Brandon Foster

I have been obsessed with audio gear since my dad handed me a pair of cheap earbuds at age 12. Years later, when audio smart glasses first appeared on Amazon, I shrugged and assumed they were a gimmick. Then I borrowed a pair on a flight from Austin to Seattle, and the open-ear sound quality … Read more

My daughter turned 5 last spring and announced she wanted to be a pop star. Within an hour, I had three different portable karaoke machines ordered, one borrowed from a neighbor, and a house full of kids screaming “Let It Go” at full volume. That messy afternoon is exactly why I wrote this guide to … Read more

I spent the last four weekends testing truck bed tents across three different pickup trucks — a 2021 Ford F-150, a 2022 Chevy Silverado, and a 2019 Toyota Tacoma. After setting up camp in everything from light spring drizzle to full-blown thunderstorms, I can tell you which truck bed tents actually keep you dry, which … Read more

Last summer our family of five packed a minivan for a 2,300-mile loop from Ohio to Colorado. The trunk filled up before we got the camping chairs inside. That is the moment every parent discovers the real value of the best rooftop cargo bags for family road trips. I went down the rabbit hole testing … Read more

I still remember the first time I tried hauling a cooler, two camp chairs, and a tent across a walk-in campsite by hand. I made four trips, dropped a can of beans in a mud puddle, and felt my back for a week. That weekend is exactly why I started testing folding camping wagons seriously. … Read more

Last spring, I watched dirty water waterfall off my slide-out roof onto the patio awning below, soaking the chairs and leaving streaks down the side of my fifth wheel. That was the morning I started shopping for the best RV slide-out toppers for weather protection. Three years and four slide toppers later, I know what … Read more

When I pitched my tent at a crowded state park last summer, the vault toilets were a 10-minute walk from my site and the smell hit me before I even reached the door. That weekend pushed me to finally take the best portable camping toilets for tent camping seriously, and I spent the next 60 … Read more

I spent six weekends in my 2019 Class A motorhome with a factory plastic toilet before I knew what I was missing. After upgrading to a residential-height porcelain model, my back stopped aching after long trips and my wife stopped complaining about lingering odors. That upgrade pushed me to test every major RV toilet on … Read more

Last October I came home to find two oak branches the size of baseball bats blocking my driveway after a storm. That’s the afternoon I finally admitted I needed a real wood chipper, not just a leaf bag and wishful thinking. I spent the next three months testing eight of the most popular best wood … Read more

Splitting firewood with a maul used to be my Saturday morning ritual until my back finally said enough. After 15 years of swinging an axe through oak rounds, I invested in my first electric log splitter and never looked back. If you heat with wood, run a fireplace, or just need a cord or two … Read more