The Haeleum clothing line is a technical line of clothing that provides the wearer with UV protection, fast drying material, and insect protection. The shirt that was provided to me is made of 100% Natural Stretch DrýTru Polyester 50 UPF Sun Protection and the Insect Shield technology lasts through 70 washings.

What is Insect Shield?
Insect Shield® products provide long-lasting, effective and convenient personal insect protection. The durable protection provided by Insect Shield apparel and gear is the result of years of research and testing. In July 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted registration of Insect Shield Insect Repellent Apparel—the first-ever, EPA-registered insect-repellent clothing. The EPA has granted Insect Shield extended durability claims for its apparel registration, through 70 washings. Insect Shield apparel and gear products combine the patent-pending Insect Shield process with a proprietary formulation of the insect repellent permethrin—resulting in effective, odorless insect protection that lasts the expected lifetime of a garment.

What I thought of the shirt.

My first impression is that it did what was advertised. It was light weight, comfortable and dried quickly. I honestly can not disprove that it protected me against UV rays or bugs.   I typically lather on the sunscreen and bug protection before my hikes and apply several times throughout depending on the length and how much I sweat.  On the other hand you would not find me placed in a box full of bugs to test it either.  I was only able to test it a few times before winter hit and all the bugs died off so I do not feel I was able to fully test the product to provide a realistic opinion on its durability as well as its bug protection.

Full Disclosure: The Haeleum shirt used in this review was provided to me by Haeleum at no charge however this did not influence my review in any way.  The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own and were not guided in any manor.

The PurifiCup® filtration system is quite honestly the easiest system to use to filter water that is currently on the market today. It is also incredibly fast.  PurifiCup® has hit the market in the past year hard and they are getting lots of attention in the press as well as on the Internet.  In my opinion PurifiCup®  has gotten all this attention because of its ease of use, ease of storage, and its use of nano-silver to filter the water.

To set up the system follow these easy steps.

1. 1. Take off the two white lids by unscrewing them and set them aside.
2. Pull the filter system and the smaller cup out of the larger cup.
3. Place the wide side of the filter on top of the smaller cup.
4. Fill the larger cup from a stream or water source. One thing to remember is to try to fill up the larger cup from running water and or try to keep as many big debris from getting into the cup.  Make sure you only fill it to the fill line.
5. Place the larger cup on top the filter system and push down.
6. Enjoy the clean filtered water. (more…)

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The Royal Robbins Zip N’ Go Pants were another on sale item that have been one of my best clothing purchases to date. Light weight quick drying zip off pants that I have put through pretty much every test I cant think of excluding hiking for 2184 miles. (more…)

I was able to find the Stoic Merino Crew Short Sleeve shirt at departmentofgoods.com at a huge discount and decided to give it a test. I had not heard to much about the brand however the ratings on the Department of Goods website were quite high and many people seemed to like the shirts.

They are a very nice light weight 6 1/2 oz base layer t-shirt that is made out of merino wool. The wool allows for it to breathe and wick away sweat / moisture quickly. The antibacterial properties help keep odors down as well as.  The shirts retail between $55 – $60. (more…)

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