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.
Marinas Are Quietly Banning Older Boats
Are marinas starting to quietly ban older boats? Across California and other high-demand coastal areas, boat owners are reporting increasing difficulty getting slips for...
Latest Sailboat Review
Morgan 34 Used Boat Review
By today's standards, the Morgan 34 is a small boat, comparable in accommodations to a lot of 30-footers. When the boat was designed, she was as big as most other boats of her overall length. In profile, the boat has a sweeping, moderately concave sheer. The ends of the boat are beautifully balanced: the bow profile is a slight convex curve, the overhanging counter aft is slightly concave. Esthetically, hull shapes of this period from the best designers are still hard to beat.