Remember the days when I would actually get the gear post done in time for Black Friday so that you could get better prices? Well, those days are back, at least this year. I’m really excited about this year’s post because I have a few new things that I bet you aren’t aware of…
If you’re new to my annual gear post, I travel indefinitely (often 30+ days at a time) with a small backpack, and I maintain a list of everything I travel with every year. I’ve been doing it since about 2008, and people on onebag have said that I was the first one to do this style of post, though I have no way of knowing if that’s true for sure.
I’ve found that my typical cycle with gear is that I find the best thing possible, but often keep looking to upgrade it every year. Once in a while, though, I find something that I feel can’t possibly be improved. I’ve labeled these as “perfect” this year. That doesn’t mean I can’t be surprised by some new innovation, just that I love this item so much that it feels like it’s been designed to its perfect form.
I am always interested in reader suggestions, and usually incorporate one or two every year, and that’s especially true of items that aren’t perfect.
I do get affiliate commissions from some of the products here, but it does not affect my recommendations. If you look year over year you’ll see that I often replace commission items with non commission items. Sometimes companies give me things for free, but that also doesn’t affect me. I think integrity is important and my reputation is far more valuable to me than free products.
Wool and Prince Merino Henley Perfect
This is my second year using the Henley instead of a more traditional button-down. I like both, but the Henley is so soft and comfortable that it makes a big difference when trying to sleep on planes or curl up and read a book. It also has a lot more stretch, so it’s better for active things.
Buy at Wool and Prince
Wool and Prince V-Neck T-Shirt
New year, new color! This might be the longest running item on the gear list, though I’m not sure. Maybe I should start tracking how many years everything makes it and it would be like a competition. As always, I love this shirt but wish it had a pocket for folded up boarding passes.
If you’re new to the gear post, this is probably a good time to say that the only reason I’m able to keep my packing so light is because I wear wool. I routinely wear this shirt 7-14 days in a row without washing it, and it stays fresh. Wool and Prince is my favorite wool company, but there are other good ones out there, too.
This is literally the only shirt I wear all year, even when I’m at home, unless I have to go to a wedding. I generally switch colors every year, which shocks the people in my life because they’re so used to seeing me in one color.
Buy at Wool and Prince
Wool and Prince Stretch Canvas Pants
These pants made it another year! Last year I commented that I seemed to switch pants every year, but these are so good that I haven’t really even looked. They look like black jeans, have a really good amount of stretch, and are comfortable and durable… except the pockets!
I keep meaning to write in to my friends at Wool and Prince and tell them, but the pocket material isn’t durable enough and keeps tearing. I’ve had to resew my phone pocket twice this year after repeated awkward phone-down-the-pantlegs incidents.
The pocket issue is probably at least partially because I have a large oddly-shaped phone. I keep my phone in my left pocket and that’s the one that always breaks.
These are 55% merino wool, which is higher than most wool pant blends. You need some material besides wool to keep it durable, but despite these being a higher amount they have been extremely durable. I’ve put them through their paces, worn them every non-warm day, and they’re in perfect shape.
Unfortunately, as I was editing to add the links, I saw that these pants aren’t made anymore! I’m shocked, because they’re so good. Instead I’m linking to the jeans, which I also like and would buy instead.
Buy at Wool and Prince (link is to jeans substitute)
Faherty All Day Shorts 9″ New Perfect
Until now I recommended Rip Curl Boardwalk Global Entry shorts, but this year I accidentally wore them while painting and got white paint all over them. When I went to order replacements I found that Rip Curl now uses much worse material that is way too coarse and uncomfortable. I tried another pair of their shorts and a couple other brands as well and they were all very bad.
A year or two ago a reader (email me for credit if this was you) suggested Faherty shorts, and I was lucky enough to remember the name as I was looking for a new pair. And… WOW are these shorts great!
What makes shorts like these special is that they look good enough to wear every day as shorts, but they dry quickly and have a draw string. The draw string doesn’t serve a huge function if the shorts are the right size, but by tying it together and popping it over the waistband I feel like the shorts look like a bathing suit enough that you don’t look out of place swimming in them. All of the pockets have a mesh portion to drain.
The material is even better than rip curl, they look much less casual, and they seem to dry just as fast (I swam in a cold swimming pool in late November just to give them a full test).
Buy at Faherty
Icebreaker Merino Men’s Anatomica Cool-lite Trunks
This underwear was also new last year but made it another year. When they wear out I may try the Wool and Prince ones, which I had previously tried in my briefs era.
I switched to trunks because every once in a rare while there’s some reason I need to be wearing my underwear in mixed company. This year I found myself jumping into the ocean in Greenland to swim to an iceberg in front of some bewildered cruise passengers.
Buy at Amazon
Montbell Plasma 1000 Jacket (Japanese Version) Perfect
Earlier I said that my t-shirt might be the longest running gear item in the list, but this has been around for longer if you don’t count upgrading from the 800 fill count to 1000 fill count years ago when they started making it.
This is simply the lightest and most compact jacket that will actually keep you warm in any normal situation. Don’t be fooled by all of the marketing hype for synthetic down— they just don’t work as well. Having a small jacket is such a key piece of being able to travel with a tiny bag, and this is the only one that I consider to be good enough.
This jacket has lasted for many years now, is nice and warm, and looks decent. If you buy it in Japan it will have pockets, but if you buy it in the US it won’t.
Adam Ruggle let me know that you can order it from the Japanese webshop (linked below) and it’s even cheaper than buying the US one at current rates.
Rab Cinder Phantom New
I loved the idea of the windbreaker as a shell until I found myself running through a storm in Riga, soaking wet, desperately trying to find a working ATM so that I could get cash to get to the airport.
I had a great shell last year, the Arcteryx Norvan SL Hoody, but I lost it (I seem to be doing a bit more of that these days…) and couldn’t replace it because gore-tex phased out its shake-dry product.
What I’ve learned about waterproof shells is that the lightest ones are made for bikers. This makes for a slightly shorter cut (in the photo it’s folded over, not super short), but they look normal enough for regular use. After a ridiculous amount of research I ended up on the Rab Cinder Phantom.
Don’t be tempted to get pullovers. You can save a tiny bit of weight but they are really annoying and have fewer options for temperature regulation.
Besides keeping you dry, a shell is critical for the coldest weather, as it traps the heat when worn on top of the Mont Bell plasma. Between the two you have a range of warmth ranging from unzipped plasma in the spring and fall to zipped plasma with shell for winter and snow.
The Rab Cinder is 3.5oz, which is a full 25% lighter than the last one, and it is definitely waterproof. The only thing I don’t like about it is the stuff sack is tricky to use and the hood doesn’t follow your head very well when you turn it.
Buy at Rab
Merrel Hydro Moc
I just happened to take a hike through a muddy area (in Vegas, no less) right before the photoshoot, so sorry for the dirty shoes. I’m not sure if I now look rugged or sloppy.
I love these shoes and was tempted to label them as perfect, but I’m not sure that label can be applied to shoes that look like this. Then again… I did wear them to a wedding this year and wasn’t kicked out.
The point of wearing shoes like this is that you don’t need to wear/pack/wash socks. Most shoes like this (e.g. Crocs) don’t quite have enough ventilation to never smell bad. These do. Unlike normal shoes, they can also be used as water shoes and they dry quickly and easily.
Buy at Amazon
Roav Eyewear Lennox Sunglasses Perfect
These are the smallest folding sunglasses you can get. They look really good, weigh almost nothing, and have survived years of use without issues.
The only thing I don’t like about them is that the nose pads flop around too much. I’m still giving them a perfect rating because it’s not a huge deal.
I’ve always hated the case that these came with, since it seemed too big for the small amount of protection it provided. ROAV also sells a fake leather pouch that looked similar. Ever since I got them I wanted to make a custom pouch.
Last year in Madrid some friends organized a leather making workshop where we all got to make our own projects, so I made this little case. Now that I know how to make things out of leather I will probably make many more custom cases for things.
Buy at ROAV
Roav Eyewear Lennox Glasses + Lensabl Lenses New Perfect
I now wear regular glasses for three things: watching ballets, watching hockey games, and watching TV. My friend Michael Alexis showed me that he had taken ROAV sunglasses and had them fitted with regular lenses, and they looked great!
The way it works is you buy the regular sunglasses from ROAV, you send them to Lensabl, and they replace the lenses. I don’t know enough about lenses to make specific recommendations (I just ordered the cheapest option, I think), but I’m super happy with the end result. They look like they were meant to have these lenses in them.
As you can see from the pictures, I made a second glasses case. The two have slightly different textures so I can reach into my bag and know which is which.
Buy glasses at ROAV + Lenses at Lensabl
Breitling Transocean Unitime Watch Perfect
This is one of few mechanical watches that can show all 24 time zones and can switch between them with a twist of the crown. It’s a little bit big for my wrist, but worth it to easily be able to see all of the time zones at once.
I actively look at all smart watches and suspect I’ll eventually switch to one, but so far I haven’t found one with acceptable battery life, size, and set of features.
As I mentioned last year, a more budget version is the Omega Seamaster GMT, though there are a few Breitlings that are around $3500 with a leather band or $4500 with a metal band.
Buy on ebay
Minaal Daily Backpack
I keep waffling on backpacks, and I’m back to the Minaal Daily backpack. I had unpacked my other backpack for some reason and when I went to repack it I just thought, “Maybe I should try the Minaal again”. I haven’t gone back since then.
I love the high quality construction of the Minaal. It’s like the difference between walking on a hardwood floor and a laminate floor that looks like wood. The difference in quality is obvious. I really like the simple shape and design. The laptop compartment is great.
I really dislike the organization (or lack thereof), and I hear the same thing from all of my friends (most of whom have also landed on the Minaal). But still— there’s nothing that has the quality and simple design of the Minaal, so I keep going back to it.
Buy at Minaal
Philips One Toothbrush
I like having an electric toothbrush, and this one is good enough. I wish it was more powerful, but this one is a big enough improvement over a non-electric that I’m happy with the compromise. Get the rechargeable one. I got the one that uses batteries but it’s very hard to replace them, so it sort of defeats the purpose.
Buy at Amazon
Scissors and Nail Clippers Perfect
The nail clippers are my trusty Henckels Ultra-Slim Nail Clippers. This is the same pair I’ve had for six years and they’re still just as sharp and effective as ever.
The scissors are Tweezerman GEAR Scissors. I think that I actually bought some fancier Dovo Solingen ones when I thought I lost these, but to be honest I can’t tell the difference from a practical standpoint, so it’s better to just buy these.
Make sure you get the rounded tips. Most places don’t care, but I went through security three times in Australia recently and they were militant about checking to make sure the tips were rounded.
Keith Titanium Travel Tea Set Perfect
I know the portion of people reading a gear post who actually want tea gear is vanishingly small, but this is maybe my favorite item on the entire list. It’s an absolutely perfect tea set, made of titanium, and the next best alternative is SO much worse that I have a spare set just to make sure I never have to go without. I also bought an extra cup so that I can serve three guests instead of only two.
I modified the set by anodizing the titanium and cutting off the handle of the fairness pitcher. The titanium imparts no flavor and is virtually indestructible. If you love tea and you travel, you should have this.
The cups and gaiwan are double walled so they are never hot to the touch, and the shape and edges are ideal.
Even though I marked it as perfect, I wish there was some way for the interior of the cups and gaiwan to be white to better sea the color of the tea. I think it’s just not possible with titanium, though.
Buy at AliExpress
Kanpai Titanium 350 Thermos and 3D Printed Tea Containers Perfect
This is the lightest double wall water bottle you can get. I love the extra-wide mouth and the no-taper design that makes it easy to clean and to store things inside. It comes with three tops but I just use the hot water one. It’s absolutely perfect for keeping boiled water in. I replaced the noisy rubber seal with an o-ring, and it works perfectly.
As soon as I got my 3D printer I designed and printed a set of stacking tea containers designed to take up about 95% of the interior volume. I can now hold 50% more tea than I could before. They were hard for me to make, especially because they were the first time I tried to make screw threads, which took a lot of trial and error.
The tea containers hold NFC tags and made a script using Tasker so that I can use to electronically label the teas. You can download the files and print your own here.
Buy at Amazon
300W Immersion Water Heater
In case it’s not obvious, I put this in the Kanpai Thermos and use it to boil water. Often I’ll put the top on and wait until I’m in the air before I make my tea. You can also ask for hot water on the airplane, but it’s sometimes not very good because of mineral buildup.
The model with the switch is no longer available, but I might go without it anyway. I once had someone turn on the switch when it wasn’t in water and we almost burnt an airbnb down. Now I unplug it every time anyway.
It’s very important to get a model that can run on 120v or 240v. I suspect that all of them can and that some manufacturers just don’t bother to label it, but I don’t take the risk. In Europe (or on cruises) you can use 240v to boil 4x faster. 300W is a good compromise between size and speed of boiling.
Buy at Amazon
Carbon Fiber Money Clip Perfect
I still have my rather expensive Koolstof carbon fiber money clip, but there are cheaper options on Amazon now that seem to be identical, so I’m linking one of those instead. I can’t imagine why someone would use any wallet other than this. It’s super compact and light, doesn’t set off the metal detector, and is very easy to use. Mine has retained its springiness for many years now.
Buy at Amazon
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 NEW
Folding phones are just so good that I feel bad for all non folders out there. You have to get over the “but it’s thicker” factor, and have to fight against the Apple blue-bubble brainwashing, but once you do you’ll never go back.
I thought that I wanted the bigger screen for watching movies on the plane, and while it is noticeably better than a regular phone for that, it’s not the main draw. My favorite thing to use the big screen for is reading (it’s bigger than a Kindle’s screen) and web browsing. I read six and a half books on my last cruise and I don’t think I would have done that with a nomal phone screen.
I used to hate browsing the web on my phone, but now I do it all the time because the size and shape feels like a normal screen. If I need to copy information from one app to another I just open them side by side and it’s like having two phones.
Everyone predicts that they will hate the crease in the middle of the phone, but you really don’t notice it. The inner display has no notch or even a punch-out (or, *cough*, a dynamic island), but instead has a mini screen that covers the camera when it’s not in use. If you look directly at it you can tell that it’s not like the rest of the screen, but when you’re watching a movie or something you forget it’s there.
When the phone is closed it is narrower than a normal phone but thicker. While I would obviously prefer a thinner phone, it’s a very manageable size and fits easily in tight jean pockets.
I even considered getting rid of my laptop and using this with USB-C docking stations and a wireless keyboard, but it wasn’t quite good enough for that.
I upgraded to the Z Fold 5 only because I got sand in the hinge of the Fold 4 and it stopped opening all the way (incredibly infuriating). I’ve used the Google Pixel Fold and I think it’s at least as good as the Fold 5. The biggest upgrade with the 5 is that there’s no gap when it’s folded (same with the Pixel), but if you don’t care you could save money by getting a 3 or 4. They’re about 90% as good.
I didn’t upgrade to the Pixel because Samsung DEX is a seriously underrated feature. It’s hard to explain, but it essentially runs a virtual computer and sends it to a screen. It’s not just mirroring your phone— you can use both independently at the same time. I mostly use it to play shows on TVs (and in conjunction with another item coming up on the list..).
The only reason I didn’t label this as perfect is because I wish it had a 5-10X zoom and I now worry a bit about the hinge. It’s close, though.
I use T-Mobile service with the Global Plus add-on, which gives me free LTE/5G everywhere. I happened to add it on during the <7 days where it offered unlimited LTE rather than a 15GB cap. Project Fi can be a bit cheaper, but T-Mobile includes free voice calls to and from every country with Global Plus, and I’ll definitely get a lot of use out of that.
Buy at Amazon
Lenovo X1 Carbon 11th Generation New Perfect
My X1 9th generation suddenly had a weird issue where it seemed to be sending a random keypress that would interrupt typing. If I flexed the computer a bit it would stop. I ordered the new laptop and as soon as it arrived the problem went away and never came back (I use it as a backup computer now). Oh well.
The main story here is that the X1 Carbon is a perfect laptop. It has the best keyboard of any compact laptop, has a touchpoint (and a trackpad, but once you adjust to the touchpoint it’s SO much better), and has a great screen and other specs.
The X1 is very high performance, has a 5G sim slot, has a trackpoint, an excellent screen, the best keyboard, and plenty of other benefits.
Despite having a bigger screen, the X1 is 15% lighter than a Macbook Air. It can also have twice the RAM and a better OLED screen.
The screen I chose was the 2800×1800 OLED that can run at 90hz. I’ve never had a laptop that can run at 90hz before, and it really makes for a buttery-smooth experience. I don’t miss 4k at all.
I run Arch Linux on my machine and all of the hardware works perfectly out of the gate. I stopped getting a laptop with a built in modem because It never worked perfectly with Linux and it’s easy enough to hotspot these days.
The port selection on the computer is perfect (2 USB A, 2 USB C, HDMI).
Buy at Lenovo
Rokid Max New
I was in Japan earlier this year and saw a demo of some glasses like these. They claim to give you the impression of a huge screen in front of your face when you wear them. I was skeptical, but I plugged in my phone and put them on and was amazed— I had tried similar glasses in the past but they never looked very good. These looked great.
On a whim I bought them for the flight home, thinking that I could always sell them for more in the US (due to the exchange rate and tax-free purchase) if I didn’t like them. I kept them on for most of the flight and watched a bunch of TV shows.
I then did research, found out that these were even better than the ones I bought, so I bought them for the gear post.
They do make you feel like you’re looking at a huge screen, but my favorite part is not having to crane my neck to look at my phone and hold the phone up the whole time. I pop on a show, lie back, and watch. Even in a middle seat, you can forget where you are.
They have lens covers to block out all light, which I normally use for better contrast, but I like keeping that part off in the beginning of the flight so that the flight attendant can get my attention if necessary.
I put my old pair next to my bed and have occasionally used them to watch a show in bed. If you’re an in-bed TV watcher, you’d love them.
Best of all, they’re tiny. With the cord wrapped around the bridge you can fit them in a pill-shaped sunglasses case instead of the huge case they give you.
I’ve also experimented with using them as a second monitor because the image they project is higher than your laptop screen in normal posture. It’s ok, but I found I got a bit fatigued refocusing back and forth.
Mogics Adapter MA1 Perfect
Last year someone recommended this travel adapter to me and it’s incredible.
It’s just a tiny cylinder that can convert any plug to a US plug. Unlike previous iterations, I don’t think that this could get any smaller.
It is slightly difficult to get. You can order it directly from Singapore through the Qoo10 site, or you can order a bundle on Amazon that includes it. I ordered my first one through Amazon and then ordered 4 more through the Singaporean site for when I inevitably lose one.
CIO Novaport Duo 45W Charger New Perfect
Ok, so you can only get this in Japan (at LABI electronics store), but it is so excellent that I have to recommend it. It is about the same size as my old 30W charger, but it’s 45W and has two ports instead of one. If you have a laptop plugged in it will charge at 45W but if you add a phone it will split it 30W/15W. The prongs fold.
They also have a super flat one that actually takes up less volume which I also bought, but mine developed a rattle after just a few weeks of using it, which freaked me out. I was scared to plug it back in after that, just in case it was a piece of metal that was going to short it out.
I ordered a bunch of USB C cables and the best one by far was the Anker Powerline II. The newer III is worse. The II was the least bulky and easiest to coil.
Buy in Japan
1964 Ears Custom IEMs With AliExpress cable
Last year I tried to switch to something that’s easier for people to buy (Samsung Bud Pros), but these are just so comfortable that I keep going back to them. Because they are custom molded to my ears they don’t push on my ears at all, so I can wear them for a whole flight and barely notice that they’re there.
The audio quality is predictably excellent and better than I really need. I may have to research and see if any custom IEMs have noise cancellation, because that’s the only way I could imagine them getting better. The custom fit blocks a lot of noise, though.
They were originally wired, but you can buy all sorts of replacement cables on AliExpress that convert them to bluetooth. I like this style, which allows me to drape them over my neck so that they hang there when I have them out.
Buy at 64 Audio (Realistically mine are a totally different model that they don’t make anymore, so you may have to do your own research)
Incharge 6 Keychain Cable
For those who aren’t familiar, this can connect any combination of USB A, USB C, micro USB, and lightning (or USB-C to USB-C). I use it for transferring files and for charging my phone while my laptop is plugged in.
Buy on Amazon
Summary
This year was a lot of the same stuff, so I tried to write a little bit more about each item, especially with a newer reader in mind that maybe doesn’t understand why I wear wool or have tiny electronics. That said, I’m so happy to get both the charger and shorts to perfect level.
The Rokid Max is small enough and changes flying so much that I think I may keep it forever, whereas the old Quest headset was bulky enough that its space was always in jeopardy.
It feels, to some degree, like the inventory is reaching a state where stuff may not change out very often. I think the biggest areas for improvement are the shoes, backpack, and water boiler, but we’ll see. I also wonder if some day my phone will be good enough to use as my laptop.
The point of optimizing gear isn’t to nerd out about all of the items, but to enable me to have a small and light backpack that never gets in the way of doing the important stuff— traveling and having experiences with people who are important to me. It’s never a burden to carry, even if I have to hike up a mountain with it, and I’m prepared for anything.
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Let’s do a tea time livestream where I’ll talk about the gear post as well as other random things. Maybe pinball or my new project to make the craziest tea inventory system ever.
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