Eugene Weekly : Gear Guide : 12.2.10

 

Gear Guide
A product of Eugene Weekly’s advertising department.

Freehand Gloves  — These gloves have finger flaps you can open to use for a little extra dexterity when needed in icy weather, like when you need to send an urgent text message, caress the rosy cheek of your love, or when you are caught on a mountain pass and need to finesse those tricky tire chains. There are a thousand things you can use these gloves for, and when you are done, flip them closed and be on your warm way. $18 at McKenzie Outfitters

Vibram FiveFingers Shoes  — Designed to mimic the natural contours of your feet, these shoes have individual toe slots for better feel of the ground. Available in several different styles for different uses, from walking to running to hiking. $85-$125 at REI

Create your own Christmas wreath — with bulk greens, bows, and pinecones from Gray’s Garden Center. This is a great family holiday activity. Gray’s also sells beautiful pre-made wreaths and hangers. 

Living evergreens, spruces and pines are available in pots for planting outdoors after the season. For the gardener in your family, combination pots with hardy winter perennials are a great alternative gift.

Bulk greens for wreath-making $2.50 per pound

Pre-made wreaths $13.99 – $34.99

Potted firs, spruces, and pines starting at $59.99

Evergreen combination pots starting at $22.99

Gray’s Garden Center is at 737 W. 6th Ave., Eugene, 345-1569, and at 4441 Main St., Springfield, 747-2301. Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm

Zoom H1 Handy Recorder — Your perspective of how you sound, may not be reality, so record yourself and listen. Here’s a $99 digital recorder perfect for the music teacher, music student or any student.  This little baby is the coolest and smallest high-quality recorder to hit the streets. It weighs less than a pound and while you can’t hide it up your nose, the dimensions are stated in pixels. You can, with a flick of a switch, choose to record either a WAV file or an mp3 file. And, with 24 bit 96 kHz resolutions, you will have higher resolution than a CD.

Zoom made the H1 Recorder with a low price and ease of operation in mind. There are no menus to scroll through, only buttons to push for the very simple tasks of recording, start, stop, playback and erase. It has all the obvious outputs needed, USB out, a line out for headphones or stereo mini output. It also has a mic / line input with an easy to adjust input level. 

It takes only one AA battery to power the H1 and you can purchase an AC adapter, as well as an adjustable tripod. Even cooler features include a separate low cut filter and auto level switches. It comes ready to operate out of the box with a 2-gig flash drive to store your sound files. 

Set your record levels or use the auto adjust switch, hook up to a  decent playback system and gain the perspective you need to improve your sound and technique.

Available at Pro Sound and Video, 439 West 11th in Eugene.