Everyday Tech You’ll Actually Use

This is the perfect affordable everyday tech setup. Last year, I showed you my high-end everyday carry and the single most requested thing. Do it again, but make it budget. So, ever since then I've been in the background filtering through thousands of products online and testing hundreds of products

in person until we got to this. A setup that is dark mode, where everything is USBC, that makes sure you have the best tech with you at all times, that you will never run out of charge, where it's almost impossible to lose anything you'll be able to pack for a holiday in 60 seconds, all while costing a fraction of my original everyday carry while also in a lot of ways somehow

being better. And the bag is the backbone of that. So, for $130, the Almond Oak travel backpack is this thing's the pinnacle. So, this is a very small company. It's designed by one dude. But what's nice about that is you're getting that one dude's completely unfiltered take on

what makes the perfect backpack. And it just so happens that theirs is pretty close to mine. this thing is insanely light. It's got pockets in all the places you need them, but not with every inch of the thing being divided up you get on some bags. It doesn't have that I'm off on a backpacking trip vibe, which a lot of the other good ones at this price

do, but it still has the capacity to be able to let you. I think you're going to be quite shocked at how much I've managed to fit into here. The only things I've noticed are missing are it would be really nice just to have one quick access area over here for sunglasses or gum or a pen, but then I think this doesn't have that on purpose to make it less appealing to thieves.

The zippers are not waterproof, but the rest of the bag is. And the zippers not being waterproof is what allows them to operate much smoother. So the point being there's not a lot of problems here. But we have only just started cooking because in here is the sacred card protector wallet. Let me tell you

I have been through my fair share of wallets. I've been through ridge wallets. I've been through Ross wallets. I've been through folding wallets. I've been through pouch wallets. But this is the best wallet that I've tried while being about half the price. Now, I get it. On the face of it, it does just look I'm recommending you buy a sheet of metal. But there's some very important touches. There's a little bit of fabric on each side, which creates

the pressure needed to hold your cards in place without scratching them. You can fit five cards into this wallet very easily, and that's making sure that none of them are brushing against each other which is one of my big pet peeves. To use the thing, you just flick this lever here, and they don't just come out, but they come out in this fan, which makes them easier to see and to grab. And this

lever is where you can really tell the difference between this and a low quality wallet. , just listen to how this sounds compared to how this sounds. The only critique I have is it can be a little bit fiddly to get hold of this middle cart, but then I haven't tested any other wallets that particularly solve that issue. So, I love this thing. I think it oozes minimalism without

shafting function in the process. . So, keys in here. , yeah. This is another thing I really about this backpack. In the original version, this was all one pocket, but then there was a bunch of user feedback that all the stuff in this pocket was collecting at the very bottom. So, the creator then

added this very subtle stitching in between to separate the two, which to me makes each of these two halves the perfect sweet spot. It's the small things. So, this is a key organizer from Orbit Key, and I just can't recommend this enough. This is the lowest price that you can pay for something this without the product feeling it's cheaped out in any way. It's adjustable

so they say it keeps seven keys. I would say that's optimistic, but you can assume five quite easily. The important thing is that it keeps your keys together. It stops the racket and the scratching of having them constantly clanging into each other and all your other stuff. You can add your car keys onto here, which I would do if I had a car, but I prefer relying on the taxi

that is my wife. And I just want you to bear in mind there is also a whole extra 3 to 5 L of unused space in there. Okay the Aala Freip, which is just as much fun to use as it is to say. So, this is a lock, but it's also a carry handle. And then you press this button to reveal two options. the sip and the chug. So

if you want to chug your water with every other bottle, you absolutely can. But it is so good to also be able to sit this. I've had so many car journeys with my bottle up here this where I felt one speed bump away from torrential downpour on my clothing. And then it's all finished off with, , double locking mechanism, which means it just will not leak. And

importantly for a travel bag, it's not going to break if you're shoving it into baggage storage compartments. But now we get to the really juicy stuff. I am talking layer two and this here is something that I look for in every backpack I use because I think this raises the ceiling of how good a

backpack can be. It means that your bag can also become your suitcase. So first thing is the U green tech bag and remember heavier things should always go at the bottom. That's what stabilizes your backpack when you're putting it down but also it stops you crushing stuff. So this is a cheap bag. There's nothing particularly special about it when you first look at

There's nothing particularly special about it when you first look at it, but I just really it because it doesn't do a lot of the wasteful things that so many other tech bags do. I see so many of them that are really rigid, but then it's really hard to find tech that perfectly fits that rigidity or you would just have to go for smaller things and then have loads of wasted

space inside. You want a bag with some internal dividers so you don't just have a knot of cables every single time you open it up. But you also don't want something with so many dividers that you can't put your big things in there. So this U green is what I have settled on. Okay, let's feast. So, this is Flight

Flap. It's one of the most affordable no-brainer purchases if you do a lot of travel. It's a free form piece of material that you can form into your own phone stand with the perfect amount of rigidity so that it can hold your phone, but it's also really easy to bend. It's just so flexible. It's not

just for flights. You could use this for cars or trains or even the back of my office chair. Bam. Phone stand. So then I had to make the much more complicated decision of earphones. There's a lot of earphones in this sweet spot $40 to $70 price range that people talk very highly of. So I bought them

all. I tested them all. And to me there's a very clear winner and it is these. The Anker Liberty 4 NC. NC or noise cancellation is I think it's essential for a pair of earphones that you want to use for everything because it just makes such a difference to your experience when you're in those loud environments a train and these have that but they also sound so good. Some

of the other earphones from Anker sounded a lot muddier. Ear fun which is meant to be a top brand at this price created a lot more of that feeling of pressure in my ears. The CMF buds too I would say are the next best option and they are cheaper but their noise cancellation isn't as good as these. So for this, it's partly the fact that I've tested all the competing products at

this price point, and these are better. And it's also partly the fact that I've tested a lot of things that are much higherend and more expensive than these, and this feels the exact point at which you're not missing out on much. I also really the case. It's got this really slick soft touch matte black finish. It's very in theme for this setup with also this very sick

opening mechanism. And then just 40 hours of battery life even when you're using the active noise cancellation. And then just before we get to the back half of this tech bag, lens wipes. These are just for when your tech products every now and again get so out of order, so grimy and so greasy that conventional

solutions don't quite cover it. Layer two. And the first thing here is the Momax universal adapter, which is my absolute favorite plug to take anywhere because this is your power supply, this is your travel adapter, and this is your USB sockets all thrown into one package that is the most zeroeffort

thing that I use. The only decision that you need to make is just what power level do you go for. It goes all the way up to 170 watts now. But for this setup and for most people, 70 to 100 is the sweet spot. That's enough power to easily charge anything here while still being pretty small and pretty

affordable. . Here's one thing I've learned the hard way after over 10 years of reviewing consumer tech. There are plenty of things that you can happily cheap out on in the setup, and it doesn't matter. Power banks are not one of them. I paid $80 for this 20,000 mAh Anker Prime power bank, which is about

four times what you could spend for a 20,000 mAh battery. But there's a few reasons that I think it was worth it. Not all milliampowers are the same. A welloptimized power bank with an intelligent chip inside and highquality cells could get you 20% more juice than a lower quality power bank with the exact same theoretical capacity. So that's an entirely

extra completely free 50% charge for your smartphone. And that efficiency also then means that you're saving size and weight cuz now you don't have to go for something bigger. B that it has a really high max wattage at 200 W which is slightly overkill but it does mean that you could have your laptop, you could have any smartphone and you could have your earphones all on charge at the

same time and everything will be charging at their max speeds. I've got a laptop recommendation as part of this setup and this power bank will charge that laptop faster than the adapter that comes with the laptop. the software. This is more of a nice to have optional extra, but I really seeing exactly how much charge the battery has left. And when you're charging other things

how much charge the battery has left. And when you're charging other things being able to see how fast they're charging. And then finally, just these pins at the bottom, which allow it to connect to Anchor's power base. I realize this is quite an extra thing to do, but if you were trying to optimize to the extreme, then having two of these power banks and one of these power bases allows you to swap one out whenever you've just come back from a trip and

your full one is immediately then packed and ready to go for the next one. So you can go there. I did also really the idea of Anker's laptop power bank. This is super high capacity, really fast with also two USBC cables baked inside of it. You've got one that unhooks this and then you've got

inside of it. You've got one that unhooks this and then you've got another one which is part of one of the most satisfying retractable cable mechanisms I've ever interacted with. But it's just if you're trying to build a setup that works for any situation then you're going to need two of your own USBC cables anyway cuz you're quite likely to want to plug something into

the mains. Let's say you want to charge both your phone and laptop overnight. So then at that point if you are packing these USBC cables anyway, why go for a power bank that takes up more space and is heavier just to have two more USBC cables? You see what ? So get this and then also get two of these Amazon

basics USBC to C's. Basics sounds a little off-putting. It always makes me think of those ultra budget supermarket own brands, but this is more basic in the sense that it's everything you need and it's nothing more than that. It's not bad. This is the cheapest, reliable cable that I've used that is USB IF

certified, which is a quality standard that's always worth checking for. These do both charging and data transfer, and they're fast enough that nothing is being bottlenecked in this setup. Now if you do want to go a little fancy then Basus does do a retractable cable that does support 100 W charging speeds. I do really this. It saves a bit of space and it's going to completely

I do really this. It saves a bit of space and it's going to completely prevent the cable tangling up, but then it does add a bit of weight and a bit of cost, so it's up to you. And then the last thing here is the one that I had the most fun with. I decided a few months ago that I also wanted to have a speaker as part of my everyday carry. There's just too many times that I wish

speaker as part of my everyday carry. There's just too many times that I wish I'd packed one. The challenge has been finding a speaker that is portable, it's affordable, and it's enough better than your phone speaker to justify taking a whole extra gadget. I narrowed it down to my favorite two, the JBL Go4 and the Anker Soundcore Select 4 Go. And I was sitting in my living

room with one phone connected to each doing blind tests, going back and forth and back and forth between them until eventually deciding the Anchor sounds a fraction better, which ultimately made this a very easy decision because this is also the more affordable speaker with about 50% more battery life at the same volume. All of this makes me so happy. The theme is so consistent and

everything charges with USBC. It just it makes sense. And yes, it is a bit of a sweep for Anchor in this setup. They're not sponsoring this video. I've just found that they tend to be very good at hitting that sweet spot of you're not being cheap. You want something with high performance, but you also don't just want to throw money at the problem and find the very highest end thing

there is. So, then we got the liquids bag from a company called Osprey. And I'm not about to sit here reviewing cleansers, but couple of cool things. This bag is the exact max size. That still means you're going to have zero issues with any travel security checks. And it's transparent. So, it's not just that, , it serves the purpose of telling you if you've gone

over the limit or not. It means you don't even need to take your stuff out when going through those security checks. Second thing is if you can pick products that can fit vertically in this, you're going to save yourself so much of the hassle of fumbling around inside your wash bags I've seen so many people do. And then three is something that I've only just discovered

recently, but this is the Travalo Atomizer and I freaking love it. So instead of taking your big fancy bottles of perfume everywhere you go, you just stick this inside. You pump a few times and now you have what I would say is exactly a holidaysized portion of that scent, but in a quarter of the volume.

The other cool thing about this is clothing. And I don't mean this in a check out my fit way. This one packing cube, this is from Prezon, has zero exaggeration, 4 days of clothing underwear, socks included. That's 5 days if you include what you're wearing when you leave. and 8 days. If you do this

an extra zip that creates an entirely new layer. 8 days. , let's call it six, assuming you pack heavier. This is absolutely insane for something that doesn't look any bigger than a school bag and also has every single other thing that you could possibly want to carry with you. I'm not exaggerating

when I say packing cubes this are one of the most essential parts of the way this setup works because it's easy. It's not one of those vacuum pack type deals that no one's going to realistically do regularly. It keeps your clothes together. It reduces the amount of creasing. And if you need to squish them down, you can do so with this extra zip here that just tightens

it. But the main reason that I think these are such a game changer is when you get to your hotel on the other end of your travel. Having these packing cubes means within 30 seconds you take this out, you use this zip to condense your backpack. Assuming I hadn't spent the last 10 minutes dissecting every part of this setup, you would have converted your suitcase into your daily

everyday carry for while you're going out on day trips on holiday. It really is a surprising amount of clothing in here. , also little sprinkle on top. The packing cubes did come with a free laundry bag. And this is great cuz this is where you keep your dirty clothes to create a physical barrier between them

and your clean clothes. Then just before layer three, so you've got a little hidden pocket at the back here. This would be for your passports and things that. And I have also placed an air tag in there. This is by far the most cost effective way to have a decent chance of being able to recover the bag should you ever leave it somewhere. And you can get cheaper, but this is one of

those rare cases where I genuinely think the actual category leading product is super affordable. This is only $29. If you're on Android, your best bet is tile trackers, but I don't find them as good because there's just a much smaller network of devices that can pick up their location. So, in layer 3, there is

a little pocket for this. This is the Uniball Jetstream. It's cheap, it glides on paper, and it's a black bro, which is what most documents are going to require. And then smartwatch. I my Apple Watch, don't get me wrong, but for the price, I think this is better. This is the Amazefitit Active 2.

And when I first heard that name, I was skeptical. I was , Amazefitit? That really does sound one of those Amazon marketplace, let me just create a brand in 10 minutes deals. But this has been on my wrist for a few weeks now. And I think this is better than the Fitbit. I think this is better than the Xiaomi band. It's just the whole package with surprisingly little

compromise. The screen is amazing and circular, which I think for a watch makes it look a lot better than the squarer Apple Watch. The app and the user interface is really polished. It doesn't lag. It doesn't feel cheap. and it works well with both iPhones and Androids. It charges with the same USBC cables that we've already packed for this bag, which is unlike the Fitbit and

the Xiaomi that come with their own proprietary connections that connect to USBAs. And it's a really good fitness tracker. heart rate measurements are spoton. The step counting is fantastic. Calories, it definitely veers towards the lower side, but then my Apple Watch is generally too generous.

And so between the two, what would you rather have? yeah, and then unlike an Apple Watch which lasts a day, this , no exaggeration, lasts 7 days on a charge. So you can do your entire holiday both in terms of clothes and watch without needing to change. . So the other cool thing about the back section of this bag is there are two separators. So three sections for

laptops, iPads, things that. But since we're going for the best affordable sweet spot here, most people should just go for one of those things. And if you're asking me which is the thing to go for, I would say this. the MacBook Air 13in with the M4 chip. It's not a brave choice. It's not an

unexpected choice, but I think it's one of the best choices. Assuming you're buying a computer for what most people are buying a computer for, internet documents presentations there isn't another laptop you can get that has this combination of battery life, screen quality, build quality, and this trackpad. You can also go for the 15-in, which is the one I have here, but

13 is the best value. The M3 chip can be had for 20% less than even that with very little noticeable difference. The only thing left to do now when you go away is to just make sure you have your mobile data sorted. So I'm going away to Peru later this year. I could either order a physical local SIM, but realistically it's just going to be a massive hassle. Or I open up SY, our

sponsor Peru, pick the package that suits me. I'm not going to need more than 5 GB, so that will be $28. Click continue and done. So, it takes 1 minute to pack this bag, assuming you don't take everything apart I've done here. And then by the end of the second minute, you can have your data package sorted. The very first time you set up an ESIM, there is a couple

data package sorted. The very first time you set up an ESIM, there is a couple more steps. But the thing that's particularly cool about SY is that as soon as you've done that setup once, you can add all future countries that you want to travel to that one eSIM as opposed to having to set up a new one each time with also an included VPN so that I can watch Netflix shows from back

home while I'm away, which I probably will, and an ad blocker and web protection built in case I want to use public Wi-Fi networks, which I probably will. So go to s.com/boss and use our code boss to get an exclusive 15% off all SY plans.