We finally have all of the kinks ironed out of thegearrevival.com (I think) and our 5,000 strong e-mail list is about to hear about the site. The mass e-mail is not going out until Sunday night, so I am giving you all a heads up before then. The 10% off that we already have isn’t much, so how about 20% off on everything? Even better, how about 50% off on Patagonia?

Coupons:

patagonia-gear-revival for 50% off our already discounted prices on all Patagonia
GP20 for 20% off on everything else

Our checkout system will only let you use one coupon at a time, so just let me know if you place two orders that would together get you over the $50 free shipping threshold on Priority Mail and I will refund your shipping.

I am adding more items daily. Up next are Mammut, Thermarest, MSR, Wigwam, and lots more.

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I was at Wal*Mart recently and made my obligatory stop in the sporting goods section to see if they had any new goodies. Lo and behold, they had a rack in the middle of the section filled with clearanced crap (not in the general term crap sense, but as in dog crap). I saw “tool” on one of the packages, so I went in for a closer look. It was a Coast Fishing Multi-Toolbox. I like Coast. I like Multi-Tools. Fishing is pretty fun. I really like things that are a combination of all that and are $3 (originally a staggering $7, I think). So, I grabbed all eight that they had to see what kind of multi-tool $3 will get me at Wal*Mart.

It is actually not completely terrible.
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Ibex just approved me as an affiliate so go forth and stock up on merino wool! Use code DCWOOL for 15% off.

Ibex makes some great stuff for those of you who have never tried it out. Their stuff tends to be a tighter weave than Icebreaker generally uses, so it will hold up better and block wind better, but is not as soft. All their stuff might not be like that, but that is my experience poking around on the racks whenever I see Ibex in stores.

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I finally got my lazy butt around to upgrading the forum software over the last few days and finished it up tonight. If you are new to the site, be sure to check out the forums, since there are some great people over there that have some very interesting discussions. Everyone is helpful and will do their best to answer any questions that you have. I plan on making some of the forums’ posts viewable by registered users only, so now is a good time to join!

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I finally completed my MagLite fire piston last night after fiddling with it off and on for several days. The original intent was to make a fire piston that could be easily replicated by someone with basic handyman skills, with inexpensive parts that are widely available, and with tools that most people have or can obtain on the cheap.

I started out using a galvanized pipe, but that was a complete failure. The inside of the pipe was way too rough, and I am way too lazy to smooth it out. The next attempt was with a copper pipe, which did work fairly well, but I could not think of an easy way to have a removable cap made with common tools. So I sat there thinking about what I could possibly own that had a tube with a smooth interior and a removable cap on the end. I know, in hindsight, it is awfully obvious.
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I was doing my weekly perusal of Target today when I wandered in the camping section. Imagine my surprise when I saw that they are stocking the new Coleman products, which make liberal use of the CREE LEDs. They had a large 8D lantern that was 175 lumens for $30 and a little 3AA lantern that was 60 lumens for $20. I did not see any flashlights or headlamps, but Target usually does not carry Coleman lighting products outside of their lanterns. Hopefully that policy will change.

In other Coleman news, we met with the Coleman rep at work yesterday, and placed an order with him today. We will start stocking Coleman’s higher end lighting stuff, their eXponent line on our site. I know I probably love flashlights a little too much, but I am really excited about their products. They have a couple of lights that have a CREE center LED with green and red LEDs set into the reflector. You turn the light on and change modes by a clicky on the tailcap. You change LED colors by rotating the bezel. They are definitely not up there in terms of brightness, but I was impressed with the build quality and features. They also have a little gas lantern that you can fill up with a fuel canister, remove the canister, and have the lantern go for five hours! Once we get some, I’ll purchase a few for myself and post some in-depth reviews.

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