12/07/98 ONLINE ORIGINAL: FOR THE OUTDOORS LOVER ON YOUR LIST

FOR THE OUTDOORS LOVER ON YOUR LIST

You don’t have to be planning an assault on Everest to love cool outdoor gear. Witness the explosive sales of extreme sportswear as fashion statement: Outdoor apparel sales for July and August, 1998, shot up 33% to $191 million, compared to $127 million for the same period the previous year. Very little of the increase, if any, is due to a new appreciation of the great outdoors. "We estimate that 80% of the outdoor footwear sold never hits a trail," says David Secunda, executive director of Outdoor Recreation Coalition of America, which tracks camping gear sales.
The good news is there are plenty items this season suited for any great adventure, even if your idea of trekking is driving your SUV to a Nature Company store.
Motorola TalkAbout SLK
Parents who want to ski the double diamonds can keep in touch with kids on the bunny slope can with these popular two-way radios. Motorola recently introduced the SLK ($170 each or $210 with a privacy feature), which slimmed the earlier TalkAbouts from 7 ounces to a svelte 4.5 ounces -- and reduced the size to about that of a pack of playing cards.
The radios, which use the family radio frequency set aside by the FCC two years ago, receive well at about two miles, depending on terrain. "Lots of people tell us it will go more than two miles, particularly on water. In cities, there is lots of steel and concrete and its range is less," says Pamela Thomas, TalkAbout spokesperson. For more distant conversations, Motorola makes the larger TalkAbout Distance ($145), which has a range of five miles but requires a $80 license to operate.
The SLKs are available with a rechargeable battery that allows about an hour of talk time, or they can be configured for three AA batteries that allow about three hours talk time.
If your gang is already tethered by radio, you might add on the Earbud In-Line Mike ($14.99) that allows hands free conversation, or the low-profile Belt Bike Carry Case ($11.99). It won’t restrict movement and keeps the radio out of the way. The radios are available in outdoor, electronics, and mass merchandise stores.
Sun Company Triple Whistle
Every outdoorsman needs emergency gear, and Triple Whistle packs a lot into a simple and inexpensive little package. The Triple Whistle is a small, round thermometer and compass attached to the sides of a coach's-style whistle. As much as it looks like it comes from a Cracker Jack box, it's no toy. The liquid-filled compass is accurate to about plus or minus four degrees. "It is a high-quality backup compass. I feel safe that no compass of its size is more accurate," says Scott Becker, marketing manager for Sun Company, makers of the whistle. It can also survive a dunking up to 100 feet and operates up to 20 below zero.
You don't have to be stranded in the woods to appreciate the gizmo, which retails for about $10.50 through EMS and REI stores. "They are selling real well in downtown stores in Chicago and Minneapolis, as rape protection or something like that," says Becker. They've also found favor with a younger audience. "We marketed it as a safety item, but people buy it for kids," he says. "The compass moves, and kids love that."
Oregon Scientific All Hazards Weather Emergency Alert Monitor
The intrepid traveler might find it useful to know when a storm front is fast approaching, and that's what this $69.95 emergency radio receiver reveals. Tuned to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Agency's radio signal, which broadcasts continuous weather reports, the weather buff can listen to local atmospheric action. Or the radio can be put in standby mode, in which an emergency activates an alert sound, the LCD display flashes "alert," a red light blinks, and the speaker turns on so you can hear if there's a tornado or a hazard like a chemical spill.
If those aren't enough bells and whistles, the radio, which runs 200 hours on three AA batteries, also has a freeze alert that lets you know when the temperature dips below 37 degrees, and it has a digital alarm clock. Water-resistant, the 8 ounce 6 1/2- by 3- by 1 1/4-deep radio will survive a heavy rainstorm, or even a shallow dunk in the drink. Call 800 853-8883 to locate a dealer.
The Suunto Vector
Sure, the Vector tells time, but the company won't demean it by calling the Vector a mere timepiece. Suunto bills this multifunction device as a "wristtop computer," and it may have a point. A dainty one ounce, the Vector is an electronic barometer, compass, and altimeter. The watch offers not only time and date, but three daily alarms and a countdown timer and stopwatch, as well as being waterproof to 100 feet. The altimeter will tell you how far you've climbed up to 29,500 feet (that's 472 feet higher than Mt. Everest), will track your rate of ascent and descent, and can keep a logbook to compare speed between time periods. The barometer tracks not only temperature and barometric pressure but also monitors pressure changes to warn you when storm conditions develop.
The compass is accurate to plus or minus two degrees with a declination adjustment, which allows fine tuning for high accuracy. But considering how quickly it eats batteries, the compass should be used only as an auxiliary device. Fortunately, owners can change batteries themselves -- no trip to the jeweler is necessary.
Sidetrak Hang Dry
By now, lots of sports nuts use some kind of hydration system -- those small, oblong backpacks that dispense water through long tubes, allowing hands-free quaffing while cycling, running, or paddling. The problem with these devices has been that the plastic bladder that holds water can fill with bacteria and turn skunky. Sidetrak, a Seattle company that makes bicycle accessories, produces a kit with everything you need to keep your water clean as the mountain springs in a beer commercial.
Most essential is the Hang Dry ($10.00), which looks like a football-shaped plastic frame with a hanger on the end. Slipped into a hydration bladder, Hang Dry holds the sides apart so the bladder dries out, thwarting bacteria by eliminating the moist environment it grows in. If your water carrier has already succumbed to green scum, Sidetrak offers a brush kit, one to scrub the main compartment and another on a long wire to scrub the feed tube, along with a vegetable-based cleaner and deodorizing solution ($21.00). Most elite bike stores carry the Hang Dry, as do many bike catalogs.
By Roy Furchgott

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FOR THE OUTDOORS LOVERS ON YOUR LIST