Inside Our Bags: CES 2025 Must-Haves

[00:00:05] Welcome to another episode of Beyond the Post. I'm Robb Dunwood.

[00:00:09] And I'm Bodie Grimm.

[00:00:11] And in this episode, we're going to be talking about tech that Bodie and I are taking to CES at the beginning of January.

[00:00:18] Both Bodie and I are going to be heading out to the largest consumer electronics show in the world.

[00:00:24] You know, and we're going to be out, you know, hang out in Vegas for, you know, half a week or so.

[00:00:29] And as we do this, we're going as creators. So we're going to be taking quite a bit of tech with us.

[00:00:34] So, so, Bodie, I'm excited to have this conversation, man, just about, you know, just so I can find out if there's some stuff you got that I don't have that I need to take just to make my life easier as a creator and vice versa.

[00:00:46] Absolutely, Rob. So we are doing these on very different budgets, right?

[00:00:52] You're going on behalf of the DTNS team. That doesn't mean you're not going to take your own tech.

[00:00:57] I'm going on behalf of 918 Digital or the Kilowatt Podcast. So is it you, you, Tom and Amos are going?

[00:01:09] Yeah, myself, Tom and Amos are the three representatives from Daily Tech News Show, although there will be other Daily Tech News Show contributors and folks that you have seen on the show many, many times who will be there that I'm sure will be stopping by as we do our shows throughout the week.

[00:01:28] That being said, I'm taking just for my benefit to capture what's going on out there and to have conversations with people in this net and the other.

[00:01:37] My bag is going to be quite full as far as what I'm taking.

[00:01:41] Yeah, you know, and I'm just now thinking about this, but it might be good to have Amos on at some point in time because I know I was there in 2023 when they were there with Rich Stroffolino and Amos.

[00:02:20] Mm-hmm.

[00:02:23] That is going to be necessary for us to be able to run a video podcast right from the show floor, you know, while we're there.

[00:02:30] So there's quite a bit of, you know, kit that he's taking, but I as well, I'll be recording stuff independently and doing stuff, you know, on the show floor, trying to interview folks, trying to, you know, just I'd like to visit a booth or two to try to talk to people about various tech that I'm interested in as well.

[00:02:47] So I'll let you start, Bodhi.

[00:02:51] What is the first piece of tech that you are going to be taking with you to CES next month?

[00:02:57] Okay.

[00:02:58] So the first piece is, I'm just going to start with something obvious, is my laptop.

[00:03:03] I'm not going to take the laptop to the convention, to the floor.

[00:03:08] I'll leave that in the hotel room, but I definitely am going to bring that so that I can be editing as soon as I get back to the hotel room.

[00:03:18] Same here.

[00:03:19] I was trying to make the trip without having to take a laptop, but the sacrifices that I would make when I'm in my hotel room by not having one went, okay, it's just another three and a half pounds and we're not going to be carrying it around the show floor.

[00:03:33] Let's go ahead and take the laptop.

[00:03:35] So I'm doing that as well.

[00:03:36] So the piece of tech that I will add in addition to my laptop that I'm taking, I am taking not one, but two, you know, two microphones.

[00:03:45] I'll be taking my ATR 2100X and I'll also be taking my Samsung Q2U because you just never know when you're going to actually want to do some higher quality audio with someone that you can grab and sit down and maybe get an interview with.

[00:04:06] So those are the two microphones that I, those are the two microphones that I travel with, you know, the most.

[00:04:12] I also have some Shure, you know, some Shure SM58s, but you have to use a, you know, a recording device with those.

[00:04:20] Whereas these, I can plug them directly into my phone or directly into a laptop or tablet, what have you.

[00:04:24] So I will be taking both the, the, the ATX 2100, 2100X and the Samsung Q2U, which are both USB slash wireless, I should say USB slash XLR microphones that are, they're relatively inexpensive.

[00:04:41] I mean, I put them on the low end as far as true podcasting mics that you would use, but they have a really, really good and enriched sound quality to both of them.

[00:04:52] I'm going to see your two microphones because I'm going to take my Hollyland Mark 1s, which are lavalier mics.

[00:04:58] And I'm going to take my AnchorWorks M650, which are also lavalier mics.

[00:05:04] My Hollylands will be my backup mics and my AnchorWorks will be my frontline.

[00:05:11] Hopefully this works every single time, mics.

[00:05:13] Okay.

[00:05:14] I too am taking a couple of lavalier mics.

[00:05:18] I'm taking the Hollyland Lark M2.

[00:05:21] So the little round dot version of your M1s that, you know, came out, I think earlier this year, I think they came out in January of this year.

[00:05:29] So I want to be testing those out.

[00:05:31] I've played, I've actually used them before, but I've not used them in a setting like a CES.

[00:05:36] So we're going to just see how they work and how we go from there.

[00:05:39] So those will be something I'm taking as well to go a little bit deeper.

[00:05:45] I am going to be doing a significant amount of video.

[00:05:49] And one of the questions that I had for myself was that, do I want to actually lug a full frame or even a, you know, microphone thirds camera?

[00:05:59] So, you know, do I want to take my, you know, my A7C?

[00:06:02] Do I want to take my, my FX30, my Sony FX30?

[00:06:07] And I haven't decided yet.

[00:06:10] So I want to see if I can get away with using my Sony ZV1, which is a vlogging camera that I got probably, I don't know, four or five years ago now.

[00:06:21] But it is, it is ridiculous piece of glass, you know, you know, as far as the lens on this thing is concerned.

[00:06:28] And it's so small.

[00:06:30] It literally is, it's much thicker than a smartphone.

[00:06:34] But the dimensions of the, of the Sony ZV1 is actually smaller than my, than my Samsung Galaxy S22.

[00:06:42] I can put this phone pretty much in any, you know, I can't put it in my back pocket like I could a phone.

[00:06:48] But I can put it in my front pants pockets and it not, you know, it not feel like it's too bulky.

[00:06:53] I could definitely put in a jacket pocket, which I'll probably be wearing.

[00:06:57] You know, it's a little chilly in, you know, in Las Vegas.

[00:07:00] And they keep those, you know, those exhibition halls pretty cool.

[00:07:02] So, uh, I will be carrying my Sony ZV1 to try to get most of my B-roll.

[00:07:10] And, uh, you know, most of the, uh, you know, the camera shots that I will be doing as far as, you know, if I were ever set up an interview, that's the camera.

[00:07:17] I think that I'm going to try to make it with just because it cuts down significantly on the amount of size and weight and lens.

[00:07:26] Because once you start taking bigger cameras, you start taking bigger lenses.

[00:07:29] And once you start picking bigger lenses, you can't just have one, you got to have two or maybe even three.

[00:07:33] And then you need batteries and you need all this stuff that just, you know, increases the amount of weight.

[00:07:37] So the goal is to try to have as good of camera quality as possible, um, knowing that I'm not a video first person.

[00:07:47] And I think that I can get away with my Sony ZV1.

[00:07:52] Yeah, we, we just bought a ZV-E10 at work and man, is that an amazing camera.

[00:07:59] Um, absolutely amazing.

[00:08:01] I'm not going to take a camera, but I am going to take my iPhone and I'm planning on connecting my Hollylands or my anchor work in six fifties directly into the camera.

[00:08:11] So I get that good quality audio.

[00:08:14] So that, that is, that is one of the things I'm taking.

[00:08:18] And then, and I have an iPhone 14.

[00:08:20] It's not even like the newest iPhone and it works just fine for this kind of thing.

[00:08:23] Um, another thing I'm taking is I have an anchor, uh, mag safe battery for my phone to keep it charged.

[00:08:30] And then I have a 10,000 milliamp battery, uh, that I'm just going to keep in my bag.

[00:08:36] And it connects one of those backpacks where it'll connect directly to the backpack.

[00:08:42] And then you can just charge it while you're your phone or whatever, while you're walking around.

[00:08:46] So yeah, uh, that, that, those are the things that I'm pretty much taking.

[00:08:51] As someone who has been to CES multiple on multiple occasions,

[00:08:57] Bodhi, uh, batteries, extra, extra power is a very, very, very, very important thing.

[00:09:04] Um, because chances are, even if it's just your cell phone or, you know, your smartphone,

[00:09:10] you will be taking enormous amounts of video and enormous amounts of pictures that just eat through your battery.

[00:09:16] So you're definitely going to want to have some type of battery backup.

[00:09:21] I too, and taking them, in fact, I'm taking two anchor batteries.

[00:09:24] One of them is a 10,000 milliamp battery that also has a, uh, a GAN charger built into it.

[00:09:32] So I can use it as my chart, you know, at, you know, to charge my phone up, you know, when,

[00:09:38] when there is no power and then I can also plug it in and power up the battery and power up the phone or whatever I plug into it as well.

[00:09:45] So I'll be taking that.

[00:09:46] And then I will also be taking, I think my, my, my larger anchor battery is 30,000 milliamps.

[00:09:53] So I could actually charge my laptop.

[00:09:55] Now the laptop won't run off of the battery power from this, but it is powerful enough to charge a laptop up.

[00:10:01] I can get, uh, I can get a couple of full charges, uh, when the laptop is not in use out of that 30,000 milliamp battery.

[00:10:08] Now I won't really need that for the show floor because I have no desire or intention to carry my laptop around on the show floor,

[00:10:15] but more power is always a good thing.

[00:10:19] I've, I have, I have never heard anyone say, you know what?

[00:10:22] I just brought too many things to allow me to charge my stuff up.

[00:10:25] Um, when I'm walking around the show.

[00:10:27] So I will have those in for, if for no other reason, then I said that I'm going to have my smartphone out.

[00:10:33] I'll have my, um, I'll have my, my, hopefully only my Sony ZV one.

[00:10:38] That's a tiny camera, which also has tiny batteries.

[00:10:41] So I actually have a little pack, a battery pack of batteries that you can charge up so that I always have a fresh battery to slap into that,

[00:10:48] into that camera, it'll just be plugged into my 30,000 milliamp, uh, anchor battery.

[00:10:54] That's in my bag, always charging at least two of my three batteries that I'll be taking with me up.

[00:11:00] So extra battery power is always a good thing.

[00:11:02] And a good point on the GAN charger.

[00:11:04] I have a GAN charger that I got the last time I was at CES from one of the booths.

[00:11:08] And, uh, I don't know, it's like gallium nitride.

[00:11:11] I don't know what the magic is in a GAN charger, but it just allows for really fast charging without a lot of heat.

[00:11:17] Uh, that that's exactly a very fast charging, not a lot of heat.

[00:11:21] Um, and you know, it, like I said, you know, the, the thing with non GAN chargers is that the faster they are or the faster charger they are,

[00:11:31] just the more heat they produce, uh, to the point to where they almost get dangerous.

[00:11:34] So when you see the really fast charging battery chargers, they're almost, they're almost all GAN chargers at this point or some similar type of technology.

[00:11:42] Yeah.

[00:11:42] So, um, let me throw out another device that I am going to be taking.

[00:11:47] Um, I am also taking my DGI Osmo mobile six gimbal, which is a stabilizer for my phone.

[00:11:56] So, uh, you know, I actually will be taking not just one phone, but you know, a couple of phones and one, one of the phones that will live on the gimbal.

[00:12:04] Uh, it, it just, it just makes it easier to get shots.

[00:12:07] It makes it, if I want to, you know, it's, you know, CES is very crowded.

[00:12:11] So there's a lot of people there.

[00:12:13] Fortunately, I'm tall, but even when I want to just take my phone and hold it up above people, it's kind of hard to do that.

[00:12:19] You have to two hand it and you, you kind of stand in there like making the letter O, uh, while holding your phone up.

[00:12:25] But if you have a gimbal, you can get it up even a little higher and you can, you know, change your camera angles and all that kind of stuff.

[00:12:31] So I'm taking a gimbal for, for no other reason that you just be able to lift my phone safely above all the crowd.

[00:12:39] So that if I, if, if I'm at a, uh, in an event and there's something is being unveiled, I can actually get, get video of that on my cell phone.

[00:12:45] So yeah, that's smart.

[00:12:47] Um, and there's super light too.

[00:12:50] It's like, I'm trying to not take a ton of tech with me just because I want to keep the weight of that bag.

[00:12:55] Now, um, the DJI Osmo mobile six is super light.

[00:13:00] I mean, I don't know how much it weighs, but it weighs practically nothing when the phone's not attached to it.

[00:13:05] Yeah.

[00:13:06] And if you're taking a camera somewhere, an actual DSLR camera, uh, the DJI RS three mini gimbal stabilizer, that thing's a great tool.

[00:13:15] As well.

[00:13:16] Don't let the name fool you.

[00:13:18] It says mini.

[00:13:19] It is not mini.

[00:13:20] It's, it's still a really good.

[00:13:22] It's still really big.

[00:13:24] It's just mini for a gimbal.

[00:13:26] But, uh, yeah, that there's a whole compatibility check that you have to do before you buy these types of things to make sure that your camera works with it.

[00:13:33] But that is a great, uh, gimbal as well.

[00:13:39] Let's see.

[00:13:41] Do you, do you have, I have one thing that I'm taking that's a little unorthodox, Rob, and that is my ROG ally.

[00:13:47] X gaming console.

[00:13:49] So just in case I'm stuck in my room or bored in my room, I have something to do.

[00:13:57] I always carry a Xbox controller in my laptop bag just because you can gain, I can game on my laptop with, uh, you know, you know, with X, you know, I can play Xbox games on my laptop.

[00:14:11] I generally play them on my tablet, which is great for playing Xbox games, um, you know, on your tablet.

[00:14:18] So I wasn't even thinking of that because it literally just lives.

[00:14:21] It never comes out of my bag.

[00:14:23] I just always have it with me.

[00:14:24] Um, I thought about though.

[00:14:25] I want to take something like my Nintendo switch, which I do play fairly regularly.

[00:14:30] And it's like, I'm not going to do that because once again, I'm trying to keep the amount of weight now.

[00:14:34] And then I'm going to be at CES.

[00:14:36] And I would imagine I'm just not going to have the time to actually game like that.

[00:14:40] If I do, if I do find myself sitting in a hotel room and I have nothing to do, I'll pull out the, you know, the, the Xbox controller and, and play something online.

[00:14:49] But, uh, you know, but that is something that I don't generally think I need to take to CES this trip.

[00:14:56] One of the things that I am going to take is a wireless or I shouldn't say a wireless, but I'm going to take a travel router, uh, that will give me wireless in my room without having to put multiple devices on the hotel wifi.

[00:15:14] So hotels still have wired, uh, you know, you know, have wired, uh, you know, the ability for you to plug into and get your internet access, uh, in a wired way.

[00:15:25] And when you think about the number of people that are going to be at CES and the number of people that have devices and stuff like that, the wifi is just never great.

[00:15:32] So I am taking my wireless router just so I can create my own personal network in my room, plug it in, get actual wired data to the router.

[00:15:41] And then don't have to worry about trying to connect all of my devices to, uh, you know, to a wifi network in a hotel.

[00:15:50] That's smart.

[00:15:51] Do you remember which one you're using?

[00:15:52] Cause I had a travel one for a while and I have no idea where it went.

[00:15:56] Let's see.

[00:15:56] I can't see it.

[00:15:58] Um, if you give me one second, I will tell you.

[00:15:59] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:16:00] Wired headphones.

[00:16:02] I am taking the Opal, the Opal pocket size travel router with top night security features.

[00:16:08] It's, uh, brand new in the box.

[00:16:10] Okay.

[00:16:12] So like I said, can't really show you much about it.

[00:16:14] I haven't even cracked this thing open yet.

[00:16:15] And I have probably three travel routers, but this is a brand new one that someone sent me.

[00:16:19] So I'm going to test it out.

[00:16:21] All right.

[00:16:23] Opal travel wifi.

[00:16:25] In addition to the travel.

[00:16:26] It's 30 bucks.

[00:16:27] I'm sorry.

[00:16:28] Is it 30 bucks?

[00:16:29] I think so.

[00:16:30] It was not very expensive.

[00:16:32] Oh yeah, that's cheap.

[00:16:34] But what's nice about these things is that I am a Android user and I am a Chromecast user.

[00:16:42] And one of the things I always, I, you know, just like my Xbox controller, I keep a Chromecast just in my bag.

[00:16:49] And with my existing travel router, uh, which I believe is a TP link.

[00:16:55] The one that I normally use it, my, my Chromecast is just already configured to work with it.

[00:17:02] So all I have to do is get that thing onto the, into the, you know, onto the hotel network.

[00:17:07] And then my, uh, Chromecast just automatically works.

[00:17:11] And I can even use the, uh, with this Opal, I can even use, you know, I can, I can set up wifi on my phone as a hotspot, connect this to it.

[00:17:21] And then basically route through this for, through my phone.

[00:17:25] So it's a great little device.

[00:17:26] All right, Rob, is there anything else?

[00:17:28] I can't think of anything.

[00:17:29] You know, I'm going to take a good pair of shoes.

[00:17:32] Um, I got my, you know, my Apple watch cause you walk a lot at these things.

[00:17:37] I got my phone, um, got all the charges for all my devices.

[00:17:42] Is there anything you can think of that maybe we're missing?

[00:17:46] Yeah.

[00:17:46] So cables, it never fails that you, there's a cable that you don't have that you need to take.

[00:17:54] So I want to make sure that I actually have, uh, you know, USB-C cables.

[00:17:59] I'm going to actually have USB, uh, micro cables because, uh, my phone is a little older and actually takes a micro USB.

[00:18:05] I will have a HDMI cable for my phone so I can plug my phone directly into a capture card if, if necessary, uh, you know, to, to be able to do that.

[00:18:15] I will have my Elgato, uh, capture card.

[00:18:18] So, so basically all the things that allow me to connect my devices to whatever I'm using to be able to get data into them and out of them, I will be carrying that as well.

[00:18:27] And then the one thing that I will say is that I actually have a little travel, uh, um, in addition to my travel router, I have a travel UPS, uh, uh, um, you know, uh, device.

[00:18:39] I can't think of the name of it.

[00:18:40] I don't, I don't have it close to me.

[00:18:42] It's actually upstairs with my luggage, but it gives me the ability to, you know, I'm just, we're just going to Vegas.

[00:18:47] I don't have to worry about international plugs, but this will work anywhere in the world.

[00:18:52] I can plug in and Europe and Asia doesn't matter where you are.

[00:18:56] You'll be able to plug in.

[00:18:57] It gives me, I think four outlets that are very well search protected as well as four USB ports that are fast chargers.

[00:19:08] So one little device that will allow me to charge up to eight things simultaneously, um, you know, four, four plugs and four USB fast chargers.

[00:19:17] And it's always good to have that because no matter where you are, you never have enough ports to plug in stuff to get it charged up.

[00:19:24] And this, this little device makes it easy for me to do.

[00:19:27] No, that's great.

[00:19:28] Like if you're in the middle of the Hong Kong airport and you need to plug in and there's one outlet available and you have four things to plug in, or if you, even if somebody just, you want to be nice and let somebody else charge.

[00:19:39] That's a, that's a good way to make friends at the airport.

[00:19:42] Exactly.

[00:19:44] All right, Rob.

[00:19:45] Well, I think this was a, I think this was a good, good episode.

[00:19:51] Yeah.

[00:19:51] It's a, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's amazing how much stuff you end up taking with you.

[00:19:57] And like I said, my goal is I want to be as light as possible.

[00:20:00] So like I said, I can't guarantee it.

[00:20:03] We're going, we're going to see how it works.

[00:20:05] I'm actually going to do some test recording here over the holidays and some vlog style recording here over the holidays, just to see, can I get away with just having a very,

[00:20:15] very small pocketable camera as compared to having a much larger full frame or even something like my, my Sony FX 30 with the handle and, you know, in multiple lenses and all that kind of stuff.

[00:20:27] So it'll, it'll be interesting.

[00:20:29] Absolutely.

[00:20:30] Absolutely.

[00:20:30] I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward.

[00:20:32] Maybe, maybe we, after CES, we get together and, and do like a postmortem of what we could have done better or what worked really well.

[00:20:40] Oh, absolutely.

[00:20:41] And I will just throw this out there because I think this is going to go out before CES.

[00:20:44] If you are at CES and you're listening to this show, let us know.

[00:20:49] You know, can't promise that we'll be able to hook up, but it would be, it'd be lovely just to have you stop by, you know, somewhere, you know, in a, in a mutually agreed upon spot and just say, Hey, have a drink or something like that.

[00:21:01] It would be, it would be really cool.

[00:21:02] So, so let us know if you're going to be there.

[00:21:04] I agree.

[00:21:05] I agree.

[00:21:06] All right, everybody.

[00:21:07] If this goes out to, this is going to go out to everybody.

[00:21:09] So if you want to support us on Patreon, you can go to beyondthepost.fm forward slash Patreon.

[00:21:15] I think that's the first time I got that right on the first try.

[00:21:18] Um, and then yeah, season three update is looking at middle of January.

[00:21:27] We've pretty much got everything recorded.

[00:21:29] Uh, just got a couple of things to wrap up, uh, in terms of recording and that, that's it.

[00:21:33] We're, we're, we're on our way to season three and I'm looking forward to it.

[00:21:38] And I think y'all are going to really enjoy it.

[00:21:41] Well, all right, folks, as always, it's a pleasure and be sure to follow us at beyond the post on all the things.