If you want to travel smart you need the best travel gadgets and accessories available, there are the good and expensive ones, but as well some good cheap alternatives.
Think about yourself when traveling, it can be so much fun but can also be extremely annoying and frustrating if you are not well-equipped.
How much useless stuff are you carrying around and how many travel gadgets, you probably even didn't know that they exist, could make you travelling so much easier and more pleasant.
We will give you an overview of the 11 best travel gadgets available, the expensive ones and also the cheap alternatives, with links to the cheapest shops that we've found on the internet.
1. Noise-canceling Earphones or Headphones
Imagine being on a long-haul flight close to a screaming baby. You would be more than happy to have some noise-cancelling Ear- or headphones 😉
The expensive
- Bose QuietComfort Earpbuds (280€ on Amazon)
- Bose QuietComfort 35 Headphones (219€ on Amazon or $225 on ebay)
- Apple AirPods Pro Earbuds (197€ on Amazon or $199 on Amazon)
The cheap alternative
- Xiaomi Airdots Pro 2S (80€ on Banggood or $90 on Banggood)
What we would choose
The Bose Ear- or Headphones are excellent. If you don't care about the high price you can't do anything wrong here, all tough the Sony ones are a good alternative.
Xiaomi offers a good product with an unbeatable price. Music quality is also very good, but the noise-cancelling is not as good as it is for the expensive ones.
2. Bluetooth Flight Adapter
Nowadays most Ear- or Headphones will connect through Bluetooth, when sitting on an airplane you won't be able to use them unless you have a Bluetooth adapter.
The expensive
- RHA Wireless Flight Adapter (50€ on Amazon or $40 on Amazon)
The cheap alternative
- Bluetooth Transmitter (15€ on Amazon or $9.90 on Ebay)
What we would choose
The RHA is brilliant from the idea, an airplane adapter that can be used with the single or double plug-in and connects your head- or earphones via Bluetooth. But according to several reviews there seems to be a design problem as the housing of this device gets in the way of the surround for the plug.
Therefore, we would choose the cheap option and would buy an additional separate airplane adapter. Excellent adapters are available from BOSE for only 3€ on Amzon or $6.99 on Ebay
Carry on luggage should be lightweight and durable, aluminium magnesium is well suited for this. A TSA lock and 4 wheels for easy handling makes this cabin luggage a must-have for frequent travellers.
The expensive
- Rimowa Classic, 33L (900€ on Amazon or $1590 on Amazon)
The cheap alternative
- Xiaomi 90FUN 20inch, 31L (170€ on Banggood or $236 on Banggood)
What we would choose
The Xiaomi Carry On luggage proved in several tests that it is an excellent product, we would for sure go for the cheaper option in this case.
4. Cameras for Travel Videos
Small affordable cameras that will shoot much better travel videos in 4K as your smartphone does, and due to the gimbal technology even isolated from the movement of the cameraman.
The expensive
- DJI Osmo Pocket 4K (277€ on Ebay or $299 on Ebay)
The cheap alternative
-
Xiaomi FIMI PALM 4K (160€ on Banggood or $180 on Banggood)
What we would choose
Both cameras are excellent. You can do time-lapse, motion time-lapse and super slow motion videos with both of them.
We would most probably go for the cheaper option, even though we've bought ourselves the DJI Osmo Pocket when it hit the market already.
A side by side comparison can be found here on Youtube.
5. Travel Drones
Shoot awesome travel videos with a drone, perfect for travelers always eager to immortalize and share their adventures on the go.
There are good drones available that are foldable and small enough to take them with you on vacation.
The expensive
- DJI Mavic Air 2 (800€ on Amazon or $799 on Ebay)
The cheap alternative
- Xiaomi FIMI X8 SE 2020 (363€ on Banggood or $430 on Banggood)
Get an additional 11% off with COUPON CODE: BGFIMIX8SE20
What we would choose
Both drones are awesome. Due to the price we would definitely go for the cheaper Xiamoi Fimi X8 SE 2020. It has an impressive range of 8 km, and the camera is also excellent.
According to several tests DJI's camera is a bit better, but for the double of the price many of us would probably choose the cheaper alternative.
6. Two-Way Voice Translator
“Speak” every language while you are travelling, up to 100 languages are currently available (depending on the device). This device translates what you, or someone else, is saying into another language of your choice, definitely something for the tech geeks.
The expensive
- Langogo (296€ on Amazon or $299 on Amazon)
The cheap alternative
- Boeleo K1 Pro (70€ on Banggood or $75 on Banggood)
What we would choose
While there's often an equivalent cheap alternative available, we wouldn't trust the cheap device in this case and would buy the Langogo.
7. Vacuum Travel Bags
Vacuum travel bags are a very useful travel packing gadget, that you weren't thinking about most probably. The automatic vacuum pump removes all the air inside your bag, condensing the clothes to half their size.
You will need the portable vacuum compression together with multi bag(s).
The expensive
- Vago ($80 on Ebay vacuum pump only)
The cheap alternative
- Vacbird (35€ pump + 6 bags on Amazon)
- Dr. Storage (15€ or $19 vacuum pump only)
What we would choose
We haven't tested any of those products, but $80 only for a vacuum pump without bags seems a bit overpriced. We would choose the cheaper Vacbird with bags, which has many good reviews as well.
8. Mini Portable Wireless Router
Create your own private wireless network and share internet access with multiple Wi-Fi devices. Ideal for setup in most hotels, and with 300Mbps wireless data rates your connection is fast enough for video streaming, online gaming and Internet calling.
As those devices don't cost a fortune, we wouldn't buy the cheapest device available but a well known product.
- TP-Link TL-WR802N (19.5€ on Amazon or $29.99 on Ebay )
9. USB rechargeable batteries
This is a pretty cool travel gadget as unfortunately some items still require actual batteries. USB rechargeable batteries are fast charging and eco-friendly so you can do your bit for the planet.
Those batteries are pretty much all in the same price range, four AA or AAA batteries are available for 12€ on Amazon or $19,99 on Amazon.
10. Mini Travel steam iron
A mini steam iron with dual voltage (110V or 230V) is another travel gadget that you don't want to miss anymore, once you own one. Here again there's no cheap or expensive, prices start already at 24€ on Amazon or $20 on Amazon.
11. Electronic Organizer
There are plenty of electronic organizer available, from super cheap to expensive, and they are a must-have for frequent traveller. We owe one from JOTO, the one you see in the picture above, and we are very satisfied with it.
You can buy this one for 17€ on Amazon or $17 on Amazon. But other electronic organizer will do the job as well for sure.
Xiaomi has a new cordless vacuum cleaner, we know that's not a travel gadget, but we owe one, and we are more than happy with it and it is on promotion now for only 185€ on Banggood.
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