Review of the Olympus Stylus 1050SW by an Everyday User

Silver Springs Park

First I want let you know this is not going to be a technical review (go to stevesdigicams if you want that), this is going to be a review that I feel the average shopper can find useful…

I bought this camera because I wanted something  I could take hiking, camping, kayaking, and use every day and not have to worry about it.  The Stylus SW line is a water proof line of cameras. The 1050 is water proof up to 10 feet and can be used in temperatures below freezing.  The 1030sw is good to 33 feet and adds a shock rating  to withstand falls from 6 feet.  But you will have to spend about a hundred extra bucks for the features.

Silver River State Park

The 1050sw is a 10.1 MP a few of the reviews I read said that the camera might not Read more »

Winter Bicycling – Ktrak Track System & More

Ktrak Full Kit

Ktrak is a kit that replaces the rear wheel on your MTB to turn it in to a snow machine. They also have an optional front ski. I think one of these kits would be really cool to have.  I’m not sure I could drop the $400 + on it though.  A lot of the reviews mention how much rolling resistance the track has and that it is useless in deep snow.  Before I even think about one of these kits I need to get a mountain bike but I think I would rather just have a good set of studded tires. I have about a 2.5 mile commute to work and would like to ride through the winter.  I am planing on building a winter bike over the summer to ride next winter. Christini is an all-wheel-drive motorcycle manufacturer.  They now offer AWD bicycles and they look like they would be great in the snow and ice.  They are offering 2 full suspension models.  I think they cost $1400 + so this would be out of my winter bike budget.

Do you ride in the snow and ice? if so what is your ride?

First Snowshoe Hike of the Winter

Trail at Lake Fitzgerald

We got some snow here in Western, MA it has been snowing just about non stop sense about 1pm on Friday. Saturday after work I decided to go out for a quick snowshoe. Not wanting to travel far I thought that the Lake Fitzgerald Conservation Area in Northampton, MA would be a good choice. I wasn’t the only one to have this plan it looked like a a couple people had been out on the trails. I passed 2 people snowshoeing and saw some signs of cross country skiers. This area has a lot of little streams and wet spots that are a pain to cross wearing snowshoes. Once the my snowshoes get a little wet they just start to pack on the snow and it just turns to ice. I still had fun and love all this snow we are getting.