YETI built its reputation by making some of the toughest, most over-engineered coolers around, but the company is preparing to make a fairly fundamental change to the formula that made it famous.

The outdoor brand has confirmed that its first Power Cooler is coming in 2027, marking its move into powered cooling and potentially opening an entirely new branch of the YETI cooler family.

YETI revealed the product during its Investor Day presentation earlier this month, where Hannah Mara, Head of Product of Home and Hydration, discussed the company's plans to expand its Gear and Equipment business.

"We built this category from the original Tundra 45 to over 18 hard coolers, covering the full range of personal, consumer, and commercial formats," Mara said, before adding that YETI's Power Cooler would bring "an exciting innovation to YETI and to the entire category next year."

YETI's coolers have traditionally been about maximising thermal performance through clever construction and insulation.

A powered model moves the company into a category populated by electric cool boxes and portable fridge/freezers that actively maintain a set temperature.

Years in the making

Later in the presentation, YETI CFO Scott Bomar said the company had made four acquisitions across bags, cookware, hydration and powered coolers.

He explained that YETI uses acquisitions when it wants access to product knowledge, intellectual property or development expertise more quickly than it could build those capabilities internally.

This happened when the company bought out Mystery Ranch to launch its backpack range and Helimix for its recently launched shaker.

Bomar specifically referenced YETI's "Power Cooler" acquisition alongside cookware brand Butter Pat, saying the deals provided capability and innovation in categories the company "couldn't build fast enough on our own".

Gear and Equipment is already a significant business for the company, and YETI says the platform could grow from $360 million in sales in 2025 to as much as $600 million by 2030.

A powered cooler also feels like a natural way of expanding beyond the limitations of traditional ice-filled designs.

Exactly how YETI plans to tackle those things remains unknown. The company hasn't revealed the Power Cooler's capacity, cooling system, battery setup or whether it will be available in multiple sizes.

There's also no word on pricing yet, but given YETI's premium positioning and the price of existing powered coolers from rival outdoor brands, I don't expect it to be cheap.

What YETI has now confirmed is that the Power Cooler will arrive in 2027, with more details presumably coming closer to launch.

[via YETI Investor Relations]

Nike’s strange, neuroscience-inspired Mind 001 sliders have just landed in a new colourway.

The Cucumber Calm finish doesn’t introduce any hardware changes, only extends the availability of the recovery sliders.

The unique footwear features an array of 22 independently moving foam nodes underfoot to increase sensory input from the feet.

According to the brand, the system helps athletes feel calmer, more focused and more present.

The Mind platform was developed by the company’s Mind Science Department over the better part of a decade,

It combines footwear design with neuroscience research into how stimulation through the feet can influence brain activity.

It’s all in the nodes

According to Nike, each node can move independently as pressure is applied, acting like a tiny piston beneath the foot.

The system is intended to amplify sensations that conventional cushioned footwear might otherwise dampen.

Nike’s researchers mapped sensitivity across the foot using the two-point discrimination threshold, which measures the minimum distance between two points required to perceive them as separate.

That’s why the Mind’s nodes sit closer together beneath the forefoot and become more widely spaced towards the heel.

Nike also used plantar pressure sensors, lower-limb muscle measurements and EEG brain monitoring while developing the footwear.

According to its researchers, testing showed changes in sensory-motor brain activity and increases in alpha oscillations associated with what the company describes as “relaxed alertness”.

That doesn’t mean slipping into a pair will magically make you Zen before your next Parkrun.

What Nike has demonstrated is that changing the sensory stimulation beneath your feet can alter measurable brain activity.

The broader claims around improving focus and helping athletes feel calm and present are what the company hopes to achieve with that effect.

It's worth noting that the basic principle behind Mind isn’t entirely novel.

Barefoot and minimalist-shoe brands have long argued that reducing the material between your feet and the ground increases sensory feedback to the brain.

Nike’s approach is kind of the opposite, adding more tech to amplify those sensations, but its aim is the same.

The Nike Mind 001 in Cucumber Calm/Black/Barely Volt is priced at £79.99 in the UK. The Mind 001 remains available in other colours at Nike.

Last year, Mammut teamed up with British designer Nigel Cabourn on a collection inspired by the 1969 Direttissima ascent of the Eiger, combining vintage mountaineering references with modern materials.

This year, the Swiss outdoor brand has handed the keys to its archive to Japanese designer Junya Watanabe, whose eYe JUNYA WATANABE MAN label has reworked the brand’s technical mountain gear into something considerably more fashion-forward.

The seven-piece capsule comprises six jackets and a backpack, with Watanabe drawing on decades of Mammut alpine design.

The result sits in the perfect intersection of expedition kit, workwear, and high-end Japanese menswear.

You get oversized pockets, long technical silhouettes, bold Mammut Red, corduroy collars and enough black outerwear to equip an exceptionally stylish (and stealthy) alpine expedition.

From mountain shells to waterproof tailoring

One of the most interesting pieces is the WR-C910 Mod Coat, which takes the construction of a three-layer hardshell and stretches it into a much longer, city-friendly silhouette.

The WR-J911 Ventile Jacket is made from weather-resistant Ventile cotton and features utility details, including multiple external pockets and a detachable hood.

Things get stranger with the WR-J910 Puckered Jacket, which is essentially a weather-resistant technical blazer with a three-layer fabric construction reshaped into one of Watanabe's more familiar tailored silhouettes.

It weighs just 413g and still gets practical touches, including wrist adjustment, an internal mesh pocket and a zipped chest pocket.

The flagship WR-J927 Premiere Down Jacket uses what Mammut describes as premium eiderdown, one of the collection's most extravagant materials.

There’s even a relatively restrained backpack (the most affordable option), finished with a rope-inspired grab handle and a small Mammut mascot dangling from a climbing carabiner.

The collection is available now, having launched globally on 24 September through selected Mammut channels and premium retailers.

In the UK, the Puckered Jacket starts at £555, while the Mod Coat and WR-J912 Jacket are £955, the Down Jacket costs £975, and the Ventile Jacket jumps to £1,220.

But the showstopper is the WR-J927 Premiere Down Jacket at a frankly spectacular £2,885. Against that backdrop, the £140 backpack suddenly looks almost suspiciously reasonable.

Flexibility isn’t just about being able to touch your toes. It’s about how well you can move your joints through their available range of motion and, perhaps more importantly, whether you can control your body while you’re doing so. And that becomes increasingly important as we get older.

While strength and cardio tend to steal the longevity spotlight, maintaining good mobility can help us keep doing the everyday things we often take for granted, from getting up off the floor and climbing stairs to simply moving around without feeling ‘creaky’.

So, when I came across Women’s Fitness and Transformation Coach Jürgen Sternad demonstrating a slightly unusual mobility test on Instagram, which he claims only 1% of people can actually do, my competitive spirit lit up. Naturally, I had to give it a go.

The good news? I can do it. The slightly less good news? It was much harder than it looked.

What is the exercise?

At first glance, the move looks pretty fun and, when broken down into steps, somewhat straightforward. However, it requires a combination of hip and ankle mobility, balance, coordination and lower-body control, which is probably why it feels trickier once you actually attempt it.

And while I’d take that ‘only 1% of people’ statistic with a fairly large pinch of salt, the exercise itself is a useful test of how well your body moves.

As a personal trainer, I’m a big believer in maintaining strength as we age, but mobility – especially dynamic mobility – deserves a place in our training too. After all, there’s little point building a strong body if you can’t move it freely.

Good mobility can also have a knock-on effect on how well you perform during exercise. Think better squat depth, a more natural running stride and joints that can move comfortably through their available range of motion.

It can also help support overall joint and muscular health, while maintaining the kind of movement and balance that could help reduce your risk of falling and leave you better able to get yourself back up if you do.

Can you do this exercise?

You can practise mobility pretty much anytime, anywhere, which is one of the reasons I like this move. You don’t need any equipment, a gym or even much space – just a few minutes and a little patience.

Can’t do it yet? Break the movement down into steps and keep practising. Will Harlow, an over-50s physio and Founder of Lifelong Mobility, recommends doing 10 minutes of mobility every morning, regardless of age, and especially if you’re over 50.

According to Harlow, this can help “loosen stiff areas, reduce aches and injury risk”, while helping you continue to move freely as you age.

How to do it

• Stand with your feet wide and lower into a deep squat. This will open up your hips, test your ankle mobility and stretch the adductors (also known as your inner thighs).
• With control, drop forward onto your knees, keeping your chest high and core tight.
• From here, tuck your toes under and slowly lower your body backwards towards the floor, opening your hips and stretching the quads as you go.
• Once you’re lying back on the floor, raise your arms overhead, touch the floor, then use your abs to lift yourself back up into a kneeling position.
• Tuck your toes under again and use your quads, core and a little momentum to roll back onto your feet and into your deep squat, then stand all the way up.

Did you do it? If not, use it as information and start training your mobility with intention.

Can mobility help you age better?

Most of us don’t need harder workouts. We need more balanced workouts that test and improve our movement skills.

And I feel it. As we get older, mobility can start to slip, particularly through the hips and back. Muscles and connective tissues can become stiffer, joints can lose some of their available range of motion and movements that once felt effortless suddenly require a little more thought and effort.

Balance can take a hit too, as can confidence in how our bodies move. That’s why I like exercises like this one. Getting yourself from the floor to standing might not look particularly impressive, but you’re asking your hips to move, your core and lower body to work, and your balance and coordination to pull everything together and get the job done.

Of course, doing this exercise every morning isn’t literally going to ‘slow down ageing’. But regularly challenging your mobility, balance, strength and control can help preserve the physical qualities that keep you moving freely and independently as you get older.

And that, in my book, makes this little mobility challenge far more interesting than simply earning yourself a place in the elusive 1% club. Because these are the movement skills we tend to take for granted until one day, they’re not quite as easy as they used to be.

This week’s best style drops are all doing something a little unexpected with familiar ideas.

G-SHOCK has borrowed from origami to rethink how a watch strap moves around the wrist, Db has turned its best-known backpack into a barely-there ultralight version, and Gramicci is making a convincing case for hemp as an everyday trouser fabric.

Elsewhere, 66°North is dipping into a century of Icelandic workwear, Universal Works and TAION have reworked RAF-inspired outerwear with Japanese down, and Flower Mountain has handed its trail-flavoured Yamano 3 to New York streetwear institution Staple.

It’s a good snapshot of where style is heading into autumn, with technical fabrics, outdoor influences and heritage references still everywhere, but the most interesting pieces coming from brands willing to reinterpret them rather than simply repeat them.

Universal Works has reunited with Japanese down specialist TAION for the second instalment of the pair’s Future Friendship Project.

The new collection takes some of Universal Works’ most recognisable pieces and reworks them around lightweight down construction.

Chief among them are the Universal Works Cardigan and Rams Jacket, two styles traditionally associated with wool fleece that have now been filled with TAION’s signature down for the first time.

The result is exactly the sort of British-meets-Japanese outerwear mash-up you’d hope for, combining Universal Works’ relaxed workwear shapes with the quilted construction TAION has become known for.

Alongside the more restrained seasonal shades are pink and yellow options, plus a new Cloud Camo pattern that prevents the collection from drifting into generic technical-puffer territory.

Military layers with a modular twist

The most technical piece is probably the new CR RAF Jacket, which draws on vintage RAF flying jackets and pairs a water-resistant outer shell with a removable down liner.

The two parts can be worn together in colder weather or separately in milder conditions.

Military references continue elsewhere in the collection, for example in the returning Down Mod Parka, which now also comes in new colourways.

Both jackets can be customised with six removable badges inspired by traditional insignia, British subcultures and music.

Universal Works says wearers can leave the supplied patches in place, remove them altogether or swap in their own.

A reversible down trapper hat rounds out the collection and is available in five colour combinations.

This is the second TAION collection produced under Universal Works’ Future Friendship Project, an initiative designed around long-term collaborations rather than one-off drops.

The relationship began after the two brands met while sharing a showroom in Paris, with Universal Works later visiting TAION’s team in Nagoya during a trip to Japan.

The accompanying campaign was shot around Tokyo, which feels particularly fitting.

Universal Works’ distinctly British take on relaxed workwear sits surprisingly naturally alongside TAION’s lightweight Japanese down expertise, and this latest collection leans further into that overlap than their first.

The new collection is available now from Universal Works, with prices starting at £60 / $82 / €63.95 (AU$113).

The super trainer category has become one of the busiest parts of the running shoe market, with seemingly every major brand now offering a highly cushioned, plated shoe designed to bring race-day technology into everyday training.

Altra is the latest to make a play for the category with the Vanish Tempo 2, a completely overhauled speed shoe that combines a new dual-supercritical foam setup with a flexible PEBAX plate.

However, this being Altra, it isn't simply following the established super-trainer formula.

The Vanish Tempo 2 pairs all that go-fast technology with the brand's distinctive FootShape design to give runners more space for their toes.

The Racing FootShape is the brand's most performance-focused silhouette, which hugs the midfoot more closely while still leaving room at the front for the toes to move.

The shoes feature Altra's new FAST TRN midsole, which uses what the company describes as a dual-supercritical foam setup designed to deliver high rebound over longer training miles.

The split PEBAX plate embedded in the midsole is intended to add propulsion while allowing the forefoot to move more naturally.

Altra is changing its formula, too

For years, Altra has embraced a strictly zero-drop approach, but the brand's latest performance shoes are increasingly moving towards a low-drop setup.

The Vanish Tempo 2 has a 34mm heel and 30mm forefoot stack, creating a 4mm heel-to-toe drop, the same as the Vanish Carbon 3 and, interestingly, the new Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 5 .

That combination should also make the Tempo 2 more approachable for runners who like the idea of Altra's anatomical fit but aren't ready to jump straight into a completely flat platform.

Weight comes in at 243g for the men's US size 10 and 208g for the women's US size 8, keeping it reasonably light considering the generous cushioning and plate.

Up top is a breathable engineered mesh upper with a padded heel and lightweight tongue.

Altra has also added an independent bottom eyelet to improve midfoot lockdown without tightening the shoe around the toes.

The result is an intriguing take on the modern super trainer with lots of foam, a propulsion plate and enough cushioning for high-mileage training, but packaged in a shoe that still looks and feels distinctly Altra.

The Vanish Tempo 2 is available now at Altra US in three colours for $190 (~£143 / €167 / AU$270).

G-Shock has finally brought one of its more unusual watches to the UK, offering athletes an alternative to the increasingly smart running wearables from Garmin, Coros and Apple.

The G-Shock GBA-950-1A is not brand new, as Casio has been selling the GBA-950 family in Japan and other Asian markets since July 2025.

However, this is the first time UK buyers have been able to get their hands on it officially.

And although it looks much more like a traditional G-Shock than a modern running watch, there's a surprising amount of fitness tech hiding underneath that chunky analogue-digital face.

The GBA-950 connects to the Casio Watches app via Bluetooth and can track steps, distance, pace and calories burned.

It also offers an Auto Lap function that automatically records your time over predetermined distances.

You also get activity history in the app, and workout data can be shared with Strava.

One caveat is that even though the GBA-950 is smarter than your average G-Shock, it doesn't have built-in GPS.

Instead, the GBA-950 can use your smartphone's GPS to calibrate its distance measurements.

Once that's done, Casio says the watch can estimate running distance and pace without remaining connected to your phone.

A running watch you don't have to charge

That relatively simple approach has one rather substantial advantage in battery life.

Instead of charging the GBA-950 every few days (e.g., Apple Watch) or weeks (e.g., Garmin watch), it runs on a conventional CR2025 battery that Casio says should last approximately two years.

On top of this, you also get the toughness you'd expect from a G-Shock.

The watch is shock- and water-resistant (to 200 metres), with a carbon-fibre-reinforced resin case protected by an integrated bezel and strap construction. It measures 48.5 x 43.9 x 16mm and weighs 53g.

Casio developed the strap with Japanese company OUTSENSE using what it calls "origami engineering".

It features carefully positioned mountain and valley folds to allow the strap to flex around the wrist while helping the case sit securely against it.

Phosphorescent hour markers and hands improve visibility at night, while the digital display handles workout information.

There's also an exercise-intensity indicator, an interval timer, a stopwatch, five daily alarms and a double LED light.

It's clearly not going to replace a Garmin Forerunner 970 for serious runners, but that's arguably the appeal here.

The GBA-950 is basically a tough, relatively inexpensive G-Shock that keeps tabs on your runs and sends the results to Strava. Simple as that.

The G-Shock GBA-950-1A is available now in the UK for £130 from Casio UK

Founded in a small Icelandic fishing village in 1926, 66°North has spent the past century making clothing for some fairly unforgiving conditions.

This year marks the company's 100th anniversary, and the Icelandic outdoor brand has already been busy celebrating it.

For its latest capsule, 66ºNorth dug through the archives and brought back ten pieces spanning ten decades of its history.

The aptly named 100-Year Capsule stretches from the protective clothing 66°North originally produced for North Atlantic fishermen to technical shells and down jackets that helped turn it into the outdoor and lifestyle brand it is today.

As you would expect, 66°North has updated the designs with modern performance fabrics while retaining their archive silhouettes, colours and details.

Bookending the collection are the Slippurinn Anorak, first introduced in 1926 and now reimagined using Gore-Tex Windstopper, and the Snæfell Shell Jacket, representing the 2016–2026 period in a particularly striking orange colourway inspired by traditional fishermen's coats.

Between the two are eight more pieces that chart some of the more unexpected moments in 66°North's history.

From Icelandic workwear to Björk-approved ’80s outerwear

Highlights include the chunky Bylur Sweater, the long Arnarhóll Coat, the wonderfully dramatic Ægissíða Rain Coat and the blue-and-black Kría Colourblock Shell Jacket, which looks every bit as 90s as you would hope.

The collection also incorporates the Tindur Down Jacket, Þórsmörk Parka and a recreation of the brand's classic Workman beanie.

Perhaps the most interesting piece is the Greni Overall, known in Iceland as the kuldagalli, an insulated all-in-one that became a fixture among Icelandic teenagers in the 1980s, with Björk among its most notable wearers.

For the anniversary collection, it returns with archival KRAFT and 66°N embroidery.

Each piece also gets a specially developed woven label detailing the garment and the decade it represents, reinforcing the sense that this is as much a wearable history lesson as a conventional outdoor collection.

“Reaching 100 years gives us a unique opportunity to look back at the collections, people and ideas that have shaped 66°North,” says Bjarney Harðardóttir, the company's Chief Brand Officer and co-owner.

“The 100-Year Capsule is a celebration of our evolution. Each piece has its own story, but they are all connected by the same purpose that has guided us from the beginning – creating clothing that is made to last.”

The 66°North 100-Year Capsule launches globally on 24 September through the brand's website and selected 66°North stores.

Its Reykjavík, Copenhagen and London flagships will also host a 100-hour anniversary experience from 25–28 September, combining art, sound, scent, taste and touch.

Adidas might have been the first major running brand to crack the 100g barrier (and the two-hour marathon limit) with a high-stack racing shoe, but it didn’t take long for the competition to catch up.

Mizuno just announced the Hyperwarp 96, an extraordinarily stripped-back carbon running shoe that weighs, as the name rather conveniently suggests, just 96g.

That technically puts it a gram below the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, which weighs an average of 97g in a UK 8.5.

Adidas only unveiled that shoe earlier this year as its first sub-100g racer, making Mizuno’s arrival particularly interesting.

As expected, the Hyperwarp 96 sits at the very top of Mizuno's racing line-up and has been engineered specifically to get beneath the 100g mark.

More interestingly, it does so without completely sacrificing the cushioning and rebound expected from a modern supershoe.

How do you make a 96g running shoe?

The Hyperwarp 96 is built on the Mizuno Enerzy XP+, an entirely new midsole foam developed specifically for the shoe.

Mizuno says engineers removed material from areas of the midsole that aren't needed at foot strike, sculpting away anything that wasn't contributing to performance.

The resulting shoe still manages a substantial 39mm heel and 36mm forefoot stack, giving it the same 3mm drop as Adidas' Evo 3.

There's also a full-length, three-dimensional carbon Smooth Speed Plate, which Mizuno says is designed to increase bounce and rebound during toe-off.

To save even more weight, Mizuno has created a 3D-engineered lace-free spray-on upper, similar to On's LightSpray technology.

It's constructed with two densities in the lower section of the foot, then becoming a single-density structure higher up.

Judging from the first images, the result appears to be a thin shell wrapped directly around the foot.

Mizuno says its development process has also changed considerably behind the scenes.

Following investment in its Osaka headquarters, the company says it can now turn around new prototypes within 48 hours of receiving tester feedback, allowing designers to make rapid iterations during development.

The Mizuno Hyperwarp 96 will make its first public appearance around the Berlin Marathon and be available to consumers in early December 2026.

Mizuno hasn't formally confirmed its retail price yet, but it's expected to launch with an RRP of around £400.

Head over to Mizuno for more information.

Norwegian travel brand Db has been experimenting with new materials for years, and finally, its iconic Hugger backpack is available in lightweight ALUULA Graflyte construction.

The aptly named Weigh Lighter Hugger is only 520g, making it 54% lighter than the original Hugger. It also weighs less than Apple’s current 13-inch iPad Pro in its lightest configuration.

The lightness alone wouldn't be news, as there are plenty of sub-500g packs on the market, but the Hugger is a full-size 30-litre travel backpack with all the organisation skills under the sun.

The translucent white exterior gives the new Monochrome version an almost prototype-like appearance, with the bag's structure visible through its outer material.

It looks considerably more technical than the conventional (albeit rather handsome) fabric Huggers Db has been making for more than a decade.

Same Hugger, very different material

The Hugger was one of the first bags created by founder Truls Brataas, originally launching in 2012 after apparently being sketched out in Excel and designed around the Golden Ratio.

Fourteen years later, the basic silhouette remains recognisable, but almost everything about the material construction has changed.

The big reason for that is ALUULA Graflyte, an ultra-light material Db has already experimented with through its Weigh Lighter projects.

The main fabric is made from 100% polyethylene, with Db claiming Graflyte provides an unusually high strength-to-weight ratio as well as water and UV resistance.

Despite its wispy appearance, the company is positioning the new Hugger for everything from daily commuting to outdoor use.

Its Rib Cage Technology remains, using lightweight ABS ribs to provide structure and help protect its contents.

The main compartment opens fully for easier packing, and it features a quick-access top pocket and a separate padded compartment that fits a 16-inch MacBook Pro.

It's also compatible with Db's Hook-Up System, so you can attach it to the brand's wheeled luggage, such as the Ramverk Alu Collection.

Most importantly, at barely half a kilogram, there's a lot more room for your stuff in the Weigh Lighter Hugger before you hit your airline baggage allowance.

The Db Weigh Lighter Hugger Backpack 30L Monochrome costs £259 / $399 / €299 (~AU$482) and is available now at Db UK, Db US and Db EU.

If your outdoor wardrobe is full of Arc’teryx waterproof jackets and The North Face puffers, you might want to check out British expedition brand Shackleton.

It's a good time to do so, too, as the company has just unveiled its AW26 collection, featuring some striking pieces, including the brilliant Signal Yellow version of its polar-proven R-Series down gear.

The new colour appears on the best-selling Rothera Hooded Down Jacket and Ross Down Gilet, giving two of Shackleton’s more technical insulation pieces a considerably louder look.

The R-Series uses 850-fill-power, 90/10 RDS-certified goose down alongside a windproof ripstop outer, with Shackleton saying the jackets are designed to retain body heat in temperatures down to -12°C (10.4°F).

New horizons

The new collection sees Shackleton pushing into several entirely new product categories.

Leading the new arrivals is the Knox Waterproof Down Jacket, the brand's first waterproof insulated transitional jacket.

It combines a soft-feel two-layer waterproof outer rated to 20,000mm hydrostatic head with body-mapped insulation.

Down is used throughout the torso and synthetic insulation in the arms, where Shackleton says moisture and movement can make traditional down less practical.

The jacket also gets a three-way adjustable storm hood that can be stowed away, magnetic front closures, storm cuffs and a C0 DWR treatment.

With a quoted RET breathability rating of 4.32, it should be a lot more breathable than it looks.

Shackleton is also making its first move into technical trousers with the Palmer Softshell Trouser.

Built as a multi-activity piece for hiking and climbing, it uses a wind-resistant four-way stretch fabric, a movement-friendly gusset, C0 DWR and UPF 50+ protection.

According to Shackleton, the Palmer can be paired with a base layer for use down to -20°C (-4ºF), while the trousers are intended to remain comfortable up to 25°C (77ºF) when worn alone.

The Franklin Fleece Jacket and Freemantle Fleece Gilet, two exciting additions to the collection, use a 63% recycled wool blend.

Shackleton says the approach effectively takes fleece back to its original meaning – the coat of a sheep – while avoiding the microplastic shedding associated with many synthetic fleeces.

Both pieces have a cleaner, bomber-style silhouette for both technical/outdoor and everyday use.

The Haakon Tactical Parka, its Antarctica-tested flagship parka, has also been revised for AW26, featuring a three-layer seam-sealed shell and 850-fill-power down. The Pilot Jacket returns in Sage.

The British-made Hero Sweater, inspired by knitwear worn by Sir Ernest Shackleton, returns in new Brown and Brick colours and continues to be made from 100% Geelong lambswool.

The Signal Yellow Rothera Hooded Down Jacket costs £495 / $745 / €680 / AU$990, and the matching Ross Down Gilet is £345 / $520 / €475 / AU$690.

The Franklin Fleece Jacket and Freemantle Fleece Gilet are also available now.

The Knox arrives on 1 October, Palmer and Pilot on 8 October, Hero Sweater on 15 October, and updated Haakon on 29 October.

You can check out the new collection at Shackleton.

Blood pressure monitoring has become one of the next big battlegrounds for smartwatches, and Huawei’s Watch D Series has been leading the way for years.

Unlike other health watches that estimate blood pressure using optical sensors and algorithms, Huawei built a miniature mechanical airbag directly into the strap that inflates around your wrist like a conventional blood-pressure cuff and produces actual systolic and diastolic readings.

It’s not entirely new for the company, as the original Huawei Watch D could already take blood pressure readings. However, the Watch D3 shrunk and made the hardware significantly more appealing; from a distance, you’d find it hard to tell the Huawei and a mainline Apple Watch apart.

The body is now just 11.3mm thick, down from 13.3mm on the D2, and its 1.92-inch AMOLED display reaches a claimed peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Huawei has also reduced the weight of the strap and narrowed the airbag.

As a result, the Huawei Watch D3 no longer feels much like a medical device. The company has hidden some unusually sophisticated health hardware inside something that looks and feels like a normal smartwatch. Whether its blood pressure readings are quite as convincing as the hardware, however, is another matter.

Huawei Watch D3 review

Price and availability

Huawei announced the Watch D3 in September 2026, and it's available now at Huawei UK for £399.99. It comes in Black, Gold and Mocha Gold. That puts it firmly at the premium end of Huawei’s smartwatch range, although the integrated cuff-based blood pressure monitoring gives it functionality few mainstream rivals can match.

The Watch D3 costs €449 in Europe, and there is no official US launch or pricing, so American buyers would need to import it if they wanted one. AU price and availability TBC.

Design and display

The Watch D3 feels like an ordinary smartwatch on the wrist in the best possible sense. The strap is inevitably thicker than a conventional smartwatch band because it contains the inflatable airbag, but I never found it cumbersome.

Huawei has done an impressive job miniaturising the pump, pressure sensors and cuff system into something that still resembles a mainstream wearable.

The D3’s proportions aren't far removed from an Apple Watch, either: the case measures 46.5 x 41 x 11.3mm and weighs around 40g without the strap.

The 1.92-inch AMOLED panel is another highlight, with its bright, colourful screen that’s easy to read outdoors. The brand quotes 3,000 nits of peak brightness, making it noticeably larger and brighter than the D2's 1.82-inch, 1,500-nit panel.

Blood pressure monitoring

Taking a blood pressure reading is remarkably straightforward on the Huawei Watch D3. Start a blood pressure measurement, position your arm correctly across your chest, and the airbag quietly inflates around your wrist – simple stuff.

Huawei uses the oscillometric method, combining a mechanical cuff with a pressure sensor to produce systolic and diastolic readings. I was told the system has EU CE-MDR medical-device certification.

I was surprised by how quiet the watch was during the readings. It makes virtually no sound, and the only way to tell it’s actually working is the increasing pressure around your wrist. Traditional blood pressure monitors aren't exactly deafening, but you'll certainly know when one starts inflating. I’ve never had a similar experience with the Watch D3.

However, my results gave me pause. I compared the Watch D3 with a Garmin Index BPM upper-arm monitor several times and consistently got lower readings from the Huawei:

Across those three tests, the Huawei's systolic result was around 16 mmHg lower on average, while diastolic pressure was around 5 mmHg lower. That's too consistent a difference for me simply to ignore in a review, particularly when blood pressure monitoring is the main reason to buy this watch.

These are only a handful of examples from my review period, but the Huawei generally reported lower figures than the Garmin, and almost all readings from the Huawei were under the optimal 120/80.

It’s worth noting that mine wasn't a clinical test and Garmin’s device isn't a laboratory reference device, either. Not to mention factors including body position, timing, and even which arm you use for the test can affect measurements. As such, I wouldn't conclude from my testing that the Watch D3 is universally inaccurate.

Interestingly, the Huawei app never warned that my readings were abnormally low, which makes sense as even my lowest result of 105/72 remains comfortably above the NHS definition of hypotension, which is below 90/60mmHg.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring

The Watch D3 can also perform ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, or ABPM, taking readings repeatedly throughout the day and night.

This can be much more useful than taking your blood pressure only when you remember. Huawei's system collects regular daytime and overnight readings, helping reveal patterns a single measurement can't show.

When the watch wants to take a daytime reading, you still need to get yourself into the correct position, with your wrist raised across your chest. That's perfectly manageable if you're deliberately monitoring your blood pressure, but it can become a faff during a normal working day.

However, I missed several scheduled readings simply because I was busy doing something else. Night readings are fine, as they are done automatically, but during the day, you must assume the Watch D3 reading position with one elbow cradled in your other hand. This ensures the best readings (well, about that).

It’s completely understandable that you need to do that; you would have to do the same with a blood pressure cuff, and I don’t expect the Watch D3 to do everything automatically and be just as accurate as full-size cuffs. I would have liked it to be a bit more accurate, though.

One caveat is that Huawei says battery life drops from up to six days in normal use to around one day with ABPM enabled. Not like you would have to do it too often.

Health and fitness tracking

Blood pressure might grab the headlines, but the Watch D3 is also arguably Huawei's most comprehensive general health watch.

Health Glance can combine up to 11 measurements into a single report, while the watch also offers ECG, heart-rate monitoring, SpO2, HRV, sleep tracking, skin temperature, stress and Huawei's expanded Emotional Wellbeing feature.

It also adds a new Physical Readiness Score, improved sleep analysis, and Health Insights that combine longer-term blood pressure trends with activity and sleep data.

The Huawei Health app does an excellent job of exposing all this information. It has a similar issue to the Ultrahuman app, namely that it can be overwhelming to see all that health data presented. It's comprehensive rather than elegant.

To me, Oura’s approach is still the gold standard. It shows a few top-line numbers but allows you to dig deeper if you want to. The Huawei app tries something similar but ends up showing you way too much information.

This is not a Huawei-exclusive issue. As wearables get smarter and collect more data, you’ll inevitably be shown more and more. Gamification (e.g., sleep and stress scores) helps package it in a more palatable way, but at the end of the day, all I care about is whether I’m healthy. I don’t need to know how my light sleep was 7% under my average.

Fitness tracking is robust, and the Huawei Watch D3 offers more than 100 workout modes, including golf, skiing and trail running, route navigation and off-course alerts. I still wouldn't buy one instead of a dedicated Garmin Watch or one of Huawei’s dedicated performance wearables if serious endurance training were my priority, but fitness tracking doesn't feel like an afterthought.

Smart features and battery life

The Watch D3 covers most smartwatch basics well, including notifications, Bluetooth calling, calendar features and NFC payments through Curve Pay in the UK.

Huawei officially quotes up to six days, but my Watch D3 comfortably exceeded that figure. After charging it from 8% to 100% in no more than 55 minutes, I still had 34% remaining six days later.

That testing period also included a software update and an hour-long GPS-tracked walk. Based on the average drain I saw, the watch was heading towards roughly nine days between charges, although your mileage will obviously depend on which health features you use.

Verdict

The Huawei Watch D3 is the strongest argument yet for putting proper blood pressure monitoring into an everyday smartwatch.

Huawei has managed to hide a mechanical pump, pressure sensor and inflatable cuff inside something that looks and feels remarkably close to a conventional wearable. Add its bright display, long battery life and enormous collection of health metrics, and this is probably Huawei's most comprehensive health smartwatch to date.

The only reason my recommendation isn't more straightforward is the one feature that matters most. My Watch D3 repeatedly produced lower blood pressure readings than the Garmin Index BPM I used for comparison.

As a small-scale test, my results aren’t enough to overturn Huawei's medical-device certification or prove either device definitively right or wrong, but the discrepancy was large enough that I'd want to look into it further. That's a shame because almost everything else about the D3 is superb.

It isn't cheap, but there’s still nothing quite like the Watch D3, a wearable that puts genuine cuff-based blood pressure monitoring into a smartwatch body that doesn't look or feel like you've strapped a medical instrument to your wrist.

The Coros Pace 4 Pro has arrived, and it looks like the company is making a serious play for runners who want the features and materials of a premium GPS watch without strapping something enormous to their wrist.

Sitting above last year's Coros Pace 4, the new running watch gets the biggest and brightest display the company has ever fitted on its wearable, plus sapphire glass, a titanium bezel, considerably longer battery life, and full onboard mapping.

Despite all that, Coros has kept the watch remarkably light at 38g (body only), rising to just 43g with the nylon strap. The case measures 11.8mm thick (not including the optical sensor bump), so it's pretty thin, too.

Big screen, small watch

The 1.47-inch LTPO AMOLED touchscreen is covered in 2.5D sapphire glass, has a 466 x 466 resolution and can hit a maximum brightness of 3,500 nits during activities.

Coros says it's the largest display it's ever used on one of its watches, and those specs make me agree.

The LTPO panel can dynamically alter its refresh rate, which should help preserve battery when the screen isn't doing much. It also allows for smoother interactions when you're scrolling through menus or moving around maps.

The Pace 4 Pro has twice the RAM of the Pace 4 and 32GB of storage, with landscape and topographic maps, street and trail names, points of interest and turn-by-turn navigation all supported.

Coros has also fitted its new fourth-generation five-channel optical heart-rate sensor, alongside dual-frequency GPS, a barometric altimeter, compass, SpO2 sensor and ECG hardware used for HRV measurements during its Health Check feature.

The built-in speaker and microphone let you answer calls when the watch is connected to your phone, use voice controls and leave voice notes or location-specific Voice Pins during activities.

One omission remains contactless payments, as there's still no NFC, and offline music (e.g. Spotify, Deezer, etc.) isn't supported either.

You can manually transfer MP3 files to the watch’s 32GB of storage and play them through Bluetooth workout headphones.

Battery life remains very Coros

Perhaps the most impressive specification is battery life.

Coros claims up to 60 hours of GPS tracking in its High GPS mode or 45 hours with the always-on display enabled.

Dual-frequency Max GPS mode provides up to 40 hours, dropping to 30 hours with always-on enabled.

Normal smartwatch use is rated at 21 days, or seven days with the always-on display enabled.

That's an unusually strong combination for a thin AMOLED watch, and it means Coros hasn't sacrificed one of the Pace family's biggest selling points just to add a brighter screen and premium materials.

The Pace 4 Pro is also rated to 5 ATM and uses standard 22mm quick-release straps.

It launches today, 22 September 2026, for £389 in the UK, $449 in the US, €449 in Europe and AU$779 in Australia.

Black and white versions will be available, with silicone and nylon strap options depending on colour.

Peloton has revealed the Tread Flex, its cheapest running machine to date and, perhaps more importantly for anyone without a dedicated home gym, it folds away after each use to free up precious floor space at home.

The Tread Flex sits at the bottom of Peloton’s revamped treadmill range, which also includes the mid-range Tread Vision and the cream of the crop Tread+ Vision, but “entry-level” would be slightly misleading.

The folding treadmill incorporates the Peloton IQ platform, offers instructor-led workouts and gets many of the same software features available on its considerably more expensive machines.

More importantly, the running deck folds vertically, reducing the treadmill’s footprint by a whopping 50% (give or take).

Peloton says it is actually shorter than a Peloton Cross Training Tread when folded, and the four caster wheels let you move it around without tools.

The deck lowers gradually using a two-stage cylinder mechanism, and a locking pin keeps everything secure when stored upright, which makes the Flex significantly easier to live with in smaller homes than Peloton’s existing treadmills.

Smart, but not watching you

The cheaper machine lacks the movement-tracking camera found on the two other new additions to Peloton's treadmill range, so it doesn't include post-workout Run Analysis or the Running Efficiency Score.

It does, however, get plenty of Peloton IQ functionality, including IQ Pace Targets, which uses your recent running performance to create personalised speed ranges for different intervals.

The feature starts working after roughly 10 running workouts and continues adapting as your fitness changes.

You also get ReRuns that can recreate outdoor routes on the treadmill using GPX files from wearables, including Garmin watches and other running and multisport options.

You can transfer runs and walks recorded through the Peloton app or a connected smartwatch to the Tread, with Auto-Incline adjusting the gradient to follow the original elevation profile.

Peloton also provides pre-loaded routes for people without an outdoor activity to import.

The Flex supports Peloton’s new heart-rate-guided Zone 2 workouts, too, provided you pair a compatible heart-rate monitor or wearable.

On the hardware side, you get a swivel display for moving between treadmill sessions and floor-based strength, yoga or stretching workouts.

The treadmill tops out at 12.5mph (~ 20km/h), and Peloton says it produces 70dB at maximum speed with nobody running on the belt.

The Tread Flex will cost £1,999 in the UK through Peloton, although British buyers will have to wait a little longer.

It launches in North America for $2,195 on 1 October 2026 before arriving in markets outside North America in spring 2027.

The machine will be available from Spring 2027 in Europe, with prices from €2,299, and in Australia from Autumn 2027 for AU$3,499.

Most treadmills can tell you how fast you ran and, if you're lucky, estimate calories burned, but Peloton’s new Tread Vision wants to tell you how well you actually ran.

The new running machine is one of three models in Peloton’s revamped range, which also includes the folding Tread Flex and the top-of-the-range Tread+ Vision, and comes with a movement-tracking camera that watches you run.

It can track metrics otherwise only accessible with a pro-grade performance wearable such as a Garmin watch, including cadence, vertical oscillation, stride length, and vertical ratio.

Peloton IQ then uses that information to generate a Running Efficiency Score between 1 and 100, along with personalised suggestions to help you improve your form.

A coach with eyes

After a one-time calibration, the camera judges you operates silently in the background and doesn’t show a live image of you while you’re exercising.

The same movement-tracking hardware can also be used away from the treadmill during connected strength workouts, where it can provide feedback on lifting form.

The Vision gets the rest of Peloton’s new smart-running features as well, like IQ Pace Targets that learn from your recent training and suggest personalised pace ranges.

Another feature, ReRuns, lets the machine replicate the elevation profile of GPX routes previously recorded outdoors using a running watch or the Peloton app.

You can use this function to re-run any footrace as long as you have the GPX file, which isn't terribly hard to find online.

As for the hardware, you get a 23.8-inch swivel touchscreen, Sonos-tuned (!) speakers, and an integrated cooling fan, to name a few.

Peloton has also redesigned the deck with internal dampeners intended to reduce impact and added a new, larger tray for a phone, tablet and water bottle.

The Tread Vision introduces ergonomically placed Jump Buttons, too, that let you move instantly to the next or previous whole speed or incline setting.

Peloton is also expanding its wearable integrations. Garmin wearable, Apple Watch (Apple Health), and Fitbit support remain, but you can now also connect your WHOOP band to the treadmill.

The Tread Vision costs £2,999 / $3,495 / €3,999 / AU$4,999 and will be available from Peloton UK, Peloton US, Peloton EU and Peloton AU from 1 October 2026. Peloton subscription is required to access some functionality.

Amazfit has been going after Garmin for years, and with its latest smartwatch, it's finally offering something the wearable giant can't match just yet.

The T-Rex Dual Solar is a new outdoor watch with solar charging surfaces on both the front and back.

The company describes it as the world’s first AMOLED sports watch with a dual-sided solar charging system, combining a 3,000-nit display with a second solar collector built into its glass-ceramic caseback.

The rear charging area is more than twice the size of the front collector, although it obviously can’t harvest much light while the watch is being worn.

To address that, Amazfit includes a woven lanyard that lets you attach the T-Rex Dual Solar to a backpack, bag, or other outdoor gear.

This exposes the rear panel to sunlight and lets the watch keep harvesting energy when it isn’t on the wrist.

Two sides are better than one

Amazfit’s battery figures suggest the larger rear panel can make a sizeable difference under the right conditions.

Typical battery life is rated at up to 25 days without solar charging.

With the front solar collector getting around 50,000 lux for three hours a day, that increases to 34 days, while the rear collector boosts it to up to as much as 51 days under the same conditions.

In Clock Mode, which switches off all-day heart-rate monitoring, the Bluetooth phone connection and other smartwatch functions, leaving only step counting and basic sleep tracking active, the watch can survive 15 days without solar.

This goes up to 92 days with the front solar panel and a whopping 424 days with the rear panel, again based on three hours per day at 50,000 lux.

Amazfit stresses that solar charging is designed to slow battery depletion and can't effectively charge the battery.

Solar charging can also be disabled when temperatures get too high, or the battery is nearly full.

Built for longer adventures

The unusual charging system is designed for trekking, climbing, and multi-day expeditions, where access to a conventional power source may be limited.

The specs back this up. The T-Rex Dual Solar has a 1.32-inch AMOLED display protected by sapphire crystal, a Grade 5 titanium bezel, 64GB of storage and 10 ATM water resistance.

It also supports recreational diving to depths of 50 metres and is designed to operate in temperatures as low as -30°C.

Navigation features include dual-frequency, six-satellite positioning, preloaded full-colour maps, contour maps, offline route planning and waypoints.

Amazfit also lists more than 180 sports modes, alongside Hybrid Training tools, Zepp Coach support and recovery features.

It also has a built-in flashlight with white and red modes, Bluetooth calling, offline MP3 playback, and Zepp Flow voice controls.

Pricing and wider availability for the Amazfit T-Rex Dual Solar are unconfirmed at the time of writing.

Head over to Amazfit for more information about the watch.

Adidas has unveiled the Adizero Adios Pro 5 without the signature EnergyRods system that has defined the franchise since its inception six years ago.

Adidas introduced the individual carbon-infused rods that follow the metatarsal bones of the foot as an alternative to the stiff carbon plate found in most modern racing shoes.

They survived through subsequent generations, evolving into the connected EnergyRods 2.0 structure on the Adios Pro 3 and remaining a key part of the outgoing Adios Pro 4.

The rods are replaced by a new carbon-infused structure called ENERGYRIM, which sits around the midsole.

The company says this new setup allows more Lightstrike Pro foam directly beneath the runner while still providing the stiffness needed for stability and propulsion.

The exploded technical illustration provided by Adidas makes the change particularly clear and shows ENERGYRIM as a separate perimeter-like carbon component between the outsole and Lightstrike Pro foam.

Lighter, but not simply an Evo 3 spin-off

The Pro 5 averages 175g in a UK 8.5, making it about 25g, or 12.5%, lighter than the Adios Pro 4.

The combination of the latest Lightstrike Pro foam and new carbon construction is also claimed to deliver a 9% increase in energy return over its predecessor.

Adidas is understandably drawing connections between the Pro 5 and the record-breaking Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, the running shoes that helped break the 2-hour marathon barrier earlier this year.

However, given the development timelines involved, it’s perhaps better to think of the two shoes as products of the same broader generation of Adidas racing-shoe R&D rather than the Pro 5 being a direct consequence of the Evo 3 launching earlier this year.

In addition to reworking the midsole, Adidas has completely redesigned the Lightlock 2.0 upper, with ventilation zones, internal support bands, and a revised heel construction.

Underneath, you'll find the new maximum-grip outsole combining lightweight Lighttraxion with Continental rubber.

The geometry remains decidedly race-focused with the maximum stack height of 39mm at the heel and 35mm at the forefoot, giving the Pro 5 a relatively low 4mm drop.

The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 5 launches globally on 22 September, priced at $275 / €275, via Adidas and selected retailers.

Arc’teryx has built its reputation by refining, replacing and occasionally retiring products as its materials and design language evolve.

There are exceptions, though, and apparently being a cult Japanese brand with a 25-year relationship with Arc’teryx helps.

BEAMS has somehow persuaded the Canadian outdoor brand to bring back the Theta AR Jacket, a technical shell originally released in 1998.

The waterproof shell is the centrepiece of a new six-piece anniversary collection celebrating 25 years of collaboration between the two brands and BEAMS’ own 50th anniversary.

The collection is called KOYO, named for Japanese autumn leaves and inspired by their colour palette.

On the Theta AR, that translates to dark brown across the shoulders and hood, transitioning into blocks of bright yellow and BEAMS orange, complete with contrasting zips and gold Arc’teryx and BEAMS embroidery.

It looks gloriously retro, but what makes the jacket particularly interesting is that BEAMS hasn’t simply pulled an old design from the archive and changed the colours.

Past tense, future fabric

According to BEAMS, Arc’teryx is generally known for not reissuing old models, preferring instead to keep developing new products.

For this anniversary, however, BEAMS received special permission to revive the discontinued Theta AR and deliberately went back to its earliest generation for inspiration.

That means details such as the centre storm flap, covered pocket zips and chunky old-school pull tabs return, along with the longer cut and high pockets characteristic of the original design.

It might look old-school, but the Theta AR uses the latest GORE-TEX PRO ePE to bring the shell’s waterproof construction up to date.

The rest of the collection is more than filler, with items like the bright orange Gamma Jacket, the newly developed relaxed-fit Jogen Pants, a Konseal 15 Backpack made from 315-denier Hadron fabric, and a black-and-gold Gamma 5 Panel Cap.

My other favourite might be the white Kragg Cotton LS Shirt, which has six previous anniversary products from the pair’s 25-year partnership printed on its back, effectively turning a heavyweight long-sleeve tee into a miniature Arc’teryx x BEAMS archive.

The Arc’teryx x BEAMS Anniversary Collection launches on 25 September 2026, with BEAMS confirming availability through selected Arc’teryx brand stores in the UK, US, Canada and China, alongside BEAMS Harajuku in Japan.

At ¥187,000 (~£889 / $1,191 / €1,038 / AU$1,677) in Japan, the Theta AR Jacket is knocking on the door of the £1,100 Sperro SV, Arc'teryx's new circular jacket.

Head over BEAMS for more information about the collection.

I feel it’s been quite a while since Ultrahuman started teasing its new ring, but it might just be that we haven’t seen a new ring from the brand for nearly three years before the Ring Pro launch, apart from the Rare and Diesel collab models.

Three years is a long time for wearables. So long that Oura launched two new smart rings between the release of the Ultrahuman Ring Air and when I actually got to try the Ring Pro.

That said, I was excited to try it, as even though its data accuracy was a bit so-so, I have fond memories of the Ring Air. It came out when smart rings were just going mainstream, looked sleek, and provided plenty of health data to digest. I also liked that Ultrahuman offered a significantly different experience from Oura, its biggest rival.

Things are different in 2026. The smart ring market is a lot more saturated, and it feels like there is a smart ring launch every month these days. Not just that, but Oura has solidified its leading position with refined hardware and software.

Plus, Samsung is still the only big tech brand to have a finger wearable, so the expected final stage of smart ring maturation never materialised. At least, not yet.

With that in mind, the Ultrahuman Ring Pro had one aim: to match or surpass what the Oura Ring 5 offers. Has it, though? The short answer is no, but as always, the situation is a lot more nuanced than that.

Ultrahuman Ring Pro review

Price and availability

The Ring Pro was announced in February 2026, and you can buy it now directly from Ultrahuman for £429 / $479 / €499 / AU$769. Ultrahuman currently shows shipping from 15 September in the UK, US, and Australia. The Ring Pro comes bundled with the Ring Pro Charger.

The ring has the highest starting price among the flagship smart rings from Ultrahuman, Oura and Samsung (although premium finishes of the Oura Ring 5 cost even more). It comes in four finishes: Bionic Gold, Space Silver, Aster Black and Raw Titanium. All carry the same price tag.

Design and build quality

Design is probably the most surprising thing about the Ultrahuman Ring Pro. Usually, smart rings get lighter and thinner with each generation, but Ultrahuman seems to have done the opposite.

At 2.65mm thick and between 3.3g and 4.8g depending on size, it's both thicker and considerably heavier than the 2.4mm, 2.4g Ring AIR it succeeds. It feels substantial on the finger and looks especially chunky next to the much slimmer Oura Ring 5.

The Ring Pro has a titanium construction with a PVD coating and a redesigned inner surface. It's well made, but I'm not convinced that the bigger-and-heavier approach is where the smart ring market is headed in 2026.

Features and tracking

A quick disclaimer before we get into things. I tested the Ring Pro throughout August and a little bit in September, during which time the Ultrahuman app has changed its layout. The new layout looks lovely, but some screenshots below may show the previous app iteration.

Back to the review. The Ultrahuman app provides all sorts of health data, from sleep stages, HRV, resting heart rate, and temperature to stress, cardiovascular metrics, sleep debt, circadian timing, and several more experimental scores, and after three weeks of testing, I still felt like I was discovering new stuff almost daily.

Circadian Phase Alignment, for example, divides the day into stages, including Phase Advance, Minima, and Phase Delay. It also recommends when to exercise and when to seek light (or avoid it) for better sleep.

It’s not a new addition to the Ultrahuman ecosystem, but I still don’t think I understand it properly. For example, the app told me that being active during the Phase Advance stage can help shift my sleep timing earlier, but when I'm already going to bed early and consistently getting excellent sleep scores, I'm not sure why I should do that.

This is an issue not just with Ultrahuman’s system, but with all other brands’. Simply put, they aren’t ready to say anything when you already have a steady and working wellness routine. I get that most people will need a lot more guidance than me, but I would still appreciate some pointers to improve things.

Sleep tracking itself is much easier to digest. You get total sleep, efficiency, HRV, temperature, sleep stages and even a count of complete sleep cycles. The latter is interesting to look at, although I'm not sure knowing that I completed four sleep cycles materially changed anything I did the following day.

I wore the Oura Ring 5 alongside the Ultrahuman Ring Pro, and they showed different sleep stages, which isn’t a massive issue, since neither measures brain activity directly and it’s all just guesswork based on the vitals the rings can read.

Activity tracking was considerably less impressive. The Ring Pro missed many of my walks altogether, while recorded activity surprisingly often appeared to be rounded into the nearest 5-minute blocks.

That's a weakness next to Oura, which has become much better at automatically detecting everyday exercise, and reinforces my feeling that Ultrahuman remains much stronger as a sleep and recovery tracker than as an overall wellness wearable.

I also struggled with some of Ultrahuman's more ambitious health scores. Ultra Age told me my biological age was 45 despite me being 43 during testing, making it the only wearable I've used that has suggested my health or fitness is older than I am. This on its own wouldn’t be a big deal, but I'm puzzled about why it suggested it.

The Pulse Age feature in the app said my blood-flow smoothness is potentially problematic (much too smooth, apparently), despite recent vascular-health readings from both a Withings smart scale and the ECG-compatible Huawei Watch D3 suggesting nothing similar.

Of course, this could mean the Ultrahuman Ring Pro is the only wearable that can accurately detect my blood flow smoothness, but circumstantial evidence suggests otherwise. That said, the app said it needs more time to calibrate, so I take these results with a pinch of salt.

On top of all this, for the most accurate Ultra Age, I would have to upload a blood report or use Ultrahuman’s Blood Vision service. Living in the UK, with its crumbling National Health Service, means I haven’t had a blood test done for quite a while, so I won’t get the most accurate Ultra Age (whatever that might mean).

I enjoyed my Brain Waste Clearance score, which is a fun way to repackage deep sleep, HRV, and related data into something more tangible. However, beyond seeing how well my brain waste was (apparently) cleared after a good night's sleep, I'm not sure how much actionable information I can get from stuff like this.

One of Ultrahuman's main marketing lines is that it provides all this health and fitness data for free. And while that’s true, there are a lot of things you need to pay for in the app. For example, Jade, the AI health assistant, is free but limits how many questions you can ask a day.

Unless, of course, you upgrade to Jade Pro, which carries a monthly subscription that's a bit over half as much as Oura’s. And that’s just for the AI assistant. PowerPlugs is the same story. There are plenty of free options, but most of the new additions that make headlines cost money.

Once you add up these comparatively small expenses, you will end up paying a lot more than an average Oura user. I appreciate the modular approach, though, which lets people tailor their experience how they want. For money, of course.

Battery life and charging

Ultrahuman claims up to 15 days from the ring itself, although longevity depends heavily on which battery mode you use. This is excellent news, even though I’m usually only impressed by longer battery-life claims if the product stays the same size or gets smaller. As we’ve already established, the Ring Pro is a lot chunkier than its predecessor.

As for real-life battery performance, the results were impressive. I started by setting the Ring Pro to Chill Mode, and was still at 93% after one day, 79% after three days, 64% after almost six days and 53% after roughly nine days. The trade-off is that Chill Mode reduces some of the ring's functionality, and I eventually realised that stress tracking wasn't operating at full capacity.

After switching to Turbo Mode to get more out of the ring, battery consumption increased significantly. The ring dropped from 53% to 15% after roughly another five days, suggesting over 12 days of battery life. It’s worth noting that I have one of the larger sizes, which has a bigger battery.

Charging with the Pro Charging Case is reasonably quick, too. Starting at 15%, it reached 40% after 30 minutes, 52% after 45 minutes, 65% after an hour and 84% after an hour and 40 minutes. It was fully charged by the time I checked after around two hours and ten minutes, although it may have reached 100% slightly earlier.

Verdict

The Ultrahuman Ring Pro packs in an enormous amount of health data, excellent battery life and a flexible feature set that avoids forcing everyone into the same subscription. However, the bulky hardware, occasionally overwhelming app and mediocre fitness tracking stop it from closing the gap to Oura. There’s plenty of potential here, but I’d like the next generation to be smaller, simpler and more focused.

There are powerful flashlights, and then there’s the new Olight Marauder 3, which feels like someone took the specs of a portable searchlight and somehow squeezed them into a handheld torch.

The new flashlight has an impressive spec sheet, with the ridiculous 25,000-lumen maximum floodlight output being the standout.

According to Olight, that matches the company's hulking X9R model, even though the Marauder 3 is roughly half its size.

And if simply turning night into day isn’t enough, a separate spotlight can throw a focused beam as far as 1,000 metres (~3,280 ft).

You can switch between floodlight and spotlight modes or run the two together, giving the Marauder 3 everything from broad campsite illumination to long-range visibility.

Inside is a built-in 31,900mAh, 118Wh lithium-ion battery, which Olight says can keep the flashlight running for up to 14 months in its lowest Moonlight setting.

More than just a very, very bright torch

That oversized battery also turns the Marauder 3 into an emergency power bank.

Its USB-C port supports 30W bidirectional charging, with Olight claiming there’s enough juice onboard to fully recharge an iPhone 17 Pro up to six times.

Olight has also given the flashlight a small smart display that shows estimated remaining runtime as you change brightness, as well as the predicted time until the battery is fully charged.

Separate indicators cover battery level, brightness, Moonlight mode and high-temperature warnings.

A touch-sensitive rotary dial handles control, unlocking and activating the light in a single motion.

Olight has also retained a conventional rotary unlock option, useful when gloves or wet hands make touch control less practical.

Despite being considerably smaller than Olight’s X9R, the Marauder 3 is hardly pocket-sized.

It weighs 840g with the battery installed, measures 152mm long and has a 75mm-wide head.

The aluminium body is rated IPX8 for water resistance and has been tested to survive drops from one metre.

It will be offered in Black, Midnight Blue and Orange. No pricing or availability information was available at the time of writing.

Visit Olight for more information.

Coros has spent the last few years steadily chipping away at Garmin’s dominance of the performance running watch market, and its latest software update closes another fairly significant gap.

The most important part of the September software update is full mapping support coming to the Coros Pace 4.

It brings landscape and topographic maps directly to the lightweight running watch for the first time.

Maps can display street and trail names, points of interest and surrounding geographical detail, making the Pace 4 considerably more useful for following unfamiliar routes.

You can download maps through Map Manager in the Coros app.

The company says one reason it originally held back full maps on the Pace 4 was the watch’s relatively small display and 4GB of storage.

After testing mapping on the screen, however, Coros decided the experience worked well enough to release it, especially since most runners only need maps around their home area or an upcoming destination.

The feature launches in beta, so it may still have some rough edges, but it represents a major upgrade for one of Coros’ more affordable running watches.

Maps are only the beginning

Plenty more is tucked into the September update. The new Adventure Journal Timeline feature essentially turns recorded workouts into miniature travel journals.

You can add photos and videos taken during an activity to its GPS track, and pins, voice notes, and images recorded during the activity are automatically incorporated.

Plus, there is an option to add pre- and post-activity images afterwards before sharing the finished journal with friends and family.

Cyclists also get Climb Alerts, which automatically identify climbs along a loaded route.

The watch warns you when one is approaching and shows information including distance, elevation gain and average gradient.

Once you start climbing, you can see your position on the elevation profile alongside the remaining distance and ascent.

Compatible watches can now respond to commands including “Open Navigation”, “Start a ten-minute timer” and requests to set nutrition, heart-rate, trainer resistance and power alerts.

Voice Control remains in beta and is currently available in English on the Coros Nomad, Pace 4 and Apex 4.

The update also adds faster firmware transfers over Wi-Fi, new Torque and Total Work cycling metrics, Left/Right Balance data in exported FIT files and more detailed battery history covering the previous 25 days.

The September feature update is rolling out through the Coros app, with Pace 4 mapping initially available as a beta feature.

Visit Coros for more info on the watches and their features.

Outdoor gear that promises style and protection can end up a damp squib that fails to meet either standard, but leave it to the Swedes to craft a waterproof jacket that actually repels the worst of the weather and still looks good. In the Treeline Hipe 2.5L Shell, Peak Performance has hit the rain jacket jackpot.

Stockholm-based Peak Performance launched in the 1980s with professional skiers and has since turned its hand to hiking gear built on the pillars of true Scandi style: minimalist and functional.

Over the last few years, I’ve tested dozens of waterproofs, from the ultra-light Helly Hansen Odin Infinity Minimalist Jacket (great for emergencies) to the rugged Montane Alta Lite Waterproof Jacket for alpine summits, but I’ve been a little late to the game on Peak Performance gear.

That changed this past winter when I wore the Vislight Gore-Tex C-Knit 3L Shell on a ski touring trip in France and was blown away by its looks and performance.

This lightweight rain jacket can hold quite a heavy shower at bay using Peak Performance’s proprietary HIPE 2.5-layer construction, making it suitable for casual hikes, if not brutal mountaintops, which isn’t what it’s built for.

It's breathable enough to wear zipped up while I’m hiking, and the relaxed fit and clean design have made it my first choice for trotting across town.

Peak Performance Treeline Hipe 2.5L Shell Jacket review

Price and availability

The Treeline HIPE 2.5L Shell Jacket is available now with an MSRP of £220 / $250 / €250 (~AU$410) at Peak Performance UK, Peak Performance US and Peak Performance EU.

I tested it in the lovely Montana Grape (purple) colourway, but you’ll find it in several colourways in both men’s and women’s sizing.

It’s not a top-of-the-mountain shell like the Helly Hansen Foil or Mountain Equipment Makalu, and it’s cheaper for exactly that reason.

The price isn’t a drop in the bucket for a rain jacket, especially if you only want something for your morning commute, but given its high performance and suitability for hiking, it’s considerably cheaper than the Helly Hansen Odin Infinity Minimalist (£350).

Design and materials

Peak Performance uses its own Hipe 2.5-layer construction, which is windproof, has a moderate waterproof rating of 10,000 mm, and a solid breathability rating of 10,000g/m²/24h.

The face fabric is a soft-to-the-touch 50D nylon, and the jacket feels light and flexible between my fingers. It doesn't rustle when I walk, and the relaxed fit creates a flattering silhouette that makes it easy to wear over multiple layers and works well as temperatures drop.

The streamlined approach to design involves a waterproof, two-way front zip that’s not sticky, which can be a rare accomplishment in outdoor jackets, and two deep, zipped hand pockets.

The hem cinches easily with one hand, and the adjustable hood keeps rain off your face without feeling too stiff or cumbersome. The cuffs tighten with straightforward hook-and-loop fastenings that are easy enough to adjust when you’re wearing gloves.

At 352g, it’s light and packable, but not the lightest or most packable jacket out there (that distinction still belongs to the Odin Minimalist). That said, I was happy enough rolling it up in my backpack for a flight to Chamonix where I wasn’t checking a bag.

Performance and comfort

I’ve had this on more days than not over the past month, and that means it’s already taken on lots of heavy showers here in Scotland and in the French Alps and kept me dry.

This isn’t a good choice for hiking for hours above treeline (hence the name) in a sustained downpour – for that I’d still opt for my Arc’teryx Beta LT, but for casual walks and city use, I feel confident in its weatherproofing abilities.

For hiking, I’m probably most excited by its breathability. Historically, the more waterproof a jacket was, the less breathable it was, which made hiking in mild, wet weather a challenge over the years.

But I can keep this on and zipped up while I’m walking uphill, even in temperatures above 15°C, as long as I’m only wearing a T-shirt underneath. That’s nothing to scoff at, especially if you hate stopping to take your jacket off and put it back on multiple times a day.

The lining isn’t as sticky as some 2.5-layer jackets, so it’s not a struggle to pull on even if my hands and arms are already wet from the rain.

The deep hand pockets are great for urban use, as I can carry my keys, phone, and wallet without a backpack, but they’re less useful with one. When my hip belt is fastened, I’d like the option of a chest pocket so I can keep my phone handy but protected in the hills, but I also do appreciate the clean vibe of this jacket.

Living in Scotland, I can quickly sniff out a dodgy hood that blows down the minute the wind picks up, but this one cinches properly around my head. The laminated brim is big enough to protect me but isn’t stiff or obstructive, and the soft fabric means it doesn’t chafe my skin.

When I’m not wearing it, it squashes down to about the size of a water bottle, so it’s an easy choice to carry for emergencies.

Verdict

The Treeline Hype isn’t a modern marvel, but it’s an impressively versatile jacket to consider if you don’t need mountaineering-level protection and want something that looks good and isn't totally out of place on the high street.

This sleek layer offers good weather protection, and its breathability is competitive. If you’re seeking more protection, the Peak Performance Treeline GORE-TEX 3L Shell is built with a tougher face fabric, a Gore-Tex membrane and a built-in RECCO reflector for alpine adventures.

"When Beth decides it’s leg day," it’s leg day but with a "side of core and balance,” says Hugh Jackman, who shared his latest lower-body workout on Instagram. “Thankfully, the stool was there to catch me,” he added. “Safety first.”

The star's social media post is another interesting glimpse into how Jackman’s training has evolved beyond simply throwing around heavy weights. At 57, functional strength, power, balance, and core stability all seem to play a part in how he trains, especially on leg day.

In the caption, Jackman is referring to Beth Lewis, the Hollywood actor’s personal trainer and the strength and conditioning coach behind Jackman’s training for more than five years.

He also mentions a stool for safety, which might sound strange, considering that he's in such good shape. Why did Jackman need something to catch him? It could have something to do with the maximum-effort isometric squat he can be seen performing using an ISO-Rack Strap from ZeroRM.

The strap is anchored beneath his feet and loops around his waist, letting Jackman drive against immovable resistance while holding the midpoint of a squat.

Instead of simply holding a squat position, Jackman actively pushes against the strap, generating as much force as possible without actually moving. That means his muscles work incredibly hard, and fatigue can kick in pretty quickly. Suddenly, that stool doesn't look like such a bad idea.

How to do Jackman’s two-move leg routine

1. Isometric squat hold

First, let's look at the static squat, the move responsible for that strategically placed stool.

Jackman stands on the ISO-Rack Strap, with the strap anchored beneath his feet and positioned around his waist. He then drops into the midpoint of a squat and drives against the resistance as hard as he can. He’s fighting an immovable force and can't actually go anywhere.

And that's what makes this different from simply holding a squat until your legs start shaking. Jackman is actively trying to overcome a resistance that won't budge, so although there's very little visible movement, his leg muscles are working hard to produce force.

Think of it like pushing a wall. The wall isn't going anywhere, but that doesn't mean your muscles aren't working - they are, and really hard too.

The result is plenty of tension through the lower body without needing a heavily loaded barbell on his back. It's also a clever way to train force production without loading up the joints with heavy weights.

2. Split-squat jumps

Then Jackman switches things up completely.

Holding a light dumbbell in each hand, he drops into a split squat, then drives explosively upward, switching legs and landing back in the split-squat position on the other side.

While the isometric squat hold is all about producing force without movement, jumping split squats require Jackman to produce that force quickly, which not only raises the heart rate but also trains power and fast-twitch muscle fibres.

The split stance also means each leg has to work independently, while every landing challenges his balance, coordination and stability. Add the dumbbells, and you add a little extra resistance to the equation, too. Go Hugh!

Why these two exercises work so well together

Two exercises might not sound like much of a leg day, but the way Jackman combines them is what's interesting. By performing a high-force exercise before following it with an explosive movement, this pairing is an excellent example of contrast training.

In simple terms, the first exercise switches his legs on and asks them to produce serious force, while the second asks them to use that force quickly and burns them out.

Strength remains important as we get older, but so do power and balance. Jackman's split-squat jumps tick both boxes, as he has to generate enough power to leave the floor, then control his body and find his balance again every time he lands.

It's also a reminder that a good leg day doesn't necessarily have to be determined by the squat rack and maximum lifts. Strength is about staying strong, powerful and athletic, and challenging your muscles in new and interesting ways.

I have a weakness for technical jackets that look like they’ve been pulled from an obscure outdoor catalogue circa 2002, and the latest iteration of the 66°North Dyngja Shell is pushing virtually every button.

Created with fashion and culture platform Outlander, the limited-edition waterproof jacket forms part of a four-piece capsule celebrating 66°North’s 100th anniversary.

While there’s also a matching pair of shell trousers, T-shirt, and Icelandic wool blanket, it’s the icy white outerwear that immediately caught my attention.

The collaboration draws on 66°North’s early-2000s archive, giving the Dyngja Shell a boxy, structured silhouette while retaining the weather protection you’d expect from an Icelandic outdoor brand.

It’s constructed from a durable three-layer material with a 10,000mm waterproof rating, while reflective piping runs around the jacket, a detail 66°North says originates from designing clothing for Iceland’s dark winters.

Of the two colourways, the darker option takes its inspiration from Iceland’s volcanic soil, but the standout is surely the white and pale-blue version inspired by the Blue Lagoon.

Somewhere north of normal

Look a little closer, and there’s far more going on than the enormous Outlander ‘O’ on the front.

The back features an embroidered map of Iceland, while the graphics also reference 66°North’s history with its early-1990s Kría bird logo.

Outlander artwork is worked throughout, and its signature ‘O’ surrounds the centre of the AquaGuard front zip.

It pulls off the increasingly difficult trick of looking like archive outdoor gear without simply being an old jacket rereleased in a different colour.

The campaign helps, too. 66°North and Outlander took it to Iceland’s Blue Lagoon, with some of the pieces photographed literally floating and half-submerged in the geothermal water.

The cast is made up of Icelandic people and not models, and the photographs were taken by 89-year-old Icelandic photographer Mats Wibe Lund (obviously, I might add).

Behind-the-scenes images were captured by six-year-old Unnur Rajani, the daughter of a 66°North designer (also obviously).

The wider capsule includes matching Dyngja Shell Pants, a heavyweight organic-cotton T-shirt and a 100% Icelandic wool blanket made at 66°North’s factory in Iceland.

The 66°North x Outlander collection launches on 18 September 2026, coinciding with London Fashion Week, and will be available globally from 66°North online as well as its Regent Street, London and Store Regnegade, Copenhagen flagship stores. Price TBC.

Nike has unveiled the Alphafly 4, the latest generation of its flagship marathon racing shoe, with some big changes.

The sports giant's pinnacle long-distance franchise has been under pressure since Adidas broke the two-hour marathon barrier with its sub-100g Pro Evo 3 shoes.

While the new Alphafly isn't nearly as light as the Pro Evo 3, Nike says it redesigned the running shoes as a complete system to help runners maintain their speed as fatigue starts to take its toll late in a race.

The numbers are promising: Nike claims the Alphafly 4 delivers 10% more energy return than its predecessor while weighing 5% less in a men's size 8.5, tipping the scales at just 188g.

The biggest changes are underfoot. Nike has redesigned the Alphafly's distinctive Air Zoom units for the first time in the shoe's history, with the new version said to feel softer and quieter while returning more energy.

They work alongside a full-length carbon-fibre Flyplate and a new two-foam setup combining Nike's familiar ZoomX with ZoomX LT, which the brand describes as its lightest responsive cushioning.

Fresh air

Along with reworking the midsole, Nike has introduced another generation of Atomknit.

The new construction adds open-hole mesh zones to improve ventilation, with integrated midfoot cables locking the foot down as the pace increases.

Perhaps most interestingly, Nike hasn't altered the basic stack considerably in pursuit of those improvements. The Alphafly 4 measures 39 mm at the heel and 31 mm at the forefoot for an 8mm drop.

Nike says much of the development focused on what happens later in the marathon, when fatigue begins altering a runner's mechanics.

According to Emily Farina of the Nike Sport Research Lab, the aim was to create a shoe that lets athletes stay efficient and confident deeper into a race.

The Nike Alphafly 4 costs £254.99 / €279.99 (~$321 / AU$452), making it £30 cheaper in the UK than the £284.99 Alphafly 3 currently listed by Nike.

A limited early release takes place today, 17 September, through Nike, followed by wider availability from 29 October at Nike and selected retailers.

VEJA is best known for making the sort of trainers you’re more likely to spot outside a coffee shop than halfway up a muddy mountain, but that could be about to change.

The French footwear brand has unveiled the Harpie Trail, its first dedicated trail-running shoe and arguably its most serious attempt yet to break out of the lifestyle sneaker world.

It joins the existing VEJA Condor 3 variations in the company's performance range, but unlike those, which are designed for roads and paths, the Harpie is built specifically for trails.

And, judging by the images, VEJA hasn’t forgotten how to make a good-looking shoe in the process.

There are six colourways at launch, ranging from the very wearable Eagle Black and Full Black to the considerably louder Lavande Acai, Honey Tent and Floral Camo.

The Harpie Trail uses VEJA’s proprietary TerraGrip outsole, which the company says provides traction across different types of terrain.

Above it sits a relatively firm Rubberfoam midsole, intended to balance energy return and stability with enough cushioning for longer distances.

Stack height is listed at 27.4mm, with a 6.7mm drop and a weight of 275g in an EU size 43.

Rubber meets the road less travelled

The midsole contains 20% Amazonian rubber and 20% bio-based EVA, while the outsole includes 27% Amazonian rubber, 27% mineral silica, 27% synthetic rubber, and 4% recycled rubber.

The lining and laces are made entirely from recycled polyester, while the insole uses a mixture including bio-based EVA derived partly from sugar cane.

The brand says the lightweight upper is breathable and quick-drying, while the shoe’s anatomical shape is designed to accommodate the natural width of the foot.

A thermoformed heel section in the insole adds support, while perforations toward the forefoot help moisture escape.

The Harpie takes inspiration from the harpy eagle, South America’s largest bird of prey and one of the Amazon rainforest’s most powerful raptors.

VEJA also points to the harpies of Greek mythology, creatures supposedly faster than the wind and invulnerable – admittedly a fairly ambitious benchmark for any trail shoe.

The VEJA Harpie Trail launches on 17 September 2026 and is made in Brazil.

Price and availability by region are TBC at the time of writing. Visit VEJA for more info.

One of my highlights from last year – at least when it comes to electric bikes – was the Fiido Nomads. It is an excellent touring bike with a solid build and plenty of features for the money. No wonder it won the T3 Awards 2026 in the best electric bike category.

The Nomdas Pro, a two-wheeler I’ve been testing for a few weeks, is very similar but comes with a mid-drive motor. It’s a big upgrade; mid-drive models are the cream of the crop of the e-bike world, and are priced accordingly.

Since it’s Fiido, I expected the Nomads Pro to be an excellent value bike with a long range and a decent feature and components list. And it’s exactly that. Should you get one? Read my full review below to find out.

Fiido Nomads Pro review

Price and availability

The Fiido Nomads Pro is available now directly from Fiido, with the standard single-battery model officially priced at €1,999 in Europe. In the UK, Fiido currently lists the bike at around £1,818. US and AU prices and availability TBC.

Design and build quality

The Fiido Nomads Pro is a substantially beefier machine than the standard Nomads. It still uses a 29-inch aluminium alloy frame and keeps the same touring-focused silhouette. However, the hardware has been upgraded with the aforementioned mid-drive motor, new front suspension and more.

Sadly, that extra hardware adds some heft. The Nomads was not a lightweight bike at about £24 kg, but the Nomads Pro tips the scales at 26.2kg, around 1.5kg more than its predecessor. The maximum payload remains 120kg.

As a result, the new bike is even more effort to move when the assist maxes out (more on this in the Performance section). This kind of heft isn’t unusual for a full-size trekking e-bike with suspension, a mid-drive motor, and a removable battery.

Up front, Fiido has swapped the standard Nomads’ oil-spring fork for a 120mm air-sprung suspension fork. A meaningful upgrade, especially if you plan to ride rougher tracks, as air suspension is lighter, more adjustable, and better suited to tuning than a basic coil setup.

The 29-inch tyres are more than suitable for the purpose, wrapped in 2.1-inch CST tyres, while the double-wall aluminium rims and stainless-steel spokes feel appropriate for a bike designed to carry luggage over longer distances.

The Nomads used a rear hub motor, but as I’ve already mentioned probably a 1,000 times in this review, the Nomads Pro gets a 250W mid-drive motor producing a claimed 100Nm of torque, which is a lot more than the Nomads’ 45Nm output (122% increase in quoted maximum torque, to be precise). Power delivery is managed by a Mivice X700 torque sensor.

It’s worth stopping here for a moment to explain why the motor's position matters more than torque. The regular Nomads’ motor drives the rear wheel directly, so its 45Nm doesn’t benefit from the bicycle’s gearing.

On the Nomads Pro, the motor drives through the chain and Shimano CUES drivetrain, meaning you can select a lower gear and let the motor operate more effectively when climbing. As a result, the bike feels dramatically stronger on steep hills even though both bikes say “250W” on the spec sheet.

Both bikes use the same 417.6Wh removable battery slots neatly into the downtube. Fiido’s approach of having to turn the battery on separately continues to trip me up, as it often makes me think – even just for a second – that the battery ran out. Then I remember that I forgot to press the button on the downtube before trying to turn the display on.

As I mentioned in the Nomads review, the larger frame doesn’t come with a larger battery, which means that the range is slightly less. Of course, the maximum range of the bike depends on a million factors, from rider weight to terrain and level of assist, but it’s true that the motor has to work harder on a larger frame carrying a (presumably) larger body.

As with the Nomads, Fiido also offers its expandable battery rack system, which can increase the claimed total range to 224.55km/139.53 miles with three batteries fitted. I wasn’t sent this, so I can’t comment on it. All I can say is that the system worked on the Nomads, so I can only assume it works here, too.

Fiido has stuck with a nine-speed Shimano drivetrain, although the Pro uses a CUES U3020 rear derailleur paired with an SL-M3100 shifter and 11-36T cassette. It’s not an exotic setup, but CUES is designed around durability and high-torque applications, so it makes plenty of sense on a comparatively heavy e-touring bike.

Braking hardware has also been beefed up, with HDM-5 four-piston hydraulic disc brakes replacing the Tektro setup used on the regular Nomads. Upgrades all around!

The seatpost is comparatively short, which means I ended up riding the bike in a suboptimal position, with my legs bent at the lowest point of the pedal stroke.

I would prefer a similar seat-adjustment setup to the Himiway A7 Pro or the Amflow PL Pro, where you can drop the seat using the lever on the handlebar. (Like on a mountain bike.) The fixed-angle, compact 1.47-inch screen is the same as on the Nomads, which works for me. It’s not the most amazing display but gets the job done.

The handlebar control unit, which lets you operate the assist, lights, horn, etc., is the same size as on the Nomads. The buttons are pretty small, and I doubt I could press them properly while wearing gloves. You can control the level assist using the larger buttons at the centre of the handlebar (under the screen), but that requires you to let go of the handlebar for a moment.

Ride characteristics and performance

The move from a rear hub motor to a 100Nm mid-drive fundamentally changes the character of the Nomads Pro compared with the regular Nomads. The motor feeds power through the drivetrain, making that torque especially useful when climbing.

Assistance responds to how hard you’re pushing, making the Nomads Pro feel more like an amplified bicycle than something dragging you along under electric power. Fiido says the delivery is “natural” and “responsive,” and I can’t disagree.

Given the size and heft of the Nomads Pro, you benefit the most from this new setup when you’re tackling uneven terrain relatively slowly, in the UK, anyway. I often hit the top limit of the assistance on tarmac, which almost feels like you cycled into a bog; switching the assist off suddenly drops the full weight of the bike on you to carry.

This is all fine if you’re just cycling gently along a dirt track, or if you’re not in a rush to get anywhere (which, I admit, is the point in touring). However, as someone who likes to travel at speed, I felt a bit restricted by the speed limit on the Nomads Pro and wished it was lighter instead of smoother than the Nomads.

Speaking of going off the beaten path, there’s certainly no shortage of hardware for dealing with less-than-perfect surfaces. The 29-inch wheels roll easily over gravel and other types of rougher terrain, while the 2.1-inch tyres strike a sensible middle ground between road-going efficiency and the extra cushioning and grip you want from a trekking bike.

The 120mm air fork is unusually generous for this category, too, giving the front end considerably more ability to absorb potholes, gravel and trail chatter than you’d expect from a conventional commuter e-bike. It doesn’t feel mushy, either.

The four-piston hydraulic brakes are another welcome addition given the weight and performance available. I weigh around 78 kg, so the bike and I are comfortably over 100 kg, but I never felt out of control.

On one of my range tests, I cycled around 40 km on a mix of country roads, cycle paths and dirt tracks, and often pulled over to let cars and agricultural machines pass. Not once did I have to emergency manoeuvre the bike – the brakes and smooth assist rally make the difference.

The wide, MTB-like handlebar also makes you feel at ease. I’m comparatively tall at 6’1” / 185 cm, but just like on the Nomads, it felt great riding the larger-framed Nomads Pro.

Range

Fiido claims up to 46.5 miles (74.9km) from the Nomads Pro’s 417.6Wh battery, and my real-world experience suggests that figure isn’t wildly optimistic. After 25.4 miles of riding, I still had 42% battery remaining, meaning I’d used 58% of the available charge.

Using that number, we can calculate that the maximum range should be around 43.8 miles (70.5km), which puts the real-world figure only about three miles short of Fiido’s maximum claim.

Not too shabby, considering the total weight and the mixed terrain I rode on. I also wanted to mention that my rides involved a mixture of assistance levels, including Sport mode, so around 40–45 miles per charge feels like a sensible expectation.

Verdict

The Fiido Nomads Pro's mid-drive motor is excellent, with smooth, natural assistance and plenty of torque for climbs, while the air fork, four-piston brakes, and Shimano CUES drivetrain make it a far more capable touring machine than its price suggests. If you want to experience the mid-drive touring e-bike life without splashing the cash, the Fiido Nomads Pro is an amazing choice. Just don't go too fast.

As well as working hard to reach its sustainability goals, Salomon has recently given one of its trail running shoes a fairly substantial makeover.

The Genesis 2 isn't just a cosmetic update, either, with the new model adding a reworked chassis, wider platform, and completely revamped outsole.

With the Speedcross moving into more lifestyle territory, the Genesis has become one of the French brand’s most trusted long-distance trail shoes.

It sits somewhere between a cushioned everyday off-roader and the more specialist shoes in Salomon’s S/LAB range.

For generation two, Salomon added a fully integrated activeCHASSIS and a widened midsole platform to improve stability on uneven terrain.

The improved rocker and cushioning are intended to make the Genesis 2 feel more dynamic underfoot, although the midsole still uses lightweight optiFOAM EVA and not one of the racier compounds found elsewhere in the brand’s line-up.

Salomon describes the cushioning as “soft and protective”, with high levels of foot protection for mixed, rocky, and technical terrain.

Same bloodline, broader shoulders

One of the most important changes is the redesigned lug geometry on the all-new All-Terrain contaGRIP outsole, which Salomon says improves traction in wet and muddy conditions.

Lug depth remains a relatively versatile 4mm, making the shoe better suited to mixed routes than aggressively soft ground.

The wider platform should also work alongside the redesigned activeCHASSIS to provide more guidance without turning the Genesis into an overt stability shoe.

Salomon adds that the system provides increased guidance while maintaining agility and freedom of movement.

The Genesis 2 uses a new, lighter Matryx upper, a material that combines individually coated high-tenacity Kevlar yarn with technical fibres.

An internal endoFit sleeve wraps the foot, while the familiar quickLACE system handles lockdown.

The shoes retain an 8mm heel-to-toe drop, which is notably more conventional than some of the lower-drop trail shoes increasingly appearing elsewhere in the category.

The Genesis 2 is available now at Salomon UK, Salomon US and Salomon EU for £140 / $150 / €150 (~AU$264), with six colourways currently listed on the website.

On has spent the past few years growing from an idiosyncratic Swiss running brand into one of the biggest names in premium sportswear, but that expansion has also forced it to clarify what each of its running shoes is actually for.

The company has been consolidating its everyday lineup around three core franchises – Cloudrunner for support, Cloudmonster for responsiveness and versatility, and Cloudsurfer for soft, neutral cushioning – and the latest Cloudsurfer 3 is arguably the clearest expression yet of where On wants its running shoes to go next.

The biggest change is a new foam called SURREAL, developed at On Labs in Zurich and positioned between the brand’s existing Helion and Helion HF compounds.

On says it is lighter, softer and more responsive than the Helion foam previously used in its everyday running shoes.

More interestingly, On has managed to add its distinctive 'foam holes' directly into the supercritical foam.

“It’s the first time that we’ve been able to engineer cavities in a superfoam,” Cloudsurfer 3 Product Manager Zoé Gerdil told me ahead of the launch, describing it as an engineering milestone for the brand.

The foam and the geometry are intended to work as a single system, Gerdil explained, with the cavities compressing sequentially from heel to forefoot in what she likened to a domino effect.

The most obvious change is around the heel, where the cavities now sweep across the midsole in a different orientation, intended to create an even smoother transition through the stride.

On used Finite Element Analysis to model those changes, and its internal simulations suggest that incorporating CloudTec Phase into SURREAL produces 15.5% more compression than the foam alone, while reducing peak braking force by 9.9%.

On has been reorganising its running shoe lineup

The Cloudsurfer 3 also arrives as On simplifies the way its everyday running shoes fit together.

Gerdil told me the company has increasingly consolidated the range around three principal franchises.

Cloudrunner provides the support and stability option, Cloudmonster focuses more heavily on responsiveness, energy and versatility, while Cloudsurfer is the neutral cushioning family, centred around softness, comfort and a smooth heel-to-toe roll.

That makes Cloudsurfer an important platform for introducing something as significant as SURREAL.

Gerdil described it as On's “most commercial” and “most democratic” running shoe, arguing that it needs to work for everyone from somebody taking up running or coming back after an injury to a professional athlete looking for a comfortable recovery-day shoe.

“We knew we needed that revolution moment,” she said of the Cloudsurfer 3's development.

She also believes Cloudsurfer should “set the standard of what we want our running shoes to be”, which helps explain why On chose it to launch SURREAL.

The foam won't remain exclusive to this shoe either; On says it will play a growing role across its running footwear range.

The changes go well beyond the midsole

On has also put a surprising amount of work into the upper. Gerdil said the development team effectively dissected the Cloudsurfer 2 and looked at where small construction changes could improve the first step-in experience.

The heel counter has been revised to provide more security, the tongue is heavily padded, and the lacing system was deliberately simplified to avoid the irritation of a shoe that's difficult to tighten evenly.

The upper also has more stretch, which Gerdil says should let the shoe accommodate a wider variety of foot shapes. On's goal was to eliminate obvious pressure points while retaining enough structure to lock the foot down.

She described the desired sensation as being “in a slipper more than I'm in a running shoe”, with additional padding creating more of a wrapped or hugged feeling around the foot.

The engineered upper is also zoned for breathability and support, while its textured, two-tone construction is intended to visually reinforce the Cloudsurfer's softer positioning.

Gerdil says the overall stack now reaches around 45mm when you count the sockliner, midsole, and outsole together, with that added stack being the primary reason the shoe has gained weight.

The shoe also has 3mm of outsole rubber in key high-wear areas, a deliberate decision to improve durability for runners who may rely on a single pair for most of their weekly mileage.

Drop decreases from 9mm to 8mm, a figure Gerdil says On considers broadly accessible for everyday running and one it intends to use more consistently across the Cloudsurfer franchise.

The finished Cloudsurfer 3 weighs 285g in a men's US 8.5 and costs £150 / $160 / €170 / CHF 210.

It launches first through specialist running retailers on 1 October 2026, with the wider global release through On.com, On stores and other channels following in early 2027.

Reebok has spent the past few years rebuilding its performance running range, but the new SpeedShifter represents a considerably more serious statement of intent.

The newly announced racer is the first shoe in Reebok's performance running category to feature a full-length carbon plate, firmly placing the brand in the increasingly technical end of the running shoe market.

Designed for faster training, long-distance running, and race day, the new running shoes pair that plate with an entirely new foam technology and a stripped-back upper, all wrapped in a package weighing just 7.4oz (or around 210g).

Made from an ATPU compound, the biggest news underfoot is Reebok's new HYPERFLOAT foam.

The company claims it provides maximum energy return alongside plush cushioning, with the SpeedShifter using a dual-density midsole intended to balance bounce with stability.

Sandwiched between those layers is the brand's full-length AccelerPlate carbon plate, said to deliver an explosive, propulsive sensation and help runners maintain speed.

The breathable upper uses a minimalist construction for lightweight support, though Reebok hasn't completely sacrificed comfort and has retained extra cushioning around the collar to help lock the foot in place.

The Non-Stop Grip outsole comprises three separate sections of high-abrasion rubber designed to provide durability and traction without unnecessarily covering the entire bottom of the shoe. The SpeedShifter also has an 8mm heel-to-toe drop.

The launch colourway fades from vivid orange through purple and blue, while the heavily sculpted midsole exposes portions of the shoe's internal construction and gives it a distinctly aggressive racing silhouette.

Reebok athlete and ultrarunner Lydia Oldham describes the combination as delivering "ultimate bounce", while Product Director Chris Stone says the SpeedShifter was engineered specifically to feel propulsive.

The Reebok SpeedShifter launches on 20 October for $220 (~£163 / €190 / AU$308), with unisex and women's sizing available. You can sign up for updates at Reebok US.

Outdoor brands have become remarkably good at telling us about recycled fabrics, lower-impact materials, and products designed to last longer, but an awkward question still sits beneath much of that progress: what happens when those same brands keep selling more and more stuff?

Salomon thinks it knows the answer. The French outdoor giant has some ambitious targets for 2030, including making all of its key products eco-designed or circular, alongside a commitment to cut its absolute carbon emissions by 25% against a 2022 baseline.

The problem is that Salomon is also growing quickly. “We are growing a lot,” Marie-Laure Piednoir, Salomon’s Global Director of Sustainability and Impact, tells me. “So our growth [compared to the brand's] absolute reduction is a challenge.”

It is a refreshingly straightforward admission, and one that exposes the problem facing almost every major outdoor brand trying to become more sustainable without becoming a smaller business.

Making a greener shoe is only half the battle

Few Salomon products illustrate that difficulty better than the Index. First revealed as a concept in 2019 and launched commercially in 2021, the Index was designed as a recyclable running shoe that consumers could return at the end of its life, allowing its materials to be recovered and reused.

On paper, it sounded like the sort of closed-loop system the footwear industry had spent years talking about, but reality was more complicated.

Salomon expected its customers, particularly environmentally conscious outdoor enthusiasts, to embrace the return system enthusiastically – that did not happen to the extent the company expected.

“We had high expectations on the consumer because these are outdoor consumers, and we felt that they were engaged,” Piednoir explains. “But we didn’t get all the returns we were expecting.”

That might sound like a disappointing ending for an ambitious sustainability experiment, but Piednoir says some of the technology developed for Index has subsequently filtered into far more mainstream Salomon footwear.

The shoe’s TPU-based sole construction helped inform technologies now being used across a much larger range of products, meaning the project ultimately had a wider impact than simply creating one recyclable trainer.

Salomon had originally assumed the entire Index concept would gradually scale into its mainstream range, but, as Piednoir explained, individual innovations from the project proved easier to transfer than the complete closed-loop system itself.

A recyclable product isn’t necessarily a circular product

The word “circular” gets used increasingly freely in outdoor clothing and footwear. A jacket might contain recycled fibres, or a shoe might technically be recyclable. A company might even offer repairs.

But none of those things automatically makes a product genuinely circular. Piednoir is careful about that: “Any company that is claiming that it’s fully circular needs to have very strict criteria to evaluate that,” she says.

For Salomon, circularity has increasingly meant looking at several different stages of a product’s life. Sure, durability matters, and so do repairability and recycling. However, crucially, different products require different solutions.

A pair of skis might remain usable for 15 years, while a heavily used running shoe can wear out comparatively quickly. Trying to apply exactly the same circularity model to both makes little sense.

“There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for circularity,” Piednoir says. That is why Salomon has recently put more emphasis on repair, including working with United Repair Centre to expand repair services across Europe.

Keeping an existing jacket or pair of trousers working for a few more years may ultimately be far simpler – and potentially greener and less resource-intensive – than breaking the entire product down into raw materials and manufacturing another one.

The outdoor industry is still bending the line into a circle

There is no shortage of impressive sustainability projects across outdoor gear right now. Brands are experimenting with mono-material garments, chemical recycling, resale schemes and increasingly sophisticated repair programmes.

But Piednoir stops short of suggesting that outdoor gear has suddenly become circular. Instead, she describes circularity almost as a direction of travel. “Circularity is a promise,” she says.

Her analogy is that the industry is effectively trying to take a straight, linear system – make something, sell it, use it, throw it away – and gradually bend that line until it starts resembling a loop.

That might begin with repairing something rather than replacing it, recovering materials from worn-out footwear, or simply designing products that last much longer. That said, the perfect circle remains much further away, and scaling those ideas is arguably the difficult part.

Making one technically impressive recyclable jacket or running shoe is achievable. Building collection systems, recycling infrastructure, and enough consumer participation to handle millions of products is something else entirely.

Sometimes competitors have to work together

Salomon also believes outdoor brands will struggle to solve some of those problems individually.

Piednoir points to the Winter Sports Sustainability Network, which brought competing brands together to share knowledge and develop better environmental measurements for products such as skis.

The winter-sports industry had historically been particularly fragmented, she says, with companies and suppliers operating independently and comparatively little shared environmental data available.

That presented a practical problem, because without reliable information on the environmental impact of different materials and manufacturing processes, it becomes much harder to determine where improvements should be made.

Salomon has consequently shared some of its lifecycle-assessment work with the wider industry. For Piednoir, cooperation on environmental issues is becoming increasingly necessary, even among companies competing for exactly the same customers.

The hardest target may still be carbon

Salomon appears reasonably confident about making progress on eco-design by 2030.

The company has developed product scorecards covering things such as materials, manufacturing, durability and circularity, allowing product teams to assess where each model sits against its sustainability criteria.

Piednoir says the brand is currently on the right trajectory towards getting its key product ranges into its top eco-design categories.

Sadly, reducing total carbon emissions for a growing company is a lot harder. Salomon's emissions per product can fall while total emissions continue to rise as sales and production increase.

That creates perhaps the biggest contradiction in modern sustainable consumerism. Brands can make individual products better, but if dramatically more products are manufactured, transported and sold, absolute environmental impact does not necessarily fall.

Piednoir readily acknowledges that Salomon's 2030 carbon target will therefore be challenging. And perhaps that is the most important takeaway from our conversation.

Sustainability in outdoor gear is no longer simply about putting recycled polyester into a jacket or creating one clever recyclable shoe.

It increasingly means tackling the far less glamorous questions surrounding manufacturing volumes, repair networks, consumer behaviour and what actually happens to products once we're finished with them.

Salomon does not pretend it has completed that transition. In fact, Piednoir's description of circularity as something the industry is gradually bending into shape might be one of the more realistic explanations I've heard.

The circle isn't complete yet, but at least brands are finally beginning to work out how difficult it is to draw one.

Read more about Salomon's sustainability commitments on the brand's website.

Mention YETI, and your mind probably jumps straight to bear-proof coolers and insulated bottles, but the brand’s bag range has quietly grown into something far more substantial.

YETI now makes everything from streamlined everyday backpacks to waterproof packs, hiking bags, active backpacks, and rugged carryalls, each designed for a slightly different way of getting your gear from A to B.

Shop all YETI bags

I’ve been using and testing YETI products for years, and I know the brand's approach that combines robust materials and practical details carries over to its bag range, which is a lot more extensive than many might think.

The eight bags below show just how broad YETI's durable receptacle collection has become, from the weather-resistant Cayo for daily use and the gym-and-training-focused Palo to the fully waterproof Panga and the sizeable Camino tote.

Snow Peak knows a thing or two about making a campsite feel less like somewhere you are temporarily surviving and more like an outdoor living room, while South Korea’s Helinox has spent years figuring out how to make furniture disappear into a surprisingly small bag.

Putting the two together makes a lot of sense, and that is exactly what happened with the Snow Peak x Helinox Noga Chair, the first collaboration between the two outdoor brands.

Snow Peak says that the Noga is based on the Helinox Chair One, the model which originally launched in 2012 and helped popularise the now-familiar combination of a shock-corded aluminium frame and fabric sling seat.

However, the Japanese company has altered the formula considerably, prioritising the sort of long, leisurely sitting that makes more sense around a campsite than when shaving every gram from a hiking pack.

A bigger Chair One built for staying put

The most obvious change is the frame, which uses DAC aluminium alloy tubing with a thicker diameter than the standard Helinox design, giving the Noga a more planted feel while retaining the familiar collapsible construction.

The seat has been widened, too, and Snow Peak has also adjusted the height to fit the brand's preferred low-style camping setup.

The finished camping chair measures 590mm wide, 520mm deep, and 700mm tall, so it offers noticeably more room to settle into, while padded sections around the arm contact points are designed to take some pressure off during longer periods of sitting.

At 1.4kg, this certainly isn't chasing the ultralight crowd, but it still packs into a reasonably compact 380 x 120 x 140mm bundle.

The carry bag is permanently stitched into the seat, so you have one less piece of camping equipment to lose, and once the Noga is assembled, that same bag becomes a storage pocket.

Mesh pockets on either side can accommodate a 500ml water bottle, and are equally handy for a phone, torch, or whatever else you want within grabbing distance.

By the way, the name Noga comes from the Japanese word nogake, meaning heading out into nature and spending time there, which neatly sums up a chair designed to encourage you to stop moving for a while.

The Snow Peak x Helinox Noga Chair costs £150 (~$202 / €175 / ) in the UK and is available now directly from Snow Peak.

There is something particularly convincing about outdoor clothing that looks as though it existed long before you discovered it.

Gramicci’s latest jacket nails that aesthetic without resorting to oversized logos, artificial patches or any of the other usual shortcuts.

The Gramicci x thisisneverthat Washed Wind Jacket is part of the third collaboration between the Californian climbing-inspired brand and cult South Korean streetwear label thisisneverthat.

To my delight, it looks like something you might have spotted halfway down the page of a climbing catalogue in the early 1990s.

That is largely thanks to the navy check fabric, which combines muted blues with thin reddish-brown lines.

The slightly crinkled finish, contrasting light-coloured hood lining and old-school hardware only add to the impression that this thing has somehow survived untouched for the past three decades.

It hasn't, of course. Gramicci and thisisneverthat have deliberately created the effect using a cotton-nylon ripstop fabric that has been pigment dyed and acid washed, producing the slightly faded, worn-in appearance straight from the box.

Old-school looks, proper outdoor DNA

Gramicci can trace its roots back to the Californian climbing scene, while Seoul-based thisisneverthat has built much of its appeal around reworking American outdoor, sportswear and streetwear references through a distinctly Korean lens.

For their third collection together, the brands say they took familiar Gramicci ideas around movement, functionality, and climbing and put them through thisisneverthat's vintage-inspired filter.

The resulting range deliberately occupies the increasingly blurry space between outdoor clothing and city wear, which is exactly where Gramicci thrives.

The Washed Wind Jacket might be one of the clearest examples of that approach because, underneath all the nostalgia, it remains a fairly straightforward piece of functional outerwear.

It has a two-way front zip, elasticated cuffs and hem, a drawcord-adjustable hood and zipped hand pockets, while the cut is described as a regular fit rather than an exaggerated streetwear silhouette.

The wider collection includes Pertex insulated jackets, a reversible fleece vest, patterned knitwear, faded striped T-shirts and denim climbing trousers.

One of my favourite items is a particularly fetching pair of Pertex earflap caps, with all items in the range carrying varying amounts of the same slightly weathered, archive-inspired character.

At a time when technical outdoor clothing increasingly means ultra-clean fabrics and bonded seams, there is something wonderfully refreshing about a jacket designed to look like it has already accompanied someone on a few questionable climbing trips.

The Gramicci x thisisneverthat Washed Wind Jacket is available now from Gramicci UK in Navy, priced at £170 (~£230 / €198 / AU$320), with UK sizes S to XL listed at the time of writing.

The wider collection is also available now, with prices from £50 (~$67 / €58 / AU$94).

After months of reaching for T-shirts, the temperature is finally heading the other way, which means one of my favourite pieces of outdoor clothing is coming back into rotation.

I’ve been testing outdoor gear for nearly a decade, and while the basic idea behind the best fleece jackets hasn’t changed much, the category itself has become surprisingly varied.

You can still buy the thick, fluffy retro-style fleeces many of us picture when we hear the word, but there are also highly breathable grid fleeces for moving fast in the mountains, ultralight active insulation, natural wool alternatives and increasingly sophisticated designs that look just as comfortable in town as they do on the trail.

With that in mind, I’ve picked eight of the jackets and midlayers that stand out to me in 2026, covering everything from technical Polartec to Sasquatch-covered pile.

Patagonia Nano-Air Light Jacket

£230 | Patagonia

Patagonia is one of the biggest names in fleece, so naturally I’ve chosen something that technically isn’t one. The Nano-Air Light swaps conventional fleece for 40g FullRange synthetic insulation, sandwiched between stretchy, air-permeable recycled polyester fabrics.

The idea is to provide enough warmth when you slow down without immediately becoming unbearably hot when you start working hard again. It weighs just 332g, has an articulated cut for freedom of movement and can even stuff into its own chest pocket.

For hiking, scrambling and other stop-start autumn adventures, it’s a fascinating alternative to simply throwing on another fleece.

Peak Performance Freelight AOP Polartec Alpha Half Zip

£160 £80 | Peak Performance

Polartec Alpha was originally developed as active insulation, and the Freelight AOP Half Zip demonstrates why the material has become such an interesting alternative to conventional fleece.

Peak Performance uses an exposed Polartec Alpha Direct knit that provides insulation while staying exceptionally breathable and quick-drying, making it the sort of layer I’d reach for when I know I’m going to generate plenty of heat.

The half-zip lets you dump even more warmth when required, while its unusual all-over pattern gives it considerably more personality than most technical midlayers.

Klättermusen Balderus Jacket

£260 | Klättermusen

Synthetic fleece dominates outdoor clothing, making the new Balderus one of the most interesting jackets on this list. Klättermusen has instead used a dense fleece made from recycled Italian wool, creating a substantial 575g layer designed for cold-weather hiking and mountain use.

Nylon reinforcement is added to exposed areas to improve durability and provide extra wind protection, while the construction retains freedom of movement when climbing or reaching.

This isn't the fleece I’d choose for fast-and-light missions, but when warmth takes priority, the heavyweight wool construction offers something genuinely different from the sea of polyester alternatives.

Mountain Hardwear Polartec Power Grid Full Zip Hoody

$190 (~£140) | Mountain Hardwear

If your idea of a fleece involves mountains rather than coffee shops, Mountain Hardwear’s Polartec Power Grid Full Zip Hoody is probably the most technical option on this list.

The gridded construction is designed to trap warmth while helping moisture move away from the body, which is exactly what I want from a midlayer when I’m hiking hard in cooler weather.

It also has a fitted three-piece hood, thumb holes, stretch panels, and zipped hand and chest pockets, while the relatively slim fit makes it easy to layer under a shell. At 427g, it provides plenty of substance without becoming excessively bulky.

Haglöfs Buteo Mid II Jacket

£70 | Haglöfs

Not every good fleece needs an elaborate fabric technology, unusual construction or premium price tag. The new Haglöfs Buteo Mid II is a refreshingly straightforward full-zip fleece that does exactly what most people need a midlayer to do.

The latest version uses lightweight Polartec Micro Series fleece made from 100% recycled polyester, which is designed to dry quickly, manage moisture and provide warmth without too much weight. At around 300g, it should also disappear easily beneath a waterproof shell.

I particularly like the new Standard Issue Black colourway, which gives the Buteo a clean, uncomplicated appearance that should work pretty much anywhere.

KAVU Teannaway Fleece

£80 | Kavu

Technical outdoor clothing is becoming increasingly serious, which is precisely why I like KAVU’s Teannaway.

This is fleece in its most gloriously old-school form, with 7.5oz fabric, reinforced taffeta elbow panels, a kangaroo-style pass-through pocket and the sort of colourful patterns that make minimalist Scandinavian outdoor clothing look positively miserable.

My pick is the wonderfully named Sasquatch Sighting, which is covered in sunglasses-wearing Bigfoots wandering through the wilderness.

KAVU describes the Teannaway as its bestselling fleece, and it isn't difficult to understand the appeal. It’s warm, uncomplicated and, most importantly, doesn’t take itself remotely seriously.

Montbell CLIMAPLUS Shearling Jacket

£145 | Montbell

Montbell is famous for pursuing its “Light & Fast” philosophy, but the CLIMAPLUS Shearling Jacket demonstrates that the Japanese outdoor specialist isn't afraid of something a little more substantial.

Its thick synthetic CLIMAPLUS fleece has a wool-like texture and is backed by a smooth 40-denier nylon taffeta lining, which helps block wind far more effectively than an ordinary porous fleece.

That construction pushes the weight to 594g, but it also makes the CLIMAPLUS feel more like a proper standalone autumn jacket than a midlayer destined to spend its life underneath a shell.

On Ascent Fleece Jacket

£180 | On

On might still be best known for running shoes, but its increasingly ambitious clothing range has produced one of my favourite-looking fleeces here.

The Ascent Fleece avoids the exaggerated pile and colourful contrast panels normally associated with retro outdoor clothing, instead opting for a restrained design, tonal embroidered logo and subtle reinforced elbow patches.

Underneath the clean appearance is On’s lightweight ThermaTec thermal fabric, while an adjustable hem and elasticated cuffs help keep warmth in. It’s fairly substantial at 530g, so this isn't an ultralight performance piece, but that almost misses the point.

There’s something deeply funny about buying a £115 pair of trainers that already look as though they’ve survived several years of skate sessions, particularly when someone has also gone to the trouble of decorating them with pearls.

Yet that is essentially the proposition behind Vans’ latest Premium Old Skool 36.

It takes the familiar low-top silhouette, gives the upper a deliberately distressed finish, then covers parts of the shoe in pearl and crystal embellishments.

Vans says the idea is to evoke a “well-travelled shoe” that has been reworked and customised over time.

The newest addition to the Premium Old Skool 36 collection is the wonderfully chaotic Yacht Club colourway, which combines green, blue, red and yellow panels with an off-white Sidestripe and matching pearl detailing.

According to Vans, the colour blocking is inspired by sailing flags from around the world and mixes those nautical references with the spirit of 1990s sportswear.

Vans is expanding the range throughout autumn with Lime Pop, Navy, Black/Marshmallow and Red versions, while the relatively restrained Marshmallow model is also returning.

The Pearlized treatment has actually appeared before, including previous Old Skool 36 releases and the sold-out OTW by Vans x Satoshi Nakamoto Pearlized Old Skool.

However, this is now becoming a much broader part of the Vans Premium line.

Style 36 debuted in 1977 as the company's second dedicated skate shoe and, importantly, was the first Vans model to wear the now-iconic Sidestripe.

It was renamed the Old Skool in the early 1990s and has since become one of the brand's defining designs.

The Premium version retains some of the sharper proportions of the original Style 36, including a shorter toe cap, but adds a padded collar, an upgraded footbed, a higher-gloss sidewall, and Sola Foam ADC cushioning.

You still get Vans' vulcanised construction and signature waffle outsole underneath.

The Yacht Club Premium Old Skool 36 Pearlized launches today, 10 September, for £115 in the UK, with Marshmallow also returning today.

In the US, Yacht Club is priced at $130 and also launches on 10 September through Vans and selected Vans stores.

EU and AU prices and availability TBC.

Few puffer jackets are as instantly recognisable as The North Face Nuptse, but the brand has now given its most famous down jacket a considerably more technical makeover.

For AW26, The North Face is taking its iconic puffer back towards those mountaineering roots with the new Summit Nuptse Jacket.

It's a far more technical take on the familiar design, built for climbing and mountaineering rather than commuting.

It still looks unmistakably like a Nuptse, with the oversized down-filled body and contrasting shoulder panel we've come to associate with the jacket.

However, instead of the relatively simple horizontal chambers of the classic Nuptse, the Summit model uses The North Face's Cloud Down technology, featuring an offset baffle construction that gives the down more space to loft while reducing cold spots.

Inside those chambers is 800-fill water-repellent ProDown, which should provide considerably more warmth for its weight at high altitudes.

The unusual-looking baffles aren't completely new territory for The North Face's Summit Series, with the bulkier Himalayan Down Parka using the same CLOUD DOWN construction.

Their appearance on the Nuptse, though, underscores how far this version has moved toward serious alpine use.

A Nuptse built for the mountains again

The yoke, collar and hood use Spectra ripstop, blending recycled nylon with ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethene fibres to improve abrasion resistance in areas likely to take a beating when you're climbing or wearing a pack.

The rest of the outer is made from lightweight 30g/m² recycled nylon, with both fabrics receiving a non-PFC durable water-repellent finish.

It also has an adjustable, climbing-helmet-compatible hood that packs into a zipped collar compartment when you don't need it.

The main Vislon zip works in both directions, letting climbers open the bottom of the jacket while wearing a harness.

The hand pockets sit in positions that make them easier to reach when geared up, and the jacket also has two internal mesh drop-in pockets, an internal hem cinch, FlashDry stretch-knit cuffs and a lightweight stuffsack.

Despite all that insulation, the Summit Nuptse has an average weight of 554g.

The Nuptse was originally developed as serious expedition clothing before gradually becoming one of the defining puffer jackets of streetwear.

With the Summit version, the Nuptse returns to the mountains where it belongs.

The Summit Nuptse Jacket is available now from The North Face UK for £540 in four colours.

It's listed as out of stock in the US, but it appears on the brand's European site for €600. AU price and availability TBC.

Ripstop fabric is usually chosen because it’s tough, lightweight and practical, but Snow Peak’s new KASURI Ripstop collection proves it can look pretty special, too.

Part of the Japanese brand’s Autumn/Winter 2026 range, the new garments consist of a jacket, shirt and trousers made from technical ripstop fabric with an unusual dye treatment that makes the familiar grid pattern much more prominent.

The result looks particularly good in Dark Purple, with a slightly washed, textured appearance that feels much less clinical than the flat colours typically associated with technical nylon.

Snow Peak says the idea is inspired by traditional Japanese kasuri weaving.

The material is dyed using a process that keeps the reinforcement threads from taking up colour the same way as the surrounding fabric.

Those threads therefore remain subtly lighter, allowing the ripstop structure to show through.

It gives the material an almost woven quality from a distance, while retaining the durability you'd expect from ripstop.

Technical clothing without the technical look

The KASURI Ripstop Jacket is probably the most obviously outdoorsy piece in the collection.

It gets a large main storage pocket with smaller compartments layered over it, while a substantial ventilation panel runs across the rear to help release heat when you're moving.

That rear vent carries over to the KASURI Ripstop Shirt, which has a roomy fit designed to accommodate layers underneath.

Snow Peak has also added a side utility pocket, turning what initially looks like a fairly simple overshirt into something much more suited to camping, hiking and travelling.

The KASURI Ripstop Pants continue the same functional approach, with a large main pocket supported by smaller storage compartments and adjustable drawcords at the hems.

Snow Peak's Japanese product information also specifies ventilation around the waist to help heat escape.

The KASURI Ripstop collection is part of Snow Peak's Autumn-Winter 2026 collection and is now available from Snow Peak UK in Dark Purple, Light Blue and Black, in sizes S to XL.

The shirt costs £150, the trousers £145 and the jacket £180.

If, when you hear the words “Suunto” and “watch” in the same sentence, your brain automatically fills in the letters “GPS,” we should clear something up: the Suunto Core 2 isn’t a GPS watch, or a smartwatch or any kind; it’s an outdoor watch.

Can’t all watches be worn outdoors, you ask? Well, yes, but this watch offers quite a bit more than the old Casio that you used to time your track workouts in days gone by…and a lot less than other Suunto models like the Vertical 2, Race 2 or 9 Peak Pro. So what’s it all about?

The Suunto Core 2 is the upgraded version of the Finnish brand’s original ABC watch (that stands for Altimeter, Barometer, Compass), which came out back in 2007. With those tools, you can use it for basic navigation and telling time, but nothing more.

Now granted, the original release was four years before the first Garmin watch came out, and it was the same year that the very first iPhone was released, so we can forgive them for not thinking of adding GPS capability, a heart rate monitor or an AMOLED screen back then.

Fast forward to 2026, however, and Suunto still hasn’t budged on those details. The Suunto Core 2 is still geared towards bushcraft enthusiasts, and the key upgrades include a higher-contrast LED dot-matrix screen, red and green backlight, storm alerts, Bluetooth, a simple step counter, moon phase tracking and a more durable build. You can sync it with your Suunto app for updates, but the app itself won’t show any data.

It’s a rugged outdoor watch, and it’s clearly aimed at those who want to properly get off grid when they head out into the wild, but also quite like having a few field tools at their disposal without digging around in their backpack.

I’ve tested quite a few Suunto watches, and the Vertical 2 is one of my favourite GPS watches ever, but I have to admit to being a bit stumped when this arrived. I’ve grown to really appreciate the merits of a good GPS watch for hiking in recent years (hello, Garmin Fenix 8 and aforementioned Suunto Vertical 2).

Without colour maps and tracking, was there really enough here to get my teeth into? Over the past month, I’ve had it out in the hills of western Scotland and the trails of Chamonix to see if I can appreciate a simpler approach to adventure watches.

Suunto Core 2 review

Price and availability

The Suunto Core 2 was released in July with an MSRP of £155 / $199 / €199 and is available in one colour: black. At this time, it seems to be sold out on Suunto’s website, but it is available on Amazon.

The price is a substantial discount from the original Suunto Core, which had an MSRP of £199, although that’s now generously discounted thanks to the new release.

It doesn’t really make sense to compare this to the pricing of a GPS watch, I know, but I do think it’s worth pointing out that these days you can find fully loaded smartwatches like the Amazfit Bip 6 much cheaper at under £80, while you can get your hands on Garmin models like the Instinct 2 or Forerunner 55 for under £150, so I can’t make a case for buying this for economic reasons alone.

The fairest comparison is the Casio Pro Trek PRG 270-1, which is a little pricier at £184 and also a no-frills ABC watch.

Design and build quality

Back in 2007, I was living on the Upper East Side on New York and my outdoor adventures tended to revolve around taking the train to Long Island, so I never had the opportunity to test the original Core. Therefore, my comparisons here are based on the information from Suunto, but the upgraded model is very well built with a large 48mm display made using reinforced composite with a rotating stainless steel bezel.

The 1.3” Corning Gorilla Glass display is an upgrade over its predecessor’s mineral crystal, and is apparently 40% brighter, but I must admit I find it really quite dim during daylight hours. This isn’t helped by the fact that I only seem to be able to get it to light up for five seconds at a time.

The silicone strap sits comfortably on my wrist and has lots of adjustability, but the case sits quite proud of my wrist at a chunky 14.84mm thick, making it difficult to wear with long sleeves. It looks the part of a tactical, rugged adventure watch and therefore also looks quite silly on my small wrist. Given that it’s not packed with tech, it seems to me they could make a smaller and slimmer version available, but what do I know about watch-making?

It has five buttons, much like a Garmin: one to turn on the backlight (which annoyingly only works for a few seconds), a back button, one to switch between the outdoor modes (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass, and Tools) and the final two to toggle up and down. It’s reasonably intuitive, but I couldn’t help wondering why a watch that does so little needs so many buttons?

App compatibility

The Core 2 is designed to work independently of the Suunto app, but it has Bluetooth, so you can pair it. As far as I can tell, this allows you to easily change the time when you move into a different time zone, and lets you run software updates; however, after a hike or run, there is no record in the newsfeed, so if you’re looking for a more distraction-free approach to metrics, you might prefer a fitness band like the Garmin Cirqa or Amazfit Helio Strap.

Field tools

The three main tools to explore are the altimeter, barometer and compass. As a hiker, I rely on an altimeter quite a bit, especially if I end up climbing in thick fog and want to gauge how close I am to the top.

It’s useful, but the one on my Core 2 started giving me inaccurate readings, first telling me I was at 329 metres above sea level when I was at home in Glasgow, which is roughly 64 metres (210 feet) above sea level.

I manually updated it, but the next day it said I was 29 metres below sea level. After a software update, it now shows accurately, but it strikes me that in a more rudimentary watch, the exact thing I want to be free of is bugs and software fixes.

Meanwhile, the barometer, which isn’t something I typically use, seems to be roughly in line with my Garmin Fenix 9 Pro and Suunto Vertical 2 watches. I really like the idea of the storm alerts, which detect sudden drops in air pressure and sound an alarm, but sadly I haven’t received one yet.

The compass was reasonably easy to calibrate the first time, and seemed to hold calibration well until I did the software update. It has a small orienteering arrow at the top of the display, a digital magnetic needle that appears when the compass is in use, and two glow-in-the-dark lines (that aren’t very visible in the dark) on the rotating bezel that serve as the Direction of Travel Arrow.

It’s all fairly straightforward to figure out if you’re used to using a compass. However, when my slightly long-sighted partner tried it, he found that he couldn’t see the arrows at all, which is an issue.

After several years of using a GPS watch to navigate, I felt a little rusty, so I first took a bearing with my Silva Expedition compass to remind myself of the steps, then replicated it with the watch, and was pleased to see it was pretty accurate.

That said, I don’t think it’s a true replacement for a see-through compass that you can place on a map for really precise navigation, more a handy backup in a pinch. Because the screen only lights up for a few seconds, I also question how useful it would be compared to a regular compass and headtorch when navigating at night.

Speaking of the new display, it lets you choose between red and green backlight. Thanks to recent upgrades in GPS watches like the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro and Amazfit T-Rex Ultra 2, both of which have a green light option in the torch, I now understand the difference: red light is kinder on your eyes; green light makes it easier to see obstacles.

I’m not sure this is as useful in a backlight versus a torch, and on the Core 2, the difference is nearly indistinguishable to my eyes in daylight, but at night the display is much easier to see (if only it would stay lit). Maybe they should forget about display options and add a torch instead?

The main display shows useful information like the temperature, and I love being able to see sunset and sunrise times, particularly now that the days are starting to shrink.

Honestly, my favourite thing about this watch is having the moon phases on my wrist – I love being outdoors at night during the full moon, and I can see this being helpful information for fishing, too.

Health and fitness tracking

Without a heart rate or blood oxygen monitor, there’s not much tracking the Core 2 can do, but it does have a basic step counter. Because the Suunto app doesn’t log any activity data, it’s a little hard for me to compare the steps with another watch, but the total steps from a recent trail run were on par with what I’d expect for the distance.

Battery life

If I sound a little nonplussed about this watch, it’s because I am, but it has one clear advantage over GPS watches: you never have to charge it. Ever. This Core 2 is powered by a CR3032 coin cell battery for a mammoth 15 months, at which point I expect to receive an alert telling me to change it. That is all. No range panic here, thank you.

Verdict

In a world where we expect the kitchen sink from our watches, it’s a little difficult not to view the Suunto Core 2 as lacking. Taken on its own, it mostly does what it says, even if the screen is quite dim and the compass is only for those with 20/20 vision.

Clearly, I’m not the target audience for this watch, but I still have a hard time imagining who might be. The people in my life who hate the thought of a constantly buzzing watch and much prefer analogue adventures would probably prefer using a regular watch and an actual compass.

But if you’re a bushcraft enthusiast in the market for a tough watch with some tools that let you leave your phone at home and don’t mind paying more than you would for a basic smartwatch, I’d say this is one of only two options out there.

Also consider

If you’re looking for a more basic adventure watch, I’d actually recommend you check out the Coros Nomad, which doesn’t give you annoying notifications or an obnoxiously bright screen, but does have the addition of colour maps.

Black outdoor clothing may look roughly the same, but making it is far less standardised than you might think.

Haglöfs and Polartec are trying to change that with Standard Issue Black, a single shared shade of black designed to reduce unnecessary resource use in producing enormous quantities of almost-identical dark outdoor clothing.

As a proof of concept, Haglöfs has launched the Buteo Mid II Jacket, its first commercially available product made using fabric dyed in Standard Issue Black, alongside a couple of accessories, including scarves and hats.

Outdoor companies produce tens of thousands of black fleece garments every year, but each slightly different shade can require a separate dye batch, chemical mix and minimum order quantity.

Standard Issue Black is pre-dyed at scale and, importantly, Haglöfs and Polartec aren't keeping it to themselves.

It's intended to be openly available to the wider industry, potentially allowing multiple manufacturers to draw from the same standardised material rather than commissioning their own marginally different blacks.

According to an internal production assessment cited by Haglöfs, the approach reduces water use by more than 50% and cuts energy consumption by at least 20% compared with traditional piece-dyed black fabrics.

Those figures are company-supplied rather than independently verified, but they illustrate why something as mundane as agreeing on a shade could have a meaningful impact at scale.

One black to rule them all

Haglöfs introduced the concept earlier this year with its Black Capsule, which combined three shades of leftover black fleece into individual garments to highlight just how similar these supposedly different fabrics can be.

With the Buteo Mid II, Haglöfs says it deliberately chose one of its higher-volume designs for the first Standard Issue Black product.

It has also upgraded the fleece jacket itself, with the new Buteo using lightweight Polartec microfleece made from 100% recycled polyester.

The full-zip jacket is designed to work either as an outer layer or as an insulating midlayer, so aesthetically there isn't anything particularly radical going on here.

By choosing one of its normal, high-volume outdoor garments, the brand made it clear it's not an eco concept piece for a museum display.

Of course, the effort is commendable, but a looming design question hangs over the project: would every outdoor company using exactly the same black make everything look even more alike?

Haglöfs' Head of Design and R&D, Eva Weiss, argues that standardisation doesn't need to restrict creativity, with brands still able to differentiate products through their cuts, other colours and design details while simplifying one particularly resource-heavy part of the process.

Whether other outdoor brands actually adopt Standard Issue Black is the bigger question.

But given how much black fleece the industry produces, this seemingly tiny change could become far more important if enough companies agree to use it.

The Haglöfs Buteo Mid II Jacket in Standard Issue Black is available now at Haglöfs UK and Haglöfs EU for a remarkably low price of £70 / €70 (~$81 / AU$113).

Hypershell took to the Innovation Stage at IFA Berlin to unveil its latest exoskeleton, the Flagship Hypershell Halo, which introduces a four-motor system that covers the movement of your knees in addition to your hips.

Instead of bolting powered knees onto the Hypershell X-series, they went back to the drawing board and built Halo from the ground up. “We didn’t simply add powered knees to an existing hip exoskeleton,” said Hypershell CEO Kelvin Sun. “We redesigned the architecture, power system, and the intelligence around the entire lower body, so four powered joints can move as one with the user.”

The addition of the knee motors allows power to flow through almost the full range of motion as you walk, run, climb and jump. Hypershell is calling this new approach its “Unified Architecture” and it promises to provide active knee support which helps to relieve load on the knee joints through effort reduction, which is promised to reduce muscle fatigue in the knees by up to 40% during squatting motion. One area where I can see this being especially helpful is during long descents and climbing, where load bearing on the knees is a particular challenge.

“Technology shouldn’t replace human potential. It should unleash it,” said Hypershell’s Toby Knisely in his keynote presentation. And to demonstrate, he brought out three models to walk (and jump) through a staged scenario where a photographer conducted a content shoot with all of them wearing the Hypershell Halo while on an outdoor trip.

The point was that in a scenario like this, not only do the models who are hiking get to save energy for their poses, the photographer who’s carrying heavy kit and continuously crouching to get good angles is also able to endure for longer and get that extra shot. That’s the concept at least.

What really piqued my interest, though, was the motion capture reel that they played afterwards. Hypershell has worked with a motion capture studio to put the new Hypershell Halo through over 10,000 hours of testing. In the video, two mocap actors perform some basic stunts, including fight choreography, jumping onto and off large blocks and doing a range of flips.

I was impressed by the range of motion that the Halo was capable of. The actors didn't visibly hold back and appeared very comfortable using its full 198° of lateral movement and up to 167° of front-to-back motion, enabled by its “Fish-Spine Adaptive Joint” at each hip.

More than just a power upgrade

The introduction of the Hypershell Halo represents more than just a power upgrade, it comes with some extra benefits that move Hypershell further ahead of the competition. But in terms of power, its four motors output a combined 1,490W, with each knee unit weighing just 170g.

Knisely revealed that Halo can hit a maximum 17km/h, the equivalent of a 2.5h marathon pace. The improvement in power is thanks to a re-engineered electromagnetic system and magnesium alloy housing. The whole Halo tips the scales at 2.6kg, folds down to fit into a medium-sized 8L briefcase and is rated to IP54 standard for dust and water resistance.

Halo is compatible with large backpacks, so it can be worn on a proper hike. It also sees the introduction of HyperIntuition 2.0, Hypershell’s updated AI motion control brain. This is a specialised system of neural networks trained on 10,000 hours of motion data that work together utilising signals from the Halo’s sensor array.

HyperIntuition 2.0 claims to predict your next move roughly 200 milliseconds in advance and provide adjusted assistance up to 2,500 times a second. But it’s not just predictive, it’s designed to learn from the user and, if it works as intended, will learn how you move and provide bespoke support for your movement.

Power in your pocket

Alongside the Halo, the company also showed off the all-new PocketVolt battery, a compact boost unit that packs 72Wh into a pocketable 370g unit, which should be good for up to a stated 20km of range. It features a display to let you check your assistance level and remaining power, and it can be charged separately from the Halo, making it easy for hikers to carry multiple batteries for extended trips without adding any additional bulk to the exoskeleton itself.

Hypershell also introduced Shelly, its AI-powered app that you can download and use for free, allowing you to talk to the exoskeleton directly. This means users can make adjustments, plan routes through natural conversation without having to occupy hands or remove gloves. It claims it's the world’s first dedicated consumer exoskeleton assistant, and it seems like yet another great point of difference within the rapidly growing exoskeleton segment.

Quick set up

To cap off his presentation, Knisely dared to put on the Hypershell Halo live on stage, after revealing that despite its additional straps and more complex construction, the Halo is still easy to put on and take off. Without breaking a sweat, he locked in the Hypershell Halo’s five straps from a cold start in exactly 16.14 seconds, just under four seconds shy of the time he said he’d achieved during rehearsals. It was one of the better product demos and keynotes I’ve seen this year, well rehearsed, quick and confident.

Lastly, Knisley revealed that existing X-series users will soon get updates including “Low Speed Enhance” for shorter strides and “Descent Assist”, which provides active knee damping for descents. He also shared details of its growing service centre network and 24/7 call support, which is now available in English, Arabic, French, Italian, German, and Spanish, with language support expected to continue expanding to more languages in the near future.

Founded in 2021, Hypershell is currently the leading consumer exoskeleton brand, representing 60% of the market. It’s present in 70+ countries with roughly 200 real-world experience and rental locations. These extra benefits announced alongside the Halo go some way to build on its market dominance as a brand by going beyond sales with a proper plan for after-market support for its customers.

Price and availability

The Hypershell Halo is available for pre-order now for £2,199 in the UK, $2,299 in the US and €2,299 in Europe and comes with a battery and the AeroFlex shoulder strap accessory. Halo also comes in a highly limited Origin Edition, numbered from 1-200, coming with extra power and an additional year of warranty.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about training his chest, you might expect the bench press to be his number-one exercise. Apparently not!

In a recent Instagram clip, the seven-time Mr Olympia winner runs through the frankly ridiculous amount of work that went into his chest sessions during his competitive bodybuilding years, including bench presses, incline presses, dumbbell presses, flyes, dips and cable crossovers.

But there was another exercise waiting at the end: the dumbbell pullover.

Schwarzenegger describes it in the clip as "my favourite exercise", recalling how he would lie across a bench with "a heavy dumbbell, like 100, 120-pound dumbbell" and perform "like, 50 reps".

The pullover is a forgotten bodybuilding exercise these days, though it was a staple of the Golden Era.

An article on Schwarzenegger's official website describes the cross-bench version as an exercise particularly associated with Arnold and his punishing double-split routines.

It's also not just bodybuilding nostalgia: research examining muscle activity during the pullover found that it activated both the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi, with the pecs showing greater activation in the study.

Schwarzenegger also mentions the old-school belief that pullovers could help "expand the rib cage".

While I adore the Austrian Oak, that's one claim I'd take with a considerably larger pinch of salt, as even a training article on his own website notes that the science doesn't really support it.

How to do Arnold Schwarzenegger's favourite chest exercise

Thankfully, you don't need to start by hoisting a 120lb (54kg) dumbbell over your head to do this move.

In fact, the pullover is one exercise where starting relatively light makes a lot of sense, particularly because the weight moves behind your head while your chest and shoulders are under a considerable stretch.

Lie flat on a stable weight bench with your head, neck and back supported and your feet planted firmly on the floor.

Hold a single dumbbell securely in both hands and position it above your chest with your arms extended and a slight bend in your elbows.

Brace your core and, without substantially changing the angle of your elbows, slowly lower the dumbbell backwards in an arc over your head.

Stop when you feel a strong but comfortable stretch through your chest and upper body rather than trying to force the dumbbell as low as possible.

From there, use your chest and back muscles to reverse the movement, bringing the dumbbell through the same arc until it is once again above your chest.

Keep the movement slow and controlled, and avoid turning it into a triceps extension by repeatedly bending and straightening your elbows.

A training guide on Schwarzenegger's official site (linked above) suggests 3–4 sets of 12–20 repetitions, focusing on the stretch, not the weight.

Working on your pecs? This 5-move pecs workout delivers maximum chest growth, and you certainly don't want to skip these 3 chest exercises to supersize your pecs.

Caravanning isn't normally associated with luxury. It's more about getting away from it all, squeezing your belongings into a box and hoping the campsite shower isn't too grim.

The Lume Ranger, built in the Netherlands, is a compact caravan designed to give you the freedom of towing a relatively small trailer without making you feel like you've sacrificed all the comforts of home.

At 5.19m long and 2.04m wide, the Ranger is small enough to be towed by a broad range of cars, while its 1,150kg unladen weight keeps things relatively manageable. It's also the smallest and lightest model in Lume Traveler's range.

The exterior is made from hand-riveted anodised aluminium, giving it a slightly retro, Airstream-like appearance. But the real surprise is inside.

There's a fixed queen-size bed, a dinette and a separate toilet area, while the interior gets proper teak flooring, felt-covered walls, linen curtains and leather detailing.

Then there's the roof. In its travelling configuration, the Ranger is just 2.19m tall, but the pop-up section raises the interior headroom to around 2.6m when you're parked up.

Lume has also taken an unusual approach to the kitchen. Rather than sacrificing precious interior space, the entire cooking area slides out from underneath the bed to create an outdoor kitchen, complete with a PITT gas burner, sink, fridge drawer and storage.

It's a clever use of the Ranger's limited footprint and makes considerably more sense if you're going to be spending most of your time outdoors anyway.

The Ranger is built to order and starts at €59,950, which works out at roughly $70,000 / £51,500. It's certainly not cheap for a caravan this size, but then this isn't really trying to compete with a conventional caravan.

The Lume Ranger looks like what you want if you need to go caravanning, but don't actually want to feel like you're caravanning.

Power stations didn’t used to be conversation starters at home, but since I started testing Bluetti’s Elite 400 unit, it’s hardly ever that people (well, men of a certain age) don’t comment on it when they visit us.

It’s one of the biggest portable power stations I’ve ever used, with a commanding 3,840Wh capacity. It weighs nearly 40 kg and comes with chunky transport wheels and a telescopic handle to make it easier to move around.

Surprisingly, AC output is capped at 2,600W total, which might sound modest for such a large unit. Even more interestingly, the Elite 400 has only one extra port compared to the much smaller Bluetti Elite 30 V2.

I was baffled by this strange mix of features until I realised what purpose the Elite 400 is really for. Despite what Bluetti says in its marketing material, the Elite 400 is best suited as a semi-permanent home power backup unit, with the added benefit of being capable enough as a camping/outdoor station.

Bluetti Elite 400 review

Price and availability

The Elite 400 launched in April 2026 and is available to buy now at Bluetti UK and Bluetti US, with prices from £1,899 / $1,799.

This isn’t new or exclusive to Bluetti, but that US price roughly translates to £1,330 (as of September 2026), which means UK customers pay a lot more for the privilege of using the Elite 400. Of course, prices are often displayed without tax in the US, but even so – it’s an interesting pricing strategy.

(All that said, I don’t know how any of this works, and for all I know, it’s a lot more expensive to send power stations to the UK than it is to the US. It’s just that brands often go with the classic £300 / $300 / €300-style pricing, which never benefits UK buyers. Anyhow, rant over!)

Bluetti sells the Elite 400 in different bundles, many of which include various quantities of solar panels, with the most expensive combination being the Elite 400 + 500W panel for £2,549 in the UK. Things are different in the US, where you can buy your Elite 400 with two 350W panels for $2,448 (plus, presumably, tax).

Design and build quality

The Elite 400 is a big power station, but Bluetti has genuinely tried to keep it from feeling like an immovable 39 kg battery box. Its relatively narrow, upright shape takes up less floor space than many high-capacity rivals. Better still, its wheels and a proper telescopic suitcase-style handle make moving it around considerably easier.

It also has recessed grab handles on either side if you do need to lift it, although if I were you, I wouldn’t (couldn’t?) carry it very far. The telescopic handle + wheels combo is worth emphasising, as it makes the unit a breeze to move around. Still, navigating this much weight requires some core strength, as you would imagine.

Bluetti has added protective feet that let the Elite 400 lie horizontally for storage, which could make a surprisingly big difference if you’re trying to fit it under shelving or into a campervan storage compartment. Normally, I wouldn’t store a power station horizontally, but thanks to those feet, I feel more confident sliding the Elite 400 under cupboards.

You get two UK AC sockets, two USB-A ports rated at 15W each, two USB-C ports capable of up to 100W apiece and a 120W cigarette-lighter socket. Separate buttons control the AC and DC outputs, and the DC charging input is also on the front.

The arrangement is neat and easy to understand, but I’m less convinced by the quantity. Seven outputs sound respectable until you remember this is a 3,840Wh power station.

In particular, having just two mains/AC sockets feels restrictive for something capable of storing this much energy. Adding another pair wouldn’t necessarily require Bluetti to increase the 2,600W inverter output, since all four could simply share the same total power limit.

Bluetti has at least kept the charging hardware out of the way. The 2,300W AC input, circuit breaker, and grounding terminal sit on the side rather than competing for space on the front panel, keeping the main interface uncluttered.

The small colour LCD sits centrally and displays the information you actually need at a glance, including remaining battery capacity and incoming and outgoing power. It isn’t enormous, but the figures are large enough to read without crouching in front of the station, and dedicated AC and DC buttons mean you don’t have to dive into the app every time you want to switch an output on.

Features and Bluetti app

The Elite 400 starts to make more sense once you spend some time in the Bluetti app. On paper, pairing an enormous 3,840Wh battery with a comparatively modest 2,600W inverter and only two AC sockets seems slightly strange. However, once in use, it becomes clear that Bluetti sees this as more than a portable battery for camping trips.

It works particularly well as a semi-portable home backup system, sitting between the mains supply and a handful of important appliances.

The Elite 400 supports UPS operation with a switching time of 15ms, meaning connected devices can keep running from the battery if grid power disappears. That makes the limited number of sockets easier to understand, even if I still think another pair of AC outlets would have made the station considerably more versatile.

The app reinforces this home-energy angle. Its main screen shows power flowing between the grid, solar input, battery and AC/DC outputs instead of just presenting a battery percentage and estimated runtime. It also includes detailed energy statistics for each source, with graphs showing consumption and generation by day, month, year, or over the unit's lifetime.

It also includes a surprisingly comprehensive Savings section, where you can enter electricity prices and use the app to track what the system reckons you've saved, alongside grid costs and even energy sales.

In other words, the Elite 400 can store electricity when it is cheaper and supply connected appliances later, rather than sitting fully charged waiting for a power cut. That potentially makes a lot of sense for households on tariffs with substantially cheaper off-peak electricity.

Charge the Elite 400 overnight, for example, and you could use some of that stored energy during more expensive periods. Add solar panels and the same system can track PV generation alongside grid consumption.

There is a catch, though. Unlike some newer, AI-powered plug-in solar models that do the work for you, you need to spend time setting the app up properly before much of this information becomes genuinely useful.

Electricity pricing needs configuring for your tariff, location isn't necessarily populated, and Bluetti even lets you specify the carbon-emissions factor used to calculate estimated CO₂ savings. Leaving the default numbers untouched will only ever produce precise-looking statistics that don't mean anything.

If you like tinkering with your power station settings, you’re in luck. You can choose between Standard, Silent and Turbo charging modes, set battery charge limits, configure AC and DC Eco modes and determine how long very low loads can remain active before their outputs shut down. The latter is useful for avoiding unnecessary inverter losses when nothing meaningful is drawing power.

The Elite 400 also has a Power Lifting mode for certain high-demand resistive appliances, plus more advanced options for grid behaviour, DC input sources, and battery maintenance. The Elite 400 supports up to 1,000W of solar input, so it can also function as the heart of a relatively substantial off-grid setup rather than simply being charged from a wall socket.

My main criticism of the app isn't a lack of functionality, but that there's so much buried inside it that new owners could easily use the Elite 400 as a conventional power station and miss some of its most interesting capabilities.

Bluetti could do a better job of guiding users through tariff prices, charging schedules, carbon calculations and the various UPS settings during initial setup.

Once configured, though, the software can transform the Elite 400 from a bulky battery on wheels into a large reservoir of energy that can store, manage, and move energy between the grid, solar panels, and a smaller number of connected devices – pretty cool.

Seen that way, the conservative inverter and sparse selection of outputs feel less inexplicable, even if I'd still happily trade some of that clean front-panel design for another two mains sockets.

Charging

The Elite 400’s AC input is rated at up to 2,300W, and combining mains and solar can increase total charging input to 3,300W. Bluetti says that setup can take the battery to 80% in around an hour.

The Bluetti app also lets you control how aggressively the battery charges. It offers Standard, Silent, and Turbo modes, plus a Custom option if you want to fine-tune things yourself. Turbo is the obvious choice when charging speed matters most, while Silent sacrifices some speed to reduce fan noise.

For most of my testing, though, I simply plugged the Elite 400 into a normal wall socket and left it in Standard charging mode. At 5:18 pm, the battery was at 34%, with the display showing a rock-solid 1,200W input and an estimated 2.4 hours until full.

What impressed me more than the speed was the noise, or lack of it. Even while pulling around 1.2kW from the wall, the Elite 400 was barely audible. Large power stations can sound surprisingly industrial when their cooling fans ramp up, but Bluetti keeps things remarkably civilised here.

By 6:46 pm it had reached 70%, with charging still hovering around 1,200W and the fans remaining similarly quiet. It finally hit 100% at 7:57 pm, meaning it took two hours and 39 minutes to go from 34% to full.

That's slightly slower than the initial estimate, but still very respectable given that I wasn't using Turbo mode or supplementing the mains input with solar. It also suggests Bluetti has tuned Standard mode to strike a sensible balance between charging speed, heat and noise.

Performance and everyday use

The Elite 400’s 2,600W continuous AC output might look conservative alongside its enormous battery capacity, but it’s still plenty for the appliances this power station is likely to spend most of its time running. Fridges, freezers, televisions, routers, laptops and lighting barely trouble that ceiling, even when several (well, two via the AC ports) are connected simultaneously.

Bluetti also quotes 5,200W surge power, while its Power Lifting mode is designed to accommodate certain resistive appliances rated at up to 3,900W. That doesn’t magically turn the Elite 400 into a 3,900W power station, but it gives it a little more flexibility with demanding devices.

The limitation becomes more obvious if you want to power several high-draw appliances at once. A kettle, electric heater or induction hob can consume a large proportion of the available output by itself, and the two AC sockets further restrict what you can connect without reaching for an extension lead.

Its LiFePO₄ battery is rated for 3,000 cycles before dropping to 80% of its original capacity, which is reassuring if you plan to use the Elite 400 regularly for off-peak energy storage.

One thing worth knowing is that the battery capacity isn’t expandable. At 3,840Wh, that’s hardly a small starting point, but anyone building a larger modular home-backup system should look elsewhere in Bluetti’s range.

Verdict

The Bluetti Elite 400 is an unusually large power station that makes more sense as a semi-permanent home backup unit than a conventional camping battery. Its 3,840Wh capacity, quiet operation and excellent mobility are major strengths, while the limited ports and modest inverter output feel like odd compromises. Spend some time with the app, though, and its energy-management capabilities reveal a much more thoughtful product than the spec sheet initially suggests.

Salomon has given its XT line a fairly dramatic rethink for 2026 with the launch of the new XT-Evo.

The new sneakers feature an entirely new silhouette, and although they keep plenty of familiar technology underneath, they look considerably more futuristic than the XT-4 and XT-6.

The XT-Evo first appeared in early August as part of a collaboration with New York fashion and sneaker retailer/brand Kith.

At the time, Kith described the two limited-edition colourways, which launched alongside its &Kin Fall 2026 collection, as an “all-new” Salomon silhouette.

Those were followed on 2 September by Salomon's own launch, comprising three considerably easier-to-find versions priced at £175 in the UK and $200 in the US.

Same bones, sharper edges

If you've spent any time looking at Salomon's Sportstyle shoes, you'll probably recognise what's underneath all that new bodywork.

The XT-Evo takes the tooling from the hugely popular XT-6 and places an entirely new racing-inspired upper on top.

It combines breathable mesh and liquid rubber, creating a layered, almost skeletal cage that gives the new shoe its distinctive look.

There's still a surprising amount of proper trail-shoe hardware underneath it.

Salomon has equipped the XT-Evo with its Agile Chassis System, which works with an EnergyCell midsole to provide cushioning and stability, plus a deeply lugged Mud Contagrip outsole designed to find purchase on loose and uneven surfaces.

There's also the brand's familiar Quicklace system, SensiFit construction, an internal EndoFit sleeve and a moulded OrthoLite sockliner.

Although Salomon categorises it as a Sportstyle sneaker rather than a current trail-running shoe, those ingredients give the XT-Evo far more outdoor DNA than your average lifestyle trainer.

It weighs 365g per shoe and has a 10mm heel-to-toe drop, so it's not particularly dainty either.

The launch range includes three unisex colourways: Black / Fiery Red / White, which leans into the shoe's racing aesthetic; a quieter Alloy / Castlerock / FTW Silver version; and a stealthy Black / Black / Asphalt option.

All three are available now directly from Salomon UK, Salomon US and Salomon EU for £175 / $200 / €190 (~AU$278).

Circular has never been short of ambition when it comes to smart rings, and at IFA 2026 in Berlin, the French wearable brand is having another go with what looks like its most convincing hardware yet.

The new Circular Ring 3 Series comes in two versions, the Circular Ring 3 Pro and Circular Ring 3 Slim, and it's not just about different looks, either.

Both are smaller than the outgoing Circular Ring 2, bring back the company’s distinctive haptic vibration system, and both add NFC for contactless payments.

Circular says the new rings are the first to combine comprehensive health monitoring with secure contactless payments in a single wearable.

Supported Visa and Mastercard cards can be used by tapping the ring against a compatible payment terminal without a smartwatch or phone in sight.

Circular experimented with vibrations on its original smart ring, but the feature disappeared from later models.

It now returns with support for silent wake-up alarms, medication reminders, health alerts and guided breathing exercises.

Two rings, two very different priorities

The Circular Ring 3 Pro is the flagship and packs in a broader selection of health features.

These include single-lead ECG with AFib detection, blood pressure trends, glucose trend estimates, advanced sleep analysis and the usual assortment of heart rate, HRV, SpO2, temperature and activity data. Circular claims up to 12 days of battery life.

The Ring 3 Slim lacks ECG and blood pressure tracking, but offers sleep, heart rate, HRV, SpO2, skin temperature, and activity monitoring, plus NFC payments and haptics. Battery life is quoted at up to 10 days.

The Slim measures just 5.9mm wide and 2.35mm thick, with weight starting at approximately 1.9g depending on size.

The Ring 3 Pro is 6.8mm wide and weighs roughly 3–4g, while the previous Ring 2 measured 7.8mm across.

Both new rings are available in sizes 6–14, offer 50-metre water resistance and support wireless charging.

Circular is also updating its Kira app, which uses AI to analyse ring data and provide personalised wellness insights and recommendations.

The big unanswered questions are price and when you'll actually be able to buy one.

Circular is showing both Ring 3 models at IFA Berlin, but says it won't announce pricing, availability, or pre-order details until the coming months.

Head over to Circular for more info.

The Brompton G Line was already the folding bike in its range most likely to tempt riders off the beaten path, but its latest collaboration pushes the adventure angle much further.

The British bike maker has teamed up with cult Japanese outdoor label and wander for a limited-edition collection built around a specially finished G Line, accompanied by matching luggage, technical outerwear and accessories.

Founded by designers Keita Ikeuchi and Mihoko Mori in 2011, and wander has developed a sizeable following for clothing that sits somewhere between hiking equipment and contemporary Japanese fashion.

For the collaboration, the G Line gets a textured metallic grey finish alongside flashes of bright yellow anodised hardware, reflective detailing and exclusive co-branding.

Cream-coloured contact points provide contrast against the darker frame, while and wander’s triangular branding appears across the bike, including on the frame and saddle.

A Brompton built for disappearing for the weekend

Brompton and and wander have developed a matching backpack that attaches directly to the front of the bike.

It's made from water-resistant ECOPAK fabric and features the Japanese brand’s familiar reflective detailing.

The collection also includes a smaller 3-litre roll-top pouch made from abrasion-resistant ECOPAK EPLX400.

You can attach it to the handlebars or saddle loops with Velcro straps and convert it into a cross-body bag with a removable shoulder strap.

The accompanying clothing is arguably what makes the collaboration feel like what you would call a "complete outdoor system."

A lightweight windbreaker uses water-repellent ripstop material and features an extended rear for coverage while riding, and the matching relaxed-fit wind trousers add reflective fabric, adjustable hems and a packable construction.

A collaborative cotton T-shirt, meanwhile, combines reflective ripstop chest pockets with Brompton x and wander graphics.

Speaking about the partnership, and wander founder Keita Ikeuchi said Brompton stood apart from bicycle companies focused primarily on going “faster” or “further”, pointing instead to the flexibility created by its folding design.

The Brompton x and wander G Line bike, backpack, pouch and cap will be available from 10 September through Brompton and selected retailers worldwide.

The wider apparel collection will be sold separately through selected and wander stores and stockists.

Peak Performance has been making its distinctive Helium insulation for 15 years, and it’s celebrating the occasion by taking the idea to its logical conclusion.

The new Helium Nova Down Jacket is, according to Peak Performance, the lightest jacket the Swedish brand has ever made, weighing just 390g in the men’s version.

Despite the ultralight construction, it still packs proper down insulation and enough weather protection for more than just strolling around the city.

The Nova takes the familiar Helium formula and gives it a slightly more contemporary silhouette.

The instantly recognisable quilted construction remains, although the baffles now sweep across the jacket in broad waves rather than following the more conventional horizontal pattern found on most down layers.

And while ultralight insulation can sometimes look overtly technical, the relaxed, hip-length fit, raglan sleeves and subtle embroidery make the Nova look pretty relaxed.

That said, the more fashion-friendly exterior hides a fairly serious technical jacket.

Peak Performance uses 700-fill-power duck down with a 90/10 down-to-feather ratio, wrapped inside lightweight 42gsm 20D ripstop fabric.

The outer is windproof and designed to repel light rain and snow, while tougher fabric sections have been added around the shoulders and pockets where wear is likely to be greatest.

Wave after wave

Peak Performance positions the Helium Nova for everything from everyday wear and trail hiking to ski touring, freeride and resort skiing.

It has an adjustable drawcord hidden inside the hem, elasticated cuffs to keep draughts out, a reversed YKK front zip with a chin guard, and two zipped hand pockets.

The relaxed cut should also leave enough room underneath for layering without turning the Nova into an oversized puffer.

There is, however, an interesting difference between the men’s and women’s versions.

The men’s Helium Nova features a hood you can stash away, leaving a simple insulated collar when you don’t need it.

The women’s Helium Nova Hooded Jacket, meanwhile, gets a permanently attached down-insulated hood.

It’s an unusual distinction between the two models, particularly when the rest of the design language is so similar.

As far as I can tell, the Nova isn’t part of Peak Performance’s more experimental Helium Loop circularity project, which uses heat-dissolvable stitching so a jacket can eventually be taken apart and its individual materials recycled.

It does, however, use RDS-certified down and GRS-certified recycled materials, and is made without intentionally added PFAS.

The Helium Nova Down Jacket is available now at Peak Performance UK, Peak Performance US, and Peak Performance EU for £300 / $350 / €350 (~AU$566).