Essential Tech for Digital Nomads
- Shane Wolfe
- Jul 21
- 3 min read
Being a digital nomad is a dream for many. While it certainly does create freedom that traditional jobs just can't match, it's not all fun and games. Planning and preparation is the name of the game to ensure you're actually able to complete your work while living life on the road.
When we started out as digital nomads, we didn't have any tech to help us which meant each move to a new place came with a large dose of panic as we had to run speed test after speed test in every corner of the new place we were staying at. We move around a lot as we work, often heading to new places every week. This means we were having tech related problems constantly, and we soon realised that we needed some gear to help us out. Now that we're a bit more seasoned, we can pin point the tech products that we deem essential for a smooth and enjoyable digital nomad lifestyle.
Essential Digital Nomad Tech 1: Portable Wi-Fi Router
I've listed this product first for good reason, it is the cornerstone of nomadic work. The vast majority of accommodation options, bar some good Airbnb's, do not have reliable Wi-Fi. It's usually fine for web surfing but when it comes to meetings or other heavier duty activities, it'll let you down. Getting a portable router was definitiely the biggest stress reliever for us. Pricing on these varies widely, with some of them coming in around the $100 mark, and some upwards of $250. This is usually based on the download/upload speed produced.
On our store we have two options. Check them out to see if they're right for you:
TP-Link Portable Wi-Fi Router - Perfect for video meetings and staying connected on the go. Just pop in a local SIM and it's ready to go.
TP-Link Archer Router MR600 - If your work involves heavier duty things like video editing, development environments or regularly uploading/downloading large files, then this router is more suited to you.
Essential Digital Nomad Tech 2: A Strong Powerbank
Now that you're connected, you need to stay charged. You never know when you'll need to work on the go, or when you might get a powercut that renders your charger useless. The important thing with powerbanks is that you want a large battery without it being too large. Most airlines limit the size of powerbanks to 27,000mAh, as they can become a safety concern beyond that.
Besides, they also get too heavy and clunky for a nomad beyond that. Another consideration is the wattage, as a low wattage powerbank can take an age to charge a laptop.
Considering the mAh, wattage and general size and weight, we chose this powerbank for our store:
INTENSO 20,000mAh Powerbank - This works great for us, and we think it'll work great for you too.
Essential Digital Nomad Tech 3: Multi-Option Adapters
You can probably buy a cheap adapter in each country that you travel to, but it's easier to just have one good one that works everywhere. Once you're outside the EU, plug types can change in every country - we certainly found this in Southeast Asia.
After trying a couple of different options for this, we chose this one for our store:
Philips Universal Travel Adapter - This should cover you wherever you go to. It also offers quick charging speeds at 30W.
Essential Digital Nomad Tech 4: Ring Light for Video Calls
Something we noticed while backpacking is that the lighting is not always optimal. When we started as digital nomads, we found that even when sitting in a lit room, our faces were barely visible on calls. A Ring Light is a cheap and easy solution to this problem.
Here's our chosen option for this product:
Celly Click Ring Light - This light clips onto your laptop or phone and helps illuminate your lovely face for meetings.
Being a digital nomad can be great, but it definitely requires more planning and thought than a traditional job where you have one designated work station. So, these are 4 products that have helped us immensely in our life as digital nomads. There may be other useful products, but we pack light and so we've boiled it down to just these.
Check out our Digital Nomad Collection on our store to see if these products can help you on your journey, and check out our other blogs for more travel content!
All of our products have a 4-7 day delivery time
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