Monday, October 17, 2011

2012 Sneak Preview: Helio Pressure Shower

One of the products we are most excited about in our 2012 lineup is the Helio Pressure Shower. At first glance, this may seem like a step away from our usual product line, but here was our thought process behind the design and development of this product.


How do you get more people into the outdoors? Part of what makes adventures so unique and fulfilling is that everyone has a different idea of what gets them excited to go outdoors. Not everyone is as enchanted with the dirtbag image of the thru-hiker as we would (like to) imagine. And designing gear that helps break down some of these barriers to "entry" to the outdoors ultimately helps foster a greater appreciation of nature.

All that said, we've integrated our existing Nemoid Foot Pump technology into Helio, as a way of pressurizing water flow in the shower. This eliminates the need to hang your water source at a prescribed height (and the need to find the perfect tree or something strong enough to hang your shower). The water reservoir can sit at your feet—or anywhere really—while you use the nozzle to wash up, clean your camp dishes, rinse off sandy feet, hose off gnarly canyoneering water, warm up after a winter surf session...

The minimum weight for Helio is about 23 ounces, and the 11 liter reservoir is enough for 5-7 minutes of steady water pressure. Occasionally pumping the Foot Pump throughout usage helps to maintain water pressure.


There's still a few small revisions that are being finalized, but we are all excited to introduce this product. And I am looking forward to filling this bad boy up with hot water to warm up my fingers and toes after winter surf sessions in a couple months.

-Connie

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the new product. I have a hanging solar shower and it works great but too often I can never find a branch the right height to hang it. Your Helio system fixes that. Helio falls into the category of "why didn't I think of that!".

P.s. I'm 6'4" so the 7 foot hose is very welcome.

Unknown said...

It's June, where is it?! I've been waiting for this, it looks very promising! Is there an exact release date?

Connie said...

We received Helio into our warehouse 2 weeks ago, and shipped them out to all of our retailers. We don't have control on how fast they get them available on the web, though a quick Google check showed that they were available at Gearx.com, but not at EMS or backcountrygear.com.

Drielok said...

Will REI be getting them too? I still dont see them online there.

Connie said...

REI is not carrying them, but there are variety of other online retailers that have this in stock. Check out backcountrygear.com, Eastern Mountain Sports to start.

Let us know if you have any other questions!