May-2008

XWick:  The "New" XWick Factor in High Exertion Expediton Gear

We expanded our developmental horizons in 2008 with the release of our XWick 3.4TRH Expedition Series of Neck Gaiters.  Just released in a One Size Fits Most configuration, is our new XWick 3.4TRH Straight Neck Gaiter and the all new configuration for our uniquely designed Drop Pad Neck Gaiter, known as the XWick 3.4TRH Expedition 1.4 Windblocking Thermal Drop Pad Neck Gaiter.

These 2 new neck gaiters are designed for moderate to extreme Winter weather conditions and are especially made for wearing when you outdoor adventure requires physical exertion better then 70% of the time.  These units have an excellent thermal insulation value of R-3.4, are built with our exclusive 3 layer technical fabric layering design, yet somehow manage to provide better then average heat regulation and excellent breath moisture and sweat transfer due to the inner most layer of the unit that is strategically placed for superior thermal wicking and moisture transfer.

These new neck gaiter's are built with a Harfaced - Durable-Abrasion Resisting-Thermal Windblocking-DWR Water Repellent outer shell layer, that still feels soft to the touch of your hand.  The middle technical fabric layer consists of a mid-weight synthetic polyester material that is warm and breathable and the 3 layers combined are a perfect marriage for stretch, fit and comfort.

The XWick 3.4TRH Expedition 1.4 Windblocking Thermal Drop Pad Neck Gaiter has a unique new design from our standard, in that there is a full drop pad in the front and a .4 or 40% length drop pad in the rear.  The shorter rear drop pad still seals out the cold penetrating air in the neck area, but it also helps to regulate the build up of excessive heat when actively involved in high exertion physical activity.

We top off each of these two new neck gaiters with our exclusive built in shock cord and tightening cord loc for sealing in the heat when needed and for giving the user the opportunity to lock the top edge of the gaiter to any position on the face.

The XWick 3.4TRH "Factor" is yet another one of our revolutions to this segment of the Cold Weather Gear Market.  These "new" neck gaiters are going to soar to new heights around the Globe, but these questions remain....when are you going to buy yours and where are you going to take it?

Feb-2008

Have You Ever Watched How Some Sled Dogs Eat Before a Big Race

We had the opportunity to run up to Duluth, Minnesota for the 2008 Beargrease Sled Dog Race that started on the last Sunday of January, to take in some of the festivities before and at the actual day of the race.  The John Beargrease is the longest Sled Dog Race in the Lower 48 States, approximately 400 miles for the long distance race and this year they celebrated the 25th actual start of the race.

We attended the race festivities to meet new people and to touch base with others that are running/wearing some of our gear not only there, but up in the March Iditarod as well.  Ok, we also went up their to get some new prototype items worn in that event as well as into the Iditarod for final testing.  Mission accomplished.

The purpose of this writing however deals with what we also really enjoy, which is seeing all of the dogs or true athletes in the race.  Their different sizes, color mixes, body styles and cut along with their varying personalities.  It is as much fun to observe them when they are chained up around the vehicles that haul them around as it is to see them when they are harnessed up and hooked to the "gangline".  The acrobatic jumping and excitable barking...well it's priceless....

One thing and don't ask me why that caught our attention a couple of hours before the start of this race, was how the dogs eat their food, their last "fueling the body meal" before the race actually got started a couple of hours later.  Alot of the dogs that we observed got a final pre-race meal that was large scoop of dried dog food that was mixed in with water, therefore the theory that you would be hydrating the dog at the same time that your are feeding them.  Now don't get the wrong impression that this is how all of the dogs were getting fed, however some of the dogs that were fed this way were the most comical to watch.  They were comical to watch because one of their front paws was always busy "tipping" the edge of the bowl so that they could spill the water out and get directly to the solid "dog food" pieces that had been soaked in the water.  The pieces of food would land out on the ground to gobble up or would lay on the bottom of the bowl when it was tipped at an angle and then it became fair game to be snatched up with the dogs tongue.  I guess it was cheap entertainment for a simplistic mind!

We don't personally raise or race sled dogs, but out of interest for the sport we have spent some time reading articles regarding glycogen production in sled dogs as compared to glycogen production in humans and the process is distinctly different.  Glycogen is the fuel that we need in our bodies, especially in preparation of strenuous exercise.  We refer to it already on our website if you go to our "Products" tab and find the "Arctic Dog Jackets" lower down on the page and then "click" the link that provides more information about "energy stores and output" of your dog.

Humans generate "glycogen" or fuel for our bodies through the intake of carbohydrates, with the intake of fat and protein playing an insignificant role in filling our tanks up prior to and during exercise.  For sled dogs, the opposite is true according to the articles that we've read.  For high endurance periods, sled dogs need to injest a diet that consists of as much as 95% fat and protein in a fairly equal proportion and the carbohydrate mix in the diet needs to be minimized if possible to less then 5%, as it adds no benefit to the dog.  Therefore, if you are diluting dry dog food in water prior to serving it to the sled dog, with each scoop containing a varying amount of actual solids, with some of the solid dog food breaking down into the water and your feeding an "active pawed dog" as we described earlier, then it's probably understandable why you might be dropping dogs faster then some of the others in the race?

The other thing that burns up or consumes the glycogen in a sled dog is the natural process of shivering.  With all of the cross-breeding of sled dogs over the years, not every dog handles the extreme cold as some of the more straight breeds do and therefore the importance of having a dog jacket available that does more then just blocking a percentage of the wind when the windchilled temperatures are -40F or more below zero.  Just think if your dog was wearing a "thermal & 100% windblocking jacket like one of our Prairie or Arctic Series jackets, potentially how much more glycogen it might have left in its tank, instead of having to put it in the sled bag and drop it at the next checkpoint?  

Yes, there were a couple of "direct" non-paw playing dogs that we observed as well and of course they just bit onto the edge of the bowl, picked it up slightly and dumped all of the loot directly onto the snowy ground and then made a brief meal of it.  Anyway, that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Feb-2008

More About "Spree Touring" Featured Their Logo & Link on our Front Main Page

We added a link to our website a couple of months ago for Spree Touring, because they offer some very interesting and unique opportunites and events for those who are into getting some exercise on the bicycle during the warmer months of the year.  To those of you from various Countries around the World that read this, "we do not have" snow and cold all year round in the state of Wisconsin.  As a matter of fact our average Summer time tempertures are in the upper 70'sF to low to mid 80'sF, depending where you travel within the state.

The neat thing about Spree Touring is that they offer events for the hardcore cyclist that give you the opportunity to get in 10,000 to 12,000 feet plus of climbing during an event, without having to think that you have to drive out West to the Rocky Mountains in order to fulfill your climbing appetite.  You can get it right here in the Midwest of the United States.

What really trips our trigger is the Spree Touring "Driftless Tours" that they offer in the South Central Western part of Wisconsin.  These tours are excellent for people within the USA to get out of the high heat and humidity of the South during the Summer and come up here and ride at their leisure for a few days or a week un-escorted and at your own riding speed in nicer temperatures as well.  Included in the package price as well is the transport of all of your bags to your next overnight location and the food will be waiting for you to cook as well.  They offer neat Cabins to stay in and a laid back environment and pace to ride your bike on nicely paved roads with minimum traffic as well and you select and customize your own itinerary for the ride.

For those of you that live outside of the United States and want to see something other then the major cities that you always hear or know about and want to have a nice relaxing, quiet and laid back vacation with some daily exercise, well then you should check what Spree Touring has to offer that may be of interest to you.  To do so, of course after you've checked out our great gear opportunities, you need to go back to our main web page, scroll down towards the bottom of the page and click on their logo and that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Jan-2008

Technical Advantage Gear Going to the Top of the World

If you've ever read any of the miriad of information that we provide on our website, you should have noticed by now that we believe in building better gear items that actually do what they say they will do and then some and that we believe in testing and punishing our products before we decide whether to make them available for sale on our website.

We're also firm believers in getting our gear to participate in other Extreme Outdoor Adventures around the Globe, so that we can continue to receive feedback on items that are already proven and available for sale, only now performing in some new venue.  Since we sell our gear around the World, we have no way of knowing all of the places that the Technical Advantage logo is showing up.  Therefore we occasionally use our imaginations and resources to try to get our gear specifically introduced into a specific venue and in the Spring of 2008 we have done just that.

We don't know for sure if any of our gear has been to the North or South Pole as of yet, but we do know that this Spring some of our gear items will be on their way to 29,035 feet, or as some say the place that is the "closest point to heaven with your feet still on Earth".  If you've figured out where the highest point on Earth is, then you'll know where some of our gear will be this Spring.

It has taken a few months for us to receive this wonderful information and we relish the opportunity for our gear to perform better then the "status quo" that has been going up this mountain in the past, but that doesn't seem to be doing what it's suppose to do.  We look forward to the follow-up reviews in June after this climbing expedition is back in their European home base and we'll also find out about any new gear items that we can tackle for making them better then the "status quo"in the future and that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Jan-2008

Using PayPal on Our Website - PLEASE READ

Millions of people are familiar with and use PayPal for their purchase on the Internet without any problems or bad experiences.  There are however a few savy internet purchasers that have had some issues or bad experiences with PayPal and their credit card purchases or credits and we therefore would like to add our "2 Cents" to the conversation.

First for the record we'll make the statement that we have "never" had any issues in our experience with PayPal and have never been advised that any of our customers have had any problems with PayPal on their purchases of Technical Advantage Gear!  We use PayPal for the purposes of their seamless Shopping Cart Checkout system for our Website and also for the purpose of being able to accept Credit Card purchases via the internet from customers buying our gear.  They also provide order confirmation to our customers once their order has been accepted and processed and we send additional e-mail confirmations of out own on top of that.

The nice thing about PayPal in the past months, is that they have backed off on their policy of making purchasers "first" register information with them and then complete the banking confirmation process to become a "verified" account.  This process unfortunately drove customers away from many websites in the past, because they just didn't want to deal with the hassle.

THE GOOD NEW'S IS, is that you "no longer" have to go through the PayPal registration and confirmation process any longer!  Now all you have to do is to use one of the acceptable major credit card brands that we reference on our website and just follow the steps during checkout, "without" having to register for becoming a "verified" PayPal customer.  There are some benefits for you to be a verified account, but that is now left up to you to decide what you do or do not want to do!

The other "great" thing to you the customer about our use of the "on-line" PayPal Shopping Cart Checkout System and Credit Card processing system, is the "excellent" level of security that you receive on the purchase transaction.  Although we are honest and trusting people, it is to "YOUR" benefit that we never see "any" of your credit card numbers or security code information and none of it "ever" ends up on our computer.  The PayPal credit card system is perhaps the "safest" in the World to use, so your on-line transaction as far as we're concerned, is totally safe!  If customers that order our gear from a Country 10,000 miles away from Wisconsin trust the PayPal system and trust us to ship it, then why not you?  That's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Jan-2008

Export or Overseas Customer Gear Buying Opportunities

The American political and financial system has continued to maintain its global financial structure, whereby it is extremely attractive for most Consumers from Countries outside of the United States, to be able to buy USA goods and services at a currency discounted price.

How many years has it been since the Canadian dollar has been worth more then the American dollar?  Or better yet if your local currency is the Pound Sterling or the Euro, depending on the daily rate, you can actually buy USA goods at a 50% discount based on the currency exchange.

So why is that important to all of the Oversea's visitors to our website that are on the Pound or Euro, because you should almost be able to purchase any of our gear items and pay the shipping and handling charges for a total that is equal to our regular selling price by itself.  If your visiting our site from Canada, it wasn't that long ago that the Canadian dollar was at a 25% to 30% discount to the US dollar, thereby making American goods more expensive.  With that discount erased and then some, are goods should look extremely attractive in price.

On top of the Global currency devalutions for the American dollar, now you can buy from a company that actually is making and selling goods that are Made in the USA.  The worse thing that could happen with the attractive currency discounting, is that you find some other gear website or business that you place an order with and they turn around and ship you goods that were made in China but shipped from the US, ouch!  In the case of Technical Advantage Gear, our key technical fabrics are from USA Fabric Mills and we make or sew all of our own gear right here in the United States.  Even better, we build our gear to work in keeping you warmer - longer.

So why not capitalize on the current advantage that you have with the currency exchange rates with the American dollar and we'll be more then happy to get your Export shipment in and out or door within 24 hours and that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Jan-2008

Customer Order Shipments from Technical Advantage Gear

If you spend any amount of time shopping on the Internet, whether for business or just pleasure, you usually walk away with the same consensus over and over again, which is why does it take them so long before they ship my order and why are the shipping & handling charges so high.  Are we right?

Most of our raw material suppliers generally ship within two or three days, very few of them less then that and a hand full take longer then that to get our orders out the door.  For consumer goods that we all buy on the internet, it's generally a whole different story.  We find it generally disappointing to order something that we need off of an internet website, expecting it will be shipped the next day, paying for "Next Day or 2nd Day" premium delivery freight charges, only to find out it didn't ship for three, four, five or six business day later.  What happened to Customer Sevice in America and were they trying to hatch the order before they shipped it, come on, wake up e-businesses!

The second part of our pet pives, is how much we get "jacked" for regular ground transportation costs on our internet orders at check out.  We spend our time searching on the internet for the best value or price on let's say a brand named item you can buy at numerous places and based on the apparent savings we go though the checkout process, only to find the e-business is making up the difference and then some on the shipping and handling charges, ouch!  Yes, this happens all of the time and for what we're paying for the normal ground transportation it could still take another week before we receive the order after it is shipped!

On Technical Advantage Gear orders that you place with us via our website, we operate differently again from the "status quo" in the market.  First, orders that we receive before the noon time (12:00 hrs CST), in almost every case will be shipped the very same day.  Sometimes orders that we receive later in the day may still be shipped that day, but more likely it will ship the very next day.  In other words, we try and ship all Domestic and Export orders within 24 hours or less from when we receive them.

Second, we ship all of our customer order's via USPS (the US Postal Service), because they deliver 6 days per week with no delivery premium for Saturday delivery.  We also ship all of our USA orders via Priority Mail 2/3 Day delivery, so that you get excellent delivery service at a fair shipping & handling charge on your order.  Because we have to base our shipping rate averages on where most of our gear orders are sent to, sometimes closer proximity customers to our location are paying a substantial difference to what our actually costs are for shipping and handling of their order.  In those cases, unlike most other e-businesses out there, we do give "S&H Rebates" as issued via a credit back to their PayPal account.  We also do the same for our Export customers who operate on a different shipping rate matrix for Global Priority Mail service and as some of our Canadian customers have found out, we have sent them some money back as well, based on their actual shipping location, dollar amount of the order and actual shipping weight on their order.

So our philosophy is simple.  We try to always ship you the best gear, Technical Advantage Gear, with the fastest turn around time (24 hours or less) and ship it to you with expedited service at a "fair" price that allows us to cover the actual shipping costs plus a little extra to cover all of our costs of packaging, labeling and shipping of your order.  That's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Dec-2007

Compression Insulated Mitts vs Layering System Built Mitts

If you've spent any amount of time reading the information that we provide our customers with in this website, you've probably figured out that we like to build most of our gear by using layering systems that utilize the finest technical fabrics that are made in USA based Fabric Mills.

We're firm believers in using layering systems in our design and manufacturing processes, because it allows us the ability to strategically place the right technical fabrics in the correct position within the specific gear item that we are building.  In the case of Winter Mittens, using layers also allows us the opportunity to virtually eliminate the "dead air space" that other mitts are built with, within the internal construction of the top and bottom sides of their mitts.  These types of mitts generally fall under the heading of compression insulation constructed mitts because of the "dead air space" that the flexible internal insulating material is designed to thrive on. (more on that later)

There are various types of compression mitts built and sold in today's marketplace and of course the pricing varies just as much.  On the lower price point scale, say under $50.00 most of these mitts are built to have some amount of flexibility, which is a supposed asset of compression mitts, however the inner construction has much to be desired.  Most of the compression mitts in this price range are built puffy looking on the top because they contain, usually, foam rubber, plastic sheeting and a 40 gram weight of some type of insulating material.  

The bottom side of these mitts usually have a layer of 40 gram weight insulation material (approx. R-0.7), which is then sealed in by the same plastic sheeting on the outside and then the whole mitt is surrounded by some type or grade level of nylon fabric which forms the outer shell layer.  To get or attain the "better" flexibility or dexterity, the bottom side of compression mitts end up being about 25% to 35% of the thickness as the top layer of the mitts and yes, they do an extremely poor job in keeping the bottom side of your hand warm and in preventing "conductive" and "convective" heat loss.(remember, you have twice as many sweat gland pores on the bottom side of your hand vs the top side, so guess which side of your hand dissipates the most heat and moisture?)  The last thing that you find as well, is that the inner layer that surrounds the hand and fingers and should be there to wick the moisture away, usually doesn't.  Its main job is to be soft to the feel when you slide your hand inside of these mitts and that is what usually does the trick, besides the cheap price, to get you to buy the mitts.  

Based on our estimates from cutting pairs of mitts apart in the under $50.00 price range, you'll normally get thermal insulation values of R-2.5 to R-3.5 on the top sides of these mitts and a R-1.0 to R-2.0 on the bottom sides.  The flexibility and dexterity "grade" for compression mitts in this price range is about a "C+" and for keeping your hands warm and dry overall we would rate them about a "D" or "F".

When you move up in price range on compression insulation mitts, generally anything over $75.00 retail and up, you will find that the dexterity and flexibility rating grade goes up to the "B" or even the "A" range, because the insulation materials used have changed and usually the manufacturer has eliminated the use of water absorbing flat foam rubber on the inside of these mitts.  The gram weights of the 3M or DuPont or other insulating materials will be higher and some mitt manufacturers may also use a 550 or better goose down feather insulation system.  The internal construction of the higher price point mitts also improves, whereby the bottom side of the mitt has been enhanced to maybe as much as 50% of the thickness as the top side of the mitt, however the internal around the fingers wicking layer, although improved still leaves much to be desired.  The generally inadequate wicking layer for the higher price point you're paying only improves the warmth and dryness grade to anywhere from a "C" to perhaps a "B-".  The overall warmth grade on most Winter mitts is also limited because of the use of nylon type external fabric for the outer shells, because nylon fabric does not provide any thermal insulation value to the whole unit.  It helps in the area of water resistance and to some extent wind blocking, but it does not do a good job in preventing convective heat loss and transferance of the cold outside air into the internal insulation layer of these mitts.

The theory behind many of the fibrous insulations used in compression type mitts, (squeeze them, bend them, flex them and they return back to their original shape), is that the fibers trap the heat molecules to them from the surrounding dead air space and therefore the insulation does the job in keeping you fingers and hands warm for some extended period of time.

The question that we have, is if you take any pair of squeezably flexible compression mitts outside in cold weather, say +10F or below and without the mitts being on your hands you completely squeeze and crush all of the dead air out of them, where does the replacement air come from that re-fills the dead air space back up again and how many warm air molecules are therefore left attached to the insulation fibers after doing this?  Or a second question is if you do the same thing only this time your hands are inside of these mitts and you squeeze your hands together as hard as you can to get all of the trapped air out of the internal parts of the mitts and then you release the pressure and they come back to form, where is the replacement dead air coming from that fills up around the insulation fibers?  How much came through the pores of the outer shell nylon fabric, cold air?  How much came from within the inner compartment air surrounding the fingers, warm or cool moist air?  How much was convectively sucked from the outside from the mitt opening area around the wrist, cold air?  And how many warm air molecules are actually left and available to be stuck to the insulation fibers in the upper and lower parts of the mitten insulation?

The layering system that we use at Technical Advantage, primarily makes use of synthetic polyester technical fabrics and materials and we place what we feel is the correct fabric layer at the right location, based on the individual characteristic of the specific fabric material that we determined will do the best job for the application.  Our layering system in our Winter Mittens also eliminates most of the "dead air" space that is predominant in compression type mitts, because we see no asset value to be gained.  All we know is that warm air cools and eventually becomes cold air and cold air does not present any value in keeping your fingers and hands warm.

When we talk about layering systems done correctly, we are not referring to mittens made in China that are layered on the top side with a thin internal compartment material layer surrounding the fingers, followed inside by a 40 gram weight of 3M thinsulate insulation, surrounded entirely by a layer of white plastic to seal the moisture in, with a layer of foam rubber outside of the white plastic and then the cheap nylon fabric used for the outer shell.

The bottom half of these mitts, usually about 25% as thick as the top half forget about including the foam rubber in the layering, which if they did would actually help in minimizing conductive heat loss.   Although this is the "status quo" design for the volumes of Winter Mittens that are sold based on price point, it is not how layering system mitts should be built in order to keep your hand's and finger's warm during the Winter time!

The layering system that we use to a great extent is a science.  We know the exact manufacturing characteristics of each insulating fabric that we use, we know its approximate CLO units of insulation or R-value and we know its exact characteristics regarding windblocking , water resistance, breathability and wicking capability.  We also use and incorporate special polyester insulation that offers reflective technology, that reflects the heat back to the hand while also allowing moisture vapor to pass through, but yet still provides excellent polyester insulation values.

Our layering system as we mention just about everywhere we can, also equalizes the amount of insulation and layers on both the top and bottom sides of the mitt.  If you do not provide an adequate amount and an equalized amount of insulation to both sides of a Winter Mitt, then it fails to perform like a Winter Mitt really should.  Our layered Winter Mitts score an "A" for thermal windblocking, water resistance and breathability.  For preventing or minimizing convective and conductive heat loss, we would again score our layered mitts versus their price point competition with an "A".  For keeping your hands warmer - longer and for Superior moisture wicking, again a grade of "A".

Now the other side of the coin with Winter Mittens that are built with a layering system similar to ours, which we have yet to find, is that you give up a certain amount in terms of flexibility and dexterity.  They also are firmer in feel and they do not compress down much in size when squeezed, because they don't contain all of the "dead air"space.  In other words if you want to pick up a pencil that is laying on the ground while you have one of our mitts on your hand, it ain’t going to happen.  So if we had to score pure dexterity of using your fingers to do things while you are wearing a pair of layered mitts, we would give them a grade of "C".  But then again, Winter Mitts with any amount of insulation inside of them that are "really" built to work in keeping your hands and finger warm out in the cold, are going to produce the relatively same results.

So in a nut shell, a compression insulation type mitt will give you better dexterity and flexibility with your fingers when inside of the mitts, however we feel and it is our opinion that you will give up on the warmth, especially when you are outside in cold weather for an extended period of time.  Your own bodies circulation system is going to further dictate the length of time that these mitts are acceptable in keeping your hands and fingers warm as well.

On the other side of the coin are Winter Mittens that are built using a technical fabric layering system, such as those built by Technical Advantage Gear.  You do give up on flexibility and dexterity with a firmer built mitt, but what you gain is a Winter Mitten that actually does what is says it is going to do, which is to keep your hands and fingers drier & warmer - longer and that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Dec-2007

Why We Use Synthetic Polyester Fabric vs Using Wool

In some Countries around the World, the standard for much but certainly not all of their cold weather gear is perhaps wool based materials.  Sometimes this continues on due to availability of the raw materials and other times due to long time traditions of the local community or traditions.

The use of wool fabric in the United States has dropped over the last thirty plus years due to the continued enhancement and perfection of man made fabrics such as synthetic polyesters and other similar materials.  The capabilities of the man made fabrics in terms of warmth, breathability, moisture wicking, DWR water resistance, wind blocking, softness to the touch, fabric weight and so forth, presents a tough case to beat in terms of choice and flexibility.  From the technical outdoor Winter Gear perspective, we have seen wool making a resurgence in the way of Merino wool which is now being blended in with synthetic polyester and being made available for making gear items like long underwear, socks, etc.

Many of us remember that the only thing "thermal" about our green Winter Thermal boots were the wool socks that we wore on our feet and of course the hand knitted wool mittens that grandma made for our hands.  Boy are we getting old.  The choices that we have today are much better then they were back in the 1960's, however many manufacturers still choose to produce their gear items based on eye appeal instead of functionality and warmth.  For many of us, the appeal of wool wore off pretty fast because we still remember the pickiness and scratchiness of the wool sweater and of course of the wool socks that once wet, led to frozen toes and time to go inside for some hot cocoa.

The overall flexibility of using wool in the gear manufacturing process is just not anywhere close to what you can get from man made machine process synthetic polyester fabric.  We always still remember wool for its warmth and sometime water repellency due to the natural lanolin, but that's about where it stops.  Conversely, man made polyesters aren't always what they appear either and don't assume that fleece is just fleece, because it's not.  For example many garments sold with cheap prices will tag or call their fleece "Polar Fleece", however in most cases although you assume the "polar" to mean really warm or high quality, the base material is just cheap fleece fabric, usually imported and it usually pills up after the first wash.  The actual fabric weight is not adequate for the application, but you don't know that, you just know that it feels soft, the price is cheap and it says Polar, so you assume it's warm.

Anyway, we use synthetic polyester because of the manufacturing dynamics.  We can purchase it in different fabric weights, different thickness, different inner and outer finishes, we can have it textured or veloured, we can have it in different insulation values, it can be DWR water resistant treated, the breathability can be determined as can the moisture wicking and wind blocking capability.  It generally is soft to the touch and does not feel picky to the skin and it is easy to cut and sew.  What more can we say other then it also does a better job then wool in shedding the moisture and staying drier overall then wool as well.  Everything mentioned here is a characteristic of the USA milled synthetic polyester that we buy and use, but it is not a statement for all of the cheap synthetic polyester material made in the Far East and elsewhere.

We find synthetic polyester the easiest and best technical fabric to use in our business and it allows us the greatest conciseness in specific fabric style selection to build the warmest Winter gear items in the world and that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Sept-2007

Hand Sanitizer is the Best Defense to Staying Healthy

The wonderful thing about Hand Sanitizer's is that they don't require access to water in order to work, as compared to say using an antibacterial soap.  The wonderful thing about our "Hand Sanitizer Pocket Packs" is that they are streamlined to carry with you where ever you go and they fit "flat" in your pocket, purse, backpack or briefcase.  The wonderful thing about our Hand Sanitizer Pocket Packs is that they kill over 99.9% of the germs on your hands when you use them and then the empty packaging is tossed into the trash can instead of stuffing a plastic bottle back into your pocket.

Studies show that you can reduce the spread of stomach gastrointestinal bugs within your family by almost 60% if you utilize the active practice of using Hand Santizers.  At home it's more cost feasible and practical to use the plastic pump bottle size dispensers, which we don't sell or make available, but when you're on the go, you can't streamline your germ killing defenses any easier then by using our Pocket Travel Packs of Hand Sanitizer.

The interesting thing about using soap or antibacterial soap, is that you need to scrub the bottoms and tops of your hand and fingers for at least 20 seconds before you rinse in order to kill the bacteria that collects on your hands and fingers.  When you use a Hand Sanitizer, the germs are killed instantly.  The only edge that you have with soap and water versus a hand sanitizer, is that the soap and water will clean off any dirt stains that your hands have collected, but that's about it.

We're not quite sure what the statistics show in terms of who washes there hands the most, but based on general observations we would conclude that men perhaps avoid the soap, water and sink the most after relieving themselves in the restroom.  Since this writer is male, I do not have any observations of what happens in the girlsroom, so we'll let it rest that it's a guy thing to occasional pass on washing the hands in these situations?

Killing germs and washing hands is an interesting paradox, especially when you're out and about and on the go outside of your place of residence.  Let's say your driving down the interstate, or perhaps even rushing through the airport to make a flight connection and the call of nature comes and you have to use the facilities.  You duck into one and graciously relieve yourself of the several cups of coffee that you had consumed earlier and then you proceed to the sink where the paradox begins.

The paradox begins... because your hands are covered in germs when you reach down and turn the knob on to get the water running.  Then you reach over and push the soap dispenser with one of your hands and quickly proceed for 5 seconds to wash your hands and then you turn the water off.  Let's analyze for a second.  The water knobs on the sink are covered in germs, so is the soap dispenser and then we reach over to the paper towel dispenser and move the lever to advance as much paper towel as we need to dry our hands.  Yes, the paper towel dispenser lever is covered in germs as well because we put them there when we touched the germy knobs on the sink to shut the water off.  Ok, so perhaps we were able to wipe a couple of germs off of our hands and fingers with the paper towels, but then we proceed to push open the trash receptacle lid with one hand and throw the used toweling in with the other.  Of course the crescendo to the germ adventure is having to reach for the door handle and pull the door open with one of our hands to get out of the bathroom.  Did we forget about the 25% to 30% of the people that did their duty and then proceeded back out the door with out washing there hands?  So...did we enter the room with more germs on our hands or leave with more germs on our hands?

Anyway, you decide whether you're going to wash your hands or not in this example, all we suggest is that once you are happily back outside of the bathroom facility, that you "snap" open one of our streamlined pocket packs of Hand Sanitizer, rub the liquid round your hands and fingers and kill 99.9% if the germs that were on them!(and then push open the garbage can lid with your foot and throw the empty package in the trash)

Just think of how many germs our hands come in contact with when we are out traveling, on camping trips, expeditions or mushing on the Iditarod trail for 10 days to two weeks without access to soap and water.  Streamlined pocket packs of Hand Sanitizer, what a wonderful solution to killing germs and staying healthy.  That's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Aug-2007

Comparing Our New Kap Bridgman Arctic Thermal Hats

One of our new gear items for the Fall/Winter 2007-08 selling season, is our Kap Bridgman Arctic Thermal Hat that completed its final testing last March in the 07 Iditarod.  In case you haven't read other information on our website, this hat as well as our other gear in the race got a chance to endure estimated temperatures as chilly as -90F to -100F below zero and the feedback was as good as we anticipated.

We provide a lot more specific information about this hat under our "Products" tab on the website, so the real subject for this observation concerns how we compare to the other hats in the market place that are of similar style to our new design?

Winter hats with pull down ear flaps aren't anything new.  Perhaps the earliest ones we remember were made with a checkered red/black wool material on the outside, either a light layer of nylon or a bumpy off white man made sheep's wool looking material on the inside and of course the hat was completed with a full front bill.  These hats were popular back in the 50's, 60's and 70's especially for deer hunting, before blaze orange became a requirement.  Fur hats weren't that popular in the upper Midwest, but occasionally you'd see one around with fur on the outside and inside of the hat, or with leather or nylon on the outside and fur on the inside of the hat and flaps.  Most of these hats didn't have a baseball cap style brim on the front of them, but I'm sure there were some out there that did.

In the last few years a more modern styling of this type of hat with pull down ear flaps was to make them again in a two layer system, with the outer shell consisting of a nylon fabric and the inner layer being made from some type of fleece material.  To the front of these hats was also a mini-length thin front hat bill, perhaps at most maybe 1" to 1 1/2 inches in length.  Where we see most of these hats being worn is in Alaska and they appear to be somewhat popular with the mushers on the trail.  I would guess primarily because of the ear flaps that pull down over the ears and velcro together under the chin.  The front bill on these hats seems to be a little too short, as you'll see mushers wearing their favorite baseball caps underneath these hats in order to get the full benefits of a longer front bill.

The 1st consistent characteristic of almost all of these hats is that they are made from a 2 layer system of fabric or materials, they have ear flaps that can be secured at the top of the hat or can be pulled down over the ears and secured under the chin.  Most but not all of these styled hats also have some type and length of a front bill to help block out the sun, rain and snow from the eyes.

The second consistent characteristic of all of these hats is the lack of moisture wicking material on the inner layer of the hat that will help to remove the sweat from around the head and forehead area in the varying temperatures outside and also caused from physical exertion.

The third consistent characteristic is the total amount of thermal insulation value that these various styles of hats can offer, which is limited by only providing a two layer fabric or material construction system.  The highest producing hats in our estimation would be those that are constructed from "real" leather and fur hides and beaver seems to be one of the most popular for outdoors people who choose to wear them.  Next in terms of warmth would probably be the old styled wool hats from years ago, however they were poor in terms of windblocking capacity, water resistance capacity and were very poor in wicking the sweat moisture away.  

The poorest performing hat for total warmth are the current bomber or musher style hats that have the nylon outer shell, a varying weight of fleece for the inner layer and are the ones you see with the short mini-bill on the front.  The outer shell nylon fabric is great for preventing outside moisture from penetrating into the inside of the hat, but at the same time it does not provide any thermal insulation value or moisture vapor breathing capability.  The nylon shell does provide some windblocking capability, but the cold still enters into the inner shell layer because the nylon fabric does not have any thermal insulation value and thus suffers from convective heat loss.  

The inner layer of these hats, generally made from either a mid-weight or hwt fleece material provide and estimated thermal insulating value of R-1.0 to R1.4, but that value is eroded further because it is not designed to be windblocking, is extremely poor in terms of wicking away vapor moisture and therefore the whole system ends up failing as the trapped sweat cools off and cannot escape.  What moisture does pass through the fleece is generally trapped inside of the hat by the nylon fabric.  The short front bills on these hats may deflect a few rain drops and deflect some of the sun when it is directly over head, but won't do much the rest of the time because they are just too short in length.  We also noticed that most of these only fasten under the chin with 3/4" wide hook & loop strips, which makes it tough to always get a good secure locking connection.  The Kap Bridgman hats use full 1 inch wide strips of hook & loop (33% more) for an excellent connection surface area and also provide a full 3" front baseball cap style heavy duty hat bill.  If price is an issue, you can usually find one of these nylon shelled fleece lined hats with the mini front bill for around $35 to $40 bucks.

An interesting observation to note here is that the pull down ear flaps alone on our new Kap Bridgman hat's, provide a thermal insulating value that is over 3X times greater then the hats just mentioned in total.  The main base area of our new hats is even better!(R-5.75)

The key thing's about our new Kap Bridgman hats, are that they are warmer then any of the hats that we have mentioned, they are the only hat that provides superior moisture wicking capacity, are the only ones that provide 100% thermal windblocking & breathability and also provide a full length front bill.  At the same time they give fuller neck protection then most and also provide a better secure and warm seal around the cheek and chin area.  Our hats are a lot lower in price then the real leather and fur configured hats, are not as cheap as other similar styled hats mentioned that are not built to really keep your head warm & dry and at the end of the day are in a class of their own.

The versatility and application of our Kap Bridgman hat is endless, as they are truly built to endure the elements of what Winter can dish out.  Weather you work in the oil fields, do Winter residential or commercial construction, outside chores on the farm, mush a dog sled, climb McKinley or Mount Everest or prepare for an Arctic Expedition, this could be the last hat you'll ever need.  For those that are prefer this style of hat and truly want a great upgrade in terms of performance, then this hat is for you.  That's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Feb-2007

The Uuuuhhhh Ahhhhhh Factor

I had the crazy notion late this Fall that I had finally found a pair of cold weather gloves that would actually keep my hands and fingers warm, when I was out playing with the snowblower when the temperatures with windchill were below -10F.  I wanted to be able to use the gloves instead of a pair of our toastie Technical Advantage Mitts, so I could more easily operate the levers and buttons with greater dexterity.  Guess I was wrong, because after fifteen minutes my fingers were pulled out of the finger slots and were clenched in a ball in an attempt to un-thaw.

I bought the gloves at a local farm supply type store that also sells sporting goods and clothing and they initially caught my eye because of the soft deer skin that was on the outside that was also combined with nylon fabric to complete the outer shell.  They were called musher gloves and were similar to ones sold my another retail and catalog outfitter that uses Goretex trademarked material on the outer shell along with soft leather, only these were about 20 bucks cheaper in price.

I kept picking these glove up and putting them down each time I visited the local store and liked the fact that the insulation was 150 gram "Lite Loft" 3M Thinsulate trademarked insulation material.  I thought for sure that this insulation would do the trick for my hands and the sub-par circulation that I have in my hands, as most gloves are only built with 40 gram to 80 gram weights of insulation and certainly not a wowing 150 gram weight of insulation.  I also got caught up in the "Uuuuhhhh Ahhhhhh" factor when I slid my hand inside of these gloves as well.  Man were they soft feeling when I put my hand inside of them, but yet I knew better then that, however the 150 grams of Lite Loft kept playing in my mind over and over between visits to the store for other items.

At last I struck before X-mas on the umpteenth trip to the store, as they were on sale and the time seemed right to strike.  Since we don't make or offer any of our own gloves under the Technical Advantage Gear brand, nor do we have any intent at least in the immediate future to do so, I convinced myself to move forward with the purchase knowing that the Thermal insulating value was probably only going to be around an R-2.0 to R-2.5.

I also made the purchase because I hopefully would have a pair of gloves to wear up at the 2007 Iditarod during the first two starting days of the Race, so that I could have greater dexterity when shooting pictures of our new gear that was doing final testing in this years race, instead of pulling my fingers out of my mitts and bare skinning it once again in the flesh.  My index fingers can already forecast the cold temperatures outside while I'm still standing inside, so I guess I had high hopes.  The gloves still may take the trip to Anchorage, as you never know what the weather's going to be until it happens.

Someday these gloves  will be cut apart to see how they are constructed on the inside and then will end up in the graveyard for no longer useful gloves and mitts.  The message about the Uuuuhhhh Ahhhhhh factor is this.  Don't be, as we've mentioned in other areas of our website, sucked into buying a pair of mitts or gloves based on how "soft" the inner liner of fabric feels against the skin, as the softness has nothing to do with how warm the mitt is actually going to be.  As well,  the soft material usually end's up doing a very poor  job in wicking the moisture away from the skin, because it is there more to appeal to your sense of feel, then being there to serve its function to adequately wick moisture away from your hand.

We take pride in assuring that the inner most layer of all of our mitts, is built from some of the best thermal wicking material that is available.  In mitts such as our Extreme Element Arctic Thermal Mitts, the first two inner most layers that go next to the hand and fingers are always constructed from highly wicking thermal material.  We build our mitts to always be Warmer & Drier then the status quo, instead of being instantly sweaty, followed by a sense of cooling dampness and then the sensation of frozen fingers.

We share the construction process in general terms on  most everything that we build and also highlight the important facts and specifications, such as what are the related Thermal R-values of Insulation that we build into our gear.  In the fabric industry the thermal R-value is also known as the "CLO Units" of insulation, which for approximation purposes generally is about the same number as R-value.  The higher the number, the better the insulation value.

Perhaps it's time to start asking questions of other manufacturers or retailers as to what the thermal insulation values are on the various other competitive mitts and gloves that you look at in retail stores, so you can better compare them with the information that we share on our website.  An informed shopper is a smarter shopper and that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Jan-2007

Nutrition for Winter Training & Racing

It's interesting how we can lose sight of a proper diet during the cold weather months of the year, when we start piling on the clothes to stay warm until the snow finally melts in the Spring, although good Spring weather seems to get pushed out later and later each year.  Maybe it's just me because I'm getting older?

In the cold weather month's it seems that many diets head south and of course that's also the area that starts to see some excess padding build up as well.  Some of us trade the fresh fruits and veggies in for the sweets and fried foods and when we do exercise outdoors during the Winter months, for some reason we don't utilize the same aspects of nutrition in our diets that we religiously do in the Summer months.  I don't know if it's because of the month of mainly gray days that we experience in November that seems to set the tone or what, but the protein drinks and bars get shelved for a cheeseburger, the carb's are supplied from the french fries and the hydration comes by way of a soda or a chocolate shake.  In order words, a healthy diet that should contain less then 35% in the way of fat, well, contains alot more then I'm willing to admit to and the same can be said about the increased intake in sugars as well.  I do love my chocolate!

When we exercise heavily outdoors in the cold weather months, I think that we lose track of our same requirements for nutrition, because the air temperatures are so much colder and perhaps in some cases, but not all, the intervals are  shorter in duration then when it's much warmer outside.  Because of this, our fuel tanks in our bodies are either full of the wrong fuels or we're running half empty on the fuels that we should be running.  At the same time, many people lose sight of proper hydration, because the thirst just doesn't see to be there as it is when the weather is hot and we don't realize how much we sweated until we stop.  I see this most during the downhill ski season with the adolescent's that are out all day getting in as many runs as they can, take very little time to re-hydrate and then become dizzy and get other factors that begin with the onset of hypothermia.

As adults, we're much smarter for example at the ski lodge.  We take more breaks during the day because we can't endure the cold as much as we use to.  Many times we re-hydrate with a warm cup of coffee instead of a sports drink, because we want to get warmed up, but we fail to realize that the caffeine in the coffee is further restricting the blood flow in our veins.  Yeah, we're pretty smart aren't we?  We end up skiing less then our kids do in a days time, but also wake up the next morning discovering new muscles that we didn't know that we had.  Why is that?

In races like the Iditarod  it is nothing for mushers, especially the veterans, to push like hell for the first five days of the race, managing on only a hand full of total hours of sleep, to finally get back on top of things at their selected mandatory 24 hour break.  By that time they are so stiff and sore and tired that they perhaps feel like they are on their way out, instead of feeling like they are somewhat refreshed with only half the race to go.  I can't imagine the feeling?

There is hope however for those mushers and for the rest of us outdoor Winter recreationalist's.  Our bodies don't change in the same basic nutritional requirements by season, rather we are the ones that choose to make the decisions to put different things into our tanks and then we knowingly or unknowingly suffer the consequences physically and/or mentally as well.  In the case of the hard charging mushers, there is nothing that can be offered in helping you with your sleep depravation during a race like the Iditarod, but we can share some insight into some nutritional enhancements that you may want to consider and others should consider as well.

First:  The fuel for bodies that we need to fill our tanks up with before and during the exercise period in Carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates can come from many different sources, such as bread, cereals, pasta's, rice, but during an extended outdoor activity you don't have access to your kitchen cupboard, so you need to find a portable alternative that you can carry along with you.

A couple of easy and less messy solutions are through the use of nutrition bars that are "carbed" up so to speak, read the labels and secondly through the use of Power Gels that you can get at your local bike shop or sporting goods store.  We like the Power Gels because they're small in size in their sealed individual packets, they are semi-liquid and they give you a good carb boost along with other nutrients that may be included to keep you going.  The Power Gels that we like also include "electrolytes" in them that also help to replenish the sodium that your body lost from sweating and usually a minimum of one per hour will help to keep you going.  The Power Gels are made and sold under several different brand names like Power Bar, GU and others, they have a choice of flavors and some come with caffeine and some without.  These are an excellent way to get more fuel for you tank during exercise, while also replenishing electrolytes that you have lost through sweating, especially if you don't feel like drinking, or in the case of mushers, your drink is frozen.

Second:  While exercising, whether hot weather or cold, you need to replenish the Electrolytes or sodium back into your body that you have lost from sweating.  If you do not do this and if you do not occasional take in fluid with electrolytes in it, you will become de-hydrated, perhaps first starting as a woozy head.  The other thing that the a "good" replenishment of Electrolytes will help you out with, is minimizing the muscle cramping that will occur.  A good sports drink powder will usually also have "potassium" included in it and this key ingredient is gold for your bodies total and continuous performance.  There are several sports drink choices, however the most widely available one is perhaps Gatorade.  Fluids are extremely important and it is also important to drink before you're actually thirsty.

We know the first (2)two nutritional enhancements work, because we personally utilize them in our own warmer weather long distance cycling training and we personally worked to get them into the regimen of a veteran Iditarod Musher in the 2006 Race, who as they say "has come to believe" and will be doing the same again this year.  The biggest comment that we got from this musher was the reduction in the amount of cramping and sore muscles.  To help with the sleep depravation issues, the Power Gel packs that we supplied him with usually had 2X caffeine added to them.  But please note that caffeine constricts the blood supply in the body, so to offset that issue, we used our Extreme Element Arctic Thermal Mitts during the race and he swears that he was the only one that finished the race with hands that were warm and dry, humm?

Third:  In order to replenish the body and the tired muscles between and after periods of exercise, the timing of the third enhancement is very important and that is Protein.  In a long endurance sled dog race for example, a musher probably brings along some type of wild game sausage sticks and a lot of cheese of some type, which are both good sources of protein.  Others perhaps also pack sealed pre-cooked meats and beef jerky as well, again good sources of protein.  Some items come with high fat content and others don't.

As a good portable solution, we use them with our after cycling training and pushed then into last years Iditarod Race, is the use of Protein Bars.  These bars can offer up to 20 to 30 grams of protein per bar and at the end of the day we're trying to replenish a minimum 1 to 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight.  Not always easy to do, but is a target to shoot for.  The protein bars also offer other beneficial nutrients in them and usually contain some lesser amount of carbohydrate in them as well.

The actual taste of protein bars is all over the spectrum.  Many taste like cardboard, others have a painful aftertaste.  The Protein Bar that we love the best and discovered at the 2005 Tour de Georgia Pro Bike Races, is one that offers 20 grams of protein per bar, has an excellent taste with no after taste and is chocolate covered to take care of the sweet tooth, is made by a company called "CLIF".  The actual bar is sold under the "BUILDER BAR" name and is available in Complete, Peanut Butter and Cookie & Cream.  These bars are available at some bike shops, sporting goods stores and on the Internet thru places like Performance Bike, Nashbar and other nutritional e-businesses.

These protein bars are a nice break from just eating sausage and cheese in the case of mushers and are portable for those who don't want to eat heavy after exercise.

Anyway, Carbohydrates and Electrolytes during exercise and Proteins during long breaks and at the conclusion of exercise and your body will thank you.  That's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Nov-2006

Disecting Our New Prairie Snowstorm Mitts

The people that are already wearing a pair of our "new" Prairie Snowstorm Mitts just can't believe what they got for their investment of $64.95, which is our introductory price for at least the foreseeable future.  The warmth, the roominess and the comfort are making the initial users of our new Prairie Snowstorm mitts excited about their purchase.

Our latest mitt design provides exception range of movement, are light in weight for the thermal insulation value that they provide, which is a staggering R-7.15.  

The uses for our new mitt will be endless for the average person, as most people are not out playing in the extreme elements and temperatures that the Winter has to bare around the World, which is where are other higher priced mitts come in.  If you Bike, Run, Downhill Ski, Cross Country Ski, Ice Fish, Snowmobile, Snowshoe or just shovel the snow, this is the perfect mitt for you and at a great price!  

We on occasion get asked "what type of insulation is used in these mitts" or "do these mitts have Thinsulate in them", Thinsulate being a trademark of 3M, and we answer their questions accordingly.  For the benefit of those who are afraid to ask or for those new visitors to tadvgear.com, we will explain briefly how we constructed our new mitts.

First off, although 3M Thinsulate is a very well known insulation material used in many brands of Winter mitts and gloves, we just haven't chose to use it in any of our products to date, even though we have complete access to their insulating materials as well as to those of other companies as well.

Second, since we do not construct our mitts like anyone else out in the market place, at least that we have found to date, we have chosen an engineering and design format that utilizes our only internal layering system that features materials and fabric that have a Polyester base.  Polyester is an extremely warm insulating material that has excellent breathability for the most part and at the same time in dries out in a relatively short period of time.  This is the short explanation of why we use it, the technical explanation of the material we use would probably put you to sleep, so we'll just keep it simple.

Third, in the layering system and construction process of all of our mitts including these, we "do not" and will never ever - ever use any open celled foam rubber or plastic sheeting inside of any of our mitts.....did I say never ever?  Rather we use a technical layering process of selected materials or fabrics that are all used for a specific purpose.  Most of the technical fabrics that we use have a synthetic polyester base and at the same time most of these fabric layers are also from the same materials that are used by the US Military in making other types of garments that are worn by our troops around the World.

Fourth, we believe in building our mitts so that they not only keep you warmer - longer, but at the same time they must provide excellent wicking capability that we believe is un-matched by anyone else in the World, while also providing the assets of having 100% windblocking capabilities, water resistance, breathability and thermal warmth.

Fifth, we build these and all of our other mitts with almost as much insulation and layering on the bottom side of the mitt as we put on the top side of the mitt.  This eliminates one of the biggest warmth stealers from the hands, which is conductive heat loss.  That in a nut shell is when you grab a frozen object with your mitts on and the cold object starts pulling the heat from the bottom of your hand.  In many cases you can feel the coolness starting, because most mitt manufacturers provide very little insulation on the bottom side of their mitts, so that you can bend and flex your mitt with simplicity and for no other purposes then that.

The Prairie Snowstorm Mitts that we make are designed with a four layer system of selected technical fabrics and materials as follows:

"OURS"

Top Side of Mitts

Outer Shell Layer #4:  Is 100% "Thermal" Windblocking, Water Resistant and Breathable - 100% Synthetic Polyester.
Inner Shell Layer #3:  Heavy Weight Thermal and Breathable - 100% Synthetic Polyester.
Inner Shell Layer #2:  Reflective Technology Special Insulating Material that passes the moisture vapors through it, while reflecting the heat back to the hands - 97% Polyester.
Inner Shell Layer #1:  Thermal & Extremely High Wicking and Breathable Layer that surrounds the hand and finger area - 100% Synthetic Polyester.

HAND & FINGERS AREA

Inner Shell Layer #1:  Same spec & material as Layer #1 above.
Inner Shell Layer #2:  Same spec & material as Layer #2 above.
Inner Shell Layer #3:  Same spec & material as Layer #3 above
Outer Shell Layer #4:  Same spec & material as Layer #4 above.

Bottom Side of Mitts

As you can see from our layering system, we have built a mitt that prevents the penetration and effects of the cold Winter winds from entering the inner shell of our mitts, with our 100% "thermal" windblocking Outer Shell.  You "do not" receive the same "thermal" benefits from standard nylon material outer shells.  They do help to block the effects of the wind, however the cold air transfers passes through the nylon based outer shells through the forces of conduction and convection.

We also put some of the best technical based materials on the inside of our mitts, so that you hands will stay warmer & drier - longer.  If you're in the market for a new pair of Winter Mitts that pack a good insulative punch and will also keep your hands drier then anything you've had in the past, then give our new Prairie Snowstorm mitts a try.  

Once you buy a pair of our new mitts and do come to believe how wonderful they are, then for kicks, why not take a pair of scissors and cut your old ones apart and just see what's inside of them?  We think you will be disappointingly surprised!  That's Our 2 Cents Worth!

This is what the "competition" gives you inside of their mitts.  If you don't believe us, just cut them apart and find out for yourself.  This "is" what you will find in just about every pair of mitts in this price range that you buy, except in ours!

THEIR'S

The "Competition" Mitt:
- Water Absorbing Foam Rubber.
- Moisture Sealing Plastic.
- Poor Insulation, especially where it is needed on the bottom side of the mitt.

What more can we say?

Nov-2006

3M Thinsulate Insulation & Understanding The Sewn On Mitt Labels

It's human nature to "assume" that because we see a certain Brand Name on an item in such great numbers, that it has to be the best, even though we may not understand the total concept of what the brand name consists of?  Now that you may be partially confused of what was just stated, lets talk about a specific subject, which is 3M Thinsulate Insulation.

Growing up with garments and gear that weren't necessarily built with the highest technology in terms of insulation properties, as compared to today's standards, the splash into the market place back in the 1970's with 3M Thinsulate began a dream and a hope for many of us, that we could now keep our frost bitten fingers and toes warmer in the future.  Over time we began to seek out those mitts and gloves that carried the Thinsulate tag on them, believing in our mind that we had finally found salvation to the bite of Jack Frost during the Winter months.  Yes we did find salvation in our Thinsulate insulation for some period of years, but as we got older the "bag for the buck" in terms of warmth began to fade in our old faithful and we blamed it on our aging process and perhaps our genetic inheritance of reduced blood circulation capabilities in our own bodies.

As we grew older, we also did not become any smarter when we did or didn't read the tags on the Winter gear that we were just about to purchase, rather we just made sure that it said Thinsulate on it and then we brought it to the checkout counter, breathed a sigh of relief and went on our way with confidence.  What was added over the years along with the Thinsulate tag on a pair of mitts or gloves, was also an addition to the same tag, in most cases, that also stated the number of grams that the item contained of Thinsulate.  Now we were seeing tag's for example that stated the words:        Thinsulate TM  -  Insulation  -  40 grams

Now we thought or didn't think, OK, before it said nothing about the number of "grams" of Thinsulate on the label tag and now it states "40 grams", that really has to be better then the last pair of gloves or mitts that I had that were Thinsulate, these must be better?  We also noted that it was great that they were so cheap in price for the improvement, but we still didn't really understand what "40 grams" was giving us in terms of thermal insulating value, nor perhaps did we really care just as long as the gear worked better in our minds.

It should also be noted at this time, that there is usually other materials that make up the total composition of the internal layering system of a mitt or glove besides the "stated" primary insulation material that may or may not be referenced on a sewn on or hanging tag on the garment when you see it at the store.  Usually these other internal items are there as fillers, so that the mitten or glove look bulkier to make you think that you are buying something warm due to the bulky/thick look of the item.  

We cut open today, a pair of gloves that are bulky in look and have a part fabric and part nylon finish to the outer shell and have two tags sewn to the outer shell of the mitt at one of the side seams.  One tag states:  "WATERPROOF" and the second tag states:  Thinsulate TM -  INSULATION - 40 gram.  The mitts probably sold for around $25.00 at the store.

The cut away of the gloves showed a thin black inner liner layer that surrounds the fingers and hand, followed by the 40 gram layer of Thinsulate, which was then covered by a layer of plastic, followed by a 1/8" layer of open cell foam rubber and then the 1/16" thick outer fabric shell.  Here again the plastic was put in to trap the heat and all of the moisture vapors in an attempt to allow the gloves to stay warm for some period of time, however the plastic ends of causing the gloves to fail, because they become wetter faster and then your fingers get cold.

We reference a cut away picture of a lower priced pair of mitts in another section of our website, that pretty much shows the same senerio for a layering system, only in that case the foam rubber used to make the mitts look bulky is about a 3/8" thick.

To better understand the insulation values of a pair of mitts, gloves or even boots that come with 3M Thinsulate inside of them, we have supplied a few examples of gram weight of the insulating material and what it's corresponding thermal insulating R-value or R-factor is, which most are familiar with R-value in terms of insulation in their own homes walls and ceilings.  The "higher" the "R-value" the higher the insulation value.  (It should be noted that the total insulating value of an item may be slightly higher due to the "filler" items that are used in addition to the actual brand name insulation material used)

Thermal R-Value of Insulation - 3M Thinsulate
40   Gram Weight  -  R-0.7
100 Gram Weight  -  R-1.3
150 Gram Weight  -  R- 1.9
200 Gram Weight  -  R2.5

Other Popular Gear/Garment Insulation Material - Primaloft One
133 Gram Weight  -  R2.88
200 Gram Weight  -  R4.32

Goose Down Insulation
550 Fill Goose Down 1.1" thickness  -  R4.80

The above referenced number's are "static" in terms of the insulating value of the gram weight of the material.  In other words, the R-value is calculated in a testing environment that is "free" of the influence of external cold weather factors like wind, extreme cold temperatures, moisture contamination, etc.

A good closing question to ponder then, is why aren't the mitten or glove manufactures using a heavier gram weight of 3M Thinsulate, if that is their chosen insulating material, instead of mostly using a 40 gram weight?  Answer, because they save money using the lowest in insulating value Thinsulate material, but you as a consumer buy it based on a price point and probably more so because it has a sewn on Thinsulate label on the outside of the mitt or glove.  3M Thinsulate is a very good insulation material for using in outdoor garments and gear, however in practice the gram weight of material that "should be used" for keeping you warmer longer is not being selected by the gear manufacturer and is no fault of 3M, because it saves them a few extra coins and you're buying their "stuff" anyway because it looks pretty and it sez Thinsulate on the label!  

We hope you learned something new here, especially that the higher the thermal R-value number that you can find on Winter garment & gears, the warmer you're going to be.  The reality however is that most garment manufacturers don't share this information with you like we do, because they are in the business to sell "pretty" in their products, rather then selling performance and that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Nov-2006

Latest Comparison of Other Arctic Musher Style Mitts

The first pair of jumbo sized mitts that we ever put our hands into that were being used by Sled Dog Mushers for training and for racing, happened to be last Winter during the early season when they were running on the first good snow base of the season.  The temperatures were already cold for December and the snow based was at least a foot or more in the woods and the backroads for training were packed with an acceptable base for running their dogs.

At the time we were up for a meeting to further test the insulation and warmth of our new Arctic Thermal Mitts series, which were not primarily designed for the demands of a sled dog musher, in terms of being able to wear gloves inside of them and for getting their hands in and out of them with gloves on their fingers with ease.  The mission of our trip was to find out how these mitts performed in the harsh training elements in terms of keeping the hands warmer longer, as well as the wicking capability of the fabrics for keeping the hands dry.  Who else do you know that is out in the Winter elements each and every day training one team of dogs or the other until the snow melts in the Spring?

As we discussed and related out fabric insulating system, one of the mushers got up and brought in his mushing mitts to our meeting and made the comment that we should look to build some mitts that were similar in size to "these", which were a pair that they had bought through the Internet and were also the ones that both of the two mushers had previously worn in the Iditarod.  The mitts were huge in size, fairly lightweight and the base price for the mitts was under $100.00 without the other liners or gloves that were part of the Brand or Companies complete system that was available.

As the "first impression" of something can set the tone for the thought process, so it went with the first insertion of my hands into these mitts....cold and clammy wet.  Before I could get the words out of my mouth, the comments from the mushers in almost unison was that the one problem with the mitts was that they did a very poor job of keeping the hands dry and in wicking the moisture away from the hands.  It all fairness to mitts that are being worn by mushers, you need to realize that the mushers hands are routinely outside of the mitts in the wet and snow replacing dog booties or doing other things that get their gloves wet, which they are inturn putting back into the mitts that they choose to wear.

About a month ago, October to be exact, I finally was able to wrestle a pair of these jumbo mitts away from one of the mushers that we work and test with, which was a pair that he had previously worn in his first Iditarod.  Of course I knew and I think he surmised that my first mission once I got home was to get the scissors out and cut these babies apart, which is exactly what I did and what I found was quite interesting.

What I found when I cut these jumbo sized mitts apart, besides what you could see on the outside, which was the black nylon shell and soft synthetic black fur strip for wiping your nose or face and it's additional built in little trigger finger, was a very thin internal black liner layer and the focus of the insulation coming from an internal mitt that was constructed from and approximate 1 inch thick layer of open cell "foam rubber", the same type of foam rubber used in the cushions of your couch or chair that you sit on.

Let's Take a Look at What We Found:

What we saw was a mitt that had the right concept for minimizing the affects of conductive heat loss with it's equal thickness of material top and bottom, but we also saw a mitt that negated this positive because there was no means for minimizing convective heat loss from air flow by having any type of hand opening pull tight shock cording or wrist webbing strap for trapping the heat from escaping from the mitt.  Further, it was very evident why the mitts were always wet and this was due to the paper thin layer of material that was used for the internal layer that couldn't wick the moisture away and if it did, it was sucked up like a sponge into the foam rubber where it was stored.  We were pleased to see that this manufacturer did not do like many mitt and glove manufacturers, which is to enclose or surround there inner liner layer with a layer of plastic, which would further trap the moisture inside of the mitt.

In understanding foam rubber as a source for insulation purposes, there are basically two types, "open cell" and "closed cell" with closed cell having a significantly higher insulation value.  The foam rubber used in these mitts, similar but thinner then the cushions in many couches, is classified as open celled.  It is very "porous" in design and it easily bends and re-flexes back to its original dimension and it's insulating values are, best we can tell, less then 50% of those that you would achieve from the same thickness of "closed cell" foam rubber.

The closed cell foam rubber is best characterized and described as a "liquid foam" that dries to a hard and non-flexible finish.  Have you ever bought an aerosol can of spray foam from the hardware store or building supplies center for filling in the cracks around a door, that comes out as a liquid and then dries hard?  This would be the easiest example for you to understand for these explanation purposes.  The insulating properties are substantially better then open cell foam rubber, however the flexibility of the material when dry is about zero and is virtually useless for using as a good insulation prospect for mitts, as and example.

Since we have not been able to find any specific data for the thermal insulation R-factor of open celled foam rubber, we can only speculate on what the R-value would be for one inch thick soft foam rubber.  Our best guess would be something in the R-3.0 to R-4.0 range as the research data that we have seen on closed cell liquid foam that dries to a hard finish, that is one inch thick is somewhere between R-7-0 to R-8.0.

Technical Advantage Extreme Element Mitts Internal Cross-Section View

If you compare this to the fabric insulating layering system that we use in out Extreme Element Arctic Thermal Mitts that have also run the Iditarod Trail, our mitts provide a thermal R-Value factor of R-10.5 on both the top and bottom sides of the mitt areas that surround your hands and fingers.  Besides the "100% Thermal Windblocking, breathable and water resistant outer shell, we also provide select internal layers that are also thermal, windblocking, water resistant, reflective technology insulating and highly wicking.  As we believe that thermal wicking is extremely important, we build all of these mitts with the first two layers consisting of extremely high wicking thermal synthetic polyester material that is also USA made and US Military specification approved.  Besides the equal thickness of our insulating layering system that eliminates conductive heat loss, we also offer a wrist webbing strap and mitt opening pull tight shock cord for minimizing the effects of convective heat loss as well.

Our final thoughts are these....if you want a mitt that looks bulky in size which is assumed to keep you hands and fingers warm and dry for the base price of $85.00, then just ask another musher for the name of the company that makes the competitive mitt that we just reviewed, as they may own a pair or have used a pair in the past and they can guess from our description who's mitt it is.

If you want a pair of mitts that are built to "do what they say they will do" and will keep your hands warmer and drier longer, whether you're a musher,  an arctic explorer or just someone who likes a larger mitt that will allow you to still wear a glove inside of them in case you have to pull your hands out and have some dexterity with your gloves on for protection, then our Extreme Element Mitts might just be right for you.  

If you're searching for the cheapest price in a jumbo sized mitt, sorry, but we're not the one for you.  Because of all of the feature's, advantage's and benefit's of our mitts, let alone the average construction time that it takes for us to build a pair, averaging about 10 hours per pair, we have to sell our mitts at a fair but higher price point.  We will say however based on the feedback in our testing and from other customers, you really will get what you paid for!...and that's Our 2 Cents Worth!

Oct-2006

Neoprene Wrist Wraps

Neoprene is neoprene is neoprene, right?  Wrong!  

What a year to move forward into working with neoprene, but what an educational lesson at the same time.  As the Oil Companies "gassed" all of us at the pumps with the forever, except recently, rising prices.   So it went with just about everything else in our lives, which is just about everything that is affected by the cost of petroleum based products.  We started the early Spring with very favorable pricing on our neoprene raw material price quotations and of course a couple of months late when we were ready to order, new pricing came through that was 30% higher.  We screamed of course, but then had to get back down to business in finding an alternative source to at least minimize the cost increases.  Despite the pain in having to find an alternative source of supply, we did learn more about neoprene and what the difference was between Grade 1 and Grade 2 neoprene as it applied to making wrist or sweat wraps.

Some of the neoprene samples we received from suppliers seemed more like foam, then it did like the rubbery feel of good neoprene.  We also noticed that there was a distinct difference between how the "hook" material for the bonding strip on the wrist wraps, bonded to the nylon fabric that is on the one side of the neoprene sheets, between the Grade 1 and Grade 2 samples.  It would have been nice to get back the 30% cost increase that the initial Grade 1 neoprene went up with one supplier by purchasing all Grade 2 neoprene material, but the sad fact is that the "hook" strip material just does not bond or stick very well to nylon fabric used on the Grade 2 product, as it does with Grade 1 neoprene.

Another opportunity for cutting costs was to address using either 3mm or 4mm thickness neoprene, instead of the 5mm thickness that all of our pads are made from, but the lesser thicknesses just didn't offer the same level of support that we believe that you the customer is demanding.  The 3mm thick neoprene just seemed to bend and hang there and looked to us like it would eventually slide down and off of the dogs foot.  At least with our dog wrist wraps that are made with the 5mm material, the wrist will not only keep the heat in and offer good support to the lower leg, but it will stay in place until the dogs is good and ready to chew it off.