We have the new Palm Equipment Bolt throwline in for review at Unsponsored HQ. The Bolt is the big brother to the Lightning throwline released last year and replaces the Palm Alpine throwline.
Tag: Review (Page 4 of 19)
Brian Vermillion recently got his hands on the new Pyranha Machno (small) and took it down the Cheoah.
Cheoah release was last Saturday, and I was lucky enough to get a full lap in while testing out the Pyranha Machno. I chose to use the Machno small, which ended up being the perfect size for me. At 5’5” and 150lbs the small Machno at 73 gallons was perfect for this gem of a run.
I was lucky enough to get hold of a medium Machno for a demo not long after it came out. I was hopeful that maybe I could get away with a medium as it looked awesome and I really wanted to paddle one. I paddled it and enjoyed it, it was fun but I knew (although I tried to ignore the fact) that it was too big for me, (I’m 5’5″ and 58kg). So the waiting for the small to be ready began.
I had planned a demo day through work and was hopeful that a small Machno would be ready to make an appearance for this and it did not disappoint!
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For me one of the best bits of kit to own for summer paddling has to be a rash guard. I have owned a few over the years and they form an important part of my gear line up. Rash guards can be worn on their own as an outer layer to ward off sun burn (UPF 50+ sun protection in this case) or worn as part of a layering system under a short sleeve dry top if it isn’t that warm.
Most of the rash guards available out there are from the world of surfing. There are a number of manufacturers from the paddling world who are producing rash guards with paddle sports in mind. The one shown here is from UK based company Palm Equipment.
If you are looking for your first rash guard or looking to replace and old one then the Palm Equipment Rash Guard is one that is worth considering and we have one in at Unsponsored HQ for review.
We are big fans of the Nikon range of cameras at Unsponsored HQ and have worked our way from the Nikon D70 through to the Nikon D500 over the past few years. All of the images taken for the site have been taken with a Nikon camera of one sort or another. Mid 2016 we added the Nikon D500 to the gear list. We wanted a fast, and good low light performer that would be able to cope with the varying conditions we often find ourselves in. As we had been shooting with Nikon DX bodies for so long we had a good range of glass to use with the D500 but needed a new (to me) type of memory card as the D500 runs both a SD and XQD card.
The Palm Equipment Poncho Grande is designed to make getting changed at the beginning or end of a paddle session a little more comfortable for innocent bystanders. As well as being more comfortable for the user who is getting changed. No more slipping towels or bare backsides.
Since making a move to a new Nikon Camera five years ago I have been using Black Rapid camera straps. The strap of choice to date has been the RS Sport 2 camera strap. The strap is designed to be worn across the body and allows the camera to be carried to the side yet be easily brought up to the eye to take photos. The big advantage of such a system is that the shoulders take the weight of camera gear rather than the neck. I have found this to be a really critical factor when I have been taking photos at an all day event.
The RS Sport 2 has performed faultlessly over the last few years. The Sport strap has been recently updated with a new profile and new materials therefore we have just made the switch to the new Sport Breathe.
We love tech here at Unsponsored HQ and when we can combine that love with the great outdoors it gives us a warm glow inside. So getting hold of the new (at the time) Suunto Ambit Peak 3 was quite a day.
MY GPS of choice up until very recently was a Garmin Foretrex 401 (as favoured by many members of the armed forces). It did its job well but I didn’t use a great deal of its features apart from getting a GPS location fix when things got a bit sticky. Although it did what I needed it to do technology has moved on and it’s always great to have an excuse to upgrade some tech. The Ambit Peak 3 came recommend from a friend of mine who had used pretty much everything else that was on the market at the time. I have owned the Sunnto Ambit Peak 3 since December 2015 and have used it weekly since that time.
The Palm Zenith Dry top is a midweight whitewater jacket with a comfy GlideSkin neck (no latex)‚ made in XP 2.5-layer fabric. We’ve had the short sleeve version at Unsponsored HQ for some time and it’s our go to summer jacket. The long sleeve version shown landed last week, so we thought we would take a closer look.
As you would expect the long sleeve Zenith Dry top is very similar in both fabric, cut and freedom of movement.
The Palm Zenith is available in a mens and ladies version. The Palm Zenith shown here is the mens version.
Earlier this week we received a 2.0m Palm Paddle Bag for review.
Although paddle bags are really useful for keeping paddles safe when there being slung around on/off long haul flights, my prime use for them is actually to protect my car when the paddles are being carried inside.
The Sweet Protection Sabrosa Dry Top has landed here at Unsponsored HQ. This may well be an exclusive, it’s not even on the Sweet Protection website yet. It would be fair to say that I have been waiting sometime for Sweet to put a short sleeved paddle top into production and it’s finally here.
I think that originally the Sabrosa was not designed to be a full on dry top and was billed as a spray top. However on arrival at Unsponsored HQ it is clear the the Sabrosa is a full on short sleeve dry top. It even states it on the swing tag.
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