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After a busy year, these are the top travel gifts our hardware editor recommends after putting them to the test
I do n’t know about you , but I ’ve been traveling a draw this year . In fact , I ’ve been back to my 2019 levels of travel , which has been a breath of impudent air after being pandemic - establish for a dyad of years .
I like to recall to this list every prison term TechCrunch does a gift guide . It ’s a good opportunity for me to assess whether I ’m pack as efficiently as I could be . I would like to think I ’ve go this thing down to a skill , but the beauty of being ahardware editoris that there ’s always new stuff to try out out .
If you ’ve dumbfound a frequent flier in your life , here ’s a listing of traveling gifts running the gamut from less than $ 20 to more than $ 1,000 , several of which are now available at a deduction for holiday and Black Friday deals . There ’s something on here for every kind of tech - haunt change of location .
This clause carry links to affiliate partners where available . When you buy through these links , TechCrunch may clear an affiliate mission .
Tom Bihn Synik 30 Backpack
Price: $330 at Tom Bihn
If you ’ve seen me in the past several years , odds are my Timbuk2 backpack was near by . I still love the thing ( the ability to spread out its interior volume is indispensable ) , but this seemed like a good sentence to shake thing up and seek something new .
Tom Bihn is one of those companies I ’ve pick up about over the years , but whose products I ’d never really tried . The 51 - year - old firm seems to have cultivated a similarly devoted following as fellow Seattle steel Filson ( if you ever seeDevin Coldeweyin person , require him his mentation on wax sail ) . Neither are on the button a home name outside the PNW , but those who bang them seem to love them .
When I toldCEO Cindy Guanthat I was working on a travel roundup , she advocate the Synik 30 , and I guess that ’s the correct call for my want . For dispatcher , it can fit laptops up to 16 inches — idealistic for the15 - in MacBook Airthat ’s been my travel fellow traveller for the past couple of age .
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Beyond that , it ’s just an all - around well - considered and good - looking product ( dig the deep Wilderness Ballistic green color ) with plenteous outer space , a ton of pocket and obliterable / customizable constituent . It ’s not cheap , though . The troupe offers some more low-cost alternative , but the Synik is enough long-lasting and suitable for both travel and daily commute , so you ’ll get plenty of mileage out of the bag . It ’s easily one of the best knapsack I ’ve ever tested .
Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe
Price: $150 at Anker
Anker products are generally a secure bet . They ’re high calibre , without the same premium taxation as a company like Mophie . The make has also been innovating form factor quite a bit . This 3 - in-1 charger is wildly compact and well suitable for travelling bag . It ships as a cube that folds out to charge a MagSafe compatible iPhone , Apple Watchand AirPods all at the same time .
The system supports 15 watt fast charging , while the MagSafe pad boast an adjustable angle , so it can double tariff in standby mode . No pauperization to rely on the hotel alarm clock with this seat next to your bedside .
At $ 150 , it ’s a honest mountain more than just buy a USB cable and wall adapter , but you ’re efficaciously getting three chargers in one portable form factor that will free up a lot of change of location space .
Apple MacBook Air 15-inch
Price: $1,049 at Amazon
TheM1 and M2 chipshave been such monolithic gamechangers for travel . When I ’m feeling particularly nostalgic for my older struggles , I ’ll recollect my days liveblogging for Engadget , when I had to bring along a monolithic power depository financial institution to make certain my laptop would come through the whole thing .
These day , however , I fly cross country without regard for charge up up my Air . Let ’s be honest , the sales outlet below the buns on Delta are a real crap game anyway . This is the laptop we always want the Air to be , but constraint on processing baron and battery biography always fell brusque .
As gifts go , it ’s an expensive one . But more so than any other item on this list , this is an investment funds . If you ’re not able-bodied to log Z’s on planes , at least you’re able to in the end get some real oeuvre done .
Ozlo Sleepbuds
Price: $229 at Indiegogo
I ’m going to do a thing I do n’t usually do and recommend a product I ’ve not had the luck to adjudicate yet . I ’ve got some faith in the team behind the Ozlo Sleepbuds , pass on their pedigree that played a critical character in the creation of Bose ’s version . The companionship is also compulsive to fasten some of the original ‘ bud bounteous issues , including their unfitness to teem euphony .
I always felt like Bose ’s two swings at the product fell just short of greatness . That ’s a bummer , as I ’m a historically awful sleeping car and I really want to like the things . Attempting to sleep in steady earbuds and over - pinna headphones is a bit of a nightmare scenario , so I ’m really pulling for the production to be as honorable as it sounds .
We ’ll keep you updated on the inevitable reappraisal . Meantime , you could preorder a pair overon Indiegogofor $ 229 — that ’s $ 20 less than the Bose Sleepbuds II . How much are you willing to pay for a better night ’s eternal sleep ?
Nintendo Switch Lite
Price: $199 at Amazon
Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild probably saved me from lose my judgment during the early months of the pandemic . tear of the Kingdom had a alike effect on me to begin with this year . The Switch Lite is a great little portable scheme that ’s idealistic for farseeing airplane drive and during downtime at the hotel .
The full-grown difference between the Lite and normal Switch are size , weight and a want of TV connectivity . Because of the latter , the Joycons are n’t removable . If you anticipate the console pass a lot of time on the route , those sacrifices are more than worth it — not to mention the lower damage stop .
The Switch is getting a turn long in the tooth , six years after its release , but Nintendo has built a fantastic depository library of game in that fourth dimension — not to note access to older message through Switch Online . My biggest ailment stay the battery life , so definitely remember to pack that USB - C cable’s length and turn on Airplane style when able-bodied .
Apple AirTags 4-Pack
Price: $80 at Amazon
My advice ? Buy the four - pack . I regret not doing that initially . I ’ve since add AirTags to my keychain , pocketbook and baggage tatter . As an almost comically absent - minded person with a lot of anxiety ( bang-up compounding ! ) , these things are worth the price for the heartsease of mind alone . Heck , I used the alert sound to find oneself my Key inside my messy apartment about an 60 minutes ago .
If you ’re an Android substance abuser , there are also some dandy alternatives out there from Tile , Chipolo and Samsung . They ’re all great , relatively low - cost gifts that nearly anyone can ascertain a use for — frequent traveler , in particular .
Amazon Kindle Scribe
Price: $239 at Amazon
Theoriginal Kindle DX was a bit of a dud . I distrust tie a product ’s successes to masses ’s desire to read newspapers in their original format via behind - loading e ink did n’t capture the public ’s vision as Amazon had hoped . Since then , there ’s been very little in the fashion of deflection from the stock six - inch silver screen .
The 10.2 - inch display was reason enough to make me check out the Scribe . I really like the larger data formatting , and the big Kindle has been a changeless fixing in my back pack ever since . The whole experience has opened up quite a bit with the reaching of Send - to - Kindle , a web internet browser - based feature of speech that allow ’s you sweep up and strike down content that will be charge to your twist the next time you kindle it up .
Of naturally , the real marketing period — as the name imply — is the ability to scrawl musical note on the machine . It ’s the first Kindle to sport that functionality . I ’ve been remind the hard manner that my typing is much smoother than my script , but the on - twist hand detection is mercifully exonerative .
A year of Clear
Price: $189
Turns out air locomotion can actually be pretty dainty — if you ’re willing to give . If you find yourself in several airdrome a twelvemonth , this is one upgrade that can definitely justify the cost . A Clear pass will help you avoid the often fiendish security lines at airports . It even gives you a leg up on ethnic music with TSA Pre - Check .
It ’s a capital gift estimation because it ’s the kind of thing a lot of people would never think to buy for themselves . Once you ’ve got it , however , it ’s knockout to know how you lived that long without it .
Beshon Flat Plug Power Strip
Price: $13 at Amazon
Several years ago , I started packing a miniature index strip , and it ’s been a game changer . While it ’s true that more and more hotels are including in - room port , you never screw what you ’re go to find until you open that door . preserve yourself the grief of trade sparking plug all dark with one of these .
There are a ton of options out there — mostly at jolly near prices . I like this one , because it ’s gracious and compact , while packing in three electric outlet , a couplet of USB - C port and one USB - A , because you never know . It ’s also a incentive for outside traveling , because you only need a exclusive adapter .
Belkin iPhone Camera Mount
Price: $23 at Amazon
My newest addition to the leaning has been another gamechanger for me . While it ’s true that Apple improved its laptop cameras a couple of years back , the video caliber still leaves much to be desired . If you have a Mac and an iPhone , the Continuity Camera feature film breaks the game wide open .
I ’ve been using the iPhone 15 Pro Max for work calls on the route , and nothing myopic of hook up a DSLR to your computer comes near . This MagSafe supplement is a cheap addition to the arsenal that you’re able to keep in your back pack and forget until you need it .
This Emily Price Post originally published November 3 , and has been update to reflect update pricing and deals .
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