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Adventure Gadgets – Have you planned your summer adventure yet? It’s time to break out the map and blaze a little trail of your own. If you’ll be exploring the great outdoors this summer, these 10 adventure gadgets can help enrich your experience and keep you safe at the same time. From a high tech inflatable tent to a rugged travel tablet, take these technologies with you on an amazing journey into the natural world. The time of year is ripe for an adventure– where will you go this summer?
Earl Backcountry Survival Tablet
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If you’re going deep into the wilderness, you might want to bring a map, a GPS device, a compass, a radio receiver and a 2-way communication device. Fortunately, the Earl Backcountry Survival Tablet packs all of this in one Android-powered device that is built for all-weather exploration. This compact adventure tablet features a 6-inch e-ink display with all of the aforementioned goodies. It also includes a rear-mounted solar panel to recharge on the go, so you can use Earl without worrying about battery life. If your iPad is built for the couch, Earl is built for adventure.
Earl Backcountry Survival Tablet | Gallery
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Heimplanet Inflatable Expedition Tent
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In less than a minute, this amazing high-tech dome tent will inflate to full size and be ready for use. The Heimplanet Inflatable Cave Tent fits three campers, inflates in seconds and will remain stable in up to 75 mph winds without using stake lines. It is the ultimate tent, a temporary habitat that pitches and stows in record time, allowing adventurers a quick rest option– or more time to relax by the camp fire.
Heimplanet Inflatable Expedition Tent | Gallery
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Joos Orange Solar Charger
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On longer trips, your mobile device and other gadgets might need some juice. The Joos Orange Solar Charger is possibly the most effective solar charger under the sun, a compact, high efficiency device that works in a wide range of light conditions. Even on cloudy days, in light rain or in the shade, the Joos Orange charger can deliver a necessary jolt for those dying batteries on the go. It’s available for $149 right now, and it powers tens of thousands of devices using microUSB and other standard connections.
BRAVEN BRV-1 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speakers
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There are plenty of excellent Bluetooth speaker options on the market, but few are actually built for the adventurer. The BRAVEN BRV-1 Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speakers are designed for tough conditions, from rain to sleet to snow and back again. If your camping trip needs a soundtrack, the BRAVEN BRV-1 provides 12-hours of playback per charge with 6 watts of audio output and a passive subwoofer. It’s available with gray or blue accents for $179 direct from BRAVEN.
Go Pro Hero 3 Action Camera
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A head- or pack-worn action camera can save those adventuring memories for later enjoyment. The Go Pro Hero 3 Action Camera has become the standard for sports and adventure videography, capturing action and exploration in 1080p resolution. If you’re heading out on the trip of a lifetime, bring one of these with you to make those memories permanent. There are three different camera options ranging from $199 to $399 based on image/video resolution and more.
Knottology Survival Kit Bracelets
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When high tech fails, a healthy dose of low technology can save the day. The Knottology Survival Kit Bracelets are a do-it-all solution designed to get you through thick and thin in the wilderness. They are modular in nature, allowing you to create your own bracelet that can include a compass, an LED flashlight, a whistle and a storage compartment. The storage compartment can carry iodine tablets for water purification, flint, a compact blade, medicine, contact information, a fishhook and more. The band itself is a safety device as well, a tactical cord which can be used for a variety of applications. It’s an all-in-one solution for when the going gets tough.
Spot Sattelite Messenger
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For the deep wilderness traveler, it’s always a good idea to have a safe line back to civilization. When modern mobile phones won’t get you a connection when you need it, a device like the Spot Satellite Messenger can be a life saver. This satellite-connected device allows you to share your location, travel pattern and status with friends, family and connected colleagues as needed. In case of an emergency, a Spot user can alert those who can help immediately and directly. It’s a lifeline for the backcountry, a solid safety device for the deep adventurer.
Nikon D7100 DSLR
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On your journeys, you’re likely to see amazing things in the natural world. From mountain sunsets to forests of fog, waterfalls to wildlife, you can capture the beauty of the world if you bring the right camera. If money were no object, we’d suggest the lightweight, powerful and expressive Nikon D7100 DSLR. It takes the body and functionality of the professional-grade Nikon D600 and uses an enthusiast class 24MP sensor to capture stunning images and video. Use a telephoto lens to capture a deer sipping from a brook hundreds of feet away. Use a wide angle lens to capture the sun as it breaks over a mountain at dawn. Use a timelapse rig to create touching videos of the natural world moving at high speeds. Artist adventurers, this is your paintbrush. (note that the entry-level D3200 is also available at a lower price point with much of the same functionality).
If you’re curious to learn more, be sure to check out our coverage of the 5 best travel cameras of 2013.
Nikon D7100 DSLR | Gallery
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Fenix TK22 Flashlight
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Designed for law enforcement and rescue operations, the Fenix TK22 Flashlight is tough enough for any adventure. It provides 650 lumens of light for bright coverage up to 771 feet, and can run on low power for 168 hours on a single set of batteries. What’s more, it’s designed to handle bumps and shocks, and is waterproof in up to 2 meters of water. It’ll basically handle whatever the wilderness throws at it and will guide your way through the dark.
BioLite CampStove
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The BioLite CampStove may be our favorite gadget of this young decade. For us in the first world, it’s pretty awesome at face value– a camp stove for cooking that will charge your gadgets at the same time with a built-in, heat-driven USB charger. It gets a lot deeper than face value, however. This amazing piece of technology uses rocket-stove technology to create clean, focused heat from available sticks and branches. The “clean” qualifier is incredibly important, because an estimated 2,000,000 people in the developing world die each year from smoke-related illness from open-fire, closed kitchens. This gadget may be cool for us campers, but it was designed with a sister product to be delivered to the poor in the third world. Also, the USB charger is cool for us, but essential in the African continent, where there are more than 650 million mobile phone users. So when you use this device on your camping trips, you’re helping to invest in a company that is working to save lives and provide powered connectivity to those in the developing world. It’s a win/win from our perspective.
BioLite CampStove | Gallery
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Thanks for reading, fellow adventurer. What will you be taking into the great outdoors? Let us know. We’re hoping for an eventful summer for us all.
