New Van Life Gear | Will These Items Make The Cut?

0:00 Hello adventurers and welcome back to my channel. Today I have something kind of interesting to share with you. I'm going to be testing out a lot of items to see if they make the cut to go in the van. Now along the way I've had some hiccups, some things that have needed to change.

0:17 I've had some problems. I've had some stuff that has to go because well, it it just simply didn't last. And I slowly replace those items whenever I get an opportunity to. Well, today I'm going to be showing you a few items that kind of check some of those boxes and we're going to be testing them out to see if

0:34 in fact they will make the cut into the van. So this is going to be an interesting video because I'm going to be talking about a variety of different items that you may or may not have thought needed to be in the van. But all of them have a reason behind them and I'll explain. First and foremost, you might remember

0:57 that I had some issues whenever I did my kitchen video with my knives. My knives were cheap, they were bought just at a local like Dollar Tree to match my little set and they were good for what they were, but they didn't last very long. And so I definitely needed to replace them. And so this is

1:16 what I found. Okay, you guys know that in my kitchen video I mentioned I wanted to replace my knives and I wanted to get something that had sleeves. So I actually found these whenever I was shopping with my dad. This is just the cooking light. I really like how this handle feels. It's kind of soft to the

1:33 touch and it really fits my hand well, but I'm kind of using this and seeing if I like how it actually cuts. And well, let's check it out together. Now the first thing I'm doing is I'm just again testing out all this gear before I take it back out on the road and I have this onion that has been abused a little bit.

1:51 It got stabbed. So I was able to cut directly into it and that wasn't a problem at all. I'm just kind of peeling it off now. So this part really doesn't have much to do with the knife, but after I get this outer layer that had kind of been abused in my onion storage area. And then I'm

2:08 going to chop off this section. That's much better. Okay, that cut really nicely. But the real test is how well does it chop? Just downward. Oh, that feels good. It feels super good. So this definitely is a contender for going in the van right here. This is doing super super well,

2:32 but I also it came in a pack of two. So I have the bigger one as well. And again, it comes with this little cover. So I'm going to be trying out both of these. Not this one today though. But if I like this, I'll make a decision as to which one I want to actually put in the van and then which one's going to

2:52 stay here at my tiny home base camp. So so far this looks like it's probably going to be the best for van life, but at the same time this is a nice comfortable size also. So that's always an option. Whenever you're looking for something, look everywhere. Never expected to find these at Ross. And I

3:11 understand you guys are so confused as to why all these random things were in this video together, but reality is whenever I come to base camp, I restock, I change out things that simply don't work, and I try to test everything to make sure it's going to be something that can carry me down the road and

3:28 check all of those boxes. And when it comes to my kitchen knives, I needed something that was a little bit bigger to get through some of the larger items that I do cook. I wanted it to be able to negate through like veggies that are like more firm and then also be gentle enough where I could cut things that are

3:43 a lot more soft. So that's why I'm testing out these knives, but again, it just goes to show that you can find things for van life everywhere. These two knives right here were only $7.99. And their instructions were clearly printed on the container. It just said basically hand wash, make sure you dry,

4:01 and you can keep them in their little sheath, and that's going to protect the blade. And then it had just some basic safety stuff. But, $7.99 for two good knives that will work is really, really good. Because, um, let's face it. If it lasts even a few months in the van, and it was only $7.99,

4:19 that's a big win. If it lasts longer than that, then that's a huge, huge value. So, I'm going to be, um, probably putting the smaller one in there, but I'm going to cut up a few more things with it just to kind of get a good feel for it. And then if it's good, it's going in the van kitchen whenever I

4:35 reload the van. Next up, your sleep is the most important thing that you can have when you're in a van. And my sleep is pretty good on my 8-in memory foam mattress. However, I have a bad back. So, I was looking for something that could work in the van to help me out with that just a

4:55 little bit. And well, here you go. Okay, guys, I'm going to be adding this to the van. I told you guys I was going to change up my pillow situation just a little bit. I need something that will give me a little bit of support because I have lower back pain a lot of times, and I used to have a body pillow in the

5:11 van when I first started out. But, more recently I've been using smaller pillows and just kind of supplementing the space. So, I thought, let's open this and find out what it looks like, how big it is, and if this is going to work. Now, for those who have seen like the whole journey, you've seen that I

5:26 started off with just like a cot, and then I eventually built out a bed. And amongst that time, I've changed out my pillow situation. I like to use larger pillows so I can put things in them so that I can store like clothing and stuff in there. But, I had a couple of smaller pillows that I could use for just like

5:45 various things. I could either sit my laptop on them whenever I was in office mode or I could lean up against them or have my bigger pillows with a smaller pillow to kind of balance things out. But, one thing I've really been wanting to do is add a body pillow back to my van just because for one, my back

6:03 sometimes really needs it. And I've been noticing that as of late, I've been having a little bit more strain. So, this is really going to help. Now, ideally, whenever you're sleeping, if you have like sciatica or something, you're supposed to sleep with like a pillow between your knees. Or if you

6:18 roll over onto your side, you're supposed to be able to separate your legs so that you can elevate your spine and kind of like get rid of some of that compression that happens when you roll fully over. So, if this is firm enough, we will use it. But, most of the body pillows I've been finding lately are

6:35 super, super squishy and and those won't work. So, crossing my fingers that this one will. This is some of the information on the box. It looks like it has like a quilted like memory foam to it. And then this is the brand right here. This is on Amazon. I'll leave a link in my links so that you guys can

6:53 access this. In addition, it says on here that it's supposed to be a high-quality shredded memory foam with adjustable filling and a double case for protection. It's also supposed to have dust mite resistance, which I thought was really good because it um you know, is one of those things that when it's in

7:09 a van, you're going to get dust, so this is going to be helpful. And the other thing I was really interested in is this. It's breathable and cooling. So, during summer time, this isn't going to make me super hot because a lot of pillows that I have found as of late, the filling that they use, it just like

7:22 radiates heat from your body and doesn't allow it to like go away. So, I'm hoping that this will solve some issues. Okay, here we go. And I really wanted to add this while I'm here at Basecamp because if it doesn't work, this is uh-oh, a bulky item. Well, it's going to be hard to get into. I can already see that.

7:41 Okay, that wasn't as hard as I was making it. It looks like there was a slot that went in. There was not. Don't make my mistake. And um inside, well, let me let me show you what's in here. Okay, this is what it looks like when we open it up. It looks like it has a thank you for purchase card here.

7:58 Um it just tells us a little bit more info. It also has a step-by-step of how to get this thing into its full form because as you can see, it's tight rolled in here and is very compact. So, let's see. It says here, "Step one, we're going to prepare to um get the pillow out. Before you use your pillow,

8:17 put your pillow in the dryer on low or no heat for 10 minutes, and this will allow it to fully expand." Okay, so that means that probably not going to be able to do this at this very moment because I don't want to have to go and throw this in the dryer because my dryer is not in my tiny home. So, um let's see.

8:36 It says step two is adjust to your sleep style. But wait, below this, it also says or I could manually fluff it up. We could do that. Let's do that. Let's see uh how big this thing expands. And also, it looks like this is the pillow case. Yeah, I'm probably not going to use this pillow case because, well, white doesn't

8:55 do so well in the van. But, I would be able to use this to get measurements so I could properly get a pillow case and order one. So, I'll just put this to the side for now. Or, I could give myself double protection for the pillow by putting that pillow case on and then putting another one on top of that, and

9:15 that could work out. So, that's also a thought. I kind of like that idea a lot just in case because you know, sometimes weird stuff happens, and so having that extra barrier so that it doesn't like mess up your pillow, super worth it. I mean, I do stuff like that with my mattress

9:31 because of moisture, so maybe that would work with the pillow, too. I don't know. We'll find out. Okay, out of the box it comes kind of maybe. Oh, this thing is interesting. It's in here very snugly and this thing is chunky. Like it's kind of heavy feeling. Um, that's very heavy. Let's go ahead

9:51 and open this up. It does have some tape on here but it's super strong tape so I'm just going to go ahead and cut into this. We're just going to uh do one thing at a time and right now focusing on the new surface um is where I want to be because that is the easiest thing that I can attain at

10:12 this moment during the chaos of my van. Okay, so this thing has another sleeve of plastic. It's like a burrito of a pillow. Okay, and then this plastic sleeve will come off after we unroll it and here we go. Rolling it out and as we roll it out, oh wow.

10:37 Oh wow, this is Oh wait, this expands. Expands kind of like a a slinky. Oh. Oh, that's weird. I have never bought a pillow that was like this. I've never I've always bought them at the store where they're already out and fluffed and everything. So this is quite an experience and oh.

11:01 Oh, this is This is cool to the touch. I like this. So So let me get it out of the plastic and we'll fluff it. Okay, this is really really weird feeling. It feels like everything is kind of clumped together and according to this I'm just supposed to keep fluffing and keep fluffing and keep fluffing until it's no

11:17 longer clumps together. Um, this could take a while. I have now moved on to sitting and kneading like a cat. This is what we're doing. We're kneading it like a cat. We're kneading it like a a A needs dough. And um some time has passed and it is expanding but it's it's slow. It's slow we'll say.

11:40 The foam in here is just a whole bunch of these and it's expanding. But this this feels a little different than just like regular foam so I don't know. Going to zip this back up and get back to kneading it like a cat. Oh yeah, here we go. I am now 20 minutes into shaking, kneading, wiggling and my

12:02 hands hurt. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. Still going though, not finished. Not finished. Okay, I think you can see I took my regular pillows off the couch so I'd have room for this. Again, it's starting to fill out. I still have a lot of play in this so I'm just keeping

12:21 going but this is about 20 minutes into the manual process. And it's it's starting to get there. It's slow though. It's very slow. So far, what are my thoughts? It does feel cool to the touch, I like that. And I've been going so I am kind of warm now. And so that's that's a really nice

12:43 thing I guess. Again, we're we're not there yet. We're still pretty flimsy and I need this to not be a flimsy pillow for me to take it with me. So we're going to keep going. We're going to find out if this if this is going to make the cut. Okay, I have it all filled and now that it's all moved out and it's

13:01 starting to fluff, I'm just going to let it sit and see if it fluffs completely because right now it's still a little soft for my liking. But it does feel nice and cool so that's nice. But it's pretty squishy still so I'm going to see if it continues and if it doesn't then I will put it in the dryer tomorrow. But

13:24 going to leave it here overnight and see what happens. It's the best I can do right now. I worked on it for about 35 minutes. My hands are exhausted. I'm going to go clean up my kitchen because I left the plastic in there and then we'll check on this in the morning I guess and see if it finished what it's

13:42 supposed to do and if not then I'll try that other thing and well we'll go from there. Okay guys, I'm making my morning coffee. I came in here and this has definitely fluffed up more. Oh yeah, I think this is going to work. I I think it's going to work. It's not as firm still as I was hoping

14:05 but it's more firm than the other pillows I found and this thing is heavy. Oh my goodness is it heavy. So I don't think we're going to have to put it into the dryer but I'm going to sleep with it here at base camp a couple nights to see if this solves the issue that I'm having with my back and if it does then it's

14:29 going in the van. Well guys, I have a really good update for you. I've been sleeping with that body pillow for a few days because I wanted to make sure it was going to be the right consistency to help my back otherwise there's no point in putting it in the van cuz it's such a bulky item and I can honestly say yes.

14:47 It's not too hard but it's not too soft and whenever I lay especially as a side sleeper sometimes I need that to be where it's like at the right height for me to be able to kind of like drape my body across so it takes the pressure off my spine and a lot of body pillows because they're so squishy whenever you

15:05 do they basically flatten out. This one does not. It keeps its integrity. So I decided since it is going to go in the van there's no way that a white pillowcase is going to make it so I went ahead and ordered a pillowcase for it off of Amazon and I'm really happy. Let me show you.

15:20 Pardon my progress because I've been doing some things. Um, you'll see that over on my tiny home channel, but I decided to go with this gray because this actually matches like my carpets and then also goes along with my sheets that I have in the van. And I went ahead and got this. Now, the pillow case that

15:36 I found has a zipper on the end, but it's like a hidden zipper, so it doesn't like stick out or feel weird. So, I could literally use this either way if I wanted to sleep with it facing me this way or facing me this way. So, overall, good pillow, very happy. You can see it even maintains its shape when it's

15:55 draped across uneven surfaces, but it still has enough of that give where I can easily get comfortable. But, the other thing I noticed when actually using it is that it is so cool to the touch. And so, during summer time, this is going to be epic. I am so excited about this. So, this is going in the

16:14 van. Do a lot of adventuring, so this next item definitely has something to do with that. My cell phone is something that I use to record videos, but I also keep with me pretty regularly because people can find my location if they're in my little group. So, I like to try to have that available. However, it isn't the

16:36 best cell phone case for every scenario. Even though it is an OtterBox, it also leaves a little bit to be desired. I can't put it on a flat charge, and another thing that I don't love about my current cell phone case is that it is super, super bulky. So, today we're going to be testing out another one, and

16:54 well, here it is. Next up, we're going to be trying out this Sport Link waterproof case, and it shows here that it's waterproof, drop proof, dust proof, and snow proof. It does allow your facial recognition to work, and it has a couple of other little pieces of information in here also. And I'm really

17:11 excited because I've been needing a new case. But, with that said, we're going to see how well that I like it and also kind of just get it out, put it on the phone, and see if it works for their everyday use. As for phones, I have a few criteria. Number one, can I record videos while using the phone case? This

17:31 one has a front cover, so I'm not sure how well that's going to work because if heat gets trapped in the screen, that'll make it foggy looking. And so, that's why I've always gone away from screen protectors. At this same time, it'd be super nice to have one just in case I randomly drop it somewhere because

17:48 otherwise I use like this little waterproof sleeve, which isn't necessarily the best. So, that is one of my criteria. The other one is if it will actually work with my various chargers. So, this one has a plug cover on the plug side, so I'll have to pop that out in order to plug it in, but supposedly I

18:07 can charge it on my regular charger where you can just flat lay, so that's good. Now, the only thing that I'm thinking could be a problem is my magnet mount because it doesn't have a magnetic piece. So, I need to see if I can do that with just using the phone and it actually secure. If it doesn't, I'm

18:27 going to have to put the other magnetic piece in, and in that case, is that going to impair it from being able to charge on the flat lay? So, those are all things that we're going to check out. Overall, the quality, super super nice. I really like it. It's very nice. In fact, I am currently recording on it

18:46 as we speak and as of right now, we have good quality. I don't see any difference. Um I'm not hearing any difference whenever I'm watching the video back. Um nothing like that so far, so this could go in the van whenever we start traveling again. Okay, you can probably see this is the phone case

19:04 holder and then this is the actual case itself. And so far, again, nice comfort fit on the hand. I like how this feels. I did go ahead and put the little metal plate in to see if I could use it. And I actually did a little bit of a test. This is what that turned out to be. Okay, so I have this new phone case. I'm

19:27 trying it out before I hit the road with it. And I had to put a magnetic plate inside of it because there's no magnetic plate. And if I want to use my mount, then I had to put a plate in it. Fortunately, the mount came with an extra plate. So, it does stick, but it sliding. So, I'm going to end up having

19:47 to put some Gorilla Glue on here. Um otherwise, I like the case though. It has a cover over the camera, so it keeps it a little bit more clean, less dust. And then it also seals at the bottom. So, that's super handy, but this part right here I I have to be able to put it on this mount in order for me to be able

20:05 to see it without having it in my hands. So, I guess we're going to have an art project. So, as you can see, the way that the plate is in here, it doesn't quite hold up because this is a very slick back. So, the plate actually needs to be on the outside. Now, I could Gorilla Glue this and do that because

20:26 that's what I did with my old case. And that might work. I don't know. I'm still debating though because of the slick surface. So, let's check the charging situation. This is the end right here. You can see it covers everything fully, which is great for waterproof. So, if nothing else, I might take this case

20:45 with me when I know I'm going to be around water, even if it doesn't work out for everyday use. Um yeah, let's let's see what charging looks like though. First, we'll try just a regular charger, and then we'll try to flat lay it because I haven't flat laid it to check it yet. So, let's do that.

21:01 Okay, so in order to do this, we just pop this little piece out, and then kind of pull it back. and then I have my cord, which I'm chasing around right now, and then it can just slide right in. And Okay, that works, and it's it's a good little consistency there, and it is in fact charging, so that works. The port

21:26 itself seems strong. It doesn't seem to like back off. Sometimes when you have a case on, it won't fully charge. This is This is in there in there. But, what about the flat lay? I just placed this here so we could check it out, and let's put it on here, and see if it does the little vibrate.

21:46 Ooh, it's not. Oh, no. Let's see if it'll work without the metal plate in it. Um removing this it is proving to be tough. It is It is on there. Okay, we have a key, and there is a little spot. Don't know how well you can see that, but there's a little gap there. So, I think we could just take this key and pop it

22:08 in. Maybe? I don't want to crack it. I like the case. Oh, yeah, that's separating it. Okay, cool. So, I'll just wedge it open, and then there it goes. So, you do need some form of hand strength or a key to pop this thing open, and then it just wedges out somehow.

22:33 Somehow. I feel silly now. After I went back to the box, I noticed that there is in fact a opening tool for the cell phone. Yeah. So, there's that. They also have a cleaning wipe and this, which will help you to hold onto your phone. All of this was still in the case, and I just didn't see it. I don't know how

22:52 that happened, but that's super convenient. Okay, so again, same phone, and putting it into place, kind of hovering it over until it picks up. There it is, right there. Started charging, so it is in fact going to be a problem to have the plate. So, if I commit to using this on the

23:17 road, I can't use the plate, which means I can't use the magnet mount. So, I need to address if flat charging or magnet mount are more important if I use this. Now, this isn't anything new, sadly. Um that's kind of how my other phone was, too, and it's really annoying that I can't have both, the magnet mount and

23:43 also the case. I really like this case, and so I don't know. We'll have to kind of evaluate a few things. But, I really need the magnet mount. The magnet mount is so imperative because that's where I set my phone so I can be hands-free, and so it's not flopping around in my van. So, not being able to

24:05 flat lay, though, is also an issue. Now, in my previous case, you couldn't even put the case itself, even without the mount, on top of one of these flat chargers because the kind of case it was too thick, so it couldn't charge through. So, I was really hoping that this one would work, and it does.

24:23 But, then this guy. This guy blocks it. So, I don't know what I'm going to do, guys. I'm not sure. Case itself, very strong, very durable, very good. Um but, flat laying is something that I would like to be able to do because I have several power stations where docking it just on

24:44 top instead of having a cord constantly going in and out, not only is a little bit better for the battery and the overall life, but also it's better for the phone and the port because my last phone, even though it lasted a really long time, it began to break down because of that little port. So, I'd

25:02 like to not use it as much. So, I guess I will continue to ponder this one. And also, I will see what I think about the overall sound and the quality and also, whenever I'm touching using the touch screen with that cover over it, if it's still super responsive. So, as of this one,

25:24 great phone case. Still have to make a few choices before I load the van. So, we will continue to follow up on this one. So, I can already tell you that this is the other waterproof case that I was carrying with me and it has a little inflated ring, so it can also kind of float a little bit. That's kind

25:43 of nice because the cell phone case itself doesn't have the little bit of inflation. This also has like a little lanyard, which the phone doesn't have, but with that, this records horrible video and being able to touch the screen does not work well for me. So, I was super excited about the waterproofness.

26:03 So, even if I don't use this as my everyday driver phone case for the metal plate, because I don't want to mount the metal plate on this one also, I definitely will be taking this one with me over this. Definitely. I think today we had some pretty good success and there's probably

26:22 several other things that I'll be replacing kind of over time and I'll share them with you through test videos like this. But remember guys, we're not here for a long time, we are here for a good time and well, videos like these are put together for you guys so that you will be able to see kind of what's

26:37 out there, what's working, what's not working and I'm always interested in some new little gadgets here and there, so I hope this was helpful to you. Till next time, guys. Bye.