The success of the LifeProof cases are really nothing short of a marketing phenomenon — one that’s predictably spawned a parade of imitators. This isn’t a bad thing though, as most of the newcomers are priced more competitively than the $80 and $90 LifeProof pair.
But the latest challenger — Outdoor Tech’s rubberized Safe5 — is just $50, miles below pretty much anyone else.
Half the country is perhaps unaware of this, but out in places like Tennessee, where Griffin is based, the camouflage color scheme is a pretty big deal. Obviously there are camo shirts, pants and gun cases. But there’s also a good selection of camo bedding, camo welding helmets and of course, camo lingerie (don’t worry, link is more or less SFW).
So it makes perfect sense that Griffin’s tough-as-nails Survivor case is now available in camouflage.
You can thank Bluetooth technology for making cycling safer. “How’s that,” you ask, as you wolf down a Lemon Sublime Gu? The answer lies with the growing number of Bluetooth speakers designed to be mounted a bicycle; listening to music from a speaker obviates the dangerous (and often illegal) temptation to wear earphones on the bike.
The latest is Outdoor Tech’s Buckshot, a tiny, ruggedized (to IPX-5) shotgun shell-shaped speaker with a rubber mount for attaching it to a handlebar; it even doubles as a speakerphone. What separates the Buckshot from most other bike-friendly Bluetooth speakers is its diminutive size, and its price — the Buckshot is just $50.
Source: Outdoor Tech
Goal Zero’s new Lighthouse 250 Lantern and USB Power Hub is a camper’s best friend. By day, it’s a USB charger with a backup battery, ready for juicing your waning iPhone. By night, it’s a lamp which will run for up to 48 hours.
The BoostTurbine 4000 sounds like something out of a surreal Bizarro world where technophiles are simultaneously Luddites.
It’s a battery brick that Eton stuck a hand crank onto; should the 4000 mAh battery ever run dry, a minute of cranking will bring an iPhone flickering back to life with enough juice for a a quick distress call or a few texts.
You know how camping is all about roughing it and rusticity? Forget it. Goal Zero teamed up with Eddie Bauer to design a solar-powered tent.
Reaction to this ruggedized, clamshell Bluetooth keyboard case for the iPad mini must surely qualify as a “what the…?!” moment. Not because the New Trent Airbender Mini is ruggedized, and a keyboard, and a case, and a stand; but because it combines each of those sought-after elements for $40.
“What the…?!”
Some cases bring battery backup with them, others are waterproof. One or two allow you to charge your iPhone with energy from the sun.
The Snow Lizard SLXtreme iPhone 4 case does all three, and now it’s coming to the iPhone 5 and iPad.
At this point, Withings has to be the most complete biometric suite in existence outside of a hospital or Langley. The outfit began with a scale (which also measures body-fat percentage), added a separate blood pressure cuff and then snuck an air-quality sensor and a pulse meter into their scale.
The latest addition is the a wearable activity tracker that adds a feature unique, at this point, to activity trackers: a pulse meter (which explains why they’ve named it the Pulse).
There’s a lot of similarity between the Ecoxgear Ecorox Bluetooth speaker/speakerphone and the Navy SEALs. They’re both rugged, packed with stamina and waterproof. Oh yeah, and they both come from aqua-crazy San Diego.
