Gear / Buying Guides

To quote the great painter Salvador Dalí: “The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: It is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.” I remember nothing about the sociopolitical climate of the summer of 1997, but I remember …

Honorable Mentions Photograph: Adrienne So We try almost every pair of new workout buds that come out. Here are a few that we also like that didn’t quite earn a space above. Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 for $180: In 2024, Jabra announced that this generation of the Elite …

Honorable Mentions We haven’t tried a vacuum yet that we absolutely hate. These ones below are solid vacuums, and in some cases are much cheaper than our top picks, but we didn’t like them as much. Bissell IconPet Turbo Edge for $200: Bissell’s OG stick vacuum is a popular model …

More Straighteners We Tried Photograph: Kat Merck Paul Mitchell Neuro Style+ for $150: The latest in Paul Mitchell’s lineup of otherwise standout hair straighteners, this ceramic iron with Paul Mitchell’s new NeutraHeat temperature-regulating technology goes up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and has dual voltage for travel. However, the body feels …

Wool: Organic wool mattress toppers are filled with wool batting. The batting is (usually) a sheet of wool that lays flat and won’t shift inside the cover, even when you roll around on it. It is sometimes quilted between fabric, sometimes not. Wool makes an excellent topper thanks to its …

What to Look for in Organic Sheets Organic means many things. It’s often used to confirm that food was grown without toxic pesticides and chemicals, and doesn’t have things like growth hormones or GMOs, in order to label it as organic food. For bedding, it should mean both that organic …

All of the major laptop manufacturers have gaming sub-brands these days. Just to name a few, Lenovo has Legion, HP has Omen and Victus, Asus has ROG, Acer has Predator and Nitro, and Dell has Alienware. These are a good place to start, especially if you’re looking for something more …

As Crocodile Dundee always knew, there are knives and then there are knives. And there’s nothing more mannish than paying a lot for a hand-hewn tool that will serve you for life, and then telling everyone you meet about the majesty of said tool. Geoff Feder, the maker of this …

Shopping for tents you’ll quickly find yourself immersed in a world of unfamiliar terms, trying to decipher what it means that a DFC pyramid has a welded bathtub floor. Here’s our guide to the terms you need to understand. Single/Double Walled: A double walled tent is the most common, consisting …

Other Samsung Phones to Consider Photograph: Julian Chokkattu If you don’t see a Samsung phone mentioned in this guide, that might be because it’s not sold in the US and is a little harder to source for testing. But here are a few other Samsung phones I’ve tried to consider. …