Firefly Featured on "Good Morning America" May 19, 2009

Guyot Designs' uniquely designed LED lid light, the Firefly, was featured today on the “Good Morning America” segment “Best Memorial Day Ever: Summer Gadgets Under $20”. “Good Morning America” and Men’s Health teamed up to highlight six inexpensive but essential gadgets perfect for funning up your holiday party.

The Firefly is a one-of-a-kind replacement lid that converts any wide mouth bottle into a lantern. With LED lights sealed inside the lid, the Firefly attaches to the wide mouth bottle and can set the mood on the trail or patio. The Firefly utilizes a watertight creative design and can be used right side up, upside down, center of the picnic table, or hanging from the nearest handy branch. The variable light levels allow the user to control the lighting with the push of a button. The Firefly, which is BPA and polycarbonate free, is also great for kids as different liquids, sealed tight, can be used to yield different colored lights.

The Firefly, MSRP $20, is available at Outdoor specialty stores including Dick’s, REI and online at www.guyotdesigns.com.

To view the complete “Good Morning America” segment “Best Memorial Day Ever: Summer Gadgets Under $20”, watch directly at ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7623086.

Microbites: Turned into Tongs

This is a great conversion of the Microbites into tongs. 

Just add string and a stick. Mushrooms look good too.

Thanks for the video wildernessoutfitters!

Bottled Water Carries Hidden Costs to the Earth

Just yesterday Discovery news.com posted an article explaining the damaging effects plastic water bottles have on the environment. This is, as many are, an issue that is hardly given a second notion. The public seems to think that by drinking bottled water they are in fact doing something positive and pure and giving their bodies clean and healthy water, when in fact the effects it has on the planet is anything but positive or healthy. Not to mention several bottled water distributors offer nothing shy from basic tap water in a bottle. No one equates the level of energy required to produce and maintain the demand for bottled water. The article estimates that our nation's bottled water habit sucked up the equivalent of 32 to 54 million barrels of oil last year. It is sad that no one understands the magnitude of this energy consumption as the demand for bottle water heavily increases. Though, this is saddening, the worst part is there are alternatives, extremely affordable alternatives. Reusable water containers range in different shapes and sizes and are typically less than $26. An additional convenient companion to a reusable water bottle is the one and only TapGuard. Place the TapGuard into your reusable bottle to get fresh and tasty bottled water flavor from any tap. The water bottle problem seems to spur from our nations addiction to quick, conveniences without giving a second look to the effects it causes the world or anyone around them. There is also the issue to whether or not these plastic bottles will get recycled and how many will be dumped into landfills. This is a problem that must be addressed before it only worsens. To view the Discovery news article please visit http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/04/06/bottled-water.html .

BPA Fears Still Linger

Although the outdoor industry has already faced, dealt with, and picked up the pieces of the BPA travesty, high-profile, mainstream publications continue to report on the controversy. In the most recent issue of Oprah's O Magazine, a feature describes the health-threatening chemical found in everyday products, how it affects the body, and how some states and companies (Nalgene) have already taken action. Though this seems to be old news to outdoor folks, who have already make the switch to alternative materials for the liquid goods like aluminum or stainless steel or even the BPA-free Nalgenes, the issue obviously has not been completely absorbed by the overall consensus. Perhaps, health issues and concerns, among other things, have been pushed to the back burner because of more hot media issues - the election, the economy, the bailout, the stimulus, or what celebrities are wearing. It wasn't just a fad, BPA is harmful to your health and it is in one's better interest to find a healthier and cleaner alternative.

For full story:
http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200904-omag-plastic-bpa

For alternatives:
http://www.guyotdesigns.com/Product-Bottles

Philly Goes Green!

Liberty Sports Magazine, a top Philadelphia local guide to Cycling, Running, Swimming, & Triathlons, included Guyot Designs' TapGuard in their current Spring issue. Not only did the magazine feature TapGuard in their Choice Gear section, they also stamped it will the Liberty Sports Green Logo - an indication for innovative products that make the reduce and re-use part easier for everyone.

The TapGuard is the perfect solution to eliminating the need for plastic water bottles and the waste generate from them - use of natural resources, plastic in landfills, CO2 emissions from production, and money!

Liberty Sports Magazine is currently on newsstands in and around the Philly area. Grab one, grab a TapGuard - Go Green Philly! http://www.libertysportsmag.com/reviews.html

Squishy Bowls in the Kitchen

Those who know me might describe me as frugal. I'm not a cheap skate, but I also don't really like to buy superfluous stuff. I also really appreciate it when one item can have multiple uses. My super light black Arc'teryx shell is great for backpacking trips, but is low profile enough that I can wear it to business meetings and dinners. I use my camping cooking pots for soup and couscous both at home and on the trail. This eliminates my need for a couple extra sauce pans. Of course, at home I also use large pots for pasta, and cast iron for frying things. I'd never take them on the trail.


Being frugal like this, and living on my own means that I do without a lot of the common items that most people have in their kitchen. For example, I have no pot holders. I've generally just used a dish towel to grab out what I need. It's not ideal, but it does the job. Recently though, I was in the middle of a load of laundry, and a load of pancakes. The cast iron skillet was too hot to handle, and all the dish towels were in the wash. Luckily, I'd just recently taken home a set of our Squishy Bowls. They're made of Silicone and are supposed to be heat resistant to about 400 degrees F. They ought to work great as a pot holder. Besides, I need to stand behind every product we make. If they're not as heat resistant as we claim, then I need to know about it! So, I decided I should put my Squishy Bowl to use. It's already in the kitchen doing duty as a bowl. Why not make it my pot holder too?


It worked great! I easily squished it to wrap around the handle of the skillet. The rubbery texture gave me a really solid grip on the heavy pan, and I couldn't feel the heat passing through the bowl at all, even though the skillet was otherwise much too hot for me to grab. And, as I was using it I discovered another nice little coincidence. When set upside down the depression in the bottom of the bowl actually worked perfectly to cradle my spatula and keep it from getting my stove top all gunky. So, now I've got my bowl doing triple duty in the kitchen, and that makes me happy.

Is anybody else out there letting their camping gear pull double duty like this? I'd love to hear your ideas.

Un-Beatable Bottles

At the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow in Salt Lake City we had a small booth displaying our various products. Outdoor retailer is basically like wandering around the world's largest REI for 4 days straight. It's crowded and hectic and every company you can imagine is there pushing their products. There are always a lot of meetings, behind the scenes wheelings and dealings to figure out distribution deals, wholesale orders, product development concepts etc etc. One of my favorite parts though is connecting with the people in the industry who actually use our stuff for themselves. The tradeshow is a huge place, but you always make time to visit the companies you love.

Ed Coombs of the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE) stopped by to talk with us about AORE and show off his two year old standard stainless bottle. I was amazed at how good the thing looked considering the abuse it took. Ed's been using it to cook in. He takes the lid and lid tether off and places it directly in the fire to bring his water to a boil. This isn't something that I would necessarily recommend, but Ed seemed happy to use it in this capacity. We asked him how he kept it so shiny. His answer: "Just scrape off the black stuff with a butter knife every once in a while". The finish on the bottle looked great. There were a few little dents and scrapes in it, which Ed said came from using it as a hammer to pound tent stakes into the frozen ground, but overall it looked almost new. And of course, since it's stainless steel, there's been no flavor build up or funky odor in the bottle. It was great to have Ed stop by. At Guyot Designs we want to make products that will last and be useful for a lifetime. it's a great feeling to know that we've succeeded in at least one customers eyes.


How's your stainless bottle holding up for you?