When I (Adrienne) travel for work, I typically carry a Tom Bihn bag, and the clamshell Synik 22 is my favorite. It has a lot of pockets, and they’re all thoughtfully designed. For example, the zippered water bottle pocket is located in the middle of the backpack instead of on the side, so it won’t tip you off balance. The pen pockets are located in flaps on the side rather than in the middle top, for convenient access. The exterior is made from Bluesign-certified 400-denier ballistic nylon with top-of-the-line YKK water-repellent zippers. Each bag has a lifetime guarantee.
Because the bag is so small, the pass-through on the back is only 7 inches wide—too narrow to slip over the handle of a carry-on. And the dense fabric and plentiful hardware—the zippers, O-rings, and buckles—make it a little heavy. But in the 22-liter size, I didn’t notice the extra weight. It’s the perfect, organized conference companion, but it’s on the highest end of what we think is worth spending on a bag.
★ A roll-top Tom Bihn: The Tom Bihn Addax for $294 has become one of my go-tos. Roll-top bags are more versatile than zippered ones. Don’t have enough room? Unroll it and stick your bike helmet in. Too much? Roll it down to compress the space. And if you live in a rainy area, roll-tops keep water from seeping through the top zippers.
Like all Tom Bihn bags, the pockets are metaphysical perfection, with a huge laptop pocket with two-way access that also has a tablet pocket for my Kindle, and front pockets with O-rings to hook keys and other sundries. It has a huge luggage pass-through and hefty padded shoulder straps. It’s also hand-sewn in the US from PFC-free material and has a lifetime warranty that’s as bombproof as the ballistic nylon fabric. It’s a good thing, because at this price, you only want to buy it once.
If you don’t have an electric kettle in your kitchen, you’re missing out. Not only are these appliances slightly more energy-efficient than using a stovetop, but they’re portable and boil water more quickly. These days, electric kettles come in various sizes with different kinds of spouts, and you’ll often find models with customizable temperature settings too—allowing you to set the perfect brew temp for your pour-over coffee or loose-leaf tea.
But there are a lot of electric kettles out there. If you’re looking for the best bang for your buck or one that’s particularly great for coffee, we’ve done the hard work for you. We’ve been using over a dozen models in our lives over the past year to find out what’s the best and what’s junk. These are our favorite electric kettles worthy of your countertop.
For more kitchen guides, check out the Best Espresso Machines, the Best Latte & Cappucino Makers, the Best Air Fryers and the Best Chef’s Knives.
Updated May 2023: We’ve added the Breville IQ, KitchenAid Pro Line, Wolf Gourmet True Temperature and Hay Sowden kettles.
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If you’re using alkaline batteries, remove them from the flashlight if it’s going to sit unused for a long time, otherwise they’ll leak and cause problems. Store them near the flashlight so you can easily find them. Try taping the batteries to the flashlight barrel.
Pro tip: The best-performing flashlights are built specifically to use lithium-ion batteries or have nonremovable rechargeable batteries, which won’t do you any good if the power is out for a long time. Rechargeable nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) AA batteries maintain their performance better over the lifetime of the battery, whereas alkalines’ performance drops off more as they deplete, so buy some Panasonic Eneloops for $41. They’re better for the environment, but if they run out of charge you can still use regular alkaline AAs.
You may prefer to keep a headlamp handy. The Petzl Actik for $40 is my favorite model and has never let me down, from snowy mountains to dusty deserts. It runs on three easily found AAA batteries and has three brightness settings, the brightest of which is more than powerful enough for emergencies around the home.
A Lantern
Coleman 4D LED Camp Lantern
Photograph: Coleman
Coleman discontinued our previous favorite pick, the Divide+ Push Lantern, so the Coleman 4D LED Camp Lantern for $19 is the next-best choice for not a lot of coin. Flashlights do a poor job when you need to light up a whole room or if you need your hands free for a task. This basic lantern offers a single setting of 54 lumens, with a runtime of 175 hours on four D-cell batteries. That sounds like a lot, but next to other full-size battery-powered lanterns, such as the Coleman Twin LED lantern that uses eight D cells, it’s economical. Fifty-four lumens is not what I’d call bright, but it is plenty bright enough for most tasks, even reading, while conserving battery life.
If you want to save batteries or just prefer hanging out by gentle flickering candlelight, keep a spare emergency candle or two. The Coghlan’s 36-Hour Survival Candle for $10 has three wicks that’ll last for 12 hours each. Keep a lighter or some matches nearby.
A Water Purifier
Lifestraw Go Water Bottle
Photograph: Lifestraw
Most of the time, your water supply will work even when the power goes out. But major natural disasters can knock it out or damage it, and you might get dirty water. The LifeStraw Go Series Water Purifier Bottle for $45 marries the straw component of the LifeStraw Personal Water Filter with a BPA-free plastic bottle to filter out 99.99 percent of waterborne bacteria for up to 26 gallons of water. The original, bottleless straw is still a good backup option for $17, and it’ll filter up to 1,000 gallons.
Our previous top pick, the Grayl Ultralight Compact Purifier Bottle for $81, is still and excellent and dependle choice. It’s just expensive. Still, it’s a solid and fast one-person filter that’ll last 300 uses—a total of 40 gallons—before you need to swap the filter. It’s what I trust when traveling to countries with no guarantee of water sanitation.
New parents, here’s a tip: You might not even need a baby monitor. A healthy, hungry baby can shriek in tones piercing enough to bend metal, let alone your poor eardrums. Nevertheless, baby monitors can provide high-quality audio and crystal-clear video streams from the camera directly to a separate parent unit, your smartphone, tablet, or all three. This means you can move freely around the house while keeping a close eye on the baby as they sleep or play contentedly in their crib. Here we take a look at the most intuitive baby monitors available online and rate them on design, features, picture, and audio quality to highlight just how well they work at keeping a watchful eye on your bundle of joy.
For more of our favorite baby gear picks, check out our Best Strollers and Best Baby Carriers buying guides and our Gift Guide for New Parents.
Updated May 2023: We’ve added new baby monitor picks from Simshine and Infant Optics.
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This year, Garmin released two high-end adventure watches: the Epix ($1,000) and this year’s update to the Fenix series, the Fenix 7S Sapphire Solar (8/10, WIRED Recommends). The Epix has a 47-mm case and a large, brilliant AMOLED screen; the Fenix has a memory-in-pixel (MIP) display. However, the Epix’s case is huge, and the display eats up a lot of battery. I’d go with the Fenix instead.
This year’s iteration has vastly improved battery life with solar charging—I got two weeks off one charge, with intermittent sunlight during a cloudy Oregon winter. Multiple GPS systems meant that it pinpointed my location with incredible speed and accuracy, even in the rain and under tree cover. It can record every biometric for every sport under the sun. And honestly, maps on the MIP still look detailed and pretty great. The downside? It is still fairly spendy, and earlier iterations do go on sale pretty often.
★ Alternative: If having a super bright, super crisp display or a super easy-to-use app is not at the top of your list of priorities, I highly recommend the Coros Apex 2 Pro. It connects to all five satellite systems and includes the dual-frequency GNSS support that the Apple Watch Ultra has, for more precise (and fast!) location tracking. With regular use, the battery lasted over a month.
The tracking is as accurate as the Apple Watch Ultra’s, but Coros’ training plans and metrics in their proprietary training system, EvoLab, are as detailed and helpful as Garmin’s. The plans are also clearly aimed at more experienced runners, although there are a few for beginners. I also like the big grooved buttons, the fact that the screen locks, and the startlingly wide variety of watch faces.
