I love to travel and through the years have had quite a few sets of luggage. I've had the expensive stuff from Tumi, Victorinox (Swiss Army), Briggs & Riley, etc... But love this bag more then any of my old bags.

The first thing that you'll notice is the weight, without all of the external framing it weighs considerably less than a typical suitcase of it's size, easily 5-7 pounds less... Which meant my wife could get that much more stuff in it without worry about going over the 50 pound limit.

The split design is great as you can very easily organize everything your packing into separate compartments and get to it without having to go through everything. The mesh & softshell fabric on the inside keeps everything in it's compartment and BREATHS! So when you get home all your dirty clothes haven't created a nasty funk.

The split design also is great if you're planning on bringing a couple bottles of booze back with you from your trip. We popped a couple in that we wrapped in tee shirts to keep them from clanking together and there was plenty of padding all around them and they were secured in place with the external pull straps that they survived the trip home without any breakage.

My favorite part of the bag is the skate wheels, they are so much smoother then the typical roller blade style wheels and that little bit of extra width also makes for a much smoother platform to pull your bag along. Plus I know I can easily get replacement parts at my local skate shop instead of waiting 6 weeks like I did with Victorinox when one of my wheels broke on that bag.

As far as wear and tear goes I was pretty stoked on the condition of the bag. A few minor scrapes and scratches, but nothing was torn or ripped open. I came home through LAX and have had some bags absolutely destroyed after going through that airport. The material and structure held up great and I'm confident that it will last for years to come.

This bag is worth every penny and is a better quality then bags from companies that only produce luggage.

From Ride Snowboards:

If you have any questions or are experiencing any issues with your Nitrane Contraband V-Grip straps, please give Ride a call (toll-free) at 800-985-3398 and we would be happy to answer your questions and quickly solve any issues you may be facing.

http://my.ridesnowboards.com/showthread.php?t=506

I've been a fan of Oakley ever since I got my first pair of M Frames on my 11th birthday in 1990. Their goggles have always been my go to since the O Frame was the it goggle that guys like JP Walker & Bjorn Leines were rocking in Mack Dawg's Decade.

I've been using the Crowbar for the past few seasons and there are some significant upgrades that make it worth upgrading to the splice. The first is that the new shape in the nose area gives you better peripheral vision looking down & the new shape acts kind of like a breathe right strip and opens up your nasal passage a bit more.

The new shape in the nose area also gives you a new lens that only has 5 contact points with the frame and is 100 TIMES easier to change lenses than any other Oakley Goggle. I personally didn't have a hard time with the Crowbars, but did change quite a few for some people that weren't too into it.

Lastly, the outriggers (the plastic pieces that connect the strap to the frame) have been moved back. So what that is going to do for you is give you more helmet compatibility and takes away the pressure that you sometimes get on your forehead when you where your goggles with a helmet.

If you're a fan of Oakley Goggles, the Crowbar in particular, it's a no brainier to upgrade to the Splice as you're going to get everything you love about the Crowbar and a few extras that are more than worth the upgrade.

I've ridden many boots over the years and I was pleasantly surprised with these. The fit of the boot is great, so comfortable to me. I would consider my foot an average width but I do have a high arch which can sometimes be very uncomfortable in some boots.
I'm normally a 10-10.5 in my boots/shoes and ended up in a 10 in these. I was surprised as usually when I start in a 10, my first 5-10 days on the snow can be miserable until they start to break in. These boots felt great my first day on the snow with them and haven't really broken in/packed out as much as other boots I've had. Would say that they've only packed out about a 1/4 size or so, so my foot isn't sliding around in them.
They were a bit stiff to start out, but now that they have broken in the flex is great... I would say they were probably about an 8 of 10 to start and are probably about a 6.5 out 10 now.
Don't over look these boots, as they are right up there in quality, fit and performance as the "big" companies boots.

I've been lucky enough to spend my last 4 days on the snow on this deck. I was surprised at how fun the board actually is compared to Nitro boards I've ridden in the past.
The base of this board is extremely fast, I've been riding it on spring days where I will go through hardpack, slush, bulletproof and normal snow conditions in one run and it plows through all of it like a champ.
Unlike Nitro boards I've ridden in the past, this board isn't so stiff that you want to kill someone, but has a great longitudinal flex (7.5 out of 10). Not so soft that you can just butter all over the place... but playful enough to be fun playing around the terrain park.
I would suggest taking it to a local shop and have the edges detuned, I took mine down to a 2 degree bevel and have had a lot more fun carving around on trail with it than how the edges came out of the factory.
With a 2 year warranty from Nitro, if you are an all mountain rider that plays in the park/pipe occasionally you'll love this board.

We used these down in Moab, Utah in Negro Bill's Canyon. They went on super easy and the Velcro straps kept them in place but didn't overly tighten and cut off circulation. He walks really funny for about 10 minutes until he gets used to them being there, but then you could tell he loved them. The sand and rock was really hot going down the trail but it wasn't a problem and the Vibram soles gripped to the rock so well that I had to run up them to keep up with Zeppelin as he had no problem what so ever going up the slick rocks. Great piece of gear to get for your dog to make them a bit more comfy on long hikes.

This Harness/Pack is great, very easy to put on and comfortable for the dog. Just make sure that you get the front part right over the shoulders so the pack doesn't lean right or left making it uncomfortable for the dog.
It has two places to clip the leash, the one at the front is great if your dog is walking right by you, but if he starts to pull away or continues to want to go faster use the back clip. This clip gives you more leverage to stop the dog with out hurting him/her.
The two side bags are great for water, food we also put a shammy towel in to wet down and put over the dog to help keep him cool. It was great not to have to pack all of that stuff myself and Zeppelin loved the pack and never fussed about it once.

I used this tent over Memorial Day weekend down in Moab, Utah. Tent was fairly easy to set up. The poles are great, but the hook and loop closure tabs on the inside of the tent are not the most convenient way to attach the tent to the poles. The vestibule/rainfly just folds back over the tent, you don't have to worry about zipping it off or anything, which was great when it cold down at about 2 a.m. as I was able to jump out fold it back over and close it up.
The tent itself is not big enough for 3 adults, we got two in but really didn't have much room for gear, the rainfly/vestibule isn't really big enough to store 2 peoples packs/gear. I liked the tent, but would prefer something a bit bigger to be able to comfortably have two people and gear.

I went camping in Moab, Utah over Memorial Day weekend. After listening to my ipod on two different hikes during the day I was able to hook it up to this with my USB cord that I attach my ipod to the computer with and charge it up. It took about 2 - 2 1/2 hours for my 30 gig video ipod to fully charge up. It was great to be able to use my ipod again the next day on another hike. Def. worth grabbing if you aren't able to charge via an outlet or car while camping/hiking.

This cook set worked great on my camping trip. When ended up cooking up some pasta and it was much easier then having a pot over the fire. canister of gas screwed in very easily and we turned the valve and pressed the ignition button and it was going strong.
We only had it on a low setting to conserve fuel and it boiled 1 quart of water in about 3 minutes. Pot fit on very well, didn't have to worry about it falling off and the coating was great and cleaned off very easily when we were done. Won't go camping without one of these ever again.

This is a great headlamp. The main LED light is very bright and lights up a wide area for you. The two smaller lights on the other setting are great too, actually brighter than the main setting on the other (petzl) main setting headlamp we had. The wire and battery pack do take a bit to get used to, but the small amount of extra weight is def. worth having a light that will let you see everything around you.

This is a pretty good headlamp for a lightweight inexpensive light. comfortable, easy to use but not the brightest LED lamp I have ever used. But gets you a decent amount of light where you look to get around. You def. get what you pay for with this headlamp.

I used this bag down in Moab, Utah. Comfortable, zippers are smooth and don't bind up too much. The only issue I had is I used the Big Agnes Air Core pad with it, when that pad is fully inflated it does stretch out the bag and does make it difficult to zip it open and closed. I had to let some of the air out of the pad to allow to zipper to open and close smoothly. But had no issues with being comfortable and warm with the sleeping bag.

This pad is a great alternative to the traditional foam pad. Doesn't self inflate, but wasn't too bad to manually blow up, it has a nice little valve that you can push down in between breaths so you don't lose any of the air you have blown in.
Fit very easily into the Big Agnes encampment bag I was using. The feeling lying in the tent was great, upgrade from your foam pad you will be so happy when you do.

Very nice sleeping bag, down is comfortable and not poking out of the seams. Zippers were easy to use and find and were very smooth. Kept us nice and warm down in Moab, Utah on a 40 degree night. The following night it only went down to about 60 degrees and we ended up sleeping on top of the bag with a bivy sac on.

Used this pack on a hike to Delicate Arch in Moab, Utah. Pack holds 2 liters of water and we were able to put a bottle of suntan lotion, sandwich, chips, granola bar and orange in the two pockets. Straps are comfortable, easy to adjust and get centered on your body. Great pack for a hike like the one we did.

Used this pack on a day hike to Delicate Arch and a day hike in Negro Bills Canyon in Moab Utah. Very comfortable, straps adjusted easily and fit well. Didn't rub or hit any part of my body funny in any way. Reservoirs is easily filled and slides into the compartment very easily and the tubbing is not difficult to run out to the strap. I put a sandwich, chips, orange, granola bar, Orange, Suntan lotion, Telephoto lens for my friend's camera in the bag. Still had plenty of room left over to put a light rain jacket. Side compartments fit my ipod case from pelican easily and I didn't have to worry about it falling out. Love this pack for the hikes I went on.

I wore this shoes for 4 days leading up to my trip down to Moab, Utah to make sure I had the break in process going for when I was down there. I have a regular width foot, with a high arch and "regular sized" ankles and heels.
I normally wear a 10.5, but those were way to big, the 10's fit but there is a slight gap between my ankle and the back of the shoe. I did try on the 9.5 to see if that eliminated that space, but those were too tight.
The back, top part of these rub against the back of my leg and created some pretty bad blisters. I ended up putting large band aids over and continued to wear them thinking it was just a break in process issue. Down in Moab I wore them hiking around my camp site, in a stream to gather rocks for a fire pit hoping the water would soften them up and the rubbing would go away. After they dried out over night I put them back on, but still were rubbing, nothing I did seemed to make this go away and I ended up using my North Face trail runners to hike in on my trip.

I have owned the Oakley Juliet Sunglasses for 7 years now, Yeah.. I'm surprised that I haven't lost them in that span myself.
Glasses are comfortable if you have a medium to large sized face. They come with various sized rubber pieces for the nose and hinges of the sunglass to help fit them to your face.
The nose piece actually swivels around to also help the sunglass fit exactly to the shape of your face so you don't have to worry about them coming off.
Just don't leave these in your car/sun during the day because they will heat up and burn your face when you put them on in the afternoon.
If you are looking for something for a small face fit, check out the Oakley Penny. Same sunglass just sized down.

Ran in these shoes last night for the first time. The fit was a little bit snug, but not so tight that it was uncomfortable. After running 3 miles in them the felt great. The lacing system is simple and stays tight, the shoes are really light weight and it didn't even notice them at all after I got going. The tread is def. sticky and I didn't have any issues with loosing grip on surfaces (it was dry when I ran). Overall, great shoe... Much more comfortable than my The North Face Endurance trail runners.

I got this watch back at the start of April. Right out of the box it was very simple to set up and get all of my personal information into the watch to set it up for my workouts.
The buttons were a bit confusing to cycle through at first, but the directions are very simple and easy to understand and I can cycle through the programs on the watch with ease.
The heart rate strap is comfortable and very easy to size to fit correctly. I have a 42 inch chest and it fits fine and there is prob. 3 more inches to expand it. Just don't forget to wet the inside of the monitor with some water before you work out.
I would say that the best part of this watch is the motivation factor. I know that there is an average heart rate I want to keep during a workout and I want to burn more calories than I take in during the day. This watch keeps you motivated during your workout to hit those numbers and keeps track of them for you to reference. It has been great in revitalizing my workouts and getting me back to the gym more often.

So I have a T3, decided to get the T1 for my finance as she didn't really want all the Log information or to hook it up with any of the PODS. She just wanted something simple that she could keep track of her heart rate and calories.
So far she is loving her T1, she says that the motivation factor to keep going to get the average heart rate and burn the amount of calories she wants to burn over an entire workout is great. It's great that once you leave the cardio area and start doing resistance training that you continue to keep track of your calories and heart rate to keep you motivated.
If you just want something simple, easy to use and aren't interested in hooking up PODS to the watch, you will love this watch.

This stuff is great! Great way to bring back the waterproofing on your favorite waterproof breathable outerwear.
The best results I have had so far were by washing my jacket and pants (NO FABRIC SOFTENER, it clogs up the breathability in the fabric). After the rinse cycle is finished I take the jacket and pants up to the bathroom and hang them up in the shower and spray them both evenly with the direct spray and let them hang dry overnight.
The next morning toss them in the dryer on low heat for 20 minutes and they will bead water again like they are brand new. Definitely worth the $8 bucks and the bottle is still half full after using it 5 times this season.

This little guy is great, I screwed it into my work bench with some standard wood screws. Very easy to run across your scraper to get a nice clean edge to easily scrape the wax off your board. Has brought several of my old plexi scrapers back to life that I was going to throw out. If you wax your gear yourself, this is a must have so you don't have to keep buying plexi scrapers when they dull out.

I'm liking these shoes so far. The feeling of having the boa was weird at first, but I'm used to it now. At first I had a couple of pressure points and actually felt my toes falling asleep because I was tightening them too much. Now, after two weeks, I'm completely used to the feeling and know how much to tighten them. The insoles are very comfortable, and I was out in the rain in them yesterday, and my feet stayed nice and dry.