In the corner of my basement sits a dusty Rubbermaid bin crammed with a decade’s worth of outdated and obsolete electronics, otherwise known as e-waste. It’s a tangle of cords, cables, clickers, cameras, camcorders, components, as well as graveyard of outdoor gear. There are wonky headlamps and dead camping lanterns, an old avalanche beacon and outdated GPS, some walkie talkies, and a couple of digital pocket cameras.

You probably have a similar bin. We know in our guts that this stuff doesn’t belong in the landfillI so we hoard it because a) we don’t know what to do with it, and b) it was expensive and maybe we’ll need that random cord someday.

E-waste has become an enormous problem for our planet. It’s the fastest growing waste stream in the world, even larger than plastic, yet only 12 percent of it currently gets recycled. This unfortunate fact has huge ramifications for the environment, and for people living near areas where the items get dumped, says Justin Stockdale, director of zero waste hauling at , a nonprofit recycling center in Boulder, Colorado.

“Hidden inside all the random cords and contraptions are valuable and finite resources like lithium, copper, gold, silver, lead, and palladium,” Stockdale says. “When these materials are disposed of improperly—which they often are, in disadvantaged communities—it can be a disaster for the soil and groundwater and the health of the people nearby, particularly children.”

Because e-waste contains so much valuable material, a shady form of “recycling” has emerged. Companies pose as recyclers, luring consumers to donate their electronics, which are then packaged and shipped to developing countries. Basel Action Network, a nonprofit that champions global environmental health and justice, calls it “,” and explains why on its website.��“As a result of this massive, global flow of e-waste, former farming villages in countries like Vietnam, China, and Nigeria are now e-waste dumps. In these impoverished communities, recycling” often means burning circuit boards, soaking microchips in acid, and burning plastics to sort them by order. In short, it means poisoning people and the planet.”

The good news: proper recycling of any and all consumer electronics is free and simple, as long as you know where to take them.

Before You Recycle E-Waste, Ask Yourself This

Is there still life left in that item? Does it still work, just not as well as you’d like? Does it just need a minor repair? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, your goal should be to find someone who will keep using it until it’s end of life. You could donate it to a local charity, resell it, or for outdoor specific items, send it to ���ϳԹ���’s program. Just print out a free shipping label and send it off to our repair partner, Gear Fix, which will make needed minor repairs and resell it. We donate 100 percent of the proceeds to charity.

E-Waste Recycling Near You

Some communities have excellent local options (like Eco-Cycle in Boulder). The key is to look for a recycler that’s This designation��ensures that the valuable materials, like gold, silver, copper, lithium, aluminum, and palladium, as well as toxic materials like lead, mercury, and cadmium are extracted and put back into the marketplace.

Electronics Recyclers International (ERI) is the largest e-Stewards recycler in the U.S. The company processes 100,000 tons of e-waste each year.

Thanks to ERI’s partnership with two of America’s mega retailers, recycling our e-waste responsibly is as simple as a drive to the nearest or . Both chains accept virtually any consumer electronics at no cost. This collected e-waste gets shipped off to one of ERI’s eight facilities around the country, where the recycling process��begins.

“Our first step when we receive materials is to sort out the items that may contain private data and immediately destroy it,” says John Shegerian, chairman and CEO of ERI. “After sanitization, items are sorted to determine if there is still a useful life for a device through repair or re-use methods. This amounts to 2.3 to 3 million devices per year that we’re able to put back into use.”

For items that can’t be repurposed, ERI removes all batteries, which are recycled separately. “We’re left with what we call the electronic carcass which includes all the plastic, metals, glass, and precious metals,” says Shegerian.�� This material goes into a series of proprietary e-waste shredders (check out the video below), which turn it into what looks like coarse gray flakes flecked with colored bits, but is actually a valuable commodity.

Once shredded, the material flows into a complex sorting apparatus that uses robots, artificial intelligence, magnets, and ocular technology to divide it into various and specific reusable commodities, which then get sold to smelters and manufacturers who put them back into the circular economy.

“Ninety-eight percent of the material we receive gets repurposed,” says Shegerian. “Less than two percent is waste and is diverted to landfills.”

How to Recycle Batteries

Never throw a battery in your trash or a single-stream recycle bin. “It will eventually lead to groundwater contamination,” Stockdale says.

Although Shegerian says that ERI they can handle any batteries—single-use alkaline or lithium—that remain in any devices that make it to them, some retailers (like Staples, currently) ask that you remove them before recycling. So, what should you do with your used batteries? Call2Recycle is an e-Stewards certified battery recycler with more than . Alkaline and lithium are often different waste streams, so before you drop your batteries in a bin, check the signage to make sure you’ve got the right one.

The bottom line, says Shegerian, is that there’s no reason any electronics should go to the landfill. “Everyone in the country has access to a Staples or Best Buy. Get your e-waste there, and we’ll take care of the rest.”

Doing right by the planet can make you happier, healthier, and—yes—wealthier. ���ϳԹ���’s head of sustainability, Kristin Hostetter, explores small lifestyle tweaks that can make a big impact. Write to her at climateneutral-ish@outsideinc.com.

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I spent the first two-plus years of my professional photography career shooting on a , a camera that those in the know would label��“”��at best. That single body helped me make a livable wage not because I’m a photo savant, but because I paired it with premium lenses. One of the long-held yet rarely written rules of photography is this: quality glass rules all.

But as camera technology becomes more advanced and use cases become more extreme, that paradigm is shifting. Full-frame cameras still hold the upper hand in resolution and editability (RAW files have no equal), but the delta between the two has shrunk considerably. While Apple deserves a tip of the hat for clever algorithms that replicate a short depth of field, your smartphone isn’t the best pocket-size adventure camera, in my opinion. I think that award goes to the new ($500).

GoPro has built a reputation as a maker of waterproof and durable action cameras—with capable photo and video engines to boot. But the Hero 10 improves on the performance chops of its predecessors. It incorporates a noticeably faster processor and new video stabilization, among other upgrades, which have earned it a permanent place in my camera bag.

The Ideal User

The true calling card of the Hero 10 is its durability—that’s what the line has always been based on. At just 5.6 ounces, with a burly waterproof casing and lens (down to 33 feet, according to the company), the 10 is able to tackle jobs that even the smallest mirrorless camera can’t. It’s ideal for ultrarunners, mountain bikers, surfers, kayakers, scuba divers, dirt bikers, and climbers who want to dip their toes in pro-level photo and video editing, without dropping thousands to get their feet in the door.

Among professional shooters, though, GoPros have long been a punchline. Their promise was good in theory, but in practice the footage rarely, if ever, was useful: video was often shaky, blurry, and, until the last couple iterations, relatively low-resolution for pro videographers. The Hero 10 Black is different. It’s a great tool for immersive point-of-view video clips and a capable still-photography camera too, thanks to high-enough resolution and RAW formatting, which improve postproduction editing.

Notable Upgrades

The biggest improvements start with the new GP2 processor, which delivers double the frame rate of the Hero 9, up to 5.3K at 60 frames and 4K at 120. With the 10, you can now capture photos at 23 megapixels—that’s three megapixels more than my trusty Canon 6D. It can capture 8x slo-mo and allows users to grab 19.6-megapixel stills from footage. These specs make the Hero 10 Black a worthy upgrade from the Hero 9.

Cruising on flowy singletrack (Video: Andy Cochrane)

After a few weeks of testing, those stats are far from the full story. GoPro rolled out HyperSmooth 4.0, a video stabilization and horizon-leveling software that helps make my mountain-biking footage look like I almost know what I’m doing. Even for bikers who over-brake in rough, rutty, and technical sections of trail, the footage won’t make anyone nauseated. (���ϳԹ��� covered the brand’s impressive HyperSmooth 3.0 technology before, but the 4.0 makes video look even silkier.) There is better in-camera preview functionality as well, so you can see clips out on the trail instead of waiting until you get home. The 10 also has 50 percent faster file transfers that streamline the download process. The touch interface is more responsive and easier to use, despite the same size screen.

What Could Be Improved

GoPro’s Achilles heel—poor battery life in cold conditions—persists. The Hero 10 uses the same battery as the Hero 9 (still a 30 percent boost over older versions) but has the same, if not worse, battery life due to higher frame rates and a larger demand from the upgraded processor. Although I haven’t tested it extensively in winter, on early-morning runs with temperatures floating near freezing, the battery life was subpar. Skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers should bring hand warmers to keep spare batteries warm, especially if they plan on shooting all day.

The Upshot

The Hero 10 Black comes with a few nice additional upgrades worth mentioning. The new lens cover is removable, splashproof, and scratch-resistant. The 10 can be used as a webcam with 1080p video and a wide field of view. It can also be used for livestreaming, time-lapses, and scheduled shooting. While I didn’t test any of these extensively for this first look, I do see them as viable tools in the future.

GoPro also improved its noise reduction in its video, which is especially useful in low light. While it’s still far from my go-to camera at dawn and dusk, it did capture an evening trail run without feeling like The Blair Witch Project. Like previous versions of the action cam, the Hero 10 offers a handful of unique that can expand the field of view and provide a directional mic, a light, and a flippable screen.

If you’re still on the fence about upgrading to the in preference to the , another action cam, or your smartphone, the decision will come down to how—and how much—you plan to use it. The price could feel fairly steep if you plan to use it as an occasional tool for capturing fun clips for friends and family. However, if you’re looking to frequently record and produce pro-level images and videos with lots of motion, the noticeably improved processor, stabilization software, and photo capabilities make it a worthy addition to the tool bag.

The post The GoPro Hero 10 Black: a Reliable, Improved ���ϳԹ��� Cam appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

I’ve been reviewing iPhones for seven years now, and I start every story with a similar disclaimer: if you want a camera system that you can use for professional photography, don’t spend your money on the newest iPhone. Keep your old phone and invest in a full-frame mirrorless camera instead.

However, if you like the way an iPhone fits snugly in your pocket, and you mostly use its camera for Instagram snaps, then the new ��(starting at $999) is a worthy investment. Apple let me test the phone in mid-September—right after the company’s annual keynote address and before the phone went on sale—and I’ve been shooting with it nonstop to get a feel for the improved camera features. Below are some pictures I shot with the phone, as well as a breakdown of the upgrades I’m most excited about.

Macro Photography

If you were shooting with a normal camera and wanted to pack wide, superwide, and portrait lenses, you would easily fill a camera backpack. Apple, however, has managed to add all of those lenses to the back of a phone, and this year it added a macro lens to the mix. The macro doesn’t show up as its own lens on the back of the phone, though; it works through the ultrawide lens and automatically turns on when you place the phone close to an object. Apple says you can get within two centimeters of anything—a flower, a bug, tree bark—to snap a pic. After testing this mode, I found that the phone shoots crisp, vibrant photos that bring a whole new perspective to what’s deemed photographable around us. Macro photography is not something I use every day, but it was fun knowing that I have a macro lens in my pocket to pull out on occasion.

A Longer Telephoto Lens

When Apple launched its 56-millimeter zoom lens on the iPhone 7 Plus, I was excited to have a longer lens on my phone. That said, I also balked at the words telephoto or zoom, because a 56-millimeter lens is not a true lens of that type by traditional photo standards. Luckily, the brand found ways to pack longer lenses in subsequent phones. Last year it gave us a 65-millimeter lens on the 12 Pro Max, and now the 13 Pro comes with a 77-millimeter lens, which is pretty close to 85 millimeters, or the gold standard for a telephoto portrait lens. I loved having a 77-millimeter lens, because it makes your subject look more natural (there’s no wide-angle distortion of their face or body), creates a tighter composure so your subject fills more of the frame, and does a great job of creating bokeh. With a true portrait lens in my pocket, it was fun to push myself to really work on this type of photography. My kids, wife, and dogs got sick of me telling them to stop for a portrait, but I’ve always found that portraits of my family are my most cherished photos.

The Right Balance Between Software and Hardware

Apple uses a lot of smart software to enhance the iPhone camera. Night Mode, for example, is an automatic bracketing feature that helps you nail low-light images. Smart HDR (high dynamic range) is another bracketing feature that uses machine learning to teach the camera how to take different exposures for different parts of each photo, ensuring you get a well-balanced shot in tricky light.

But software is just half the equation. As I hammered home on my iPhone 12 Pro review, you also need high-quality hardware, like lenses and sensors, to make great photos. Those components drink in the light and allow the software to perform its magic. The Apple lenses are sharp and fast, and the brand has been steadily making sensor upgrades, too. A pro-quality, full-frame sensor hasn’t been squeezed into an iPhone—yet—but the sensor behind the Pro 13’s 26-millimeter wide camera is the company’s largest sensor to date, and it makes a difference. Paired with a faster f/1.5 aperture, that sensor allows the wide camera lens to take in 2.2 times more light than the 12 Pro’s wide camera, and nearly 1.5 times more light than the 12 Pro Max’s wide camera. More light equals more data, which results in improved overall image quality, more detail, less grain in low-light photos, and the ability to print bigger and better photos off your phone. A larger sensor also allows for faster shutter speeds across various light settings for sharper images. Thanks to a new sensor and faster aperture, Apple also says the ultrawide camera takes in 92 percent more light.

Photographic Styles, or Filters

Filters, like the ones you can apply with Instagram, seem to fade in and out of fashion. They were all the rage five years ago, but then photographers started to lean more toward natural-looking photos. Now, filters are making a comeback, and Apple is paying attention. With the introduction of Photographic Styles, the Pro 13 can automatically apply one of four filters to every photo you shoot—there’s no need to go back and apply them manually.

Each filter (vibrant, rich contrast, rich warm, and cool) can be manually controlled for intensity, and Apple’s suggested settings ensure that the photos don’t look overdone. Apple also designed the filters to enhance a photo without messing with the skin tone of your subject—a smart new addition.

Other Things You Should Know

On the video side, the biggest upgrade is something called Cinematic Mode, which allows you to add bokeh to your footage. In this mode, the camera will lock onto the faces in your frame and choose which subject to focus on, based on who’s looking toward the camera. (You can also control where the camera focuses by tapping the screen.) Meanwhile, everyone else in the frame gets blurred out, using a low depth of field. It’s a cool feature that can enhance your storytelling, and it’s a style of shooting that’s long been used by professional cinematographers.

Apple says the 13 Pro features up to 90 minutes more battery life compared to the 12 Pro, which is great if you’re out all day shooting photos. The brand is also offering a one-terabyte storage option, so you’re almost guaranteed to have enough space on your phone—unless you’re constantly shooting long clips of high-res video. And unlike the 12 Pro Max, which had a faster wide camera lens, the cameras on the 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max are identical. I like this mirroring, because I prefer to carry the smaller Pro instead of the Pro Max, as it takes up less room in my pocket and is much easier to use with one hand.

The post I Tested the Apple iPhone 13 Pro. The Camera Quality Is Ridiculous. appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

In this episode of the 101, Bryan Rogala explains why the ��($207)��is one of the best upgrades you can add to��any rig.

The post The Case for Adding a Battery Monitor to Your Rig appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

��believes in “endless curiosity.” That��guiding philosophy��led her to come up with the goal of��trying something new every month. When Blount��told us about her challenge, we thought, Now that’s something we can get behind. So she and ���ϳԹ�����teamed up with the folks at Topo Designs to bring you Beyond Familiar,��a video series about “the journey, the joy, and the try.”��Follow along as Blount��explores activities that she’s never tried before. In the first��episode, she learns to ride a board amid the��redwoods of Santa Cruz, California. Learn more about Blount��in this recent ���ϳԹ��� article.��

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With all due respect to the makers of real and useful multitools, and with no constraints of what would actually fit in a product,��I designed the perfect multitool. I believe we have to dream big. (But I also believe it is quite probably impossible to stow a pizza cutter inside the handle of any multitool.)

Brendan Leonard’s new book, Bears Don’t Care About Your Problems: More Funny Shit in the Woods from , is .

The post A New, Almost Completely Unrealistic Multitool Design appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

When I first began bike racing a decade ago, I quickly discovered the particular horrors of indoor training. I bought a set of , taped a training plan to my handlebars, and spent much of that dark winter’s night of the soul staring at the wall while��trying to hit 300-watt intervals as��a raging chorus of metal pulsed through my earbuds.

When the online racing and training platform Zwift debuted in 2014, it felt like a revelation. No more solitary penitence—now I could suffer along with others, on what looked like actual roads, albeit on a screen. I pretty hard. It was a bit ��but vastly better than before.

Meanwhile, my equipment was in transition. From rollers I switched to a , a “wheel-on” trainer—basically a smart roller��for your bike. Then I upgraded to the , in which the rear wheel is removed and the bike is attached to the trainer’s cassette. I later added the , an indoor “grade simulator” that’s attached to the bike’s front forks—goodbye front wheel.

I’d gone from riding a whole bike, intact and free��but��on rollers,��to a semi-attached setup��to, finally, a fully attached rig, in which my bike had been reduced to its frame, resting on peripherals. Like some kind of natural selection, it was slowly shedding vestigial organs.

And so when Wahoo’s new was delivered to my house recently, it seemed like the logical next step:��a machine purpose-built for indoor training.

At $3,500, it costs more than many decent road bikes. Heck, it costs a grand more than a Peloton bike. The idea of spending that much on a device designed to go no farther than my spare bedroom might have seemed risible a few years ago.��

And yet, as indoor training, largely for reasons of convenience and efficiency, has become more important to me (I’m now a level 40 Zwifter, which basically means I’ve been riding indoors a lot��for several years), the Kickr Bike suddenly seemed an attractive proposition. Instead of constantly trying to domesticate my outdoor��road bikes, why not ride something that had been bred for the specific requirements of its native environment and not have to switch between them?��

Indeed, an entire market has rapidly emerged to meet this seemingly surging demand: there’s Garmin’s , the , the .��

As I’ve been living in the Wahoo ecosystem, I was drawn to its product. But would the Kickr Bike actually be better than my existing setup? And could it remotely justify the cost, which was about $1,700 more than my current setup?

I headed to my pain cave, where the Kickr Bike now had pride of place. Setup was fast and intuitive. Via the Wahoo app, the user has several options: you can import your fit data, if you have it, from one of several established systems,��you can take a set of pictures of your existing bike,��or you can simply input your body measurements.

After taking a few snaps of my current setup with my phone, I was given measurements for my saddle and handlebars (all of which have clear centimeter markings on them), as well as the overall frame geometry. Unlatching the quick-release levers, I slid everything into its proper place. Next��I attached my pedals, then fired up a Zwift group ride and was ready to roll.

My first impression was the smoothness of the pedal stroke. It didn’t seem jumpy or glitchy, and shifting felt quick and fairly natural. Shifting happens via traditional levers, and the rider can choose, via the app, any of the leading systems (Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM), as well as any number of gearing configurations. You want to push a 53/39? Go ahead. Feel better with a compact chainring? You’re a button push away.

The Kickr was comfortable but, more importantly, it felt like a road bike. You not only coast on downhills, but the bike pitches down—which feels strange the first time, as, with no front wheel, you’re essentially dangling into empty space.

The next thing I noticed was the sound, or lack thereof. A few years ago, I had a sound-engineer friend drag his equipment to my pain cave, and we measured the audio signatures of several trainers. The main takeaway was that while some were quieter than others, they all make a different sound; some kick out a rumbly bass, some emit a high-frequency whine. By informal poll (i.e.,��my wife and daughter), the Kickr Bike was my quietest setup to date.��

Early in that first Zwift ride, I suddenly became stuck in one (fairly low) gear. It happened again during my next event, a Zwift race. I ended up doing 24 hard miles at an ultrahigh cadence, an experience I’ll not soon forget. I got someone from Wahoo on the phone, and we walked through various possible problems. He concluded it must be some hardware issue (in all fairness, the bike was a demo unit��and had been shipped to many different testers over a period of weeks). He sent a new set of handlebars, and the next day, the problem was gone.

I was sold after a week of testing. I’d completed a number of Zwift rides and races with the new bars with nary a hitch. The power numbers I was hitting seemed true and consistent. I didn’t have to do any time-consuming “spindowns,” the process of calibrating your trainer’s power settings to Zwift, and I didn’t suffer any dropouts. I no longer had a chain to worry about slipping or lubing, and as I powered through 1,000-watt sprints, I didn’t fret that I was somehow damaging my expensive road bike. (It’s a source of whether trainers can be bad for your road bike.)

And it didn’t just benefit me. The bike’s sheer range of size parameters meant my wife and daughter could each ride the bike��after just a few minutes’ tweaking. Logistically and aesthetically, the Kickr Bike has a slightly smaller and more attractive footprint than my previous trainer-bike combos—although it’s still not quite living-room worthy.

There were also a few flaws. The shifting display, which lurks to the right of the top tube, is not so easy to see—especially when I drape a towel over the bars in a vain effort to mop up the torrent of sweat I produce. There’s nowhere to hold a phone or an iPad, which are as important as a water bottle when it comes to indoor riding (though an accessory is said to be coming). And the wires coming out of the handlebars are a tad unsightly.

So: Is it better than what I had before? Absolutely. Rather than trying to get the best out of a machine designed to be ridden outdoors, I felt like I was on a high-fidelity device that seamlessly interacted with a virtual world indoors. Honestly, it’s been a bit hard to go back. My demo unit was returned to the company, but I’ve since been plotting to buy one. Do I want to pay $3,500? That’s more complicated. Like any proper cyclist, I subscribe to the notion that the ideal number of bikes is n plus��one. If you are dead serious about indoor training—if, say, you ride nearly half your miles under artificial light—maybe it’s time to sell one of those other bikes and embrace the great indoors.

The post Is a $3,500 Indoor Bike Worth It? appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

��is a radio host and an activist within her Detroit community. She��partnered with the to equip low-income families with solar panels for their homes. , from production company , highlights the impact a few solar panels can have on a neighborhood.

The post Alex Honnold’s Foundation Goes to Detroit appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

In this episode of the 101, Bryan Rogala shows us��how he prefers to��stay in touch��while on the road. Cell-phone signal boosters, like the , are easy to install��in any vehicle in less than ten��minutes. They’re a great adventure-rig��upgrade for anyone who spends a lot of time in remote areas.

The post Get Better Cell Service in Any Rig appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

Here’s a scenario I’m sure you’re familiar with: You’re about to board a flight when the gate attendant hands you a pink tag, saying they’re going to have to check your carry on. Despite your protests, the flight has no more overhead bin space (and, let’s be honest, that overstuffed roller wasn’t going to fit anyway). You wave goodbye to your suitcase, hoping its contents will emerge unscathed at your destination. Once you find your seat, the panic sets in—you realize you’ve left your [insert expensive electronic device here] in the bag. You then spend the rest of the flight praying you won’t unpack it to find a damaged camera or laptop.

In my years as a professional videographer, I’ve learned how to best keep my gear intact the hard way. Now, I pass those lessons onto you.��

Keep the Essentials On You

First, always pack all of your electronics in your carry on. (This might seem obvious, but I’ve traveled with plenty of people who don’t.)��Make sure they’re easily accessible, so if your bag gets gate-checked at the last minute, you’re able to grab your most valuable items to take with you.

Sometimes if I’m heading out for a big shoot, I end up having to check some equipment. If I do, I always make sure to keep my most fragile and essential items on me (namely, my camera, main lens, and batteries), even if that means jamming them into a backpack and stuffing them under the seat in front of me. That way, even if my luggage is lost, I still have the bare essentials needed to do my job. You should apply the same principals to your trip—for most people, this means keeping their laptop, tablet, and phone with them at all times.��

Invest in Global Entry��

If you see yourself traveling internationally at least once in the next five years, you should enroll in . It costs $100, includes for domestic travel (which costs $85 on its own), and allows you to leave your electronics in your bag at security. Not only does this save you time, but means there’s less potential to lose or damage something in screening.��

Get Organized

Packing things properly takes time and effort, and most people end up just shoving things haphazardly into their bag. This is where an electronics organizer comes in handy. Peak Design makes some of my favorite travel accessories, including this . It’s a bomber little bag that’ll help keep your small electronics and cords strategically stashed without much extra effort.��

Charging cables are especially important to keep organized—they provide the life-blood of your electronics and have a tendency to tangle when let loose in your bag. Cords wear out quickly and fray easily, so keep them neatly coiled with and packed properly in a case.��

��

Get the Goods

Choosing a sturdy case is essential to keeping your stuff safe. Here are the ones I recommend for some popular electronics.

Backpack

These are probably the most convenient way to carry your electronics, and having the right one is crucial for both organization and protection. has a padded, 13-inch laptop sleeve that doubles as a holder for a hydration bladder, plus awesome safety features to protect against thieves, including an RFID blocking pocket, lockable zippers, and a hidden lock that attaches to a fixed object (like a park bench or dresser in your hotel room). The stainless steel wire mesh woven into the fabric protects the bag from gashes, but, even with all that metal, it remains lightweight and easy to carry.����

Phone and Tablet Cases

Although most of today’s higher end smartphones come with , you probably want a case that will protect it from impact. OtterBox’s series is my favorite. They’re a bit bulky, but the polycarbonate shell and rubber slipcover have proven more durable than any other I’ve tried.

Camera Bag��

are easily packable despite the substantial padding, and the small version has enough room for a body and a few lenses. The bag is also weatherproof thanks to a nylon exterior, so you don’t have to worry about your kit getting soaked.

Checked Bag

If, like me, you have no choice but to check your electronics, opt for a hard case. I use the because it rolls, is small enough to fit in an overhead bin, and gives me utter confidence that my gear will arrive in one piece. The is a worthwhile add-on because it lets you easily customize the inside of the Pelican to snugly fit your equipment.

Hard Drives

If you use one for work or to store travel photos, a separate, dedicated is worth it. Drives contain tiny moving parts that are highly susceptible to damage from drops or being jostled around while loose in your pack. Investing one like the , which can withstand falls from four feet high and is resistant to shock, rain, and pressure. I’ve been beating up my LaCie drives for years and haven’t lost a single megabyte of data.��

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