Titanium is also highly corrosion-resistant, even when exposed to sea water and chlorine. Oceanographers report that titanium immersed for 30 years in saltwater produces no measurable corrosion. That’s because titanium instantly forms a protective oxide film when it’s exposed to a trace of air or water.

However, note that many products labeled “titanium” are just titanium colored, or they only contain a thin coating of titanium. The gear listed here are made with solid titanium or an alloy containing more than 90% titanium.

In my opinion, Snow Peak (Japan) has the most elegantly designed titanium gear, and Toaks (USA) seems to have the lowest prices.

Here is a list of titanium stores available via Amazon:

• Snow Peak Titanium Store
• Vargo Titanium Store
• Valtcan
• Toaks
• Silverant
• Evernew Titanium
• Kuvik
• Primus Titanium
• Rocreek
• uSharedo
• TiLiving
• Jeef Titanium Store
• MSR Titanium
• Keith
• Boundless Voyage
• iBasingo
• Fire-Maple
• Lixada
• Wild Peak
• Great Cove
• Paria Titanium Pot
• Ynredee Titanium Wood Tent Stove

The post Ultralight Titanium Available On Amazon appeared first on Reactual.

ThruNite Ti3 Flashlight — produces 120 lumens — waterproofed to IPX-8 — impact resistant — use a single AAA battery

Titan Plus Flashlight  —  produces 300 lumens of light — durable construction — waterproof — made in USA

RovyVon A3 Flashlight — produces 700 lumens — IPX-65 water-resistant — waterproofed to IPX-65

Nite Ize Inka Pen — writes underwater — writes in temperature from -30 degrees to +300 degrees — ultralight — made in USA

Leatherman Micra — ultralight mult-itool — includes scissors — made in USA

World’s Smallest Titanium Toothpick — a portable toothpick made out of titanium

Quick Release Keychain Clip — ultralight titanium clip for a keychain

The post The Best Ultralight Keychain Tools appeared first on Reactual.

The Brightest Keychain Flashlight: Titan Plus

I received this flashlight, and it’s very bright and solidly constructed. I personally carry this light on my keychain. But others might find it too large — if this is the case, I would recommend the compact ThruNite Ti3 (see below).

All Surefire flashlights are designed and built in the USA, although some components are still sourced outside the US. The company says:

We do import a few components – most notably, the finest light emitting diodes (LEDs) from top-notch manufacturers outside the country – to incorporate into our products. All of that said, we do rely on as many American-made parts and components as possible, and the assembly of these components is done under our watchful eye in the U.S. to ensure optimal quality.

The Titan Plus is available from Amazon for about $90.

The Brightest Compact Keychain Light: ThruNight Ti3

The brightest compact keychain flashlight, the ThruNite Ti3 shines with 120 lumens in its highest mode. This is a very small light — it’s only 2.76 inches (70mm) in length. Its body is a titanium alloy, and at 0.56 ounces (16 grams) — this makes it one of the lightest keychain lights.

The ThruNite Ti3 uses just one AAA battery and costs about $13. It’s fully IPX-8 waterproof — it can be submerged up to 2 meters.

Here is the ThruNite Ti3 in action on its highest mode:

Personally, it’s all the light I need to travel through the forest at night.

One negative for me — when the Ti3 is first turned on, it starts in “firefly” mode (.5 lumens), and it requires a couple of more twists to get it to”medium” mode (12 lumens). However, if you keep the light off between 2 to 10 seconds and then turn it on, the light will turn on in the last mode accessed, thankfully.

The ThruNite Ti3 is available at Amazon for around $14.

The post The Brightest EDC Flashlight (300 Lumens) appeared first on Reactual.

It’s waterproof to IPX-8 Standard (1.5 meters) and impact resistant to 1.5 meters. It has a micro-textured reflector and it uses the quad-die CREE X-LAMP XHP50 LED.

The Nitecore Caveman EA81 is available on Amazon for about $120.

I recommend powering this flashlight with low-discharge rechargeable AA batteries.

The post The Brightest Flashlight Powered By AA Batteries appeared first on Reactual.

The best windproof lighter is the Zippo Armor.

This windproof, liquid-fueled lighter won’t freeze in cold temperatures. It has a lifetime warranty and is available in dozens of colors and themes.

• Other best windproof lighters include: the Ultimate Survival Technologies Floating Lighter and the Windmill Classic Stormproof All Weather Lighter.
• Along with being windproof, the best lighters should be resistant to cold, reliable, with ease of refueling and use.

The Details: The Best Windproof Lighter

A windproof lighter is a handy tool to have around. You can use it to start a campfire when out in the woods; it’s handy to have when working on a project in your shop; and also great for lighting those Fourth of July fireworks. But a tool is only as good as its reliability. An when it comes to determining the reliability of a product, my motto is “simpler is better.” So when it comes to choosing the best windproof lighter, the Zippo Armor is the clear winner.

Zippo has been making lighters since 1932, so the company knows its way around a lighter. And their design hasn’t changed much since the first one that came off the assembly line. Their lighters are simple, bombproof and extremely reliable.

They’re fuelled by Zippo’s proprietary lighter fluid, which is poured into the bottom case, where it’s absorbed into the fluffy rayon balls stuffed in there. The nature of this liquid fuel system makes Zippo lighters naturally freeze-resistant.

In the realm of wind resistance, Zippo’s ability to deliver fuel consistently via its wick and the screen that encases said wick make it almost impossible for wind to extinguish the flame on one of these lighters. And because there’s no button that needs to be held down, it’s easy to keep the flame burning. You could even set the lighter down on a flat surface and use both hands if necessary.

Along with a lifetime warranty that offers you a free repair for your lighter if it ever breaks, Zippo’s parts are highly replaceable. That includes; the flints, wicks, rayon balls, and other internal parts.

As if a regular Zippo isn’t tough enough, cases on the Armor models are 50 per cent thicker than the average Zippo. That’s a super handy feature, especially if you ever need your lighter to stop a bullet.

Add to that the fact that Zippo Armor lighters are available in a mind-boggling array of styles, designs, colors and prices – and you’ve got one of the best, most reliable lighters available anywhere.

Zippo Armor is available from Amazon for about $18.

An Alternative

The Windmill Classic Stormproof All Weather Lighter is said to stand up to 70-80 mph winds. It has an elastomer armor that helps protect it against impacts and drops.

The post The Best Windproof and Freezeproof Lighters appeared first on Reactual.

The Details

A whole industry has formed around selling durable cases to protect smartphones from inevitable drops, or repairing shattered screens when they happen. Motorola wants to cut out the middle man and released the world’s first shatterproof phone. A lofty promise for sure, but does the product deliver? A WSJ reviewer thinks so:

Twenty drops. Ten times from five feet up. Ten times from 10 feet up. And the Motorola Droid Turbo 2′s screen didn’t suffer so much as a small crack.

UnlockRiver put the Droid Turbo 2 through an even more rigorous test, dropping the phone from a height of 900 feet. The Droid Turbo 2 had some slight cosmetic damage, but remained completely operational after the fall. UR gave it a durability rating of 9.8.

The phone is constructed with five layers of flexible plastic AMOLED and an aluminum chassis. All five layers are proven to absorb shock from dropping and to preserve structural integrity. They also protect the phone from environmental conditions such as adhesion, abrasions and environmental chemicals.

The phone claims to have a 48-hour battery life with a high capacity 3760 mAh battery that can be charged in 15 minutes. It also has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor 2ith 2.0 GHz Octa-core CPUs. It has 3GB of RAM and is available with 32 or 64 GB storage. It weighs half a pound.

The Droid turbo also comes with a 21 MP camera. I have the previous iteration of the Turbo and it suffered from shutter lag and I felt it never really lived up to its full potential. Motorola promises that the Droid Turbo 2 has rapid focus with zero shutter lag and a color-balancing dual LED flash to deliver more consistency. The phone’s main drawback is that is only available to Verizon customers.

The Droid Turbo 2 is available from Amazon for about $624.

Another Option

The CAT S50 is another durable smartphone. It is ideal for use on construction sites and similar environments. The CAT comes equipped with Military-grade dust water proof surface, and is drop-to-concrete resistant up to 6 feet.

The CAT S50 is available from Amazon for around $359.

The post The Best Shatter-Proof Phone appeared first on Reactual.

• The best waterproof watch is the Rolex Deepsea. It’s waterproof to a depth of almost 13,000 feet. It features a titanium and stainless steel case that impedes corrosion, shows a long-lasting lighted display, and maintains a helium-escape valve. It is available for approximately $10,000.
• A less expensive but high-quality alternative, Omega Seamaster is the runner up. Retailing for just under $3,000, the Seamaster is water resistant to a depth of 1,000 feet and the base model is made of steel.

The Details

Professional divers and watch enthusiasts alike agree that the Rolex DeepSea watch is not only a timeless, visually appealing accessory, but is one of the most durable, high-performance watches available on the market today.

The 44-millimeter watch case and bracelet is made from 904L stainless steel, which is a superalloy primarily used in the aerospace and chemical industries, and grade 5 titanium, both of which are known for their strength and anti-corrosive properties. As such, this watch can be submerged in salt water and chemically-treated pools without tarnishing or losing its luster. The watch face is black with platinum-coated dials to promote readability and prevent tarnishing. In addition, the dials feature a luminescent blue glow that lasts for up to eight hours for visibility in the dark. The glass topper is made from 5-millimeter-thick scratch resistant sapphire crystal.

Inside the watch, the patented 3135 caliber, self-winding mechanical movement features a paramagnetic hairspring that is unaffected by magnetic fields and offers increased resistance to shocks and temperature variations, making it one of the most reliable watches on the planet. The movement has been tested and certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute.

The DeepSea is water-resistant to a depth of almost 13,000 feet. The watch maintains an exclusive system of rings to lock out water and withstand water pressure. It also has a helium-escape valve for use when diving to certain depths. All watches are tested for water resistance in a specially-designed hyperbaric tank to simulate water pressure.

Rolex offers a five-year warranty on all new watches.

A Less Expensive Alternative

The Omega Seamaster is an extremely high-quality, durable watch without the Rolex price tag. It’s also a stylish accessory worthy of an international spy, and has been worn by both Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig in several James Bond movies.

The 41-millimeter case comes in a variety of models, the base being stainless steel. It features an anti-magnetic master co-axial mechanical movement, and anti-corrosive metal treatments to reduce tarnishing from salt water. Depending on the model, the Seamaster has either a blue or black dial with recessed hour markers which glow when in the dark. The glass topper is made from sapphire crystal, which is scratch-resistant. The watch is certified to be water-resistant to a depth of 1,000 feet.

Omega offers a four-year warranty on its Seamaster watch.

The Omega Seamaster is available on Amazon for about $3000.

The post The Best Waterproof Watch appeared first on Reactual.

The Details

Only 0.6 inches thick, the Lenmar Meidian Battery Case has a  2300mAh lithium-ion battery inside. This is enough to charge a dead iPhone battery to 100% in 2.5 hours. 

I’ve been testing it for a year — and it’s a reliable power source. Once it is attached to the phone it is essentially maintenance-free. Charging is via a standard micro-USB cable.

The Lenmar Meidian Battery Case is available at Amazon for about $25.

Another Option for iPhone 5 & 5S

The Morphie Juice Pack Plus is another good charger I’ve tested. Functionally it is similar to the Lenmar case, but the retail price is higher (around $40). It has a battery capacity of 2100mAh — a bit less than the Lenmar’s 2300mAh battery. It will charge a dead iPhone 5 to about 88%.

The post The Best Battery Case For The iPhone 5 & 5S appeared first on Reactual.