Amphipod Hydraform Ergo-Lite Ultra Handheld Water Bottle 20 oz

I love handhelds.  Nothing keeps you cooler since nothing is in your back.  Nothing is easier to refill and as easy to monitor your consumption.  You can clean them much easier than bladder.

I'm a big guy so I dual wield my so two of most hand helds gets me 40-48 oz of water.  Always looking for the newest interpretation of an old favorite, I saw these on running warehouse.

So first of I decided to see how much they would carry.  They front zip pouch is huge and stretches.  The back of the strap has 3 elastic loops for gels.  Here is what one looks like loaded, but not even close to stuffed.

So what's inside....

They are like tiny backpacks on your hands.  I like the squeeze and squirt style race cap.  It means one less moving part to have to remove to clean and delivers a good blast of liquid each time.

The neoprene insulation and strap are comfortable and keep your drink cold pretty well.  The top of the rubber around the cap does get a lot of condensation on it with icy drinks and the wet neoprene gives you that wetsuit smell everything you bring it up to your face.

Not a deal breaker but I have a super sniffer so I notice it everytime.

I like the concept behind the design but would like to see a few tweaks here and there.  I don't like the open bottom design for the insulation.  I would prefer a regular coozy style where the bottle just goes I into it with the bottom covered to decrease the heat gain. 

I am also still not completely sold on Amohipod's hydraform bottle design.

Here is the 20oz amphipod bottle

Here is the Nathan 22 oz bottle

Here they are side by side

They just have weird feel in my hand.  Not uncomfortable but odd, I think I prefer just plain old round bottles.

But these are the gripes of a super critical  gear geek, not a normal human.

Conclusion:

These are great all around hand helds and are on pace to become my favorite go to hand helds.  The straps are very comfortable, the bottle and cap are great, and the storage is awesome!  I could easily put arm sleeves in these for cooler weather along with plenty of other stuff.

These are great and totally worth getting. As a hand held acolyte I believe these to be amoung the best handhelds I have used and I look forward to more tweaks and improvements as they go on.  

Thanks for reading, gotta run!

Luna Gordos Review: Test Runs

I've now had a chance to take the Gordos out for a few dances.  A few dry trail runs, wet road runs, dry road runs, and nasty wet trail runs.  There was maybe a moist run in there somewhere.

Please check out my initial thoughts post first before you read this part.

Here's my proving grounds:

So let's start from the bottom

The sole of the shoe...

The tread was adequate.  I think by their nature huaraches function fairly independent of tread due to the way you can stab the ball of your foot into the ground.  Trail was muddy and wet for two of the runs I did, no real issues with slippage.

The cushion.  Being a huarache there is no rock plate.  The Gordos are thick enough that roots, small stumps, and rocks were not deadly.  But the soles are soft enough that I could still feel everything.  

The soles is a dual layer with a firmer layer on the tread side and a softer layer on the top side.  Which brings me to the top...

The MGT, monkey grip technology, top is awesome.  It's like skateboard grip tape for sandals. Even wet...

The grip was still phenomenal .  Huarache style sandals can suffer from slippage issues when you have to get technical.  This can lead to bad slips and toe thong wedgies that can often lead to strap pull throughs.  The grip in fact was so tacky that I began to develope a hot spot on the bottom of my right ball of my foot.

On to the straps

I like the evolution of of the straps on the upper.  The wide nylon straps are very comfortable and feel very sturdy.  They are a bit hard to adjust at the two lateral points through the sole.  

Luna's tech strap is a brilliant, simple solution to the issue of heel slippage.  Just put a strap from each heel section and attach them.  Brilliant!

There are nice details like a softneoprene rubber on some of the heavy contact areas, the back of the heel and the instep.  

So overall one of the best modern takes on huaraches I have ever  worn, and probably the best on the market with the potential to become the clear winner.

Here comes my complaints that I have...

The first is that with the details in the straps of the added Velcro bits and the logo pieces lead to some rough plastic edges.  They are easily taken care of with a little fine sandpaper or an emery board.

The second complaint is the strap attachments.  I love the concept behind the sole plug that attaches to the strap through the toe split hole but it leads to pull throughs when the strap gets overloaded.  Yes this is miles ahead of the old days of make a knot big enough that it won't pull through but not so big that it feels like you have a golf ball under the ball of your foot.

And the worst part is in adherence to the traditional simple design I hate the fact that I am running on part of the strap at each side of my ankle.  I realize that there is really not a lot of wear on them in dirt trails but where I really love my huaraches is the road. Huaraches on the road are like convertibles with the AC blasting!

I have been a Luna Sandals troll for years. Watching the site evolve from kits like this...

To the evolution of their first strap plug

It has been wonderful to watch a company basically form and grow and evolve. But I want the next evolution.

I want modern huaraches with an attached toe thong section like a Teva or Chaco sandal.  I want to see the straps actually run through a ring or strap section that is above the sole, not contacting the ground.  

For me the strength of being able to replace and change out straps is a great strength but also then becomes the greatest weakness for me.  

I feel that Luna's are about one to two more evolutions from becoming the perfect running sandals.

As they stand now they are still really awesome.  Super  comfortable, super durable, and they look good too. Especially there all chocolate leather ones, damn! Sexy!

If you have read Born to Run and enjoyed it I feel that Luna's are a way to connect to the feel of the book.  And a way to support players in the book, ok it's mostly a way to support Barefoot Ted and his company.  Which leads me to my last and final reason to buy a pair.

These guys are awesome! I have never had such friendly and personal emails from a company.  There is no hint of a corporate mentality. The emails I got started out with "howdy".

 So if you want to support a growing company that really does seem to be made up of people that truly enjoy their work with a passion, buy a pair. If you are huaraches curious and don't want to make your own pair, let Ted and his monkeys make you a pair.  You won't regret it.  At worst you will have a pair of comfy sandals.  At best you will be changing the way you run and the way you think about what running can be.

Thanks for taking the time to read this review, appreciate it.  Please leave me some comments at the bottom.  I would love to here any feed back, but for now I gotta run!

When you decide you want to buy a pair please use this link

https://lunasandals.refersion.com/c/78f5a

It helps the site, so if you liked this review and decided to get a pair, please help support

Luna Gordo Review: Initial Thoughts

I finally got my hands...Er....feet on a pair of Luna sandals. I have been watching their developement since their website first launched and they hand mad their sandals based on tracings you sent in. 

 

I am a Born to Run fan, having refs the book and I still listen to the audio book on long runs sometimes.  So I am very familiar with the story of Barefoot Ted and  Manuel Luna so the brand had always carried a bit of mystique for me.

Read Born to Run before the movie comes out.  I can't imagine how the movie will be but the book is a really good read and one of my favorite books of all time.

So why did it take me so long to finally buy a pair?  I run barefoot occaisonally, I run in Vibram Five Fingers heavily, and hav even ran in my own homemade huaraches.  That is what has kept me from ordering until recently.  Luna's until recently have been very homemade looking, in a good way, but they still looked a lot like the ones I could make myself.

The new straps and countersunk bit that replaces the knot underneath started to tip me over. Then because I was doing a review I got a discount and that tipped me over.  I am not a mercenary reviewer, I cannot be bought, but when opportunities present themselves I am an opportunistic reviewer!

So enough of this back story and exposition....

I ordered my Gordos and here is what I found in my mailbox today....

What?  I was expecting this....

I tell you the rough life of a reviewer.

Once I opened my envelope

I received two of my favorite pieces of schwag, stickers and a buff head wrap.

This multi wrap is awesome!  Anyone who knows me knows I am a head wrap fan.  They are the runners Swiss Army knife. 

So initial thoughts...

First off the MGT surface that your foot touches is awesome.  Feels tacky, grippy, and durable yet doesn't loose it's grip when it gets wet.  So top side is pretty awesome so far.

Bottom feels grippy. And it had those two words I love to see on runner soles..."Vi, Bram".  Vibram just makes really great rubber, it's the Vibranium/Adamantium of the running shoe world. (I love that Avengers and X-men are the popular culture now so people can actually get that reference).

 

The straps...

I really like the straps conceptually.  The adjustable pull across the top of the foot is excellent.  The straps have little bits of neoprene in strategic places to stop the heel back from sliding and the keep straps from sliding.

I really love the extra strap that loops through the heel strap.  When I tie my huaraches I do a similar technique where I loop through the heel section to keep it from falling back down and tightening the fit.

So far they are very comfortable, they feel  very well constructed.  Sturdy quality materials. My only initial concern is the strapping where it goes through the ankle area. 

I don't like knowing I am walking on the straps on the ground.  If these were homemade huaraches I would not mind. But Luna has already taken the time to improve the sandals by replacing the old knot through the sole with a plug.

That is my concern.  I would love to see some solution to this and then I think finally Luna's can become the 

super running versions of Chacos.

So the next important step is to take them out on the trails and the roads to beat the crap out of them!  I think this will be a daunting challenge as the materials feel very well made.  

So thanks for reading,  gotta run!