Any company can make shades with good polarized lenses, but few can keep them in place when the sweat starts to roll. That’s why we love the Hunt’s half-rubber arms, which help the robust plastic frames stick.
Nature’s nice, but sometimes you want to rock out while training. The tiny Boom Bit, which pairs to your phone via Bluetooth, lets you do so without blocking out the sounds around you—like traffic or an oncoming mountain biker.
The Duro 6 made multi-hour runs (relatively) painless, with vest-style suspension that reduced jostle even with a maxed-out main compartment and full hydration bladder.
Mesh side panels and a moisture-wicking polyester crown kept us comfortable on blistering days. When the sun went down, reflective hits made us visible.
This Southern California company is all about versatility. The Trail’s mid-thigh-length inseam was as appropriate for running as it was for refueling at the local brunch spot.
Caffeine is one of the best performance enhancers a runner can use (legally, anyway). A single serving of Run Gum packs the same amount of punch as eight ounces of coffee.
Runners burn through shirts like gel packets, but the Van Cortlandt is one worth preserving. Tracksmith slimmed the usual boxy fit for a runner’s lithe build, and the Swiss-sourced mesh is soft and breathable.
In addition to advanced metrics, post-race analysis, and the infamous Suffer Score, Strava Premium now offers an emergency service called Beacon, which lets three designated safety contacts follow your location on a map in real time.
Balega makes our favorite socks for blister-free running. The polyester-nylon yarn used in this pair is treated with antimicrobial silver to help ward off foot funk.
One of the most intuitive wearables we’ve tried, the Forerunner features Garmin’s über-accurate location tracking, an easy-to-read color screen, up to nine days of battery life, and a heart-rate monitor. Also included is 24/7 activity tracking for steps, sleep quality, and more.
For trail runners who tackle epics, this 4.4-ounce straw ensures you never run out of water. It filters out bacteria and protozoa but not viruses (so best not to use it abroad). The stainless-steel body is rugged enough to survive a mountainside tumble.
The genius of this 1.5-ounce running light? There’s no battery to replace. Clip it to your belt and sliding magnets harness your kinetic energy to generate 30 lumens.
Think of the Radar Pace as sporty shades, unobtrusive earbuds, and a personal trainer all in one. Its voice-activated system provides real-time coaching, tracks your pace, and lets you know when it’s time to push for a PR. The lenses offer great coverage and boost clarity—these are Oakleys, after all.
We have yet to find anything that melts tight-muscle pain as well as Hyperice’s massage ball. There are three soothing vibration settings: strong, stupid strong, and completely insane. Two hours of battery life keep the post-workout magic coming.
Add four accelerometers to a pair of top-rated trainers, sync them with a phone, and you’ve got your own on-the-go coach. The IQ gives you granular feedback data, including cadence, foot strike, impact, and balance.
Runners wearing trucker hats? Yeah, it’s a thing. You may have noticed Ryan Hall or Jenn Shelton rocking one. Truckers are a hell of an improvement over the alternatives. Previously, our headgear was limited to a stained cotton baseball hat or a low-profile, running-specific cap. The former quickly smelled bad, and the latter just looked dumb. So runners’ adoption of this particular lid—once reserved for crusty blue-collar dudes or Brooklyn hipsters—is a good thing, not least because it injects a bit of swagger into some otherwise dorky kit. Here are our favorites.
Blowfish Designs Signature Series. (Courtesy of Blowfish Designs)
Each year, we test dozens of bikes in Sedona, Arizona, putting them through their paces in a variety of terrain. This year, we found one stand-out bike that can do just about anything. Watch to see why our testers loved the 2017 Santa Cruz Tallboy (and its sister, the Juliana Joplin) and why the rigs won Gear of the Year in our Summer Buyer’s Guide.
Each year, we ride dozens of bikes in Sedona, Arizona, putting them through their paces at our annual bike test. This year, we found one road bike that stood above the rest. Watch to see why our testers loved the 2017 Giant TCR Advanced Pro 1 Disc and why the bike won Gear of the Year in our Summer Buyer’s Guide.
Sacks for a comfortable night’s sleep, wherever you lay your head.
Kammok Thylacine. (Kammok)
Kammok Thylacine ($627)
Gear of the Year
Ten years ago, the biggest difference between sleeping bags was their stuffing: slight variations in synthetic or down insulation. Today things have changed—a lot. Head into a gear shop and the offerings include comforters and oversize down jackets. Zippers run in many directions or are left out altogether. Some bags change shape. Of the 20 we tested in conditions ranging from the beaches of Mexico to early-season snow in Canada’s Coast Range, the Kammok Thylacine proved the most versatile. It was hardly a fair fight, given that this is three bags packed into one. Think of it like a Russian nesting doll. The outer layer is a 1.9-pound, mummy-shaped base bag ($329) stuffed with 750-fill water-resistant down. It’s perfect for 50-degree canoe camping, is roomy enough that you can sleep on your side, and compresses down to the size of a small watermelon. Colder testers called for adding the Thylacine’s down liner ($199) to add 15 degrees of warmth and elevate the bag to a three-season tool. If that’s not enough, an additional mummy-shaped comforter ($99) further boosts heat retention; it should keep you warm down to zero degrees. Call it one bag—in three pieces—to rule them all. Zero degrees; 2.5 lbs
Sierra Designs Backcountry Quilt 15. (Sierra Designs)
Sierra Designs Backcountry Quilt 15 ($250)
Best For: Stretching out when it’s chilly.
The Test: Quilt-style bags are our favorites in summer. They allow for stretching, tossing, and turning, and make it easy to adjust the covers. But sealing out drafts is impossible, and quilts lack the hoods of their full-zip brethren, so most don’t play when the mercury drops. This one does. Sierra Designs took a 700-fill down comforter and added a foot box and—most clutch—a hood. When the temperature got close to freezing, they made all the difference.
The Verdict: The first three-season quilt-style sleeping bag. 15 degrees; 1.9 lbs
The Test: Kelty left linear thinking behind with this 800-fill, sub-two-pound bag. Baffles are stitched diagonally to help reduce down migration and cold spots. The second and more noticeable deviation: two diagonal zippers in lieu of the traditional side opening. The upper zipper makes for easy entry and exit. The other vents the feet. “The diagonal zip felt more natural and like less of a contortion, especially from inside the bag,” said a tester.
The Verdict: A smart choice for almost everything. 35 degrees; 1.9 lbs
The Test: In the Disco, Nemo combines two of its award-winning innovations to create a sleeping bag with range—literally. The spoon-shaped design widens at the shoulders and knees, so it doesn’t constrict when sleeping on your side. If things get stuffy, unzip the two gill-like chest vents to cool the bag without drafts. On a 55-degree night, our testers opened the gills and left the bag’s full zip open for maximum venting.
The Verdict: Plenty roomy and always the perfect temperature. 15 degrees; 2.4 lbs
Best For: Making synthetic insulation great again.
The Test: The North Face brags that this is the lightest 20-degree synthetic sleeping bag on the market. Indeed, the Hyper Cat challenges the weight-to-warmth ratio of down bags by compressing to the size of a loaf of bread yet lofting with featherlike puffiness. “Until I read about it, I thought it was down,” confessed a tester who hauled it along on a backpacking mission. The secret: both long and short synthetic fibers layered into vertical baffles.
The Verdict: If it looks like down and feels like down… well, it’s close. 20 degrees; 1.9 lbs
The Test: Women’s bodies tend to run colder than men’s during sleep, and roomy bags with lots of dead space cut down on insulating power. To provide a cozier bag for female campers—or anyone wishing to beat the shivers in the backcountry—Big Agnes’s design team outfitted the Hazel with a series of clips and straps to cinch the bag snug and squeeze out excess air. “On chilly nights I could tighten it up around my legs, and I slept warmer,” said a tester.
The Verdict: A shape-shifting bag for cold sleepers. 15 degrees; 2.8 lbs
The Test: Before founding Patagonia in the seventies, Yvon Chouinard built his own sleeping bag with a two-way center zip. It allowed him to stay tied into his harness while sleeping on big walls, the rope sliding through the bottom of the zipper. Patagonia has resurrected the design but added modern refinements. Stitches puncture the outer or inner fabric, not both, keeping down and heat in. And DWR lends the 15-denier shell water resistance.
The Verdict: Old dog plus new tricks equals a bag for the ages. 19 degrees; 2.1 lbs
The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the mountains are calling for weekend warrioring. To celebrate the start of summer, we’ll be updating this page over the next three months with a monthly giveaway featuring a product we love from our 2019 Summer Buyer’s Guide. Just fill out the entry form below to be considered for that month’s prize—we’ll contact the winners directly, then update this page with their names.
Be sure to come back in July and August for a chance to win the next big thing. Good luck!
July: ORCA Liddup Cooler
We picked the ORCA Liddup as an essential piece of road-trip gear in our 2019 Summer Buyer's Guide. There's no need to bring a headlamp when grabbing a cold one out of this cooler—it's wired with a strip of white LEDs that turn on as soon as you crack it open.
June: Away Bigger Carry-On
We feature Away’s Bigger Carry-On suitcase in the Travel Tech section of the Summer Buyer’s Guide. It won our hearts with its compact, sleek construction (it’s designed to fit in most overhead compartments), and features like an ejectable battery and TSA-approved lock.
