Cool Outdoor Gadgets for the Travelers

A weekend in the sunshine with the company of my fellow bloggers and Flipkart! What Fun!

Not at the Flipkart office, but at the #FlipkartOutdoors Indiblogger Meet at Mango Mist, Bangalore. My first Indiblogger meet and that too, in a beautiful resort, doing things that totally gets my adrenaline pumping.

Flipkart had brought several of their products and brands along – for us to experience how these gadgets complement an outdoor experience. Among the many that they had on display, there were a few that I thought would work well for us – travelers. And while you check out the list, you can also, see how much fun we guys had at the meet. 🙂

Here goes my pick of the 5 travel goodies from Flipkart.

1) Coleman Camping GearZ

Coleman has several of their products on display – from coolers to carry stuff to water bottles, portable toilet seats and tents. One of the activities that we were asked to do is to assemble a tent in a group of four and the team that made it the fastest would get some prizes. A lot of us tried our luck but of course, the best man wins and this time, it wasn’t us 🙁 

One thing  I can say is that the tents is how easy they are to assemble and carry around. However, given the trails in India, not very sure, if I would use them. The coolers I thought, were handy but little bulky to carry around. 

The portable toilet seat seemed interesting – light weight and comfortable and definitely, the need of the hour, if you are on a road trip in India 😉

2) Red Chief Shoes

Warning!!! This one is biased towards the male travelers as they did not have any for us ladies :-(. 

 I will reserve my comments on the style and comfort bit but will admit that some of them did look cool, good enough to be worn as a semi-formal footwear. There were some that seem appropriate for trekking only. The one thing that I liked about this brand was that the Red Chief shoes are bio-degradable. They disintegrate automatically once they are not used.

I liked their social message – “We have taken so much from nature, let’s give back some“. Now, that is some bit of social responsibility.

3) Action Cams from Sony & Polaroid 

Imagine yourself jumping off a cliff, or skiing down those snowy slopes or even doing some scuba diving. Would’nt you love it if you had something to record things as you see them? The Action Cams are geared exactly for that. To experience them better, we were grouped as a team and were handed one of each to use through the day. As a team, here is a Sony Action Cam activity that we captured .

By the way – that is me!!! Having fun …Zorbing like a hamster with my fellow blogger – Deepa. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/o9Rops7BzuI?feature=player_embedded

I found that the clarity of motion captured here was quite good. There are very few blurred motion lines. It captures the sound quite well, especially since this video was taken from a distance. When put underwater, it does lose a bit of its sharpness but then, I suppose, that is expected. Here is another video shot by our team lead – Shrinidhi of us enjoyed the fish spa.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/RneuW2b7cNA?feature=player_embedded

For the technical details, check this  Link. The Sony camera does seem a little bulky as compared to the Polaroid Cube, but I found the quality of images better. The Action cam could also, be synced to a phone through touch or Wifi to capture Still images on the phone. Here is one of us on the phone while the camera is pointed at us.

Coming to the Polaroid cube, I was’nt too impressed with the quality of the images. The sharpness seem to be missing and also, the angle did not seem as wide as a Sony Action Cam. Check out the video below for a sample taken with the Polaroid cube. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yFNNmSZ317U?feature=player_embedded

If quality of the images is the criteria, my vote goes to the Sony Action Cam. However, full marks to the Polaroid cube for its handy size, which makes it easy for any traveler to mount one on his head, chest or just carry on a stand. Of course, a bonus point for its cute colors. Definitely one that I would add to my preferred list of travel cameras.

4) Smart Watches & Fitness Bands

Stylish and colorful, the Garmin fitness bands are fun if you are a fitness freak and like to know your calorie counts and fitness levels. It honestly, felt more for people who were training in sports like running, cycling etc. I wasn’t too impressed as I felt that the same functions and more were offered by Samsung Gear S2 and that too, for almost the same price.

The Samsung Gear S2 can sync with any phone and get you updates on the go. Handy for people who are into outdoors and yet want to be connected to the world. Me? I tend to avoid the mobile world when I travel. I really like it that way 🙂

We were to be given both the watches for a use. The Garmin one was set to Shrinidhi’s profile but did not record any of his activities, despite it having a GPS. The Samsung one went out of charge before it could be handed to us and hence, we did not have a first hand experience. :(. The few team who did, confirmed that Samsung worked well and seemed to track activities accurately.

5) Bluetooth Speakers

Speakers for a traveler? 

Yep. For those who love to carry music with them. The AltecLansing Bluetooth speakers have a good sound clarity, are quite light-weight and have a provision where you can mount them on stands. We took a pair and flung them around to ensure that they were as shock-proof as they claimed to be. We even poured copious quantities of water on them to confirm the waterproof claim. In short, we really man-handled them and yet, they continued to play music.:-)

More than the speakers, I loved the bluetooth earphones. I wouldn’t mind a pair as I do spend a lot of time travel waiting for flights or in buses or trains and this would be ideal for those conditions. I can just secure my phone in my handbag while I listen to music, Added to that are the ear clips that lock the earphones snug into your ears. Perfect for running  – something that I do!

I definitely had fun discovering these products at the #FlipkartOutdoors along with the other indibloggers. They do seem to fit into an outdoor life of a traveler. What do you think of these 5 gadgets? Do they appeal to you? Comment in and let me know. 

Leaving you with this cool video of water dancing to the tunes of the Bluetooth speakers 🙂

Here is how you make water Dance to your tunes @AltecLansing_In Bluetooth speakers #FlipkartOutdoors@indibloggerpic.twitter.com/pUr4mo4rrx

— Ami Bhat (@amibhat) February 20, 2016