Personal Gear & Apparel

Flashlight Death-Match

For good old fashioned reliability and brightness, we like Rayovac's Roughneck. Pelican's Super Sabrelite is a good choice for portability, and either of two LED models would make sense for your ditch bag.

Enter the Keen Shoe

In our ongoing quest to discover optimal personal gear, we think this California company is on to something with its hybrid sandal-shoe.

LED Flashlights

The SureFire L1 Lumamax and the Tektite Expedition Star take Best Buy honors. Incandescents may not pale in comparison, but they're fading fast.

Binoculars: 7×50, Waterproof, With Compasses

Optical acuity was very good across the board, but the devil's in the details. Steiner and Fujinon are still superb - at great cost. West Marine and Nikon share Best Buy honors.

Foul Weather Jackets

The Henri Lloyd Rapid Coastal takes top honors among the coastal jackets, followed by the Best Buy, Ronstan's Inshore. Of the offshore jackets tested, we liked the Gill Atlantic best.

Glove Up!

There's a big market these days for "exam" gloves—the kind that used to be reserved for doctors and dentists, but are now used...

Compact Binoculars

For onboard back-ups and excursions ashore, a set of good compact binox are almost required. Nikon fielded a strong team—their Mountaineers are a Best Buy. But the race is also to the Swift.

LED Lights: Low-Power, Long Life

The revolution continues. LEDs serve a growing range of uses on board.

Marine Watches

Casio's Sea Pathfinder 40 gets top honors for functionality, readability, and price - but it's not for the slim-wristed. Higher-quality watches lack some functions we like.

Seaboots Under $100

You should be able to keep your feet warm, dry, and on deck for a reasonable price—and you can.

Why Is This 46 Foot Sailboat So Cheap? Hunter 460 Review

Is the Hunter 460 really one of the best-value cruising sailboats on the used market? In this video, we take a deep, honest look...

Latest Sailboat Review

Irwin Citation 38 Used Boat Review

As the largest of the Citations, the Irwin Citation 38 is probably the best looking, handling the high-sidedness better than her smaller sisters. The boat has three windows set in the sheer stripe on each side, so they are not very noticeable. Like the other Citations it is distinctly modern-looking not pretty, but not ugly either.