Posted by Photo-John on August 24, 2015
Somewhere in the middle of the huge 2015 summer Outdoor Retailer tradeshow, held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
I recently attended the annual summer Outdoor Retailer tradeshow in Salt Lake City. According to the PR material the show publishes, it’s the “largest collection of innovative gear, apparel, footwear and accessories for outdoor sports products.” I’ve attended OR a few times but this was the first time the full scale of the event actually registered with me – it’s huge. I went to the show representing Park City Bike Demos, a mobile bike rental company I’ve been doing copywriting, photography and marketing work for. Check out my summer Outdoor Retailer show photos below to see a few highlights from the tons of cool stuff I saw at the show.
A new “solar-ready” tent from Big Agnes, features built-in LED lights and a plug on top for a Goal Zero solar panel.
One of the trends at this year’s summer OR show was solar-powered devices. Utah’s own Goal Zero is one of the biggest outdoor-oriented solar and battery makers and they always have a big, busy booth at the show. They sell everything from small foldable solar panels and backup Smart Phone batteries, to huge battery and charging systems for big expeditions. One of the more interesting things I saw in the booth was a Goal Zero / Big Agnes collaboration – a “solar-ready” tent (above). New additions to their mtnGLO tent line, which has integrated LED lights, the Krumholtz UL2 and Red Canyon 4 use a Goal Zero Nomad 7 solar panel and Flip 20 recharger to keep the system charged. The solar-ready tents also include media pockets and plugs for powering and charging portable devices. Check out the summer Outdoor Retailer show photos at the bottom of the page for more photos from the Goal Zero booth.
I’ve been looking for a relatively affordable way to keep me out of motels and give me more travel flexibility with my Subaru Outback. This setup combines a Pak-All trailer and roof top tent by Cascadia Vehicle Tents (CVT). I think it looks near perfect.
I’ve been considering getting a trailer to pull with my Subaru Outback. It would give me more flexibility on my outdoor adventures, allowing me to bring more gear, sleep where I want and save money on motels. The OR show has an outdoor tent city area where I found this very cool off-road adventure trailer / tent combo. The trailer is made by Pak-All and the rooftop tent (RTT) is an add-on made by Cascadia Vehicle Tents (CVT). They’re not cheap – I think a setup like would cost about $6000 when all is said and done. But a setup like this is versatile in that it can be configured for whatever you’re doing and you can leave it home when you don’t need it.
I love my Five Ten mountain bike shoes! I’m seriously considering getting a pair of these hikers and approach shoes for hiking and shooting mountain bike events.
Last year, after an injury, I switched to flat pedals on my mountain bike. I also bought my first pair of Five Ten mountain bike shoes. What an eye-opener! They’re so much better than I expected! One of the big surprises was how good they are for walking around on rocks and steep, loose trails. I wish I’d known a long time ago because they’re the best for shooting mountain biking on sketchy terrain. I stopped by the Five Ten booth at OR to check out their hiking boots and approach shoes. I’ve been thinking about buying a pair to replace my current pair of worn-out low hikers. I think they’ll be perfect for shooting mountain bike events – especially Red Bull Rampage, which is on held really loose, steep Southern Utah dirt.
MindShift Gear appeared a few years ago, spun-off from Think Tank Photo, so they could make a line of packs and other accessories for serious outdoor photographers. I’ve been using MindShift Gear Rotation 180° camera packs for a couple of years now and I absolutely love them! With an integrated camera belt compartment that rotates in and out of the pack, you don’t have to take your pack off to take pictures. I’ve got two MindShift packs – the Panorama 22L, which I use for mountain biking and light hiking; and the Professional 38L, which I use for ski photography, big mountain bike shoots, and serious hiking. The Rotation 180° packs have been a real game changer for me, allowing me to get my camera out a lot quicker and more safely than with any other camera pack I’ve used. They also have the best harness system in the business.
MindShift Gear makes a full line of cases for your GoPro, Sony Action Cam and other POV cameras.
I stopped by the MindShift OR booth to say hi and check out their new line of FirstLight travel camera packs and their GoPro / POV camera cases. If you’re a regular POV camera user with multiple cameras and accessories, you know how hard it is to keep all those small pieces organized. MindShift isn’t the only company making POV camera cases. But based on my experience with their packs, I expect their designed to be a little more thoughtful and thorough than most of the competition.
MindShift’s new FirstLight series of camera packs is designed for travel as well as the outdoors.
There are three new packs in the MindShift Gear FirstLight series – a 20L, a 30L and a 40L. The FirstLight packs are designed for carrying your camera gear and laptop on extended trips, rather than for serious backpacking. However, being MindShift packs, they still include outdoor-critical features like a hydration compartment, 11-point-adjustable harness and ballistic nylon bottoms. Photographers looking for a full-featured camera pack that can also do backcountry duty should take a good look at the MindShift Gear FirstLight packs.
The Sony Action Cam booth.
It’s always good to see my Sony friends. I believe Sony is the most innovative camera maker right now. Their Sony Alpha A7 full-frame mirrorless cameras are arguably the most exciting happening with photography technology right now. They had a booth at OR to show off their Action Cam POV cameras – the only real competition GoPro has. In fact, the POV camera I recommend the most often is Sony’s Action Cam Mini. Check out my POV camera shootout to learn more about it.
Check out the full gallery of 2015 Summer Outdoor Retailer show photos below to see more cool stuff from the show. Keep in mind that this is just a small taste of the show – some of the things that really caught my eye during the one day I attended. There was a whole lot more to see and if you’re part of the outdoor industry in any way I highly recommend making the trip. You won’t regret it.
It’s a big show – Stacy Newton takes advantage of a pad display to take a break 🙂
