REI’s 100% satisfaction guarantee promises that if you’re ever dissatisfied with any item, you’re able to return or exchange it at any REI store or through their website.  It’s this guarantee that  keeps us coming back to REI for most of our outdoor gear.

We love this tent!  It’s flexible for variable camping conditions – use rain fly plus footprint, full tent with rain fly, or tent only on warm summer nights.  A freestanding frame allows for camping in a wide variety of terrain – from sandy beaches to rocky mountain vistas, and the 4 person version boasts 57 square feet, which we’ve found perfect for sleeping two adults and a large dog, with plenty of room inside to spare for gear- and includes large, easy-to-open doors on both sides of the tent.

The REI Half Dome tent is versatile in a wide variety of weather conditions – from warm summer camping, when the fine mesh breathes well but keeps out flying creatures of the night, to cold fall and early winter camping, when we’ve used tent down to 30 degrees and remained toasty warm inside with rainfly on and vents open.

The rainfly vent system keeps airflow continuous without leaking heat – allowing for adequate ventilation without compromising heat retention during chilly winter, spring, and fall nights.

A rainfly provides extra storage for muddy boots and extra gear that need to be kept dry, and an integrated “attic” – netted area at peak of the tent – keeps cell phones, flashlights, and other essentials handy while you sleep.  The REI Half Dome HC also integrates multiple interior pockets – which are large in size for storage of essentials (wallets, keys, cell phones, flashlights) that need to be kept organized for easy access in the darkest of camping nights.

A sturdy loop at peak of the tent is perfect for hanging lantern;  the tent also boasts multiple interior loops along pole lines allow for hanging of additional lines or equipment.

This tent provides ultra fast setup – with no tedious pole threading – using a quick hook setup.  You extend the poles, hook center of tent to pole center hub, attach poles to color-coded corners and clip tent to poles, and you’re done – a process that takes 2-3 minutes when working with a camping buddy.  Tie downs on rainfly allow for extra ventilation.

A footprint is a highly recommended – providing extra protection for the floor of the tent, and is much cheaper to replace or repair than the tent floor itself.  The added bonus of the footprint is the ability to skip the main tent body on journeys when weight matters – allowing you to pitch a structure using only the rainfly and footprint with minimal weight and setup time (1-2 minutes).

The tent’s construction is quality throughout – tight, waterproof seams are well-placed to keep wet weather out, and tough zippers wear through the heaviest and most demanding use. Seams are stitched in reference to the high quality aluminum poles to manufacture a tent that, while lightweight, feels extremely sturdy in construction regardless of the wind or weather.  The rainfly, when used in rainy weather, is constructed to avoid contact with the tent sides or ceiling to prevent leaks – allowing water to run off without fear of leaking.

Order the Half Dome tent from REI:

REI Half Dome 2 Plus Tent

Quick stats:
Weight: 17.4 oz with hose and pre-filter
Size: 7.5 in x 4 in
Price: $89.95 with free shipping at allfilters.com
What’s in the box: nylon carrying bag, filter, input barb cover, pre-filter screen and weight, extra rubber seals and silicone lube, green scrub pad for cleaning ceramic disk, water bottle outlet hose and clamp

Nothing beats the convenience of a water filter when you’re out hiking on the trail – allowing you to avoid the hassles of lugging heavy water water while backpacking.

We’ve owned several water filters in the past, most recently the Katadyn Hiker, a slightly cheaper model by the same manufacturer. We love the features that the Katadyn Vario filter offers, especially the variable adjustment for different water conditions. The filter adjusts to filter water from high-particulate (using a ceramic prefilter) to low particulate (faster filtering, bypassing the ceramic prefilter). What’s this mean? You’ll get super fast, efficient purification in streams with low silt and dust – like the slow moving mountain streams we often encounter in the mountains of north Georgia. But a quick adjustment inside the filter activates the ceramic prefilter to filter more water that’s more silty or algea-filled – allowing for slower filtration but a more thorough and cleaner water output.

Pros: The Katadyn Vario has a large, easy to grip pump handle which we found to be a huge upgrade from the Hiker series. This filter is fast and very efficient, especially in “faster flow” mode. Katadyn claims a filtering rate of 2.2 liters per minute in “faster flow” mode and 1.1 liters / min in “longer life” mode, which we found easy to achieve in our trail tests. The water taste is excellent and is very neutral of smells and flavors, thanks to the carbon core keeps water tasting and smelling fresh. The filter allows direct attachment to Nalgene bottles, which adds a lot of efficiency of not worrying about a second output hose when filtering.

Cons: The Katadyn Vario is a larger size and heavier weight than the Katadyn Hiker – but we feel like the features outweigh the weight and size differences. Toggling between the two filtering modes is done by opening up the filter, which is slightly inconvenient out on the trail. We feel it’d be a fantastic upgrade if this adjustment could be accommodated by not having to open and close the filter body.

The pre-filter and input hose are the same as the Hiker series – metal mesh and a weighted cover on pre-filter keeps larger sand and organic debris from entering filter. A foam float is attached to the input hose, allowing you to adjust the level at which the inlet pre-filter is suspended in the water.

The main filtration is through a pleated filter, which, when used in the “longer life” setting, will last a Katadyn-suggested filter life of 500 gallons. Inside the pleated filter is a carbon core – which carries a recommended replacement after 6 months or 200 gallons (or earlier if water taste and smell decrease in quality).

A pre-filter inside the unit, a ceramic disk, adds extra filtration when enabled. A green scrub pad (included in the package) is used to scrub the ceramic disk clean when clogged, allowing for on-the-trail maintenance of the filter.

For longest life and easiest use, it’s recommended to filter the cleanest water possible and keeping input filter away from turbid water (which carries fine particles). We found, with our Hiker filter, we’d get longer use out of the pleated filter by using a paper coffee filter (we keep several in our filter bag) and a rubber band wrapped around the pre-filter at the input hose to decrease the amount of grit entering the filter – and have noticed this works well for the Vario as well.

As we mentioned earlier, the base of the Katadyn Vario conveniently attaches to a Nalgene bottle, but the unit also comes with an adaptor hose and clamp for use on other-sized mouth bottles. Katadyn also claimes that the tubes of most hydration bladders are able to plug directly into the bottom of the filter unit – but as we don’t use hydration packs, we didn’t test this feature.

Important tips on using a water filter:
- know seasonal availability of water sources, and have water sources plotted on your map before your hike or backpacking trip.- don’t rely on a single filter for water – water availability is critical for survival, so pack a backup pump or purification tablets as a second option in case of filter failure.

We found REI’s Camp Roll table to be perfect – it’s lightweight, quick to pack, and best of all, backed by REI’s 100% satisfaction guarantee, so if anything goes wrong with this little table, you’ve got a replacement waiting for you at your local REI store (or online). Lightweight aluminum slats accordion closed and legs quickly collapse to break this table down in easily less than a minute – and setup is just as fast. The table comes with its own stuff sack for quick storage. Unfolded, the top is 27″ square – and the total weight of the table is around 9 pounds, making this table too heavy for backpacking but an easy win for camping trips when the trek from the campsite to the car isn’t terribly long.

The look of the table is stylish, too – not necessarily a requirement with camping gear, but great looks on gear that’s also functional and well designed is a bonus in our book.

We’ve got one of these great little tables – but are looking to get another for extra room when camping with friends (or on the nights when the dinners are campsite gourmet and we could use a little extra table room).

Order the Camp Roll Table from REI:

REI Camp Roll Table at REI.com

We’ve been waiting for the release of Surge and we’ve had the chance to test it on the trails of North Georgia. We have to say we’re really impressed. This little gadget is becoming one of our favorite pieces of gear and will be trekking with us – tethered to our packs – all over the trails north of Atlanta.

On the trail, it’s an extended battery that more than doubles the charge of your iPhone, plus has a solar panel for charging in the sun. We don’t chat on our phones on the trail, but drain our iPhone batteries pretty quickly using GPS apps to trace our hikes. If you find yourself running out of power (as we always do), just plug your phone into the Surge and it transfers the charge to your iPhone, juicing it up with a full charge.

The Surge is the only Apple-approved solar case for the iPhone. Size-wise, it’s a little too thick, by our standards, to use as an everyday case. It does hold the iPhone snugly, but it doesn’t provide protection for the top part of the phone when docked.

This charger does, however, deliver peace of mind that you’ll never be out of juice out on the trail. You can charge the Surge in the sun through the solar panel on the back, or through a USB connection (connected to a wall outlet or your computer) on the bottom. The USB connection (cord is included) also lets you sync your iPhone with your computer when it’s docked in the Surge.

We keep the iPhone in our standard case when on the trail, and tether the Surge to our Osprey packs to soak up the sun during our hike. When power starts to run low, we just plug the iPhone into the Surge to juice back up and then replace the Surge on our pack to soak up more rays and recharge.

As a bonus, the Surge offers a free app from the App Store that helps you plan for extended trips. The app lets you adjust for sunny or cloudy trips and app usage, and it tells you how long you’ll need to keep the Surge in the sun to keep it – and your phone – juiced up.

The Surge prices out at about the same price as the typical iPhone extended batteries on the market and adds the bonus of solar charging on the go, making it an awesome deal. This little gadget is becoming one of our favorite pieces of gear and will be trekking with us – tethered to our packs – all over the trails north of Atlanta.

Buy the Surge solar iPhone battery / charger from Amazon.com:

Surge Hybrid Solar Charger for iPhone 3G, 3G S (Black)

Check out our HD video review of the GSI Pinnacle Backpacker cook set:

The set packs down to 8 by 5 and a half inches and weighs in at a light 28.2 oz – taking up very little space or weight for all it includes:

- A fry pan

- A lid with flip-up handle and built-in strainer holes

- Two cups

- A collapsable heat-proof handle that attaches to both the fry pan and pot

- Two insulated mugs with lids for sipping hot coffee or soup

- A 2 liter pot

- A stuff sack that doubles as a portable sink

The fry pan and 2L pot are both coated with Teflon Radiance technology – a scratch resistant nonstick coating that evenly disperses heat and is safe for use with metal utensils.  The Pinnacle set is specially manufactured for use over backpacking stoves. It’s perfect for everything from quick soups to gourmet trail meals;  and it gets water boiling for our morning coffee in just  3 minutes.  And the set is super easy to wash; we’ve cooked some cheesy dishes in this cookware – and have found with a just a little water, the food slides right off, thanks to the Teflon Radiance coating.

The Pinnacle Backpacker by GSI brings high performance, reliable cooking to the trails.  We’ve found it perfect for everything from simple reheating of soups and boiling water to gourmet on the trail.  It’s high quality, and light weight – and perfect for all our hiking and backpacking adventures on the trails.

Get the best price on the Pinnacle Backpacker set from Amazon – with free shipping – by clicking here.

Or order from REI: GSI Pinnacle Backpacker Cookset.