.KEYWORD grinder
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE PDA protection in the great outdoors
.OTHER
.SUMMARY If you’ve found it inconvenient to carry your PDA on your various outdoor adventures, Brett Warcola has found a solution. Braving the wilds of south-eastern Pennsylvania, he reviews three rugged PDA bags and takes Palm computing where it’s never gone before: hiking.
.AUTHOR Brett Warcola
How many times have you had that sudden urge to go mountain climbing or skydiving but didn’t because you were waiting for that important email to come, with the location of this Friday’s happy hour or the latest edition of tips from PalmPower Magazine? Well now you have no excuse because Grinder Gear has created three PDA bags that’ll allow you to bring your Palm device, Visor, or most any other handheld computer with you on all your outdoor excursions. Marketed as SUBs or Sport Utility Bags and coming in a variety of colors, these bags provide stylish protection for you GPS-equipped Palm VII, your Palm Vx with digital camera, or any other PDA application you may need.
I took these new bags from Grinder Gear out on a little adventure of my own, and I really liked what I saw.
.H1 The Scout
In order to give the bags a proper field test, I took them to a local hiking trail and tried them out using my Palm IIIxe and other various items. Braving the dreaded Lyme disease-carrying deer ticks and mosquitoes harboring the West Nile Virus, I spent the day hiking, on and off the trails, in order to get a feel for how the bags would perform under stressful outdoor conditions.
The first bag I tested was the Scout. This is the smallest and most basic of the three bags offered by Grinder Gear, and it’s pictured in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A The Scout offers triple-layer protection.
With a flip top cover, EPV-sandwiched foam, fleece lining for screen protection, belt loop webbing, and a belt clip, this bag is the ideal size to wear when you’re hiking or biking. The bag is well constructed for any type of outdoor activity and features a Cordura spray skirt to protect against dirt and water. The flip top makes one-hand opening and closing a breeze, and there’s also a shielded, zippered pocket that’s ideal for batteries, keys, cash, credit cards (for that Starbucks just off the trail), a Swiss Army Knife, or any other small item you may need in the backwoods. The flip top and pocket are pictured in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B Here you can see the flip top and front zipper pocket.
I used this bag to carry my Palm IIIxe and my keys on my hike through the wilderness of Valley Forge. This bag was actually put to an extreme test in the very beginning of the hike when I accidentally dropped the Scout while clipping it to my hip and sent it tumbling down a hill. However, after retrieving the bag from the thorns of a small bush, I found that my Palm device was perfectly intact and functioned fine. No dirt or moisture from damp grass had penetrated the bag, so even my keys were clean as a whistle. I then knew that I could enter the woods with confidence in the safety of my PDA.
After hiking for about a mile and a half both on and off the trail over various hills and debris, I decided that the Scout had done its job just fine. This is a great product if you want something specifically for PDA protection with room for just one or two small extra items in the pocket. It’s sturdy, provides great protection, and is so small that you really don’t notice it while you’re hiking or even running through the woods.
That makes this bag the best choice if you’re doing something that involves a great deal of movement or activity, say jogging or biking. Of course, I haven’t seen too many riders in the Tour de France with belts on, but that’s fine because the clip keeps this bag in place with little or no movement. In Figure C, you can see the back of the bag and the clip.
.FIGPAIR C The clip can securely fasten the bag to a belt or waistband.
.H1 The Basecamp
The Basecamp bag is the Peter Brady of the Grinder Gear family, stuck in the middle between two very different brothers. This bag is made of the same tough materials as the Scout and provides the same great level of protection. It also has the same flip top cover to allow for easy, one-hand opening. However, it gives you a great deal more room for essential items. It does this by providing two zippered pockets as well as an outer mesh pocket that’s secured with a shockcord, as you can see in Figure D.
.FIGPAIR D The Basecamp has quite a bit more storage space than the Scout.
With this bag attached firmly to my hip via the belt loops, I hiked for a little more than a mile near the main trail but mostly off the beaten path. Along with my Palm IIIxe, the bag held my keys, money, credit cards, some Band-Aids (my boots were beginning to give me blisters), and extra batteries. I used the belt loops provided due to the combined weight of everything I was carrying. It provided more stability than the clip, although the clip would have been sufficient had I not been hiking off the trail. The weight of the bag was never annoying or cumbersome, and it never slowed me down as I jogged along the small stream running through the park. However, unlike the Scout, I was aware that it was there.
When I returned from the stream to the trail in order to apply a Band-Aid and to switch to the next bag to be reviewed, another hiker stopped me. Apparently the bag was so eye-catching that he had to stop and ask me exactly what it was. He thought it was made specifically for cellular phones. He asked how I liked it, and I was happy to report to him, as I am to you, that the bag was working very well for me. In fact, I was beginning to feel this was one product that I could use on an everyday basis, and not just for the outdoors.
The Basecamp is by far my favorite of the three bags made by Grinder Gear. For me, it seems to be the ideal size for trekking, hiking, cycling, or any other outdoor activity you can come up with. This bag allowed me to keep my Palm IIIxe, keys, money, and extra batteries handy and safe. At the time of the test, I had no use for the mesh pocket on the front of the bag. However, I brought the bag into work the following Monday to discover that the pocket is the perfect size to fit a StarTac cellular phone. This would be ideal for anyone who carries that type of cell phone while hiking in case of emergency.
.H1 The Expedition
When Grinder Gear named their third bag the Expedition, they did it for good reason. This bag has so much room for your PDA and other items that you could go for quite a long excursion and be fine. Upon first inspection, this bag seems to be built like a suitcase for you Palm device. Made with the same nylon Cordura material as the other bags, with a large zippered opening around three sides and a large handle along the binding, this bag is ready to be taken anywhere.
When opened, the bag reveals fleece lining, elastic straps sewn into the right hand side for securing your PDA, and a bind strap on the left hand side for a small notebook. There are also loops and pockets on the binding for your stylus, pens, and batteries. Figure E gives you an idea of all you can store in the bag.
.FIGPAIR E The Expedition has room for just about anything you could need.
The back of the bag has the same belt loops and clip that are found on the other two bags. On the front of the bag, meanwhile, there’s a mesh pocket with another zippered pocket beside it. You can see these in Figure F.
.FIGPAIR F Two more pockets are available on the front of the Expedition.
Into this bag I loaded my trusty Palm IIIxe, a pair of pens, four AA batteries, my wallet, my Band-Aids, my pocketknife, a small flashlight, and my cell phone. This bag is so wide and long that the mesh pocket on the front was able to house my Nokia 5100 series cell phone as well as the flashlight with no difficulty. I stored my wallet in place of the notebook pictured above, but either would work fine depending on what your needs are. I actually had a bit more room in one of the interior pockets, but I had nothing else to shove into the bag. Of course, with everything I was carrying, I knew my belt would have to be very tight around my waist to keep from losing my pants.
I hiked for a mile with the Expedition bag. It turned out to be a very long mile, as it was getting dark and the Band-Aids were doing little for my feet. The bag performed well, despite the weight of it. I never had any doubts about the security of the belt loops (or my belt for that matter). However, due to the size of this bag and the weight of it when full, I did find it to be rather bulky when trying to move quickly. I was always aware of it on my belt, and due to the zippered opening, my Palm device wasn’t as easy to reach as it was with the flip top design of the other two cases. However, this bag doesn’t fail when it comes to providing room enough to store a wide variety of items in addition to your PDA. It’s definitely the Cadillac of SUBs.
.H1 Conclusion
All three of these bags are high quality, stylish products that I recommend strongly. They provide a great level of protection for your PDA while providing you with the option to carry additional items that may be necessary for you or your PDA. Since first trying these bags out, I’ve been using the Basecamp model on an everyday basis, whether it’s just to go to the office or out to run errands. Even if I’m just carrying my Palm device in my briefcase, I like to keep it tucked inside the bag because it’s nice to know it has the additional level of protection the bag provides.
As a special bonus to the readers of PalmPower Magazine, the good people at Grinder Gear have extended a 5% discount on their bags to our readers. When ordering a bag online, simply indicate in the comments section that you should receive a 5% discount because of your relationship with PalmPower. Whether you’re an avid outdoorsman, an occasional hiker, a mountain biker, or just someone looking for an excellent product that provides great protection for your PDA, you can definitely find it at Grinder Gear.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Grinder Gear Sport Utility Bags, visit http://www.grindergear.com.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Brett Warcola is a freelance writer. He can be reached at bwarcola@usa.net.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6eaec
