Here at Going Gear we are one big happy family. We not only get to spend time together, but we get to spend time with our customers, friends, and fans. As we continue to grow our network of customers and fans we figured it was about time that you learn more about our staff that help you guys everyday. We each have our own expertise and interest, but together we are your go to people for all things Going Gear. Without further ado, meet the Going Gear staff:
Marshall
I’m Marshall, the founder and owner of Going Gear. I make the in-depth flashlight and other gear videos on our main Youtube channel in addition to my regular boring owner duties. I like flashlights a little too much and am even worse about merino wool, especially the stuff from Icebreaker. I’ve been hiking, camping, and backpacking on a regular basis since I was three and love every moment I get to spend outside, rain or shine. These days, being outside mostly means weekend hours spent in the park with my wife and toddler daughter, but I still try to get out on the trails with them as often as I can.
Casey
I find that doing is learning and my hobby in life is to learn. I have a fascination with nature, adventure, and experience. I am most content laying in my hammock, listening to a rushing river somewhere in the North Georgia mountains. My specialty at Going Gear is anything outdoors related. From hard goods to apparel, I like to focus on what you will need to hit the trail.
Andy
Hey guys, I am Andy. Born and raised on Long Island, NY, I moved down to Georgia 3 years ago to get away from the horrid cold. I handle all of the returns and customer service for Going Gear. If you need help picking out the perfect knife, or a solid flashlight for weapon mounting, or anything for your tactical needs, I am the guy to talk to. When I am not in the shop, you can find me at a local rock show, at the range, or camping up in the mountains with my Labrador, Hunter.
Kyle
My name is Kyle and I am a native of Atlanta growing up on the south side of town. I am a graduate of Auburn University where I met my beautiful wife. I have a young son and a Yellow English Labrador named Murphy. I enjoy vintage sports cars and collecting knives and firearms. My expertise at Going Gear is in flashlights and knives. I love working with the great people here and enjoy helping customers find the best flashlight to fit their needs.
Chris
Hey everybody! I’m Chris, the youngest of the Going Gear team. You’ll usually find me out on the sales floor, answering phones, or even shipping your orders (I also manage the Facebook and Twitter pages, too!). Born and raised in the state of Georgia, I’ve always had a certain passion for being outdoors in any shape or form, which is why I love helping others find and fuel their outdoor passions as well. Whenever I’m not at the store, I’m either hiking, rock climbing, camping, trail running, and above all: kayaking. If you ever need help with outdoor apparel, or looking for an awesome set of Vibram Five Fingers, I’ll be more than happy to assist.
Megan
I’m Megan, currently the lone female on staff at Going Gear. When I’m not making youtube review videos or working in the store you can find me day hiking in the north Georgia mountains or hitting the trails in the jeep. If you’re looking for a female perspective on a product or have questions about female specific products, I’m your go to gal. I love connecting with all our customers and encouraging everyone to spend more time outside enjoying the beauty of nature.
Surefire is known for making some of the best flashlights available, period. The new M3LT is no exception.
The M3LT tops out at a blistering 800 lumens on the max brightness setting which is twice brightness of the old M3LT. Surefire’s TIR lens focuses all of that light into a nice big hot spot. The beam quality on this light is just incredible thanks to the total internal reflection lens. If you’re looking for a light with a lot of spill then the M3LT probably isn’t for you. If you want a light that is crazy bright even way past 100 yards, look no further.
Surefire lights are 100% made in the USA using the best materials and highest quality components available. That sentence alone is enough to make me want it!
In today’s electronic age the use of paper and pen is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Although pen and paper is quickly falling to the wayside, there is still a lot of utility in having a tangible way of recording information.
Our selection of Rite in the Rain products gives you plenty of choices when it comes to your preferred utensils. Using a Fisher Space Pen along with Rite in the Rain notebook means you will be able to write in pretty much any condition. Whether you are under water, upside down, or in zero gravity, you will still be able to write without fear of the ink smearing or the paper tearing.
The irony of typing out a paragraph or two about a product that defies the electronic age is reason enough for me to carry one. After watching the video below I’m sure you’ll want one too.
David Chow from 4Sevens is a friend of ours and with our close proximity to him, we get early access to a lot of his new toys. At the SHOT Show this year, he let us borrow the XM18, a ridiculously high output light, and then sat down the next day to talk about his other prototypes of upcoming lights.
Some of these are already out by now, but there are still some gems hidden in the video. Either way, it is a great opportunity to go behind the scenes and see what is coming from one of the best flashlight companies in the world.
Most people are familiar with survival shows on television such as “Man vs. Wild” and “Survivorman”; I have always been intrigued my the miraculous stories about surviving in the elements and beating the odds. It just amazes me what the human body and mind can endure once face to face with death. I recently read the book entitled “Survive” by Peter DeLeo, and it really got me thinking… I am CPR, First Aid, Defibrillator trained, and like to think that I know enough about nature, camping, and the outdoors… but do I have what it takes to survive, really survive something if I were put in a similar situation?
In his narrative, Peter describes his experience and provides the reader with many great survival tips. His story begins in 1994 when he and two of his friends and colleagues take a trip in his small single engine Maule plane to the High Sierras to take some photographs of the awe-inspiring scenery. Unfortunately, the trip takes a disastrous turn for the worst when the plane crashes into the mountain range. All three passengers are alive (but severely injured) when the plane comes to a stop. The remainder of the story tells about Peter’s journey, hiking over 45 miles in 13 days with 16+ broken bones, and discusses what kept him going. A must read in my opinion.
I would love to know what books other people recommend that are about survival, or extreme circumstances that are overcome!
Starting with the post below, you will start seeing some new names here at Going Prepared. I said that I would start posting more and that was a giant failure, so instead I am suckering in some friends to help out. They are not Going Gear employees, meaning you will see more posts about other companies’ gear, skills, and the outdoors in general. I will still post about new Going Gear products and events every now and then.
I also realized that I had turned off new user registrations a while back, so people have not been able to register and comment. Sorry about that! New registrations are turned back on, as of now. I’m sure the spammers will be happy…
What do you do at 2 AM on a nice night? Probably sleep, if you have any common sense. Sadly, I lack that essential quality, so I go outside and take pictures of the moon. I have posted moon pictures before, and a few people have asked me how I get shots of the moon.  I am no pro photographer by any means and these pics are not that great, but they should help illustrate a few points. Here are the two things you will need:
A tripod. You are going to be using long exposures. Unless you are a world class surgeon, your hands are not that steady.
A camera. One with a decent amount of zoom is preferred. I was using a 70-300mm lens on my DSLR, but there are P&S super zoom cameras that will work just fine. If you do not have a lot of zoom, you just have to be a little more creative in your shot composition.
Go outside on a moonlit night and start snapping away. The couple of shots I have in this post were on a cloudless night, so I used trees in my yard and focused on them instead of the moon. On cloudy nights, you can achieve some very cool effects when the clouds obscure part of the moon. A remote is also great to have, since you want to introduce as little vibration as possible to the camera that you have zoomed in to its limit. If you do not have a remote, see if your camera has a delayed activation where the picture is not captured until a second or two after you press the shutter release. Many cameras these days let you adjust the exposure time which will allow you to play around with different exposures to see which work best for your conditions.
You do not need a super senstive camera. The moon is plenty bright on its own, especially if you are zoomed in that far. I was shooting at ISO 100, and most cameras these days can go way higher than that. Go outside and see what you can get and be sure to let me know in the comments if you get some really good ones!
I was snooping around Gear Talk today and saw a write up about the Stick Pic, an intriguing solution to a common hiker problem. How often do you get to a summit and want to take a portrait with you and some pretty girl (or guy, whatever floats your boat) framed by a gorgeous backdrop? You set your camera on a rock, set the self timer, only to have it fall into the abyss off a cliff. Maybe you just reach out as far as you can, taking a poorly framed picture that contains not much more than your sweaty faces. You could hand the camera to a stranger, assuming there is even one there, and then watch him him bound down the mountainside like a billy goat with your precious digicam clutched in his sweaty mitts.
The Stick Pic is a little camera mount that attaches to a trekking pole so you can extend the trekking pole, have it a few feet out, and take a nice picture of you with plenty of mountain in view. It weighs 10 grams and comes in different sizes that fit what look like the majority of poles on the market. They have a list on their orders page showing which size fits which pole, so be sure to grab the correct size. According to them, they also make custom sized ones at no extra charge, which is pretty badass customer service.
I don’t think I could quite pull this off with my 400 lb DSLR, but that is why I am one of those dummies that carries a tripod on hikes. Don’t be like me, buy a Stick Pic and save your back.
My wife and I headed to Callaway Gardens yesterday to see what was going on in the world of butterflies and flowers. I haven’t been there in at least 10 years, and that was only for the Christmas lights show, and she hasn’t ever really looked around the grounds of the gardens, so we both were not prepared for some of the wonderfulness that we came across.
The day started with the Butterfly House (or whatever they call it), which is one of the gardens’ main attractions, and for good reason. You walk in to the lobby, with butterfly artwork and fat rednecks everywhere, then stroll through some double doors into the hatching area. From what I can tell, they let the caterpillars form cocoons in a lab type area, then pin them up in rows in a display behind glass so visitors can watch the process. Judging from the amount of butterflies in the conservatory combined with the short life span of a butterfly, taking care of the cocoons is a constant process.
I’m Marshall, the founder and owner of Going Gear. I make the in-depth flashlight and other gear videos on our main Youtube channel in addition to my regular boring owner duties. I like flashlights a little too much and am even worse about merino wool, especially the stuff from Icebreaker. I’ve been hiking, camping, and backpacking on a regular basis since I was three and love every moment I get to spend outside, rain or shine. These days, being outside mostly means weekend hours spent in the park with my wife and toddler daughter, but I still try to get out on the trails with them as often as I can.
I find that doing is learning and my hobby in life is to learn. I have a fascination with nature, adventure, and experience. I am most content laying in my hammock, listening to a rushing river somewhere in the North Georgia mountains. My specialty at Going Gear is anything outdoors related. From hard goods to apparel, I like to focus on what you will need to hit the trail.
Hey guys, I am Andy. Born and raised on Long Island, NY, I moved down to Georgia 3 years ago to get away from the horrid cold. I handle all of the returns and customer service for Going Gear. If you need help picking out the perfect knife, or a solid flashlight for weapon mounting, or anything for your tactical needs, I am the guy to talk to. When I am not in the shop, you can find me at a local rock show, at the range, or camping up in the mountains with my Labrador, Hunter.
My name is Kyle and I am a native of Atlanta growing up on the south side of town. I am a graduate of Auburn University where I met my beautiful wife. I have a young son and a Yellow English Labrador named Murphy. I enjoy vintage sports cars and collecting knives and firearms. My expertise at Going Gear is in flashlights and knives. I love working with the great people here and enjoy helping customers find the best flashlight to fit their needs.
Hey everybody! I’m Chris, the youngest of the Going Gear team. You’ll usually find me out on the sales floor, answering phones, or even shipping your orders (I also manage the Facebook and Twitter pages, too!). Born and raised in the state of Georgia, I’ve always had a certain passion for being outdoors in any shape or form, which is why I love helping others find and fuel their outdoor passions as well. Whenever I’m not at the store, I’m either hiking, rock climbing, camping, trail running, and above all: kayaking. If you ever need help with outdoor apparel, or looking for an awesome set of Vibram Five Fingers, I’ll be more than happy to assist.
I’m Megan, currently the lone female on staff at Going Gear. When I’m not making youtube review videos or working in the store you can find me day hiking in the north Georgia mountains or hitting the trails in the jeep. If you’re looking for a female perspective on a product or have questions about female specific products, I’m your go to gal. I love connecting with all our customers and encouraging everyone to spend more time outside enjoying the beauty of nature.
I was snooping around 
