Bogota lock picks

Lost your key to the Connex? Serepick.com and Hardcase Custom Survival have come out with a handy new pair of custom lock picks that will open a padlock in seconds. The Bogota picks come in a set of two. Each pick is about as long as your index finger and toothpick thin. Both handles are L-shaped to serve as a rake while you use the other as a tension wrench. They are available in spring steel for $25 or in titanium for $37.50.

A few years back, one of our embeded staffers was dropped off outside an austere TOC. He unloaded his gear and went inside to meet his POC. When he came out a few minutes later, the sun was down and he couldn’t see his gear. As his eyes adjusted to the dark he finally found his freshly flattened pack. A humvee driver must have been taking a pull from his can of Monster and driven over the gear in the dark, trashing his laptop screen.

Gorilla Glass might have saved him from buying an overpriced HadjiBook at the PX. Manufacturers should use this stuff in any deploying gadget. Laptop screens, BFT/FBCB2 gear, PDAs, GPS… it might even save some weight if it can be used as a flashlight lens. If the stuff is optic quality, it could even find it’s way into eyepro and weapon sights.

Thanks, Gizmodo.

Surefire M300 Mini Scout Light

N/A, $N/A

Details are admittedly sketchy on this one. Surefire gave us a look at this little burner while we were at the ADS Warrior Expo in July. It’s half the size of the popular M600 Scout Light, runs at about 80 lumens for 1.3 hours on a single CR123. That’s enough light for tactical use and a more-than-respectable runtime. But the reduced weight may not be worth half the performance of the already svelte M600. We’re sure this is an issue Surefire is investigating as they gauge reaction to the light at military industry shows. The M300 could be out within a year, or that prototype could just as easily end up a paperweight on Dr. John Matthews’ desk.

Leupold RX1000

Summer 2009, $429

At 4″ long, Leupold’s newest compact rangefinder delivers 6x magnification with 1000 yard max range and a trick variable brightness OLED display that you can adjust like an Aimpoint to prevent the display from overpowering the predawn light. The unit offers a choice of three reticles and has a continuous measure mode that displays the distance as you scan a scene. It’s also pretty tough, as it’s made from a single block of billet aluminum. The only downside, and it’s minor, is the battery. It uses a CR2, which is a little harder to find than CR123 or AA/AAA cells.

Black Diamond Titan Lantern

Fall 2009, $79.95

BD’s smaller lanterns racked up a few accolades from the backpacking magazines last year with their personal sized Orbit and Apollo lanterns. So, their latest battery lantern should rate a strong buy if you are in the market for a camp lantern that reaches a 45 ft diameter area.

• 250 lumens (max setting) and frosted globe produces a bright, ambient light
• Dual reflector system captures and maximizes light output
• Power meter displays battery level of 4D alkalines
• adjustable brightness
• Folds to 200mm (7.9 in)
• extended height is 250mm (9.8 in)
• Collapsible hang loop

Geared specifically for the military, the new Foretrex 401 is about 20 percent smaller than the 101 and comes with the same size backlit display. New to the Foretrex line, though, is the 401’s ability to clone itself wirelessly with another 401, handy for quickly sharing mission waypoints and routes among team members. It also sports a 2-axis digital compass, a barometric altimeter and a USB jack to swap data to and from a PC or Mac.

There’s even a “Jumpmaster” function for static, HAHO and HALO jumping that will let you set data points for under-canopy guidance to an LZ. It’s got options for forward throw, windspeeds at altitude and HARP to get you to the right place. Garmin also improved the GPS sensitivity so it will pick up a signal faster once out of the aircraft, but it’s still best as a backup to your backup altimeter.

It still runs on two AAAs, but the more efficient receiver will run strong for up to 24 hours. Keeping the unit on your wrist is easier with a beefy new strap, and if you want to have it anywhere else, there will be an optional pouch designed with the help of Navy SEALs that will mount the unit to your gear or rifle.

Weighing in at just under 3 ounces, it’s lighter than a stainless-steel Rolex and, while it?s not as blingy, it will get you home safe. The Foretrex 401 retails for $250. Visit www.garmin.com for more info after it’s released June 16, 2009.

I don’t know if the Best Buy crowd is too excited about the 3.2mp camera –especially when point and shoot cameras are hitting 14.7mp. BUT- a small, waterproof unit that has the ability to PID a target or an area of interest with a geotagged photo may be interesting to ground guys and secret squirrels.

On the flip-side of the geotagging coin is the Nikon Coolpix P6000, a 13.5mp camera that will geotag your images. The camera won’t do navgation and it’s a more delicate device, but it will take far more useable photographs.

Still, if you regularly carry a GPS into the field anyway, a cameraGPS is better than nothing. It takes up less space and weighs less than a separate camera and is one less battery charger you have to keep around.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Highgear’s new Axis watch is clearly aimed for you, dear active-lifestyle military person. If it’s coyote color doesn’t grab you, the feature list will. It combines standard watch functions with four sensors in a low profile package with a negative LCD and a user changeable battery for $160.

The watch sports an acrylic window and a poly-carbonate case, which keeps the weight down and gave Highgear a few more bucks to add in the altimeter, barometer, digital compass, and thermometer. Specs after the break.

Highgear 20106 Axis Shadow Desert

ALTIMETER
• Digital altimeter
• Measures 1 ft (1m) increments with a working range of -2296 ft (-700m) to 29,500 ft
• (9,000m)
• Stores 20 altimeter data readings with altitude, time and date
• User option for feet or meters
• Accumulated and maximum altitude reading

BAROMETER

• Digital barometer
• Resolution 1 mbar with working range from 300 mbar to 110 mbar
• Sea level barometer reading
• Barometer pressure graph shows relative changes for the last 24 hours
• Weather forecast
• Barometer pressure updated every minute

COMPASS

• Digital compass
• Resolution 1˚ degree with 16 direction pointers
• Adjustable declination
• Displays bearing in degrees and cardinal points
• User option for single or continuous reading

TEMPERATURE

• Digital thermometer
• 0.1 degree resolution
• Working range from -4˚F (-20˚C) to 158˚F(70˚C)
• User option for Celsius or Fahrenheit

TIME

• Time with hour, minute, second, weekday and day
• User option for 12 or 24 hour format
• 2 time zones
• Auto calendar  from 2000 to 2049
• ALARM
• 2 daily alarms and hourly chime signal
• 20 second alarm sound

CHRONOGRAPH

• 1/100 second resolution chronograph
• 24 hour working range
• Lap/Split time measurement
• 100-Lap memory capacity in a maximum of 30 runs
• Each run stores the run number, month, day, lap number, lap split, time and average
• lap time

OTHER

• EL backlight
• 30M Water resistance
• User replaceable CR2032 battery
• Acrylic Lens

Knights Manufacturing Company has figured out how the iPhone can help snipers become more efficient at their deadly art.
Yep. The ingenious iPhone, which can play videos, display pictures and text can now help snipers calculate their long range shots on the hightech touch screen.

Knights Manufacturing Company recently created a shot calculator program to work with Apple’s new iPhone.
“I think the future is going to be in finding better ways to acquire targets,” said C. Reed Knight, CEO of Knights Manufacturing, at Shot Show 09. “It’s our first attempt at a smart rifle.”
You can buy the Bullet Flight program off of iTunes for $11.99. Once it’s downloaded to your iPhone, you have to program in what type of rifle you and scope you are using.
Then you enter details about the shot such as range to target and wind conditions and the iPhone does the rest.
It tells you how to adjust your scope to bring your shot on target.
Knights Manufacturing is also working on a prototype mount and protective case so you can attach your iPhone to your rifle. Both should be available by March and cost about $100.

Brunton’s new Solo “Personal Power Plants” can keep you gadgets running for days on a single charge. Just plug it in for a few hours to fill it up, then plug your iPod in using the USB port, insert toothpicks in your eyelids and watch all of the Star Wars movies, twice, without interruption (except for Jar-jar).

The Solo 3.4 is a little smaller than a pack of smokes, weighs about as much and comes with an array of adapters that should get the most popular gadgets in on the marathon for about $60. It charged up my Blackberry in about 40 minutes.  It has two bigger brothers, the Solo 7.5 and 15, that add, size, weight and power for $200 and $400, respectively.