Skip to main content

Get The Gear: Outdoor Retailer Summer 2015

The Outdoor Retailer Show descends on Salt Lake City twice a year to show case new gear, styles, and trends in the outdoor market. We were lucky enough to walk the show floor for a few days and get sneak peaks of everything from extreme mountaineering gear to casual camping gadgets. If your idea of a fun time is geeking out over pack fabric and GORE-TEX membranes over a few beers, then our picks for Best in Show accolades will have you drooling over all the best new gear. If you’re anything like us, you won’t be able to patiently wait for any of this stuff to hit retailers in the next few months. Read on for the very best products from the Outdoor Retailer Summer 2015

Recommended Videos

Related: Dirtbag Summer: Black Diamond | Pack It In: Summer Car Camping

MSR Guardian Purifier

The Guardian was born from a massive R&D effort for the US Military. After six years of development, MSR introduced the first purifier that is rated for viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and particulate contamination. The ground breaking hollow fiber technology is rated for 10,000 liters. Look for them on the shelves in early 2016.

Goal Zero Lighthouse Mini Lantern

It seems like every time we head to Salt Lake for the show Goal Zero launches something we immediately fall in love with. This time around we spotted the Lighthouse Mini. On low setting it will light up your camp for up to 500 hundred hours. It also serves as a portable battery, keeping your phones and GoPros juiced up in a pinch. This little lantern will also crank out 210 lumens when you really need to light the night.

KEEN Versatrail

From early morning hikes to post-work trail running, the Versatrail is KEEN’s answer to light, comfortable trail shoes. A toggle lace system keeps things snug, and weighing in under eleven ounces, this shoe will cover some serious terrain. Why can’t this one hit the market sooner than January?

Jetboil Genesis

We love our Jetboil stoves for backpacking, but they are really only built to boil water. The all new Genesis changes that. The clamshell design has two burners and nests in an included five liter pot. This juggernaut is the perfect car camping or river trip stove for backcountry chefs. A satellite burner can be added for even more versatility – think french press coffee. We are very impatiently waiting a chance to test this one.

Nemo Bike Packing Kit

Featuring the new Apollo three person shelter (or one plus your favorite mountain bike), Escape Pod inflatable bug net, and Moonwalk sleeping bag , this kit is a minimalist trekker’s dream. All three together weigh in just under four pounds for a complete shelter and sleep system. As an added bonus, the bag has a completely waterproof base and pad sleeve for peace of mind and a dry night. Color us impressed.

Gregory Baltoro 75 GZ

Taking cues from backpackers and gear heads who have been using carabiners to attach their solar panels to packs on the trail, Gregory teamed up with Goal Zero to create a dedicated solar pack. The result is a new Baltoro with an integrated panel carrier built for Goal Zer0’s brand new Nomad 7 Plus system. Combine one of the most comfortable packs ever built with the ability to keep our electronics juiced up for an entire week of adventure? Yes, please.

Brunton All Night

We’ve been using the Brunton All Day batteries on our GoPros for long mountain bike and paddling adventures. This fall Brunton launches an All Night version that includes an integrated flashlight to the battery and camera housing so your filming doesn’t have to stop when the sun goes down. Who’s up for some late night single track ripping?

Thermarest Camper SV

We love having an overbuilt camping mattress, but hate spending twenty minutes blowing it up. Thermarest’s Speed Valve technology utilizes Bernouli’s principle to aid in creating a low pressure vortex that can suck ten to fifteen times the air you blow in. The result? We blew the Camper SV up in four breaths. We also loved the rails on the side of the pad that kept us from sliding off.

Arc’teryx Atom SL

We first discovered Arc’teryx’s Atom puffy jackets on a rainy trip to Southern Utah with their Law Enforcement and Armed Forces (LEAF) team back in the fall of 2013. Our Atom LT has been pulling cold weather duty ever since and still looks brand new after a few hundred trail miles and dozens of summits. The SL takes the LT’s proven design and shrinks it to a four season platform. Using half the insulation, the Atom SL is ideal for summer camping or as a layering piece for fast and light trail runners and mountaineers when things get cold. Look for these to hit retailers in January.

Power Practical Batteries

The PowerPot made a splash in 2013 by letting any hiker generate power over a backpacking stove or open fire. We stopped by Power Practical’s booth at the show this time around and got a peak at some of the new batteries coming this fall. The Pronto 12 features quick charge technology and dual USB and 12V output so you can power all your gadgets from one compact battery. From the commute to the backcountry, this battery can handle topping off everything from your phone to power hungry DSLRs or laptops. For those counting the ounces, we especially liked the Lithium 4400 battery too. It gave us a full charge from almost dead to full on both a smartphone and GoPro while walking the show floor.

Austin Parker
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Austin Parker is a former contributor at The Manual Parker is a powder skier and sport climber and is no stranger hauling…
The first trailer for I Know What You Did Last Summer proves that no franchise is truly dead
Almost 30 years after the original, we're following a new group of hunted teens.
Jennifer Love Hewitt in I Know What You Did Last Summer

If you were one of those people who was wondering when we might get a third I Know What You Did Last Summer movie, then you're in luck. The first trailer for the new film is here, and it features Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprising their roles as Julie James and Ray Bronson from the first two films in the franchise.

The film, which is somewhat confusingly called I Know What You Did Last Summer, was directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and will serve as a direct sequel to the original 1997 film. In that film, a group of friends are hunted by a killer with a hooked hand one year after they killed someone in a hit-and-run accident.

Read more
Max is following Netflix’s lead and cracking down on password sharing
The move will generate some additional revenue for Warner Bros. Discovery
The Max logo.

If you've been sharing your Max account with someone else, Max is trying to make your life harder. Variety is reporting that Max just added an Extra Member Add-On feature in the U.S., priced at $7.99/month. This lets the primary account holder share their account with someone outside of their household. These additional members will be able to create a separate account that is linked to the primary subscriber.

Warner Bros. Discovery had previously said that they plan to notify users about new restrictions on sharing accounts outside of their primary household. This move by Max follows similar efforts by Netflix and Disney+, and are obviously designed to generate additional revenue from users who are currently sharing accounts across households.

Read more
Everything we know about the four Beatles biopics
Get ready for Beatlemania
The Beatles sitting together

As if there aren't enough musical biopics that have been released in the last decade, director Sam Mendes is adding a quartet of Beatles movies to his filmography. A unique set of films that connect into one greater whole, the upcoming Beatles biopics have to be watched together to get a full appreciation of the band's story. Much like Marvel fans who watch all of the superhero movies to get the best experience out of the story, this set of films will work the same way. Whether making an expanded Beatles universe of films is a good idea or not remains to be seen.

Each film will give equal screentime to Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr. They will come out around the same time to encourage fans to see all of them. This is made possible by a simultaneous filming schedule in which all four movies will be produced alongside each other. The estimated release date is sometime in April 2028, according to Gold Radio. Sony hasn't decided yet whether all four movies will come out on the same day or whether there will be slight differences in release, whether that be one a week, etc. We have everything you need to know about the four Beatles movies right here, from the actors in the films to each Beatle's importance today.

Read more