Saves
- Travel Stories
Share
Feb 14, 2017 • 4 min read
With the new year well underway, it’s time to overhaul your travel kit for any upcoming adventures in 2017.
In our latest gear reviews, we cast an eye over a selection of clothing and equipment, from boots tough enough to scale slippery glaciers to a jacket impervious to the elements.
Keen Aphlex boots
If your travels include rugged locations like Iceland or Alaska (or anywhere you enjoy adventure activities), pack a pair of Aphlex boots. With mesh uppers, they’re light, flexible, and very comfortable. When we tested them on long hikes, they felt more like trainers than boots.
The heel and toe-box are solid, while strips of plastic form an exoskeleton over the mesh, all providing protection and stability. If the weather takes a turn for the worse, the boots are constructed with a waterproof membrane. However, it’s breathable too, so your feet don’t get too sweaty when you’re back on the trail under the sunshine again.
Vango Planet 50 sleeping bag
Aimed at budget travellers and round-the-world backpackers, the Planet 50 sleeping bag is ideal for cool (but not cold) conditions. Weighing just 1.3 kg and supplied with a compression sack, it won’t take up much space in your backpack. Moreover, there’s enough insulation to keep you cosy anywhere from a longhouse in Borneo to the beaches of Bali.
Features include a well-fitting hood (for more insulation on chilly nights), a two-way zip (for ventilation on warm nights), a small internal pocket, comfortable lining, and a mesh panel that can be completely closed to protect your face from irritating insects.
Thunderbolt Sportswear jeans
For active travel in cool climates, Thunderbolt jeans are an excellent choice. Despite the ‘jeans’ tag, they’re made from a technical fabric that is wind-resistant, water-resistant, and dirt-resistant on the outside while remaining comfortable on the inside thanks to its soft lining and four-way stretch. Consequently, you can wear them all day, whether sightseeing in the city or hiking in the hills, and they still look good when you go to a bar in the evening.
However, when testing these trousers, we found the material in front of the fly zip did not hold its shape; depending on your build and waistline, a belt may be required.
Standard Luggage Packing Cubes & Packable Backpack
The multi-functional Standard Luggage Packing Cubes are designed to fit neatly into the Travel Backpack, keeping your kit clean and organized. Key features include hanging loops, Velcro strips to attach cubes together, and mesh panels to check contents. Furthermore, a variation is the cube that converts into a small Packable Backpack, allowing you to carry essentials around town while leaving your main bag at the hotel.
Showers Pass Atlas jacket
Originally designed for cycling, the Atlas jacket is waterproof and windproof, making it an excellent choice for any kind of travel where it might be cold or raining. The subtle grey-on-black pattern incorporates maps of cities around the world, with no two jackets exactly alike.
Features include a removable hood, zippable front air vents, internal and external pockets, and reinforced shoulders to protect against backpack straps. If you walk or ride the streets at night, the pattern is reflective, bouncing back the glare from car headlights, therefore making you eminently visible—a safety plus whether you’re in New York or New Delhi.
How we review products
Our opinions are by definition subjective. Our testers (male, female, young, old) trial products in the real world, then give their honest opinion and scores for quality, practicality, and value: 5/10 = mediocre; 6/10 = fair; 7/10 = good; 8/10 = very good; 9/10 = excellent; 10/10 = perfect. We don’t include anything that scores less than 5/10.
We aim for gender balance and cover an equal number of male- and female-specific items over a year. We specify where kit is available in male and female versions, or for everyone, unless it’s obvious.
Prices are quoted in at least one major currency. Where possible, we include other currencies. We take prices from manufacturers’ websites; information was correct at the time of publication, but you may find different prices online or in specialist stores, particularly after a period of time when products are discounted.
Manufacturers supply GoTravelDaily with test products for review. We do not accept freebies in exchange for positive coverage.
