when it’s important to preserve your night vision, flip on the red LED that emits enough light to see what you’re doing, but won’t give you that semi-blind feeling when you turn off the lamp.
The swivel head allows you to direct the light in nearly any direction you can imagine.
And, being an emergency light, Petzl covered you there too.
It has a pulsing white and pulsing red position to, among other things, help attract attention when you need it.