Posts Tagged ‘product reviews’

Product Review: ExOfficio Give-N-Go Underwear

I really love it when a product lives up to its reputation 110%. Not every product that I test does, unfortunately.

When I was at the Overland Expo in May, I was given a pair of Women’s Give-N-Go Bikini Briefs to test and review. I know what you’re thinking:

“Kim, seriously, you’re going to review UNDERWEAR on your blog?!” Yeah, I was thinking that too.

But then a lady came up to the booth and was exclaiming that she wears nothing but the ExOfficio undies and they’re great and she wears them every day and they last and on and on and ON she went. So I figured I’d swallow my, ahem, trepidation about reviewing panties and give it a go.

Now Give-No-Go Briefs are explained as:

17 countries. 6 weeks. One pair of award-winning underwear. (Ok, maybe two.)

Join the thousands of people who have discovered the ExOfficio travel underwear revolution. Just toss your Give-N-Go’s in the laundry or wash them in a sink. Within hours you will have a fresh, dry pair of underwear. Breathable, lightweight, and long-wearing, you will toss them into your carry-on for every trip. Soon they will replace every other pair in your underwear drawer.

Which all sounds wonderful, right? But I was interested in how well they held up on the trail. And how well they preformed at different times of the month. Because, let’s face it ladies, it’s just a different story when “it’s that time of the month”.

Test One:

• Short hike (1.5 miles)
• Hot, humid weather
• “That time of the month”

I was pleased that they didn’t bunch, ride up or give me a wedgie. It was hot, humid, and just way to muggy to enjoy being on the trail. But I was pleased that the panties seemed to wick moisture away from my skin. As for the additional discomfort of also wearing a sanitary napkin, well, I’m not sure that anything really makes that more comfortable.

Test Two:

• Short hike (1.5 miles)
• Even hotter, more humid weather

It was actually the same hike. Just a week and a half later in the summer. Which meant that it was hotter, more humid, and I was hitting the trail about an hour later in the day. Again, there was nary a sign of a wedgie: the panties stayed exactly where I wanted them to be with no chafing or discomfort at all. In the additional humidity, they didn’t seem to wick moisture away from my skin quite as well as I would have liked but I did notice that while the rest of me was a bit, um, ripe, the odor resistant properties were in full effect.

Test Three:

• Long hike (6 miles)
• Hot, dry weather
• Carrying a huge backpack

And it was on the weekend’s backpacking trip that I decided that these panties are worth their weight in gold! It’s one thing to say they dry out quickly it’s completely different to experience it first hand. While there was no sink for wash, rinse and wring, even wearing them as soon as I stopped sweating, they dried quickly and completely. Odor resistant was working perfectly and I felt my skin was breathing.

The real kicker though was that I never felt as if I was wearing too many clothes. You know that feeling when you’re hot, sweaty, and covered in trail dust and suddenly your trail clothes aren’t cutting it? They’re sticking to you, making you even hotter, and you just feel gross?

Well, the ExOfficio Give-N-Go briefs just don’t do that. The next day when I switched back to my regular cotton briefs for the short hike out proved that the Give-N-Go’s were living up to everything that was promised. The cotton briefs, while comfy, didn’t stay put, felt much hotter and just were not as all-around comfortable.

So, go figure! I fully intended to try the panties but not actually publish a review about them. It’s just a little out there for me. But after experiencing them in action, I felt I really needed to share.

The only thing I’m not sold on is that they only come in black, white, nude, and brown. The lacy bikini comes in pretty colors but I’m not really a lace type of girl.

So that’s my complaint: ExOfficio, please make your amazing, fantastic, Give-N-Go Bikini Briefs in pretty colors. Or polka dots!

The next test I want to try is kayaking in them. But based off the results from hiking, I’m sold! So use any of the above links (affiliate) and get a pair (or three!) of your own!

And, to sweeten the deal, ExOfficio offers Free Standard Shipping On All Orders Over $75

Now, I just wonder if the bras are amazing as the panties…
PS: No, that’s NOT me in the photo! I stole it from the ExOfficio website.

Product Review: Wonder Bar Odor Removing Bar

It’s happened to us all: we’re at the lake or campsite and we get into something stinky, and all of our sure-fire at-home methods for getting the smell off our hands are, well, at home. (And how many of us REALLY always bring a lemon fishing with us?)

Here’s the easiest way to get a smell out of your skin (if it’s from fish, PowerBait, or some other unmentionable thing you touched!)

Use a Wonder Bar! These stainless steel “soaps” work with just plain water and, through enough rubbing, will remove odors.

I recommend the Wonder Bar because it floats. And if you’re kneeling at a lake and drop it… well, you want it back!

I carry my Wonder Bar in my purse and have for years. It’s hollow so it doesn’t weigh anything. And it’s perfect for not only smelly things out in the wilderness but also when you shake hands with someone who is wearing too much perfume or lotion. I’ve also used it when I got gas on my hands, after pulling weeds, or handling anything that I didn’t want to have my skin smell like.

The only thing I don’t like is that it can take a lot of rubbing. But the harder and faster you rub the quicker the smells go away.

Of course, you can always just rub your hands in a metal wash basin but um, gross! Especially a PUBLIC wash basin! And it’s very difficult to get between your fingers or the back of your hands.

And, there’s a big advantage of a Wonder Bar since it’s a bit difficult to rub a knee cap or elbow in the sink! Then, just keep rubbing until the smell is gone, rinsing with clean water between rubs or letting water run over the bar as you scrub.

(Links are Amazon.com affiliate links)

Product Review: Bisquick Shake ‘n Pour

If you’re anything like me then pancakes are a must-have camping breakfast staple. There’s just something about sitting on a cold cement picnic table in the early morning snarffing down hot, fluffy pancakes that is just perfection.

Of course, I’ve always found the MAKING of pancakes in camp to be messy and difficult! If you’re talented in the kitchen you can always make them from scratch OR even bring a powdered mix and add the wet ingredients. The issue is then having a big enough bowl for mixing, bringing a wire whisk so the attempt is made to have the pancakes fluffy, a large spoon to scoop the batter. And then the cleanup!

And if you don’t deal with pancake batter right away… Well let’s just say that it can do a pretty good job of FIXING that cement picnic table after it dries in the bottom of the bowl!

Enter: Bisquick Shake ‘n Pour Buttermilk Pancake Mix

I had seen it in the stores but was certain that it wouldn’t live up to the reputation: light, fluffy pancakes with no mixing mess. It couldn’t be THAT good, right?

Ha! It was better!

Code Wolf & I had the 10.6 oz container which promised 12-15 4-inch pancakes. All we needed was some cold water, shake and ta-dah! (Of course, I forgot my measuring cup so I estimated with a water bottle…)

It did take some shaking and tapping to get all the batter mixed in so make sure that you have somebody really shake the jar hard. I was impressed that the lid didn’t pop off the container or have any leakage AT ALL.

Then pour a dab of batter into a hot, greased skillet and INSTANT fluffy pancakes!

There was no way that just two of us could use a whole bottle of batter in just one sitting. But the left-over batter is good for up to 3 days refrigerated. So I just popped it back into the ice chest and we had pancakes the next morning too.

And as for the 12-15 pancakes, we ended up with 17 between the two breakfasts. If I had gotten really aggressive with the bit of batter left in the bottle, I think I could have made one more.

The only thing that is a bit of a negative is the price: $2.99. I expect to pay a bit more for the convenience for when I’m cooking outside. You’d need multiple bottles to feed a larger family or a whole host of kids. But the trade-off in easy: that’s priceless!

Readers Weigh In:

• Have you tried Bisquick Shake ‘n Pour Buttermilk Pancake Mix? What was your experience?
• What type of camping convenience products do you love?

Links are to my Amazon.com affiliate account.

In late summer of 2010 I was asked by a blog and newsletter reader to do some reviews of various types of insect repellants. Now, as The Outdoor Princess, I realize that bugs are just a part of being outside.

But, I will admit, as part of doing this research, I was surprised at how many people said that they absolutely never go outside for hikes, camping, or geocaching without some type of bug spray. Here in Arizona, we have our share of biting bugs, but thankfully, we’re pretty much safe from ticks, chiggers, and no-see-ums.

For all the long-term blog and newsletter readers, you’ll know that I’m allergic to pretty much everything that grows here in Northern Arizona. So, last September, I mentioned to my allergist that I wanted to do a product testing article and review on various insect repellants.

Well! Dr. Zeschke got very animated about that subject. (He’s opinionated about EVERYTHING so it wasn’t surprising.) Dr. Z told me that I absolutely had to test insect repellent clothing. He’s an avid hunter and when he told me that a shirt and hat were enough to keep the car-sized mosquitoes at bay in the Arctic Circle in the middle of summer, he had my attention.

I contacted the great people over at Insect Shield to see if I could test their products and see if Dr. Z was right or if his success was an isolated incident. Not only are the Insect Shield shirts insect repellent, many are also rated at 30 SPF. Very cool!

The Test

My Insect Shield long-sleeved shirt arrived via UPS (happy). Of course, it arrived on the Tuesday before Labor Day weekend so there was no way I could test it until the holiday weekend.

Test 1:

Sunset picnic at Fain Park

Fain Park has a small trout pond so I thought it would be PERFECT for an evening test. I sat at a picnic table for a few minutes (munching KFC chicken) and looking for mosquitoes. The light breeze would have been great on a normal night but not when I was LOOKING for bugs! I finally found one buzzing around and then ran to my truck to put on the Insect Shield shirt. I never saw that mosquito again, or any others, all evening, even when I walked by the water.

Test 2:

Morning kayak at Lynx Lake

Lynx is a beautiful lake here in Prescott. I really wanted to try out the SPF 30 rating on the shirt so I made sure NOT to put any sunscreen on my arms under the shirt. It took a while to get used to wearing long sleeves in the heat, but after ten minutes or so, I really didn’t notice if I was hot at all. I didn’t see a single bug all trip so I don’t know if it was the Insect Shield technology or if it was just a bug-free day. I can say that the SPF 30 worked like a charm though. I didn’t get any color on my arms but I DID get pink on my hands. I’ll remember next time to put sunscreen on my hands!

Test 3:

Morning kayak at Goldwater Lake

I was determined to find mosquitoes at the lake so I could really test the insect repelling properties of my new shirt. I saw several swarms buzzing around various trash cans and signs, but they were all too far away from my kayak. Then I hit the jackpot! I large swarm of mosquitoes buzzing along the shore, a foot above the water, near a tree. I kayaked over and held out an arm. Poof! All the mosquitoes got near the shirt and then promptly took off. Gone! Outta there! Adios!

Test 4:

Afternoon geocaching in Prescott National Forest

In my area of Arizona, it seems the nastiest mosquitoes are the really hungry ones that lurk on the sides of the trails. So I went geocaching along trails, in bushes, and over boulders. No bugs. Even when I could see them up head on the trail, by the time I got close: gone! The closest I came was when I brushed a bug off a bush I was pushing through and onto me. The clothing not only repelled bugs, it also held up well to sweat (breathable and not too hot) and didn’t snag or catch when I was pushing through scrub oak. I was still careful with it as I bushwhacked, but I didn’t feel like I needed to find a path AROUND the bushes!

The Results

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit, I figured the clothing would work (truth in marketing) but I wasn’t prepared for how WELL it worked. When I saw all those mosquitoes head for the hills on the lake, I was sold on the Insect Shield Repellant Clothing right then.

I hate getting bit by mosquitoes. Like when I went camping with Nicole — mosquitoes turned our trip from “Great!” into “Okay”. But with this shirt… I’m 100% sold. This is a must-have for any adventure weather it is geocaching, camping, kayaking, hiking, hunting, biking, fishing, bird watching… (you get the picture!)

Pros

• The clothing repels all types of bugs: mosquitoes, chiggers, black flies, ticks, ants, etc.
• SPF 30 (not all clothing, but a lot of styles)
• Very stylish (pockets, breathable, variety of colors)
• No mosquitoes! It even kept the flies away.
• Excellent construction (I didn’t worry when I was pushing through the brush going after geocaches)
• Comes in a variety of styles: shirts, pants, socks, bandannas and more
• Lasts through 70 washes. Which, when I sat down and did the math, comes out to be 3 years or so. I wore it as a shell (over my tee shirt) so even though I wore it 4 times, I don’t feel it needs to be laundered.
• Not a bug bite all weekend (while I was wearing the shirt. Without…well, that’s another story!)
• Wash at home like any other piece of clothing. In fact, if you dry clean an Insect Shield product, it removes the bug repellent!
• Not putting chemicals onto your skin. (That’s a big thing that Dr. Z really liked about the clothing!)
• Kid and pet safe. Tie a bandanna around your dog’s neck, or over your kid’s head and you’re good to go!

Cons

• Price. Clothing ranges from $20 to $80. My shirt was $80, so it can be kind of spendy. BUT, when you figure that on a per-wearing basis (maybe wear twice before washing?) then it comes out to be about $0.57 per use. Not bad!
• You have to wear long sleeves in the heat. Of course, if you’re in an area with ticks, you probably wear long pants and long sleeves ANYWAY so it probably doesn’t make much difference.
• You have to remember to bring it with you AND to wear it. Trust me, insect repellents (of any type) don’t do much good sitting at home!

About Insect Shield Technology

Insect Shield uses a man-made version of a natural insect repellent found in certain types of chrysanthemum flowers, like an African Daisy. There is a patent-pending process and proprietary formulation that secures the active ingredient to the fabric fibers. It lasts through 70 washings which would be more than the life of the garment.

Please check out Insect Shield on Facebook or directly on their website.

Where To Get The Clothing

• Amazon.com
• ExOfficio
• Orvis
• Eastern Mountain Sports

If you follow any of these links and purchase your Insect Shield clothing, then I get credit as an affiliate. And that’s a GOOD thing!

Continuing Results

I’ve worn my Insect Shield shirt from everything to kayaking to hiking, gardening to parade watching and the shirt WORKS. After the initial test, I had no issues wearing long sleeves in the heat.

Knowing that I’m safe from bugs AND sunburn: wow!

Though the affiliate links above, I’ve also sold over $400 worth of Insect Shield clothing. Not one person has written to me complaining about the products either. This product is fantastic and I tell everybody I know about it. Well worth the money!

Future Testing

ESP Boss and the Queen Mother will be taking a 4 week long trip this June through Zion National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Montana. They’ll both be wearing Insect Shield shirts. As soon as they get back, we’ll get the results of their trip.

When I contacted the makers of a spray-on insect repellent last summer they NEVER got back to me. I’ll try again this spring. The same thing happened when I contacted the makers of the insect repellant bracelet.

However, I did get an all-natural product to test. That’ll be coming up in the next weeks so look for it!

Guest Author: Review of Magellan eXplorist

My friend, Kris, was lucky enough to pick up a new GPS a few weeks ago: a Magellan eXplorist. Since I’m a die-hard Garmin fan, I asked her if she would write up a review of the eXplorist for the Find Your Geocache blog.

If you’re ready to buy, or want more info, here’s a link to Magellan eXplorist on Amazon.com.

Here it in, in Kris’ own words:

 

Paperless Geocaching

 

I have been talking for years about geocaching and my family. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting that my girlfriend Kim of TheOutdoorPrincess.com introduced us to many years ago. With geocaching, you use a GPS, enter in the coordinates and search for a hidden treasure.

 

 

Sometimes those treasures are as simple as a piece of paper that you sign your name on, other times there are little trinkets that you can exchange with your own. Some of the neatest geocaches that our family has found contain travel bugs or geocoins that you can take, move to another location and track online.

There is a local cache just down the road from us that has a history lesson in it that includes a newpaper article. We use geocaching as part of our PE for homeschooling.

Last month, our family researched new GPSs and came across one by Magellan. The eXplorist GC is specifically made for geocaching and you can load on caches that you want to find right from your computer and the geocaching.com website. It is waterproof (perfect for our family of 7) so that we can take it on our camping trips and not worry that the 5 year old is growing the drop it in a stream, after all 5-year old boys are addicted to throwing rocks into water!

 

 

To get started with this GPS, you will need to download the driver to your computer. Visit the geocaching.com site and look for local caches. On the individual cache pages, there is a download to GPS button. Click it and follow the directions. (Here’s an article on Loading Caches Directly to a GPS) It’s that easy!! The geocache coordinates are now on your GPS!!!

With the eXplorist GC, you can mark the ones that you have found, add comments, view the entire file, including comments, hints and description right from your GPS on location. Then you come back to your computer and download the file and it updates your finds and comments online!

NO MORE PRINTING!!

And it is easy enough for a 9-year old to figure out! We are thrilled to find this GPS for our family!!

(Just recently in the news – a local Prescott Geocacher found an INTACT Yavapai Indian pot – check out the post on The Outdoor Princess’ Find Your Geocache tips and tricks blog)

Remember too that Geocaching in a low-cost FUN activity for your family. You can find GPSs on craigslist for inexpensive. Found mine online on AMAZON.com for less than $150. We pack a picnic lunch and plan our caches in order to save on gas money. And you get to SPEND time as a family OUTSIDE!

Readers Weigh In:

• Garmin or Magellan? Why?
• What is your favorite GPS unit?

 

Product Review: iPhone Geocaching App

While I was at Dead Horse Ranch State Park this past weekend, I got the opportunity to try out the geocaching iPhone app. Now, I am not an owner of an iPhone personally (the only reliable cell phone carrier in my area is Verizon) so I had to rely on CodeWolf’s phone.

Now, when it comes to cell phones, I’ll admit I’m technologically challenged. I’ve had my new phone for over a week and STILL haven’t activated it yet! So, getting to play with an iPhone was a total treat.

CodeWolf had already purchased and installed the app before our trip. He has an iPhone 3GS (apparently the model of the phone matters!) He tells me that the app is $9.99 through the Apple Store. The name of the app that he bought is Geocaching by Groundspeak Inc. (Be careful, there are several apps available for the iPhone!)

We tested it out head-to-head against my Garmin GPS on the cache GCN473: Which Comes First?

I was really disappointed to say that the phone allowed him to find the hill top but was no where near the cache. It might work better in a very urban setting but on a hill top in a state park, well, not so much. The analogy I used was that we could find the parking lot but not the car.

However, the app had a redeeming quality after we found the cache and signed the log. CodeWolf was able to post his “Find” log FROM THE FIELD. I think that is totally cool! As somebody who often forgets to post finds for a few days, the ability to give on-the-ground updates about finds, needs maintainace, and DNF is super cool!

Here’s another feature that I really like:

When I’m planning a caching outing, I load the caches to my GPS ahead of time and print out the cache sheets. But, if I end up in a different area than where I expected, I have no way of looking up caches on the fly. But having the geocaching app on an iPhone solves the problem!

We were taking a look at kayaking a stretch of the Verde River and CodeWolf was able to pull up the caches near the put-in parking lot. Very cool! (We didn’t have time to GO after any, but it was neat.) Then, I would just take it from his cell phone and input it into my GPS and off we’d go.

It was also nice to be able to look up cache details from the field and not have to rely on memory or print outs.

However, the app REALLY sucked battery life. And it relies on cell phone towers so we weren’t able to look for any caches near Beasley Flat along the Verde River. (There are two caches at the parking area!)

Readers Weigh In:

• Do you have the iPhone geocaching app? Do you like it? What are the pros and cons of using it?
• Would you ever cache with JUST your iPhone? Why or why not?

Product Review: Insect Shield Repellent Apparel

As The Outdoor Princess, I realize that bugs are just a part of being outside. But, I will admit, I was surprised at how many geocachers said that they absolutely never go caching without some type of bug spray. Here in Arizona, we have our share of biting bugs, but thankfully, we’re pretty much safe from ticks, chiggers, and no-see-ums.

For all the long-term blog and newsletter readers, you’ll know that I’m allergic to pretty much everything that grows here in Northern Arizona. So, a few weeks ago, I was in my allergist’s office and I mentioned that I wanted to do a product testing article and review on various insect repellants.

Well! Dr. Zeschke got very animated about that subject. (He’s opinionated about EVERYTHING so it wasn’t surprising.) Dr. Z told me that I absolutely had to test insect repellent clothing. He’s an avid hunter and when he told me that a shirt and hat were enough to keep the car-sized mosquitoes at bay in the Arctic Circle in the middle of summer, he had my attention.

I contacted the great people over at Insect Shield to see if I could test their products and see if Dr. Z was right or if his success was an isolated incident. Not only are the Insect Shield shirts insect repellent, many are also rated at 30 SPF. Very cool!

The Test

My Insect Shield long-sleeved shirt arrived via UPS (happy). Of course, it arrived on the Tuesday before Labor Day weekend so there was no way I could test it until the holiday weekend.

Test 1:

Sunset picnic at Fain Park

Fain Park has a small trout pond so I thought it would be PERFECT for an evening test. I sat at a picnic table for a few minutes (munching KFC chicken) and looking for mosquitoes. The light breeze would have been great on a normal night but not when I was LOOKING for bugs! I finally found one buzzing around and then ran to my truck to put on the Insect Shield shirt. I never saw that mosquito again, or any others, all evening, even when I walked by the water.

Test 2:

Morning kayak at Lynx Lake

Lynx is a beautiful lake here in Prescott. I really wanted to try out the SPF 30 rating on the shirt so I made sure NOT to put any sunscreen on my arms under the shirt. It took a while to get used to wearing long sleeves in the heat, but after ten minutes or so, I really didn’t notice if I was hot at all. I didn’t see a single bug all trip so I don’t know if it was the Insect Shield technology or if it was just a bug-free day. I can say that the SPF 30 worked like a charm though. I didn’t get any color on my arms but I DID get pink on my hands. I’ll remember next time to put sunscreen on my hands!

Test 3:

Morning kayak at Goldwater Lake

I was determined to find mosquitoes at the lake so I could really test the insect repelling properties of my new shirt. I saw several swarms buzzing around various trash cans and signs, but they were all too far away from my kayak. Then I hit the jackpot! I large swarm of mosquitoes buzzing along the shore, about a foot over the water, near a tree. I kayaked over and held out an arm. Poof! All the mosquitoes got near the shirt and then promptly took off. Gone! Outta there! Adios!

Test 4:

Afternoon geocaching in Prescott National Forest

In my area of Arizona, it seems the nastiest mosquitoes are the really hungry ones that lurk on the sides of the trails. So I went geocaching along trails, in bushes, and over boulders. No bugs. Even when I could see them up head on the trail, by the time I got close: gone! The closest I came was when I brushed a bug off a bush I was pushing through and onto me. The clothing not only repelled bugs, it also held up well to sweat (breathable and not too hot) and didn’t snag or catch when I was pushing through scrub oak. I was still careful with it as I bushwhacked, but I didn’t feel like I needed to find a path AROUND the bushes!

The Results

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit, I figured the clothing would work (truth in marketing) but I wasn’t prepared for how WELL it worked. When I saw all those mosquitoes head for the hills on the lake, I was sold on the Insect Shield Repellant Clothing right then.

I hate getting bit by mosquitoes. Like when I went camping with Nicole — mosquitoes turned our trip from “Great!” into “Okay”. But with this shirt… I’m 100% sold. This is a must-have for any adventure weather it is geocaching, camping, kayaking, hiking, hunting, biking, fishing, bird watching… (you get the picture!)

Pros

• The clothing repels all types of bugs: mosquitoes, chiggers, black flies, ticks, ants, etc.
• SPF 30 (not all clothing, but a lot of styles)
• Very stylish (pockets, breathable, variety of colors)
• No mosquitoes! It even kept the flies away.
• Excellent construction (I didn’t worry when I was pushing through the brush going after geocaches)
• Comes in a variety of styles: shirts, pants, socks, bandannas and more
• Lasts through 70 washes. Which, when I sat down and did the math, comes out to be 3 years or so. I wore it as a shell (over my tee shirt) so even though I wore it 4 times, I don’t feel it needs to be laundered.
• Not a bug bite all weekend (while I was wearing the shirt. Without…well, that’s another story!)
• Wash at home like any other piece of clothing. In fact, if you dry clean an Insect Shield product, it removes the bug repellent!
• Not putting chemicals onto your skin. (That’s a big thing that Dr. Z really liked about the clothing!)
• Kid and pet safe. Tie a bandanna around your dog’s neck, or over your kid’s head and you’re good to go!

Cons

• Price. Clothing ranges from $20 to $80. My shirt was $80, so it can be kind of spendy. BUT, when you figure that on a per-wearing basis (maybe wear twice before washing?) then it comes out to be about $0.57 per use. Not bad!
• You have to wear long sleeves in the heat. Of course, if you’re in an area with ticks, you probably wear long pants and long sleeves ANYWAY so it probably doesn’t make much difference.
• You have to remember to bring it with you AND to wear it. Trust me, insect repellents (of any type) don’t do much good sitting at home!

About Insect Shield Technology

Insect Shield uses a man-made version of a natural insect repellent found in certain types of chrysanthemum flowers, like an African Daisy. There is a patent-pending process and proprietary formulation that secures the active ingredient to the fabric fibers. It lasts through 70 washings which would be more than the life of the garment.

Please check out Insect Shield on Facebook or directly on their website.

Where To Get The Clothing

• Amazon.com
• ExOfficio
• Orvis
• Eastern Mountain Sports
• Massey’s Outfitters

If you follow any of these links and purchase your Insect Shield clothing, then I get credit as an affiliate. And that’s a GOOD thing!

Future Testing

ESP Boss & I will be kayaking the Colorado River next month. We each have our Insect Shield shirt, socks, and bandannas so we can see how they perform over extended conditions.

Plus, a friend of ours, Dee, will be wearing the bandanna on her nightly walks and will report back. She says that she gets eaten alive each night and is really excited to try something different.

Product Review: Solar Showers

Most of the time, getting dirty while camping is half the fun. But on longer trips, or if it is really hot out, I’m always interested in cleaning up a bit. Trust me, having clean hair, face and hands goes a LONG way toward making me feel human again!

Whenever I drive through a campground, I see tons of those PVC camp showers laying on picnic tables and the hoods of cars. But my only experience with one was decidedly unpleasant so I’m never tempted to try it one out.

The Story

It was just before my 4th birthday. Standing on a picnic table, The Queen Mother decided to hose me down. Needless to say, the water was FREEZING and I was screaming that I was camping, there was no way I’d ever take a shower! Needless to say, Mom gave it up as a bad job and just dried me off! No solar showers for me!

According to the package, the solar shower should be able to heat 5 gallons of water from 60 degrees to 105 degrees in just three hours. And, according to various water/shower websites, most people shower in water between 102 and 107 degrees. So, the box promising water of 105 would be right in the comfortable range for most people.

Of course, there’s a HUGE difference between a solar camp shower and your shower at home:

The Bathroom!

At home, you close the door and trap all the warm air around you. In camp, there aren’t really any doors to close!

The only thing left to do was to put the solar shower to the test!

The Test:

• Initial Water Temperature: 78°
• Gallons in shower: 5
• Put in sun at: 1:07 pm
• Outside Temperature: 94°

Mid-way through the 3 hours:

• Time: 2:37 pm
• Water Temperature: 92°
• Outside Temperature: 97°

After 3 hours

• Time: 4:08 pm
• Water Temperature: 100°
• Outside Temperature: 94°

The Verdict:

Well, at 100 degrees, maybe the water would be warm enough and maybe not. On a hot day, it would probably be okay to rinse hands and face. Even a quick scrub to my hair. Since I was at the office, couldn’t really test it!

My water, straight from the garden hose, started out at a balmy 78 degrees. I’m pretty sure that this is much warmer than water that comes out of the spigot at any campground I’VE ever been too!

The shower was a bit hard to fill with the hose. It seemed like it would go better as a two person job. To make matters worse, when I tried to pick up the bag, the clear plastic shower tube popped off and water went pouring over my foot. (This is a problem!)

It was actually quite difficult to carry the shower from where I filled it to where I was going to conduct the test. Of course, I couldn’t really wrap my arms around it and carry it like a baby since I was at the office and didn’t want to get all wet. In camp, this might not be as much of an issue since wet and dirty are part of the fun of camping.

I’m not sure at all how you would HANG 5 gallons of hot water so you could get UNDER the hose to wash anything. 1 gallon of water weighs 8.35 pounds; 5 gallons weighs 42 pounds, give or take. That’s an awful lot of weight to haul up into a tree!

The box said that the hot water is also good for washing dishes. I don’t know about you, but when I’m in camp, I want to scrub dishes with BOILING water. Maybe use warm water (solar shower warm) as a rinse.

Now, there is one more part of the puzzle:

It was partly cloudy in the afternoon so the solar shower wasn’t in 100% full sun. I don’t know how much of a difference that makes to the over all water temperature. I’m planning on re-testing the shower with cold water and on a fully sunny day. I also am curious to know if air temperature makes that much of a difference. And, what happens if you DON’T put the bag in the sun, clear-side-up?

Readers Weigh In:

• What have been your experiences with solar showers?
• What is your favorite way to clean up while you’re in camp?

Here’s a link, in case you want to purchase a camp shower.

Video: Testing Camp Stoves

In the article “The Language Of Camp Stoves” I spoke about what you should be looking at to purchase a new stove. In this video, I tested three Coleman stoves head-to-head to see if the difference in BTU output actually changed how long it took each stove to boil water.

For more information about camp stoves, or to purchase any of the stoves featured in the video, please visit EatStayPlay.com/Stove

Readers’ Opinions

• What has been your favorite camp stove?
• What would you suggest to stay away from?
• What advice would you give to a fellow camper if she were going to buy a new camp stove?

Video Critique

This is this the second video filmed, edited, and produced by The Outdoor Princess Productions and I’d LOVE your feed back on it. What did you like? What would we do better? Is it long enough or too long? Anything you can tell me about it will really help!