I love reading people’s “best purchases” of the year posts, so I figured I’d make the same this year. My criteria are that the purchase really needs to be exceptionally functional. Many of the items on this list are items that I’ve tried multiple versions of over the years, and this year I finally found one that worked.

Tech

Wuben flashlight

I’ve also gone through a lot of flashlights and none of them have really stuck. My findings have generally been that the flashlight needs to be small and it needs to be very adjustable so that it can be clipped into places and angled into places that I can’t get to with my phone. That didn’t exist until the Wuben G5, and it it didn’t hurt that the G5 can be had for around $20.

Ugreen 65w charger

The need for this device came from traveling and always struggling to keep a laptop charger from falling out of the plugs on planes. Those airline seat plugs get used soo much that they are always loose, so any amount of weight will pull your charger right back out of the plug. To stay connected you need something flat, thin, and light… which the Ugreen does in spades.

Apple Silicone Case

I’ve used an apple silicon case for at least 5 years, maybe more. I never recommended them to anyone else because they were frankly expensive and a bit fragile. One good drop from your pocket and the case would show substantial damage. When I got my iPhone 15 Pro, I bought the new grey color case, and immediately noticed that something had changed in the construction and now they could take a lot more damage than before. This new stronger construction pushes this case into the must buy category for me.

Walnew Kindle Case

I’ve had a kindle since the very first one came out, but I never found a case I like because it’s nice to just hold the kindle on its own. When I bought a kindle scribe to test out the writing capabilities ( which I love ), I stumbled across this Walnew case and its lasted the year and performed really well.

Smallrig usb-c battery

I still use my Panasonic GH5 as my main camera, but one of its shortcomings is that it’s hard to find a battery charger with usb-c. Smallrig takes it one step further by letting you skip the charge altogether and you can just plug usb-c straight into these new batteries.

Home

Chair Leg protectors

As stupid as this sounds, I’ve gone through at least 5 different chair leg protectors over the last 10 years… and none of them have worked. These stay in place and they protect the floor. Sure, they’re ugly… but at least they stay on.

HVAC Vent Booster

My apartment gets really really hot on one side,and super cold on the other side. As a result, I’m always looking for ways to help even out the temperature. I had briefly looked into smart vents, but they were super expensive, and had questionable durability.

Then I saw this vent boosters that were fairly “dumb”, but had decent reviews, so I gave them a shot. What I found was that they do add just a tiny little extra kick to those really cold rooms that need help getting a bit of extra heat into them.

Gaffer Power Tape

I covered this in my post on organizing storage units. But this gaffer power tape sticks well, it comes off without leaving residue (even after a long period), it tears easily with just your hands. I used this to organize 3 dozen boxes across 3 storage units, and it worked much better than the previous cheap gaff tape I had been using.

Cushion labs seat cushion

I started training legs a bit more seriously this year, and that didn’t mix well with long sessions in an office chair. I tried 3 different seat cushions and this cushion labs was by far the best.

Baby/ kids

Olight Sphere

In 2025 I was plunged back into the most intense form of parenthood with the arrival of a second child. Newborn life involves a lot of sneaking around the house at odd hours of the night, and in the past I found a good night light helped. I broke 3 or 4 cheap amazon ones, so i couldnt recommend any of them until I tried this Olight Sphere. At $20 it's a steal, and I love how the magnetic base makes it easy to put just about anywhere. Get the Magnet key chain if you want to be hang it in atypical places.

Nose Frida

Is used these in the past but they were sketchy and it always felt like you where going to drink your kids mucus. This new version solves that and helps you extract an enormous amount of fluids from your child’s nose.

Bentgo lunchbox

This lunchbox easily fits in bags, washes easy, and doesn’t have any paint on it that could chip off ( don’t buy the ones that have paint on them). Our 4 year old has tried her best to break them and they’ve survived.

Snore Blocker Earplugs

They took about a week to adjust to, but now they block out just about everything. They are soft enough that I can side sleep with them, and they block out even the loudest night shrieks from my 6 month old.

Outdoors

Mini Electric SUP pump

This was the year of switching to electric pumps. The technology finally got good enough that these battery powered pumps can pump up multiple SUPs, kites, wings, or any water gear that you want. I am more than happy to spend less time manually pumping things going forward.

North Face Hat

The Horizon hat has been my go to hat for kitesurfing , since at least 2018. It’s light, it protects you from the sun, it dries quickly, the strap cinches down tight enough to survive high winds, and it comes in sizes large enough to actually fit my head.

The issue is that they discontinued the sizing, and went to one size only a few years ago. In 2025 they went back to multiple sizes, and I can confirm that the new hat is even better than in the past.

North Face Gear Bin

I’ve historically been a duffel bag kind of guy, and this year I tried out a gear box for the first time. It provides two real benefits and a cost. First, it's much easier to find things in the bin, duffel bags dont hold their shape. Second, you can stack these gear bins on top of each other for easier organization. The cost is that they dont carry as well, they can be awkward when loaded to carry long distances.