Samsonite’s summer sale is live right now with discounts up to 43% off luggage, carry-ons, and sets. The deals range from single rolling bags to complete luggage kits, so there’s something to accommodate every type of traveler. The real savings happen on the clearance models, which are discounted by more than 40 percent. Save that money now and splurge on souvenirs when you get to your destination.
Outline Pro Carry-On Spinner $125.99 (was $219.99)
The Outline Pro is one of Samsonite’s most reviewed hardside carry-ons, with nearly 10,000 ratings and a 4.7-star average. At $125.99 (from $219.99), this clearance colorway is more than 43% off and comes with TSA combination locks, four-wheel spinner wheels, and a 1.5-inch expansion zipper. The “Clearance” tag means the color is being phased out, so you can get a top-notch bag for a huge discount.
Voltage DLX 2-Piece Set (CO/M) $233.99 (was $389.99)
The Voltage DLX is Samsonite’s softside workhorse, and at $233.99 (from $389.99), this carry-on and medium checked bag set is 40% off. Softside bags flex to absorb overpacking better than hardside, and both pieces come with spinner wheels. Together, the two bags handle about a week of travel without needing to juggle multiple separate purchases.
Dropping from $519.99 to $299.99, the Pivot 3 3-Piece Set is the biggest absolute savings in the Samsonite summer sale: $220 off a full carry-on, medium, and large spinner collection. All three bags are hardside polycarbonate with TSA combination locks, expandable packing, 360-degree spinner wheels, and the brand’s EazyHOOK system for hanging a tote or duty-free bag on the handle. You rarely see a complete three-piece Samsonite hardside set under $300, and this sale is when it becomes possible.
Samsonite carry-on deals
Carry-ons take up the largest slice of the Samsonite summer sale, with the Voltage DLX Global at $125.99 and the Freeform Carry-On at $153.99 offering the best value for infrequent travelers. The Outline Pro Carry-On is $175.99 in standard colorways if you prefer more color options than the clearance variant above.
The Voltage DLX Large Spinner and the clearance Outline Pro Large both hit $179.99, and the Freeform Medium Spinner lands at $181.99. For checked bags specifically, this section of the sale has some of the strongest absolute-dollar cuts on the site right now.
Sets are where the sale gets interesting for travelers who want everything to match. The 2-Piece Set (CO/M) at $159.99 is the entry point for a coordinated carry-on and medium checked bag, while the Freeform 2-Piece (CO/L) at $335.99 covers a larger footprint for longer trips.
The Mother Lode Travel Backpack is the only bag in the sale, but it’s a standout: 40% off at $131.99 from $219.99. With 4.7 stars and nearly 9,500 reviews, it’s one of the most proven travel backpacks in the Samsonite lineup.
Every dad is different. Some of them are weird (like me) and some of them are weirdly normal. Either way, finding the best Father’s Day gift can be a challenge. That’s why we’re here. We spend all day reviewing and recommending products, so we have fantastic alternatives to the typical ties and beef jerky fare. So, regardless of what your pops is into, there’s something on this list for them. And hey, chuck a crayon drawing in there instead of a card. A little sappy nostalgia never hurts on Father’s Day.
Best tabletop campsite lantern: GigaPower Tabletop Lantern
The Snow Peak Tabletop LED Lantern is a $100 dimmable camp light that produces a warm even glow rather than the white blast of most camp lanterns. Snow Peak is the Japanese outdoor brand that designs camp gear like high-end furniture: matte aluminum body, frosted diffuser, tactile aluminum knobs. It runs on Snow Peak’s proprietary battery or USB. It looks at home on a campsite picnic table or on a nightstand in your bedroom, which is the design language Snow Peak has made its signature.
Best illustrated reference book: Hungry Minds The Book
The Hungry Minds Book is a hand-illustrated encyclopedia of mechanisms, biology, optics, and social systems, 400 pages from a small Florida-based studio. Every illustration starts as a pencil sketch and finishes in lithographic ink. The cover is silver-embossed and the binding is sewn. Chapters cover anatomy, bicycles, animation, festivals, and sushi, which sounds scattered until you spend twenty minutes inside one. A five-pound coffee-table object that rewards being opened. Popular Science readers can get the premium gift box for free by clicking ‘see it’ above. The first 20 customers can get 20% off with LEARNLIKEDAD20.
The Vuarnet Racing 05 sunglasses come equipped with mineral glass lenses instead of polycarbonate, which makes them slightly heavier but offers a visibly sharper image with optical clarity polycarbonate doesn’t match. The acetate frame is hand-finished in Italy. The Racing 05 is the investment pair that replaces three rounds of $100 sunglasses and tends to outlast the cars it rides along in.
The Norrøna Falketind dri1 is a $399 lightweight rain shell built around dri1, Norrøna’s own waterproof-breathable membrane. The cut is alpine, seams are minimized to reduce failure points, and the jacket packs into its own hood pocket. Skimp on a jacket in this category and it will start to flake and disintegrate a year or two in. You won’t have that problem here. With proper care, this will last for years, even under heavy use.
Best limited-edition notebook: Moleskine NASA-Inspired Edition
The Moleskine NASA-Inspired Notebook is a $37 limited edition with Apollo-era graphic design on the cover and a sealed envelope at the back containing a small commemorative print. Inside, it’s the classic Moleskine ruled paper that has barely changed in decades because users love it so much. The whole package feels like a nice gift and it’ll actually come in handy for everyday use.
Best digital writing tablet: reMarkable Paper Pure
The reMarkable Paper Pure is a $399 e-ink writing tablet that drops the front light and color display of the Paper Pro to bring the price down by $180, per our full review. The textured screen and 21-millisecond pen-to-ink latency match the Pro’s, so the writing feel doesn’t compromise. The chassis is built with screws and snaps for repairability, weighs 0.79 pounds, and the battery runs three weeks on an hour of daily note-taking.
If your pop loves his pooch, get him a leash worthy of his best friend. The reflective mesh leash is super durable, so even large dogs can pull on it without worry. The wrist loop closes with a simple magnetic Fidlock clip, so it’s easy to get on and off, but only when you want to. The auto-locking Talon Clip provides a super-sturdy point of contact with a leash or a harness, so the whole package is secure (and handsome) from end to end.
Best chore coat: Carhartt Crafted Series Drill Painter Chore Coat
Carhartt Crafted Series Drill Painter Chore Coat $150
Carhartt jackets look better once they’re broken in and that’s especially true here. Made from 9-ounce 100% cotton drill, this jacket is designed to break in and patina the way Carhartt’s original painter coats did a century ago. The rest of the feature sheet includes Two-piece sleeves for mobility, metal button front, snap cuffs, an interior chest pocket, and exterior pockets sized for brushes and carpenter pencils. The Crafted Series is Carhartt’s elevated line with cleaner cuts over the same construction. You’ll want to steal it once your dad has worked in it for a while.
This is four light sources in one body: a 1,700-lumen flood, an 800-lumen spot, a 365-nanometer UV mode for inspection work, and a green laser pointer. It charges magnetically or over USB-C, and the flat aluminum body is comfortable in a pocket in a way most cylindrical flashlights are not. This is a gift he’ll carry around with him every single day.
DECKED is best known for engineered truck-bed drawer systems, but the Payloader is a stackable garage storage bin engineered to bring tough storage into the house. Sizes run 32 to 133 liters, lids hold up to 200 pounds static, and the bins lock into a Stable Stack formation so a tower of three doesn’t slide off itself. Lifetime warranty. I’ve been testing these in my house for a few weeks and I’ve already dropped them several times with no breakage.
Best cutting board: STEELPORT SteelCore Cutting Board
This edge-grain Oregon big-leaf maple board has a steel matrix embedded inside it, which keeps the board flat against the dimensional movement that warps and splits ordinary wooden boards over time. STEELPORT hand-finishes them in Portland. The Oregon Maple variant has a recycled paper-composite reverse with a juice groove for raw proteins. At 0.75 inches thick, STEELPORT claims it’s the thinnest end-grain board on the market. Plus, it looks nice enough to keep on the counter all the time without having to stash it away in a cabinet.
A 1.5-inch AMOLED screen peaks at 2,000 nits of brightness, so this adventure-ready watch is visible in just about any conditions. Dual-frequency GNSS provides accurate location data even if you’re battling a canyon or tree-cover. Free downloadable offline maps and a 65-hour run time per charge (with GPS turned on) make this a wearable that you can rely on during off-grid adventures.
Best high-resolution camera: Sony Alpha 7R VI
Alpha 7R VI: Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera $4,499.99
Yes, this is an expensive camera, but consider this a passive aggressive attempt on my part to get my kids to buy me one. The A7R VI is built around a 66.8-megapixel fully-stacked Exmor RS sensor and shoots blackout-free continuous bursts at 30 frames per second. That means photographers don’t have to choose between high-res images and high-speed shooting. Dynamic range hits 16 stops. In-body stabilization claims up to 8.5 stops under ideal circumstances. Real-time Recognition AF+ uses skeletal pose estimation to predict where a moving subject’s face will be next. This is a beast of a camera that’s worthy of pro work.
Not every dad is great at building a fire with wood, and that’s OK. The Infinity relies on a propane tank you swap when it runs dry. Twin burners put out up to 72,000 BTUs combined, the unit runs five and a half hours on a 20-pound tank at maximum output, and the dual-burner geometry recreates the swirl pattern of a real wood fire. You get all the ambiance and warmth without the kindling, false starts, and ash cleanup.
Despite its small size, this box delivers 1,000 amps of starting power, enough for any gas engine up to six liters or any diesel up to three. It weighs 2.4 pounds and works as a portable USB power bank. The built-in 100-lumen LED offers seven modes of illumination depending on your needs. All those featured are wrapped in an IP65-rated case to protect against dust and water. It may really get your dad (or you) out of a jam down the line.
The KEEN Utility Targhee Blur is a $210 lightweight work boot, the work-boot version of KEEN’s long-running Targhee hiker. KEEN’s ReGEN+ midsole returns 60 percent of energy per step, the carbon-fiber composite safety toe is 15 percent lighter than steel and meets ASTM F3445 and F2413. Inside, the KEEN.DRY membrane keeps water out without trapping moisture in. The Targhee Blur is available in mid or low collar heights, both with reflective webbing for low-light visibility. Plus, they look a lot cooler than your dad’s old boots.
Best cooling underwear: Duluth Trading Armachillo Cooling Boxer Briefs 3-Pack
Many dads aren’t willing to splurge on underwear, so you have to do it for them. Jade-infused cooling fabric make these boxer briefs some of the most comfortable we’ve ever worn at work or the gym. Microscopic jade particles embedded in the nylon-spandex knit are dense enough to draw heat away from the skin, which makes the fabric measurably cool to the touch and not just moisture-wicking. The Armachillo briefs solve an actual hot-summer problem in a way most $25-a-pair boxer briefs cannot.
Best electric shaver: Philips Norelco i9000
Philips Norelco i9000 Wet & Dry Shaver with SenseIQ $229.96
Disposable razors are over. This rechargeable shaver has a SenseIQ sensor inside that reads beard density 500 times per second and modulates cutting power on the fly. The Triple Lift & Cut head pulls flat-lying hairs upright before cutting them, which is the difference between a clean shave and a close-but-not-quite one. The motor and battery carry a five-year warranty. Self-sharpening blades last two years between replacements.
Best gaming headset: Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II
Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II Wireless Gaming Headset $349.99
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II runs 60-millimeter Eclipse dual drivers, Japan Audio Society-certified 24-bit/96kHz hi-res wireless over a 2.4GHz USB transmitter, Dolby Atmos spatial audio, and adjustable active noise cancellation. Does that sound nerdy? Yes, but it’s also awesome and if your dad is a true gamer, he’ll appreciate all of it. Dual swappable 40-hour batteries mean zero downtime between charges. CrossPlay 2.0 handles up to four USB transmitters, so the Stealth Pro II moves between PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Bluetooth without rewiring.
Best washable wool rug: Revival Rugs Mori
Revival Rugs Mori Washable Wool Rug (6' x 9', Guava) $799
Dad needs a rug to tie the room together. The Revival Rugs Mori is a $799 hand-knotted wool rug (in the 6′ × 9′ size) built around a washable construction most wool rugs can’t claim. Revival works with artisan partners on washable yarns and weave geometry that survive a wash cycle without the dry-cleaning intervention traditional wool rugs require. Three colorways: Guava, Matcha, Sakura. The Mori is the rug pick for someone who appreciates the look of a hand-knotted wool rug without the maintenance overhead.
Best mechanical keyboard: CHERRY XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless
You don’t have to know how magnets work to appreciate this high-end keyboard. Tunnel Magnetoresistance (TMR) switches replace the typical sensors most premium gaming keyboards rely on. CHERRY claims 0.01-millimeter precision and lower power draw than Hall-effect equivalents. The 8,000Hz polling rate works in 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth, or wired modes. Hot-swappable sockets accept the brand’s magnetic switches or traditional mechanical switches, which is rare in the category. TKL layout, PBT keycaps, 300 hours of gaming on the 8,000mAh battery. Plus, it sounds awesome.
The Traeger Irontop 2-Burner is a $499 flat-top grill provides edge-to-edge heat across the cooktop as default rather than luxury. That means the burgers at the center of the surface cook at the same speed as those around the edge. The two-burner has 504 square inches of cooking surface. The four-burner steps up to 648 square inches at $599. Both ship with integrated wind guards, a P.A.L. accessory rail, side shelves, and a three-year warranty.
Ticks are the worst, but they’re a way of life when you spend a lot of time outside. The Opinel No. 12 Explore is a $60 folding knife with a built-in tick remover, a notched slot on the handle that slides under an embedded tick and lifts the head out cleanly. If you don’t get the whole bug out, it could regenerate over time and increase your risk of disease. A Virobloc safety ring locks the blade and the handle is glass-filled polyamide.
Best commuter backpack: Chrome Industries Barrage 18L
Roll top bags can save your gadgets and everyday carry during bad weather. The welded main compartment is exceptionally resistant to the elements, which makes this a great pack for commuting or spending time outdoors. The Barrage has an exterior webbing cargo net for awkward loads and an internal 15-inch laptop sleeve. The floating tarp liner is made from recycled auto-glass and the main fabric is 1050D recycled nylon. PFAS-free. Best of all: it looks really cool.
The smallest cooler in Yeti’s lineup is sized for one person going out for the day rather than a family tailgate. It holds 12 cans or nine pounds of ice with the same Permafrost pressure-injected polyurethane insulation and ColdLock gasket as the big Tundra. The AnchorPoint tie-down slots are built to strap the cooler to a paddleboard, motorcycle saddle, ATV, or golf cart. To make it an even better gift, fill it up with cans of Arnold Palmer (or any other beverage he may like).
The Watershed Ocoee is a submersible dry bag from $167 in standard colors, sized to fit under a kayak deck or a boat seat. The ZipDry zipper is the same closure Watershed sells into the military waterproof-gear category, rated IP68 for full submersion rather than splash resistance. 10.5 liters of capacity, 1.5 pounds, plus rugged carry handles and hard lash points for tie-downs.
If your dad is the type whose tee shots occasionally need a search party, the Cobra OPTM X driver is 2026’s rescue club. Bringing “stay in play” energy, this glossy black fairway finder has a carbon crown that looks sharp at address, plus a subtle “C” that works as a clean, non-distracting alignment cue. It feels well-balanced, especially in 44.5” Tour Length for increased accuracy, and brings real forgiveness through the MOI (Moment of Inertia) and POI (Products of Inertia) design that helps reduce twisting and side spin when contact gets spicy. Plus, FutureFit33 fine-tuning allows Dad to dial it in and stop donating balls to the woods. The adjustability makes it especially great if you don’t know how the recipient plays. (And if you’re feeling really generous and Dad’s into 3-D printing, you can help with his putting, too.)
Best high-end low-profile turntable speaker: Andover-One SB
Andover-One SB Audiophile Powered Speaker Base $1,999
Vinyl dads can easily take over any space while building a shrine of glowing components. But they don’t have to redecorate an entire room with cascading chords to prove they care about sound. They just need an Andover-One SB and a well-maintained turntable. This powered speaker base proves component hi-fi can be high-end. It’s clean in look and sound, packing a built-in phono preamp, 200 watts powering six speakers for a fleshy, full-range response, a Class A headphone amplifier, and multiple inputs into furniture-grade wood with a tempered-glass top. For the digital-friendly dad, add a reference streamer like the Bluesound Node ICON or use Bluetooth aptX HD. The multi-driver array, featuring four 3.5-inch ultralinear aluminum-diaphragm woofers and two Air Motion Transformer folded-ribbon tweeters, works with panoramic S/M/L audio modes to tune presentation no matter the placement. And Isogroove feedback elimination keeps the platter vibration-free, no matter how freely the volume knob turns.
Coffee nerds have so much in common with audiophiles. Both are obsessed with micro-calibrated gear and swapping components in and out in the pursuit of clarity. So if you know a dad as obsessed with puck preparation as he is running a carbon-fiber anti-static brush over every album, you know a dad who needs the Mazzer Philos premium light commercial single-dose grinder. Like a summit-fi digital audio converter, this $1,495 hand-assembled, heirloom-quality Italian appliance (available in black and silver) takes whatever beans it’s fed and extracts previously masked tasting notes with minimal morning commotion. A wide dial covers espresso to pour-over to batch brew coarseness, and the near-zero-retention vertical burr + chute knocker + Dose Finisher system lets you move between origins and brewing methods without yesterday’s beans staging a comeback. Swappable 64mm flat burrs give him a chance to tune for vibrant light and full-bodied dark roasts, and the option to switch from stepped to stepless mode gives grind settings the same obsessive precision as establishing the perfect listening position.
Dad undoubtedly has a vibe. But what if he could have an aura?!? That’s what this collection from BrüMate brings. That and all-day hydration. The Dark Aura collection’s brushed metallic blue-purple gradient looks good on thirst-quenchers of every size, from the Strova 18oz with its flavor-preserving ceramic liner and leakproof BevLock lid to the Era Flip 40oz, a cup holder-friendly tumbler with its SoftSip straw and leakproof SlideSeal lid. Whether it’s hot coffee (ground with the Mazzer above, obviously) or a reservoir of some cold refreshing beverage, dad will feel stylish hydro-hauling in one of these twilight chrome containers.
Best compact connected speakers: Bose LifeStyle Ultra
If your dad won’t admit his hearing isn’t what it used to be, but the TV volume when he watches something might be threatening to give everyone else in the room tinnitus, the Bose LifeStyle Ultra soundbar is the upgrade he needs. AI-powered Speech Clarity separates dialogue from explosions, scores, and general streaming-service murk, so he gets bigger, clearer sound without turning the living room into an endurance challenge. Add the glass-topped Subwoofer for serious low-end response, then bring in the compact Ultra Speakers as wireless rears when you want a more immersive experience. After that, dad can build a whole-home system room by room, placing speakers as compact height-enhanced endpoints or even more expressive stereo pairs fed by AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth. More detail, less subtitles and shouting matches.
Best kitchen upgrade: Boardsmith butcher block
The Boardsmith Premium End Grain Butcher Block $230+
When it comes to cooks, you already think Dad is a cut above. Even before you taste anything, you know based on his taste in knives and his actual knife skills. He turns mise-en-place into theater. And the Dad that is the kind of chef who gets weirdly specific about his blade’s edge needs an appropriate prep surface. Knife-friendly Boardsmith premium end grain butcher blocks … or cutting boards, or charcuterie boards, or utensil sets … are made in a family-owned shop in Frisco, Texas. And they bring a substantial stage for slicing, dicing, carving, etc. You can pick from four sizes of maple, walnut, cherry, or some handsome combination, customized with or without finger grooves and juice grooves and feet. Dad will never get bored with this board.
Best balanced and aligned putter: L.A.B. Golf VZN.1i
Cresswell, Oregon, iconoclasts L.A.B. Golf have a vision for getting zero-torque putters in more golfers’ bags, and part of that is getting their VZN.1i in more golfers’ hands. If Dad is looking for stability and repeatability, but he’s not looking to answer any “What is that?!?” questions on the course, this more familiar, still ultra-forgiving shape could quiet his aesthetic concerns and also any worries that he won’t lock the target line. Still center-shafted and hand-balanced, the VZN.1i goes beyond the D-shaped mallet head of the OZ.1i and brings a fang-style putter to the lineup. A 303 stainless-steel insert with deeper milling gives a crisp, deeply satisfying zing and hotter launch off the face. As for that cutout and the crown lines, their geometry helps with optical alignment. Plus, it’s also a “gimmie getter”/ball scoop, so it takes more pressure off the back while it keeps more putts on track. Get hexagonal, stay squared.
Our digital lives often drive fandoms in the very analog: record players, cassettes, and yes, fountain pens. For some people, they’ve always been the thing, but plenty of newcomers are arriving via social media—and that’s exactly what makes this such a good gift. Your dad likely doesn’t already have one, but if he is always talking about writing that novel, he’s probably at least a little curious and not sure where to start.
LAMY, a German writing instrument brand, is known for reliability, and the AL-star is an easy entry point that feels more premium than its price tag suggests, thanks to its lightweight aluminum body. It refills with cartridges and comes in a range of nib sizes; we recommend starting with medium. LAMY does make a left-handed nib, but pro tip: We have yet to find any left-handers who want to deal with ink that can easily smear before it has time to dry. Add a pack of refill cartridges in a few fun colors to make it feel a little more special right out of the box.
Cycling dads will happily upgrade everything on their bike—except the lock, which somehow stays “good enough” until it’s very much not. The Hiplok Switch 105 fixes that. It’s a 105 cm (about 41 inches) folding lock made from hardened steel bars and solid rivets, offering real security (Sold Secure Bronze) without the usual bulk. It folds down compactly and clicks into a boss-mounted bracket, so whether it’s on the frame or the fork, it’s always along for the ride instead of rattling around in a bag. At just over a pound, it’s manageable, and long enough to loop through larger frames, including many e-bikes.
Still prefer a heavy-duty chain for some urban adventures where you’re not obsessing over every ounce or wanting to drag a bag? The Hiplok GOLD Wearable Chain Lock is a burly belt that’s not as awkward as it appears and gives you confidence that your bike is secure outside of the coffee shop.
It’s a healthy sign when consumers have the ear of a company that wants their ears. Marshall heard from the market that there was a desire for ultra-portable on-ear headphones with active noise cancellation, and the end product is the new Milton A.N.C. It brings familiar design language and flagship flourishes into what has typically been a less feature-packed form factor. Until now.
At $229.99, the Milton A.N.C. is positioned between the Major V and Monitor III A.N.C. [literally in one of the pictures below]. It adopts the textured surface, brass logo, multidirectional control knob, and customizable M-Button of the Monitor III A.N.C. (for toggling ANC/Transparency mode, cycling EQ settings, or going directly to a Spotify playlist, etc.). But it does it in a foldable form factor similar in size to the Major V. That’s where the similarities to the Major V end, however. The build and built-in tech have far more in common with the bigger brother.
Larger, detachable, replaceable earpads with softer memory foam improve comfort and passive noise attenuation. Combined with six optimally placed microphones and a next-generation adaptive algorithm that adjusts noise cancellation in real-time, the Milton A.N.C. blocks out noisy environments so you can make the most of the new custom-tuned Hi-Res Audio-certified driver system. That certification means it can deliver a frequency range of 20Hz – 40kHz and handle sources up to 24-bit/96 kHz. To do this, Milton A.N.C. features audio over USB-C alongside Bluetooth 6.0 with LE-Audio plus support for SBC, AAC, and LC3, as well as advanced-resolution LDAC with a compatible source. Adaptive Loudness ensures the Marshall sound signature comes through clearly when ambient intrusions increase, and proprietary spatialization processing, based on the “True Stereophonic” spatial sound of Marshall’s Bluetooth speakers, widens the soundstage.
Completing the package is a replaceable battery capable of 80 hours of wireless playtime without ANC and 50+ hours with ANC. We’ll share more thoughts on listening and longevity once we’ve had time with a pair.
In the market for something less portable but more colorful? Marshall has also released a purple crushed-velvet ACTON III Marshall X Hendrix 60th Anniversary Edition [$299,99, below left], as well as a matching, far more indulgent halfstack redesign of the 1959 HW and 1960AHW Cab guitar amp accompanied by a custom Jim Dunlop Fuzz Face pedal [$4,999, below right].
We test hundreds of products every year, ranging from hardcore outdoor gear and power tools to home theater systems and kitchen appliances. Seriously, you should see our offices. They’re cluttered with products and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
While we love gear and gadgets, not all of them deliver on their promises. We know what it’s like to buy a new device only to find that it doesn’t solve the problem you wanted it to solve. That’s why we created the Popular Science Proven badge.
We put everything we review through rigorous testing. That includes empirical testing when appropriate, but more importantly, we use these items. After all, a TV’s stated contrast ratio doesn’t mean much if that 4K Blu-ray of Alien you bought doesn’t look perfect.
What makes a product worthy of the PopSci Proven badge?
While the specific methods vary, any product with a Proven badge meets a set of criteria developed by the staff across decades of combined experience reviewing products.
It does what it says
When a product makes a claim, you want to know that it’s being honest. That rain jacket will keep you dry on a hike. Those headphones will block out the crying baby three seats behind you on your flight. We decode all the marketing speak you’ll read in the press release and see how well these things actually work.
It’s worth your money
Words like “value” and “budget” get a bad rap when used synonymously with “cheap.” We don’t think that way. An expensive home pizza oven can be a great value if it will last for years and totally eradicates your costly delivery habit. Whether something is $15 or $1,500, it has to earn its price tag.
It solves a problem real people actually have
Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’ll find products that make ridiculous promises and address problems that don’t exist. A Proven product makes life simpler, more accessible, more sustainable, more enjoyable, or more productive.
It’s designed to last, not break and make you buy a new one
We can’t tolerate planned obsolescence. Products with the Proven logo have to be built to last and offer a reasonable warranty should something go wrong. We give bonus points to products that actually get better with age. Nothing beats the patina on a well-crafted pair of boots or the unique brassing that happens to a camera that goes everywhere with its owner.
While Proven will mostly apply to new products, we’ll also be retroactively applying badges to products we’ve loved for years. Some items have already stood the test of time and we appreciate that.
If you see the badge going forward, know that it’s something we’d use ourselves. In fact, check our offices and you’ll find that most of them, we’re already using on the regular.
Snow Peak rarely puts its core lineup of meticulously engineered outdoor gear on sale, which makes its current Camp All Summer Sale a real event. I just spent this past weekend at the sold out Snow Peak Way event at Snow Peak Campfield in Long Beach, WA and I already have an wish list of gear started. A variety of their popular camp gear is 20 percent off, with a handful of items dropped even further. The Takibi Fire & Grill is down to $279.96 (from $349.95), the Jikaro Firering Table is $271.96 (from $339.95), and the Entry Pack TT tent-and-tarp combo is marked all the way down to $362.85 (from $647.95). If you have been keeping a Snow Peak wish list, this is the moment to clear it out.
Snow Peak Takibi Fire & Grill $279.96 (was $349.95)
The Takibi Fire & Grill was at the heart of every camp set up this past weekend [Disclosure: Snow Peak provided travel and accommodations for the event]. The Takibi Fire & Grill is Snow Peak’s signature fire pit and one of the most-recommended portable fire pits you can buy. It folds nearly flat for transport, throws off serious heat to those sitting around it, and accepts grill bridges and accessory grates that turn it into a full cooking station. I’m still dreaming of the Takibi fired short ribs we had on Saturday. Snow Peak almost never discounts the Takibi, so $70 off is the kind of cut that pulls it out of “someday” territory and into “this weekend.”
The Jikaro Firering Table turns the Takibi Fire & Grill into the ultimate gathering space. The Jikaro wraps a stainless steel tabletop in a ring around a Takibi Fire & Grill so the whole group can sit close to the flames with food and drinks within reach. It looks like an indulgence until you use it once and realize how much it changes the rhythm of a campsite, since nobody has to balance a plate on their knees or get up for another drink. Snow Peak holds the line on its core lineup, so $68 off the Jikaro is a rare cut.
I was able to see a variety of tent and tarp set ups at Snow Peak Way and each setup has its own set of die-hard fans. I was impressed by the luxurious head space inside every style Snow Peak tent and the tarp expands the campsite into a functional living room and kitchen style gathering space. The Entry Pack TT bundles a Snow Peak dome tent with a tarp shelter and pole set, so you walk away with a complete camp setup for less than the price of the tent alone at full retail. At 44 percent off, this is one of the deepest cuts in the sale and a strong starting point for anyone building out their first Snow Peak kit.
Snow Peak Tent and Shelter Deals
Snow Peak’s tents are some of the most coveted shelters in camping, and the big-ticket ones rarely move off retail. Both colorways of the Land Lock, Snow Peak’s flagship family shelter, are $319.80 off, and the Land Nest Shelter in Ivory drops to $799.96.
The Recta Tarp L Set is the standout here at $423.33, a 44 percent cut on a serious group-camping shelter. The Takibi Tarp Octa, designed to pitch over a campfire setup, is also down to $622.36.
The Pack & Carry Fireplace XL is the biggest fire-pit deal in the sale at $139.97, a 44 percent cut on the largest version of the line. The Pack & Carry L Fireplace at $191.96 is the next size down and a long-running favorite for car campers.
The Home & Camp Burner is the clever folding stove that collapses down to a tube about the size of a wine bottle, and it lands at $79.96. Backpackers should look at the LiteMax Titanium Stove, which weighs under two ounces and drops to $43.96.
The Cast Iron Sandwich Skillet drops to $199.96 for the camp version of a stovetop classic, and the full Trek titanium cookset lineup is on sale starting at $35.96 for the smallest 700ml pot.
The full titanium tableware lineup is on sale, including the iconic Titanium Spork at $7.16 and the Ti-Double 450 Mug at $39.96. Trek titanium bowls and plates drop to $15.16 each, a 20 percent cut on pieces that Snow Peak almost never discounts.
The Field Coffee Master at $147.96 is the full pour-over setup with its own travel case, but the Collapsible Coffee Drip at $23.96 is the piece of gear most people actually pack for a weekend trip.
The IGT Camp Kitchen Low Set and IGT Slim are both $359.96 if you have been eyeing Snow Peak’s modular table system, which are honestly beautiful enough to have on your patio or deck year-round. The Luxury Low Beach Chair drops to $199.96 for the most overbuilt low chair Snow Peak makes.
All three Soft Cooler sizes are 44 percent off as part of the discontinued markdown, with the Soft Cooler 38 at $72.77. The Kitchen Tool Set at $79.96 covers tongs, ladle, spatula, and a knife in a single roll, which is the kind of camp kitchen consolidation that pays for itself by the second trip.
Specialized has long understood that a commuter bike shouldn’t feel like a compromise. A good experience should turn a dreary slog into the best slice of your day, which is why the Turbo Vado has been highlighted in PopSci electric commuter bike coverage: it’s an ebike that means less grind, more glide. The new Turbo Vado 3 EVO takes that city bike and upgrades it for when the road gets patchy, the errand list gets ambitious, and you might want to blow off some post-work steam with a dirt detour. Just add safety accessories.
The core upgrade is that the Vado 3 EVO gets the full-power Specialized 3.1 motor system from the Turbo Levo eMTB: 810 watts of peak power, 105 Nm of torque, and an 840 Wh battery. That means the foundational experience doesn’t change by trim. Specialized claims 0 to 25 kph in three seconds, but the more useful translation is cleaner launches at lights, less strain on loaded climbs, and “SuperNatural” assist that feels pressed into your pedaling instead of dropped on top of it. The motor has also been tuned for quieter, smoother operation (which can be tweaked via app), and the vibration-conscious construction should feel more hushed than hectic.
The EVO-specific IP67 chassis, informed by Body Geometry and Ride Dynamics experts to reduce body pressure and increase rider confidence, is what gives the bike its wider comfort zone. A 120 mm suspension fork, 27.5-inch wheels front and rear, and 2.6-inch all-terrain tires offer a planted stance that should take the sting out of cratered streets, rough shoulders, and gravel shortcuts. [A base 4.0 model with Shimano CUES 9-Speed drivetrain plus Shimano BR-MT200 180mm hydraulic disc brakes weighs 63 lbs.] At the 5.0/6.0 trim levels, a lowerable seatpost with 40 mm of built-in suspension at the touch of a button makes for easier feet-flat stops in traffic, then a quick return to a more efficient pedaling height once you’re rolling. Add a MIK-HD-compatible rated for 27 kg rear rack with integrated brake light, optional 10 kg front rack capacity, child-seat approval, trailer compatibility, and multiple mounting points, and the Vado 3 EVO starts to look less like a commuter bike and more like a full-power platform for Monday’s laptop-and-lunch crawl to a Saturday farmer’s market haul, with a school dropoff and/or long ramble in between.
Specialized says the 840 Wh battery is good for up to five hours of ride-anywhere range, and the optional 280 Wh Range Extender pushes total capacity to 1,120 Wh. Charging also sounds unusually painless: the standard 5-amp charger gets the bike full in less than four hours, while the optional Smart Charger can take it from 0 to 80 percent in under an hour. That’s less “overnight recovery,” more “coffee stop with benefits.”
The trim story is refreshingly straightforward. The ride quality, motor output, and battery range stay the same across the line, so the lowest trim still gets the full-fat Vado 3 EVO experience. Move up the ladder to the 5.0 build and you add Shimano 11-Speed RAPIDFIRE PLUS drivetrain, TEKTRO HD-T5040 4-Piston Caliper brakes, plus more of a premium convenience layer: the integrated 2.2-inch touchscreen MasterMind display, low- and high-beam lighting, a manual wheel lock system, optional Quad Lock phone mounting with wireless charging, and Apple Find My. On the 6.0 model, Specialized makes all that stock and piles on even more goodies with a digital lock system, upgraded Rock Shox Psylo suspension fork, SRAM Eagle AXS wireless shifting, a front rack, Garmin radar, custom SRAM DB DB6 brakes, and a more polished metallic finish. [In total, those additions bring the 6.0’s weight up to 68 lbs.]
In addition, there is a Turbo Vado 3 X [shown below], which adds 120mm rear suspension to the equation, making it more capable of transitioning from urban to off-road when the mood strikes.
Specialized
With the Vado 3 family, commuting is more purr, less grrrr, and just the beginning of this bike’s daily-life integration.
Memorial Day weekend is when the entire summer-gear calendar collapses into a five-day window, and pretty much every category we cover is at its lowest price of the season. The deepest cuts this year sit in three places. Gozney is at 20% off across pizza ovens through May 27, the deepest discount the brand runs all year. Breeo’s smokeless fire pits are 15% off sitewide. And on the tech side, Meta is running its first portfolio-wide promotion, 15% off Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta smart glasses, which is the first time the Gen 2 Wayfarers have ever been discounted.
Mattresses follow their usual pattern. Amerisleep, Zoma, and Vaya are stacking discounts up to $1,000 off on king-size mattresses, with bed frames and accessories included. Brooklinen’s Luxe Sateen sheets are 25% off with code MEMORIALDAY2026. The sale windows are uneven across the rest of the post. Some end at midnight on Monday, May 25, others run through the end of the month or into the first week of June. We’ve flagged the dates where they matter.
Updated Thursday, May 21: Three new picks today. Ooni is now matching Gozney at 20% off pizza ovens, so the multi-fuel Karu 2 is in play if you’ve been cross-shopping the two brands. Backcountry’s Extra 20% Off Clearance is a Saturday deadline, the kind of weekend-only stack that lets you layer a discount on top of an already-marked-down jacket. And All-Clad’s factory-seconds outlet has the Outdoor 3-Piece Cookware Set at $79.99 from $270, a 70% cut and one of the deepest All-Clad prices the outlet has run all year.
Monday, May 25: Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta smart glasses 15% off, Apple AirPods Pro 3 at $229 on Amazon, ororo Heated Apparel at 25% off, KEEN Footwear at 25% off, and Amazon’s broader Memorial Day Sale
Tuesday, May 26: Brooklinen 25% off sitewide with code MEMORIALDAY2026, plus HOVERAir X1 Pro Max bundles
Roccbox is the gas-and-wood-fired oven that will change the way you see homemade pizza. No more floppy crust or super-thick dough. It hits 950°F and cooks a Neapolitan pizza in 60 seconds. It’s also the most portable oven in the Gozney lineup. The brand almost never discounts its whole catalog at once, so 20% off Roccbox through May 27 is the cheapest you’ll see this oven before fall.
Best backyard deal
Breeo X Series 24 Corten Smokeless Fire Pit $509.15 (was $599)
The X Series is Breeo’s flagship smokeless fire pit. A double-walled stainless steel body pulls air up through internal vents and re-burns the smoke before it ever reaches your eyes, which means you can sit downwind without smelling like a smore for three days. The X Series 24 in Corten steel fits a small patio, and the cooking ring accessory turns the whole thing into an open-fire grill. 15% off sitewide also covers the larger Y Series and every accessory in the catalog.
The Wolfbox MF100 is a cordless electric air duster — basically a rechargeable replacement for canned air. A 150,000-RPM turbo fan pushes 45 m/s of airflow, with three speeds, five interchangeable nozzles, and a couple of brush heads for keyboards, camera sensors, car vents, and the rest of the dust traps in your life. USB-C charges it in about 2.5 hours and Wolfbox claims up to 100 minutes on the low setting. At roughly 10 ounces it stows in a desk drawer or camera bag, and Wolfbox rates it for 500-plus uses, so it’s a one-time buy instead of a recurring stack of disposable cans.
Best outdoor blanket deal
Rumpl Original Puffy Blanket (1-Person) $74.96 (was $99.95)
The Original Puffy is Rumpl’s hero product, basically a sleeping bag stretched out and turned into a throw blanket. Recycled polyester face, synthetic insulation, and it packs down to about the size of a Nalgene bottle. The 1-Person size fits one person on a camp chair or two on a couch. 25% off sitewide also covers the bigger sizes, the Down lineup, and the printed artist-series options if you want a less-utilitarian colorway.
Best smart-glasses deal
Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer (Gen 2) Smart Glasses $390.15 (was $459)
Meta has never directly discounted the Gen 2 Ray-Ban Wayfarers before. This is the first portfolio-wide promotion the company has run, and it spans both the Ray-Ban Meta line and the newer Oakley Meta HSTN sport frames. Cameras are sharper than the first generation, and the audio is louder in open-ear mode. The on-glasses Meta AI assistant also handles basic queries without your phone in range. If you’ve been holding out on smart glasses because you didn’t want to pay full retail, this is the window. The promotion runs through May 25.
Apple’s AirTag is the obvious answer if you live in iOS, but the Knog Scout Travel is the better pick for anyone who travels internationally or splits between iOS and Android. It rides on Apple’s Find My network when paired with iPhone and switches to Google’s Find My Device on Android. The battery is rechargeable rather than the AirTag’s swap-the-coin-cell setup, so a checked bag that gets lost for three weeks still pings on arrival.
Best bedding deal
Brooklinen Luxe Sateen Core Sheet Set (Queen) $156.75 (was $209)
The Luxe Sateen is the sheet set that built Brooklinen’s reputation: long-staple cotton, 480-thread-count sateen weave, and the kind of weight that holds up to a hot sleeper without going limp by month three. The 25% off applies sitewide with code MEMORIALDAY2026 at checkout, and a bundled purchase of sheets, duvet, and towels stacks higher savings on the bundle total. The sale runs through May 26.
The AS3 Hybrid is the medium-feel pick in the Amerisleep lineup and the model that lands on more best-of mattress lists than any other in the brand. It pairs a pocketed coil base with a Bio-Pur memory foam top, and the feel splits the difference between back and side sleepers without committing to either. The Queen drops $600 with code MD600 at checkout. King-size mattresses across Amerisleep, Zoma, and Vaya stack discounts up to $1,000 off, and the sale also covers bed frames, sheets, toppers, and pillows.
Outdoor cooking and backyard deals
This is the deepest category of the weekend. Gozney almost never runs a full-catalog discount, Breeo’s 15% off applies across every fire pit and accessory it makes, and Dometic’s coolers are getting their biggest cuts of the season. Fontana Forni is bundling free accessories with its Italian-made outdoor ovens for a week.
If you missed the REI Anniversary Sale window, this is the second-best weekend of the year for outdoor gear. Jackery, EcoFlow, BioLite, and Goal Zero are running parallel discounts on portable power, with the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus at $1,300 off as the deepest cut in the category. Big Agnes and NEMO are 40% off select tents. Rumpl’s blankets are 25% off, and Mammotion’s LUBA 3 AWD robot lawn mower drops $300 plus a free Garage accessory worth $209.
The Ray-Ban Meta first-ever discount is the headline, but the rest of the AV side has serious cuts. Bose is at $130 off the mainline QuietComfort Headphones, Sonos rarely discounts the Move 2 and it’s $100 off, and AWOL Vision is taking $1,199 off its newest ultra-short-throw projector.
Mattress brands run their biggest sales of the year right now, and 2026 is no exception. The Amerisleep, Zoma, and Vaya prices below all reflect Queen-size pricing, since that’s where most readers land. Tuft & Needle’s 30% off the Mint is one of the deepest discounts on the line all year, and Mellanni’s Iconic sheet set drops to $36.97 on Amazon.
Sitewide mattress promos at a glance
If you’re cross-shopping mattress brands, here are the active sitewide codes and promo tiers without the editorial picks attached.
Amerisleep: Up to $1,000 off mattresses with code MD600, plus discounts on bed frames, sheets, toppers, and pillows
Zoma: 30% off mattresses with code SLEEP30
Vaya: $300 off mattresses with code VAYA300
Brooklinen: 25% off sitewide with code MEMORIALDAY2026, sale ends May 26
Tuft & Needle: 30% off the Mint mattress for Memorial Day
Silk & Snow: Memorial Day campaign pricing live on the Hybrid lineup
Serta iComfort: Holiday pricing across the assortment
Beautyrest Black: Memorial Day pricing on the current Black Hybrid lineup
The apparel side is dominated by sitewide cuts at brands that don’t discount often. Columbia is up to 40% off, ororo is at 25%, and Tifosi Optics is at 20% with code MD20. Antler’s 20% off luggage sitewide is a strong tier for the start of summer travel.
Huffy Bikes 20% off with code May20 for National Bike Month
KEEN Footwear 25% off sitewide through May 25 (some American Built and work-boot exclusions)
Kitchen and major appliance deals
LG is taking 30 to 58% off appliances, which is the deepest cut of the season on the brand. Hisense is running parallel discounts on its refrigerators and ranges at Lowe’s. On the countertop side, Vitamix is $180 off the Propel 750 (its biggest cut of the year), Le Creuset’s Signature Round Deep Oven drops to $289.99, and Caraway is bundling its full cookware-plus-minis set at 40% off.
Dyson and iRobot are both running their deepest stick-vac and robot-vac cuts of the season. Revival Rugs just launched a washable wool line alongside its sitewide discount. AquaTru and AirDoctor are running parallel cuts for what AirDoctor is calling its Air Quality Awareness Month sale.
The Home Depot and Lowe’s are both running their biggest tool sales of the season this weekend. DEWALT’s 20V MAX 6-Tool Combo Kit drops $400 at The Home Depot, the kind of pricing that justifies buying into the platform if you’ve been on the fence. EGO’s 1100 Series self-propelled mower is $200 off at Lowe’s, one of the deepest cuts on a battery mower we’ve seen this year.
Ergatta’s rower rarely sees meaningful discounts, and a $500 cut on the Luxe model is the deepest price drop on the line this year. RDX Sports is running its standard 20% sitewide play.
Ergatta Rower $1,999 (was $2,499), $500 off, 20% off through May 31
Ergatta Lite Rower $1,399 (was $1,699), $300 off, 18% off through May 31
A few retailers run sales broad enough to merit a separate scan from the brand-specific picks above. The Home Depot and Lowe’s are the most useful for major appliances and outdoor power equipment, where most of the appliance, DEWALT, and EGO cuts are pulled from. Amazon’s Memorial Day sale runs through May 25 across nearly every category. Ace Hardware’s new Hometown Days event runs the same window with weekend-only in-store deals.
All-Clad Factory Seconds Summer Savings The brand’s outlet is running deep cuts (50 to 77% off) on second-quality and packaging-damaged cookware, bakeware, and outdoor pieces
I love hiking, but most of my body does not. I have POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), which sends my heart rate into the 150s during moderate exertion, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which means my joints sit looser than the average hiker’s. My muscles also fatigue earlier, which means the trek back to the car typically feels particularly taxing. These conditions make the Hypershell X Ultra S exoskeleton appealing to me. It weighs less than 5 pounds and adds AI-driven assistance to every step during hiking or even everyday ambulation. Hypershell hosted a group of journalists at the Grand Canyon to experience the assistive device and determine just how much it can help all bodies, including one like mine. [Disclosure: Hypershell provided travel accommodations during the creation of this story.]
The Hypershell X Ultra S is a $1,999 hip-mounted exoskeleton with motors at both hips, designed to assist your stride during walking and hiking. It weighs 4.7 pounds, thanks in large part to its construction from titanium alloy and carbon fiber [there are also less expensive, less powerful carbon fiber + aluminum versions for $1,499 and $999]. The hardware is paired with what Hypershell calls a HyperIntuition AI motion-control system that can handle a wide variety of terrain, rather than just pulling on your legs to move things along. The company lists 12 terrain modes the system adapts to in real time, including stairs up, stairs down, uphill, downhill, gravel, snow, and dunes. The M-One Ultra motor is rated for 1,000 watts, and a single charge is rated for 30 kilometers, which Hypershell says is enough to cover the famous Bright Angel Trail without a swap. Mine held a full day of testing on one charge with juice left over for normal movement.
A companion app provides access to the controls. There are four modes to choose from before selecting a terrain: eco (assistance with an adjustable strength slider), hyper (more assistance, same slider), transparent (motors disengaged), and fitness (resistance instead of assist). There are physical buttons on the unit, too, but the press sequences for switching modes never became muscle memory for me. The app was always faster, but it’s nice to have a tactile control in case your device is buried in your bag, or you’re wearing gloves.
How it fit
The three-zone lumbar pad sits in a soft pack against my lower back, and over a full day on the trail, I never had a chafe complaint. The hip piece is designed to ride above the belly button, and EDS comes with gut issues that change my shape throughout the day, so the belt slipped down past my navel as the day went on. My middle is not the same shape at 9 a.m. as it is at 4 p.m. Hypershell sells optional shoulder straps for narrower waists and hips, and on my build, I would consider them required. The system adjusts at the hip and the knee, so the fit range itself is wide, but the geometry of where the belt sits is fixed.
On the trail
Parkour! Hypershell
The closest sensation I can compare the assistance to is high knees during a warm-up at the gym. The motors don’t push your legs forward; they take some of the lifting work off the front of your stride. You feel it most when you start moving, less as you settle in, and within a few minutes, I stopped registering it as a sensation and started registering it as energy I still had at the end of the hike.
You feel the AI adjusting to your pace and gait as the terrain changes under you, and the adjustments are small enough that they never rush my stride or lag behind it. The system also tries to keep your gait in alignment. If I turned a hip out or in, the motors pulled me back toward center in a way I could feel. As someone whose joints dislocate easily, I watched for any sense of the device causing or preventing a dislocation and felt neither. It doesn’t assist with balance, and it’s not meant to.
Downhill is where I’m slowest to trust new gear. I’m hesitant on descents in regular hiking shoes, and adding an assist mechanism to a hesitant hiker felt like a steeper learning curve. I worked through it. The Hypershell didn’t pull me down the trail or accelerate my stride in a way I couldn’t override, and I came to trust it on descents in eco mode. It’s a unique sensation, and you get more accustomed to it over time.
Fitness mode was the surprise. It requires increased effort, similar to walking with a resistance band around your legs. The resistance shows up on lunges and on flat walking; it doesn’t engage on squats. For me, the practical effect was proprioception. Hypermobility means I don’t always know where my limbs are in space, and the resistance gave me a constant low-level feedback signal about what my legs were doing. I’m planning to try fitness mode in the gym for the same reason, to see if it can help my body get the feedback it usually lacks during training.
Same hill, three modes
I climbed the same hill in the Grand Canyon three times, switching modes between climbs. In transparent (no assistance), my heart rate ran from 102 beats per minute at the bottom to 158 at the top. In eco, the same hill peaked at 126. In hyper, the highest assist setting, my peak was 118.
The flat-terrain numbers told the same story. Walking at roughly a 2-mile-per-hour pace, my heart rate in transparent mode averaged 128 beats per minute, which is normal POTS territory for me. In eco or hyper, my average dropped to 96 at the same pace. I’m essentially never in double digits in motion. The Hypershell put me there. My conditions made those differences easy to measure. They didn’t create them.
The other measurements I can speak to are softer. My lower extremity functional scale rates me at mild to moderate limitations, and I usually take frequent rest breaks because my muscles tire quickly. I didn’t develop knee pain during testing. I stepped up using either leg with confidence rather than defaulting to the leg I usually favor. My posterior chain felt more engaged. My legs were less fatigued during and after the hike.
The verdict
The Hypershell X Ultra S changes the cardiac and metabolic cost of walking and climbing in ways I could measure on myself, and, while my specific conditions play a role in determining its efficacy, it has the potential to help pretty much anyone who wants some ambulatory assistance. As an adaptive athlete who packs in to a campsite and then loses the next day to soreness, this changes the math on what I can take on. Hike in with assistance, save the legs for the way out. If your hiking problem is more conventional, that you stop on long climbs because your legs are done before you are, the same assist principle should help.
I didn’t test the Hypershell running or making quick directional pivots; my dislocation risk kept me deliberately out of those movements, and the company’s claims about transition response don’t tell me what would happen to my joints if I planted hard and turned. But during normal conditions, it helps and lets people get out and go hiking more easily. That’s a win for everyone.
Huckberry kicked off its Memorial Day Weekend Sale with up to 20 percent off a deep cross-section of its catalog, and the long weekend itself is the deadline. The clock runs out Monday, 5/25. The most useful cuts are the ones that aim straight at how you actually spend the weekend, like the Flint and Tinder 365 Chino Short at $62 (was $78), the Filson Dryden Duffel Pack Hybrid at $239 (was $299), and the Taylor Stitch Stevens Linen Herringbone Blazer at $219 (was $398). It’s the kind of catalog that rewards filling a cart with one good short, one good shoe, and one weekend bag rather than chasing a single big-ticket item.
Flint and Tinder 365 Chino Short – 7" $62.00 (was $78.00)
The 365 Chino Short is Flint and Tinder’s everywhere short, with a 7-inch inseam that lands just above the knee and a four-way stretch chino fabric that doesn’t bag out after a day in a beach chair. Sizes go up in inseam (5-inch and 9-inch versions are on sale too) so you can pick your length depending on the pastiness of your thighs. At $62 it’s $16 off, which isn’t the largest dollar cut in the sale, but the 365 line is the most universal recommendation Huckberry sells, and $62 is a fair number to keep two pairs in rotation.
The Terra Penny is LUCA’s softest sell on the loafer-as-sneaker idea, with a leather upper that breaks in like a dress shoe and a cushioned sole that walks like a sneaker. You can slip them on with shorts on the way to a cookout, swap to chinos for the dinner reservation, and never look like you were trying to dress for two occasions at once. At $168 it’s the cheapest the Terra Penny has been on Huckberry in months, and the closest LUCA gets to a one-shoe summer answer.
The Dryden Duffel Pack Hybrid is a Huckberry-exclusive build of Filson’s ballistic-nylon travel line that splits the difference between a duffel and a backpack, with hideaway shoulder straps that pop out when you need to hike across an airport. At 46 liters it sneaks under the carry-on limit for most US airlines, and the U-shaped opening lays it flat for packing instead of forcing the dig-through-a-tube routine. At $239 it’s $60 off and the most discounted Filson piece in the sale, which is unusual on a brand that rarely shows up below MSRP.
Taylor Stitch The Stevens Linen Herringbone Blazer $219.00 (was $398.00)
The Stevens Linen Herringbone Blazer is the biggest dollar cut in the sale, at $179 off, and it solves the same problem every May. You need a jacket that reads warm-weather without crossing into seersucker territory, and pure linen in a tight herringbone weave is the answer. It’s fully unstructured, which means no shoulder pads and no canvas, so it packs flat into the carry-on for a weekend wedding or rolls into a tote without holding the wrinkles. At $219 it’s the rare case where a linen blazer lands closer to chino-pant money than blazer money.
Huckberry Jacket and Outerwear Deals
Memorial Day is a strange time to shop jackets, but it’s also when the deepest cuts land on last fall’s holdovers. The Flint and Tinder York Quilted Waxed Jacket is the standout here at $104 (down from $298, a 65 percent cut), and the Wills Classic Patch Pocket Suit Jacket follows close behind at $134 (was $298). If you want one piece that earns its keep through fall, the Flint and Tinder Mason Canvas Barn Jacket at $168 is the most-recommended chore-style jacket Huckberry stocks.
This is the warm-weather core of the sale, and the deals stack heaviest on Taylor Stitch, Wills, and Relwen polos. The Wills YakWool Crewneck Sweater is the standout at $98 (was $218, a 55 percent cut), and the Flint and Tinder Architect Shirt at $68 (was $98) is the sleeper pick for the kind of shirt you wear weekly without thinking about it.
The 365 line is the core of the bottoms sale, and Flint and Tinder is running a Buy 2, Save 15 percent stack on top of the existing markdown on select 365 styles. If you wear chinos as often as denim, this is the section to load up on. Proof’s 72-Hour Merino Chino lands deepest at $95 (was $158, a 40 percent cut) and is the closest thing to a one-pant travel answer Huckberry sells.
Rhodes Footwear is the deepest-cut brand in the footwear section, with three Vibram-soled boot styles down 40 percent. The Astorflex Samaflex Woven Venetian Loafer at $191 (was $298) is the warm-weather standout for anyone who wears loafers without socks, and the Kane x Huckberry Revive AC at $100 (was $125) is the recovery shoe to slip on after a day on your feet.
Filson rarely goes on sale, so the three Filson pieces in this section are the rarest birds in the catalog. The Dryden Travel Pack at $55 (was $69) is the budget-friendly entry point, and the Flint and Tinder x Rancourt Leather Tote at $185 (was $284) is the leaning-leather alternative for anyone who’s worn through a canvas tote.
This is the small-accessory section where the percentage discounts get aggressive. The Oscar Deen Fraser Sunglasses are half off at $117 (was $235), the Unmarked El Charro Lucky Belt drops to $158 (was $300), and the Huckberry x One of These Days 5 Panel Hat is $25 (was $45). The Huckberry x TIMEX IRONMAN Flix at $103 brings the digital sport watch back as a styling piece without crossing $150.
This is the section to scroll if you’re stocking a long weekend at a rental house or a backyard cookout. The Sultan Turkish Towel at $18 (was $44) is the largest percentage cut anywhere in the sale at 59 percent off, and the Señor Lechuga x Huckberry BBQ Essentials kit at $30 is half off. Barebones lanterns get the camp section covered, with the Railroad Lantern at $96 being the steel-and-glass piece that lives on a porch year-round.
Looking to upgrade your macro photography kit? These great deals on dedicated macro lenses, ring flashes, tripods, focusing rails, and essential support gear will help you capture better close-up photos.
If you’re still using an old backpack from college to lug your stuff around, it’s time to upgrade your bag. The entire bags and travel gear category on the Duluth Trading site is 20 percent off through Sunday as part of a site-wide promo. Duluth makes tough, work-oriented gear, but many of the bags are also great looking, which is unusual for true work gear. Buy a bag now and it’ll last for years.
Lifetime Leather Crossbody Bag $75.18 (was $189.50)
The Lifetime Leather Crossbody Bag is the kind of full-grain piece that does not show up at this price very often. It is a clean shoulder bag with a magnetic flap and an interior zip pocket, sized for a paperback, phone, and wallet without trying to be a daypack. The 60 percent cut is by far the deepest in this sale, and Lifetime Leather is the line Duluth backs with their permanent guarantee.
Fire Hose Bulldozer Backpack 2.0 $183.96 (was $229.95)
The Fire Hose Bulldozer Backpack 2.0 is the bag most associated with Duluth Trading. It uses the brand’s namesake Fire Hose canvas with a full-grain cowhide leather bottom panel, fits a 17-inch laptop, and has enough internal organization to function as an actual work pack rather than a glorified commuter sack. The 20 percent discount drops it to $183.96, which is the lowest the current 2.0 generation goes outside of seasonal events.
Backpacks and Briefcases on Sale at Duluth Trading
Beyond the Bulldozer, the Lifetime Leather Backpack drops to $175.96, and the leather AWOL Bag and Bashful Billionaire’s Bag are both at $263.96, which is the kind of price point you almost never see on Duluth’s full-grain heritage line. The Superior Street Fire Hose Briefcase is also in the mix at $119.96 if you want a more buttoned-up daily carry.
Weekender and Travel Bags on Sale at Duluth Trading
For one or two nights out of town, the Heritage Canvas Weekend Travel Tote at $67.96 is the value pick of the bunch. If you would rather upgrade, the Leather Travel Bag 2.0 is the heritage version of the same idea at $175.96.
The Lifetime Leather Tote at $151.96 is the heritage choice in this group, and the Whole Shabag at $35.96 is a cheap, useful canvas hauler that has earned its name. The AKHG Gear Tote at $63.96 is a newer, outdoor-leaning entry from Duluth’s AKHG line.
The Lifetime Leather Sling at $103.96 is the unisex pick if the featured Crossbody Bag is too horizontal in shape for you. On the canvas side, the Heritage Canvas Travel Sling Bag drops to $47.96 and the slimmer Heritage Canvas Travel Crossbody is $35.96.
Graduation is a huge event in someone’s journey. It’s a monumental shift from one phase of life to the next. You don’t want to show up to something like that with a $20 coffee gift card. You want a real gift. Luckily, we’re experts when it comes to gift giving (and gift receiving if you’re feeling generous). We’ve crafted this guide to help find the perfect present for anyone graduating from high school, college, trade school, or the beginner’s class at the local yoga studio. Every accomplishment deserves a celebration.
The Ear (a) is the under-$100 pick for a grad who’d rather not have white earbuds blending into every other pair on campus. They include active noise cancellation and transparent plastic earpieces with the Nothing brand’s all-caps industrial-design language, and they run about 42 hours on a charge counting the case. The IP54 rating means a sudden downpour won’t kill them. They sound closer to a $200 pair than a $99 one, and they pair with both iPhone and Android.
Hungry Minds The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization
This is a 400-page illustrated encyclopedia of the inventions, discoveries, and systems that got society this far, covering medicine, materials, mechanisms, agriculture, music, and much more. Every illustration is hand-drawn, and every fact was vetted by a working scientist. The cover is silver-embossed and the binding is sewn rather than glued, which is the difference between a book that survives a decade in a bookcase and one that sheds pages by year three. This is the kind of reference a grad might actually keep when their bookshelf gets thinned out at the next move. Hungry Minds is taking 10% off The Book for graduation season with the code KEEPLEARNING10 at checkout.
A grad already has a laptop. What they do not have is a 32-inch screen on the desk in their first apartment. LG’s UltraFine 4K is the work-from-home upgrade that turns a coffee-table laptop setup into something that won’t tank their posture by month two. It swivels into portrait orientation for code or long PDFs, runs at 60Hz UHD with HDR10, and at $349 it lands well under the price of a higher-end display while doing the same job for a job-interview Zoom. The included stand handles most desks, and the screen mounts on a regular VESA arm if your grad wants to fully commit to a real setup.
For the engineering or CS grad who’d rather rebuild a laptop than replace one, Framework’s Laptop 13 Pro is the rare Windows machine you can disassemble with the screwdriver that comes in the box. The RAM, SSD, ports, screen, and even the board are all user-replaceable, and the company sells those components individually for a decade after launch. It costs roughly the same as a comparable model from a big manufacturer, but the math changes when you upgrade in year three instead of buying new.
The Palma 2 Pro is an e-reader the size and shape of a smartphone, which is the entire point. It runs Android, so the grad can install Kindle, Libby, Spotify, and Pocket on the same device and then read e-ink without the scroll-prompted dopamine loop of an actual phone. The Pro upgrade adds a fingerprint reader and a fingerprint-magnet glass back, but the win is still the original idea: a device that fits in a back pocket and doesn’t pretend to be a phone. This is the kind of gift the grad shows their roommate, who immediately wants one.
KitchenAid Fully Automatic Espresso Machine with Iced Coffee
For the grad whose first apartment will have a coffee bar before it has curtains, KitchenAid’s new fully automatic does the entire process at the touch of a button. It grinds the beans, doses the puck, tamps it down, brews the shot, and foams the milk on its own. Iced coffee is built into the menu, which sounds gimmicky until you’ve used it. I’m reviewing one now, and the early read is that it nails milk texture better than most superautomatics in its price tier. The price tag puts this in splurge territory, but it replaces a daily $6 coffee shop habit and the math gets reasonable around month nine.
All-Clad D3 Stainless 3-ply Bonded Cookware, Mother of All Pans with lid, 6 quart
All-Clad’s Mother of All Pans is the largest cooking surface in the brand’s lineup at 6 quarts. It’s a single piece of fully bonded tri-ply, with an aluminum core sandwiched in stainless steel all the way out to the flared rim. That construction matters because cheaper pans cut corners there and end up with a hot spot in the middle. That’s instant death for pancakes. The pan is big enough for a four-person braise without crowding the meat, and it’s deep enough that a sauce won’t boil over before you’ve reduced it. All-Clad has been making this in Pennsylvania since 1971, the pan is oven-safe up to 600°F, it works on induction, and it carries a lifetime warranty. Right now it’s $149 down from $299. This is a first-apartment workhorse the grad will still cook on a decade after the move.
Review sites have been extolling the virtues of this knife for years, and the reasoning still holds. The steel takes a thin Japanese edge, the dimpled blade releases sticky food cleanly, and the handle balances right at the bolster. Sharpen it once a year and they’ll cook with it through their first three apartments.
Buffy makes a duvet insert filled with recycled-PET fiber, encased in a washed-cotton shell that has the loft of down without the feathers stabbing through the cover. It’s hypoallergenic, it goes in a regular washing machine, and a queen size runs about $159. A grad outgrowing their dorm comforter shouldn’t be sleeping under polyester from the campus bookstore.
This is the least sentimental gift on the list and one of the most useful. SimpliSafe’s Starter System is renter-friendly, it sticks on with adhesive instead of screws, and it doesn’t require a contract. Three sensors and a base station cover a one-bedroom apartment, and the grad can add cameras and smart locks later when they care to.
Coway just refreshed the Mighty AP-1512HH, the True HEPA box that’s been a top pick for nearly a decade. The new Mighty2 keeps the same 360-square-foot core and addresses the long-running requests. The pre-filter slides out from the side instead of forcing a full disassembly, the filter set runs 12 months between swaps instead of six, and a front-mounted MegaScan sensor reads PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 in real time.
The Scout is an AirTag tucked inside an actual luggage tag, with an 85dB motion alarm built into the housing. Apple’s Find My works through it the same way it does on a standard tracker, except now the bag screams when somebody else lifts it off a carousel. It’s 50% off at $30 right now.
The Weekender is the duffel that’s been all over college campuses for three years running, and it earned that placement honestly. The body is vegan leather, the bottom has a dedicated shoe compartment, and a trolley sleeve lets it slide over a roller bag for airport tag-team travel. It holds two nights of clothes plus a laptop without bulging. The interior is light-colored, which sounds dumb until your grad is rifling for a charger at 5 a.m. and can actually find it.
The 20L Everyday is a standard for photographers and commuters alike. The magnetic FlexFold dividers reorganize for whatever’s getting hauled today, the side access doesn’t fight a laptop, and the weather-resistant shell handles a surprise downpour without wetting the books. It comes with a lifetime warranty and real customer service, and the body holds up for a decade of daily abuse.
The LOC8 VERSA is a slim MagSafe wallet that doubles as a phone stand and a tracker, and it’s compatible with both Apple’s Find My and Google’s Find Hub. The grad whose wallet is constantly half a campus away from where they thought it was now has receipts. A metal money clip on the back keeps a couple of bills handy, the leather softens with use, and the whole thing weighs less than a deck of cards. It works with an iPhone or pretty much any Android in a magnetic case.
I have a large skull, and Goodr’s BFG line is one of the very few sub-$40 sunglasses that don’t look tiny on me. The lenses are polarized, the rubber temples don’t slip when you sweat, and the polycarbonate handles a drop on a parking lot without scratching. The grad with a normal-sized head will still wear them because the styling holds up.
For $25, EarPeace’s EVERYDAY plugs drop about 14 decibels off the world without making it sound like you’re underwater. They work for concerts, dorm hallways, and the loud bus ride to the airport. They live on a keychain in a tiny aluminum case, which keeps them findable so the grad doesn’t lose the pair by Tuesday. They’re cheap enough that you can gift two sets and have them keep one in every bag.
Most recovery gifts default to the same percussive massage gun. The Normatec Go is the alternative: a pair of pneumatic compression sleeves that wrap each calf and pulse through a full massage cycle while the grad watches a movie on the couch. The original Normatec system was an NFL training-room staple. The Go shrinks the same idea into two cordless sleeves that tuck into a backpack and run three hours per charge. At $399, this is the single piece of recovery gear the marathon-running grad will never buy for themselves.
Jackery’s smallest serious power station weighs 5.5 pounds and is about the size of a hardback book. It packs 288Wh of LiFePO4 capacity rated for 4,000+ charge cycles, which Jackery puts at roughly a decade of daily use. The carrying strap is the clever part. It doubles as a 140W USB-C cable, which means the handle of the unit is also the charger. The 300D will fully charge a phone about 11 times, run a Starlink Mini for around ten hours, or power a laptop and a couple of accessories at the desk where dorm outlets gave up two cables ago. It costs $219.
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