Posted this under BPL Member's section and got no response from BPL. Anyone know if they are covering it? Dispatches?
The only news i can find has been on Trail Space's web site.

M

Yeah it's been tough to follow this year. Obviously BPL is covering it which is too bad because that's one of my favorite things on here. I imagine things are just too crazy right now with closing the gear shop and all. Hopefully starting this winter BPL will be a regular attendee.

There are people from BPL there, but, as far as I know, no one is officially covering it for editorials. Addie or Ryan would need to confirm.

Chris said: "There are people from BPL there, but, as far as I know, no one is officially covering it for editorials. Addie or Ryan would need to confirm."

Okay, I'll stir the pot. Does that decision (or non-decision) make any sense at all?

I was a long-time member who had let my membership lapse because of a decline (IMHO) in the editorial content. I finally renewed my membership earlier this year because of a few hopeful looking articles. This has got me questioning that decision.

I don't know that any decision was made, honestly. I know there are some BPL people there on their own dime, but I don't believe it's in any official BPL capacity. Keep in mind this is just my personal thoughts. I haven't heard one way or another from Addie or Ryan.

I will say this (also my personal opinion) - historically everything that comes out of OR has been scooped by the Outdoor show in Europe. I was actually at the Summer Market last year with Sam, and I didn't see anything that I hadn't already read about on European outdoor blogs. This year, I haven't read much at all on what's at OR from any US source. I saw far more from the European sources. It seems like the coverage as a whole from the US market is pathetic this year.

With that said, I will reach out to a couple of people and see if they can do some kind of summary post in the forums, assuming they aren't operating for BPL and I'm just unaware of it.

Yes, the big OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen in Germany takes place before summer OR. This year there were 890 exhibitors. I was there for two days so didn't get to see all of them! I reported on some of the more interesting items on the TGO magazine website.

I'm here right now, maybe BPL should pay me to direct traffic to their website:)

I know there's atleast 2 people from BPL because they stopped to at one of my booths...

Why is everybody trying to get paid for every little thing they put on the internet? If you're at the show take some photos and throw them up in a thread.

There typically is another guy that posts pics. We can prob find it by looking at other OR show threads.

I am just wondering if the European outdoor exhibition is better why is BPL not covering that either?

it cost a lot. unless you have people paying there way there its expensive, to get in stay there and get to and from. BPL just shut down the shop because of a lack of capital, so paying thousands of dollars for people to be at retailer seems kind of in check this season. just search blogs or face book for retailer news anyway.

You can find some coverage here:

http://www.adventure-journal.com

Robert- If BPL has people at the show right now, paying their own way, then I'm not sure if that's a good excuse.

Edited by ctwnwood on 08/06/2011 22:55:34 MDT.

they're most likely there because its for there own businesses or jobs. I have friends there who are buyers for compaines or work for the brands. the have 12-16hour days at the show of meeting and work to get done.

Neither show is particularly UL oriented. The majority of the gear at those shows isn't really the focus of a site like BPL. Perhaps there was a feeling among the staff that a) the shows weren't relevant for BPL's readership and that b) they'd just be duplicating plenty of other sites that are already providing coverage. Just a thought.

HJ

I found very little web coverage this year.
A few short previews , TGO magazine, gear junkie ,and i just had a look at adventure journal listed above on this thread.

Only the new neo air and patagucci merino/poly silkweight catched my interest yet,but i hope we will get more info later.

I will probably delay buying a new sleepind pad for my son, for the new neo air to be available.

Maybe thats why brands dont do that much publicity on products to be released, they want us to buy now and replace later and not to postpone buying :)

Edited by Fre49 on 08/06/2011 23:39:40 MDT.

Ben Moryson over at hrxxlight.com covered most of the highlights at the Outdoor Show 2011 in Europe, check out his multiple postings, drool over the eye candy and move on. It's all just more of the same stuff, more expensive, slightly lighter than last years stuff, and more neon green than you can shake an ugly stick at.

Damien Tougas and his wife are currently at the OR expo via BPL (as mentioned by Damien back in July) and are posting updates from their homebase website Adventure In Progress, most of the gear they're checking out and sharing is family centric gear.

As mentioned by Eugene, Damien is there and mostly covering family gear (that's what he knows and uses) as well as footwear on his own site(s). Will is also there and may be doing a summary post after the show from what I've been told.

Hikin' Jim is right in that these shows cover a huge range of products only a small proportion of which can be called lightweight never mind ultralight. And the cottage manufacturers aren't there of course. But there are still some products in the lightweight backpacking area. Ones I saw of interest were Terra Nova's new cuben fibre and silnylon packs, Terra Nova's cuben fibre Voyager tent, Montane's new packs, lighter "3-season" tents from Hilleberg, new lightweight tents from Force Ten, the new NeoAir mats, lighter down-filled mats from Exped, Optimus's new OmniLite stove, MSR's Micro Rocket stove, various Active Shell jackets from Haglofs, Berghaus and Mountain Equipment,Merrell's Bare Access and MixMaster trail shoes and Tecnica X-Lite footwear. That's just the stuff I saw (and which is described in a little more detail on the TGO website).

I found some posts at trailspace.com.

http://www.trailspace.com/blog/

Wow I'm surprised there hasn't been talk before now about the new NeoAir's. From Hxxxlight.com, there is a new 'Neo Air Xterm' which is a winter pad with R 5.7. In the background of this picture one can see another new NeoAir as well. Both pads now have rounded corners instead of a square shape, thus shaving some weight. The winter pad looks like it might be using lighter fabrics than the 'NeoAir All-Season' so it could be the lightest winter pad yet.

Hopefully we can dig up some more info. Hopefully there is a new regular NeoAir with rounded corners (lighter) and hopefully some other improvements too.

Pics from Hxxxlight.com