The Best Outdoor Gear: Reviews & Guides by 国产吃瓜黑料 Magazine /outdoor-gear/ Live Bravely Wed, 24 Sep 2025 16:23:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/favicon-194x194-1.png The Best Outdoor Gear: Reviews & Guides by 国产吃瓜黑料 Magazine /outdoor-gear/ 32 32 The Hestia Is a Portable Telescope for Your Next Backcountry 国产吃瓜黑料 /outdoor-gear/tools/hestia-portable-telescope/ Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:43:11 +0000 /?p=2716918 The Hestia Is a Portable Telescope for Your Next Backcountry 国产吃瓜黑料

The idea of spending my evenings along the river peering into the heavens sounded fun, so I added a Hestia to my pack. Here鈥檚 how it went.

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The Hestia Is a Portable Telescope for Your Next Backcountry 国产吃瓜黑料

When the Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie first tried to canoe across North America in 1789, he unwittingly followed a river that led him north to the Arctic instead of west to the Pacific. When he tried again (and ultimately succeeded) in 1793, he brought with him a special piece of navigational equipment imported from London: a telescope with enough power to see the moons of Jupiter, which would enable him to calculate his longitude accurately.

On my canoe trip down the Petawawa River in northern Ontario this summer, I did the same. I鈥檇 received a press release from a French company called Vaonis about their new , which is the size of a hardcover book and uses your smartphone as its brains and viewfinder. Among their boasts: the Hestia enables you to see the moons of Jupiter! I had maps and GPS for navigation, but the idea of channeling Mackenzie by spending my evenings along the river peering into the heavens sounded fun, so I added a Hestia to my pack. Here鈥檚 how it went.

How It Works

The Hestia itself is nothing but a bunch of lenses and prisms packed into a rectangular case and weighing 1.87 pounds. There are no moving parts and no electronics. Once you attach your phone to it, you have a telescope with an aperture of 1.2 inches and a field of view of 1.8 degrees. That鈥檚 at the very bottom end of what you鈥檇 get from an inexpensive backyard telescope, but better than you鈥檇 get from the cheap portable monoculars you might buy for birdwatching or hunting. The magnification is 25X, and the price for the basic unit and can go up to $299 if you include accessories like a tripod and solar filter.

The Hestia comes with a carrying case and lightweight tripod
The Hestia comes with a carrying case and lightweight tripod (Photo: Alex Hutchinson)

What gives the Hestia an edge for portable stargazing is the Gravity app that you download for your phone. Fancy telescopes can take very-long-exposure images because they have a motor that moves along with the stars; the Hestia doesn鈥檛 move, but the app takes multiple photos and digitally stacks them on top of each other, giving you exposure times of up to 30 seconds. The app can also analyze the stars in your field of view, figure out where the telescope is pointing, and then guide you towards whatever astronomical feature you鈥檙e looking for: planets, star clusters, galaxies, and so on.

When I first got the Hestia, I took it through its paces in a park near my home in Toronto, a city of 3 million with plenty of light pollution. It was underwhelming. There were so few stars in the sky that I had trouble getting six of them鈥攖he minimum required for the Gravity app鈥檚 star analysis to figure out where I was pointing鈥攊n the viewfinder. The poor visibility also made it difficult to focus properly.

I later tried it at a friend鈥檚 cottage outside the city, and had somewhat better luck. I still struggled to get the star analysis to work, but I was able to snap a nice picture of the moon:

close up of moon
The telescope makes it easy to see features on the moon (Photo: Alex Hutchinson)

I also used the included solar filter to take a picture of the sun, sunspots and all. This was less interesting than I expected, but it鈥檚 a reminder that the Hestia started as a Kickstarter project aimed at people who wanted to watch the 2024 solar eclipse.

You can also image the sun, but there aren鈥檛 as many interesting features
You can also image the sun, but there aren鈥檛 as many interesting features (Photo: Alex Hutchinson)

Into the Wild

I figured the Petawawa River, in Algonquin Park, would be the perfect place to try the Hestia in earnest. During our six-day trip, we would be paddling right past the Algonquin Radio Observatory, a facility built in 1959 to observe outer space deep in the wilderness away from pesky cities.

The white structure on the shores of Lake Travers, in Algonquin Park, is a 150-foot radio telescope, part of the Algonquin Radio Observatory
The white structure on the shores of Lake Travers, in Algonquin Park, is a 150-foot radio telescope, part of the Algonquin Radio Observatory (Photo: Alex Hutchinson)

I brought the telescope in its hard carrying case, along with the included tripod. There was some good-natured grumbling from some of my tripmates about the added weight in the portage packs, but it fit in nicely and was rugged enough to withstand rough handling.

It proved useful on our second day, when we were paddling down 2.5-mile-long Radiant Lake. About halfway along, we found a decent beach to camp on. Our maps told us there was one more suitable spot at the end of the lake, about a mile farther on. We wanted to cover more distance, but we didn鈥檛 want to risk having to double back if the site was already taken. I got out the Hestia, put it in 鈥渟cenery鈥 mode, and confirmed that there was indeed a canoe on the distant beach.

Using 鈥淪cenery鈥 mode, we checked out the shoreline over a mile away (left) and zoomed in (right) to see a canoe, confirming that someone was already camped there
Using 鈥淪cenery鈥 mode, we checked out the shoreline over a mile away (left) and zoomed in (right) to see a canoe, confirming that someone was already camped there (Photo: Alex Hutchinson)

The stargazing that night was less successful. The stars were uncountable, but I still couldn鈥檛 get the Gravity鈥檚 star analysis working. It kept telling me that the scope was unstable. I鈥檝e since realized that extending the tripod to its maximum height of roughly five feet makes it too wobbly, but that didn鈥檛 occur to me at the time. So I took some photos of random points in the sky:

The night sky in Algonguin Park, including one feature (zoomed in, right) that I can pretend is Jupiter and its moons
The night sky in Algonguin Park, including one feature (zoomed in, right) that I can pretend is Jupiter and its moons (Photo: Alex Hutchinson)

It鈥檚 a nice photo. You can see some remarkable details, including something at the bottom right that I can almost imagine is Jupiter with a couple of moons. It鈥檚 not, though. Jupiter was below the horizon when I took that pic.

The Verdict

Back in Toronto, I tried a few more experiments with the telescope. Keeping the tripod at half-height kept it stable, which eliminated one problem. But there was simply too much light in my neighborhood to see enough stars for the star analysis. I managed to get it to work a few times, so that it could start directing me to the specific star cluster I was looking for, but not consistently. It鈥檚 tricky to get the focus, exposure, and ISO settings right, especially when there aren鈥檛 many stars in the sky.

I鈥檓 still intrigued by the idea. The Hestia is capable of seeing Venus鈥檚 rings, Jupiter鈥檚 moons, and other cool astronomical phenomena that would be totally new to me. Next time I鈥檓 outside the city, I鈥檒l set it up again鈥攁t half-height鈥攁nd give it another shot. But even if I master it, I鈥檒l stick to GPS for navigation on my next canoe trip.

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How Apple鈥檚 New Tech Is Going to Make Adventuring Safer, Easier, and More Comfortable /outdoor-gear/tools/apples-new-tech-for-adventurers/ Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:40:19 +0000 /?p=2716823 How Apple鈥檚 New Tech Is Going to Make Adventuring Safer, Easier, and More Comfortable

Everything You Need to Know About Apple鈥檚 New Ultra Watch 3, iPhone 17 Pro, and AirPods Pro 3

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How Apple鈥檚 New Tech Is Going to Make Adventuring Safer, Easier, and More Comfortable

For the past nine years, I鈥檝e joined journalists from around the world in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple headquarters for the keynote product launch speech. Many of those journalists work for tech publications, so they spend the whole day fastidiously taking notes about every detail Apple announces. I, meanwhile, patiently wait to see what Apple is going to say about the tech that will matter to outdoor adventurers. Some years, there are only a few specs of interest, but this year I found myself typing just as fast as my colleagues because all three of the major product releases鈥攊Phone 17 Pro, Ultra Watch 3, and AirPods Pro 3鈥攃ome with important updates for 国产吃瓜黑料 readers.

I鈥檝e been furiously testing early releases of all three products for the past week. Here is a full breakdown of the new features that matter to those of us who love to travel, play outside, and explore off the grid.

Apple Watch Ultra 3, iPhone 17 Pro, and AirPods Pro 3 Reviewed

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I Just Ran My Sixth Marathon, and This Shoe Has Become My Go-to for Any Kind of Run /outdoor-gear/run/adidas-evo-sl-review/ Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:14:51 +0000 /?p=2716293 I Just Ran My Sixth Marathon, and This Shoe Has Become My Go-to for Any Kind of Run

A veteran runner shares why she's recommending this lightweight trainer to everyone she knows.

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I Just Ran My Sixth Marathon, and This Shoe Has Become My Go-to for Any Kind of Run

Between running multiple marathons, earning my running coach certification, and testing running shoes professionally for a decade, I鈥檝e cultivated a reputation as a Runner with a capital R. And, as a proper-noun Runner, I find myself having a similar conversation over and over again.

Friend: 鈥淚 think I want to try to get into running鈥攚hat kind of shoes should I get?鈥

 

Me: 鈥淲ell, it depends鈥︹ (Goes into highly specific questions and recommendations, hemming and hawing over heel-toe drop and overpronation while my friend鈥檚 eyes slowly glaze over.)

The irritating truth is that there鈥檚 no shoe that鈥檚 absolutely perfect for every single runner. We all have different anatomy and different gaits, and the concrete surfaces I run on in Chicago are vastly different from the comparatively low-impact trails of Colorado. All of these factors (and more) will ultimately impact what running shoe is best for you.

While I鈥檝e been training for the Berlin Marathon this fall, however, I鈥檝e come as close as I鈥檝e ever come to discovering the Holy Grail of running shoes. The is a running shoe that works for most people, on most runs, most of the time, and one that I鈥檝e personally used for over a dozen runs in my ten-week training cycle.

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My Body Is High Maintenance. I Rely On These Five Self-Massage Tools to Keep It Healthy. /outdoor-gear/tools/five-self-massage-tools/ Sat, 20 Sep 2025 10:00:21 +0000 /?p=2716513 My Body Is High Maintenance. I Rely On These Five Self-Massage Tools to Keep It Healthy.

These self-care tools help put injury prevention and healing in my own hands

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My Body Is High Maintenance. I Rely On These Five Self-Massage Tools to Keep It Healthy.

My mind and my body don鈥檛 always agree with each other. While my mind is always game for adventures like monster trail runs in the mountains, hopping into a Masters swim session, or trying for a dyno at the climbing gym, my body regularly puts the brakes on. I鈥檓 always straining something; I鈥檓 regularly in pain.

I don鈥檛 chalk it all up to the fact that I鈥檓 not 20-something any more. Since my teens, I鈥檝e needed to listen to my body and do a lot of maintenance in the form of strength training, physical therapy treatments, and mobility exercises. So much physical therapy. So many exercises.

Roughly 10 years ago, I was told I have a connective tissue disorder. My lax ligaments and tendons mean I slip out of alignment easily, which causes all sorts of issues. Instead of doing less, however, I learned I needed to do more. I need to constantly strength train, keep my activities varied, and do a lot of self-care. My body needs maintenance.


To keep from constantly booking appointments and spending money on things like deep tissue massage and dry needling, I鈥檝e found tools that let me treat issues on my own time, my own dime, and in my own space at home. While I still need to visit experts for bigger issues, I can often address small pains and strains before they become problematic.

Here are the self-care tools I rely on to keep me healthy and moving.

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REI Is Letting Its Members Stack Savings on Savings This Weekend /outdoor-gear/gear-news/rei-member-days-sale/ Thu, 18 Sep 2025 20:22:37 +0000 /?p=2716386 REI Is Letting Its Members Stack Savings on Savings This Weekend

If you're a member at REI (which, for $30, you should be), you can save an extra $20 when you spend over $100 in the retailer's outlet section

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REI Is Letting Its Members Stack Savings on Savings This Weekend

Take it from me, buying an is hands-down one of the best decisions you can make as an outdoor enthusiast and gear nerd. A one-time fee of $30 gets you member benefits for life, and if you use your membership correctly, you鈥檒l easily make your initial investment back (and then some). Every year, you get 10 percent of what you spend back as REI credit. Spend $300 at REI in a year and that鈥檚 your $30 back in your pocket. Granted, you do have to spend the credit at REI, but you were going to do that anyway, weren鈥檛 you? I know that鈥檚 where I was going to spend that cash, whether I’m restocking my running gear drawer or outfitting myself for a new hobby.

Beyond that scintillating 10 percent back, you get exclusive coupons and deals all throughout the year. Right now, in fact, is one of the best times to flex your REI membership. The retailer is currently putting on its Member Days event, where you can get $20 off when you spend over $100 in the REI Outlet, the retailer鈥檚 treasure-trove of past-season outdoor goods that are marked down in a big way. That鈥檚 savings on savings. To get the discount, just sign into your REI member account, drop $100 (or more) of gear into your cart and plug in code OUTFALL25 at checkout.

To get you started on some pre-fall gear shopping, we entered our credentials and fired up the REI outlet to do some shopping of our own, hunting down some of our favorite editor-approved gear that鈥檚 currently on sale. I found savings on headlamps, snow packs, camping gear, Arc鈥檛eryx apparel, and more 鈥 all with a healthy discount. Read on to shop some of the top picks our team found or to get shopping yourself.

A Few Top Picks from the REI Outlet

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16 Camp-Kitchen Essentials to Elevate Your Outdoor Cooking /outdoor-gear/camping/best-camp-kitchen-accessories/ Wed, 17 Sep 2025 16:00:12 +0000 /?p=2663607 16 Camp-Kitchen Essentials to Elevate Your Outdoor Cooking

Our favorite knives, coffee presses, coolers, and cook sets for outdoor meal prep

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16 Camp-Kitchen Essentials to Elevate Your Outdoor Cooking

Everything tastes better when you鈥檙e camping鈥攖hat鈥檚 just a fact. Unless, of course, you char the pancakes over an overenthusiastic stove, or the milk curdles in a cut-rate cooler, or you impale yourself on a flimsy, dull knife. You get the picture鈥攈azards abound. Invest in a smart camp kitchen, and you鈥檒l eat better, spend less time scrubbing, and keep all ten fingers intact.

Luckily, our fearless team of 14 testers put more than 60 pieces of camp kitchen gear on the chopping block to bring you the 16 best outdoor cooking gear we could find.

Updated September 2025: We鈥檝e added three new picks鈥攖he Opinel Nomad Cooking Kit, Drip EZ Prep Tub, and Yeti Three Course Bowl Set鈥攖o complete your camp kitchen setup. Other product and price info has also been updated.聽


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The Best Hunting Clothes for Fall and Winter 2026 /outdoor-gear/clothing-apparel/best-hunting-clothes/ Wed, 17 Sep 2025 16:00:04 +0000 /?p=2680459 The Best Hunting Clothes for Fall and Winter 2026

These jackets, waders, vests, boots, socks, gloves, and layers handled long days and chilly nights in the backcountry while hunting deer, geese, turkey, and more

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The Best Hunting Clothes for Fall and Winter 2026

Choosing the best hunting clothes and footwear could mean the difference between staying out longer鈥攁nd coming home with meat鈥攙ersus calling it quits early because your gear couldn鈥檛 stand up to the elements. After all, patience is the name of the game, whether following sheep across unforgiving miles or hunting deer from a treestand mid-January. While trying to fill your freezer, the last thing you should worry about is your gear being too sweaty, cold, or loud鈥攐r worse, blowing out mid-climb.

To help you find the best hunting clothes for your needs, terrain, and game, we tested over nearly 40 pieces of apparel and footwear this year, including an assortment of jackets, pants, vests, base layers, socks, and boots. Five new pieces stood out, joining the ranks of those that continued to surpass expectations across two full hunting seasons of testing. We鈥檙e delighted to report that last year鈥檚 best hunting apparel list was solid鈥攖esters鈥 updates were consistent with their initial thoughts. We hope this year鈥檚 14 picks will also stand the test of wear and time.

Updated September 2025: We added five new pieces to our list of best hunting clothes, including a late-season deer hunting outfit, waterfowl hunting jacket, women鈥檚 hunting pants, mud boots, and a pair of socks we wear for everything. We also updated pricing.


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Tires Are the Most Important Part on Any 国产吃瓜黑料mobile. Yours Probably Aren鈥檛 Good Enough. /outdoor-gear/cars-trucks/guide-to-tires/ Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:49:04 +0000 /?p=2715644 Tires Are the Most Important Part on Any 国产吃瓜黑料mobile. Yours Probably Aren鈥檛 Good Enough.

A easy-to-understand guide to going farther and staying safer while saving money

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Tires Are the Most Important Part on Any 国产吃瓜黑料mobile. Yours Probably Aren鈥檛 Good Enough.

It doesn鈥檛 matter what you drive, the only part that touches the ground is the tires. And that means components like your 4×4 or AWD system, brakes, and motor are only as good as the tires they work through. Let me make it easy for you to understand which tires are right for your vehicle, and the conditions you drive through.

Why Not Just Keep Things Stock?

The tires that come on new cars aren鈥檛 always chosen for how they鈥檒l perform in real life. Automakers have long been to hit strict fuel-economy targets, with huge fines if they fall short. One of the easiest ways to squeeze out a little extra efficiency in government tests is by equipping cars with tires like the ones you see typically come with new cars. But those gains are tiny. In the real world, they鈥檙e usually wiped out by traffic, weather, terrain, or simply the way people drive. TL;DR: stock tires are often designed to help carmakers pass a test, not to give you the best performance on the road.

AMC Eagle
Do you plan to use your crossover in winter? Its AWD system can’t work except through the right tires. Check out the the , which is as easy as visiting your local Costco. (Photo: AMC)

Is There Such a Thing as One Tire That Can Do Everything?

No. Every tire is a compromise. If you want to boost rain performance, for example, one of the things you鈥檇 do is increase the percentage of silica versus natural rubber in the tire鈥檚 compound. But the higher the silica content, the greater the propensity for damage when driving on gravel or rocky surfaces, so that very good rain tire will wear very rapidly if used away from paved roads.

Each tire has a specific set of circumstances in which it鈥檚 designed to work best and a type of vehicle it鈥檚 designed to work with. The burden is then on you to match a tire to the conditions you encounter most frequently.

For many drivers, the answer is not a single tire. If you drive in places that experience winter conditions, you need to run a tire designed to perform in extreme cold and on surfaces as varied as slush, snow, and bare ice. Advancements in rubber compounds have given modern winter tires unbelievable amounts of grip on hitherto slippery surfaces, but those same compounds will rapidly wear out in above freezing temperatures. So it doesn鈥檛 make sense to leave winter tires on during summer months or if you鈥檙e driving to a warmer climate.

Conversely, tires designed to last many miles, or perform well in above freezing temperatures, are unable to deliver safe grip below freezing or on slippery winter surfaces. Drivers who tackle both need two sets of tires, which they should switch out late each fall and early spring, or before any trip to a place with different weather.

1985 Subaru
Do you want to use your crossover beyond smooth pavement? Several tire makers have recently launched lightweight all-terrain tires designed specifically for the light-duty needs of Subarus and similar. The , , and will all run quietly, maximize fuel economy, and won’t be so heavy that they’ll shatter your CV axles. (Photo: Subaru)

How Tires Are Made

Starting from the inside out, a tire鈥檚 strength is provided by its carcass, a meshwork steel or synthetic fibers. Decades ago, before the advent of modern material technologies, tire carcasses were made from cotton canvas. To make a tire stronger, additional layers of canvas (called plies) were added. You can still find those referenced on modern tires today, with their weight capacities listed in 鈥減ly equivalents.鈥 (I explained them in detail back in 2021 as part of a deep dive into all-terrain tires.)

A carcass designed to support less weight will be more flexible and require less air to achieve proper inflation. A carcass designed to support more weight will be less flexible and require higher air pressure. A more flexible tire will provide more grip and better ride quality, and changing the weight capacity of the tires on your vehicle will require you to use different pressures than those listed in your vehicle鈥檚 owner鈥檚 manual.

A tire鈥檚 tread and sidewall are made by compounding natural and synthetic rubbers with chemicals, like sulfur and carbon black. This is where most of a tire鈥檚 performance is achieved. Different performance metrics, like what kinds of surfaces a tire can grip or how many miles it鈥檒l last, are achieved in the compound. This can make visually assessing a tire difficult, since all you see is black rubber.

That rubber compound and carcass are then combined in a mold, which also forms the shape of the tire鈥檚 tread and sidewall. The deeper the tread (typically expressed in fractions of an inch), the better its pattern will grip loose surfaces and clear standing water. Tread depth also indicates how much rubber has been applied to the carcass. The thicker the rubber, the more miles it will last and the better the tire will be at resisting punctures.

The pattern in which a tire鈥檚 tread is molded is also determines how it can clear water or mud, hang onto snow (the best material for gripping snow is more snow), and mechanically key with off-road surfaces. More open patterns also tend to be noisier, as they catch more air as they spin.

Performance is a combination of all those factors: the carcass鈥檚 flexibility, the chemical properties of the rubber compound, and the pattern and depth of the tread.

Toyota Land Cruiser
Do you want to take your rugged family SUV anywhere? We’ve been running the new on our Land Cruiser, and can report that it works as well on the highway as it does on seriously challenging trails, or in unexpected shoulder season snow storms. (Photo: Toyota)

Decoding the Sidewall

How do you determine if a tire is designed for your vehicle, and the conditions in which you plan to drive? Every tire tells you that exact information, right on its sidewall. There鈥檚 a lot of information on a tire鈥檚 sidewall; here’s what’s most important to drivers of normal cars, crossovers, trucks and SUVs, who use their vehicles on and off-road and in winter weather.

Tire Size

The first and most important piece of information is the tire size. On passenger car tires, these will be expressed in metric form, with a size like 265/70R18: 鈥265鈥 is the tire鈥檚 width in millimeters and 鈥70鈥 is the tire鈥檚 aspect ratio鈥攐r the height measured from the outer rim to the tread, as a percentage of its width. The 鈥淩鈥 stands for radial, and is a type of carcass now universal. The 鈥18鈥 is the diameter of the wheel the tire is designed to fit.

On some larger trucks and 4x4s, you may find the tire size listed in imperial measurements. Those will read something like 35×12.5R18. These are much easier to read, with 35 being the tire鈥檚 outside diameter (in inches), 12.5 being its width, and 18 its wheel diameter.

In almost all cases, you鈥檙e going to be best off sticking with this stock size, or something very close to it. Sometimes a minor change in tire size of only a few millimeters will net you a greater variety of choice, or lower prices. will help you compare sizes. If you are modifying your 4×4 to prioritize off-road performance, I wrote about choosing upsize tires and the formulas you need to calculate their performance in this piece, a few years ago.

Date Code

Then, there’s the tire鈥檚 date code. Tires are designed to last six years from their time of manufacture. Beyond that date, tires can begin to experience invisible damage that may lead to sudden and total failure. Running old tires risks your life, as well as those of your passengers and other drivers.

You鈥檒l find the tire鈥檚 date of manufacture in the last four digits of its DOT code. Just look for the letters 鈥淒OT鈥 on a tire鈥檚 sidewall, then skip to the last four digits in the series of numbers that follows it. The first two digits there will be the week (of 52) in a given year when that tire was made, and the last two digits are the year. So, 鈥4623鈥 means the tire was made on the 46th week of 2023, and it鈥檒l be safe to run that tire until November, 2029.

Load Rating

On passenger car tires, load rating is listed as a three-digit number. On light truck tires, it鈥檚 a letter, running from A to F. It’s all a bit complicated, and you鈥檙e probably better off using your smartphone to look up the tire鈥檚 spec sheet on its manufacturer鈥檚 website, where its load is listed as a plain number of pounds.

That data is mostly relevant if you鈥檙e planing to tow a heavy trailer or try and carry a heavy camper. But, it鈥檚 also relevant information in that you want to match a tire鈥檚 load rating as closely as possible to your vehicle鈥檚 gross weight rating. Running too strong a tire will impair ride quality and grip.

Much more easy to decipher are pictorial sidewall stamps, some of which include:

  • All-Season: These are the cheapest possible tires, with the least possible performance. They begin to lose grip even on dry pavement as temperatures fall past 45 degrees Fahrenheit. If your vehicle is equipped with these, replace them at the earliest possible opportunity.
  • M+S: This stands for 鈥渕ud and snow鈥 and indicates that a two-dimensional representation of the tire鈥檚 tread pattern contains at least a 20:80 ratio of void to lug. No physical test of a tire鈥檚 performance is conducted, and this stamp does not guarantee that a tire will perform safely in mud or snow.
  • Three Peak Mountain Snowflake: This indicates a test has been performed in which the tire has demonstrated at least ten percent superior acceleration traction on packed snow compared to the industry鈥檚 Standard Reference Test Tire (SRTT). The SRTT is loosely equivalent to the cheapest possible all-season tire from a decade or more ago; ten percent is not a significant advantage, and packed snow is far from the only slippery surface you鈥檒l find in winter.
  • Ice Grip: A new symbol that began rolling out on tires in 2023, this indicates that a tire has passed a test in which its braking distances are at least 18 percent shorter than the SRTT on bare ice. This is the only sidewall stamp that indicates a tire will be safe to use in winter conditions.
Wes Siler Ford Ranger
Do you need the highest performance possible in winter conditions in large tire sizes designed to fit modified trucks like mine? There is no better option than the . (Photo: )

Common Tire Mistakes

In addition to selecting a tire, you need use it correctly. Avoid these common pitfalls to get the most from your tires.

1. Not Calculating Correct Pressures

Air pressure inside the tire is what supports the weight of your vehicle. As you add load in the form of cargo, a camper, a trailer, or anything else, the weight your tires need to support increases, and with it the pressure in your tires. The same is true as you fit larger tires or ones with higher load ratings. Failing to calculate the right pressures can cause disappointment when people change tires and experience poor or unpredictable handling. Here’s where to .

2. Failing to Check and Adjust Pressures

All tires will lose air over time, and pressures will change with ambient temperature and elevation. You need to adjust pressures to set your tires up to perform on different surfaces. If you are not airing down when you leave pavement, you are setting yourself up for failure.

3. Only Buying Four Tires

Failing to run a matching spare tire within its safe lifespan is setting yourself up for disaster. In a best case scenario, this will force you to immediately seek out a tire shop in the event of a puncture. In a worst case, it will leave you stranded.

4. Not Planning Ahead

What鈥檚 going to be crowded the day before the first big snowstorm hits? Your local tire shop. Set yourself up to perform seasonal tire swaps yourself by having them mounted to a dedicated set of wheels, or pick a date on the calendar and book yourself a time slot well in advance of any rush. The same goes for replacing worn out tires. The best time to select, shop for, and mount a set of replacement tires is before the old ones wear out, not after they鈥檝e left you stranded in the middle of nowhere.

5. Believing Groupthink

A colleague texted me the other day asking if some piece of conventional wisdom鈥攖hat E-rated LTs are the best option off-road鈥攚as actually true. I was flabbergasted. Check your sources, and take advantage of good information.

6. Not Running Winter Tires

I鈥檓 never going to stop trying to hammer this point home. If you plan to drive in winter conditions, you must run a real winter tire. There is no substitute, either for your own safety, or for that of the rest of us with whom you share the road.


Wes Siler
(Photo: )

Wes Siler, our longtime outdoor lifestyle columnist, is a trained racing driver who has organized long-distance off-road trips across six continents. You can ask him for help selecting the right tires for your unique needs, or with any other outdoor topic, by subscribing to .

The post Tires Are the Most Important Part on Any 国产吃瓜黑料mobile. Yours Probably Aren鈥檛 Good Enough. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

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From the Alps to LA, These Trail Runners Can Tackle Any Path /outdoor-gear/gear-news/hoka-mafate-5-versatile-trail-running-shoe/ Sat, 13 Sep 2025 12:00:27 +0000 /?p=2715930 From the Alps to LA, These Trail Runners Can Tackle Any Path

I wore the Hoka Mafate 5 for a week in Chamonix. I never stopped wearing them once I got home.

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From the Alps to LA, These Trail Runners Can Tackle Any Path

When it comes to running shoes, I have an ongoing case of choice paralysis. There are just too many to choose from. We鈥檝e got shoes for everyday runs, shoes for racing, shoes for speed work, shoes for long runs 鈥 and that鈥檚 just for the road. Head to the trail side and you鈥檒l see shoes for every type of off-road path, from endless gravel roads covered in pine straw to near-vertical mountain trails that are way more sharp rock than dirt. It can be difficult to figure out exactly what you need.

Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I鈥檓 not complaining. Having a multitude of options for hitting the trail is good for everyone. But sometimes I just want a shoe that can do a little bit of everything. I don鈥檛 want a dozen specialized pairs of running shoes in my closet, I want a couple options that can take me from the mountains to the local park and maybe even be laced up on race day. But luckily, just as my brain was about to explode with indecision, I found a cure for my overly-stimulated prefrontal cortex: the .

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Where the Road Ends, the Defender Octa Begins /outdoor-gear/cars-trucks/where-the-road-ends-the-defender-octa-begins/ Fri, 12 Sep 2025 10:15:17 +0000 /?p=2715220 Where the Road Ends, the Defender Octa Begins

he Land Rover Defender Octa isn鈥檛 a suburban status symbol鈥攊t鈥檚 a 626-horsepower off-road beast built to dominate trails, rivers, and anything else in its path.

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Where the Road Ends, the Defender Octa Begins

The was airborne for what felt like an eternity, all four wheels spinning free above the rutted Baja-style course in Gateway, Colorado. When it landed鈥攚ith the kind of composed thud that suggests serious engineering鈥擨 realized this wasn’t the sanitized suburban warrior that prowls drop-off lines from the Hamptons to Malibu. This was something else entirely: a machine that looks like it drinks creatine, camps, and can quote T.S. Eliot.

The Octa represents Land Rover’s attempt to build a Defender that can haul ass as well as haul gear in style. With 626 horsepower, twin-turbo V8 fury, and a 0-60 time of 3.8 seconds, it’s genuinely impressive, especially for a 5,950 off-roader. A special “Octa Mode” optimizes suspension and braking for driving fast and hard on dirt鈥攅ssentially a doctorate in controlled violence. But it isn’t all specs and swagger. Land Rover invited us to drive it the way it was intended鈥攈ard, fast, and on gnarly trails where cell service is as scarce as the uranium once mined from these hills.

Octa land rover going through water
The Octa has an impressive wade depth of 3.3 feet. (Photo: Courtesy Nick Dimbleby on behalf of Jaguar Land Rover)

These weren’t roads in any conventional sense鈥攖hey were battle scars left by miners decades ago, serpentine ribbons of dirt and rock that would leave most vehicles with broken axles and wounded pride. The Octa attacked with predatory confidence. Where lesser machines would buck and complain, the Defender floated over washboard surfaces with supernatural smoothness. The suspension absorbed impacts that should have rattled my teeth loose, transforming punishment into poetry.

As we climbed higher, the landscape unfolded like a geological love letter written in sandstone and shadow. Century-old junipers, twisted by wind into natural bonsai, stood sentinel along ridgelines. These weren’t manicured suburban specimens; these were survivors, shaped by hardship into beauty. The views stretched to horizons that seemed to exist in another millennium, unspoiled and vast in a way that makes you remember why we venture into wilderness. I felt guilt for not using human power to earn this view. But would I have absorbed the poetic resonance of this panorama after hiking through 100-degree heat? Yeah, no. I sat back into the AC and felt less guilty. Sometimes enlightenment comes with climate control.

driving the octa
Press the Octa Mode button on the steering wheel and the car becomes a rally monster with delicious rear wheel bias. (Photo: Courtesy Jaguar Land Rover)

And then there was a river crossing.

The water was deeper than it looked鈥攊t always is. As we descended into the current, I felt the Octa’s weight shift, felt the river’s insistent push. The guides had briefed us: windows down, seatbelts undone, ready to bail. For a moment, as water crept up the sides, I wondered if I’d made a terrible mistake.

But the Defender proved it could wade up to 3.3 feet deep, even without a snorkel鈥攖wice the original’s wading depth. We emerged on the far bank with water streaming from wheel wells. If there was any justification for bringing a car into the wilderness, there it was on the grins plastered across our faces.

While most Octa owners will be content letting it one-up G-wagen owners at the Erewhon parking lot, it was built for moments when you’re wondering if you’ve finally bitten off more than you can chew鈥攁nd discovering you haven’t.


Technical Information: Land Rover Defender Octa

Defender Octa driving offroad
The kind of trail off-road dreams are made of on Colorado’s Western Slope. (Photo: Courtesy Nick Dimbleby on behalf of Jaguar Land Rover)

Engine

4.4L turbocharged V-8
8-speed automatic
626 hp @ 7000 rpm
590 lb-ft @ 1800 rpm

Speed

Top speed 155 mph
0-60 mph in 3.84 seconds

Price


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