GPS technology company Garmin has released yet another GPS watch for consumers to ponder over. This time it seems less fitness/sports oriented and more aimed at a law enforcement/military crowd, although it brings a host of options that I'm sure many outdoor enthusiasts will find appealing. It also happens to deliver them in quite an attractive package.

The new watch is called the tactix and it retails for $450. It sports a high-sensitivey GPS sensor with automatically calibrating altimeter and a 3-axis compass. It's built in memory allows the device to store up to 1000 waypoints and 10,000 track points, and allows the wearer to quickly and easily retrace their steps back to previous positions. In a nod to its military roots, the U.S. version of the watch is preloaded with tidal data and all versions include Jumpmaster software for airborne personnel. It also features sun/moon data and a calendar for hunting and fishing. A stopwatch, countdown timer, world clock, and alarm functionality are all built in as well of course, and as with most GPS enabled watches, this one will tell you distance traveled, speed, calories burned, etc. The tactix will also pair with Garmin's heart rate monitor and bike pod to measure performance and will even control the company's VIRB and VIRB Elite action cameras.

The tactix is designed to be rugged and survive in the outdoors. Its case is tough and durable, making it water resistant down to 50 meters. It's all black styling is designed to be non-reflective and subtle in nature, while the built in battery can reportedly go 50 hours between charges with GPS enabled and 5 weeks when being used as a standard watch. That performance is actually quite good for a watch of this kind.

The new watch is available now.

Outdoor gear company Quechua had partnered with budget tech firm Archos to produce a ruggedized Android cell phone that is designed for adventurers who can be a little rough on their gear. The phone, which begins shipping this week in some markets, if resistant to water, snow, cold, dust and other elements, while also being designed to survive a significant drop.

The new phone will retail for €230 (roughly $310) and comes equipped with Android 4.1 (Jellybean). It is powered by a Qualcomm 1.2 GHz, quad-core processor, has 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, which can be expanded through the use of SD cards. It also has a large 5" display and 3500 mAh battery that is said to be capable of 22 hours of talk time between charges.

But what sets the phone apart from most others is that it meets IP 54 certification. That means it has been built to survive the demands of the outdoors, including submersion in water, being used in sandy or dusty environments and withstanding the shock from being dropped. It is also resistant to both hot and cold temperatures, which could make it a great travel phone for those who visit extreme environments.

The phone does have a few knocks against it before it ever hits the streets. For starters, it doesn't have 4G data capabilities. The built-in 4GB of storage is a bit anemic as well, even though you do have the ability to add to that with memory cards. Android 4.1 is no longer the latest version of that operating system either, although it is a solid, modern OS in terms of features and stability. Still, for the price, I would expect a bit more out of the phone. You might be better served with buying a more capable device at a lower price and investing in a good cast to protect it. Just my two cents.

Add Adidas to the growing list of sports apparel companies that are entering the GPS fitness watch market. Yesterday the new device was unveiled at a technology conference in San Francisco where the watch's specs showed that it will be packing some serious technology when it hits store shelves on November 1.

As you would probably expect, the watch will have integrated GPS for tracking speed, movement, change in altitude, etc. It also has a built-in heart rate monitor and can create a custom workout program based on performance, displaying prompts on its large, bright and colorful touch screen to indicate what is expected of the person wearing it. It also sports onboard storage for carrying a workout playlist of music and Bluetooth connectivity allows you to pair it with wireless headphones to listen to your tunes while on a run. The device will also be able to provide audio cues to the wearer over those same headphones, serving up information on their performance as they go. The Bluetooth functionality will not allow the watch to connect with a smartphone however and all fitness apps will be baked into the device itself.

The new sports watch, which apparently doesn't have a name yet, also has on board WiFi, allowing it to share your workout data with Adidas' miCoach fitness cloud. As you would expect, it is also water resistant and built to withstand plenty of punishment that comes along with regular exercise.

Battery life is said to vary by activity and features that are turned on. With GPS activated and streaming music it'll last approximately 8 hours, but in "watch mode" it'll last about a week. That's about standard for a watch like this one however and not all that surprising.

As mentioned, the watch is due out November 1 and will carry a price tag of $399. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this entry into the fitness watch line-up. It seems we're going to see a lot of these devices over the next few years and it'll be interesting to watch them evolve.

We've all seen how arial drones are being put to good use in capturing some amazing photography and video in remote areas of the world, but the video below puts the same concept to work on the ground. Photographer Chris McLennan, working with engineer Carl Hansen, developed a remote control camera housing that could be driven close to the subjects to get some very cool photos. In this case, that means driving up to a pride of lions to snap a few shots. The results are fantastic, although the images may give you a sense of what it is like for the prey just as the lion's pounce. This is really cool technology put to use in the field in an innovative way.

I've added another outlet to the sites that I am contributing for and for the past few weeks, I've been posting to the Let's Roll Blog over at FlightNetwork.com. My postings to the site are more travel related with a slant towards adventure travel and a mix of a few gear reviews as well. The site is still relatively new but it is ramping up quickly and the editors have big plans for where they would like to go.

Here is a sampling of some of the posts that I, and others, have written to the blog recently:

• Kilimanjaro Guide Prepares for 50th Summit
• 7 Reasons Iceland is Quirky and Awesome
• Antarctic Travel Season Begins
• Polar Bear Attacks In Popular Canadian Tourist Town
• Airlines Being Allowing Passengers To Use Electronics Gate To Gate

Just a few articles to give readers an idea of what the blog is all about. If you're a traveler, you'll probably find a lot to like over there. Add it to your list of favorites and give it a go every once in awhile. 

An eagle, that appears to be suffering from kleptomania, recently swiped a motion-sensing camera from a crocodile trap in Australia and carried it some 68 miles before deciding it wasn't something the bird could eat. The camera was later found by Aboriginal hunters, who returned it to the proper owners. Naturally, they were a bit surprised to find their camera so far away from its original location but when they looked at the footage, they understood how it got there. The thieving bird is even caught on film at the end of the clip in what could quite possibly be the first avian selfie.

I've always been a big fan of Google's Street View technology. It's the amalgamation of the excellent Google Maps and photos that are taken and geo-tagged at various locations around the planet. The results are that we can explore a map from above then with a simple click, zoom down to street level to see exactly where it is we'll be traveling. It can be tremendously useful when visiting a place for the first time and it is often fun to explore an area right from your computer.

For some time now Google has been using the Street View tech to map some really cool locations. For instance, you can visit the Galapagos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef and even Everest Base Camp directly from your browser. But today, the Internet search giant has announced that by working with the U.S. National Park Service and Parks Canada, 44 national parks have been added to Street View as well, allowing us to take a virtual escape to those destinations even when we don't have time to actually go ourselves.

Some of the locations that been added include Sequoia National Park, Joshua Tree and Mt. Rushmore. You can also pay a visit to such historical landmarks as the Alamo, the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington DC. If you're looking to head north of the border, check out Moraine Lake and Lake Louise in Canada's Banff National Park as well.

Of course, I'd never even begin to suggest that Street View is a viable option for going to visit these places for yourself. It is however, fun technology that allows you to scout ahead before you actually go in person. It is also a nice way to escape the office, even if for just a few minutes, during a particularly long and boring day. It is also a nice reminder of how far we have come in terms of mapping technology. I hope Google continues to expand on these initiatives in the years ahead.

With the advent of tiny POV cameras over the past few years, adventure filmmaking has gone from an expensive, time consuming proposition to something that anyone with a laptop and a good camera can do. This week, aspiring filmmakers got a couple of new options to help in this process in the form of a new camera and an improved drone for capturing arial footage like never before.

First up, ION released their new Air Pro 3 WiFi camera, which brings an assortment of upgrades and improvements to the device. The new device has an improved 12 megapixel sensor that increases performance in lowlight conditions while continuing to shoot in full 1080p resolutions at 60 fps. Its ruggedized body is waterproof down to 49 feet (15 meters) and includes built-in image stabilization to help minimize shaking when worn on a helmet or mounted on the handlebars of a bike. It has a battery life of about 2.5 hours, which is a solid amount of time for a camera this small and an array of new mounting options are available to make this camera as versatile as possible. 

Additionally, the Air Pro 3's WiFi functionality makes it easier than ever to share videos online. The system even comes with 8GB of free cloud storage and can be paired with an app on an iOS or Android device for remote operation. 

The camera carries a price tag of $349.99 and begins shipping November 15. Preorders are available online.

Adventure filmmakers who want to add a new dimension to their next project will love the new offering from DJI, makers of the Phantom remote controlled drone systems. They've introduced the Phantom 2 Vision, which is unique in that it comes equipped with a camera right out of the box. Unlike previous models from DJI, the Vision has a built-in 14 megapixel camera that comes mounted on a tilting gimbal that can rotate 60º and has a wide 140º viewing area. A shock-aborbing bracket, built specifically for this camera, helps to reduce shaking and jitters that were an issue when  mountain your own camera on previous Phantom drones. The camera can also be paired with an iOS or Android device, allowing it to become a remote screen for the device, which the pilot can then use on the ground to see exactly what footage is being captured. 

DJI also improved the drone itself, giving it a greater battery life. It can now stay aloft for 25 minutes at a time. The drone also has improved stabilization for easier flight, even for beginners, although it all comes at a hefty cost. The Phantom 2 Vision will set you back $1199 when it goes on sale in a few weeks. The original Phantom, sans camera, is still available for just $479. 

Check out the Vision in action in the video below. Is it wrong that I kind of want one of these things?