(Credit:
Crave UK)
Like sliding down snowy slopes while standing on thin planks of wood? How about throwing yourself out of planes, or shouting "gnarly!" at the top of your voice? If so, you might want to check out the Oregon Scientific ATC3K Extreme hands-free camcorder--the successor to the ATC2K.
It's probably the toughest camera we've ever tested. Last weekend we took it to the Italian Alps for a hardcore snowboarding expedition, where over the course of our five-day adventure, it really proved its sturdiness.
It's waterproof to 10 feet so we never had to worry about it getting wet, plus it's resistant to snow, dust, and shocks, which is just as well seeing as we spent more time wiped out than slaloming down the mountains.
The $149.99 ATC3K Extreme has a 48-degree, 640x480-pixel lens, and can store up to 4 hours of footage at 30fps on to an optional 4GB SD card. It's not all peaches and cream, though. Picture quality is relatively poor; it's extremely fiddly to attach to a helmet (or anything else for that matter); and the tiny non-backlit LCD screen is nearly impossible to see, let alone use.
Have a look at the below video of CBS Interactive's own Kate Macefield and Rory Reid snowboarding (badly) down a mountain, and this footage of us running excitedly through the CBS Interactive offices.
(Via Crave UK)
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(Credit:
Oregon Scientific)
In theory, you can fix most cameras onto your helmet or bicycle by using an excessive amount of duct tape. Sure, you'll look like a mess, but your camera will look even worse if you dropped it.
A better option would be Oregon Scientific's ATC5K. Designed to capture adventurers' conquests on the most dangerous trails, the shockproof shooter can be mounted onto helmets or bicycles to record those awesome first-person perspectives on video.
Like conventional digicams, the video resolution is 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second, which is good enough to view on most displays. The internal memory holds 32MB of still pictures or videos, and the SD expansion slot supports up to 4GB. Unless you've brought enough AA-sized batteries for your expedition, we suggest you keep the viewing on the 1.5-inch LCD to a minimum.
The ATC5K will be available from August and will be priced at $199.
(Source: Crave Asia)
(Credit:
Oregon Scientific)
If you've ever spent much time in the Pacific Northwest, you'd understand why Oregon Scientific is obsessed with weather gadgets. And if you've ever spent much time in England, you'd be sympathetic.
It makes perfect sense, therefore, that U.K.-based Pocket-lint jumped on a new item from the Portland company that claims to forecast the next day's weather with sophisticated meteorological functions crammed into a wristwatch. The "Meteo" tracks barometric pressure trends displayed on a reverse LCD screen to predict atmospheric conditions 12 to 24 hours ahead.
The waterproof gadget also serves as a thin timepiece and stopwatch, so you won't feel foolish for having spent $70 on it while wearing shorts and an aloha shirt in the pouring rain.
(Credit:
Oregon Scientific )
Anyone who's minimally familiar with personal weather stations knows that Oregon Scientific is obsessed with these devices--which strikes us as somewhat odd, because the weather in Oregon seems fairly predictable compared with other states (rain followed by more rain). Whatever the reason, its crusade has paid off at least where design is concerned.
No longer do home forecasting gadgets look like hospital equipment thanks to the company's efforts to add an aesthetic dimension to its products. As Technabob points out, its latest offering looks more like a retro sci-fi movie prop than something used to guess whether you should bring a sweater to the picnic.
The wireless BAR210 Weather Forecaster has fairly standard meteorological fare, with an atomic clock and color icons for rain, shine, and everything in between. But there's one thing it has over the competition: It would make an ideal bookend to a lava lamp.
(Credit:
Oregon Scientific)
Maybe it's got something to do with global warming, but personal weather stations seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays. So even though some may look better than others, it's difficult to get too excited over yet another model from Oregon Scientific, one of the more prolific makers of the devices.
Yet "Weather In Motion" really is noteworthy, though not necessarily for its meteorological qualities. What got our attention is its infrared motion-sensing technology, which Technabob says automatically adjusts the size of its numeric display depending on your distance from it--something that will be welcome news to anyone who's had the rude awakening of bifocals in middle age. From far away, the LCD shows only the basic time and temperatures; when closer, it gives more detailed information.
Forget about the weather. We want this feature on our computers too.
(Credit:
Amazon)
Even native Californians like us appreciate individual weather stations, despite the fact that we never grew up knowing all four seasons. But we've never understood why they all have to look like something that belonged on the shelf behind the counter at Walgreens, next to the travel alarms and AM radios.
Oregon Scientific, thankfully, has come up a wireless modular system that not only looks good but, according to CrunchGear, also can be split into four parts to display its various readings in different places. It's not entirely clear why you'd want to do that, but we think it's a neat idea anyway.
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