The Grey NATO – 149 – Summer Essentials
Published on Thu, 24 Jun 2021 06:00:39 -0400
Synopsis
Jason and Jason discuss their summer essentials, including clothing recommendations like bush shirts, swim trunks, and hiking boots. They cover gear like swim fins, hammocks, cookware, tents, Bluetooth speakers, and roadside assistance. Jason shares a remarkable story about a woman who survived falling nearly two miles from a plane crash in the Amazon. Jason plugs his brother Tim's new podcast "Single Serving Cinema" that analyzes specific scenes from movies.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason Heaton | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Gray Nado. It's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 149 and we thank you so much for listening. Hey Jason, how you doing? |
| Jason Stacey | Oh, I'm doing all right. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's uh... Yeah, good to hear. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah, it's uh... Oh, what's the weather like out there? Still summer. It's still summer, which thankfully, because that's the topic of today's episode is, is summer. And, uh, it's we've had a cool two days here, but now they're promising back to, uh, back to the eighties and nineties. So I think our, some of our recommendations here revolving around water are going to be welcome here in the next couple of days. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, it's kind of in the mid sixties here today, uh, which is fine. I don't, I don't mind it being a bit cooler, but I'm, recording this and we'll do the whole edit and get it online. And then I'm leaving for the cottage for the next few days. I'll work from up there. And I am, I am hoping that it gets nice and hot. Uh, as I have some swimming and some snorkeling, that's definitely on my mind. So. |
| Jason Stacey | Can you believe it's a, I mean, we're the end of the sixth month of the year. I mean, we're halfway through 2021 and I, I'm struck by how, you know, 2020 everybody was feeling like this is the year everybody just kind of hunkers down and, you know, rides it out. And I'm starting to feel like this year is, like holding pattern as well. I, you know, we're halfway through the year and I haven't stepped on a plane. I haven't done a road trip. I haven't, you know, and kind of ready to, you know, dip a toe at least outside, outside our garden here at some point. |
| Jason Heaton | So, yeah, I, I don't disagree. You know, the, I don't know how keen I am to get back on a plane right this minute or cross a border, which is a current, you know, currently an issue between Canada and the States, but A road trip sounds awfully nice. Yeah. And the East coast is Colin for sure. I think once it's like socially responsible to visit small communities. Yeah. I think that would be probably the move for me. And then if the borders open, maybe we can do a little, a little convoy. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And have you, I think I've asked you this before, but have you been out to the East coast Canada? |
| Jason Stacey | No, but I'd love to go. My parents actually took a bus trip out there a couple of summers ago and the photos they took looked amazing. The Maritimes and, Yeah. Uh, you know, Prince Edward Island and kind of that area just looks stunning. So I'd love to. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. That might be a nice, uh, end of summer, fall, early fall sort of move. Um, you know, I, I'm, it's, it's definitely, uh, further, uh, it's, it's a, it's a further drive than it is in my mind. You know, it's a long drive. I think that could be a good kind of, kickoff adventure. Uh, and, and certainly it would be fun to kind of record shows on the road and that sort of thing. |
| Jason Stacey | What kind of a drive would that be for you? I can't even imagine what for me, but yeah, it's gotta be 30 plus hours for what? For you. Wow. Okay. That's, that's a haul. I didn't realize. |
| Jason Heaton | 2300 kilometers. And that's not even to the ocean. That's too like a big, a big inlet, but you get, it's big. And that, you know, that really takes you deep into like, uh, central Eastern Quebec route. And then, and before you start actually, so there's a big chunk of that, that's almost due North. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, it's, it's plenty big, you know, it's, it's not quite the same as say going from, uh, from New York to, uh, to Providence or something like that. You're going roughly the same direction, but it's, it's an order of magnitude further. |
| Jason Stacey | So add it to the list that interior Del Fuego and Alaska. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Oh man. Yeah. Maybe someday. Yeah. And yeah, anything else new? We've got a brand new drop just before we started recording this. Tudor has announced a full bronze Tudor 58. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah, that's quite a piece, even the bracelet. That's going to be a heavy watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think it's probably a pretty heavy piece. And then on top of that, they've announced it's like they have a new bracelet or a new clasp that has some sort of an extension system. I won't go too deep into it because I'm actually getting to see the watch this afternoon. So I'll talk way more about it next week. Yeah. So it's an interesting thing because it's a boutique edition from my understanding, at least from what I've been told by Tudor and Rolex, there's only one Tudor boutique in North America and it's in Canada currently. So this watch is only going to be sold at a boutique. So they're going to be launching a boutique in New York, in the meatpacking district. Uh, but until then, I, I, I guess Toronto is one of the few spots where you can see this. So I'll get to go see it this afternoon. I'm pretty excited to see them if they've evolved that class in the image of the class looks quite different than the standard, but not in any way where you can see any, it's not like the Pelagos where you have that little window to the spring mechanism, but it definitely looks to be an updated design. And if they've made it with some micro dress or even some flex, you know, just so if you get a bit of swell or, or. your wrist is at a weird angle. Right. I think that could be a pretty good addition. Something I hope, you know, migrates to the rest of the line, but yeah. |
| Jason Stacey | Strange watch to launch that on that, uh, that feature kind of, kind of the, the least likely version to be dived. I mean, I'm sure, like you said, it'll trickle down to the others. I would think. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I would think so. And, and otherwise it's a, yeah, full bronze. It's a very Goldie tone on the, on the website, uh, but more Brown than yellow. And then, uh, the bezel and the dial are, exclusively brown. It's a very brown affair, uh, all things considered, uh, but a good looking thing. And I believe it's the first, certainly the first 58 to have the nine, three, six markers, numeric markers versus, you know, cause we've seen that on the other, the 43 millimeter bronze versions. Um, but I believe this is the first 58 to get a dial like that. I don't think I'm forgetting any like one watch options or stuff like that. So, If you have any specific questions, you can always drop them to thegraynadoatgmail.com. We'll be seeing the watch this afternoon and I'll be more than happy to chat about it next week. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take some pictures as well. |
| Jason Stacey | Wow. You've been busy on the watch front. I've seen your name on a few posts on Hodinkee lately. You had the Serica, which had great photos. I mean, that watch is bewitching. I mean, I look at that. I think a lot of people had the same reaction. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah it's a weird thing but it is a great example of weird good. The lack of a dial signature, the uncommon marker placement, the twin scale bezel, that mesh bracelet with the intermediary links. Oh and the other thing that they corrected me on is I was doing it that it was 1200 euros and so the US price would be 1200 euros converted to US, but it's actually just 1200 US as well. So not a bad deal because you're not doing the VAT thing. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So at $1,200, I thought it was more like almost $1,500. At $1,200, I'm even more impressed. Yeah. Yeah. Even just on the basis of I've spent more on that on my Seiko SPB. Right. I would say that this has what appears to be a nicer movement. It's a Swiss, uh, Sopra Newton, which is a kind of a brand new format. Uh, but it definitely is better shock protection and, and, uh, it's, it's, uh, regulated to keep much better time than a Seiko six R. Yeah. Uh, and then on top of that, you know, I would say the finishing is at least equal. Um, and, and it's a more kind of unique appeal. Yeah. you know, I think if you want the generalist, you might lean towards the SPB. If you want some, if you have a bunch of other dive watches or another other watches in general, or if you like to wear a dive watch in a somewhat more elegant or dressy scenario, I think these are probably a pretty good option. I think, and they look great. And the fact that the, there's this weird confidence to not putting Sarica huge across the dial. Yeah. Just having it tucked down at the, at the lower markers kind of fun. So yeah, like I said, on, on a previous episode, pretty, pretty impressed by that one. And It was nice of the Serka guys to send both for photos and the rest. And then speaking of sending both for photos, I didn't want to talk about it because of the value of these being in my home, but I did get a short loan for all three of the MB&F LM101s. So not really a great NATO sort of watch, but please check them out if you're into kind of watches in general. If you're only a tool watch head, these aren't going to speak to you, but I just think they are the most delightful kind of fun-loving, fanciful. I just think I love MB&F. I really, really do. Yeah. |
| Jason Stacey | They really get a pass in terms of, you know, being a non-TGN brand, I think they get a pass because I think there's just, you can sense the enthusiasm and that just the pure love for mechanical, you know, sort of wonder in all of their watches. And I can never see myself even wearing an MB&F, but I love the people around the brand. I like holding them in my hand. I like talking to them about them. And the LM has always been my, kind of the one I gravitate towards. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, for sure. And with the 101 still being 40 millimeters, this is the wearable one. You know, most of the other LMs are based on 44 millimeter platforms. This is 44. It's not super thick. There's a lot of dome to the crystal. So it's like, I think it's the kind of thing you would want to watch around door frames, that kind of thing. Yeah. Maybe keep it under a cuff. Sometimes I actually did. The truth is that I'm not actually sure how I would wear a watch like this. If I was fortunate enough to own one. Yeah. Because if I was in the financial position, I would want one. Yeah. I'd like them. I liked them that much. I don't really know what the financial position is where you have 60 grand plus to spend on a watch. I just don't like, the numbers don't make any sense to me. There's at least one zero more or two zeros more than I'm prepared. Yeah. You know, to, to think about in terms of how it relates to the rest of my financial situation. |
| Jason Stacey | Just add two zeros to your current income. And that's probably, that's where you'd have to be. |
| Jason Heaton | Then we're, then we do it. Um, but I think if I had like, especially in the steel, it only took, you know, the weird thing is, is it has this kind of, um, springy clasp. It's this really kind of complicated, double fold spring action class. And once you figure out the sizing and how that sits on your wrist, yeah, it's, they're weirdly comfortable. And then if I sat still in an area that didn't have any hard objects around me, like on my couch, uh, nothing I could bang the watch against at all. I was able to relax long enough to just enjoy the experience of, of having this and actually like glancing down to actually check the time is kind of weird. Cause if you're watching a movie or something, you forget what's up, that you have something like this on your wrist. Right. |
| Jason Stacey | Reach over for your beer and clang it on the side table. |
| Jason Heaton | But well, I was just like, you, you glanced down to check the time. When you look at the watch, all you get is the animation of that giant balance wheel, 14 millimeter balance wheel right in the center. And you almost have to go like mentally look past that to see the time. Yeah. Um, it's, uh, they're wonderful things, please. If, if, if it's a, if it's something you want to closer look at, uh, I did my absolute best with the images and, uh, and put a bunch of them in the post. So check that out. If you, uh, if you've got a few minutes and you're keen on seeing something genuinely special from the, the world of sort of independent, super high end watchmaking. Yeah. Very cool. What else has, uh, you know, been on your plate for the last week? Anything, uh, anything fun or exciting? |
| Jason Stacey | Well, yeah, I mean, we, We get a lot of bird activity in our garden this summer and been spending a lot of time out there, especially in the mornings. And, uh, you know, since we talked last week about our perfect product episode, and I was talking about my, my old Nikon F3, I, I dug out, I have this 300 millimeter F4. It's a prime lens that I got at a, uh, like a tent sale at like a swap meet sort of thing at a camera shop years ago. And so I put this long lens on, on the Nikon and I, I mounted it on a tripod and just kind of sat in the yard and just kind of was taking photos of birds. And I was like, the aperture was making kind of a funny noise, kind of a hollow rattly sound in the lens. And, um, I took it off the camera and kind of turned the aperture ring and looked inside and the aperture doesn't move. Um, and, but this is one of the, this is an older lens, but it has the ability to let the body, you know, change the aperture and it has a CPU connection. So, um, one of the early, kind of autofocus, uh, long lenses, I think from, from Nikon and, and something's wrong with the manual aperture ring setting. So, uh, you know, it's stuck at, you know, fully closed down. It's stuck at F 32, which, you know, bright sunlight is fine. But, uh, you know, I was like, why, you know, why is the light meter like sensing that it's darker than I think it is judging by the aperture that I've got it set at. So now I'm, I'm thinking, you know, it's an old lens. I don't think I paid much for it. I might try to, you know, take it apart and, you know, find a YouTube video or some website or something and just tinker with it. It's, it's kind of, I've got, you know, some watchmaking tweezers and screwdrivers and that sort of thing. Assuming I can get parts for it. Um, I'm sure it's fixable. The aperture is right at the top of the lens. And, uh, you know, if it's just a, some sort of a small plastic or a little metal part that I can order somewhere, uh, maybe I'll do that. And if I, if I can't, then it was a fun experiment. And if anyone out there is, is, you know, proficient or experienced in fixing old lenses and has any clues about this, certainly get in touch, whether thegraynado at gmail.com or you can DM me on Instagram or something and let me know. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that'd be great. First shameless plug for the Substack. You can also leave it in the comments for the show notes on our new Substack. That's where all the show notes live. You can have them delivered to your inbox if you subscribe. A lot of you already have, and we're very appreciative of that. So that's notes.thegraynado.com or thegraynado.substack.com. You can also just get there via the first link in the kind of more info in the feed on your podcast app. We'll take you right there if that's what you want. But if you subscribe, you get the whole range of the notes. You get whatever images we drop in the notes. You also get a player for the show. It's a pretty simple thing. And yeah, we hope you find some value in that. And if you get any ideas, be sure to drop them in the comments. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah, we'd love to see the comments that are already showing up for the past couple of episodes. And I think I'd love to see more people migrate there because I think it engages the larger community rather than only the emails that just you and I see, which are fine, but it's great to kind of get that interplay between different listeners that write in. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I totally agree. The emails and the DMs are good, but they are kind of siloed. Yeah. And, um, and once you get into the comments, even if, if Jason and I might take, uh, you know, a couple hours or a day to get back to you, you'll find other people are already in there. I, you know, took a day where I wasn't tracking the email. That guy didn't have the tab open. And I dropped back in and saw like 15 comments had come in and they were all, you know, people with their own, sort of perspective on photography and film photography and the stuff from the last episode. So yeah, I'm absolutely loving it. Um, you know, the, the turnout's been good so far, but, uh, yeah, if you, if you'd like, uh, the easiest and most, uh, kind of feature rich way of interacting with the notes, then, uh, notes.thegrenado.com. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. How about you? Anything else new before we jump into a risk check? |
| Jason Heaton | Oh yeah. One other thing I wanted to mention because it's my understanding this product is now discontinued or, or, will soon be discontinued is some of you know, in past episodes, I've talked about kind of dipping my toe into higher end audio, whether it be speakers or otherwise. And thanks to some Reddit threads and then some reviews that I read, I came across what I think might kind of be the Seiko SKX007 or Seiko 5 of open back headphones. So open back where it's not really sealing the sound over your ears. Um, the, the speakers there and it allows air, uh, kind of around. So it's a little bit more of an old school design in some ways, not, not specifically, but in some ways it's more of an old school design and they're very popular because the sound has a very large presence. It seems to come from a wider area than, you know, I'm wearing the Sony XM threes I've talked about before. And that's, these are kind of the opposite. Yeah. Um, so any, anyways, I picked up the, it's a brand is Phillips, And if you're a headphone guy and you're rolling your eyes really hard here, my plan is to start more at this price point and move forward into nicer stuff and kind of become an expert slowly if I can. Yeah. But with the with these, it's the Philips SPH 9500. They're big 50 millimeter drivers. And, you know, they're a little over 100 bucks U.S. I think I paid 140. I've since also bought a pair for my dad. 32 ohm impedance means you can power them really well off of a phone or a laptop. So no, no real worries with needing to buy an amp or the rest. So far, I'm just blown away. You know, the sound quality, I'd give it maybe like a six or a seven out of 10 compared to some of the expensive stuff that I've listened to before. The nicer Sennheisers, even Sennheisers up into say a couple thousand dollars. But for the money, It's a really good option. Um, especially if you like music, that's a little bit more treble forward, uh, classical folk, that sort of thing. I think if you want a lot of bass, this might not be where you'd land, or you might want to find a way of using an EQ to balance that out. These are kind of like end of the day, you want to sit and listen to an album. Um, anyone in the room with you will be able to hear the music. They don't, they're not isolating in any way. And if there's any noise in the room, you're going to be able to hear that as well. Which is okay sometimes. I think it's fine. You know, I can't use them to record this podcast because you would hear Jason's voice coming out of the headphones and going back into the mic. Right. It depends on the usage, but if you want that kind of old school, big headphones, crazy comfortable, they don't weigh that much. They're nicely padded. They have a double padding, like, um, a suspended pad for the top of your head. Uh, you know, they're not, they're not going to pack into your bag for a flight. They're huge. Oh yeah. Uh, but they sound really nice and they give you that impression of a really nice open space where the, where the audio is coming from, which feels a little bit less digital. Uh, so if you're in the market for a new pair of headphones or if you want to, you know, maybe listen to your albums after your kids have gone to bed and the speakers are too loud. Um, I think this is a good starting point. I don't think it's going to be anyone's like, I bought these and I never want another pair of headphones. I think you can spend even just into five or $600 and you go up a big step into the Sennheiser, the 660s, stuff like that. But I wanted to see what was there and kind of well-loved. And you know, you have the SPH-9500s, you have the Grotto 60s and 80s. But yeah, I'll drop these in the show notes. It's not like, I don't know, it's not really in the vein of what we normally talk about, but I've been very excited about them. So I wanted to kind of throw it in there. if you go into your music player of choice and just bring the treble down, uh, they get, in my opinion, quite a bit better. Huh? |
| Jason Stacey | Nice. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Cool. How about a wrist track? |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah, let's do that. So today's episode is about summer and you know, the watch I wore almost exclusively last summer, at least past July when I first got it was the, uh, the Aquastar Deepstar, the, with the kind of the sunburst silver dial and, um, I hadn't worn it in, I don't know a couple of months I've been on this sort of Seiko kick lately and I took the Deepstar out and gave it a wind yesterday and put it on and I remember why I love love it so much and I've got it on the Matt Supreme from Crown & Buckle and it's just I just love this watch I love the case shape and the big eye you know reverse panda configuration and the funky you know Aquastar text on the dial I mean there's just nothing I don't like about this watch I think it's I think it'll be on my wrist for at least the next few days. |
| Jason Heaton | That's great. Yeah. I've been wearing the Garmin basically all week. I'm using the sleep tracking to try and get my sleep back in order. How's that working? Not your sleep, but the tracking. Yeah. The tracking, the sleep is okay. I went through a pretty extended bout of insomnia a little while ago and that seems to be subsiding hopefully. Yeah. The, the tracking has been helpful. I can't tell how accurate it always is because sometimes I know that I was awake for an hour from two to three, but because I wasn't moving around the watch doesn't know. Oh yeah. But like if you get up to get a glass of water in the middle of the night, you see, you can see that in the little breakdown. Sure. And, and it is kind of, I think it's probably more helpful if I was also sticking to a good exercise routine where the sleep then speaks to their body battery measurement, then they make suggestions for what, what type of workout and for how long and what intensity. Yeah. Um, so I, I think at some point I might not be actualizing all of the various tips and tricks that this watch can do, but anyways, I was wearing that. And then, and then I knew I wanted something that wasn't, uh, the, the garment to talk about for risk check and that I would probably also bring a dive watch up to the cottage. And I figured I would grab the deep star. And then I saw that you'd put the deep star in in there, so I figured I'd pick something else, and I wanted to go summery, so I ended up with the Doxa Sub 350th Anniversary Sea Rambler. Oh, that's a good summer watch. Yeah, great summer watch. Oh, yeah. I haven't been wearing this one a lot lately, but I strapped it on. I've got it on kind of a faded leather, kind of distressed leather strap. Yeah. And it doesn't... In my mind, this pairing shouldn't work, and I just love it. It's super comfortable. This watch always makes me smile. It is absolutely one of my favorite watches. Yeah. And, uh, and especially since, you know, I recently parted ways with the professional, uh, went to a friend of ours, uh, which I'm quite happy about. Um, and, and it makes me love this one even more. I had my time with the pro. Um, I could see my way into a pro, maybe the carbon at some point in the future. Cause I still, I look at that carbon about once a week for now, this is all the docs that I need. It just, it wears so good. It takes, it takes so many different straps so well. Yeah. And, uh, yeah. Uh, you know, we've talked about both of these watches a lot, so we don't have to belabor the, uh, the risk check, but yeah, a sweet deep star and a Doxa sub and, and, uh, both watches are, uh, the result of both, uh, coming out of Rick Mirai's mind, uh, as, as recreations of, uh, of original, uh, sort of watches from a long time ago. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. Rick does a great job hats off, buddy. He sure does. That's great. And I think they're equally fitting watches for today's main topic. You know, I think we've done this, I don't know how many years we've done this. Is this our second time of doing kind of a summer essentials? I feel like we've tackled this before. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think we did a summer EDC or something similar. Yeah. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. But I, you know, I don't know why it just kind of popped up. I mean, here we are near the end of June and, uh, you know, the heat, the heat is on so to speak. And, and, you know, you're off to the cottage and we're, we're hoping to get a road trip, uh, the road trip we had to cancel. We're hoping to kind of reboot that one here sometime soon. And I think, you know, there's just a lot of cool, gear that kind of enhances the summer experience. So we wanted to kind of inventory that stuff, kind of some of our favorites. |
| Jason Heaton | So it's a little, maybe a little bit more loose than what we did last time, where this is kind of what we're the sort of kit that we're relying on to get the most out of summer. Yeah. Basically, you know, to try and avoid some of the pitfalls and make sure that we have what we need to, uh, to enjoy the, the, the nice hot weather. So I don't know, Jason, you want to start to like toe to tip. You want to just kind of go randomly. What do you, what are you feeling? |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. I don't know quite where to, where to start. I guess, I guess clothing maybe is a good place to start. We can move into gear after that. I mean, I, you know, I guess one, one go-to, uh, in terms of my clothing for the past decade, I would say is I'm really into these, uh, for lack of a kind of a more official term, uh, something you'd call like a bush shirt. Um, not a safari shirt that reminds me of like Roger Moore in the seventies, but you know, like, um, you know, a shirt where you can kind of roll up the sleeves and kind of cinch it with a button at the bicep. Um, yeah, for sure. I like that style of shirt and I've got, gosh, well over probably a dozen of them in different configurations. I've got a couple from, from Eddie Bauer and I don't know that they still sell them. I bet they do. Uh, they're a couple of them have like a, a plaid pattern and different kind of brighter colors, but they're made of a really quick dry material. Um, I just wear them untucked. I wear them. I keep kind of keep the sleeves rolled up all the time. But, um, I've also got a couple from Orvis that are kind of the old school true Bush shirt that are made of that like khaki cotton twill. Um, that's a little heavier. |
| Jason Heaton | That duck cloth or whatever. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. Yeah. And I love those. They've even got the epaulets on the shoulders and like they, they, they look the business, but, I like that style of shirt for, for summer because you know, you can wear it with shorts, you can wear it with pants, you can dress it up if you're, you know, we went to like a graduation gathering this past weekend and I wore one and you know, I wear it, I wear it kayaking and hiking, you know, all these shirts because they're so versatile. I mean, you can kind of jack up the, the collar to kind of keep the sun off your neck or roll the sleeves down if the bugs get bad, but the, they, they look nice, but they're also just pretty bombproof. You got pockets on the, on the chest for storing, you know, sunglasses or, I kind of live in these things all summer, unless it's like just straight up t-shirt kind of lounging in the, in the yard sort of situation. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I absolutely agree with this one. And the interesting thing is the, the one that you had suggested to me for Clipperton, Eddie Bauer doesn't make any more, but they make kind of a new version of it that I think I like more, but I have one that I bought for Clipperton and it is, it's this weird synthetic material that isn't shiny like athleisure, Yeah. It has this sort of normal mat. I bought like a, you know, like a khaki green and it has a back vent. So there's some mesh in the back that allows it to breathe out. Yeah. But then it has a little cover. So that's not like an area where that's where the sun gets through. Yeah. But the idea is that you have, yeah, the sleeves that can go all the way up a secure pocket for like a passport or something you would don't want pickpocketed. Yeah. The idea is it dries really quickly. It has sun protection built in and it's the idea is it keeps you cool because you're not sweltering in the sun. And I got to say, you know, I made the mistake of, of putting that on and then not wearing gloves as well when I was on Clipperton, as ridiculous as that sounds. But I can, I'll see if I can find the photo. My hands, the backs of my hands were like purple, the sunburn. And then the back of my neck got the same, but everything under that shirt did really well. And I know I've, I've mentioned this tip before on the show, but keep in mind a lot of these clothes, And I think this would include these shirts. It definitely includes the guide pro pants from Eddie Bauer. If they're wet, they don't block the sun. |
| Jason Stacey | Oh, interesting. |
| Jason Heaton | Okay. Like for me, like summer shirts, yeah, are definitely t-shirts for the most part, but you want that somewhat better layer. This is also better protection for ticks, right? If that's an issue where you are, cause you can bring the cuff all the way down, um, to your, to your wrist and give yourself a little bit more protection. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. Given the lack of a, of an Eddie Bauer option, you know, Let's face it, a lot of the stuff we're going to recommend, I mean, a lot of the stuff I've got on my list is stuff I've had for over a decade. So some of it might not be currently available in the same form. But where I started years ago was with Columbia and Columbia, you know, they make these kind of billowy fishing style shirts with that big flap in the back. I've never cared for the look of that, but they do make another one called the silver Ridge 2.0 long sleeve shirt. And then we'll put a link for that one in. And it comes in like, you know, 10 colors. Um, And that one's a little trimmer fitting. I think it looks a little nicer, kind of has the same concept that we're talking about. And, uh, right. And then Orvis makes these, uh, these great Bush shirts and different materials. So, you know, those are two good options, but you know, that's, that's kind of my, my main go-to for, for summer, whether it's with, uh, you know, any sort of shorts or whatever. I mean, I wear them on dive trips and I wear them backpacking and kayaking and everything. So that's kind of my, my number one clothing tip. |
| Jason Heaton | And we'll put all the links in the show notes for all these, but the Eddie Bauer one is called the guide long sleeve shirt. Cool. |
| Jason Stacey | Let's, let's just bounce back and forth. I mean, I don't know. Let's maybe start with clothing. What do you got? |
| Jason Heaton | Uh, yeah. So I wanted to talk shoes. Yeah. Cause I have kind of two methodologies. I recently became something of a sandal man, but I still don't like, I still don't like my bare feet in public. It's a little bit different if I'm in and around the cottage, that's less of an issue for me. but I did buy a pair of those vegan Birkenstocks. Yeah. I don't necessarily care if they're vegan or not. I guess that's fine. I'm not against it, but they are the cheaper version. And I bought a pair and they're all green and you don't really have to break them in. I think I paid maybe 60 bucks Canadian for them. And I highly recommend them, you know, a standard pair of the two strap Birkenstocks are, you know, maybe double that price, a hundred bucks probably in the States. a little bit more up here. Uh, and I like these quite a bit as you're, as, as if you want sandals, I don't find them amazing for driving stick. Yeah. Uh, you know, I, I tend to flop them off and go barefoot in that scenario, which is wonderful. |
| Jason Stacey | I love, I love driving a stick shift car barefoot. It's, it's a wonderful, it's the best. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I think it might be a little bit illegal in Canada. I'm not sure if you're allowed to do that. But I do. I agree. There is something, there is something about a clutch actuation without a shoe on. It's quite nice. And, and it gives me a whole level of, a whole new level of respect for women who occasionally drive stick cars with the heels. That's a, that's a very impressive move for sure. The other one I really like, and this is typically, I will save a pair of shoes is when I have a cheaper pair of shoe, that's kind of near the end of its life. Um, I I'll pull the laces out of it and then I'll wear that for the summer just as, uh, uh, you know, without socks, it'll destroy the shoe. And then it's also not a shoe you would want to, you know, take off in a closed space. It might not smell that great, but as a knock around shoe, uh, not only are you not going to end up with, um, the burn, the foot burn, uh, from the sun, uh, it gives you a little bit more sun protection, but it's also just a little bit more comfortable and you don't pick up all the road debris that, uh, sandals tend to pick up. Right. Uh, so I I've been doing this for, for years where whether it's an old pair of Chuck Taylor's right now, I've got a pair of like leather, uh, sneakers from banana Republic that I bought a couple of years ago. I think I bought them on a whim because I needed a, a second pair of shoes when I was in Miami in, uh, early, uh, 2019. And they're at the end of their life. Now, you know, they've, I've done the magic eraser. I'm not going to get these back to the point where they look really presentable. So I just pulled the laces out of them. and that you can slip in and out of them pretty easily. I've never really been a fan of the, the look of like slips. Yeah. Yeah. You know, shoot shoes without the, without the laces or whatever. Yeah. Like the slip. Exactly. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | If you can pull them off, that's fine on my feet due to the size of me and the size of my feet, they look typically like clown shoes. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I, I do avoid it. I like a shoe that has a little bit more width than those typically do. Um, but yeah, that, that's a, that would be my tip as far as shoes go. Yeah. Uh, anything to add for shoes? Any faves? Yeah. |
| Jason Stacey | I mean, I, you know, I, I'm a known sort of Blundstone fan, which I do wear still regularly in the summer for like gardening and kind of heavier duty work. But, uh, I'm a huge fan of, uh, the brand Palladium for boots. These are, um, uh, I guess the history of them is they were made for the French foreign Legion, um, kind of back in the forties and fifties, um, from repurposed, Uh, like airplane tire treads or something for the soles. And then it's, it's a canvas upper, almost like a heavier canvas version of like a Chuck Taylor with a cap, rubber toe, and then a thick lug sole. And they have a very unique look and you can actually get them in low cut. So you don't have to get the ankle high ones if you don't want. Um, but I've always liked the ankle high ones. They have a real sort of jungle boot look. Um, they weigh, they're like a military Chuck Taylor. Yeah. And they, they weigh next to nothing. They're cool. And they're washable. Like you can toss them in the wash cause they're canvas and rubber. They can get, you know, they don't keep water out. They're not terribly supportive, but you know, like when we go to Sri Lanka, like I'm usually in, in, you know, sandals or boat shoes or something there. But like one time we went, we did some kind of jungly hiking stuff there and I brought these cause they're perfect. They've got this lug soul that's super grippy. Um, but they, you know, they don't weigh anything and they're also, pretty breathable. So, you know, I don't know, these have been around forever and they're not that expensive, you know, a hundred bucks or less for some of their styles. And they've got a ton of styles and colors and things. So you can choose from all sorts, but I'm a, I'm a, I'm a big fan of these if you don't mind lacing up a pair of shoes. But like you, I guess, you know, you can just leave them loose and you can even roll down the top cause it's such a flimsy sort of canvas that, that it kind of works that way too. So. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I've always been curious on these, and I don't think I've ever just come across a pair in store. Yeah, they're hard to find. I should try and hunt them down and see if anyone carries them up here in Toronto. They definitely look cool, and they look super packable as well. Yeah, yeah. A lot of the images on Instagram and stuff are people folding them. Right, right. Very pliable shoes. Yeah, yeah. All right, so let's say that shoe's then sorted. Where do you land on hats? |
| Jason Stacey | Well, as you know, and I think we even went on a little quest when I was visiting you in Vancouver, I, I've always been looking for like the perfect boonie hat, you know, I I've got a ton of kind of baseball style caps, you know, with whether it's a trucker cap with, with mesh or, or, you know, the sub mechanophilia caps that I was selling and, you know, various sort of cotton baseball style caps. But I always want like something with more of a full brim. And I do have kind of a bigger floppy wide brim hat that I use for real sun intensive activities, but a boonie hat kind of splits the difference. And I like the look of them. These are kind of the style of military style. You sort of picture, you know, the guys in, uh, in Vietnam or in Afghanistan with the kind of a, it's not a super wide brim and it has a very kind of flat crown, but it's surprisingly hard to find just the right fit. And I've asked a lot of people, some, some of whom are listeners, uh, if they have any recommendations and the closest I've come is from triple aught design, uh, or tad. which, you know, makes some beautiful stuff and they actually make it in the U S and they have one called the scout RS boonie hat. Uh, and I picked up one of these, uh, last year and it kind of works, especially now that I chopped off my, my horrible pandemic ponytail hair. Um, it fits much better on my, on my shorn head, but it's, it's a great, it's a great cap and it's got a kind of a rim or a ring of mesh for breathability. It has sort of the molly style kind of I've never I don't have anything yet that I need to put up there But you know if you wanted to clip branches for Covert insertions or I suppose fishing lures or whatever you want to put up there It's got a drawstring that you can put around your your chin if you need it to stay on if you're on a boat Or something like that, but so far. I'm pretty happy with it. I'm still I'm still not a hundred percent sold I still kind of feel like there's a better one out there, but Um, that's kind of my recommendation if you don't want to go the full baseball style cap all the time. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I wear the, I wear the one I bought when I was out with you that day at, um, at Gorilla Surplus in Vancouver. And it's made by one of those kind of generic recon plus or something like that. Like a military name. It, I think it was $20, maybe it was 15 bucks. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | It wasn't expensive, but I've been wearing that. I like it. I look ridiculous in it. Um, so I don't like it a lot, but I do like it. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | And it's certainly good when it's a really sunny day, because obviously being something, it's basically like a bucket hat, like a military version of a bucket hat. So it does a decent job of keeping the sun off of your face. And then the drawstring is stupid as even, let's make a dumb look, look even worse. But if I'm driving the Jeep and I take the roof panels off, not only are you going to get a sunburn, but the wind in there is enough to take a hat away from you. So I can either crank down one of my Pedro and Taylor hats, or I can use the drawstring on this one and it might even save my ears as well. But yeah, my, my go-to for really, since they came out are those Pedro and Taylor kind of corduroy style hats. Oh yeah. We've talked about them in the past. We'll put them in. I've got one in every color and I just, I just absolutely love them. They're perfect. Yeah. They seem to break in really nicely. The tan one I have is got motor oil on it and obviously sweat and sunscreen and the rest. And I still think I kind of dig the way it looks and they're just very comfortable. and nicely made. So that would be my suggestion. And I, if you're, if you're a gentleman of a, of a large head, uh, also a good option, you know, there's a lot of hats I've been given or, or hoped to wear. And then no, no, not so much, uh, which is you'll remember was our issue with, uh, with trying to pick a, a boonie was trying to find one. Do you have a double XL? Uh, but yeah, so that, that's where I land on, on, um, on hats. Uh, let's see. |
| Jason Stacey | What about the bottom half of your body? You, you were, you were zip off pants, do wear shorts, uh, swim trunks all the time. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm a big fan. Usually this time of year, maybe more like may I'll order one or two pairs of like banana Republic's kind of linen, simple shorts, you know, not very long. Uh, I don't do the zip off thing that much. You know, if I, if I have, um, if I have need to wear pants, I'll just, have a pair of pants, you know, we have, I have a couple really amazing pairs of kind of adventure style pants, you know, maybe with a, with a hip pocket or a thigh pocket from Neurona. Yeah. And, and so I've been using those plenty. And the nice thing about those is if you're moving around and quite active, they, they stretch in all the ways you'd want them to. So it's handier than wearing say a light pair of jeans. Yeah. But when it comes to shorts, I really don't go overboard. I tend to destroy them. Uh, you know, I, I think the ones I bought last year, again, like my hat are covered in motor oil and sunscreen from my kids. And I don't really want like, if it's $18 for a pair, I'll buy a couple of pairs, probably a pair of green by parent blue. And I'm pretty much done for the year. And if they happen to survive the summer without rips and stains, neither so far have I just patched them and move on. Yeah. That's, that's kind of my thinking. I've, I've never really, I haven't found a home for shorts the way that I have with like I kind of have specific pants that I like and just keep buying. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, and I haven't really gotten there with, uh, with shorts. How about you? |
| Jason Stacey | Well, I was going to suggest, you know, you know, a good pair of board shorts or like Patagonia that makes the, what they call the baggies, um, that go in and out of water. Oh, those are so nice. Really easily. They're a little, they're not the most flattering look. Kashani hates when I wear them. They're real short as well. It's a, it's a, it's a thigh game in a big way. Yeah. But, Um, I just this just occurred to me given our love of eddie bauer guide pants I have like three pairs of their guide pro shorts which are like the pants, but they um They're shorts and they have a really a great fit. I'm gonna drop the uh, I'm gonna drop a Link in here so we can put them in the show notes, but um, they're they're superb and you know They wear just like the guide pro pants. They're they're super light. They dry fast um, they move with you really well and you know if i'm not feeling like I want to wear, you know, linen pants or cotton shorts or something, um, you know, to, to look presentable in a social setting. I, I, I wear these and, and, uh, and they're super versatile. They've got a thigh pocket and they're a little bit longer cut, but they're kind of slimmer fitting. So they kind of move with you. And, um, so I, I think, you know, Patagonia baggies for, you know, kind of just pull on, jump off the dock sort of stuff. But for, if you're going to be doing anything else, you know, hiking or whatever, I think these guide pro shorts are the go-to move. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. The, the baggies are a good call. And even if you look at the baggies and you go, look, I don't want to wear a pair of kind of billowy five inch inseam shorts that were clearly designed for a guy who basically lives on a piece of rock all summer. Yeah. And, and it's just gristle and bone and tendon. Yeah. Um, if that's not quite your speed, Patagonia makes other really nice shorts. I've had, I've owned at least two great bathing suits from them where the material was really nicely made. And, um, and yeah, I'm, I'm, I've been really happy with their stuff. So I know they make the baggies in other lengths if you don't want quite that much thigh on display. So I would definitely say if you're in the vein of shorts or especially that world of it's shorts, but you could easily also use them for swimming. Like I'm not going to, I'm not going to go swimming in a pair of linen shorts from banana Republic. Right. But the baggies, that's almost what they're made for, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Doing some strenuous activity and then jumping in a river. Yeah. So that's a good option as well. Uh, what about a t-shirts? I think this can be a quick one. Cause we're, we're pretty much on record when it comes to t-shirts. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. I mean, you know, lately it's been the, uh, the standard age, uh, which is so nice. And I, I managed to squirt a 90 weight gear oil all over the front of it. Uh, like the second time I wore it, But it's surprisingly kind of washed out, but it's still, it's still sort of smells like gear oil, which seems fitting for a shirt that comes from a kind of a car themed company. But other than that, I'm a big fan of Mack Weldon. They, they sell some really nice, they're really lightweight, kind of have a bit of a sheen to them, like t-shirts. They're just like a V-neck t-shirt come in all different colors. They have a lot of sales every now and then. And, but I also like long sleeve stuff for, for summer sometimes, like if it's not scorching hot. you know, like if I'm hiking or kind of doing any sort of paddling or anything out in the sun, I do like, um, like a long sleeve sort of sun shirt. I don't know. Again, I, I go back to Patagonia and they make a kind of a nice, uh, um, it's not quite a rash guard. It's, it's a looser fit, but it's, it's kind of UV protective and, and you know, quick, quick dry. And those are, those are pretty fantastic as well. |
| Jason Heaton | And for me, the only stuff I would add would of course be the kill Huber shirts, which I live in. Yeah. And, um, and then their stuff is just really nice and not that expensive. And some of it, um, I've owned, I have a couple of shirts from them where when I bought them, I thought, Oh, I get a season, you know, maybe this'll wash 25 or 30 times and then it'll start to be threadbare. And they don't, they just get softer and softer and softer. So they're, they're chambray stuff in their linen stuff. I've been very impressed with in the past. And that gives you an option where if you're just going to wear shorts and kick around a linen shirts, great. But if you had to, put on a pair of slacks and a belt and go to a meeting or whatever, the same shirt's going to be fine. And you're going to be more comfortable in it. Yeah. Which I like. So the, I definitely, you know, forever, I'll be wearing the, the kill hubris shirts. Uh, I do for another, another run of, uh, of, of an order. I've been impressed cause they last, you know, several years for most of them. So that stuff's been good. |
| Jason Stacey | I was going to say, I've got a, I've got kind of a, you know, kind of switching gears a little bit to, to sort of the way you'd use a pair of, you know, baggies and a, and a, long sleeve kind of sun shirt is, is the whole jumping off the dock thing. I mean, we talk about that a lot as one of the, kind of the archetypes of summer activities. And, and I'm going to throw something out there, uh, when it comes to swimming and these are, these are swim fins. And I think I talked about these a couple of years ago on the show, but I'll bring them up again. You know, we're, we're both divers and there's certainly, you know, free diving fins and scuba diving fins and whatever, but, but I stumbled upon some swim fins a few years ago. when I started doing some open water lake swimming around here. And there's a company called DaFin, D-A and then F-I-N out of Hawaii that makes these, these swim fins that the lifeguards use. And they're, they're really stubby and short and just rubber. And they just have a simple heel strap that you just sort of pull around that's integrated into the, into the fin. And you just stick your bare foot in it and pull the, uh, pull the strap around your heel and jump in the water. And they give you a surprising amount of, propulsion if you're, if you're just kind of, you know, front crawling across a lake. Um, you know, I've taken them to kind of cabin trips where we're sitting on the dock and you want to do a little light snorkeling or just kind of kick around the lake and, and because they're so small, they pack well into a bag. They can, you know, that those, um, heel straps work really well to come with a big carabiner just on the back of outside of a backpack. Um, And, and they're just fun and, and Duffin makes them in, you know, a rainbow of colors that just kind of look kind of old school. And, uh, you know, I mean, I've got a basement full of different kinds of fins, but these are the ones that I really like to, to travel with and just sort of take if, if you're not doing any hardcore diving, um, those are in a dive mask or like all you need for, for kind of like lake activities. |
| Jason Heaton | I look a little bit ridiculous when I do the snorkeling at the cottage because I'm using my oceanic split fins. Yeah. Oh yeah. And to wear, to wear those, you have to wear boots as well, right? Like it's a full booted fin with, with, um, big spring straps and it weighs a ton. So it's nice. Cause it gives me a, um, it lets me kind of float having them, having them on in the water. But, uh, I think these look incredible. My, my only reply to, to the, if you want to do the snorkel diving mask and everything is, um, if you don't have the mask, like if you're starting from zero, I really recommend, uh, checking with your local dive shop. Uh, obviously that's a business that would have been hit hard over the last year and a half. So we don't just want to send people to Amazon. Yeah. Uh, check with your local dive shop. Usually they will have a kit. Generally, most dive shops will carry a brand called Cressy, which, um, Cressy has an immense range. They make some of the nicest masks out there, but they also make some of the cheapest, perfectly fine for 10 or 15 scoop snorkels a summer. Yeah. I wouldn't stretch. I wouldn't be too concerned. And Jason, you can, you can correct me on this. Cause you have more experience. I've dove with, I think only with Cressy masks through my diving history, usually with ones in their higher ish range, a hundred dollars for the mask. But recently when I went to buy, I broke my mask when I was on Clipperton and I needed another one. And when I did that, uh, I bought, uh, um, a mask and a snorkel set from Cressy. That was only like, I think, 45 bucks. Oh, sure. Yeah. And the mask fits, which is basically all that matters to me. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | You know that it's not uncomfortable on my face and the rest is basically how you treat the lens. So it doesn't fog. Right. Right. And if you, if you, if you get that right, the toothpaste treatment and then use some antifog when you're actually out, especially on hot days, then I think you can get a lot from this. And I was going to, I went back to try and check on that, that the cost of that package. And it's like almost $200 now, I don't know what's up with the world, please just visit a dive shop, but they should be able to set you up with a kit that even comes with a dry, like a little bag. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So you get your fins, your snorkel and your mask. And I think you could walk away for under a hundred dollars. Um, I'll report back cause I need to buy kits for both of my kids for the summer. Uh, so I'll report back, uh, once I find, once I found what I think will work, but the big thing with a mask is fit. And if you can go to your dive shop and actually like pick up a mask and try it, that's going to be, a lot better than just blindly trusting a review on the internet from someone whose face doesn't look anything like yours. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. All right. So that's, uh, that's some diving sorted. How about EDC kind of thing? |
| Jason Stacey | Like, uh, you know, pocket knives we've talked about, but I mean, you know, the other day I was, I was at the grocery store in the Land Rover and I had to put something in the passenger side and I went to open the door and it's got those old school, like, uh, where you push the button and pull the handle and the door opens and the, and the push button stuck in. And I needed something to pry the button out. Otherwise the door wouldn't latch properly. And so I, I had to use the car key and I was like, I should just always be carrying a pocket knife. I've never been the type to like always have a pocket knife with me. And I think my paranoia has always been, I'm going to travel and it's going to get taken away from me if I get used to it. But I'm going to vow on, on the record here that I'm going to start carrying a pocket knife when I'm out and about because they're, they're just, uh, they're endlessly, uh, Helpful and useful as, as you well know, and as we've talked about, so I'm not going to go into great detail or give a ton of recommendations, but you know, if I had had my old Swiss army knife, uh, with a little screwdriver, I could have jammed that in there and pry it out the, the button. Um, but that buck knife you gave me is, uh, is one that I use all the time for cutting open packages. And when we go hiking, I use it for cutting apples or, you know, cutting a length of paracord to use for something. And, uh, yeah, I mean, pocket knife, it's, it's kind of a no brainer. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So, yeah, if we're talking knives, I would say the quick ones are ones we've talked about. I've been carrying every day for months now, the Finch Cimarron, which is awesome. You know, it's from one of the guys behind Raven Watches started Finch and they make a great product. I really like the way it feels in hand. It's super sharp. It's not that hard to sharpen because it doesn't use some insanely expensive, super hard steel that I can't sharpen at home very easily. And I'm not a very talented sharpener in the first place. So I appreciate it that I can put an edge back on it without spending my entire evening. Um, on the other side, you can't do better than Benchmade. I think we were one of my gold standard brands in the world. I've never been let down by one of their products or by any time I've sent them an email asking for advice or a deep pocket clip or something. So if I was buying a Benchmade today and I probably would, if it was on sale, the mini bug out is basically a perfect pocket knife. Um, I would say the only reason these aren't going to work for you is if you, if people around you don't like knives and, and there's only two, there's a few solutions. If, if you have to open the knife in, in a scenario where your significant other or your friends or somebody just doesn't like the idea that you have a knife, I witnessed this a lot. I've grown, I grew up with a pocket knife in my pocket. It's very normal in my family, but I quickly learned as an adult that that's very uncommon. And the ways around that are with, like Jason mentioned, a Swiss Army knife. Very inoffensive, very unassuming. People don't see them as weapons. So that's a great option. The other one, which I now carry all the time whenever I have a bag on me, is a Leatherman Wingman. 90 bucks. Basically a perfect little tool. It's a little heavy for a pocket. If you're wearing jeans, it's fine. If you're wearing light summer shorts, it feels like it's kind of overpowering the material. But they also make like about 50 different Leathermen. Um, so there's, there's lots of options there, but I couldn't recommend any of those, uh, enough. Good. Cool. How about sunglasses? That's another quick one, because we've talked about this before on perfect product for you. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. I mean, I, you know, my go-to for she's over a decade have been, uh, like American optical slash Randolph engineering. They both come from the exact same military spec. They're both made in the U S they both have that aviator look, um, not quite the teardrop style of a Ray-Ban, but kind of more straight across the top. Um, and then the, the bows go straight back. They were designed to be worn with like a flight helmet. And, you know, my situation is a little complicated cause I, I don't wear contact lenses, so I need prescription lenses in them. And I've got prescription lenses in two different pairs and, uh, just kind of keep one pair in the car. Um, and then another pair in the house that I put on for, for running in and out of the house. But, uh, you know, if, if I had my, my choice, I'd, I could see myself really going down rabbit holes with sunglasses. Cause I love a lot of different sunglasses. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I, I've, I understand that feeling. Um, so I know that I've talked about, I have a set of per souls that I really like a calligrapher, um, which I'm super happy with. I bought another pair of the Ray-Bans, uh, non polarized for used a little bit easier to use with a camera. And those are the ones that are like the very round frame. Um, which I like quite a bit, but the ones I'm going to recommend, Because I assume most people listening have sunglasses. They like it. They're kind of essential to day to day, but they might not have sunglasses. They feel comfortable doing the dock jumping the rest of it in. Yeah. Um, I came across this brand at my local kind of running store called gooder G O O D R and they make kind of simple, you know, wayfair style glasses that don't cost much. I think I paid $30 and, and they're, they're very comfortable. They're very simple in there. Well, I mean, you can get any, amazing color. They do a billion different colors. I bought normal black ones with black lenses, but there's tons of options there. And I've been there. What I wear when I run or, or I'm kind of doing something outside where normal glasses might either come off or could get scratched. And, uh, I've been very happy with them. So I definitely recommend those if you're looking for cheap, but totally serviceable glasses that would not only protect your eyes, but aren't going to cost you a fortune, uh, if you do lose them in the water or, you know, break them, you know, we're doing whatever. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Speaking of optics, what about binoculars? That's another one we put on the list. The nice thing to have for the summer. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, we have several sets and I keep a pair kind of in our little outdoor, uh, uh, we've got like a little storage bin out on our patio and I just kind of keep a pair there in case I want to check out what the birds are doing at the back of the yard. But then I always take a small pair hiking. We have an old pair that we got at a thrift store from a brand called Tower. I have no idea if they're still in business, but they're the big old school heavy binoculars and they're fantastic. I love old school binoculars. They feel good in the hand. They feel good on the eye. Um, sometimes the little ones are kind of almost too small. Um, but obviously for, for good reason cause they're great for travel. But, um, right. I have a Leica monocular that I got as a bit of swag on a press trip, which, uh, which is really fun. Um, do like, yeah, yeah. Those are, those are kind of cool. And then, um, Uh, there's a brand that I've been, I've been seeing that I don't have firsthand experience with called Knox, N O C S. They're, they do a lot of advertising on social media and they, they tout them as waterproof and they've got sort of this rubberized, um, body to them, kind of grippy and, and they come in different colors. Um, I think those would be kind of fun and that they don't seem too expensive. And those would be, I think those would be nice ones to keep at a cottage or in the glove box of the car or in a backpack or something. Um, right. Yeah. And there's so much use for binoculars when you're, when you're just out and about, you suddenly find that, you know, how did you live without them? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I, you know, we talked about on the show a few months ago, I picked up a pair of these Nikon pro staff three S they're an eight by 42 format. Well-reviewed not expensive. I've been super happy with them. The nice thing is, is they're big enough for my hands to be comfortable and stable, but not so big that my kids can't use them. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So they're a nice middle ground. They take up some space in a bag or whatever, but they come with a nice little case and caps and the rest of it. I've been impressed. It's Nikon. They know what they're doing when it comes to optics. They're not fancy, and they're not so expensive that if my kid drops them and they break, or I drop them, right? Not a big deal. It wouldn't be something to get too upset about. So I think that's probably a good option. And I know we've got some folks in the audience that are very much into binoculars. They send me emails about the Nikon maybe not being the best choice, but it was a perfectly fine budget option. And I've been impressed with, uh, not only the, like the general build quality seems nice, but the, the level of just kind of eye comfort when I'm using them is, uh, has also been totally acceptable. So that's good. Keeping trying to keep some pace. What about some like lighting, flashlights, lanterns, you got any favorites? |
| Jason Stacey | Um, you know, we, our, our friend Mashant, uh, is kind of a go-to. I've got a couple of his, I've got the, uh, I've got a mouse and then I've got the, uh, the Flieger as well. You know, both are, both are great little torches. If you just want something simple, um, you know, for lighting around a campsite or tinkering with a car after dark. I mean, I think you can't beat, you know, a Princeton tech or black diamond headlamp. I mean, you know, I don't know how people worked, worked without headlamps, uh, for so many years, you know, holding a flashlight in your mouth or, you know, you have to have a friend hold it while you're wrenching on a flat tire or something like that. I think, uh, I think, you know, several, inexpensive headlamps are just so handy. And we've got like three or four of them that are just kicking around for, for various use. So that would be my recommendation. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I know black diamond recently did a new run of the spot that is now rechargeable and they just always sold out on Mac, which is like Canadian REI. Yeah. Uh, but I would, I would definitely like to check out one of those over Christmas. I got the black diamond remoji, which is a, a small AAA battery powered hanging lantern. And I really, really like it. This is a totally great product. I mean, Black Diamond makes totally great products. It's kind of what they do. Yeah. I've been around the block, you know, with a variety of these sort of little camping lanterns. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | And this one is maybe the size of a tennis ball, maybe a hair bigger. It has a simple switch. It's dimmable. Yeah. So you can use it just nice and dark at a tent. And it has kind of a built in rotating metal ring set. So you can hang it on paracord, you can clip it to a carabiner and it, you're not doing so with plastic that will eventually wear out. And, uh, I believe this one is also IPX something or other. So it has some water resistance, which is nice. I like that a lot. I think it's about 40 bucks. Um, my go-to flashlight for something like the cottage where it's legit dark at night is definitely the Michant Flieger that I have at the 1930 finish. Yeah. I just, I just charged the battery up for it for this weekend. I it's just, it's a perfect big, heavy, super bright flashlight. Um, that's a really nice, whether you just want to excite some, um, some, you know, fireflies or, or actually try and get something done, you know, restake a tent in the middle of the night or something like that. Um, and then, yeah, the other one that I would, I would suggest checking out, actually, this one's just fun to check out in general. This isn't an ad, nothing here is in an ad. No, we didn't talk to any of these brands in advance or anything like that. But one brand that I think covers a weirdly wide swath of summer gear is Night Eyes. It's the kind of stuff that you would see at the checkout counter at REI or a Mac. |
| Jason Stacey | Little clips. |
| Jason Heaton | It's weird little clip flashlights and caribbean, cool, like kind of innovative carabiners. Yeah. But they make a ton of lighting solutions, whether it be headlamps or little lamps that have like wire twist ties on them. So you can wrap them around something in your engine bay and then focus the light where you want it. I could go to night eyes and spend a thousand dollars. Uh, like I was five, like I was five years old without even questioning. Uh, they make everything I have from them is super nice. The stuff that I use a lot is, um, they do these cam jams, which are essentially like a carabiner with a cam system. So you can essentially make like a ratchet strap. So they, they have paracord and it's, it's not as strong as a ratchet strap, but there's times where a normal ratchet strap is way too big for what you're trying to do. Yeah. And when you just need that creative, maybe three point canopy to try and make some use, you know, string up a tarp or something for some rain protection. These are super handy. I really, really like them, but definitely give them a look for their, the lighting for the gear ties. If you haven't used those are super fun. They're essentially like reusable twist ties. Yeah. And they're, they're way handier than you'd expect. And some of it's, you know, some of it's $5, some of it's $25. It's a, They make some really, really cool stuff. I like their travel pouches as well, which is always a tip that I make for people who are going to be spending a lot of time in a tent is have the things you want in a tent, in a package that can, in a container that be quietly open, you know, rather than people trying to reach for backpacks and the middle of the night and that kind of thing. Velcro. Yeah, exactly. The Velcro, the Velcro. Yeah. Yeah. And especially cause sometimes if you do a lot of camping, you know that not all sleeping pads are made equally. Some are real loud. Yeah. Uh, so you don't really want to be that guy with the really crinkly sleeping pad and who has all of his stuff kept in a noisy, like cellophane chip bag or something. Uh, so yeah, you got, you got, you do have to consider some of that kind of stuff. So yeah. |
| Jason Stacey | Um, I'm getting, I'm getting, I'm getting down on my list and your night eye suggestions, a bit of, you know, a bit of the, uh, The oddball one. I've, I've got an oddball one as well. And this is, this is a super cool product. This is a, it's the moon shade, uh, vehicle awning from a company called moon fabrications. It's a, it's a very small company. It might be like a one man show. The overlanding communities exploded and there's a lot of products out there for, for, for this sort of thing. But, uh, you know, we did a little research and bought this moon shade awning before we, when we got the defender last year and started camping with it. And you know, it deploys not unlike. a dome tent with, you know, shock corded, uh, poles that, that you feed through, uh, sleeves. And, and then it just has, uh, some simple plastic, uh, plastic and aluminum carabiners attached to it that you can just clip onto in our case, a roof rack. And then there's two, two poles that you stand up for the other corners. And this thing just, it goes on the side of the vehicle, on the back of the vehicle, you could use on a van or a Jeep or, you know, uh, anything, minivan, Subaru, whatever. Um, if you don't have a roof rack to clip it to, um, it has a suction cup mounts that you can just suction onto the car to clip one end onto, or, uh, they have a magnetic little ring that can be used as well. It's just, it's a neat design. And I also liked that it was from a small company. It seems, it seems pretty humble, but really clever. And, and we used it a couple of times last year and, you know, you might wonder like, why do you need an awning? if you're doing any sort of car camping or car-based stuff, it could even be, you know, tailgating at a sports event or, or even just a picnic or setting up, maybe you're a mountain bike racer and you get suited up at the back of your Subaru, you know, you're putting your cycling shoes on and getting your tires aired up. Um, just, just handy to stay out of the sun or keep the rain off or whatever. And, uh, I'm, I'm just a real fan of the, of the moon shade. And I think, you know, if you're going to kind of add on sort of a fun product, um, to this, this list of kind of essentials for the summer, I think this would be a nice way to do it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. These look really good. When I, when I saw this in the list, it was one of the few things in your list that I didn't instantly recognize. And I looked at it and I was like, ah, now I need one of these. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So I think for the last one, just, just so we can keep on some level of time, do you want to kind of speed run whatever's left? I have a handful of kind of miscellaneous ones that I think people forget about, or at least I've forgotten about in the past that I wanted to make sure we covered. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. I mean, I'll zip through mine and then you can, you can jump in yours. I just have three more suggestions. Um, old camp chairs, you know, cheap pair, you can get them at, I don't, the Coleman brand or whatever. Um, great in the car, whatever. Um, everybody seems to have a pair of these also an old blanket, uh, for, you know, the spontaneous picnics. Um, and then, you know, I mean, come on, we can't, we can't do an episode without a dive watch, uh, for, for summer. I mean, I think there's no, genre of watch better suited for, for summer than, than a dive watch. Cause it, it often involves, uh, impromptu, uh, dock jumping or, you know, hiking in the rain or anything that you want to beat up a watch. And I think, you know, my go-tos are usually like a citizen or a Seiko dive watch, uh, typically a kind of, uh, a well-known summer Seiko guy. Um, the Synchron Military would be a great choice or like your Doxa. Um, so. I guess, you know, that's kind of where I'm going to leave it from, from my list. Uh, I, I see you have a few good ones as well. So why don't you run through those? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So first of all, go with watch. I'm going to go with the Synchron Military, but everything on that list is fine. Obviously. Yeah. Pick a watch that can keep up with the in and out of water. And I think you've got a good option. And if you're fortunate enough to have some diving on the, uh, on the calendar for your summer, then a dive watch is going to be helpful. Just buzzing through some of these. So if you want to do some camping. I like the Alps mountaineering options. I use a Taurus 4 as my go-to tent. I'm now up around maybe 60 or 70 nights in it, maybe closer to 100. And very happy with it. It's held up beautifully and it was not expensive. Let's see what else we got. Remote cooking. If you're looking for a stove and some cookware in a kit, I have and really like the Optimus Crux package that comes with the Terra Weekend heat exchanging cook set. It's a little over $100. It's a really nice, um, mini, uh, you know, uh, compressed gas stove. Uh, it runs on the smaller sort of connection of the two that are common. Uh, but it all packs down and then it comes with a kind of a pot and then you can use the lid for the pot as a frying pan. If you want both have their own handle. If you have a wider range of cooking needs where you might be using different fuels, then I recommend going to the MSR stuff, which is kind of the guide standard. Speeding through a few more, a packable hammock is great. They've also gotten way cheaper than when I bought mine from Kamek a few years ago. There's something you can find from basically any outdoor supplier. If you're going to be using trees as your mounting point, please use ladder straps so you don't damage the tree in any way. That would be the only real consideration. The next one is a Bluetooth speaker. I want to be very clear that I do not recommend you use this where others can hear the speaker unless they want to, unless they've expressly said, yes, I want to hear your music, which means if you use it on a hiking trail, you're a bad person. If you use it, if you use it, you know, basically where you're, where you should be using headphones, you've made bad choices and you're offending the people around you. Even if they're too polite to say something, I used to get in these arguments with people on, uh, on hikes in Vancouver, where you'd pass a group of people who it seemed like they forgot water and sunshade, but they definitely remembered the biggest Bluetooth speaker they could strap to their body. And then you tell them like, Hey, you realize I don't want to hear your music when I'm out in nature. And they look at you like you're a complete monster. And I gotta be honest. It's the other way around. Yeah. I'm not the problem here. You are. But if you just want a Bluetooth speaker for sitting on the dock, listening to a podcast, catching some music with your friends, I own and have been really happy with the Soundcore stuff from Anker, readily available from all sorts of electronics providers and less than $50. Some of them will even do inverse charging, so you can connect a cable to it and use the speaker's battery to charge your phone, which is a pretty handy thing when you're away and the speaker can carry a huge battery. So those are worth checking. And like with a lot of these, I've always been really impressed with Anker's stuff and the cost, so that's a good one. And then lastly, this is a, a weird one, but this is the way my brain works. It's the way my dad and his dad made sure my brain would work, uh, a roadside assistance package. Uh, I can't really stress this enough. Nothing will ruin your first adventure after the pandemic, like a flat that you didn't plan for or a different breakdown or a dead battery. When you're, when you ran the speakers too late that evening before, and what you need is a jump or some help putting a new wheel on or, or whatever. These aren't expensive, but there's a couple of things to consider. One, if you have a breakdown in the wrong spot due to COVID, you might not have the normal support you would. Otherwise, you know, I, I doubt people are going to be picking up hitchhikers in the next little while, all that kind of stuff, like the social norms will have changed again. And then on top of that, if you haven't driven your car much in the last year and a half, one of the hardest things on a car is sitting, especially if you live in an area that gets four seasons. Um, uh, so you might have some damage to just waiting to show itself when you get a hundred miles into your 600 mile trip. Yeah. So, uh, a 50 or a hundred dollar roadside assistance package that has the coverage to at least tow you to a shop, let alone all the way home. If you can, it's always worth it. I know this isn't a glamorous thing to talk about. It's not like a fun EDC thing. It's not a knife or a flashlight or, uh, you know, uh, something like that, but it is super useful and it could in many ways, save a trip that you've been really excited for. So. It's worth considering if it's not the kind of thing built into your insurance. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. I was going to mention that too. And, you know, check your car insurance because a lot of insurance plans, I know we use travelers and that, uh, that's been helpful in the past, uh, with their built in roadside assistance, which has been pretty reliable, but yeah, that's a good one. |
| Jason Heaton | If you're in Canada, I use CAA. I'm sure AAA offers it in the States. I'm sure that's where, where the whole thing comes from. Um, and, and I've been very happy with that service. I've basically had it since I was 16 and my parents knew I would be out in, in, in a car on my own. Possibly incapable of fixing a problem if it were to happen on the side of the road. So, uh, always happy to have it. And, uh, really it saved me a couple of times when it came to dead batteries, um, where either you're in a position where you can't get a jolt or there's no one around. Um, obviously you can carry one of those packs, but if you have a vehicle that this happens too commonly, that pack might be dead as well. So, uh, a decent consideration there, uh, all around. Yeah. Jason, do you think we missed anything? |
| Jason Stacey | I'm sure we did miss something, but you know what summer is supposed to be simple anyway. And if we did, you know, I'm sure people can get by with, uh, without the odd blanket or, or a night eyes cam jam or something like that. I'm sure they'll. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I don't think any of this is essential, but I think it's all worth considering if you're, if you're already kind of hunting for a little bit of summer gear. Yeah. Um, whatever we missed, please put it in the comments on the show notes at notes.thegreatnado.com or thegreatnado.substack.com. And, uh, and yeah, let us know what we missed. Let us know what your favorites are. Let us know if there's a great alternative to something that we listed, something we didn't know about. We'd love, uh, love some kind of, uh, group, uh, grassroots knowledge on this sort of stuff. And ultimately the goal isn't necessarily to make you spend money or, or buy new things, but if you happen to need something and it could make your summer better, then that's what this episode was for. Yeah. Uh, Jason, what are you feeling about some final notes? |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Stacey | I'll, uh, I'll start in, um, this is an article I sent you. Uh, I was just kind of blown away by even the title of it. Uh, the New York times ran this, uh, last weekend. Um, and the title of the story is she fell nearly two miles and walked away. And, uh, it's about this, uh, woman named Julianne Diller, who she was the sole survivor of a plane crash. That was a kind of a small plane that was, uh, um, flying over the, the Amazon, uh, in South America in Peru. And she, um, the, the plane split up in, in midair and, and she was separated from the plane and she fell to the ground, still strapped into her seat from 10,000 feet up. I mean, it was just like, if that doesn't grab you for a story, I don't know what will, because it was like, it's such a horrifying thought in my mind. Um, very sad, of course, you know, she was flying with her mother and she you know, remembers sort of seeing her mother at one point and then not seeing her the next moment. And as she was falling and miraculously she survived this crash with, I wouldn't, you know, minimal in terms of plane crash, uh, injuries. And, and then it took a while, but she was able to, to find her way out, um, extract herself from the wreckage of the seat that she was strapped into and find her way out. And then, you know, she's a, an older woman now and she's, uh, she's a biologist and, and she's managed to, um, keep going with this research station that was founded, that was founded by her parents in the Amazon in Peru. And, uh, and kind of the story talks about, you know, kind of one half of it is about the crash and how she survived it and how she got out of the jungle. Um, but then also the kind of strangeness of, of revisiting. Uh, the crash site and her reminiscences about this and then kind of what she's done with her career since then. And I thought it was interesting to mention, you know, the, the filmmaker Werner Herzog, who makes some incredible movies and documentaries. He did a, I think it's a German language, uh, documentary about her experience. And, and I'd love to track that down and watch that. I assume there must be a subtitled version of it, uh, around. Um, but I I'd love to see that because I think it's just such a, I don't know. It just gives me the shivers to think about, you know, surviving a plane crash. I think that's like the one thing that I try not to think about when I get on a plane and then to, to imagine somebody actually, you know, falling from the sky and surviving it. So yeah, really amazing story. And again, I think I had a New York times recommendation a few weeks ago and, and I was worried it was behind a paywall, but you said you could read it. So hopefully that's the same for, for most people with this one. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, this one I did get a paywall. I just opened it up in another browser and I didn't. So I'm not really sure how paywalls work. But this is a remarkable story. I definitely don't have to add anything to it. Please read it. Wow. Yeah. And amazing photography as well. Yeah. What do you got? So mine's actually a quick one. My brother, his name is Tim. Uh, he started his own podcast with a buddy of his it's called single serving cinema and it's basically a deep sort of nerdy film breakdown of one scene from a movie per episode. Uh, so if that sounds up your, yeah, I, so far I'm really enjoying it. And if that sounds like it's kind of up your alley, single serving cinema, it's in the show notes. Of course, the first two episodes cover the prestige. So a special scene from the prestige, which is a, It really is an amazing scene. They chose well. And the second one from an immensely fantastic film called Gattaca. Um, I haven't gotten to the third episode cause I haven't seen the movie yet and I'm trying to see the movies and then go back and listen to the, to the podcast. Uh, but I'm awfully proud of him for starting this. I know it's, um, you know, putting a podcast together, especially starting it is pretty tough. Uh, so if you're in the, in the world for a, so if you're up for another, you know, movie podcast, especially one with a pretty tight sort of concept, they're not super long. And they go into a lot of depth on one scene from a great movie. Please do check it out. That's single serving cinema. I'm subscribed. I'm a fan, of course. And, and, you know, we're thinking Tim should probably come on the next time we do a film club. Yeah. And that way he can talk a little bit more about the show and its impetus and also suggest five movies that probably aren't on our radar. He is a much broader taste than I do very much a deep, deep enthusiast when it comes to cinema. |
| Jason Stacey | Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I'm gonna, I've already subscribed to the podcast and I'd love to have him on film club and have a chat. So we'll definitely plan to do that sometime. We should probably do in the next month or two. I would think. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think so for sure. But until then, do me a favor, give it a subscription, give it a couple listens and let us know what you think. Yeah, I think that about does it. |
| Jason Stacey | Yeah. As always, thanks so much for listening. Be sure to subscribe to The Show Notes via notes.thegrenado.com or check the feed for more details and links. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton, at J.E. Stacey, and of course, follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write thegraynado at gmail.com. Send in those voice memos. We're due for a Q&A as well in the next few weeks. And if you're enjoying the show, please do subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music Throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from Sam Kean, who said, deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. |