Royce

The Ride DH has a sweet edge on it and I loved the ride. I rode it with the Contrabands and the combination was spectacular. The 155 was ideal for me, as I usually ride a bigger board, but this was a joy at its least.

I'm 5'9", 165 and the small was ideal for me. The jacket does seem to run big, as it demands layers. I loved the zipper to the side of the face, just a small detail, but great functionality. The hood is rather large. If you don't plan on wearing a helmet at any point in your use of this item you may look into other Gore jackets, because the hood is large. For the price you want to make sure its going to be well used. Its not a problem if you cinch down the cords on the hood real tight. Otherwise you'll feel like a parasailer when the wind catches you. Impressive design, Arcteryx didn't forget what the use of this jacket was. It could use a larger interior pocket for a pair of skins.

The Hammer Head was a great sled for bombing the hills. I really thought it would have a hard time on the deeper snow, but it glided real well over snow several inches deep. Upon first looking at the sled I unfairly judged it as a heavy beast, but to my delight and surprise the sled is very light and very easy to carry. This doesn't mean it feels flimsy or cheap at all, on the contrary you realize how well its built when you sit on it. I had no problem carrying it a couple of hundred yards to the sledding hill.

The Dreamtime XL may be a little bulky, but it is the next best thing to carrying your queen size mattress with you on your car camping trip. I loved the pad. It really is a very comfortable material to lay on and couldn't have felt a rock underneath me even if there was one.

Comfortable, good sound, really dulls out the office chatty sound, high highs and low lows, but I have tried headphones from Skullcandy that are a bit better value. Meaning I have tried their cheaper headphones that sound just as good and are half the price. The difference is the comfort--they wrap around your head with a billowy softness that rivals a goose down pillow. A little tight at first, but once I broke them in I wanted to wear them all winter as ear muffs and never expose my poor little noise receptacles to the cold dry Utah winter again.

I have always used and loved free standing tents for their strength and ease of set up, but I was very impressed with the Lightpath 3. The packed size and weight is minimal for a tent of its size. I thought it had plenty of room to accommodate 3 people, minus gear. The vestibule has a good amount of room for gear stowing and opens very wide to get a good breeze in. The tent is ideal for two people and plenty of gear. At 5lb 12oz it is very nice to carry and the packable size can be dramatically reduced with a little more muscle when rolling it up. It couldn't have been easier to setup. No sleeves, no pins, just place the correct pole(only two) in each corner and place the grommet on the corners of the tent on the end of each pole. The weight is further reduced by the absence of clips used to keep the rain fly on the tent body. Grommets placed on each corner of the rain fly slip over the end of the tent poles.
Over all the tent was great. Didn't get a chance to experience a great amount of moisture, but the moisture we did have didn't phase the Lightpath 3. Best of all, my wife liked the colors.

The Hedgehog GTX XCR is a great, versatile-use shoe. They are comfortable enough I wore them on a dirt road leg of the Wasatch Back Relay, but are hiking shoe enough I can take them on rough trails with a light pack on. I have not always been a huge fan of waterproof/breathable materials(Gore-Tex, eVent) in my shoes, but it is incredible in the Hedgehog. The Gore makes these shoes great for running on early morning wet grass. I put a pair of PolySorb insoles from Spenco and I don't take these shoes off very often, ask my wife. Highly recommended for a general purpose shoe.

These shoes are great for keeping outside moisture out, but the Gore-Tex in the shoe does not help feet breathe any better than other materials I've tried. All in all, I loved them and use them very frequently.

I'm about 5'10" and the M/L length was a great fit for the size of my torso. The cargo size--just under 3000 cu inches, is perfect for a light weight 4.5lb two person/three season tent, compressed 30 degree 800 down fill sleeping bag, stove, food, raingear, and other essentials for a couple days.

Seems to keep things cooler, longer and water always tastes great. No plastic taste or excess flavor from previous contents.