In this installment of Standards Watch, Rex interviews testing and standards development expert Steve Seeber.
About Rex Sanders
Adapting to Changing Wildfires: Part Three
In part three of his series on modern wildfires, Rex Sanders uses video and animation to help you visualize just how crazy this wildfire season has been.
Adapting to Changing Wildfires: Part Two
In part two of his essay series on modern wildfires, Rex Sanders explores how backpackers must adapt to the new normal.
Adapting to Changing Wildfires: Part One
In the first part of his series on modern wildfires, Rex Sanders runs through the most common dangers associated with wildfires – and what you can do about them.
GPS: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
BPL author Rex Sanders tackles the pros and cons of navigating by GPS in a short blog post that includes links for further info.
Standards Watch: Sleeping Bag Temperature Ratings
In this installment of Standards Watch, Rex Sanders tackles sleeping bag ratings: the standard, the pros, and the cons.
Improving R-values For Consumers
Sleeping pad R-values are not useful for many consumers, and the guidance from pad makers, retailers, and gear reviewers is inconsistent and prone to misinterpretation. This is a proposal for improved labeling and marketing of R-values.
Standards Watch: Introduction
Standards Watch will be a monthly column that explains important backpacking product standards, interviews key people, and describes how the industry uses, abuses, or ignores tests and standards.
First, Buy A Smaller Pack
Internet pundits often insist that new lightweight backpackers should buy a pack last, so that it will hold all their new gear and a week’s worth of food. Sometimes the advice is to buy the pack first, a little larger in volume than the backpacker thinks they’ll need. But both approaches can misfire, and I think there’s a better way.
More Reasons to Modify Gear
There are many good motives for altering equipment. Mostly we focus on reducing weight, fixing problems, or adding features. Here are a few more reasons.