Travel Gadget Review 3: Olympus TG-4 Camera

Four years ago, as an experiment on a short trip to Thailand, I decided to leave behind my digital camera and use my iPhone instead.

It was a success, and since then I've taken travel photos almost entirely with my phone (first an iPhone 4S, then a 6 Plus). Plenty of them have been published alongside my articles - about 100 images per year.

However, I've decided it's time to look at owning a camera again. Although it takes great photos, the iPhone has its weaknesses. It's not great in low light or other non-standard lighting, for a start, and you can't take a smartphone anywhere near water without a risk of ruining it.

So I borrowed an Olympus Stylus TG-4 Tough camera from Olympus for review purposes (and yes, I posted it back to the company's Sydney offices when I'd finished testing it out).

The primary attraction of the TG-4 to me, is its ability to take JPG photos at least 300dpi in resolution, as well as retaining the basic RAW file alongside it on the SD card. This uses up extra memory of course, but grants a deal of flexibility.

Another plus is the waterproof and shockproof nature of the camera. When I need a camera other than my iPhone, a watery environment is often the reason.

With my old Olympus I went kayaking in Borneo and became very wet as a result, with no damage to the camera. I also used it when looking for bears at the Great Bear Lodge in Canada, from where we set out on the water in small boats.

This is the Olympus TG-4:

And here are some photos I took with it one afternoon and evening, walking around the Melbourne CBD near my apartment.

A tram stop and a motorbike came out well on the camera's standard "P" setting in bright sunlight, with vivid colours:

For this shot of the London Stores building, one of my favourite local edifices, I adjusted the Aperture setting to let in more light:

The camera's 4x optical zoom allowed me to neatly frame this image of the Royal Arcade facade from across Bourke Street:

Another advantage of this camera over the iPhone is the presence of "Microscope mode", allowing photos to be taken as near as 1cm from the subject. As I walked along Bourke Street, I tried this out on a water fountain, a tree, and a vegie burger I ordered for lunch:

I was very impressed with the detail on all of these.

Finally, I stepped out at night to take some shots after dark, using the Night Scene mode under the camera's shooting mode settings. Exposure time on these was controlled by the camera, and varied from 0.5 to 1.3 seconds:

I was pleased with these results, from what is basically a point-and-click digital camera.

One other impressive aspect - and a great step up from the Olympus I used to own - is that the TG-4 has its own inbuilt wifi hotspot. Once activated, photos can be quickly selected and downloaded to a smartphone via a free Olympus app.

I'd expected this to be a clunky experience, but in fact it was very quick and efficient. While perched on the Public Purse sculpture on Bourke Street, I rapidly downloaded pics to my iPhone so I could share them on social media.

This is a brilliant facility, as it allows backup on the spot for any shots you particularly value. While travelling, it would allow me to easily back up those images from iPhone to Dropbox when I returned to my hotel's wifi.

Overall I was impressed with the Olympus TG-4 camera. I'm inclined to buy one of my own in the near future.

The Olympus Stylus TG-4 Tough camera retails in Australia for around $450. Find more details, including technical specifications and sample shots, at this link.

Travel Gadget Review 2: High Sierra Access Backpack

The backpack is dead, long live the backpack.

In June, I retired my decade-old High Sierra backpack, which first travelled with me in 2005 across the Pacific to Tahiti, Easter Island and South America.

It was a sad day, and I sent the pack on its way with a heartfelt eulogy.

In its place, High Sierra supplied me with a new backpack to review (the pack was complimentary, but the opinion here is all my own).

The pack in question is the High Sierra Access Laptop Backpack (pictured top right),  the closest design I could find in the current range to my previous pack.

Size

The first thing I noticed is that it's subtly bigger than my old pack, while still keeping it close to the accepted dimensions of airline carry-on luggage.

As a comparison, Qantas' international carry-on dimensions are 56 x 36 x 23cm, while the Access pack's dimensions are 51 x 38 x 24cm. Slightly over in a couple of dimensions, but not enough to cause a fuss.

Sections

As far as the internal space is arranged, this pack also seems better designed than my old one. The old pack basically had five areas: a big main section with a large laptop slot; a smaller front "organiser" section containing small pockets and pouches; a flat rear section suitable for documents or an iPad; a tiny upper section; and two side pockets.

The new Access pack has a similar big main section, smaller front "organiser" section and tiny upper section. However, the flat rear section has disappeared in favour of a second, flatter pocket attached to the inner laptop slot. This area has turned out to be great for documents and the iPad, keeping the shape of the backpack flatter rather than having it bulge out at the back.

The large side pockets have been replaced by a single smaller pocket, presumably designed for a phone. But who keeps their phone in their backpack? I actually use this pocket to store my belt until I'm through security, so it won't set off the metal detectors with its buckle.

Out with the old, in with the new...

More areas

What makes up for the disappearance of the side pockets are three new sections, in addition to the ones already mentioned.

Immediately forward of the main section is a secondary storage section, still fairly large, which is just as useful for packing clothing into. This can be handy for storing items you might need to access quickly on a flight, eg a fleece jacket if the cabin is cold.

Ahead of the secondary storage section is yet another smaller section. I find this handy for storing dirty clothing away from other clothing. On that theme, I keep my Scrubba bag permanently stored here in case I need to do some hotel room laundry.

Finally, there's a longitudinal section beneath the base of the backpack, which contains a rain cover for the pack. It's big enough to carry a beverage bottle, though I use it for storing an umbrella.

Additions and subtractions

Other travel aids I keep permanently stored within the backpack are a plastic document wallet in the laptop slot; a small daypack in the big main section; pens and business cards in the front section; and a pen, a combination lock, and padlock keys in the upper section.

I'll sometimes add my foldable bowl to the main section as well.

Even though it was brand new and pristine, the first thing I did to the backpack upon receiving it (High Sierra reps, look away now) was to cut off all the excess straps, such as the sternum strap and tuck-away waist strap. I don't need them, so they just add unnecessary weight and bulk.

Speaking of which, although the pack is bigger than its predecessor, it doesn't seem heavier; I'm still able to keep the light packing down to 7-8kg, around the permissible airline limit for carry-on luggage.

So that's my new backpack. It's already accompanied me to the UK, Belgium, Germany and the USA, and we're very happy with each other. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Disclosure: The High Sierra Access Laptop Backpack was provided to me for review purposes by High Sierra. All opinion above is my own, based on actual on-the-road use.

Travel Gadget Review 1: Scrubba Washbag

Being the first of an occasional series in which I review gadgets and devices of use to the traveller...

I was provided with a complimentary Scrubba before I went on my recent big trip to Europe and the USA, in order to test it out in real travelling conditions.

This bag is the recent invention of an Australian guy, who wanted an easy way to wash clothing on a trip up Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa (read more about its origin here).

The bag is made of a tough plastic. The innovative bit, however, is the flexible plastic washboard which is incorporated into its interior. By rubbing immersed clothing against the washboard section, the traveller is borrowing a technique used for millennia before the invention of the washing machine.

Or so the theory goes. How does it stack up in reality?

For this test, undertaken in the bathroom of our hotel room at the Ibis London Blackfriars, I was assisted by the lovely Narrelle Harris. For the record, this was the very first time we'd tried out the bag.

Here's a pair of socks I prepared earlier - by wearing them:

As you can see, the instructions are printed on the side of the bag, and therefore can't be lost:

First step - fill the Scrubba with hot water to the marked line for a small load, then add a suitable cleaning agent (in this case, shower gel):

Then the top of the bag was folded down a number of times, and clipped shut:

Next the air inside the bag was released, by opening the valve you can see near the top, and pressing down on the bag:

This was the one part of the procedure we had real difficulty with. For whatever reason the valve was very hard to squeeze open, especially with one hand busy holding the bag in place. Perhaps it might loosen after repeated uses.

In any case, with the valve so tricky, we found it easier to reopen the bag, squeeze out as much air as possibly through the main opening, then reseal it.

Then it was time for the main event: the washing. After a minute of trial and error pushing the socks around inside the bag, I realised the best procedure was to grip the clothing through the bag, and move it up and down with determination along the internal washboard section:

The result? Quite a lot of satisfyingly dirty water (though I suspect some of that is dye):

The next step was to repeat the procedure with clean water, to give the socks a rinse:

And voila: a pair of clean socks!

I hung them out to dry, and the next day they were indeed soft and clean. I assume they weren't as thoroughly washed as they would have been in a machine, but they were certainly wearable.

So there you have it - the Scrubba. A handy piece of kit which has now found a permanent place in my backpack.

It's not a substitute for a machine wash, I think, more a supplementary method for doing some light laundry while on the road. Handy if you're nowhere near a laundrette/laundromat and you don't fancy paying the outrageous laundry fees of the average hotel (and who does?).

The Scrubba washbag costs US$54.95, buy via thescrubba.com. Australians can buy it for AU$64.95 with free shipping via thescrubba.com.au.

Disclosure: I was provided with the Scrubba washbag for review purposes.