Tag Archives: reviews

Kore Essentials Trakline Express Belt: Upgrade Your Style

I shared my review of the Kore Essentials Trakline Belt several months ago, and now they’ve introduced a new model; the Express Buckle!

 

Since my initial review, the Trakline is the only belt I’ve worn. From date night to family occasions, I never had to “waist” time with what belt to wear, the Kore Essentials Trakline was a no-brainer. And it’s wife approved!

kore essentials trakline express kick starter

*cough* Valentine’s Day is coming. *cough*

As a guy who despises having to wear anything that requires a belt, I find that this belt makes it easier for me to accept. And for good reason, it looks damn good and will last forever!

For Kore’s new Express line, they are running a Kickstarter campaign to help get this belt out to the men that want/need a good belt. Even my good dad blogger buddy, Gary (aka Mr. Skipah) is raving about Kore. He better make sure his style is upgraded now that he’s upgraded his living arrangements! 😉

Joking aside, do Karl from Kore (that flows well, huh?) a huge favor and head on over to support their new Trakline Express making it to production. As a small business turning out high quality products, every little bit helps. Plus, you even get a reward when you give your support!

To help with further persuasion (if you even need it), I have my original review below. You can thank Gary for giving me the idea.


 

No belt holes, but it’s still a belt?

This was my initial thought when I first heard of Kore Essentials and their Trakline belts. They have zero holes, are made of 100% full grain leather, and can be adorned with several unique, fashionable buckles that are solid stainless steel or high-grade alloy.

I love being limited to how my belt fits based on the one-inched spaced holes it has and how ragged it looks after wearing it a while. Said no one, ever.

But this is the case for those primitive belts with holes. Thanks to Kore Essentials, that’s all changed. Their Trakline belts are not only appealing to the eye, they’re high quality pieces of wearable waist art that will last virtually forever!

Trakline Belt vs Belt Holes (657x313)

There’s a reason they are the #1 rated men’s belt on according to customers on Amazon.com, and it’s not because they smell pretty. Actually, the leather is quite pleasant. 🙂

Here’s the 411 on why the Trakline Belt is better than those other belts, direct from the Kore Essentials site:

FUNCTION
NO more belt holes to stretch out, wear out, or punch out yourself. Instead a hidden track sewn into the back of the belt and unique,
patent-pending buckle create a precise fit every time you put it on. The track features 40+ sizing positions (1/4″ increments), making
Trakline belts 8X’s more adjustable than a tradional men’s belt (5 one-inch holes). A discreet tab under the buckle allows you to easily
adjust, or remove the belt fast. Honestly guys, it feels like the belt of the future.

FASHION
We’ve designed a limited collection of classically cool men’s belt buckles for work, play and dress. At last, a mens belt that’s smart, stylish,
and simple to use. Makes a desirable gift for fathers, dads, grads, groommen and any guy looking to upgrade.

FORM
Our men’s belts are constructed of premium Full-Grain Leather (the best grade of leather). Full-grain leather improves with age, conforming
to your actual waist shape. The stainless steel buckles are handformed, 16 gauge, solid stainless steel and the alloy buckles are a high-grade
zinc. We built our belts – to last.

SIZING
Trakline belts fit any waist size from 24” up to 44” (XL sizes to 54″). Try on the belt, then trim off the excess leather (using household scissors)
to attain your optimal size range. Then the 10″ track creates a precise fit as your waist fluctuates in and out every day.

GUARANTEE
If you don’t completely love yourTrakline belt, just send it back within thirty days for a full refund. And of course all our products come with a
one-year, warranty against defects and breakage, to keep you happy.

MISSION
We set out to redefine those basic, essentials items you use each day. Our approach is pure >> blend innovation with superior materials to create
unique, more exciting products that exceed expectations

Annndd, if that weren’t enough, it doubles as a bottle opener! Sold. Where were they when I had a date night with my wife and spent forever trying to open our beer with my crappy, worn out belt with holes?

No funny thoughts.....
No funny thoughts…..

Yes, we were in the car, no, nothing like that. We ate and drank before in the parking lot before going inside to see the Imagine Dragons in concert. It was a great time, but could’ve been better if I had a better belt like the Trakline.

Thanks to the wonderful Karl and all of the Kore Essentials team, I am now the proud owner of their black genuine leather belt with stainless steel Evolve Buckle they sent me to review.

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It comes with a handy belt hanger (that plastic thing that looks like a giant two-prong fuse), that allows you to easily hang your prized pants-holder-upper right next to your pants!

The included instructions on how to measure and trim the belt to your appropriate size confused me at first, but then I realized it was just the user….me! Essential-y (see what I did there?), if you have a good idea of your pant waist size, you can go with that number and trim off the excess leather that’s conveniently marked.

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Then just clamp the buckle receptacle in place and you’re good to go. Being the goof that I am, I failed to take a picture of the full process, but lucky for you (and me), Kore Essentials has a handy dandy video to watch if needed.

After trimming off your excess leather, do NOT throw it away! It’s a little known fact that things not intended to be toddler toys, are in fact, perfect toddler toys!

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Avery loved running around with this quality leather strap and completely ignored her actual toys for a full day! Even Going Mom was impressed.

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I made use of my fancy new belt for a date night with Kelley last weekend and simply loved how perfect if fit around my waist. No in between holes where it’s too tight or too lose, it was just right. Hence the boyish smile I had when posting my attire on Instagram.

The shirt was tucked in to give a good view of the belt, but I quickly had to un-tuck after the picture was taken. We never had to open a beer bottle that day, but it was nice knowing I could if I needed to!

One of the great things about the belt is how easy and fast it is to adjust. After gulping a liter of water, I needed to loosen up a little, and with the Trakline, I could even do it on the “fly”. Bam, I’m on fire!

I love having a belt I can count on and quickly get on and off, and this belt allows just that. Plus it looks good, will last me a long time, and it looks good. Wait, did I already say that?

Intrepid & Eclipse gunmetal buckles

 

This would make a perfect gift for the upcoming Father’s Day holiday, or as a “just cuz” gift to the man in your life. Head over to the Kore Essentials site and pick one or a few belts and use code SAVE15 to save 15% off your order.

Self-hosted For A Year + A New Blogging Approach

That’s right, around this time last year I made the switch from my free WordPress.com account to a self-hosted WordPress.net blog using figure out how to transfer everything. It took me forever to decide on what self-hosting service to use and figure out how to transfer everything, but I have been completely happy with Bluehost and plan to stick with them.

What I won’t be sticking to is how I’ve been blogging in the past. While I don’t have much to hide, I’ll be sharing less of our day-to-day personal life happenings and focusing more on sharing thoughts on food/products/services/etc. that was use. I know I mentioned most of this before, but wanted to reiterate it here.

From little things like healthy snacks for kids and adults to big items like mattresses (yes, really, stay tuned!), I want to share our thoughts here in hopes that you’ll find them useful. Some reviews will be by my own doing on items we paid for ourselves, and some will be provided to me at a discount or for free. No matter how we received the item, you can trust that I will give you our true thoughts.

Yes, I said our, Avery is picking up her communication skills fast and is improving her ability to actually explain her thoughts to us, so why not have her help with reviews? And since we’re a close, loving family, Going Mom will obviously have her opinion heard on here too. This, along with other health-related topics like quick exercise routines and recipes are all in the Going Dad future.

Don’t worry, if you came here just for the cute pics of Avery, I’ll still have some on the blog, and there’s always plenty on my Facebook and Instagram pages. Okay, here’s one just because. She looks very unsure of the camera here….

Currently her favorite pajamas.
Currently her favorite pajamas.

I might as well add that, if you’re in the market, whether a tech newbie or hosting pro, Bluehost has what you need and helps make things easy and affordable. So, if you want to check them out, I would appreciate you clicking the banner below. Whether you sign up or not, it helps me earn a few cents and maybe even dollars, and it’s no difference to you!



Posts will be shorter for small item reviews, but still contain useful information (I hope) to help you decide on if it’s worth it to you or not. I am looking forward to giving this new approach a try, and can’t wait to get started!

Hope you’re having a great start to the New Year! Let me know your thoughts on this new approach and what you’d like to see for reviews, workouts, or recipes and I’ll do my best to provide.

Our Crazy Awesome Future in Blogging

When I first started blogging, it was for Just Add Cayenne , where I went about sharing my life along with healthy recipes, fitness tips, and other health related topics fit in. Then I started this crazy awesome blog, Going Dad (I won’t deny that I’m biased), to basically do the same thing.

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But instead of life as an accountant who really really really is into health and fitness, I shared life as a stay-at-home dad wanting to have a way to capture life as my daughter, Avery, and wife, Kelley, all learn and grow together.

I’ve enjoyed writing about all of the memories we’ve already had in just the 2 years of Avery’s life, but I’ve also been trying too hard to write about everything which is becoming increasingly hard. This little girl is doing more than I can keep up with to gather and share on the blog anymore. Even she’s getting tired of my usual memory “tracking” method.
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Normally, I jot down the things she does/says on random pieces of paper I have around the house, but it got to where I was trying to write down something new every other minute. Which meant I was totally losing track of just enjoying the freaking moment/entire day!

I could go on, but I’m sure you get the drift. So, here’s my new plan for the blog….

As Avery gets older and can actually communicate with real words, I’d like to have her help to do product/service reviews. I will also do reviews that only parents/health-minded people would be into since I obviously take a major interest in the health and fitness world.

Why should you, the reader care if all you want is to see our darling daughter and hear what she’s been up to? Well, hopefully you’ll find what I review of good use in your life and you’ll gain insight on things you may never have known existed otherwise.

I’ve already performed several reviews on here, but now I can focus on doing more. In addition, I plan on sharing recipes I create, workouts I love or put together, healthy lifestyle hacks, or just favorite foods you can buy online. Yes, that means I’ll have more affiliate links that will earn me a whopping few cents if you click on them.

I have nothing to hide, I’m hoping to earn a little extra cash if possible because, lets face it, we could all use more. Right?

This most likely means less blog posts, but I do enjoy sharing random facts/funny things I find entertaining, so be on the lookout there. Damn Pinterest really knows how to suck you in, and before you know, you have eleventy-billion new pins when all you wanted was a picture of a cat!

On the topic of social media such as Pinterest, I’ll still be sharing plenty of life happenings with Avery and my wife on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so be sure to follow these if you don’t already to keep up to date if you care. Seriously, why wouldn’t you  want to see this crazy-haired cute kid?

If you’re some creepy guy, I’d rather you not, but I hope everyone else will follow along and will find what I have to offer useful. Be on the lookout for reviews covering a multitude of things from items for kids and parents, to anything surrounding the world of health and fitness. Just know, I WILL NOT try products I feel are not safe or worth even using, and will give my honest opinion on what I do try.

As the days, weeks, and months pass, I’ll be making updates to the looks and other aspects on here, so check back often. Please?

What do you think of this new blogging approach?

Is there anything you’d personally like to see reviewed first?