Erin Bashford

The Rode PodMic is the perfect microphone for professional-quality broadcasts or podcasts. It’s faithful to voices, recording with depth, warmth, and nuance.

The Rode Wireless Micro is a smartphone-first set of wireless microphones with a USB-C and Lightning receiver, ideal for content creators… beginners or not.

This is it — a smart cooker with Wi-Fi connectivity that’s well worth the money. You can start dinner from the office, your commute, or even your bed.

Bouncy and cooling

The Maono PD300X microphone is a plug-and-play podcasting mic with both XLR and USB-C ports, but its audio quality isn’t as good as other similarly-priced mics.

The Breville/Sage Bambino Plus is a fantastic first espresso machine thanks to its compact size, delicious espresso, and auto milk steam function.

The AKG N5 Hybrids are some of the best-sounding earbuds I’ve ever tested. While they’re uncomfortable for small ears, the sound quality makes up for it.

The Keen Hyperport H2 hiking and water sandals are waterproof and quick drying, but that’s not all. They’re the most comfortable pair of shoes I’ve ever worn.

The Igloo Marine Ultra 54 Cooler is a mid-range cooler that keeps food cold for a couple of days, even when not stuffed to the brim, and is easy to maintain.

Coleman Classic Cooler comes in a range of sizes, up to a massive 100 quarts. While it fell short of Coleman’s ‘5 days cool’ claim, it’s still a good option.

The Edifier LolliClip are a pair of semi-open-earbuds with ANC. They’re super comfortable. While the sound is good, it doesn’t impress across all genres.

The Engel Cooler is a fantastic cooler. I kept cans cold for over 24 hours and, despite the lack of wheels, could transport the cooler easily.

I’m making room in my hiking backpack for coffee gear now. The Yeti Rambler Pour-Over dripper was made for the great outdoors, and it performs like a V60.

I stan this coffee grinder. The 1ZPresso J-Ultra performs better than its $199 price tag and makes me doubt if any other grinders need to be so pricey.

While not as versatile as other Moccamasters, the Cup-One is so easy to use, I think I could brew delicious hot coffee in my sleep.

If you find yourself in hotels or at campsites more often than you’d like, there’s nothing better than the 1ZPresso K-Ultra for specialty coffee while traveling.

Plaud NotePin is pretty expensive when you take the subscription fee into account, but it’s darn good at what it does: transcribing classes, meetings, and ideas.

I threw everything at the Magimix Blender Power 4 and it turned it all into delicious smoothies and butters. I just wish the blades were easier to remove.

I can’t quite believe this blender is so cheap… I had to check the price multiple times. The Ninja Detect Power Pro with BlendSense performs like a $500+ model.