RECOMMENDED GEAR

GEAR and GADGETS that I Use on a Daily Basis

I have gathered a list of gear and gadgets here which I use on a daily basis and which I can recommend.

Smart Watches and Fitness Trackers

Why I chose the Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music GPS Smartwatch

My Personal experience with the smartwatch is that it’s the best one I have had so far. I really like it that it’s waterproof and I have had no problems wearing it in the sauna or in the pool and even swimming in the sea. The wrist strap and build quality is really good. The battery life is really good. It’s really good for running, cycling and rollerskating. I also like to measure the duration and distance of my swims.

Having a built in GPS is handy to get accurate running speed and distance information and it also allows for a run without my smartphone.

You can also check my full review on the Vivoactive 3 music here.

Pluses

  • Long battery life
  • Heart rate measurement from the wrist
  • Good build quality
  • Good waterproof rating
  • GPS is accurate when running / cycling etc.

Minuses

  • Heart rate measurement is not available while swimming
  • Although rated at 50 meters waterproof the manual says that it’s intended for surface swimming and you can’t go scuba diving and it will void the warranty
  • Swim distance measurement will be inaccurate if you change stroke type mid-swim

Headphones

These are my top 3 picks of headphones

Why I chose the Jabra Evolve 75 as my office headphones

My favorite headphones for office work and for calls in general is the Jabra Evolve 75.

I spent a lot of time during the day in skype or webex meetings so it’s really important to have a comfortable headset with a high quality microphone. What’s great about the Jabra Evolve microphones is the noise cancelling features which will filter out office noise so that it doesn’t disturb the people on the other end.

This headset also has active noise cancellation so the humming of the office or car doesn’t disturb you that much.

I used the previous model Jabra Evolve 65 – click to check current price on Amazon for around 2 years. It’s also great and if you want to get something cheaper than the Evolve 75 I highly recommend it. However one of the biggest advantages with the Evolve 75 is that it has active noise cancellation and there is some more padding on the headphones. This really helps me when in business calls during car rides. My car doesn’t have the best isolation so at highway speeds it’s quite noisy and it was hard for me to hear with the Evolve 65 if someone on the other end had a bad mic.  Now with the Evolve 75 it’s much easier to hear someone speak even in a silent voice thanks to the noise cancelling feature.

Smartphone

Why I chose a Motorola X4

I think the Motorola phones have really good value for money. Good quality and specs for a cheaper price than a Samsung or LG flagship phone. I really like the Motorola Z Play I’m currently using because of it’s long battery life and also I like it that it gets quick updates to the newest Android releases. I bought the X4 as and upgrade because it has 4GB of ram and it’s waterproof so looking forward to snapping some photos while in water.

USB Charger

The chargers that come with the smartphone are usually fine, but one charger is hardly sufficient. I also like to have a few multi port chargers. Those are great for example in the living room if you want to charge multiple devices at the same time or when travelling since hotels tend to have quite few power plugs.

Camera for travel

A compact travel camera is great to have if you want better quality photos than your smartphone can provide.

Camera for vlogging

Action Camera

Why I chose the Eken H9R

I have no doubt there are better action cameras out there than the Eken H9R but I think  the Eken H9r has a great balance of quality and price. I think it matches the quality of some previous GoPro models so I don’t hesitate at all in recommending this action camera if you are looking for the best bang for buck.

I bought the camera mainly for making videos while snorkeling and playing under water rugby. It has exceeded my expectations and I have been really happy with it.

Here is short video about the camera with some sample footage where you can see our Underwater Rugby team in action.