Every year in March there is a mad frenzy to get everything ready for the Argus Expo. The biggest retail expo in SA and certainly bigger than anything else in the sporting goods market.

Every year I see the same faces. Eddy Cassar and his crew run good operation. This year I was struck by how little innovation there was. However three ideas stood out for me:

I almost missed the Polar V800 multi sport watch. Peter and his crew only had a pre production model which they were guarding with beady eyes. They never let it get too far out of reach just in case I made a runner….. If the V800 lives up to expectations then this will certainly give Garmin and Suunto some real competition. I would say it is a couple of years too late and Polar now has some catching up to do but judging by previous products from them you can expect a solid unit with some real good tech behind it. Check out the DC Rainmaker feature on the unit here. I can’t wait to test one of these!

I like to support South African companies and here are two that impressed me:

I was chatting to Mark from 32Gi. He is always interesting when you can follow all the tech and science he throws at you. He has an interesting recovery drink with pea protein. I have not tested it but sounds interesting. Watch this space as they are developing some cool new products with their new IM athletes! Bring it on I say! This should complete their product offering. And that is all I can say right now.

Then I wondered around and saw the bike box in the picture made by Rebul. It is made entirely of cardboard by a company who seems to have very little to do with bicycles. This idea is so cool that it deserves mention here. Super strong, recycleable, easy to pack flat when not in use. Boxes are custom made to your specs. I love it and certainly will support them going forward when I need to transport my bike to the next event. Oh and they only cost R800!