Salt Lake Metropolis’s Salt Palace was alive and bustling this week as lots of of members of manufacturers, retailers, and media gathered for the annual Outside Retailer (OR) Summer time 2024 present.
Since OR left Denver in 2021 and returned to Salt Lake, the most important and most recognizable manufacturers — Patagonia, YETI, Marmot, The North Face, and others — have declined to attend the present. That, on the heels of the pandemic, resulted in a notable downturn in attendance and common hubbub surrounding the present in recent times.
Nevertheless, this yr, OR might have turned a nook. On the Summer time 2024 present, there was contemporary pleasure, new faces, smaller manufacturers, and much much less discuss of “this present ain’t what it was.”
Consequently, GearJunkie received face time with many manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and startups that may have in any other case flown below the radar. OR has leaned extra closely into the “discovery present” facet as an alternative of the large model exhibition it was. And you realize what? We’re OK with that. It’s evolution, child!
We stormed the ground over 2 days, bouncing round, geeking out on gear, holding conferences, and GearJunkie’s personal Editor-in-Chief, Adam Ruggiero, even hosted a stay podcast. We noticed tons of fantastic, brand-new merchandise, however solely three of them had been spectacular sufficient to earn GearJunkie’s coveted Finest in Present awards.
Listed below are the winners.
Chamelo ‘Music Protect’
By this level, you’ve in all probability heard of photochromatic sun shades. They routinely regulate the tint of the lens, getting darker when uncovered to UV mild. If there’s one knock towards the design, it’s that some people understand a lag when mild circumstances change from solar to shadow.
The Chamelo Music Protect electrochromatic sun shades put the ability to regulate the tint in your arms. By injecting electrical energy by the chromatic lenses, the tint is adjustable by merely operating your finger over a slider close to your proper temple.
Not solely do these sun shades permit you to management the tint of your lens, however in addition they work a lot quicker than conventional photochromatic lenses. Based on the model, Chamelo lenses change tint in lower than 0.1 seconds — 1,800 occasions quicker than photochromic glasses.
As if that wasn’t cool sufficient, these shades can even hook up with Bluetooth and have small audio system embedded within the arms. So you possibly can run, bike, hike, or simply stroll round wanting cool and jamming out to your favourite tunes.
The know-how behind the Music Protect sun shades is progressive and distinctive. We haven’t examined a pair past the pleasant confines of Salt Lake Metropolis, so we’re undecided if it’s absolutely refined for all out of doors sports activities. However the innovation is cool, and the frames are smooth, enticing, and enjoyable.
Mr. Heater ‘Gas Keg’
Inexperienced propane canisters are far and away the most typical gas canisters at any campground you stroll into. However they’re extraordinarily wasteful. Someplace between 40 and 60 million of them are offered to customers yearly, and the overwhelming majority of these find yourself in landfills. Mr. Heater goals to vary that with its Gas Keg refillable propane canister system.
The Gas Keg Refill Equipment makes use of an ordinary 1-pound propane tank that attaches through a proprietary connector to an ordinary 20-pound propane tank. It lets you refill the small canister as many occasions as you need. And sure, there are quite a lot of security options constructed into the system to mitigate accidents and guarantee ease of use.
Plus, the entire equipment prices about $30.
If it really works as marketed, the Gas Keg would supply a protected, easy, and cost-effective various to single-use propane tanks — which, to us, screamed “Finest in Present!” Simply be sure to learn by the intensive refill directions earlier than diving in.
Chalkless ‘Grip Enhancer’
We should have walked by the Chalkless sales space 5 occasions earlier than we stopped to strive the model’s demo. And once we lastly did, it blew our minds. Not like common chalk, this silica silicate grip enhancer removes the oils out of your arms and repels water.
And the impact is dramatic. A drop of water in your arms beads up and rolls round your palm with out leaving a hint of damp. That retains your grip iron-tight and slipless.
We’d love to point out you a picture of the particular product, nevertheless it’s principally invisible. The parents on the Chalkless sales space had us check our unchalked grip energy on a tool they’d created that measures torque. We then utilized Chalkless to our arms and tried once more.
Truthfully, we didn’t comprehend it was there till we rubbed our arms collectively, and so they began to really feel further dry and cheesy. On the second strive with the torque sensor, our arms didn’t slide in any respect, and the numbers confirmed that each of our grip strengths had improved by about 50%.
These items might be big amongst weightlifters, golfers, cops, the army, ball gamers, and, in fact, rock climbers. Plus, you solely want to use it as soon as for the complete day and leaves no residue. Whenever you’re achieved, simply wash your arms with cleaning soap and also you’re good to go.
All in all, it was some of the spectacular product demos we’ve seen in many years of Outside Trade commerce exhibits. It was a no brainer Finest in Present.