Snow Peak isn’t your usual camping gear company. Au contraire. They are quite unusual. Though their products are items you definitely need for a camping adventure, their gear is one, OK maybe five, notches above most manufacturers of similar products.
Why?
Well, for one, the company was started in the 50s by Yukio Yamai from Japan. He began creating products because, as a mountaineer, he couldn’t find what he wanted from other companies so he created his own. To this day, the Snow Peak products all have a Japanese aesthetic quality to them.
These are not throw-away items meant to be enjoyed for a season or two. Rather, these items are meant to last a generation or more. Beyond quality, each item is also innovative.
Here are two that I will be bringing with me on the Snowman Trek in September.
Hozuki Lantern
The Hozuki Lantern is a hanging light that can easily be used in a tent or outside at a campsite. It throws quite a bit of light. Enough to see around your tent, to read by or enjoy a campfire meal in front of.
There are numerous settings for the light so you can vary the brightness. But not just high, medium or low. You can stop the brightness anywhere in between so you have more control over the amount of light. You can even put it in candle mode so it provides a bit of romantic flicker. Depending on the brightness, you’ve got eight to 80 hours of battery life.
The shade is silicon so it’s pliable and easy to pack. And there’s a low battery light that will come on when it’s time to change them.
Available from Snow Peak for about $90.
Mola Headlamp
Probably one of the coolest inventions ever is the Mola Headlamp. Sure, there are a number of headlamps you could buy. But what makes the Mola so fantastic is that it follows the angle of your eyes (not just your head).
What?
Yup. If you already own a headlamp, it likely adjusts with a tilt adjuster so you can physically angle it up or down depending on where you’re looking (up or down) and what you’re doing (reading, starting a campfire, setting up your tent, hiking in the dark). But those headlamps are a bit limited in their mobility.
With the Mola, rather than the tilt adjuster, there’s a floater device that automatically moves with your head. The idea being that when you move, your eyes move at a greater angle than your head – so there’s a wider range of light needed. The Mola adjusts to follow this wider vertical angle of your eyes.
Like the Hozuki, the Mola also has a variety of brightness levels that can be set using the power button. There’s also a calibration button that allows you to tile the light based on your needs at the time.
Available from Snow Peak for about $45.
What I Love
- Both items are innovative beyond any similar products I own.
- They are durable, built to last.
- They each have their own fun and funky factors.
Not So Much
- I found the LED portion of the Hozuki to sometimes be painfully difficult (on my fingers) to twist and remove to get to the batteries. It really takes a hard twist and I can imagine that in a super cold environment, it would be even more painful on my hands.
- I could never get the strobe to work on the Mola. Although I can’t imagine a situation when I would want to use this, pressing the power button in a certain order (per the instructions) didn’t seem to work.
Overall, there’s much more to like about both of these than not. Definitely keepers.
Travel Well,
Beth
Related links:
Jaybird Bluebird Wireless Headsets
Sea to Summit Travel Adaptors
Disclosure: SnowPeak sent these items to me for review. Regardless, everything I have said in the post reflects my honest opinions.
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