My Great Outdoors

Underwater cameras review

January 19th, 2008 Posted in underwater cameras | Comments Off

Scuba diving turtle

Make the most of you diving trips, by documenting your underwater dives with your own underwater camera.
But with a large range of different underwater cameras and waterproof camera cases available, making a choice can be tricky.
Follow our handy guide to find the ideal underwater camera for your next scuba diving trip.

For professional divers

You need equipment which will survive years of diving and which will cope with deep sea dives.

The SeaLife Reefmaster DC600 is an ideal underwater camera for professionals, featuring fast shutter response so you never miss the action, a 6.1 mp sensor for sharp enlargements and a shock resistant and rubber armored case.
This dive camera has a 3X zoom, and is rated to a depth of 200 feet/ 60m which makes it an ideal underwater camera for advanced divers.

The SeaLife Reefmaster DC600 comes in different configurations:
-The Sealife DC600 Elite Kit which contains a SeaLife Reefmaster DC600, a Sealife digital flash, wide angle lense, and a deluxe case.
-The Sealife DC600 Maxx Kit which contains a SeaLife Reefmaster DC600, two Sealife digital flashes to avoid shadows, wide angle lense, and a deluxe case.
You can buy the SeaLife Reefmaster DC600 here

If you already have a good Digital or 35mm camera, and wish to use it underwater, the alternative is to use a waterproof case. Underwater camera housings come in various shapes and sizes adapted to the shapes of Digital and SLR cameras.

Ewa Marine are one of the leaders in waterproof camera housings, and cater for the majority of cameras such as the:
- Ewa Marine U-BXP camera case for large SLR cameras rated to 50m
- Ewa Marine U-AX camera case for SLR cameras with flash rated to 20m

For recreational divers

Recreational divers need equipment that is easy to use, and practical enough to not need much maintenance.
The Sealife Reefmaster Mini is an ideal entry recreational underwater camera, whilst not having a zoom function, it does provide quality photos whilst being easy to operate. Featuring automatic Land & Sea exposure modes you can be sure of taking great photos anytime. This diving camera also comes with a Sea mode color booster which corrects the underwater blue color effect for perfect pictures.

The Sealife Reefmaster Mini features a 6mp sensor and a shock proof casing which is rated to 130 ft/40m

You can buy the Sealife Reefmaster Mini digital camera here

For occasional divers / snorkelling

If you are looking for a practical underwater camera for snorkeling, or looking for a practical camera thats waterproof to a few meters, there are a couple of affordable alternatives to professional dive cameras.

The Go Pro Digital Hero 3 wrist camera is ideal for sports, and features a wrist bound 3 mega pixel camera which is waterproof to 30m. Ideal for snorkelling, surfing, swimming, wintersports, bike riding and more.

The Go Pro Digital Hero 3 can also take tv quality videos to share your experiences with friends.

You can buy the Go Pro Hero 3 camera here

Wattson DIY Kyoto Home Energy Meter

December 10th, 2007 Posted in energy saving | No Comments »

The Wattson - Voted Number 8 in Stuff Magazine’s Top 10 Gadgets 2007

At Mygreatoutdoors we are always looking for ways of saving the planet, and making it a better place for all. The other day I saw this really nice gadget land on my doorstep! Its the Wattson DIY Kyoto and it saves you money (up to 20% off your electricity bills in fact!), all at the same time. It’s like an environmentally friendly swiss army knife, but without the thing for getting stuff out of horses hooves.

This ingenious little white box does all this because it displays the amount of electricity you are using at any given time, through a clever system of colours and numbers. Simply clip the wireless sensor onto your electricity meter (no electrician required!), and stick the Wattson somewhere you can see it (trust us, you’ll want to see it), and watch as it tallies up the power you are using in real time, and tells you the associated cost. Wander round your house switching stuff off, and you’ll see the power (and cost) savings in real time. Just don’t blame us if you end up sitting in the dark for hours! Not that sitting in the dark is a bad thing, especially when the Wattson’s ambient lighting kicks in - just remember that red means your energy usage is high, and blue means it’s low. See, it’s educational as well - is there anything this marvellous box can’t do?

The Wattson can also be connected via USB to your computer (PC and Mac compatible) to download energy usage data, and you can also go online to see how your efforts are contributing to the global effort against climate change by fellow Wattson users.

You can buy the Wattson DIY Kyoto at Outdoorstuff here now for £149.00 - Saving the planet Priceless!

Blazewear deluxe heated gloves review

November 3rd, 2007 Posted in heated gloves | No Comments »

We recently tested Zanier rechargeable heated gloves which were incredible on the slopes, see our review here.
How will the Blaze wear deluxe heated gloves fare in comparison? Well pretty well actually…
The Blazewear heated gloves feature a nice and stylish design with a black with grey trim feature.
These heated gloves feature carbon polyester based heating elements which heat up to 60C with over three hours heating time from good quality, rechargeable batteries.

Unlike cheaper heated gloves, the Blazewear range includes heated elements in fingers and back of hand, which means that the heat reaches the whole hand rather than just the palm.
These entry level heated gloves are really affordable, and uses standard or rechargeable AA batteries which are not included.
Unlike the Zanier gloves, the Blazewear only have one heat setting where the On/off swich allows heat to be turned off if too warm

The Blazewear heated gloves were comfortable, and made waterproof thanks to their Ultra III Tec windproof material

The verdict? If you are looking for an affordable pair of heated gloves, you can’t go wrong with the Blazewear gloves. You can find them for £24.95 at Outdoorstuff, they are ideal for any activity outdoors.

Zanier Heat-GX heated gloves

November 3rd, 2007 Posted in heated gloves | 1 Comment »

I’m a keen skier and I recently tried out the Zanier Heat-GX heated gloves. Wow, what a godsend. I no longer suffer from frozen fingertips when on the slopes. The Zanier heated gloves are rechargeable, and heat up instantly to a very comfortable heat. This is so much better than the expensive heat packs which never really work. This pair of heated gloves comes with a rechargeable lithium ion battery per glove and has three different heats settings. The great thing about the Zanier heated gloves is that the heat goes right up to your fingertips, rather than cheaper alternatives which only heat up the palms of the hands. The result? Better stimulation of bloodflow which makes for a more comfortable day. The three settings are 86º, 98.6º, and 131º and the battery can last up to 10, 4.5, and 2 hours. The heated gloves feature Gore-Tex so work great even without the heat setting.

You can find the Zanier Heat XG heated gloves and a large range of heated gloves at Outdoorstuff for £145.00. Click here for more information.