Best Travel Tech Gifts: Must-Have Gadgets for the Journey and the Destination 1 hour ago

CNET’s Faith Chihil says this is a must-have if you have a window seat on the plane. “It’s so convenient to still have a drink holder when your tray table is up,” she says. “It’s also nice to have your battery, phone and headphones within reach without having to dig into the seat pocket. And I love that it folds flat, too.”

Coming in at just slightly over $25, the Anker 523 PowerCore Slim 10K PD is one of CNET’s favorite power banks because it’s small but packs a lot of power. With a 10,000-mAh battery, you can fully charge an iPhone at least twice on a single charge. It also has a fast-charging USB-C port that can quickly get your phone or tablet back to life.

If you’re looking for a very compact power bank you can slide into your purse or pocket, CNET’s Anna Graert recommends the Poweradd Slim 2. “I’ve used this power bank for years and always keep it in my purse, whether I’m traveling or running errands,” she says. “It’s slim and light, so it’s easy to carry around and always does the job when my phone needs a charge on the go. It’s a small, simple device that works great.”

It helps to stay as organized as possible when traveling, and these storage bags are great for wrangling together all sorts of small items. “Whether it is for organizing cables, flash drives or toiletries, these mesh bags have become a travel essential for long or short trips,” says CNET’s Chris Wedel.

CNET’s Faith Chihil says this phone holder is more secure than a phone kickstand and you can use it with your tray closed at takeoff and landing. “As a content creator, it’s also nifty for hands-free filming at conventions and for unboxings,” she adds.

The addition of USB and USB-C ports to travel adapters has been one of the nicer upgrades in recent years. This adapter will work pretty much anywhere in the world and includes a passthrough plug for you to plug in a laptop or other standard device too. (Note that this won’t convert voltage, but that means it will still work with virtually any gadget, except for things like hair dryers and curling irons.)

Say goodbye to tangles of cables and charging blocks with this foldable, portable charging station. It houses your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods on a single magnetic tower that only takes up a few square inches on your desk or nightstand. “Fold it into different shapes to charge multiple phones or AirPod cases at once,” says CNET’s David Sessions. “It’s especially great for travel, letting you bring just a single charging cable that fits neatly into its handy carrying case.”

If you’re one of those people who can stand to be a little more organized when traveling — or know someone else who could be — this accessory organizer is the answer. “I’ve had one of these for around 12 years or so and it’s an easy way for me to put all of my chargers, small electronics or whatever, in one place,” says CNET’s Peter Butler. You can also check out his review of the Cocoon GRID-IT for more.

With two USB-C ports, a single USB-A port and a max output of 65 watts, this Anker power adapter can charge almost anything, from a laptop to headphones and many devices in between. Yes, the output and charging time varies when you plug in multiple devices, but it’s still a single mini power adapter rather than the two or three I used to travel with. Perfect for those hotel rooms with just one outlet.

You can’t ask for a better travel companion than the highly portable JBL Go 3 speaker. It’s waterproof, sounds great for its (tiny) size, recharges via USB-C and comes in a variety of fun colors too. It’s a great way to enjoy music in your hotel room, on a picnic and anywhere in between. Although there are newer JBL Bluetooth speaker models out there, you can’t get more portable, affordable and travel-friendly than this one. It also made our pick for best pocket-friendly wireless speaker. Pro tip: It’s worth waiting for this model to drop to $30, which it does frequently during online sales.

You can get plenty of snap-on magnetic battery packs for iPhones and Android phones these days, but the Anker MagGo 622 rises above the pack, thanks to its features and unique design. In addition to being light, it’s got a fold-down stand which perfectly nestles on a plane or train tray table, so you can watch a video on your phone while it juices up (it supports passthrough charging via USB-C). It also made our pick for the best magnetic power bank with an integrated stand.

Watching in-flight movies is a great way to pass the time, but the one downside is that you usually can’t use wireless headphones. Enter the AirFly, a small device that turns any 3.5mm audio port into a Bluetooth audio transmitter and receiver for wireless headphones. “Watching entertainment with quality audio makes such a difference, and nothing has to be disconnected when I’m sitting in an aisle seat and someone else in my row needs to get past me,” says CNET’s Kimanzi Constable, who has taken hundreds of flights in the last eight years alone. You can read more about the AirFly Pro Bluetooth transmitter in our review.

For a solid pair of headphones under $100, check out the EarFun Wave Pro. CNET’s David Carnoy says they’re comfortable, feature decent sound with punchy bass for the price point and offer respectable noise-canceling and voice-calling performance. Their battery life is impressive, too — up to 80 hours with noise-canceling off and 55 hours with it on. They also were our pick for top new budget noise-canceling headphones.

Any adamant reader you know would love to get this Amazon Kindle (2022) as a gift. Not only was it our pick for best value e-reader, but it also has many of the same features of pricier models like the Kindle Paperwhite. “Its 6-inch screen makes it a smaller and lighter ebook reader than the step-up Kindle Paperwhite ($150), and its display has the same 300-ppi resolution as the Paperwhite,” CNET’s David Carnoy says.

Help your giftee take their favorite entertainment with them on their travels with RayNeo’s Pocket TV. Originally designed to work with the RayNeo Smart glasses, the output is just USB-C, meaning it will work with any USB-C monitor or, if you have a USB-C to HDMI cable, any standard TV. It’s powered by Google TV — so you can access all you favorite streaming apps — with 64GB of memory and room for an SD card. “So you can save your shows for offline travel on a plane,” explains CNET’s James Bicknell. “I’ve used it a lot with the RayNeo glasses and it’s a fantastic little ecosystem for watching your favorite shows privately while traveling.”

Traveling requires some situational awareness; listening for boarding call announcements, people walking up behind you on the street and more. But you don’t have to choose between listening to a podcast or hearing your environment with bone conduction headphones, which send sound waves through your cheekbones, not your ears. CNET’s David Carnoy says that a big benefit of this technology is that you can be aware of — and hear — what’s going on around you while listening to music or having a phone conversation. “They’re very good for podcasts, talk radio, newscasts and audiobooks,” he says. They also made our pick for best bone-conduction headphones.

AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe (USB-C) are nearly identical to their predecessor — you’ll still get amazing voice-calling performance and sound, plus up to six hours of battery life. This all means they are among the best headphones to fly with, thanks to their superior noise-canceling abilities. Pop these in during a flight and let the cabin noise melt away. They made CNET’s pick for best Apple AirPods, and you can also check out our review of the AirPods Pro 2.

A good backpack with lots of pockets is a must, especially when traveling. The Solgaard Lifepack comes with the standard things you’d expect — a padded compartment for your laptop and nifty pockets for your phone and sunglasses — but it’s also got a few secret pockets for valuables and an anti-theft lock on the inside. One of the most handy features is the built-in power bank with a Bluetooth speaker. You can charge it in a regular wall outlet and there’s also a solar panel on the front, so it can slowly recharge when you’re out and about. Pro tip: Skip the speaker for a thinner powerbank and you’ll save a bit of money.

For capturing memories on rugged travel adventures, it’s hard to beat a GoPro. And while the GoPro Hero 13 is now available, the 2022 Hero 11 gives a large slice of the same features at a more affordable price and is still a great little action camera. Pro tip: You can shave down the price if you opt for the subscription option via GoPro.com (which includes automatic cloud uploading).

Whether you’re watching a movie on a flight, trying to distract the kids on a long road trip or just curling up on the couch, the iPad is a great travel-friendly gadget. This 9th-gen 2021 model is compatible with the 1st-gen Apple Pencil and the Apple Smart Keyboard, so it can even double as a decent makeshift laptop in a pinch. Note: If you want USB-C compatibility to match your new iPhone 15, you’ll need to spend up for a 10th-gen iPad or an iPad Mini. But for me, the 9th is a deal — it’s a fraction of the cost. CNET’s James Bricknell is a fan of the 9th-gen iPad, too.

CNET’s Chris Wedel says he borrowed a pair of these glasses for an international flight, then quickly decided he’ll no longer travel without them. “The ability to have as much display space as I need for work, and a comfortable viewing angle for watching movies or playing games, makes travel so much more bearable,” he says. “The glasses are also great for working on the go once you arrive at your destination.” For more details on them, you can check out CNET’s review of the Xreal Air Pro 2 smart glasses.

If you know someone who likes to write or draw when they’re traveling, the Amazon Kindle Scribe can be their new digital notepad — and whatever they create can also be uploaded to the cloud. Plus, the e-reader is front-lit with high resolution (300 pixels per inch), which is helpful. “The Scribe strikes a very good balance between a large-format e-reader and an E Ink note-taking tablet,” says CNET’s David Carnoy.

For something a bit different than the standard action cam, try the Insta360 One X2. This nifty little camera lets you shoot eye-catching 360-degree videos, which you can then easily edit on your phone with the accompanying app. It has an “invisible selfie stick” and great image stabilization, too, so you can get drone-like shots without the drone. There’s also a cool bullet-time mode that lets you swing it around your head for awesome aerial panning videos. Adults and kids alike will have a lot of fun with this.