5 Best Travel Tech Accessories

With iPads, Kindles, smartphones and more, travelling with tech has become a bundle of wires, boxes, and screens. There are ways to minimize the clutter, and at the same time add additional gear that makes everything a lot easier.

Here is that gear. The 5 Best Travel Tech Accessories.

5) Cables

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Cable are cables, right? Well, sort of. Yes you can use any USB cable to recharge your phone or tablet, but if your carry-on is a nest of cables, you owe it to yourself to get some of these: Retractable USB cables.

Great for throwing in your bag and not worrying about them getting tangled, yet still offering a bit of length when needed (like when the only outlet in the hotel is in a ridiculous place (i.e. 90% of hotels). Belkin makes a little kit, and Elongpro has the clever 3-in-1 you see here.

Another option: Take your pick, Amazon has a bunch.

4) USB Wall Charger

I have four items with me on any trip that recharge via USB: Kindle, Kindle Fire, iPod Classic, and my phone. After a long flight/flights, all might need recharging. One option is plugging them all into a laptop with USB outlets, the other is one of these cheap little pieces of awesomeness. They plug right into the wall, and have outlets for multiple USB devices. I bought the Monoprice 8856 for $7.80, but there are similar products available on Amazon for similar prices, like the cool looking PowerGen you see here for $15.

Another option: Travel in the car much? How about a USB charger that plugs into the cigarette plug. Many come with two USB outlets so your devices don’t have to fight for over which gets juice.

3) Mini Power Strip/Travel Power Strip

What is it with most hotels offering only one or two outlets? I’ve stayed in nice hotels that have none. Well, at “none” until I pulled the bedside table away from the wall. Is there anyone who travels these days that doesn’t have something that requires recharging?

So in the cases where I have a bunch of things that need recharging (like the USB charger mentioned earlier, my laptop, plus the battery charger for my Canon ), I plug in one of these. I have one from Monster, which is about $15 on Amazon and elsewhere and has a USB plug.

Another option: Belkin has one with 2 USB plugs, but it’s twice as expensive and doesn’t fold together as nicely as the Monster.

2) Headphones/Backup Headphones/Headphone accessories

I covered which specific headphones in my 5 Best Travel Headphones article. This is a bit more nerdy, in that I’m saying you consider backup headphones. Yep, you read that right.

Excessive? Probably, but I don’t think I could stand being on a long trip without some decent music. Sure you could pick up a cheap pair wherever you were, but wouldn't it be better to get something decent (and cheap) now? Wirecutter likes these $10 Monoprice headphones.

Brent Butterworth from Sound+Vision likes the $70 Rock-It R-30 (seen here) and $90 Velodyne vPulse.

Alternately, if you have a pair of headphones you really love, but wouldn't mind a noise cancelling pair for planes, trains, and automobiles, I recently reviewed the Bose Quiet Comfort 20 in-ear headphones, and they offered pretty incredible noise cancelling.

If backup headphones are too much for you, and you’re travelling with earbuds, definitely consider bringing some extra tips. I love my B&W C5s, but I’ve already lost one rubber tip, and that pretty much makes them useless (I’ve since replaced the tip). Comply makes foam replacement tips, and there are a billion different versions on Amazon to chose from, and they’re cheap.

1) Battery Packs

With the USB and travel power strip ideas I mentioned, I assumed travel where there was plentiful AC power. But what if you’re out in the wild, away from civilization. Someplace like... New Jersey. Train, plane, car, elephant, whatever, sometimes you’re on the go and you’re running out of electron juice. In these cases, a backup battery with USB outlets is invaluable.

LifeHacker likes the Anker Astro3E, which has 10,000 mAh and is pretty cheap (there are higher capacity and thinner versions as well).

Having run out of power on my phone more times than I can count, a battery pack is definitely my next travel purchase.

How about you? Any tech accessories you’ve found to be brilliant (or not)?

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