BRENDEN DOBEL

I’ve spent the last three months testing ghillie suits across hunting blinds, airsoft fields, and turkey woods, and I have to say: not all camouflage is created equal. The best ghillie suits break up your silhouette in ways that flat 2D camo never can, turning you into what looks like a pile of leaves to … Read more

When the power goes out and cell towers fail, a hand crank radio becomes your lifeline to emergency information. I’ve spent the past three months testing eight of the best hand crank radios on the market, cranking each one through hundreds of rotations, dropping them on concrete, and leaving them in freezing rain to see … Read more

FEMA reports that 72% of Americans remain unprepared for even a 72-hour emergency, and natural disasters have increased 400% since 1980. After Hurricane Helene wiped out grocery access for two weeks across parts of the Southeast last year, my neighbor knocked on my door asking to borrow a can of soup. That moment made me … Read more

I spent the last three months eating my way through eight different freeze dried food kits to find the best freeze dried food kits on the market right now. I prepped them in my kitchen, packed them on three weekend camping trips, and even staged a mock power outage at home to see which meals … Read more

Looking for the best shower benches to make your bathroom safer and more comfortable? I tested eight popular models across teak, HDPS, and aluminum builds over six weeks, putting each through daily showers, weight tests, and slip-resistance checks on wet tile. After spending more than $1,200 buying and shipping these units, I found clear winners … Read more

I’ve spent the past three months testing eight police scanners across our team’s two test benches, comparing reception on local analog fire channels, simulcast P25 systems, and racing frequencies during NASCAR weekends. The best police scanners in are no longer the analog-only boxes from a decade ago; the digital transition has reshaped what’s worth buying, … Read more

I still remember the first time I tuned across the 49-meter band late at night and heard a station from halfway across the world call out a frequency report. That moment is what keeps shortwave listeners coming back, and it is the same feeling we wanted to capture when ranking the best shortwave radios available … Read more

I’ve been chasing backcountry trails and tracking geocaches since the early 2000s, and a reliable handheld GPS has saved my skin more times than I can count. After testing dozens of units over the years and putting the latest Garmin lineup through real-world conditions, I’ve narrowed down the list to the 10 best handheld GPS … Read more

Looking for the best CB radios for your truck, Jeep, or RV? Our team spent 60 days testing 10 top models across highways, trails, and base stations to find the ones that actually deliver on range, audio clarity, and reliability. CB radios are not a relic of the 1970s. The FCC decision to legalize FM … Read more

I pulled a transmission in my home garage last summer, and the wobbling, near-disaster experience with my old floor jack sent me down a months-long rabbit hole. After testing 10 models on everything from a 4-cylinder Civic to a Class 8 Eaton Fuller, I have real opinions about which transmission jacks are actually worth your … Read more