These are the best things I bought in 2018

Bang & Olufsen H7 wireless headphones

It was inevitable. The iPhone removed the standard headphone jack and I couldn’t be bothered to be tethered to my device anymore. The B&O H7 headphones met three strict criteria I had for headphones:

  1. They have to sound good.

  2. They have to be comfortable for a long time.

  3. And they cannot be noise-canceling.

If I had to add a 4th must, it was that they had to have great battery life. These H7’s meet and exceed all those listed above. They are great headphones, premium quality, and are my go-to recommendations when people want some seriously nice wireless headphones. Don’t go for cheap, you’ll regret it later.


iPhone Xs

This is a no-brainer, but every year I get a new iPhone and I am continually convinced it is the best phone for most people. It certainly is the best phone for me. The inclusion of the iPhone Xs on this list is a bit misleading since technically I don’t own my iPhone Xs (the bank does since I finance through the Apple Upgrade Program). But whatever, I pay for it through a “lease” so I do sort of own it.


DJI Mavic 2 Pro

I upgraded my 2 year old drone this year to the latest DJI Mavic 2 Pro. I love this thing. I find excuses just to fly it. It is the best professional “toy” that I currently own and there’s really no high quite like flying it in NYC. Lucky for me, I bought in early because for some odd reason, the price of this drone has gone up since release. Still, don’t let that deter you from purchasing if you’re thinking about it. The safety features, ease of use, and quality of images from the Mavic 2 Pro is the perfect combination all fitting in a very small package.


Air VPN - The air to breathe the real Internet

AirVPN

Need a VPN with no slow-down and plenty of country options? AirVPN is, in my opinion, the best there is. They are feature packed and use a lot of open-source protocols and settings to ensure that there is no bottleneck for data leakage. They run IPleak.net if that helps. For a great deal, right now all VPN tiers from them are discounted for the holidays. Their Black Friday deal is how I save enormously on VPN fees for an entire year. I highly recommend this service and it works on virtually all platforms and devices (including routers!).


Mamiya RB67 Pro S (no link here because…you can’t buy this anymore)

Ok, truth be told, I technically bought this in November of 2017. BUT I didn’t really start using this camera until 2018 so I’m going to keep it on this list. This camera has been super fun to shoot on and has truly brought me back to my college days when I shot a lot less digital. My day to day work involves so much digital imagery that it was nice to slow down a bit and wait for negatives (and a lot of chromes!) to come back to me from the lab. For those who want one, eBay is your best bet. These cameras are pretty darn cheap and these lenses are SHARP. My recommendation? Shoot glorious chrome.


That’s all that I can think of for now. I stand by this list 100%.