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Gadget Wisdom

Best Tools For Productive Work On The Road: Spring 2024 Edition

Many of us are travelling more than we used to, but there is no reason we can’t have a great work setup while on the road.

This post serves as a packing list, among other things, for my travel gear. These allow me to be productive from anywhere. It’s a good opportunity to go over what I keep in my bag, and over time, talk more specifically about the items I keep in there and why.

  • A Walmart Onn Android 4K TV puck – Powered by micro-USB, used for streaming in hotel rooms
  • 2 Ainope Right Angle USB-C to USB-C 6 foot cables, braided 60W rating – any USB-C cables might do.
  • 2 Baseus 100W retractable USC-C PD 5A 3.3 foot cable
  • EMEET USB Speakerphone for Live Streaming – Got this on sale, but you can’t get it anymore. Good because it is compact, and a webcam and speakerphone in one. I’m fine in the shortterm, but will look for alternatives to suggest.
  • Charger for a Pinetime Watch – More on the Pinetime in future
  • An Ikea LED USB lamp . – Some hotels do not have a desk light and this takes up almost no space.
  • Generic USB/battery operated LED clock – I use my phone for alarms, but I honestly can’t be bothered to fiddle for it when I’m trying to sleep in a hotel room while experiencing jetlag. This was just the smallest clock with digits I could see without my glasses. About the size of a harmonica. There are dozens of these.
  • 200W GAN USB C Charger Block, 4 USB-C PD ports, 4 USB-A ports – Can power everything with plenty of ports. I have one of these on my desk as well.
  • The 65% K6 Keyboard…I wrote about my Keyboard search previously.
  • Graffiti Fat Wrist Rest for small keyboards – Wrist rest for the keyboard
  • Dierya Kemove X Keyboard Travel Case – To protect my keyboard while traveling.
  • A GL.iNet travel router, right now I have the Slate Plus which was on sale, but there is a budget version available now, the Opal. There are advantages to the Slate Plus over the Opal…but for hotel trips, you can forego them. Having a travel router has a variety of advantages.
  • A portable monitor – I have a few of these of various sizes and capabilities. A 15.6, and a 12. I can mix and match depending on the computer I’m bringing…laptop, mini PC, etc, to form a variety of different configurations. More on that in future. But, this either requires HDMI cabling, sometimes mini-HDMI, sometimes full-HDMI, plus USB power, or USB-C connections.
  • Folding Laptop Stand – They don’t make the one I have anymore, but there are a lot of these. This unfolds, lifting the laptop up so I can place my keyboard below it. This assumes I bring a laptop, and not a mini-PC
  • Trackball – I prefer a trackball to a mouse. My two favorites are:
    • Logi M580 – this is a thumb controlled trackball that fits easily into a bag
    • Kensington Expert Wireless Trackball – Also comes in a wired. This thing looks big because of the provided wrist rest, but is not that much bigger than the Logi M580, which I’ve taken on many trips.

 

Published on April 4, 2024
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