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Today on Gear & Beer: Chicago based outdoor journalist Erica Zazo wants us to get loud and rowdy as she reviews the Turtlebox Gen 2 Bluetooth Speaker!
Erica recently reviewed the Gen 2 for GearJunkie and today she's hanging out with Colin & Justin to tell them why this particular bluetooth speaker is an amazing addition to any outdoor kit. This speaker survived 30 days of being submerged in a cooler, being covered in dirt and sand and it still sounds amazing; all while holding a charge like a champ.
What beer do you pair with an incredibly tough and loud bluetooth speaker like the Turtlebox Gen 2? You go with a Chicago classic (which Erica actually shipped to Colin & Justin): Old Style Lager.
Summer may be winding down but it's still going strong here on Gear & Beer.
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Episode Transcript
Colin and/or Justin (00:01):
Welcome to Gear and Beer, the podcast for Gearheads beer buffs and adventurers with discerning tastes and the latest addition to the Rock Fight Podcast network. I'm Colin True. I worked for brands and makers in the outdoor industry for over 20 years. Sorry, I was reading ahead. Let's see, I got to, I that have to read this to remember my name. I'm Justin Hausman, senior editor at Adventure Journal, a professional gear reviewer and a certified cone, which is, what does that mean, Colin? It means you're a beer expert. For real. I actually met somebody this week who knew what that term meant was really exciting. I feel like it's my duty now to tell people that term is, that's the thing. You need to know what a sommelier is. You need to know what a cerone is. I feel bad for the, I think it's called the Master Cone Organization, whatever, that it's not getting the marketing that it needs because clearly it's rare that someone knows what it's, but anyway, that's what it's, you told me when we first said, oh yeah, I know a lot about beer.
(00:57):
I'm a beer expert or whatever, and I was like, all right. And then when you finally like, no, no, I'm a certified beer expert. It's both like, oh, okay. Both of those things just sound lame and annoying. One true. Who professes to be an Oh, I'm an expert at that. It just sounds terrible, but you back doctors, but you also, I kind, I'm getting into a point here, which is there's a title for it. So anyway. Well, today we are headed to Chicago, the Land of Deep Dish pizza, crispy Tavern Pizza, and Italian beef sandwiches. Home of the Bears, the Cubs, the Blues Brothers, and Patty O'Connell. Don't let him fool you folks. He's not a Colorado, is it Patty from Minnesota? No, he, he's a Chicago guy. Okay, continue. Yeah. Not from Colorado either way. Even if he is from Minnesota, he's not from Colorado. I hope that he hears this and it burns that he can't say he's a native. And perhaps most importantly though, the home of today's beer, old style lagger, but most actually importantly is today's guest outdoor journalist, Erica Zao. Did I say that correctly? I dunno. I actually said your name out loud before
Erica (01:54):
It's zao. Absolutely. Is it
Colin and/or Justin (01:55):
Zo Zo? That's far more fun.
Erica (01:59):
Zo,
Colin and/or Justin (01:59):
It's so obvious that I feel like I shouldn't have messed it up. I'm sorry. Erica, welcome to the show.
Erica (02:03):
No worries. I've gotten Zo, like the bird from Lion King. I always say if you say Zo, that's how you remember it,
Colin and/or Justin (02:10):
If you say so. Well, Erica was kind enough to send both of us some old style longer, and we're going to talk about that in a second, but we're going to talk about today's gear. Erica, what is the gear that we're talking about today? What did you bring us to talk about?
Erica (02:23):
Yeah, I recently have gotten to test the Turtle Box Gen two. It's a Bluetooth speaker. It's really rugged, it's really heavy, but it's really good sound quality too. And I wrote about it for Gear Junkie. I live in the Midwest and I threw it in Lake Michigan. I've tested it in a cooler in my basement, dunked in water for a month, so I'm sure we'll get into that and how I tested it, but it's just a rock solid speaker, so I'm excited to talk about
Colin and/or Justin (02:50):
It. Yeah, we'll talk about that. You wrote it for Gear Junkie. I'll link that in the show notes if you want to go read Erica's review over there. But before we get to what Erica likes or dislikes sounds like, what she mostly likes about the Turtle Box Gen two, we're going to do what we always do here in Gear and Beer. We got a few housekeeping items. First, be sure to follow and rate gear and beer wherever you are listening. We need those ratings folks, and we also need your reviews. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, or even if you don't, just go over there and leave us a review on that platform. Tell us then that you did that by sending an email to My Rock fight@gmail.com. We'll send you some stickers, some gear and beer stickers, some rock fight stickers. It'll be a stickery.
(03:26):
Good time. But Justin, where can our listeners follow along? Maybe also just reach out to us, say hi, all that good stuff. You want me to give them my address? Yeah, I'm not comfortable with that. We talked about this, Colin. What? Why you're making it weird By not telling them, just tell them. Alright. They can email us. All right. Okay. You send your emails to My Rock fight@gmail.com and while you're, since you're probably looking at your phone absentmindedly, if you're not using it to listen to this, go over to Instagram. Our handle is rock fi.co. Gives us a follow over there. And then you should also sign up for Rock FI's Newsletter. We have one comes out every Sunday, right? When you get home from church, you can read the Rock Fight Newsletter or at church even. You probably better. Yeah, rock fi.co. Our website. You'll find it if you go over there. All right, well, let's get into today's episode by cracking Open a beer. So Justin, when Eric and I set this up, you weren't available. You've been traveling around the last month. You had family vacations, you had some work trips. So she and I spoke and we're like, we defaulted to the Chicago Classic Old Style. Okay, well hold on. Yeah. Old style is not made in Chicago. It's not. No,
Erica (04:39):
It is not.
Colin and/or Justin (04:40):
It's made, did you know that
Erica (04:40):
Area? It's adopted by Chicagoans.
Colin and/or Justin (04:43):
Is it a Wisconsin beer? It is a Wisconsin beer. Really? But it is like I feel misled. No, but I mean I associated it with Chicago. I had old styles almost exclusively, and I went to Chicago the first couple of times I went there. So I should not refer to it though as a Chicago Classic is what you're saying. Oh no, you
Erica (05:00):
Should. I think you should. For sure.
Colin and/or Justin (05:02):
You live in Chicago. Yeah.
Erica (05:03):
You go to a Cubs game, that's pretty much all you see people drinking.
Colin and/or Justin (05:06):
Totally. Okay.
Erica (05:08):
You're walking down the street, you'll see Chicago old style signs above every classic dive bar you walk by.
Colin and/or Justin (05:13):
There's got to be a little in Wisconsin. I know there's an rivalry between Wisconsin and Chicago and Illinois kind of a little naturally, right? Does that rub them the wrong way? That's sort of like the Chicago is taken ownership over their beer
Erica (05:27):
Maybe.
Colin and/or Justin (05:28):
Are they Like, we have new, we're good. We don't need old style anymore.
Erica (05:32):
I know. If anything, we're the ones we have to drive up there to get our own spotted cow, which we should review sometime if you've never had some shit
Colin and/or Justin (05:40):
Cow. I've never spotted cow.
Erica (05:41):
I'm going to have to mail that to you as well.
Colin and/or Justin (05:44):
I was trying to think of other big Chicago beers that I remember. I mean, I liked Goose Island when it was independent. I remember Goose Island was one of my faves. I don't know if that still exists, but I feel like it does. But it got bought by somebody, big Lazar Cone. Justin, do you co-sign the decision to pair old style lagger with the Turtle Box Gen two outdoor speaker? I mean, you can say no, I don't know you there. I mean, well, I haven't heard, gosh. Well, I guess yes, in the sense that Erica is from, well, lives in Chicago. Are you actually from Chicago?
Erica (06:20):
I grew up in Detroit area, so not from here, but I've been here for about years. That's got to
Colin and/or Justin (06:24):
Be a sensitive thing too. Why? Well, a lot of natural rivalries in the Midwest. I'm thinking like Lions versus Bears versus Packers. A lot going on in that area. That's true. That's true. Well, yeah. I mean, first of all, any pairing works if it works. So we'll talk about it, we'll drink it and if it makes sense then it makes sense. But yeah, I mean it's a classic Chicago beer. I mean, I would say the more I'm thinking about it, yeah, it kind of does make sense from what I get. I gathered from the review of the turtle box, it's kind of up for whatever. It can go anywhere, it can do anything. It can handle any kind of possible situation in which you need some music, and that's kind of what old style is as a beer.
Erica (07:02):
Yeah. I also sent you the tall boy version of the beer. It's heavier than your average Cann old style, just like this Bluetooth speakers. A little average over averaged in size, so I really
Colin and/or Justin (07:13):
Enjoy the can too. Yeah, it's good at can. Yeah, the Can Art. Is this just wreaks of college beer to me? Just the one you'd go in and get the back of the cooler, like a Milwaukee's Best or something like that. It kind of has a little bit of that same kind of vibe to it. I do enjoy that. I mean, obviously this is supposed to be the Bavarian Alps or something, but it is kind of cool that it's made in Wisconsin, beloved in Chicago, and there's mountains all over the can, but
Erica (07:37):
That's true.
Colin and/or Justin (07:39):
Well, let's crack these things open. All right. I'm doing it. I'm going to count down real quick. We count down 1, 2, 3. Wait, I just trimmed my nails. Hold on. Oh my God. Colin, this is an outdoors show. I'm ready. I'm ready. 3, 2, 1. Oh, it smells like a lot. Smells like Chicago. Yeah, dude, Eric just started just drinking. Just
Erica (08:02):
Like I'm going to pour mine in a glass too.
Colin and/or Justin (08:04):
I would like to say we do need to see it. I'm not pouring mine in glass. I'm not going to drink it all right now. This is really good.
Erica (08:10):
Yeah, it's classic. It's a Chicago classic
Colin and/or Justin (08:14):
And even get the metallic notes of the can. It's great. All alright, cone, break it down for us. What do we got here? I mean it's kind of a perfect light. I mean it's kind of perfect. It's better than Budweiser, but it's similar. I bet it doesn't have rice in it. It's got a nice bready feel to it. It's a little more complex than a standard like shitty logger is. There's a little bit more going on, which I suspect is what they mean by old world methods. I am guessing is that, I don't know if they still do this, but I do remember this from back in the day, old Style was known for ING its beer. Do you know what that means? No. It's basically if you ever get a Belgian, it's not always Belgians, but often you'll get a beer that's fermented in the bottle or will be labeled that way.
(09:01):
And it basically just means that this happens a lot. I always do this in my home brewing. Basically, once the first wave of yeast is kind of died out and done, its thing you add a little bit more, either a little bit more yeast or sometimes you'll add both more yeast and some kind of adjunct to give the yeast something to eat. But usually you just add a little bit more yeast and it kind of just adds a bit more oomph to the beer. It gets just a little bit more going on. That's what that means. I bet that's what they mean by old world methods on the Can you think we're the only two people in California drinking old style right now? Right now? Yeah. Probably right now. Probably. Right. I dunno, it's 30 million is people. Is a lot of people. I me. It's a lot of people.
(09:41):
The odds are, but still wouldn't be surprising. Yeah. Yeah, could be. You said it's better than a Budweiser compared to some of the bigger laggers. What is it about that you like more? It just has more going on. It has a little bit more grain flavor, a little bit. You can kind of taste the hops a little bit. It's just slightly better. It's more like this tastes like if you were in Germany and you're like, I don't know what any of this stuff says, give me a beer. This is what you would get and you'd be extremely happy with it.
Erica (10:11):
I was going to say, usually my ship beer of choice is like a PBR. This is way better. This does seem a little more elevated sometimes. PBR almost feels heavy to me. This seems like so crisp. It's just easy. Really easy to drink. It tastes
Colin and/or Justin (10:24):
Well made getting too, I don't know what the A BV is. I'm guessing it's like 4.6. I was going to say it feels like it's like four and a half ish, so that's great. Even a little tiny smidge less booze than most of your standard loggers are. Alright everyone, here's our situation. Just so we just woke up and we're just stuck on a deserted island like Castaway style. We spent the first few days, now we've been out there foraging for grubs and berries and Justin, because you figured out how to make a fire. You're keeping us warm. Yeah. I spend my days proactively making a sweet chair to sit in. I'm lazy, but Erica, holy shit. Erica swims out to go fishing. What does she find in the sand at of our new tropical home Turtle box Gen two outdoor speaker. It's amazing. But thankfully producer Dave isn't here, so we don't have to listen to his Grateful Dead playlist. But Erica, in this scenario, we're there. Now we're stoked. We have this thing on the beach. Tell us about this product. What did we find? What did you find? Well,
Erica (11:16):
I had to lug it through the water. This thing is massively 10 pounds. Not kidding.
Colin and/or Justin (11:22):
10 pounds doesn't sound heavy, but I'm looking at there's got to have some weight to it. Yeah.
Erica (11:25):
Oh yeah. Super chunky, but in a good way because that's what it was for. It's a really rugged speaker. They really made it for boaters and ATVs. People who want to put this on their loud vehicle to ride, which is not the way I like to get outside personally. But I first tested this thing when I was in the Outer banks in South Carolina fly fishing. And when you have the rev of an engine and you need a speaker to boom through that noise, this is the speaker that you need. But yeah, turtle Box launched the first version I think in 2018, and then they came out with this gen two in 2022. And admittedly, I don't know what the first version was like, but they call it portable, which again, it's pretty big. I did try to strap it to my bike at one point in Bike to the Lake.
(12:12):
It got there, but it clinked along the way on the back of my bike. But I described it when I reviewed it in Gear Junkie that it's built like a tank. And I've also heard it called the Yeti of speakers because just like a Yeti is heavy and chunky, this thing is too. But the other great thing is it lasts forever. This thing supposedly lasts 25 hours. I haven't tried run it for that long, but I turn it off and it's been sitting in my gear closet in the basement for a month probably at this point. And I just turned it on today thinking it would be dead and it has full battery because sometimes my speakers, even if they're not charged, if they're charged and they're just sitting, they kind of peter out over time. Full
Colin and/or Justin (12:55):
Charge. I wonder if that's why it weighs 10 pounds. I wonder if it has a big ass battery in there. Yeah, maybe I just went on their website though. Is this all they make? Is this what Turtle Box does? Yeah, think on their website.
Erica (13:05):
I think they only have one version of it too. Maybe jumping ahead.
Colin and/or Justin (13:09):
I really appreciate that eventually.
Erica (13:10):
That's so cool. I'd like to see a smaller one eventually, but
Colin and/or Justin (13:13):
I kind of was expecting a night eye style website. No shots fired at night Eyes, but you know what I mean. Where there was going to be a lot of different things like, oh, and here's the audio thing. Yeah, I like to give, I'd like to call attention to their bizarre ambassador choices. They have a major league baseball pitcher, AJ Minter, which I guess I've heard of him and I'm heard the name Gigantic Baseball Nut. So I don't know Jesse Gruper. Do you know who he is? Colin Gruer. He's a climber apparently. Then possibly my new favorite name of all time. Richmond's Champion, I guess a bareback Bronco writer. They got a barbecue pit master. And then little old Matt who's a oh and Shane. Dorian, a couple of pro surfers. Matt Meola, who's known for his aerial game. And Shane Dorian's like a hunter, big wave guy, but interesting. These are all Richmond champion, is that what you said? Richmond champion? Yeah, rich Champion. If you ever get a dog, Erica, that needs to be the name of your dog is Richmond. That's a great dog name. This is Richmond champion. I know you could have the last name as Champion.
Erica (14:13):
It'd need to be a golden retriever or something. Yeah,
Colin and/or Justin (14:16):
Something completely goofy dog.
Erica (14:17):
Yeah.
Colin and/or Justin (14:18):
Yeah. But they've
Erica (14:20):
Got a lot of Broy dudes on this. I got to admit the Turtle box, George D University
Colin and/or Justin (14:25):
In this, I think
Erica (14:26):
Broy dudes, they've got one Hunter angler lady looking ambassador. Oh, okay. I do feel like this is the rugged macho man version of a speaker and I wouldn't consider myself that and I like it, but I think they do cater to a certain audience
Colin and/or Justin (14:46):
Well, so it came with a lot of reputation. It came with a lot of sort of like, Hey, this thing lasts. You can put it in the water, you can do all sorts of things. So what did you do? Take us through how you used it, how you tested it to kind of push this thing put to the limits.
Erica (14:58):
Yeah. Well when I first found out about it, I met someone from the brand and they were explaining to me that a story about how this was on their boat, it fell off and they couldn't find it. These things do float though, but it kind of floated away and they lost it for like a month. But then another fishing boat off coast found it eventually 30 days later and it worked even though it was floating out there and this was in saltwater in the ocean. Wow, that's amazing. So to hear that it was working after 30 days in the ocean, that impressed me. So I wanted to try to test that myself. I pitched Gear Junkie and they said if you want to write about it, you've got to do that similar test. And as much as I wanted to tie a rope to it and throw it in Lake Michigan here from Chicago, I thought it might be picked off by someone on the beach. So the next best idea I had was dunking it in a cooler in my basement. A 70 gallon cooler. 70 quart. 70 gallon quartz. Quartz. Yeah. Big Coleman cooler. And I left it in there for 30 days, pulled it out and what do you know? It worked. It worked perfectly fine.
Colin and/or Justin (16:06):
Immediately. Did it need to dry out? Was it a little tinny or anything while it was fresh out of the water?
Erica (16:11):
Totally worked. I do think it was the slightest bit muffly, and I think it's just because water is on the surface of the speaker, but once you gave it 10 minutes to just drip off, it sounded exactly like it does. That's wild when you have it dry. I also, if you check out my story on Gear Junkie, I sent my wife out into the Lake Michigan to get an action shot of us dunking it underwater. It's that header image of the story. Had her go underwater and put it above her head. That's your wife thought
Colin and/or Justin (16:42):
That was you. I thought that was honestly thought that was from Turtle Box. That's a great
Erica (16:44):
Picture. No, yeah, so we straight up just swam with it in the lake and it floats and you can just dunk it right underwater. So I mean that's the thing that's great about this speaker is if you're too lazy to bring it in from the campground, if it's going to rain or you're out on the boat and maybe you want to go tubing with it or kayaking, this thing is not going to have any sort of problems getting, we
Colin and/or Justin (17:08):
Bear proof. You could talk it doubles as a bear canister basically. I mean Jesus. Exactly. When you were talking to the person from the brand, did they give any, I'm have to go too deep on it, but is there a difference how it's constructed? What is it that makes these things so kind of bomber
Erica (17:24):
In researching it, I heard that it's made of stainless steel components inside, so maybe it's rust free. And we were talking before this episode about rust or salt water, will it penetrate with salt saltwater and ruin this at all? And from my understanding it doesn't. I think you want to give it a good rinse. I still have sand on here built up from just when I was throwing it around on the beach. But the other thing is it's completely sealed all of the, there's really no cracks in this thing. You do have a compartment that you can open up and that's where you charge. The port is under this little clipped container on the top and you can actually plug in your phone here and charge your phone from it, which is nice. Fun fact too. You can plug in a microphone and it could become like a karaoke speaker if you wanted it. Holy cow. Really? Yeah. Or you could make an announce, bring it to a party if you needed a PA system. I always thought it would be fun to do karaoke with a thing. But yeah, it's great. You can also connect two of these things. So there's surround sound. Oh, cool. Which I did test when I was down in South Carolina, but I just brought one home with me. That gives you a more robust sound if you're with a group of friends. And here you've got a really big campsite.
Colin and/or Justin (18:42):
So how loud is it? It says on here, they want to make the loudest Bluetooth speaker or whatever around ob. Can it get obnoxious?
Erica (18:49):
It can get obnoxious. I'll say it can get obnoxious. And I feel like there's polarizing opinions about music in the outdoors, right? Well we really want a booming speaker, but for the purposes, again of being on a boat fishing and cruising to get to the spot that you're fishing, the beautiful thing is you can hear the speaker over the engine and I remember that specifically when I was fishing in South Carolina, just having this thing blaring while we were riding and I could hear it completely fine.
Colin and/or Justin (19:23):
Well Colin, let's hear it. I know it does beg the question, how do we all feel about speakers and the outdoors now I think this one might be the exception. I mean it's a $400, all the reasons this would be don't. You're going to see a ton of these out there. It's big and it's chunky. I love the fact that it flows, the fact that it's probably the easiest place to take. It's out in the water. You don't have to lug it around, but we're talking about an outdoor speaker and you started listing the scenarios of which you would be using this. How many of them would anyone on this call feel are appropriate scenarios? I mean you mentioned boating and motorboats and understand that, but I'd say there's a lot of people who would get it and maybe have it in a place where we wouldn't want to hear a speaker too. So how do we all feel about that,
Erica (20:08):
Erica? I feel like it's common decency as a human. I brought this to the beach in Chicago where there were clearly other people around and we just turned it down to the point where only our little group could hear it. But then I've taken it camping at a remote campsite, drive up, disperse, camping and we're the only ones. And it's like, yeah, I want to boom this thing to have a little vibe going on at the campground. So I think it is loud enough where you're going to be a disturbance to others and probably the animals around you. But that said, it's very fun with a big group if you are being courteous to the other people around you is my opinion.
Colin and/or Justin (20:44):
Yes, I agree with that. I was camping at a dispersed camp, or I'm sorry, a developed campground all last week and the woman across from us had her house music on just kind of blaring from something. And my first thought was, Uhuh, I'm going to set that person on fire. Just no. But then it wasn't horrifically loud and she turned it off at 8:00 PM which was when the quiet hour was. And I'm like, you know what? Okay, I'm going to develop campground. You can't dictate. And we've talked before on the show about how people have different experiences outdoors and it might be somebody's first experience outdoors or it might be the only way they feel comfortable is if they have their music. So I'm trying to soften my stance on this sort of thing. It's size and weight obviously means it's not going to find its way into the back country, which is great.
(21:35):
I can imagine a scenario where my favorite dispersed camping zone, I pull up one day and someone has one, they don't see any of their cars around and they're blaring it. And that would annoy me. But I mean, dunno, it's not super common that that would happen. I kind of feel like it's so big and so specific that probably you're only going to use it in places where there's going to be other people around. For the most part, this seems like a great thing at the beach and I don't give a shit what you're doing at the beach, Blair, whatever you want, that's fine. It should be kind of busy and noisy and chaotic and stuff like that. Mean if it's like big sir and there's no one for a hundred miles and you plop down with this, that kind of sucks. But I mean if you go to the beach in San Francisco, there are people that will just roll up with giant amps on a bike and just, it's kind of rad.
(22:16):
So I'm okay with all that and I'm not a boater, but I can imagine that it's super useful if you are out fishing and especially if you're on the ocean and you want to have some music on and it's probably perfect for that. So I think all that makes sense. It's really easy to knee jerk be like, fuck music in the outdoors. But I'm trying to not be like that anymore myself. Who maintains the leave no trace standards. I kind of feel like there's a few things we could add on to leave no trace rules that would make sense on that list. To your point about if you're in a public campground like that, it's like just buy the rules. If it's eight o'clock, quiet hours, 10 o'clock, quiet hours, whatever it is. And then those of us who are a little more sensitive about it, Hey, you can't get too mad during the day, this is where you are.
(22:59):
Anything like dogs, we've talked like, oh, if you're at the crag, it's like, well if your dog isn't least trained and good, you shouldn't be bringing your dog. There's all sorts of these little rules that some people feel like, I don't know why people don't connect the dots, but I feel like maybe that's the list that needs to be expanded to include some of these things on it. Right? Yeah, I mean when you think about it, it's like the kind of people who are going to blare loud music no matter what happens, they're going to figure it out anyway probably. Yeah, you're right. So it's not like they're going to get a turtle box and be like, now, okay, I'm going to dabble into being a total obnoxious prick. I think it probably doesn't really work like that. And the more I'm thinking about, I keep coming up with the great use cases.
(23:41):
I love what Erica said about just leaving it outside and not having to worry about it. I mean, we commonly eat dinner outside and I'd love to play something on a better, my Bluetooth speakers don't sound that great outside, so have something that's really good and then I just can, we always leave our crap outside and go inside, we're putting the kids to bed and three days later I remember they left the Bluetooth speaker outside. I'd be like, shit, that's great. That's ideal. I love that. So I want one, I just want to step in here and be like, now that we've been talking about this for a while and I'm envisioning where I'm using this thing, I just had another sip of old style and it's just like I feel like I'm outside. I feel like it's perfect. It's totally perfect. I
Erica (24:18):
Was thinking the same thing. If I'm listening to music, hanging out with friends outside, this is the beer I want to be drinking. Think one other,
Colin and/or Justin (24:27):
Oh, go ahead.
Erica (24:27):
Oh, I was going to say one other time I used this that was super fun was I organized group meetups in the city with a group called Mappy Hour, M-A-P-P-Y Hour. Awesome. We do hikes and kayaks and things. And so love, I organized a Lake Michigan kayak where we left from Montrose Beach, which is kind of on the north side of the city. And I, on a whim just brought the Bluetooth speaker, the turtle box with me and I strapped it on the back of the kayak, but there was like 20 of us or something kayaking out there. And we got to go past the barrier wall to the beach and head towards the city. And I have to say that experience of blasting music out in the middle of Lake Michigan with 20 new friends view of Chicago skyline and Sight was just very cool.
(25:13):
And the cool thing was that everyone could hear the music I was playing. And at one point I kind of was, I was in charge of the music at this point and I was like, are these people going to not like this vibe of the music going? But I think it really set the scene for what a city outdoor experience is. It's just entertainment and fun and being on the water. So in that case too, it was like, I dunno, did the fish heroes down there? Probably. But really we were the only ones in the moment listening to this music. To me.
Colin and/or Justin (25:41):
I was going to say they partnered with a lot of really good organizations too. If you look at their, they have a conservation wing. What? No, not the Fish Man Turtle
Erica (25:48):
Box.
Colin and/or Justin (25:50):
Yeah, a ton of different conservation groups. They're obviously big into the hook and bullet scene and also the cowboy scene, which is wild. The National High School Rodeo Association, the National Junior High Rodeo Association. That's cool. But yeah, a lot of good water quality and conservation groups that they partner with. So they're doing well. That's a good segue into our stuff conversation, right? I mean, I know there's a million Bluetooth speakers in the world. This does, like I said earlier, it's kind of one of one, it does feel like this in a world, in a crowded category. This one does sort of stand apart. Erica $400 retail price. Do you feel, given your experience, is that too steep or is it so good? It demands at higher price?
Erica (26:29):
I mean, I have three trains of thought on this. Number one is if you value good music in the outdoors, then yes, if music is a big deal to you, you have a lifestyle where you're boating and getting out and can do it respectfully and have the money to do that, then yes. Second, if you have the money to do that, then sure, splurge on a speaker. But I would say if you're kind of meh about the whole owning a fancy speaker in the outdoors, then you can definitely find cheaper options. So I think this is a niche product for a certain type of person who's willing to spend this kind of money. But the good news is, is that if you do spend the money, I think you're going to be happy about
Colin and/or Justin (27:07):
It. Well, and it sounds like it'll last too. It sounds like you're definitely not have to replace it because it broke. That's what it sounds like.
Erica (27:12):
Totally. Totally.
Colin and/or Justin (27:14):
I feel like $400 is the new $100 for outdoor stuff too. It's like 400 bucks is like, is that a lot? I don't know. People buy Yetis
(27:22):
And this actually does something. That's a good point. I mean you could buy a 400 Yeti. Great. I have a $200 or less Arctic that just, I have a Rouse foam cooler worked as well. Eric's Coleman probably does just as fine, just as good. But this one, I mean, yeah, there's not really, the cheaper versions probably are not going to be okay again after you leave them in the ocean. How's your beer everybody? We good? We ready to wrap it up? Anyone? We last more sips. I think we brought a full circle with the beer and the gear.
Erica (27:52):
Are you all almost done with your tallboy almost at the end?
Colin and/or Justin (27:56):
No, I'm just sipping mine because it's 2 51 here and I have some more beer to drink later today.
Erica (28:02):
Oh, it's almost five o'clock here. I started a little early.
Colin and/or Justin (28:05):
Believe me, I will be drinking this and several other beers later on this evening. But I like to put it in the fridge and just let it get cold. Cold air. Cold air. Alright, well we can wrap it up there. Erica, what do you have going on? What are you working on? Where can the people find your work? What's happening in your world?
Erica (28:21):
Yeah, I mean you can follow my adventures on my Instagram. It's one Curious Traveler, T-R-V-L-R and I write for CNN underscore I write for Gear Junkie Popular Mechanics. And I do a lot of trail coverage for Backpacker Magazine too. So if you're into hiking, you can find my words there. But I'm reviewing a lot of things this summer, tents and sleeping bags, and hopefully some more Bluetooth speakers. So if you're into gear reviews, look for my
Colin and/or Justin (28:50):
Work. Well, and we definitely need to have you on Gear and beer again soon as well as over on the Rock fight as well.
Erica (28:55):
Well thank you all.
Colin and/or Justin (28:56):
Yeah, no, thank you so much for coming on. This is great.
Erica (28:58):
Sweet. We'll see you next time.
Colin and/or Justin (29:01):
Well, gear and Beer is a production of Rock Fight LLC. Our producer today was not David Carstead. He's slacking this week. He's missed a couple of episodes. Our direction was still provided by Sarah Genser. I'm Colin True. And for Justin Hausman and our guest, Erica Zao, thank you so much for listening and here to take us out. It's the voice of the Rock Fight podcast Network Krista makes and he's going to perform for you right now, the Gear and Beer theme song. We'll see you next time.
Chris DeMakes (29:33):
We have experienced of to Tell, just like you're with On Trail. We review outdoor adventure gear pair with the perfect beer. Now let the games begin. So glad that you are here at the break the trail head. We're going to crack open the cooler by the beverage where we can celebrate those losses. We so line.