Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Review: Camp Shelf

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Article One Review
By Cameron Burgess



CHOSEN CONTENT:
Top Shelf Epi. 021: Camp Shelf
[Link to Video, Running time: fifteen minutes six seconds]

REVIEW BY CAMERON BURGESS:
Top Shelf is a weekly show (off-season) about technology and gear, produced by The Verge and hosted by David Pierce. In Episode 21, entitled Camp Shelf, they travel to the great outdoors with a smorgasbord of gadgets from tents-to-sporks-to-camp stoves that charge your phone. Here’s a full list of what David and company discussed and tested during the trip:
  • Tents
    • POP-UP Tent easy to set up tent $169
    • REI Quarter Dome simple pole T2 plus tent $319
    • Cave Tent pump-up tent $730
  • Sleeping Bags
    • REI Flash light summer sleeping bag $259
    • Mountain Trails Standard winter sleeping bag $24
  • Cooking
    • Titanium sporks
    • Biolite Camp Stove self-sustaining cooker with USB ports $129
  • Wearable Gear
    • Garmin Fenix GPS capable watch $400
    • Petzl NAO Headlamp auto-adjusting headlamp  $175
  • Cameras
    • Sony RX100 pocket camera with uber nice photo quality $750
  • Miscellaneous
    • Soundcast Melody Speaker 360° bluetooth speaker $449
    • REI Compass plain jane normal not-so-formal compass $13
    • Garmin Oregon dedicated GPS navigator $550
I’m not traditionally an outdoors person, but Camp Shelf showed me how I could bring my favorite gadgets along while still enjoying nature. In fact, I was able to convince my family into planning an outdoor-focused trip this summer. I have to admit, I’m quite excited for  it partly because I’ll be able to use some of the knowledge I gained while watching this episode of Top Shelf.
The Verge did a great job of highlighting lots of interesting and novel products in a relatively small amount of time. But I do wonder how it would be possible for anyone to realistically utilize this much camping equipment on one trip, as sometimes it seemed like overkill. In conclusion, I would love for David to do another Camp Shelf come this summer in Season 2 of Top Shelf.
STAR SCORE:
5


NELSON ‘14, SEMESTER 2
By Cameron Burgess

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