The great (digital) outdoors

Michael Rogers Columnist • Profile • E-mail

Sooner or later, every digital devotee or couch potato must heed the call of springtime and venture outdoors, if only to convince others that you really have a life. But there’s no reason that you can’t take a full set of technologic wonders along with you. 

Before you head outdoors, however, you may want to check the weather.  For that you need a digital thermometer with a wireless outdoor sensor.  Both Oregon Scientific and La Crosse make a multitude of models between them (make sure that you get one that reads outdoor humidity as well as temperature).  Oregon Scientific even offers the ultra-stylish Starck Collection Full Weather Station, designed by Philippe himself.  But if you’re a serious weather watcher, you may want to graduate to the Davis Vantage Pro2 — a pricey but professional-quality wireless system that measures barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction, as well as delivering a detailed weather forecast. 

If you’re planning an outdoor workout, how about a new sports watch?  The formidable Garmin Forerunner 301 not only displays time and heart-rate, but features a complete satellite navigation system built into the 2 ¾ ounce watch (the GPS is intended primarily to chart your speed and distance, but you can also use it when you’re lost).  The Forerunner continuously records your heart rate, speed, distance, pace and calories burned, so when you get home you can download and analyze each workout on your computer, as well as keeping a running record of how you’ve performed in the past.  It works for running or biking and—just in case you’re a triathlete—it’s waterproof as well.

And speaking of waterproof, if your backyard includes a swimming pool, you might want to think about the bright yellow Uniden WX1377 waterproof telephone, a full-featured cordless model with Caller ID that not only meets marine waterproofing standards—thirty minutes in the water at a depth of three feet—but actually floats.  It even includes rubber side grips for wet hands.  Just imagine your friends’ surprise as you announce, “Phone’s for you,” and pitch the receiver into the center of the pool.

Getting sun and sound
One of the biggest issues that faces the backyard dweller is how to get the music out there.  Let’s assume for starters that you’ve actually had the foresight to run wires out to your backyard, pool or patio.  For speakers, you could look to Bose, who have been building outdoor speakers for years and whose 251 Environmental Speakers provide an unusually wide and accurate sound field as well as resistance to everything from rain, sun, and fog to heat, cold and even salt air. 

The Bose speakers have nice-looking black enclosures, but they’re clearly speakers.  If you’d rather hide the evidence, take a look at the California home automation giant Smarthome’s outdoor speakers that look like rocks, in finishes ranging from canyon stone to river rock.  They even offer a fully waterproof 250 watt subwoofer that begins to look more like a small boulder.  Make sure you buy burial-grade speaker wire to hook them up, and try to resist all jokes about rock and roll.  (And if there are no rocks in your backyard check out the Smarthome outdoor speaker that looks like a terracotta patio planter.)

If you haven’t run speaker wires out to the backyard, you need wireless alternatives.  Sony’s SRS-RF90RK 900 MHz RF Wireless Speaker System has to be one of the coolest looking of the bunch—a single elegant silver cylinder that produces two channels of stereo distributed by transparent reflectors.  It will run for three or more hours on a single charge, or you can plug it into AC.  But don’t leave it out overnight: this baby’s too cool to be waterproof.  If you want water-resistant, try the Advent ADV-W801, which looks a bit like a big green mushroom but will withstand moisture.

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