Out in a puddle with the Land Cruiser Club
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Category Archives: Outside
Notebook Cover
A number of people have asked what I use to carry my notebook and writing tools for SAR purposes. I have a 4″ x 6″ Notebook Cover from Maxpedition Hard-User Gear that I quite like.
Maxpedition 4" x 6" Notebook Cover
Notebook with Writing Tools and Rite-in-the-Rain Pad
I actually sourced it from OPSGEAR.
Winter Not Coming Quickly Enough for You?
Just drive a couple hours north! 
Logging Road in the Winter
Maha Powerex Batteries and Chargers
Update: Maha has new higher capacity 2400 mAh IMEDION AA batteries available from Paul’s Finest.
I have been quite satisfied ordering batteries and chargers from PSS Enterprises in Montreal.
I use the Maha 2100mAh 4-Pack AA IMEDION Ultra Low Discharge Batteries to power my flashlights, headlamps and GPS units. (PaulsFinest.com Link)
It is quite important to avoid the classic NiMH batteries as they show poor performance in cold temperatures and discharge extremely quickly while sitting in your pack waiting. “Low Discharge” or “LSD” NiMH batteries are a much better investment in my experience.
Re: Light Sources?
I recently received this question by email:
What headlamp and flashlights do you use? I noticed when we were in (…) that your lights were far superior to anything anyone else had.
So here are my current lights and some thoughts on where to go next.
Headlamps
I have two headlamps…
Petzl MYO RXP (Primary)
This is a programmable regulated version of the MYO XP. (I believe it is slightly brighter than the XP.) Although the “programmable” seems pretty useless at first, it allows you to program the lowest setting to be the first click–usually it is the last. Key feature: AA batteries.
Petzl Tikka (Secondary)
This is “secondary” as in I don’t even carry spare batteries (AAA) for it. It really only gets used if I’m needing a reading light while in command. It has a built-in red filter.
Flashlights
I also have two flashlights… both are very bright, the difference is mostly in the colour of the light.
Fenix TK20
This is a very cool looking light that has a very warm yellow light, which apparently is better for finding evidence. It is also very narrow beam, which allows it to throw light extremely far. 2 AA batteries.
EagleTac P10A2
This one has a wider beam and is the classic LED bright white colour.
What Next
Also, if you were going to replace them…is there better out there that you know of?
Petzl has one called ULTRA which is insanely bright but is probably way too expensive and uses a proprietary battery pack.
EagleTac has a new light, the P20A2. It is a touch brighter than the P10A2. According to the website, both the P10A2 and the P20A2 are available with a “Neutral White” LED. You might like that better.
You can usually find these on eBay or elsewhere on the ‘net.
For the next time I have extra money burning a hole in my pocket, I want to get a bigger searchlight, something like the Fenix TK40.
Update: see my other post for how to power these toys.
Swim, Boy!
Just for fun, here is my little dog going for a swim to lighten things up:
Hiking Off the Eardley Escarpment
Hiking off the Eardley Escarpment after a short after-work climb with friends.
Comparing Modern Sleeping Pads
I’m working on this table to compare sleeping pads. I am starting by putting together a table listing available options:
Sleeping Pad Comparison
Comparison of modern sleeping pads.| Product | Size (cm) | Thick (cm) | R-value | Weight (g) | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Sleeping Pad Small | 51 x 119 | 6.30 | 2.50 | 260 | $150.00 |
| Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite Sleeping Pad | 51 x 130 | 2.00 | 2.20 | 280 | $28.00 |
| Therm-a-Rest Prolite Sleeping Pad | 51 x 119 | 2.50 | 2.20 | 310 | $79.00 |
| T-Rest ProLite 3 | 119 x 51 | 2.50 | 2.30 | 370 | $70.00 |
| T-Rest ProLite 4 | 119 x 51 | 3.80 | 3.20 | 480 | $79.00 |
| Therm-a-Rest Prolite Plus Sleeping Pad | 51 x 119 | 3.80 | 3.80 | 480 | $79.00 |
| MEC Kelvin Summer | 181 x 52 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 555 | $40.00 |
| MEC Kelvin 2.5 | 153 x 51 | 2.50 | 2.50 | 590 | $39.00 |
| MEC Kelvin 3.8 | 153 x 51 | 3.80 | 2.80 | 645 | $45.00 |
| Big Agnes Air Core | 182 x 51 | 6.40 | 4.10 | 680 | $75.00 |
| T-Rest Women ProLite 4 | 168 x 51 | 3.80 | 4.10 | 680 | $89.00 |
| Therm-a-Rest Prolite Plus Sleeping Pad (W) | 51 x 168 | 3.80 | 4.50 | 680 | $89.00 |
| Exped Downmat 7 | 178 x 52 | 7.00 | 5.90 | 855 | $155.00 |
| Exped Downmat 7 Pump Sleeping Pad | 65 x 193 | 7.00 | 5.90 | 905 | $142.00 |
| Exped Downmat 9 | 193 x 65 | 9.00 | 8.00 | 1200 | $190.00 |
| Exped Downmat 9 Pump Deluxe Sleeping Pad | 193 x 65 | 9.00 | 8.00 | 1250 | $174.00 |
Note: prices are approximate values in Canadian Dollars.
Tip: Use Rice to Dry Out Your Electronic Device
A client of mine in New York City recently dropped his iPhone in the snow where it stayed for some time before he noticed. Unfortunately, the unit no longer operated properly so he called AppleCare. After the usual attempt and a full wipe and restore of the iPhone, they then asked him to put his phone into a Ziploc full of rice for 3 hours. What a great idea! Since rice is a desiccant, this technique should completely remove any humidity from the device.
Sadly, this did not fix the problem. Luckily, Apple replaced it under warranty.
Ducks!
Saturday, Thomas and I spent the day canoeing through a few lakes. While doing the dishes, after breakfast, we had some company:
Macro is Fun
Using the macro mode of our Canon A510, snapped a spider:
Fun stuff!
Sortie Transec du Lac Bowker
Je viens de télécharger les photos de notres sortie du 24 d’octobre. Vous pouvez les voir ici. Si vous voulez des copies hautes-résolutions, contactez-moi.
Like Water Around a Rock
A little quick advice: sometimes when you encounter a solid obstacle, it is best to simply flow around, instead of trying to move it.
Like Water Around a Rock
This photo, taken on the Missisquoi River, near my mother’s place.
SoundPointIP
The Polycom SoundPoint IP are a line of very nice VoIP phones for business use. The current model line-up includes:
I setup five IP500s last week and hooked them up to an Asterisk system. Since Polycom doesn’t offer support to anyone not certified by them, more on that later, I relied on VoIP-Info and #asterisk to figure things out. The IP phones are extremely configurable, allowing you to change everything from the sampled sounds they make to very low-level adjustments to the units handling of RTP packets.
The sound quality of the IP500 units that we have is terrific. The built-in full duplex speakerphone is also very good, though not quite as perfect as the purpose built conference phone, also from Polycom, that is used in the boardroom.
The look and feel of these units is very professional, much more so than many of the other competing products we looked at. Paul thinks that this is an important aspect when selling to business clients. The units are also well-priced.
Something I am disappointed is the lack of LDAP directory support. While the phones have the ability to load an XML formatted directory from their boot server, they will not periodically update from it. It would be far more integrated to simply use an LDAP tree for this purpose as Cisco does, I believe.
More information on these great IP phones is available on the wiki and at PolycomEmergencyDialplan.
Better Antenna
Every once and a while someone comes up with a truly useful innovation. Rob Vincent has developed an antenna system that is claimed to double the range of small devices, like UHF/VHF handhelds.
Press Release from URI: http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=2659
Had a Great Weekend
As I mentioned on Thursday, I was out camping this weekend. We had great weather, the food turned out well (except for the pancakes, which were terrible) and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Notes: 1. maple syrup 1. more oil 1. bannock works, experiment with it
I really need to get a digital camera.
Going Canoeing
I’m off tomorrow morning for what I’m sure will be a terrific weekend of relaxation!
My good friends, Cristina and I are headed to Gatineau Park. Lac Lapêche has great canoe accessible sites.
Just finished preparing all the grub. It is going to be good! Got my Bannock mix ready.
A Good Combination GSM Phone & PDA
There are many candidates available now, all with something problematic about them it seems. Bit of a PITA.
On my radar are the following:
The P900 sounds great, but for the Memory Stick slot that can only handle up to 128MB cards. The Treo 600 has a terrific form factor, but comes without Bluetooth or a high resolution screen. In addition, Handspring is not confirming that a quality J2ME implementation will be available for it.
Ideally, I’d have a phone that can handle the new North American frequency, 850MHz, in addition to the frequencies used outside NA. Good Java support is also very important to me.