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John Daley ReportingThe annual Outdoor Retailers convention is back in town. The first day of the event began with an expo showing off the latest gear.
It's where back woods meets high tech. And the latest gear always seems designed to make the whole experience more fun, more comfortable or safer. It could be the world's greatest collection of cool toys, and this year's latest crop does not disappoint.
Take the canoe, which can be folded up and carried in a bag.
Jon Bakken, Bergan's: "It's a nylon fiber reinforced PVC skin and aluminum tubing and T-6 aluminum alloy. It's very bendable, doesn't break very easy. It's strong and sturdy and easy to put together."
Or the hammock made of parachute cloth.
Sherief Gouda, Ticket to the Moon: "It's a silk parachute nylon, phenomenally durable and lightweight. The product is going to be 1.1 pounds, easy for the hiker and backpacker."
Any self-respecting outdoors person would be lost without a GPS unit, which will tell you where to go and how to get home--or at least to Salt Lake.
And those who love running outdoors might get a kick out of the foot pod.
Duncan Clowe, SMI: "It's speed and distance technology. Basically what we're trying to do is create a tool where if you're out in the middle of the woods. You don't know where you are, it will tell you how far you've gone."
Perhaps most amazing of all is the backpack made of lightweight cloth and the same composite material they use in fishing poles. It weighs just 32 ounces, that’s two pounds!.
Bruce Warren, Luxury Lite Gear: "Everybody knows what a nalgene bottle weighs, and they'll carry them. But what if your pack weighed exactly what a nalgene bottled weighed, and that's what you need."
The convention continues through the weekend. The big debate over whether the retailers stay or leave Utah takes place later this week.
