My Gear

I’ve trimmed down my daily travel kit over the years thankfully. In my right front pocket is my wallet (a lovely gift from my wife) and my essential keys (still sadly too many). In my left front pocket is an iPhone 12 mini in Blue. I upgraded to the 12 in March 2021 from an iPhone X. Since I carry an iPad with me everywhere, I went for the smallest possible iPhone for ease of use. The 12 mini has been wonderful, and I hope I’ll get years and years of use out of it (since the 6S and 7 are getting iOS 15, I should!). I have a cheap case I found at Walmart, a Raptic Shield that’s a simple bumper-style case that suits me just fine. I have since ordered a Smartish Wallet Case for my 12 Mini that I’ve fallen in love with. It is a bit heftier than a normal case, but I no longer need to carry a wallet in my pocket!

I’ve had the same backpack for years, a Swisstech ScanSmart Laptop Backpack, Black that I purchased from Sam’s Club well over a decade ago. It’s held up in absolutely flawless condition — over 10+ years of use, the only wear and tear has been a slight fraying on the one strap I always use. After downsizing my daily gear, it is sadly too big for what I carry. I’d like to find a smaller backpack, but truth be told this one has held up so well for so long I’m afraid to retire it!

I recently had my main “computer” upgraded (by my incredible wife as an anniversary gift!) to a 2021/5th-gen 12.9” iPad Pro XDR in a 256GB Cellular configuration. I upgraded in May 2021 from a 2018 model of the same specs. I’ve had an iPad Pro as my main device ever since the iPad Pro was introduced (first a 1st-gen 9.7”, then a 2nd-gen 12.9”) and never looked back. I currently use it with a 2nd-gen Apple Pencil and 1st-gen Apple Magic Keyboard that turn the iPad Pro into an insanely versatile device. Other than my Windows-based DMS software I have to use at work, there’s precious little I can’t do with this device. I don’t have a direct case that I keep the iPad in, instead I’m using a JETech Tempered Glass Screen Protector to keep me from scratching the screen.

For a travel case, I use this tomtoc Portfolio Case that my podcast co-host Brian Baggett recommended to me. It’s a wonderful hard case that keeps the iPad + Magic Keyboard secure in the back flap and has plenty of storage in the front area. Inside the front flap, I keep a SSK NVMe USB-C Enclosure loaded with a 500GB Crucial NVMe Drive for moving large files around between different devices. I also keep a FlePow USB-C Multiport Adapter for hooking up any other devices I might need to my iPad Pro. Nestled in a bottom pocket to round out the gear in my tomtoc is a pair of Airpod Pros with a set of Comply Foam tips.

The other gear I keep in my backpack is an Anker PowerCore+ 26,800 mAh USB-C PD Battery which has been absolutely indispensable ever since I purchased it over a year ago. I used to keep 2-3 battery packs with me, but now this single battery will recharge anything and everything I have. I have a pair of Oakley Eye Jacket Redux sunglasses — as a hard-lens contact wearer, Eye Jackets are the only sunglasses I’ve ever found that keeps the wind from blowing my lenses out of my eyes. I keep a couple of microfiber cloths and a bunch of disposable lens/electronics wipes. And finally, I have this Jelly Comb Cable Storage Organizer that I broke down and bought to keep my cables in instead of a Ziploc bag. Inside the bag I’ve got an assortment of various Lightning to USB-C cables, an Apple Watch charging cable, micro USB cables, a Lightning to USB cable, and USB-C to USB-C cables for charging/connecting any of my devices I have, and a 30W Anker wall brick I received with the battery I linked to above.

My home tech is pretty much my NAS and my two desktops: a Windows 10 PC and a Mac Mini. I’ll detail these devices at a later date.

My work setup is only extravagant in my triple monitor setup — other than that it’s pretty straightforward. I’ll detail this at a later date.

I do still carry a DSLR camera — I will detail my camera gear at a later date.