Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

On our way in the BattleWagon to see Fury Road at the Drive-In

 As first seen on BreachBangClear (they've gotten a lot of content from me recently, yay)

I've been pondering what, if anything to write about this movie. I grew up mostly overseas, away from my native Australia. When Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome came out in 1985, I was 9 and living in the UK, about to move back to Australia for the second time. Being a 8-9 yo Australian ex-pat in the UK at the time I had this, the 1981 Galipoli movie, and pre-Crocodile Dundee Paul Hogan as my cultural identifiers. The Mad Max movies were rather seminal in my appreciation of what it meant to be Australian (read into that what you will), my views on prepping, survival and self-reliance. So, as you might imagine, I had high hopes, and expectations for the new movie.

I'm not so much going to critique its story or plotlines (which I enjoyed), its cinematography (amazing) or even the sets, props and setting (tremendous) although I will touch on them all. Instead, I'm going to write about the -cultures- portrayed. Hopefully, that will pretty much leave you with a spoiler-free review, rich with material to consider.

It's good to be part of the Gang

The World: The opening introduction sets the scene for the movie, and the setting. Oil Wars, then Water Wars as resources literally dried up, and were lost, first by the wars themselves, which escalated to nuclear exchanges, then the environmental disasters that followed. Fallout is not explicitly mentioned, but I'll get to that when it comes to the people.
Civilization - All regulated civilization, recognizable national governments and services are long gone by the time the movie begins. Cities are emptied and abandoned, roads and infrastructure are gone. Manufacturing is all but gone, salvage and recycling are the golden rules for materiel.
Weather - With the loss of potable and agricultural water, which appears to be a widespread and catastrophic, we see vast deserts and dust-bowl type conditions. Vast storm fronts roll over the land, with sufficient force to destroy medium sized vehicles outright, and with enough frequency that travelers have masks and goggles handy and use them with casual efficiency that tells of lots of practice.
Water - Water is almost, if not more a valuable resource in this world as fuel, much in the way that it is represented in Thunderdome, (and Tank Girl). It is the basis of the major antagonist's (Immortan Joe) power, and is used to great effect by the gratuitous display of turning it on and off for his followers.
Food - As I often say, where there is water, there is life. Where there is no water, there is no life. With no arable land and no water, where does the food come from? They grow it, very, very carefully and securely. This brings us to the Factions.


The Factions:

Swiped from Village Roadshow

The Citadel - Immortan Joe's Citadel is based around what appears to be the remnants of a aquifer pumping station. They have vast reserves of water, literally to tap, and we get a good look at the layout of their stronghold. High, virtually unassailable mesa honey-combed with tunnels and caverns, including hydroponic farms, controlled environment vaults and enough space to house an army. They have water, food and manpower. Throngs of peasants live outside the Citadel, dependent on the water and food provided, and also opportunities to improve their station in life. Soldiers, workers, breeders and "milkers". (yep, be on the look out for the hu-cows), and "Mothers-Milk" references. Without water and food, there are no people.
Guzzoline Town - Source of fuel for triumvirate of power, they produce the guzzoline (read petrol/gasoline) guzzled by all the various bikes, cars, trucks and rigs in the movie. They do trade with the other two major Factions with their valuable commodity, and presumably, have to import everything else. Without fuel, you can't move anything across this wasteland. You can't mobilize your armies, warbands or scouts.

Swiped from Village Roadshow

Producing fuel takes skill, and resources to produce, so their power base is secure and essential for all three Factions.
Bullet Farm- We don't see much about Bullet Farm, but from what we do see, and the name, we can assume that they are a weapons and munitions manufacturing facility. In the wasteland, we see that ammunition is precious, and not always reliable. Having a manufacturing base lets you arm your army, so the have a solid power-base as well, but are ultimately dependent on both the Citadel for food and water, and Guzzoline Town for fuel and transport. They can certainly arm and front a mighty force, but without fuel of food, they wouldn't be able to function. Nor could The Citadel or Guzzoline Town protect their interests without Bullet Town's bullets.
Raiders - Bands of scavengers, unaffiliated with any of the three Factions still roam the wasteland, preying on the convoys, picking off stragglers and no doubt raiding the three Factions from time to time. Highly mobile, poorly equipped and desperate They probably represent the most regular threats to the Factions or others in the Wilderness.
Loners - This is where Max falls. He's on his own, doing his own thing, surviving just for himself, and by himself. He is outside of civilisation, such as it is, and wants nothing more than to be alone. Who knows how many loners still exist out in the world, but odds are, they're few in number, given the hardship they face.

Swiped from Village Roadshow

Classes:

Swiped from Village Roadshow

Faction Head - The Triumvirate are lead in turn by Immortan Joe, The People Eater and The Bullet Farmer. They rule their own domains, and only by their truce, and personal history is their world held together. Immortan Joe has founded his own Valhalla cult to perpetuate his power, as well as Joe's own personal drive to keep a pure and un-fallout contaminated bloodline going, with his Wives.
Imperator - These are the commanders of the Factions, who are charged with overseeing operations and trusted with both secrets and access. They get the best equipment, vehicles and even cybernetic / prosthetic repairs.
Wives - Joe's prized breeding stock, and presumably parents (in some iteration) to some of the other members of Joe's Faction, (at least Rictus Erectus), they may also represent a breeding program to repopulate the world, or at least Immortan Joe's little part of it with mutation free offspring.

Swiped from Village Roadshow

WarBoyz / WarDogs - Joe has filled his Citadel with his followers the WarBoys who follow the Cult of the V8 (look for the clasped hands in prayer with eight fingers up) with their sacred wheel icons and brands), They also get called the Half-Life boys (probably due to radiations sickness) who are motivated by wanting to gain access to Valhalla by performing well, and dying in glory for Joe. They are all shaved-headed (or bald) and white-washed. Strange cultish behavior (like spraying their mouths with chrome paint to be "Shiny and Chrome" and calling for witnesses when they enact their final brave acts will the catch call of "Witness Me!" to ensure they get clear entry into Valhalla. Not bad for a loyal army of disposable soldiers.
WarPups - The Citadel is filled with too-young-to-fight kids done up like the WarBoys, doing tasks around the Citadel. They serve, earn their places and hope to eventually be promoted to WarBoy status.
Mechanics - The makers, repairers and resurrection artists of old and broken technology. Called "black-thumbs" they are a valuable and needed part of the community, and even other
The great unwashed - The peasants that live around the Citadel (and other Faction Towns) who try to gain entry, curry favour, beg for food and generally be pathetic hangers-on and potential workforce for the Factions. They also represent a breeding pool, and source of more specific resources (Mothers Milk, for one)

Swiped from Village Roadshow

BloodBags - This is one of the interesting aspects in Fury Road. Because the WarBoys/ HalfLife Boys are apparently chronically radiation poisoned, and suffer from what appears to be leukemia, they capture and harvest donors, to rejuvenate and refresh the ailing HalfLife boys. Early on, Max is found to be a universal donor marking him as a very valuable commodity, even given his savage reactions.

Gear:
The kit - Salvaged and many-times repaired is the order of the day. Nothing new, fresh or in fact "Shiny and Chrome" except for a very few precious items. Given the desire to reach Valhalla, the WarBoys forsake almost any kind of protective gear, other than masks and goggles, to ensure they are effective, capable and impressive to gain entry, and Joe's approval. Imperator Furiosa sports a prosthetic arm, and both Immortan Joe and his son, Rictus, sport lavish air-filtration systems, to keep them contaminant free.
The vehicles - Almost characters in their own right, the vehicles of Fury Road hold true to the legacy of the first thee movies. Heavily modified, performance and off-road capable, with arms and armour that you'd expect, as well as nitrous-enhanced and lots of turbo charging to boot.
The weapons - Guns are few and far between, with only bosses and hero's wielding them, with the majority of the fighters having the wrist-crossbows, spears and hand-weapons we've come to expect from the Mad Max movies. Ammunition is a critical resource, and you feel every bullet the main characters have (with the exception of the Bullet Town bosses party, but hey, they MAKE the bullets, why not go a bit overboard). Explosive tipped lances were a nice touch though, and the brutality of the world is really indicated by the way people fight.

The effect Mad Max Fury Road had on us when we went to see it; two parent types who grew up with the end of the Cold War and all the Apocalyptic cinema that came with it, two young adults who were fresh to the genre , and Tactical Baby who didn't think it was funny when I laughed at the car-crashes, all at the drive-in, all in costume, was evident, we loved it, and were captivated by the cinematography, the action, and the impact of it all. We were left with just one question... "Who killed the world?"

We did.

WITNESS!

Events: Battle Apocalypse lasertag

I previously offered my review of the Oz Apocalypse : Zombie Apocalypse lasertag event as a topic near and dear to my heart, but they also offered to take me and some friends along for one of their Battle Apocalypse events too.

This wasn't a scripted "make it through the maze" event, but rather a totally open-plan player- verses -player event. The connecting walls, closed by hurricane fencing for the Zombie Apocalypse event to make for a pretty linear dungeon-bash were opened up, such that all the areas were available, including the previously hidden "staff-access" areas, in between sets.

I've played a number of lazer-tag type games, and paintball, as well as the NERF-based LRP events, such as "After the Fall" but the realistic weapons, both in size and weight and in operation and action were a step ahead than anything I'd done previously.

We combined two times slots of teams, and got double-time in-game as a result (thanks everyone) and broke into two pretty evenly numbered teams. Initially we had a couple of people opt to wear the pain-belts (myself being one) but it turned out that an unfortunate glitch in the system would have seen me getting a shock not only anytime _I_ took a hit, but also anytime someone used the re-spawn transmitter in my line of sight, which also operated over IR much like the guns and targeting belts. We all opted out after a few false-shocks.

Given the frequency of deaths in every game, that was a wise move. We were all initially set up as a two-hit kill, with approximately 150 shots per magazine, with unlimited refills available, but back at the re-spawn site. I opted to go semi-auto for much of the first few bouts, gaugeing how effective I was with the taggers. I flipped over to 3-round burst later on, to be more effective.

It was a good example of seeing how different people act under pressure. The broken light, noise and tension was quite effective, and some people, communicated well, others didn't at all. We all suffered from "dead-men-tell-no-tales" violations, myself included, but I like to think I also backed up, and notified my team pretty well.

We were set up NOT to have friendly-fire count, which was a two-edged sword, but it meant for "safer" gameplay. I had adjusted my rig from the previous event slightly, and I also wore my Propper Multicam and Platatac CUS Punisher shirt combo, which kept me cool and pretty dry, though I did work up a sweat from stress and the activity in my plate-carrier and pads.

I had a blast, again, and we had a good time, as well as dong "better" than our opponents. My three friends and I worked pretty well together,
in so much as that we all had done this kind of thing before, some more professionally than others, I must say, be we certainly benefited from -his- experience, I would have to say.

Unfortunately the Oz Apocalypse season is over, I hope some of you managed to get a go in, and if not, get to have a similar experience soon, because it was a lot of fun.

Rreview: PublicLabs - Infragram Plant Cam

I'm always excited to be able to work with extra-human wavelengths of light. I love my UV torches like the UV Jil Lite JenyxUV, and the SpiderFire x6v IR and the Phoenix Jr and the Manta strobe. Not to mention my Yukon NVMT 3x42 IR scope.I've wanted to get into thermal imaging, but it's way to expensive for a dilettante like me at this stage, so I jumped at the chance to get a near-IR option.

I backed a Kickstarter, the Publiclab Infragram the infrared photography project which developed a modified Mobius Action Cam with a 133 degree wide-angle lens, timelapse and still photography at a resolution of 2304 × 1536, and 1080p video. It is modified with a red filter and custom white balance.  The camera comes with an SD card and standard 1/4-20 tripod mount.I added some fishing line, just to keep the fiddly lens cap attached.

Near-IR photography takes advantage of the fact that digital cameras are sensitive to IR and by removing the infrared-blocking filter and adding a specific blue filter the modified Mobius Action Cam  filters out the red light, and measures infrared light in its place using that piece of carefully chosen "NGB" or "infrablue" filter.

The end result are these interesting blue-removed, IR-reflective and photosynthesis inferring photos. I've taken them from various angles in my front yard, with the Mobius and then with my iPhone5.

Facing NE, bunny enclosure

Facing NW, raised veggie patch

Facing W, tree, artichoke plant

Facing E, palm trees, bunny enclosure

Facing N, trees

For kicks, me in my Propper multicam vest. Note I don't photosynthesize 

Grey-fatsie filter

Infragram offer a selection of web-based filters which allow you to pick out and distinguish different aspects of the wavelengths captured, allowing you to not only pick out where plant life is thriving, or failing to thrive, but also pick out areas and items that might appear to fit, but are not.

This kind of photography will allow for assessment of crops, keeping track of invasive species, and possibly even be used to scan for roaming bands of government agents tracking you down ...

HSV filter

NDVI Red filter

Movies: These Final Hours, Aftermath

 It's getting to be holiday season, so I thought I'd tempt you with a couple of films to set your moods. Its going to be a hot, dry and probably burning summer here in Australia. We're all waiting for the next installment in the Mad Max franchise, which I can tell you, was pretty formative for me, even the Mad Duo see the effect it's had on me.

I've always enjoyed disaster flicks, for both situation suggestions, but also for the "no, NO you idiot, take that, leave those, get out of there, CLOSE THE DOOR" moments that I can share with my friends. Its even better when the movies are more "Everybody Smith" than "Master Sergeant Squarejaw", because I can relate more, myself.  It goes doubly so when the setting is one I recognize and relate to: I was thrilled by 28 Days Later far more than by Armageddon .

So, here are two trailers I saw not too long ago, for movies I hope to watch on my days off as I'm canning supplies and sharpening my Tomahook.

These Final Hours (2014)

It's the last day on earth, twelve hours before a cataclysmic event will end life as we know it. James makes his way across a lawless and chaotic city to the party to end all parties. Along the way, he somewhat reluctantly saves the life of a little girl named Rose who is desperately searching for her father. Stuck with the unexpected burden of responsibility, James is forced to come to terms with what really matters in life as the final hours tick away.

Aftermath (2014)

The devastating horror of a nuclear apocalypse is now reality and nine desperate strangers find themselves clinging to life in a farmhouse cellar, while radioactive fallout descends on the darkened world above. These would-be survivors face the nightmare of dwindling supplies, poisonous air and the greatest threat of all - the hordes of zombie-like refugees who want in. With each dying day, their choice becomes clearer - stay and let the makeshift shelter become their tomb or face the unknown terrors of the world outside.

Review: Propper - Gen Multipurpose Bag

As first seen on RecoilWeb .....

Here is another part of my Propper haul, and one that I have been getting a whole lot of utility out of.  I took it with me to Fiji for my island get-away, and it rode as my carry-on as well as emergency toddler change station. It's been my day-to-day bag since then, swapping out from my beloved Platatac Bullock Echo as I've needed a more briefcase style option rather than a backpack for my current duties.

This is the Propper Gen Multipurpose Bag and it punches well above its weight.

Filled with storage options, the bag offers a rather large carry-capacity to an otherwise standard briefcase-style design.  I can fit three 2L (2.1qt) milk jugs to the main compartment with no problem.

One of the first things I noticed, and have come to love, about this bag, was the easy-access, dual zipper opening, tapered grab handles. Grab and yank, and the bag opens up. No more fiddly zipper pulls and fine motor skills needed to grab your needfulls. More on that later.

The bag has a wide webbing strap, with a very well made non-slip shoulder-pad, a real boon for a habitual over-packer like myself. The shoulder pad itself has webbing loops that allow you to fix it in place via hook-and-loop tabs, through the pad, to eliminate slippage.  The strap can be adjusted at each end with a broad tri-glide loop, and there is a big-mouth 50mm (2") Fastex buckle at each end of the strap, for quick release. One of my biggest gripes with previous satchels has been the "slung across my chest" trap.

There is also a inset pocket at each end of the bag, between the main compartment and the side-saddle pockets, that very neatly fits my Propper Liberty bottle and even takes my venerable 1L SIGG bottle. 

The "front" panel of the bag is faced with a broad loop field, for patches, and I've made great use of that. Inside that front facing panel is a very spacious document compartment, with three distinct sections, that will fit a number of CD cases, iPads and the like. A hook-and-loop tabbed strap keeps your valuable documents and devices secured, and as with all the zippers on this bag, it features rubber-moulded zipper-pulls as well as "inverted" zipper material to give maximum crud intrusion protection.  

The opposing "inside" facing panel features an even greater selection of pockets, for holding all your needful tools and tricks. 

I have mine loaded up with a variety of goodies; both eating and entry hardware, medical and electronic. Things I don't like to leave home without! 

Again, the double  rubber-molded zipper pulls give good, fast access to my kit, and the panel itself offers a flat clean workspace that is flush to the ground, thanks to the design. 

You can see the main carry handles extend all the way through the pack from the side panels,  they continue all the way under the bag as it happens. They are NOT going to tear off, no matter what you fill it with.

The main compartment has its own surprises as well. Twin storage pockets add further capacity to the narrow ends and the bottom of the compartment is lined with loop-field to facilitate the removable divider, which itself has zippered pockets for business cards, death-cards, whatever. 

It is also loop-faced and includes a 3-channel organizer for all your highlighter pens, or double stacked mags, to go along with the hook-field sided adjustable pistol sleeve that would accommodate most handguns. I don't have any justification to have that in use, but you might. 

Coupled with the grab handle opening strap and you have a quick-access concealed carry option right there.

The side pockets, two on one end, and one bigger one on the other, follow the same pattern. Taped seams, inverted zipper runs to keep crud out, and internal pockets to maximize organization. The single big side pocket also features a clear plastic external ID pocket.

One more cool feature are the twin, adjustable hook-and-loop retention straps for an umbrella or flashlight that sits over the"inside" pocket. It also happens to be a perfect fit for my DeadOn Anihilator Superhammer, because, you never know ...

All in all, this is a pretty awesome bag. It certainly does everything it sets out to do, and had weathered all I've thrown at it, from kicking around trains, planes and hospitals, to being an overnight bag and a day-to-day hauler of my ever changing loadout.

If I had to pick something to gripe about it would be the overall "width" of the bag. When I sling it either across the front of my hips like a paratroopers reserve, I've found that it is  so wide that I bump and brush people with it where normally I wouldn't have, with a backpack. Same goes when I sling it behind me. The addition of the end pockets, whilst adding valuable additional storage, also add to the bulk of the bag.

That said, I'm very pleased with it, and will keep using it until it dies or I find something better.

Review: Snow Lizard - SLXtreme 5 iPhone case

Attentive readers may recall the Kickstarter for the rugged, batter and solar powered phone case, the SLXtreme that I covered a while ago. You may also recall how I took it on the Tough Mudder twice last year but it didn't survive the second attempt.

The hinge cracked and I had some water leakage into the unit, temporarily shorting out my phone, and killing the unit. I was sad, because it was otherwise a great piece of kit, but I also realised that I had put it through a pretty arduous test for a phone case.
However, undaunted, when I saw that Snow Lizard had gone on to make a case for the iPhone 5 (which I had subsequently upgraded to) I got in touch with them to let them know that I was keen to put it through its paces, and they kindly sent me a replacement, in the form of the new and improved SLXtreme 5. In safety orange no less.

It features all the same aspects as the previous model: latch-locking top opening, press-button battery-check and solar power switch, 2,550 mAh battery, membrane speaker

and mic covers, rugged buttons for volume and "home" buttons, a lanyard loop, capacitive touch-screen membrane.  It also sports a thumb-screw bottom sealing latch, and an access port for both USB charging and for the headphone jack. Forward and read-facing camera ports allows for photo and video capture and selfies.

There had been significant improvements as well.The in-built battery is 550 mAh larger in capacity over the "4" version.

 The bottom access port is now tool-free access (even though previously all you needed was a coin), the main latch is now a two-part metal, rather than polycarbonate.

The most exciting new feature however was the headphone jack socket and adapter. With an o-ring sealed plug, and matching sealed adapter, it is possible to have the phone safely cocooned and waterproof, as well as having access to headphone and mic jacks, a feature I've missed since my yellow Walkman days

As with the previous model, the SLXtreme 5 is rated at IP-68 with an operational depth of two meters, so in theory you can take SLXtreme anytime you are in or around water. It doesn't float, however, so I kept mine well attached to myself with a lanyard of paracord. This "open" shot gives you an idea of the engineering used in this cases creation, and it certainly paid off.

having access to the USB port (not the Lightning port of the phone, mind) allows you to charge the phone and its built in battery, but not synch, as far as I can tell.

The main port includes optically clear and easy to clean lenses, padding and improved closing latches, as well as hinges, substantially stronger in design than the previous model, I was pleased to see.


The solar panel was also improved, with a more matte finish to the surface, and what looked to be improved collector crystals internally.


The finish and the feel of the case as a whole was a lot more refined, and with the extra metal hardware, and the changes to the bottom panel, I was really impressed with the design improvements the Snow Lizard team had put into the next model.

When I took the plunge, (so to speak), and took my phone in its new case into the warm waters of Fiji, I knew I was going to give it a good test. With its "2m" depth rating, I was trepidatious  about how it would survive the trip, but as you can see, it worked wonderfully.
I had to remind myself a few times to use the buttons to control photo operation, as the main screen doesn't work under water, but I was able to switch between still and video controls on the surface easily enough, with just a flick of the wrist to clear water from the surface.

I found that the edges were a little tight, when dealing with water droplets, for dexterous screen manipulation, but the macro-control I needed worked just fine. The phone was bone-dry after almost an hour in the water (and subsequent jet-ski back to the resort), and the footage turned out really well.

All in all, I am thoroughly pleased with my replacement SLXtreme 5 case, and would highly recommend them to anyone who wanted to do some wet and wild filming, mapping, long distance phone calls and catching up on your favorite Apocalypse Equippedness blog from a beach-side or mountain-top retreat with their trusty iPhone.

Video Reviews: AK -Super Colubris, UC M48 Walking Axe, Skinning Axe, ZT - Deuce

Here are a few clips I've been saving for a rainy day, and there have been quite a few of these recently.

1. Kitchen knives and a pig head


2. American Kami Super Colubris vs pig head

My full review here:

3. United Cutlery M48 Walking Axe vs pig head

My full review here:
Follow up review here:

4. skinning axe-knife thing, vs pig head


5. Zombie Tools Deuce vs pig head

My full review here:

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did making them, if there is anything else you'd like to see my cutting with, or cutting into, please drop me a line, and I'll see what I can do for you.

All bio-waste either goes to the pot, or to the critters. No wastage, no freeloaders...

Review: Arena FlackJak goggles

I picked up a set of goggles a while back which I have added to my gardening, crafting and disaster preparedness kit. It's been a whiles since I have had a big set of goggles, my last set being a paintball mask, as I've made do with safety glasses or my much loved (and currently broken) Barz Optics goggles glasses to protect my eyeballs, in a way that my slim glasses just don't.

High speed fragments, harsh chemicals, dust and smoke in the eyeballs are just no fun and will ruin both your day and survival odds, which is why I look for ways to protect mine.



These are the Arena Flakjak goggles as seen under my Ops-Core style bump helmet This is the kind of setting they are specifically designed for, and you can see by the sleek fit, they really marry nicely with the brim of the helmet. They even fit my glasses reasonably well, although there is always a little skew one way or another when nose piece shares space with nose frame.

Arena state that their goggles feature what they call Razorback technology, which deals with fogging, particulate and moisture, by providing the a good airflow rate with a really interesting ridged vented filtration to create non-fogging conditions behind the lens while preventing debris like sand, moisture, and flying debris to enter the goggles.


The lens itself as well as the anti-fogging coatings, features OptiWide geometry which really makes for some really good optical clarity and distortion free peripheral vision to at least as far as I can see clearly with my glasses on, and only reduces my overall angle of vision by about 2cm or so at each side.

The lens material is ballistically designed for maximal eye safety exceeds Z87.1 - 2003 Plus standard and meets MIL-STD-662F (as related to .22 caliber, 17 grain, Type 2 fragment simulating projectile) standards. Which means my assertion for using it for for yard and craft work is probably spot on. Power tool fragments are not your friend.

One really nice feature of the goggles are the Buckle Management Retention Fastener (BMRF). This system allows for both quick and easy strap replacement, but also sturdy fitting both over a helmet, and against your bare head. The fits are quite different, and the rotating fastener really allows for this.

The modular buckle system also provides the goggles to integrate with a variety of helmet platforms, I tried it with my bump helmet, but also my Pro-tec Classic helmet and a couple of the hard-hats I have laying around.


One really important feature of any goggle is the lining and seal. The lining of these are made of the VS Foam, which is a proprietary goggle foam designed to wick moisture away from your face. The surface is comfortable, and the body both compressed enough to make for a good seal, but also not so soft as to over-compress.

I recently took them out for a running test which gave them a pretty good test of the fogging as well as the fit.

The certainly fit very nicely, were stable and very comfortable, but after about a km in, at 12kph, they began to fog up, and stayed that way, on or off, for the duration of the run.


I suspect that in a dry environment, they would probably work out pretty well, or perhaps if there had been more of a breeze, and a third party de-fogging treatment might well prove effective. It was a shame to find how fogged they became, as I can imagine in a hostile environment, or undergoing other strenuous activity (as I'd also found this to happen whilst doing some grinding and drilling and home) that this could be quite a risk to be aware of.

Still, I'd rather have some goggles than NOT have some goggles, and these will certainly have their place in my preparedness kit, to be sure.