Reviews

Part 1 : New Features & Design

Part 2 : Battery Life & FusedTrack

Part 3 : Optical Heart Rate & Take-Away

The Suunto 9

The Suunto Spartan Ultra has been my go-to multisport GPS watch for almost two years now, and used to be Suunto's highest end device, their flagship model if you may. A few months ago however, Suunto announced the Suunto 9 Baro, a device that replaces the Spartan Ultra as the top tier model. For some reason, it is always quite exciting to see something get dethroned. Read more

Salomon X-Ultra 3 GTX

Just recently, Salomon released the third version of their popular X-Ultra footwear line, which are their lightest all-terrain hiking shoes. The X-Ultra 3 tends to catch one's eye, and it's sleek design and aesthetic appeal makes it stand out amongst all the other shoes on the shelves. At first glance, a few tweaks here and there from the previous version can be seen, notably with the Quicklace™ eyelets & the (now hotpressed) Sensifit™ system, whereas most of the other features seem to be relatively unchanged. The outsole however has been redesigned to increase downhill traction, and now has parallel grooves etched into the heel that are meant to bite into the ground.

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The Merrell All Out Blaze Vent WP

When selecting a pair of new shoes, the so-called 'ground feel' and foot flexibility of a pair of shoes is extremely important to me as I come from a minimalist running background. Because of this, I shy away from heavy hiking boots, and only consider them when needing to carry a heavy backpack for multi-day hikes. Read more

The Merrell All Out Crush

* Please go to kembara.my for the Malay translation of this review *

Since their announcement in November 2015 that they will be teaming up for a partnership with the OCR giant Tough Mudder, Merrell has released specific gear that has been catered for obstacle course racers, one of which is Merrell’s new All Out Crush trail-running shoe. Merrell is so dedicated to the design process for specialized OCR shoes that they even plan to build a mini Tough Mudder course at their headquarters in Michigan, U.S.A! Read more