Our new column offers a peek at emerging products, culled from crowd-source sites like Kickstarter, PR campaigns, and industry scoops on the sometimes cutting-edge, sometimes quirky world of gear design.
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‘Field Strip’ This Knife
CRKT this week debuted the Homefront ($150), a Ken Onion-designed, “field strippable” knife that comes apart with just the flip of a lever. This allows for easy cleaning and maintenance without tools, the brand states. Beyond the easy disassembly (is this really needed?), you have a solid-looking bayonet lug-style flipper with a 3.5-inch modified drop point blade, jimping on the back strap, 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum handles and AUS 8 stainless steel blade.
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Case Gives Phone Camera ‘Feel’
Your iPhone will take amazing photos, but it still doesn’t really feel like a real camera. The SNAP! PRO-iPhone 6/6s case has a real shutter button, interchangeable grips, six interchangeable lenses, and a tripod hole to give your phone a more realistic camera feel and performance.
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‘Expandable’ Rooftop Tent
Most rooftop tents either pop straight up, or fold out. The iKamp is the first that does both. Available for the first time in the United States this summer, the iKamp is a pricey car-top tent option at $3,785, but it’s definitely one of the more unique. The hard top pops up, while the base also slides out to offer space for four to sleep.
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Slackline Balance Board
Slackline too easy for you? Strap on the RBD Lineboard ($240) and take your slacking to the next level. Using the board, you can use the slackline as a kind of rail, and bounce and slide your way to trickster glory. It can also be used to jump and balance on all kinds of fixtures (think park benches) in the outdoors.
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Dog Collar Holds Water Bowl
Ski-maker Rocky Mountain Underground is diversifying a little, and one of the brand’s new products is The Grrowler ($50), a dog collar that hides a dog-bowl and has a water bowl included in the design. It also has a built-in paracord leash, giving you three products in a single made-in-Colorado design.
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Smart Glasses For Cyclists
The brand Solos just launched a “smart” sunglass for cyclists ($350) that displays real-time data such as speed, cadence, heart rate, power zones, calories, distance, and elevation. Additional features are maps and navigation, voice prompts, and call capabilities. Solos also integrates with other training apps such as TrainingPeaks, Strava, and MapMyRide. No need to look down to get your data fix!
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Fisheye Lens For GoPro
Lensbaby makes extremely creative lenses that add unique elements to photos through tilt/shift or other optical engineering. This week, they introduced the Circular 180+ fisheye lens ($70) for GoPro cameras. The result is a classic fisheye image in your videos, with blacked-out edges and a super-wide view.
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A Bike Under Every Chair
Who needs a stationary bike? Just pick up a Cycli ($170) and you can pedal from any chair, even while working at your desk (or serenading your lover with a guitar). Sure, the photo looks pretty goofy, but for those who spend long hours at a desk, this could be a nice way to keep the legs moving during the day.
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A Safe For The Beach
Take a swim at the beach without constantly looking back at your belongings with Safego ($40). The mini-safe carries like a small purse, and can lock to a beach chair or umbrella, making a subtle grab-and-go much harder for a would-be thief.
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‘Pro’ Quality Kids Bikes
Premium children’s bike manufacturer Islabikes introduces three high-end options for young riders who take cycling very seriously. The Pro Series includes the Luath cyclocross racer ($2,400), Creig mountain bike ($2,300), Beinn 20-inch mountain bike ($1,500), and Cnoc sanctioned 16″ race bike ($1,200). The series has high-quality components and geometry aimed at the serious grom.
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Mini Bottle Opener
This little bottle opener attaches to your keychain and weighs a lot less than a penny. It is also strong enough to tow a truck, claims the brand. Sure, you can use most anything with a sharp edge to open a bottle, but the Pry.Me ($11) looks slick and will be sure to impress your buds when you crack open their brew.
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Connected Bicycle
Launched to much success on Kickstarter, Cobi raised more than $400,000. Now it’s coming to retail. Cobi is a slick system to use your phone as a hub to control elements of cycling, from navigation and music to automatic head and tail lights, a bell, and a charger for your phone while rolling.
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