Black Diamond Spot Headlamp Review (and Giveaway!)

Before we get to today’s review and product giveaway, let’s get the previous contest out of the way … drum roll, please … RAY, shoot me an e-mail – you’ve won the $15 gift card to shop at Wilderness Running Company. Congrats!

For everybody else, there will be an identical gift card contest at the end of this week, plus a product giveaway drawing from WRC at the end of this review. You didn’t think I was kidding about the giveaways this month, did you?

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Today’s post doubles as an introduction to my headlamp reviews, which will be divided into two primary categories for trail runners: compact, super-lightweight models with a single combined battery/lamp casing, and the heavier, brighter models with an external battery pack. There's one other lamp that's something of a category-breaker which I'll review soon as well.

Expanding on the theme of “two”, the battle for the best headlamps has two primary players: Black Diamond and Petzl. They’re the two most prevalent companies on the market, with the most attractive product options for trail runners. Their offerings each have particular strengths that will be more appealing to certain users. And the overall quality of their lamps is outstanding.

We’re starting with the Black Diamond Spot, which I consider the most affordable option for a dedicated trail runner. It features a 1-watt LED direct beam that penetrates 70m, or 3 high-power LEDs that produce a floodlight of 47 lumens across a wide field of vision. The entire unit weighs 85g (3.0 oz) including the 3 AAA batteries for operation.

The Spot’s casing is ultra-compact, measuring just 2.27” x 1.7” x 1.4", with sleek curvature and a stylish black-and-silver color scheme. Atop the casing is the only button you need to use: the simple all-in-one control that’s big enough to use even with gloved fingers. The entire unit has IPX4 water resistance, so you can use it in any harsh conditions you encounter.

Pressing the top button repeatedly scrolls you through 3 brightness levels as well as a strobe. This can be done in either the spot or flood mode, so in total the Spot gives you 6 different brightness levels and 2 strobes between the two settings. The beam can be angled for precise placement by the ratcheting tilt mechanism of the casing.

Battery life for using the LEDs (the most efficient mode) on the high setting is 100 hours, which is outstanding. One potential drawback about the Spot lamp is that it’s not “officially” compatible with rechargeable batteries. Although both the company webpage and the user’s manual indicate to use alkaline batteries only, I’ve heard reports of people using rechargeable batteries in the Spot without problems. Fortunately, even if you stick with regular alkalines, they’ll last you through several long-duration runs before needing replacement.

Spot’s candle power is more than adequate for paved roads or smooth trails, but like most other single-casing headlamps, is probably not quite enough for highly technical trails. Another potential difficulty for hardcore trail running is that changing from spot to flood mode is impossible without turning the bulb off, which might make footing tricky if you’re trying to switch on the fly.

Otherwise, the Spot is a very solid, durable multi-purpose headlamp that is small enough to tuck into a pocket once the sun comes up. Its retail price is a very affordable $40 – minus 10% if you use my R&R10 coupon code from Wilderness Running Company; I can almost guarantee that you won’t find a higher performance lamp for a lower price anywhere.


This week, Wilderness Running Company is contributing to my holiday giveaway spree by awarding one Black Diamond Spot FREE to the winner of a drawing. To enter, leave a comment below this post by 7PM PST on Tuesday 12/8/09, and I’ll randomly select a winner from that group. Kudos to WRC, and good luck to you!

*Product independently purchased
**See other product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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Sugoi Glove Review; Wilderness Gift Card Giveaway

I haven’t made any secret about my affinity for Wilderness Running Company this year, and that’s why I’m excited about the next few giveaways over the upcoming week. Along with a product giveaway, two separate winners will receive $15 WRC gift certificates, which I’m more than happy to award because:

1) It’s like cash (which, in the words of Yogi Berra, is just as good as money!), so you can apply it to any kind of trail running gear you want: shoes, clothes, lighting, or whatever else is in stock. You don’t have to worry about sizing, and I don’t have to worry about shipping – so everybody wins. Also …

2) This is kind of a long one, but … in my little town there’s a small, independently-operated video store that’s owned by one of the nicest guys around. He knows he faces a constant challenge, and possibly even the threat of extinction from nearby mega-retailers like Blockbuster and huge online outlets like Netflix. For that reason, he works about twice as many hours as most folks, and always goes out of his way to get to know his customers and make sure they’re satisfied. He survives on dedication and quality goods (always having new titles available) and customer loyalty. For that reason, I don’t rent movies from anyplace else.


I sometimes think of Wilderness Running Company like I do that local video store. They’re not REI, and they’re not RoadRunner Sports (honestly, they’re not even ZombieRunner), but the owner is a very friendly, stand-up guy, and he seems to be working twice as hard to share his passion for trail running and outdoor gear with anyone who stops by. He relies on top quality gear and outstanding customer service to distinguish his business – and although I haven’t purchased a ton of gear lately (for obvious reasons), I have bought stuff from WRC, and I’ll continue to do so in the future. And these gift cards are my way of encouraging you to do the same.

(Of course, you don’t need a gift card to do it: you can find sale prices there and/or use my coupon code anytime you’d like. I’ve mentioned the coupon code before, right?)

Today’s post is a product review as well as a drawing for a $15 WRC gift card; enter by leaving your name in the comment box below. The winner will be announced on Sunday night. Next week there will be a WRC headlamp giveaway, as well as another gift card giveaway at the end of the week. ‘Tis the season.

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As for today’s review, it highlights two styles of Sugoi gloves that I’ve put to heavy use since our weather has turned cold recently. They both are remarkably thin and light in comparison to the warmth they provide in low temperatures.

The lighter of the two is Sugoi’s thermal knit glove, which looks like any other knit glove you’d pick up in a discount store (which was pretty much my modus operandi for many years), except they outperform regular knit gloves by a mile. I actually don’t know what the difference is – whether the material or the construction, or probably both – but these are highly breathable and still kept my hands warm even as the thermometer dipped in to the 30s.

WRC states the temp range for these is mid 20s to mid 40s, but the low end seems a bit of a stretch (especially considering the next glove that I also have). It’s also very likely that I’m just not that tough. At any rate, the thermal gloves also have ribbed cuffs and anatomical seaming for a snug, comfortable fit, and rubber palm nubs in case you need to open a jar of pickles on your way out the door or something. They’re a surprisingly warm yet lightweight glove, and are available for $16 from WRC.

The gloves I’m most impressed by are Sugoi’s Firewall LT, which provides both wind- and waterproof protection for harsh conditions. My coldest morning runs so far this year have been 30 degrees, and these gloves kept my fingers quite comfortable the entire way. Yet they’re still thin enough that you have dexterity to push watch buttons or operate zippers while wearing them – a very nice contrast from the snow gloves I normally wear when it’s below freezing outside.

The Firewall LT also features a very soft, highly absorbent synthetic nose wipe on the thumb (for those of you who are unschooled in snot rocketry) and a contoured neoprene cuff with a velcro tab closure. It has a couple of reflective accents for better visibility from oncoming traffic.

WRC sells the Firewall for $35, which isn’t remarkably high for solid windproof and waterproof insulation. Having used them multiple times already this season, I’d say that they’re definitely worth the price. Check them out here, check out WRC’s other winter apparel (including the GoLite shirts that are still on sale), and check back with me on Monday to see if you’ve won a gift card.


*products provided by Wilderness Running Company
**See other product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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Full Moon Ride; Footbed Giveaway

Before today's post, a couple more giveaways to keep in the spirit of the week ...

Over the past year I've reviewed products from two companies who make athletic shoe inserts: SofSole and SOLE. For obvious reasons (I've mentioned that I've been running barefoot, right?), I'm not looking for extra structure or support in my footwear these days, but I've got a couple of extra unopened products that I'm willing to send off to the first person who asks. So if you're a men's size 10.5-11 and would like a heat moldable footbed from either company, e-mail me at info@runningandrambling.com, and they're all yours.

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I'm tinkering with a draft post about the whole “big picture” aspect of barefoot running, but it seems like it’s going in too many directions at once – so I decided to scrap it for today, and do a quick photo post instead.

More specifically, these are pics from this week’s bike ride with my 11-year-old son, on one of our regular routes through the Fort Ord open space. We’re getting to the time of year when we have to race the darkness in order to get a decent ride in – but some of those hurried rides also turn out to be the prettiest and most memorable.


The first half of our ride is almost entirely uphill, and we hadn’t yet finished the main 2-mile climb before we started losing daylight in the west …


… although when we turned back to the east, the open valley and rising moon maintained just enough illumination for us to point the bikes towards home.



We probably would have made it back sooner, except that I stopped in my tracks probably 10 different times to try capturing the colorful vista of fading daylight behind us, and a bright full moon ahead.


We also stopped at the sight of this: some poor critter who didn’t quite make it home in time the evening before. My son digs looking at bones anyway, so finding some that were still connected to each other – as well as one that was completely snapped in half - was nothing short of awesome in his book. It also led to the following exchange:

Son: What do you think it is?

Me: I’m not sure … but I know what it means.

Son: What?

Me: It means we’d better get back before dark.


Whether it was the threat of predators emerging from hiding, or wanting to escape the increasingly cold chill of early evening, or simply racing against the dying light, the kid seemed to ride a little faster after seeing the bones. I gave him a head start to capture one last shot (if you click to enlarge, that’s him on the trail in the distance), then tucked the camera away to catch up.

We made it to the paved road just as darkness fell, and talked on and on about the bones in the comfort of our heated car ride home.

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Sockwa Winners; Two Rhapsodies

In traditional fashion, let’s take care of business before pleasure with this post …

Thanks to everyone who entered my Sockwa giveaway, and special thanks to Gretchen for posing for that Sockwa photo. For the winners, you’re indebted to my 6-year-old daughter who pulled your name out of a hat. For those who didn’t win … the good news is that Sockwas aren’t very expensive to purchase on your own, so I’d definitely encourage you to give them a try. And if that’s not enough consolation, you can always file a formal complaint with my customer service department.

So without further ado ... Barefoot Angie B, Danny Miller, and Bob Tucker: drop me an e-mail (info@runningandrambling.com) with your address. You’ve won!

And since I don’t have anything else constructive for today, please allow me a little foolish indulgence – because sometimes I simply marvel at the timing of things in my life.

Less than 2 weeks ago, a topic of discussion on a trail run was how we develop associations with certain songs that never go away, regardless of how much time goes by, or how infrequently we hear the song in later years. One example that a friend of mine offered – and which I agreed with 100% - was that he couldn’t hear Queen’s "Bohemian Rhapsody" anymore without thinking of Wayne and Garth’s crew rocking out in the AMC Pacer. For children of the early 1990s, it’s a classic bit of cinema:

"Bohemian Rhapsody" from Wayne's World (click to play - song starts after :50):


For more than 15 years, that’s been the automatic association: "Bohemian Rhapsody" = Wayne’s World. And no sooner do I receive independent confirmation of such, than along come the Muppets.

During Thanksgiving week, Muppet Studios released their hilarious remake of Queen’s opus, and my laughter at the computer was enough to bring my two girls running to the screen to see what was so funny. The timing was particularly fortuitous, as I’ve been doling out old Muppet Show skits (which, tragically, are very scarce on YouTube or anywhere else aside from the DVD sets) to my kids over the past several months. I know funnier things have come along since that show aired, but the level of inspired brilliance that The Muppet Show churned out from one week to the next over the course of five years in the late 1970s may be unmatched in the history of television – and it seems like one of my responsibilities as a parent is to make my offspring aware of such. (Yes, really.)

So the kids already had a little bit of the groundwork; they recognized Gonzo and Animal and the Swedish Chef and Fozzie Bear and the "Mahna Mahna" guy, but much of the remaining cast was a complete revelation to them, just as much as the musical compilation was to me. And I suspect when I hear "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the future, that jostling going on inside my head will be the Muppets elbowing their way past Wayne and Garth to become my primary association with the song.

At any rate, you can judge for yourself. The action really gets good at about the 1:50 mark.

The Muppets, "Bohemian Rhapsody" (click to play):


Now there’s just a single parental responsibility lingering from the weekend – one that was phrased succinctly by my 6-year-old:

“Who’s Queen?”

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Vivo Barefoot Oak Review (And Coupon Code)

I suppose I should preface this review by stating what will become obvious by the time we’re through: I’m falling hard for Vivo Barefoot shoes.

When I published my review of their Dharma shoes in September, the whole story sounded too great to be true: a prince (named Galahad, no less) who is a descendant of seven generations of footwear royalty decides to follow his heart instead of protecting his bank account, reinventing the family business in a way that celebrates the natural human form, while becoming a crusader for the most eco-friendly and socially responsible business practices imaginable. To barefoot aficionados and tree huggers - and especially to people like me, who are a little bit of each - it reads like some kind of fairy tale.

In fact, I was so impressed by the company and the product that I took advantage of my own coupon offer, and purchased another pair of shoes after posting the original review. (That’s only happened a handful of times, which I’ll describe further in an upcoming post.) The Oak shoe is a close companion to the Dharma, with some minor stylistic and structural differences to distinguish it from the rest of the Vivo Barefoot line – and in the space of a couple of months, it’s become my favorite everyday shoe.

Vivo Barefoot Oak, in brown leather

The Oak’s upper consists of an elastic sock liner (visible in the heel area) stitched beneath a suede or leather housing. The laces are purely decorative, as this is definitely a slip-on shoe. Its sock liner is soft, and the leather is nicely flexible, creating a very comfortable overall feel.

Uppers are available in three styles: gray suede, or vegetable-tanned leather in black or dark brown. “Vegetable tanned” means that it’s dyed with plant extracts instead of man-made chemicals. It’s typically left uncoated, and therefore isn’t 100% water resistant – but unless you’re walking through deep puddles all the time, this feels like a fair compromise.

Speaking of wet conditions, however – I’ve had opportunity to wear my Oaks in rainy weather a few times this fall, and experienced one of the coolest things about Vivo Barefoot shoes: namely, transitioning from a wet surface to a dry one, and seeing these kinds of footprints in my wake:


If you had any doubt that these shoes preserve barefoot function, this should put your mind at ease.


Close observers will note the tread pattern is different on the Oak than it is on the Dharma; it has deeper, more rugged grooves that make it more suitable to wet conditions. The tradeoff here is that it also adds 1.5mm of thickness to the outsole, measuring 4.5mm to Dharma’s 3.0. A little bit of ground feel is lost, which is bad news if you’re a barefoot purist – although honestly, the difference is hard to feel, and let’s face it: you’re still wearing the same thickness outsole as Vibram FiveFingers in a shoe that can pass in a business setting, which is pretty awesome.

For me, that’s the primary benefit of Vivo Barefoot footwear: the ability to maintain natural barefoot function – and to a lesser extent, barefoot feel – in a comfortable shoe that looks stylish and is versatile enough to use in a variety of situations. The fact that Terra Plana (the parent company) is an industry leader in responsible manufacturing is a very cool bonus, as well.

The Vivo Barefoot Oak retails for $150 from the company website, but for a limited time you can get it for a little bit cheaper. As with my previous review, Vivo Barefoot is extending another 20% coupon code discount in conjunction with this post: From December 1st through the 31st, enter “RunVivo20” at checkout for 20% off any Vivo Barefoot models in stock. I'll also leave an ad on my right sidebar through December as a reminder.


*Product independently purchased
**See other product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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Sockwa Giveaway; Wilderness Gift Cards

As much as I love reviewing gear, I also enjoy giving stuff away. I love it even better when companies make it easy for me to be generous, and that’s just what’s going on this week.

Earlier this month I did a review of Sockwas, a neoprene sock with a braided outsole that can be used as a slipper, beach sock, or an insulated layer for barefoot running. I was sold on their products right away, and the Sockwa company is proving to be even cooler than I originally thought: they’ve given me a few additional pairs to give away, just to spread the love.

I have two size L (fits men’s 8-10, women’s 9-11) and one size XL (men’s 10-12, women’s 11-13) pair of Sockwas to hand out. Since they’re made of neoprene, sizing is somewhat flexible – so if the numbers appear a size big or small for you, you can probably still make them work. I’ll select winners by a drawing for each size later this week – so if you want a crack at them, just leave a comment below, along with the size you would like.

And this doesn’t really have anything to do with the giveaway, but … if you never thought neoprene socks could be sexy, I offer the following:

Photo courtesy Caesar Lima Studio

Have I mentioned how much I’m liking this company lately?

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I also announced earlier that I have a few more winter apparel reviews on tap courtesy of Wilderness Running Company. For the next two of those – probably on each of the next two weekends – I’ll also hold a drawing to give away a $15 gift card to use for whatever you’d like from WRC. Between the gift card, and the cool sale prices available, and using my coupon code R&R10, you can make off with some amazing bargains, just in time for the holidays.


No nude models, but they're cool nonetheless. Check them out sometime!

But that’s for the end of the week; for now, if you want some free Sockwas, put your name in the hat below. Good luck!

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Tarawera Ultra; POM Wonderful Review

Before today’s post, a quick announcement as a favor to a friend:

At this spring’s Western States training camp, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Paul Charteris, a Kiwi ultrarunner whose blog I had followed for quite some time. Paul spends several months per year Stateside, and has a special love of the Sierra Nevada Mountains – and his Western States report is one of the most memorable accounts that I read after this year’s event.

Paul is also a relative newbie race director, and is promoting his 2nd annual Tarawera Ultramarathon in several forums, including the new ad on my sidebar. It looks to be a fantastic event, and I’d love to report that I’m supporting him by entering this March, except for one small detail: the race is in New Zealand.

I don’t have the frequent flier miles to pull off that kind of travel, but if a trip Down Under is on your calendar for the spring, give Paul’s race a serious look.

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As we get into the holiday season, the reviews and discussions of cool runner products are going to be more of a two-way street, as I’ll explain more beginning tomorrow. For today, I’m catching up on a long-overdue review from the end of the summer.

All you really need to know about POM Wonderful juice is in this graph:

(Larger version is here on the POM website)

The antioxidant concentration of pomegranate juice is far higher than red wine, green tea, and nearly every other naturally occurring substance you can think of. Antioxidants neutralize harmful free radicals, which protects you from disease, and so on and so on – you’ve heard this all before.

POM Wonderful is 100% Pomegranate Juice with no added sugar, and come in a variety of flavors (either combined with other fruit juices, or solely pomegranate juice). It has a uniquely tart yet sweet taste with a very strong flavor. They’re typically sold in 16-oz bottles that retail for anywhere from 4 to 6 dollars – which is quite a bit more expensive than your run-of-the-mill fruit juices.

The flavor is too strong for some folks to take straight, but I happen to really like it. However, considering the cost, I think it’s better used as a recipe ingredient. I like adding it to fruit smoothies, and can stretch one bottle into 3 or 4 servings. They’d probably make a killer margarita as well, if that’s the kind of smoothie you prefer.

The POM website features a ton of recipes that incorporate pomegranate juice into every meal of the day, as well as appetizers and desserts. My wife used this one for a granita, then tinkered with it a bit by adding some vodka and extra lime juice to give it a little extra punch. She garnished it with some whole pomegranate seeds, and the end result was a very cool frozen dessert.

So aside from the cost, there’s really not much to dislike about POM juice: it’s super healthy, and has a sweet/tart taste and strong flavor that can be utilized in all manner of recipes. If you’re looking for a unique recipe idea, check their site and see what POM Wonderful has to offer.
*Product provided by POM Wonderful
**See other product reviews on product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you'd like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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