The 15 Best Travel EDC Essentials Under $100

Let’s be honest: everything has gotten expensive. Flights, hotels, the $9 airport bottled water. We get it, and we feel it too, which is why keeping a budget ceiling on our travel gear guides matters more now than ever.

Last year, we rounded up our favorite travel EDC under $50, and since then, we’ve received a ton of feedback to keep building price-point oriented guides. So we’re back with the natural sequel: some of the best travel gear you can buy under $100.

Same philosophy as last time. Quick-hitting, stylish gear that won’t break the bank. And as always, this isn’t a prescribed kit. Pick what fits the way you travel and skip the rest.

So get comfortable, maybe pull up your packing list, and let’s get into it.

Any stateside resident who’s traveled abroad knows the coin problem. You go cashless for years at home, then land in Tokyo or Lisbon and suddenly you’re juggling change with nowhere to put it. 

Bellroy’s All Conditions Card Pocket is our fix, and it’s a much tougher take on the slim zip wallet than the brand’s normally known for.

The shell is a pre-molded, water-resistant ripstop leather borrowed from their Apex line, sealed up with a YKK AquaGuard zipper (hence the All Conditions name). Inside you’ve got room for up to 10 cards across two stretch pockets, open space in the middle for folded bills and coins, plus a raised pocket with an elastic key leash that’s perfect for a hotel or mailbox key.

It’s worth mentioning that AquaGuard zipper runs a bit stiff out of the box and needs a few weeks to break in, and the molded shell holds its shape even when empty, so we found it better for carrying in a sling than in our pockets. But that structure is also the point. Your cards aren’t bending, nothing’s falling out, and the rain isn’t getting in.

It’s a solid, secure wallet to grab when the forecast looks questionable.

Peak Design Mobile Crossbody Multi-Strap

Phone straps have been everywhere lately, but most fall into one of two camps: fashion accessories with flimsy hardware, or tactical lanyards that might be a bit overkill for your aesthetic. 

Leave it to Peak Design, the same San Francisco crew that’s been refining camera straps since their Kickstarter days, to find the perfect middle ground here.

The Multi-Strap is the most capable of their new mobile strap trio, and the hardware is much better quality than you’re going to find on more generic Amazon versions of these phone slings

 A CNC-machined aluminum carabiner locks shut and holds up to three of their tiny Micro Anchors, each rated to 50 pounds. So your phone can hang alongside your keys, your AirPods, even a small point-and-shoot camera. 

The basket-woven rope adjusts one-handed from 35 to 66 inches, and while it attaches to most cases lanyard attachment points, an included adapter works with virtually any case.

We did find that the single-point carry lets your phone swing a bit more than a two-anchor setup, and so if you’re a dedicated crossbody user like us, you might prefer the standard strap. Each strap is also backed by a lifetime guarantee.

As a small creative team constantly traveling, we understand storage anxiety all too well. And while there are plenty of options on the market, Sandisk’s Extreme Fit USB-C has become an essential piece of kit for all of our travels this year. 

The Extreme Fit is barely a flash drive at all. It’s more like a button, about three-quarters of an inch across and 3 grams, that plugs into a USB-C port and just lives there. Slide your laptop into a sleeve with it still attached and you’ll never notice it. It even picked up a Red Dot design award this year for this clever design execution.

Read speeds hit 400MB/s, plenty quick for offloading a trip’s worth of photos, though write speeds do taper off on really big transfers. The only note worth flagging is that it is tiny, small enough to actually lose if you ever unplug it. So we’d recommend you don’t.

While the 1TB we’ve been using is more expensive than the $100 price threshold, it’s also available in several smaller capacities under that price point as well.

A Dopp kit made from sailcloth is objectively ridiculous, and that’s exactly why we love it. Of course, Aer does offer the Travel Kit 2 in their standard ballistic Cordura, which is plenty tough, but anyone who’s watched this channel knows we can’t resist the Ultra treatment. 

The ULTRA400X exterior from Challenge Sailcloth is, gram for gram, 15 times stronger than steel, and it just looks rad. Aer did a great job with the aesthetics here as well.

Material nerdiness aside, this is simply one of the best-organized toiletry kits in the game. At 9 x 6.5 x 3 inches and 2.5 liters, it slots easily into a carry-on, and the stow-away YKK hook turns any towel bar into a shelf, with the bag tilting back when hung so nothing spills out.

You get exterior toothbrush slots, a quick-grab front pocket for in-flight essentials, and elastic loops inside for travel bottles. And those hi-viz green interior hits only sweeten the case for going Ultra.

That hinged hook is really convenient on the go, but it does let the bag spin freely, which can be slightly annoying. Otherwise, this is the San Francisco brand doing what it does best.

Camp Snap built its name making screen-free cameras for summer camps, but social media had other plans. The cameras went viral with adults chasing a digital detox, and the CS Pro is the brand leaning into its new audience: a rangefinder-styled body with a 16MP sensor, a proper capacitor-driven Xenon flash, and still zero screens to be found. 

You shoot, you wonder, and you find out what you got when you plug in the USB-C later. Love it or hate it, it’s the film lab experience without the actual film lab.

The dial up top toggles between four film-style filters, including two vintage looks and a legitimately great black and white, and the battery is good for around 500 shots. The whole thing weighs nothing in a jacket pocket, and those strap loops pair perfectly with something like the Peak Design Micro Anchors.

It’s important to know what you’re actually buying here. The build is light and plasticky. While it is much better feeling than the standard Camp Snap, it does still feel more like a toy than a tool in hand. 

But that doesn’t ruin the charm. It allows you to capture all of your vacation photography while still keeping you present in your vacation – and that’s something we can get behind.

Earplugs used to be the disposable orange foam things you’d grab from a hardware store jar. Then Loop showed up. The Belgian brand has done for hearing protection what Bose did for headphones, turning it into something people actually want to wear. 

And the Switch 2 is easily the most clever expression of that idea yet (it even picked up a Red Dot award along the way, too).

If you haven’t used a pair of these yet, the trick lives in the signature loop itself, which doubles as a dial. Rotate it and you’re moving between three modes: Engage knocks down 20 decibels while keeping conversation intelligible, Experience cuts 23 decibels with filters tuned to keep music sounding like music, and Quiet drops a full 26 decibels – which we found is perfect for sleeping on red-eyes. The idea is that you’ve got a pair that covers the flight, the concert, and perhaps the thin walls at your hotel.

Of course, aesthetically, these look really good in ear as well. They’re trying to break the stigma of hearing protection in public, and that’s one of the major driving forces behind their spike in popularity.

We will say that the dial is a bit less clicky than the original Switch, so you’ll occasionally land between modes, and they do carry a more premium price point. But outside of that,  these really have become an essential part of our travel kit.

Generally speaking, we’re not big mobile gamers, but long-haul flights have a way of changing that. And if you’re using your phone, the touchscreen controls have always been the thing holding it back.

While there are a ton of options on the market, the Backbone One has become on of our favorites at this price point. Simply stretch the spring-loaded frame, snap your phone in, and you’re holding something that looks and feels an awful lot like a Switch. There’s no pairing, no charging, and no lag, since it runs directly off your phone’s USB-C port.

This second-gen model fixed the original’s biggest annoyance with magnetic adapters that fit over most phone cases, and the reworked D-pad and firmer face buttons are legitimately pretty great – they feel really solid and responsive in hand.

There’s pass-through charging on one grip and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the other, both of which are convenient at 35,000 feet. It weighs 138 grams, which is perfect for tossing in your sling. It also covers everything from App Store titles to Game Pass streaming to Remote Play.

We did find that the Joy-Con-sized sticks can cramp bigger hands during longer sessions, and the optional Backbone+ subscription is not something we’d add to the never ending list of our current subscription roster.

We also think it’s worth noting that if you’re willing to spend a bit more, the recently released Oh Snap MCON we just featured in a recent guide might be worth taking a look at it. Regardless, for frequent flyers who game, you can’t really  go wrong with Backbone. It’s a solid setup across the board.

Alright, the AirFly has been in our carry-ons since the first generation, and it remains the single easiest travel tech recommendation we make. Plenty of seatback entertainment systems still live in the headphone jack era, and this 16.5-gram dongle is such an ingenious little device. Simply plug it in, pair your Bluetooth headphones, and you’re set.

The Pro 2 brought Bluetooth 5.3 and an upgraded Qualcomm aptX chip, so pairing is quicker and audio is noticeably cleaner than the original. You can also connect two sets of headphones at once for sharing a screen with your seatmate, and flipping it to receive mode turns any rental car’s aux port into Bluetooth. 

Battery life is solid, running past 25 hours, though checking how much is left still comes down to interpreting a blinking LED. This remains our single complaint after all these years.

But we’ll still say; pick one up, leave it in your travel kit, and you’ll thank us later.

We’ve used and tested an insane number of power banks over the years, and the MagGo 10K is the one we find ourselves actually carrying regularly – especially during travel.

With airlines getting increasingly strict about big lithium batteries, a 10,000mAh pack that attaches to your phone feels like the sweet spot for travel right now.

The Qi2 certification is one of the standout features here. Simply snap it to the back of your phone and it charges wirelessly at 15W, which is double the speed of the standard magnetic banks flooding Amazon. The USB-C port also pushes 27W if you’ve got a cable handy. 

The little smart display is genuinely useful too, showing exact battery percentage and time to full rather than making you decode blinking dots. And the fold-out kickstand turns it into a seatback-free movie stand, which is another plus for travel.

At 12.45 ounces it is noticeably heavier than slimmer 10K banks, but that doesn’t change the verdict. This is the one power bank we’d tell most travelers to buy.

A keychain flashlight is one of those things that you didn’t realize you needed, until you’ve tried a good one, and the Nitecore TUP2 is still one of our personal favorites. 

The headline is 1,200 lumens from something that’s 3 inches long and weighs about two ounces. But the feature that helps it earn the travel spot is the color temperature switching. 

Four LEDs toggle between warm 3000K, neutral 4500K, and cool 6500K, so you get gentle light for reading in a dark room and a punchy beam for finding your way back to the rental at night. There aren’t many other keychain lights that do this yet.

The little OLED screen shows a live runtime countdown at whatever level you’re running, and the full lockout mode means it won’t torch itself on inside your bag mid-flight. You can even clip it to a hat brim and you’ve saved yourself from packing a headlamp entirely. It’s also IP54 rated, so a little bit of rain won’t be an issue either.

It is definitely a bit chunkier than the average keychain light but it feels like a worthy trade-off for what’s essentially a pocket lighting system.

Consider this our cheat pick, as it’s technically ten bucks over the qualifier. But we do think it’s worth every penny of the overage. 

Famously crowned the G-SHOCK “CasiOak” for the way its octagonal bezel nods to the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, and it’s been one of the hottest affordable watches on the planet since 2019.

We could’ve probably slotted almost any G-SHOCK here, but the world time function helped seal it: 31 time zones across 48 cities, the same trick that made the AE1200 from our Under $50 guide such a travel staple, but in a sleeker, more durable package..

And sleek is definitely the word. 45.4mm across the case, 48.5mm lug to lug, and just 11.8mm thick, all at a featherweight 51 grams, as seen here on our wearer’s 6.75″ wrist. 

The Carbon Core Guard construction makes it one of the thinnest G-SHOCKs ever while still shrugging off abuse with 200m of water resistance. And the murdered-out colorway blends in anywhere from a Lisbon dive bar to a business dinner, drawing zero attention from pickpockets sizing up your wrist.

That stealth color combo does come at a cost though: the black-on-black dial can be tough to read in dim light, even with the double LED assist. But again, a minor gripe on one of our favorite everyday watches at the $100 price point.

Ok a hundred dollars for a water bottle with no insulation sounds insane, that is, until you pick this thing up. Snow Peak’s Aurora weighs just 5.2 ounces in-hand. For context, that’s half the weight of the Hydro Flask Trail we recommended in our under $50 guide, and this thing also holds more water.

Quick background here: Snow Peak’s titanium goods come out of Tsubame-Sanjo, the Japanese metalworking town the brand has called home since 1958. And like most of the Japanese-made gear we cover, the commitment to the craft is just impressive. 

The walls are a single millimeter of titanium all the way up to the drinking lip. It’s so thin to drink from, and it feels closer to a wine glass than a canteen. The titanium also imparts zero metallic aftertaste. A subtle milled texture runs around the body that’s nearly invisible to the naked eye but it provides real grip when the bottle’s either wet or cold.

Now, we have to mention the obvious trade-off here. The single-wall construction means there’s no temperature retention, and those super thin 1mm walls will eventually pick up a dent or two during your travels.

But again, none of that really matters once it’s in hand. This is a beautifully designed, durable drinking vessel that will literally last a lifetime.

Twelve South goes back-to-back on this guide, and honestly, few brands understand the Apple traveler better. While the AirFly handles your audio in the air, the ButterFly solves the hotel nightstand.

It’s billed as the world’s smallest 2-in-1 USB-C MagSafe charger, folding down to the size of an AirPods Pro case and opening up (like its namesake) into a 15W MagSafe pad for your iPhone plus a fast charger for your Apple Watch. And AirPods charge on either side depending on the model.

It also includes a 30W wall adapter with swappable US, UK, EU, and AU prongs, plus a travel pouch to corral it all. Fold it back-to-back and the Watch pad tilts up for Nightstand Mode, or the whole puck props your iPhone for StandBy.

The all-aluminum build looks really great in person but it does scratch itself slightly when folded closed. We also found the lightweight puck tends to come along for the ride when you yank your phone off in the morning. 

All-in-all, minor stuff. If you travel deep in the Apple ecosystem, this replaces three chargers and a tangle of cables.

London-based Nothing has spent the last few years proving that budget earbuds don’t have to look or sound boring with their trademark transparent designs. And while we’ve tested and own several different models, the Ear (a) still feels like the sweet spot of their lineup. 

Diving right into the spec sheet here. The 45dB adaptive ANC actively checks the seal in your ear and compensates for leakage, which works great in practice, translating to real silence against engine drone. 

The 11mm driver delivers punchy, travel-friendly bass with LDAC support for hi-res streaming, and the six-mic array keeps calls clean even curbside. Multipoint lets you hop between laptop and phone without re-pairing, and the fast charge is the killer travel feature: just 10 minutes in the case buys about 10 hours of playback for the boarding sprint.

If you run ANC full-time, you can expect that battery to drop to  around 5.5 hours, and while the glossy case looks rad, it does collect micro-scratches in a pocket full of keys. The biggest complaint though is no wireless charging. 

But for $79, those do feel like fair compromises as these outperform plenty of $150 earbuds.

Of course you’ve gotta have a solid pack to store all of your EDC gear – and slings are still the undisputed kings of carry-on. And while there’s no shortage of slings to choose from (we have an entire guide dedicated to travel slings) it’s hard to beat Aer’s Day Sling 4.

When Aer gave their most popular sling a ground-up rework earlier this year, we just knew it’d probably end up on this guide. And true to form, we skipped the perfectly good $79 Cordura version for the X-Pac, because overengineered textiles are simply our love language.

Now for the details. The redesign trimmed capacity from 3 liters to 2.5, but the space is actually used more efficiently this time around, so it doesn’t feel like a downgrade at all.

There’s a wide-opening main compartment with a padded sleeve for an 8.3-inch tablet or Kindle, stretch mesh organization, a hidden AirTag pocket, and a removable key leash. The flush back is perfect for tucking a passport securely against your body, and the Fidlock magnetic buckle on this X-Pac variant makes one-handed on-and-off effortless.

A few things we mentioned in our previous review of the bag; the structured shape holds its bulk even when it’s half-empty, the new diagonal front pocket layout takes some re-learning, and Aer dropped the Day Sling 3’s grab handle in favor of a flat hanging loop, which longtime fans aren’t too thrilled about. 

Still, for the bag that stays on your body while everything else goes in the overhead bin, this is the most refined Day Sling yet.